Russia: Putin's 'favourite industrialist' questions invasion, laments economic fallouts

Aluminium magnate and Vladimir Putin’s "favourite industrialist" Oleg Deripaska said that it would be a “colossal mistake” for Russian troops to destroy Ukraine. The rare rebuke came as he addressed a press conference in Moscow wherein he repeated the words ‘colossal mistake’ several times. It has been 126 days since Kremlin launched its military assault on Ukraine and many of Putin’s critics have been mysteriously killed since then. 

"Is it in Russia's interest to destroy Ukraine? Of course not, that would be a colossal mistake," he told a rare press conference in the Russian capital.

The Russian oligarch also used the word ‘war’ to represent the ongoing offensive in Ukraine. Here, it is pertinent to note that the term is banned nationwide with people only allowed to call it ‘Special Military Operation’. Talking about the war in Ukraine, Deripaska also asserted that there will be no winner at the end of the conflict. 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 laments economic repercussions 

The entrepreneur also lamented the economic impact of the invasion and subsequent sanctions by the west, which he said have rolled back progress made by international business partnerships. "I'm troubled by how quickly we abandoned everything that was achieved (economically) in the '90s, then we abandoned everything that we achieved in the 2000s, and now we are sitting and waiting for victory. Victory of what? Whose victory?" Deripaska said to a group of reporters in Moscow.

It has been over four months since Vladimir Putin ordered his so-called ‘Special Military Operation’ on Ukraine, underscoring that the erstwhile Soviet state and its western neighbour jeopardised his country's security. On Tuesday, leaders of the seven most powerful countries in the world concluded their annual summit wherein they discussed on bolstering sanctions on Russia, in a desperate move to slow down Putin’s war machine. While the talks were still ongoing, Russian missiles hit a crowded shopping mall in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. At least, 20 have been killed, while another 21 dozen are still missing, according to The Guardian. 

(Image: AP/Mousyfu/Twitter)