Filenews 23 March 2022
Anatoly Chubais, an adviser to Vladimir Putin, the architect of economic reforms in post-Soviet Russia, resigned from his position in the Kremlin as a special envoy and left the country, a source told Reuters, an act that makes him the most prominent high-ranking person expressing his protest against the invasion of Ukraine.
Chubais, who once served as the chief of staff of former President Boris Yeltsin, has resigned as Vladimir Putin's special representative for relations with international organisations, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
He was placed in that position in 2020 due to "successes with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals", a few days after he resigned from the position of head of state-owned technology company RUSNANO, which he has run since 2008.
The source did not mention the reasons he left the country. When a Reuters reporter asked him by phone to comment on his decision, he hung up the phone.
Many Russians had criticized Tsubais for enabling a small group of tycoons to get rich with privatisations in the 1990s, at a time when millions of Russians were impoverished amid the economic collapse and crisis.
In recent years he continued to make calls for reforms and was one of the most distinguished liberal politicians working with the Russian government.
In 2010 he warned that the rise of fascism was the biggest threat that could tear the country apart.
