Prominent Russians Quit Jobs, Rap Putin For Invading Ukraine

The resignation of a senior Russian government official and his reported move abroad wasn’t the first voluntary departure of a person from a state job since the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine, but it certainly was one of the most striking, Associated Press (AP) reported.

Photo Insert: Arkady Dvorkovich, who once served as Russia’s deputy prime minister and is currently chairman of the International Chess Federation, or FIDE, criticized the war with Ukraine.

Anatoly Chubais, 66, who was President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to international organizations on sustainable development, is well known in Russia. He held high profile posts for nearly three decades, beginning under Boris Yeltsin, the first post-Soviet leader. At one time, he was Putin’s boss.

A number of public figures have condemned the invasion and left their posts at state-run institutions and companies, which could signal divisions in Russia’s official ranks over the war. So far, resignations have not reached Putin’s inner circle.

The handful of departures came as Putin blasted those opposing his course as “scum and traitors,” which Russian society would spit out “like a gnat.”

Aside from Chubais, the others are Arkady Dvorkovich, who once served as Russia’s deputy prime minister and is currently chairman of the International Chess Federation, or FIDE. He criticized the war with Ukraine in comments made to Mother Jones magazine on March 14 and came under fire from the Kremlin’s ruling party.

“Wars are the worst things one might face in life. Any war. Anywhere. Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections. Including this war,” he said.

Lilia Gildeyeva was a longtime anchor at the state-funded NTV channel, which for two decades has carefully toed the Kremlin line. She quit the job and left Russia shortly after the invasion. She told the news site The Insider this week that she decided “to stop all this” on Feb. 24.

“It was an immediate nervous breakdown,” she said. Zhanna Agalakova was a journalist for another state-run TV channel, Channel One, spending more than 20 years there and working as an anchor and then a correspondent in Paris, New York, and other countries. News about Agalakova quitting her job began emerging three weeks after the invasion.

This week, she gave a news conference in Paris confirming the reports and explaining her decision.

“We have come to a point when on TV, on the news, we’re seeing the story of only one person — or the group of people around him. All we see are those in power. In our news, we don’t have the country. In our news, we don’t have Russia,” Agalakova said.

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