In a sign of the unease about Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine that exists behind closed doors in Moscow, one of Russia’s most senior bankers was fired yesterday after a series of critical comments he made earlier in the year about the fragility of Russia’s economy. Warning that Russia was ‘falling behind’ globally both technologically and economically, Andrey Klepach stated the country would fail to win the economic ‘war of attrition’ against Ukraine. ‘The Ukrainian economy, despite everything, is surviving,’ he said.

Klepach, chief economist at Russia’s second-largest, state-owned bank VEB, gave a speech in May, during which he linked the pressure on the country’s economy with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The comments came to light on Friday, three months after Klepach originally made them. 

Remarkably, Klepach rounded off his presentation by warning that the costs to Russia from the war with Ukraine ‘were mounting’ at home. Citing a worsening quality of healthcare and rising inequality, he suggested that a ‘social........

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