More Russian Billionaires Speak Out Against Putin’s War On Ukraine

Forbes Russia has additional reporting.

The U.S. and Europe have promised to hunt down Russia's wealthiest people.

The public calls for peace are an unprecedented hint of dissent against Putin.

According to the Financial Times, the founder of Alfa Bank, a private bank in Russia, became the first billionaire to speak out against Putin. War can never be the answer. This crisis will cost lives and damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years, he wrote in an email to staffers of his private equity firm LetterOne. He said that he lived in Western Ukraine until he was 17. He said that his favorite city is Lviv, which is one of the cities targeted by the Russian military.

The European Union placed sanctions on Fridman on Monday, which included freezing his assets and a travel ban. In an interview with Forbes Russia, his business partner, Alexey Kuzmichev, said that he agrees with Fridman, but that he won't make any political statements.

The former son-in-law of Boris Yeltsin called for an end to the war in a Telegram post. Negotiations need to start as soon as possible. He called the economic situation in Russia a real crisis and urged greater economic reforms.

On Monday, the same day he was hit with EU sanctions, the richest person in Russia called the fighting a tragedy. The billionaire said that they must do everything they can to stop the bloodshed so that the affected people can return to normal life.

I have nothing to do with the current tensions. I don't understand why sanctions have been imposed against us.

Russian billionaires have called for an end to the war. The founder of Tinkoff Bank, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment, said that his illness has brought him some perspective about the fragility of human life. He said states should spend money on treating people, research to defeat cancer, and not on war.

The brothers behind Playrix, which makes free mobile-app games such as Homescapes and Fishdom, said they would give each of their 4,000 employees an extra paycheck and emphasized that violence can never be the solution to a problem.

It is difficult to remain silent in the current situation because it is a great tragedy for everyone. The brothers wrote in a post that it was hard to imagine.

The point of no return has been passed and this will be a big story that will touch the lives of millions of people according to the billionaire co-owner of roofing and insulation producer Technonicol. He told viewers not to panic and to buy Russian companies' depreciated securities. He told Forbes Russia that he wanted all the uncertainty to end.

The significance is great. After funding opposition parties against Putin, the richest man in Russia was thrown in jail for tax evasion, and his fortune was seized. He denied all the charges. Since then, few have dared to oppose Putin. The war against Ukraine must be stopped at any cost, according to the man himself.

It is not possible to know if these billionaires are sincere in their pleas to end the fighting, or if they are a response to impending sanctions or a collapsing economy.

Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of the English soccer team, gave the team to a charity. According to a U.K. journalist, the daughter of a Russian billionaire put an anti-war message on social media.

Forbes Russia is a publication of Forbes Media.