(CNN) — Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska have broken ranks with the Kremlin and called for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Fridman, who was born in western Ukraine, wrote in a letter to staff that he wanted “the bloodshed to end.”
“My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favorite city. But I have also spent much of my life as a Russian citizen, building and growing businesses. I am deeply attached to the Ukrainian and Russian people and see the current conflict as a tragedy for both,” Fridman wrote.
“This crisis will cost lives and affect two nations that have been sisters for hundreds of years. While a solution seems terribly far away, I can only join those whose fervent wish is that the bloodshed ends,” he added in the letter, which it was provided by his office.
The Financial Times was the first outlet to report on the letter.
Fridman is chairman of the Alfa Group, a private conglomerate operating primarily in Russia and the former Soviet states covering mineral water production, banking, insurance and retail. Fridman has a net worth of $11.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The billionaire is also chairman of Alfa Bank, Russia’s fourth-largest financial services firm and its largest private bank. Alfa Bank was hit last week by sanctions that will prevent it from raising money through the US market.
Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, left, and businessman Viktor Vekselberg speak during a conference in Moscow on September 17, 2019.
Fridman’s call for peace was echoed by Deripaska, a billionaire who made his fortune in the aluminum business.
“Peace is very important! Negotiations must start as soon as possible!” Deripaska said in a post on Telegram on Sunday.
He also addressed the economic situation in a series of posts on Monday. when the ruble collapsed and the Russian stock market was not opened for trading.
“I really want clarification and intelligible comments on economic policy for the next three months,” Deripaska said, adding that the central bank’s decision to sharply raise interest rates and force companies to sell foreign currency is the “first test of who will be really paying for this banquet”.
“It is necessary to change the economic policy, [tenemos] to put an end to all this state capitalism,” he added.
Deripaska emerged from the chaotic scramble for assets following the collapse of the Soviet Union with an enormous fortune, which Forbes estimated at $28 billion in 2008. In 2018 was sanctioned by the United Stateswhich noted that the oligarch “does not separate from the Russian state.”
Oleg Deripaska at a corporate event in Russia on December 17, 2021.
Russia’s oligarchs face economic chaos and punishment from the West after President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops enter Ukraine last week. The United States and its allies, including the United Kingdom, have responded with sanctions against wealthy people close to the Kremlin.
The United States is even targeting the families of oligarchs, a new step aimed at eroding support for Putin among Russia’s elite. Last week, the US Treasury Department sanctioned the children of two of Putin’s closest officials.
“Elites close to Putin continue to take advantage of their proximity to the Russian president to plunder the Russian state, enrich themselves and elevate their relatives to some of the highest positions of power,” the Treasury Department said in announcing the sanctions.
— Anna Stewart contributed to this article.