thegreatdivide
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(Daily Mail)
Russia's most powerful banker urges Putin to end war
Russia's most powerful banker has broken ranks and called on Vladimir Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine as soon as possible. German Gref, who heads up the state-controlled Sberbank, said that Russians are deeply concerned by the worsening economic conditions of the country, which are being exacerbated by the war and Ukraine's strikes on oil refineries.
He said in an interview with state TV: 'I think what's worrying every one of us is one and the same thing. 'I don't think there's a single person who isn't concerned about anything other than a rapid end of hostilities, that's clear.' Gref's unprecedented public plea came as a poll showed 81 per cent of Russians want the war to end, the highest since the conflict began, according to the Kyiv-based Institute for Conflict Study and Analysis.
The banker has already made clear the war, with its high military spending, is leading to havoc in the economy which is suffering from petrol queues, falling wages, redundancies, soaring prices and cripplingly high interest rates. He warned Putin: 'We have already overcooled the economy: Russia's economic growth has come to a near standstill. While the economy isn't collapsing, it has shifted into a highly stressed war footing. Growth has been halted by massive labor shortages, plunging investments, high inflation, and an escalating fuel crisis caused by strikes on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian military supply routes as part of a mounting campaign to target Moscow's logistics far behind the frontline, an effort analysts have said is helping slow its war machine after more than four years of conflict.
Ukraine's defence ministry said that its forces hit 11 oil refineries, as well as fuel logistics facilities, military factories, and other targets in June. Separately, the country's security service, the SBU, said it struck hangars housing Russian fighter jets at an airfield in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Putin is heading to a Hitler-like conclusion...the fool.
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