Russia’s chief economist at VEB, Andrei Klepach, was dismissed after he warned that the country would lose a “war of attrition” against Ukraine and that the conflict’s economic toll would trigger a major crisis. The decision came after a “call from up high” to Igor Shuvalov, the former top economic aide to President Vladimir Putin, according to The Bell.

Klepach’s remarks, made at a May conference and reported widely by the Moscow Times, were unusually frank for a prominent figure speaking publicly. He warned that Russia was falling behind technologically and economically, not just to China and the US, but also to Ukraine, and that the war would not end soon.

He said the war‑driven boom of 2023–24 had given way to an industrial recession, with high interest rates from the central bank contributing to a contraction. The Kremlin’s budget for the first seven months ran a deficit of Rbs6.5 tn, double the planned Rbs3.8 tn, as military spending rose.

Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian energy and logistics infrastructure have pushed the country into its biggest fuel crisis since the Soviet Union, while the central bank has kept its key rate at 14% to fight inflation. The move signals zero tolerance for dissent among Russia’s elite as the invasion drags into its fifth year.