Russian Billionaires in ‘Horror’ as Putin Risks Isolation
It sounds a bit alarmistic, but it is worth a read.
It is difficult to see capital flight easing after the recent events and with a high likelyhood of a weaker economy and reduced demand investments are dropping. Maybe Russia is already entering one of those vicious recession cycles, but it is still early to tell.If Putin doesn’t move to end the war in Ukraine in the wake of last week’s downing of a Malaysia Air jet in rebel-held territory, he risks becoming an international outcast like Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko, whom the U.S. famously labeled Europe’s last dictator, one Russian billionaire said on condition of anonymity. What’s happening is bad for business and bad for Russia, he said.
“The economic and business elite is just in horror,” said Igor Bunin, who heads the Center for Political Technology in Moscow. Nobody will speak out because of the implicit threat of retribution, Bunin said by phone yesterday. “Any sign of rebellion and they’ll be brought to their knees.”
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