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Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska issued a rare anti-war statement on Friday, calling the conflict in Ukraine “madness” and calling for an unconditional ceasefire, a move that was attacked by supporters of the war in Ukraine.
Deripaska made the comments in an interview with Japan’s Nikkei Asia this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council meeting, where he officially represents Russia.
He criticised the country’s defence spending and called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” in Ukraine, Nikkei Asia said, saying: “If you want to stop the war, first you need to stop the fire.”
This is reportedly the strongest criticism of the war by any powerful businessman remaining in Russia since the conflict began in February 2022.
“Before, Deripaska was equivocal about special military operations. Now he has made his position clear. He is on the other side,” said Alexander Dugin, a philosopher widely regarded as one of the leading thinkers on the war.
“This is a betrayal of our army and assistance to the terrorists of the Ukrainian army who invaded the Kursk region,” Dugin added in a statement posted on his Telegram channel.
Representatives for Deripaska did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Deripaska moved into metal trading and made a fortune by acquiring stakes in aluminum plants. Forbes magazine ranked his wealth at $2.8 billion in 2024.
In his recent reports, he went further than in 2022, when he called for peace in Ukraine and framed the war as a tragedy for both the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.
Deripaska has been under U.S. sanctions since 2018 and has attempted to mount a legal challenge against the sanctions in U.S. courts. He has been under sanctions by the European Union and the United Kingdom since 2022. He has called sanctions a “19th century tool” and said they are ineffective.
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