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Russia is pressing ahead with its invasion of Ukraine despite ongoing global backlash.
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Several Russian oligarchs and lawmakers have now criticized the invasion, calling for it to end.
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Russia’s elites usually shy away from criticizing Putin’s regime, which has brutally silenced dissenters.
Members of Russia’s elite are publicly criticizing the invasion of Ukraine, a rare sign of public opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
After invading Ukraine last week, Russian forces have fought to seize Kyiv, but have been deterred by Ukraine’s forces.
The assault has been brutal, with Ukraine accusing Russia of committing war crimes and killing civilians and children. The Kremlin has denied the claims.
Dissent in Russia is rarely tolerated, and Putin has a history of brutally cracking down on dissent. But in the past week, four Russian oligarchs and three members of parliament have spoken out against the war. All of them bar one stopped short of naming Putin.
Here are the oligarchs who have spoken out:
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Mikhail Fridman, one of Russia’s richest men who grew up in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, wrote in a Sunday letter to staff at his private equity firm LetterOne that “war can never be the answer.” “I am deeply attached to Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both,” he wrote.
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Oleg Deripaska, the founder of the Russian industrial giant Basic Element, wrote in a Sunday Telegram post: “Peace is very important! Negotiations need to start as soon as possible.”
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Evgeny Lebedev, the owner of the UK’s Evening Standard newspaper and a member of the House of Lords, wrote a public message to Putin in his newspaper on Monday. “I plead with you to use today’s negotiations to bring this terrible conflict in Ukraine to an end,” he wrote, referring to the first round of talks between Ukraine and Russia on Monday. There was no breakthrough in that first round of talks.
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Oleg Tinkov, the founder of Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, said in a Monday Instagram post: “Innocent people are dying in Ukraine now, every day, this is unthinkable and unacceptable.”
The EU personally sanctioned Fridman on Monday as part of its response to the Russian invasion. “These sanctions are groundless and unfair,” Fridman told Reuters. The other three oligarchs do not appear to be directly targeted by Western sanctions.
Three members of the Russian Communist Party, which usually votes in line with Putin’s agenda, also spoke out against the war. None of those three MPs were named in Western sanctions against Russia.
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Vyacheslav Markhaev wrote in a Facebook post Sunday that the Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, wasn’t told of the invasion. “It’s sad to watch what is happening around Ukraine, and it hurts my soul,” he wrote.
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Oleg Smolin wrote on Russia’s VK social-media platform on Friday that he was “shocked” by the invasion. “As a Russian intellectual, I am convinced that military force should be used in politics only as a last resort,” he said.
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Mikhail Matveyev wrote on Telegram on Saturday: “I voted for peace, not for war.” That post was later deleted.
Meanwhile, in Russia, more than 2,000 people protesting the war have reportedly been arrested.
Some of Russia’s closest national allies have also kept their distance from the war. On Friday, Kazakhstan refused to send its forces to help the Russian assault on Ukraine, US officials said.
Putin has not lost all international support for his invasion, however.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian ruler of Chechnya and staunch Putin ally, admitted that Russia’s tactics had failed in the early days of the invasion and called for a more brutal approach.
“In my understanding, the chosen tactics in Ukraine are too slow,” he wrote on Telegram on Sunday. “They take a long time and, in my opinion, are not effective.”
He called for “full coordination of the actions of the military, competent alignment of forces and a decisive assault.”
Meanwhile, China has slammed Western countries for imposing sanctions on Russia while not overtly supporting Russia in its invasion. Last week it accused the US of “creating panic.”
The US, UK, and EU have punished Russia by introducing sanctions and booting Russia from the SWIFT global payments system. Putin called the sanctions “illegitimate.”
Read the original article on Business Insider
