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'Highest level' Putin adviser flees Russia over Ukraine invasion: report

David Edwards
March 23, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with members of the Government via videoconference. -/The Kremlin/dpa

A longtime adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly resigned and will flee his home country.

Bloomberg reported that Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais cited his opposition to the invasion of Ukraine as the reason for stepping down. Chubais would be the "highest-level official to break with the Kremlin over the invasion," according to the report.

"Known as the architect of Russia’s 1990s privatizations, Chubais gave Putin his first Kremlin job in the mid-1990s and initially welcomed his rise to power at the end of that decade. Under Putin, Chubais took top jobs at big state companies until the president named him envoy for sustainable development last year," Bloomberg noted.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to immediately comment.