Russia Replaces VEB Economist After War Critique Warned of Social Crisis
Updated
Updated · CNN · Aug 17
Russia Replaces VEB Economist After War Critique Warned of Social Crisis
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Aug 17
Summary
TASS said Sunday that Andrey Klepach no longer holds the chief economist post at VEB, Russia’s national development bank, with a replacement already selected but no reason given.
Two days earlier, The Moscow Times published extracts of a May speech in which Klepach said Russia was losing global technological and economic competition and could not win a war of attrition against Western-backed Ukraine.
Klepach warned Russia was heading toward a social crisis, saying the war had already lasted longer than the Great Patriotic War and still had no end in sight.
He tied the damage to Ukrainian strikes on infrastructure, Western sanctions and high domestic interest rates, underscoring the economic strain and risks for insiders who publicly challenge the war.