Russian Billionaire Deripaska Doubles Down On Ukraine War Criticism

Topline

Billionaire Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday, emphasizing the negative economic fallout of the war, a rare admission for an oligarch closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Oleg Deripaska attends a meeting at the Kremlin in 2016.

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Key Facts

Deripaska told reporters Tuesday that destroying Ukraine would be a “colossal mistake” for Russia, according to Reuters.

The aluminum tycoon Deripaska questioned “whose victory” the war in Ukraine represents, Reuters reports.

His comments largely focused on the economic fallout of the conflict, saying it’s “obvious” sanctions from the West have negatively affected the Russian economy, something Putin has refused to admit.

Russia has “abandoned everything” it achieved economically in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Deripaska said.

Big Number

$3.6 billion. That’s how much Deripaska is worth, according to Forbes’ calculations. Deripaska’s fortune is largely thanks to his aluminum empire as the founder of the Basic Element industrial conglomerate.

Key Background

Deripaska’s comments come on the same day as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated the only path to the war ending is Ukraine’s full surrender. Deripaska became one of the first oligarchs to question the war in February when he called for peace in a Telegram post. Other oligarch critics include Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Tinkov, who called the invasion “evil” and said he believes Ukraine will win the war because good prevails over evil in a May Instagram post. Deripaska faces sanctions from the U.S., U.K., and the European Union. He was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 and the U.K. and the EU this year.

Tangent

The U.S. Treasury cited accusations against Deripaska of numerous crimes including links to organized crime as its rationale for sanctioning the oligarch in 2018. Deripaska has unsuccessfully challenged the sanctions in American courts, and a U.S. appeals court rejected his request to lift the sanctions in March. The FBI raided Deripaska’s homes in Washington, D.C., and New York City last October.

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