Saturday, August 24, 2024

Leading Russian Oligarch Wants the War to End

Billionaire Russian Oleg Deripaska is under attack from supporters of Putin's war in Ukraine after making a rare anti-war statement in which he described the conflict as "mad" and called for a ceasefire without pre-conditions.

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Comments

Oleg Deripaska is a dead man walking.

#1 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-25 01:38 AM

@#2 ... This guy just wants the Sanctions lifted off of him. ...

That's the talking point your current may have been issued?

... He's not concerned about the war,just his own financial situation. ...

So, if that is actually the case here, why is that an outlier in Putin's Russia?


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-08-25 01:45 AM

@#4 ... Oleg Deripaska is a dead man walking. ...

Yeah.

I do give him major credit for voicing his opinion in Putin's Russia.

But I would also advise him to avoid the windows of tall buildings.

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-08-25 01:47 AM

"I would also advise him to avoid the windows"

Absolutely!

Window Cancer is the leading cause of death among Russian oligarchs!

#4 | Posted by Danforth at 2024-08-25 02:09 AM

"he described the conflict as "mad" and called for a ceasefire without pre-conditions."

Just another way of saying Putin is "crazy" and the Kremlin should ignore him and surrender unconditionally.

In Putin's Russia, this is tantamount to treason.

What in the world was he thinking?

#5 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-25 06:08 AM

Yeah, just ask an America who was alive during the Vietnam War debacle how it feels to watch your country be torn apart by dumb decisions made by both parties at the top of the political food chain. Russians are not in charge of their own country, and they are led by a mass murdering thug who simply cannot admit a mistake and thousands are dying because of his cruelty.

#6 | Posted by Hughmass at 2024-08-25 06:24 AM

I don't know if Mr. Deripaska is a good guy or a bad guy, but he made that statement on Aug 9 while he was in Japan at a Conference. If he's smart, he took his family and his money with him and he's still there or hiding out in another country.

There is no such thing as speaking truth to power in Russia . . . exactly like the next Trump administration if we should be so unlucky.

#7 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-08-25 06:49 AM

It's always sad to see if someone becomes suicidal.
He still could have done great things in his life. Now he committed suicide by making that statement.

#8 | Posted by eightfifteenpm at 2024-08-25 07:44 PM

In theory he might have compromat on putin.

#9 | Posted by Tor at 2024-08-26 01:24 AM

This guy will be dead in a week.

#10 | Posted by danni at 2024-08-26 04:22 AM

__________
Wouldn't put too much importance on this.

Deripaska, and few others - called for "end to war" (as much and as far it was possible in Putin's Russia) from the very beginning of SMO.

Russian Oligarch Deripaska Calls For End Of War Against Ukraine - March 02, 2022 (less than 10 days after 'Putin's War' started)

|------- Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, known for his close ties with President Vladimir Putin, has called for an end to the war in Ukraine.
"Peace is very important! It is insane to prolong [peace] negotiations!" he wrote in a post on Telegram.

Deripaska warned of potential accidents at any of Ukraine's nuclear power plants, which might endanger Russia, Ukraine, and Europe.

"For those who do not understand - any incident involving those objects will be remembered by our successors in Russia, Ukraine, and Europe for some 200 years to come."

Deripaska is just one of several Russian oligarchs - who have been targeted by Western sanctions - to call on the authorities to stop the military attack against Ukraine. Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven, Oleg Tinkov, and Aleksei Mordashov have already publicly called for a cessation of hostilities.
-------|

Two Russian oligarchs call for an end to Putin's war - March 1, 2022

|------- Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska have broken ranks with the Kremlin and called for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Fridman was born in western Ukraine. "My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favorite city. But I have also spent much of my life as a citizen of Russia, building and growing businesses. I am deeply attached to Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both," wrote Fridman.

Fridman has a net worth of $11.4 billion and is a Chairman of Alfa Group (with subsidiary Alfa Bank) a private conglomerate operating primarily in Russia and former Soviet states that spans banking, insurance, retail and mineral water production.
-------|

Deripaska also called SMO a "colossal mistake" few months later, and is a known critic of war.

Of course, it's not mutually exclusive for all of them to want the end of sanctions as well, even if "Putin's War" may actually help their businesses in the short term.

It's been understood long ago that the system of oligarchs serves Putin and his goals, not the other way around. He put not too fine a point on it when in 2003 he had then-richest oligarch in Russia - Mikhail Khodorkovsky of oil/gas company Yukos (which at one point paid about 5% of all taxes collected in Russia) - arrested for fraud and sentenced to 9 years, later extended his sentence to 2014, only to pardon him in 2013. Yukos was immediately declared bankrupt and sold in 2004 auction (which lasted 2 minutes) to an unknown company which was registered only two weeks before and had less than $300 in assets, but was loaned $9B by state-owned Rosneft, to outbid state-owned Gazprom which somehow "lost" its financing a few days before the auction. Rosneft later formally "acquired" the assets of new Yukos "owner" for debt. Oligarch Igor Sechin (aka "Darth Vader"), one of the top siloviki and until recently (before his son died in February 2024 of "blood clot" under "bizarre" circumstances) heir-apparent to Putin, is the CEO of Rosneft.
__________

#11 | Posted by CutiePie at 2024-08-26 08:37 PM

@#14 ... Wouldn't put too much importance on this. ...

Nor would I because, well, Pres Putin.

I would, however, recommend that Mr Deripaska avoids windows higher than the first floor because, well, Pres Putin.


#12 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-08-26 08:45 PM

Vlad was doing really well before he started raping Ukraine; he had done what Hitler hadn't, taken control of the Oligarchs and is skimming off the top.

Now he's hurting their Mafia-esque bidness, and that could turn into a bloodbath on both sides.

#13 | Posted by Corky at 2024-08-26 09:53 PM

" Now he's hurting their Mafia-esque bidness, and that could turn into a bloodbath on both sides."

They just need to get Russian Paul Castellano to Russian Sparks Steak House!

Too soon?

#14 | Posted by Danforth at 2024-08-26 10:00 PM

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