One of Russia’s top economists, Andrei Klepakha, was removed from his position as chief economist at the country’s State Development Bank shortly after his comments that the Russian economy was being damaged by the war in Ukraine were made public.
Russia’s state-run TASS news agency confirmed on Sunday that Klepakha “is no longer holding the position of chief economist” at VEB, one of Russia’s largest banks, but did not give a reason for his resignation. TASS added that a new candidate has been selected and will be appointed soon.
The announcement came two days after the Moscow Times, an independent Russian newspaper, published excerpts from a speech Klepakha gave in May to a forum of economists and academics known as the Nikitsky Club.
According to the paper, Klepakha warned that Russia was “losing both the global technological and economic competition” and that Ukraine could not win a war of attrition while receiving financial aid from the West. Ultimately, he said, “we are almost certainly facing a social crisis.”
CNN has reached out to VEB for comment.
Klepakha’s comments and subsequent resignation serve as a reminder of both the domestic criticism leveled at President Vladimir Putin as the Ukraine war drags on, and the cost to those who speak out.
Klepasch noted that Russia’s war in Ukraine has lasted longer than the Great Patriotic War (the term used in Russia to refer to the Soviet Union’s war against Nazi Germany) and that there is still “no end in sight.”
He added that Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s infrastructure, Western sanctions and high domestic interest rates are all combining to hinder Russia’s economic growth.
Since Klepakha’s speech in May, Ukraine has stepped up air attacks on Russian infrastructure, in an apparent effort to remind ordinary Russians of the war and urge the country’s business elite to end hostilities.
