Former Russian deputy prime minister criticises war in Ukraine

Arkady Dvorkovich
Getty Images for Kaspersky Lab
Sami Quadri15 March 2022

A former Russian deputy prime minister has criticised the war in the Ukraine.

"Wars are the worst things one might face in life ..., including this war," Arkady Dvorkovich told Mother Jones in an interview. "My thoughts are with Ukrainian civilians."

Mr Dvorkovich, who served as a deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2018, following a stint as the top Kremlin economic adviser to then-President Dmitry Medvedev, said he remains living in Russia where he is “safe with my family and friends”.

"Wars do not just kill priceless lives," Mr Dvorkovich was quoted as saying. "Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections."

Mr was also chairman of the FIFA World Cup Russian organising committee, and chair of Russia’s state-owned railways.

Mr Dvorkovich, who is now president of the International Chess Federatio(FIDE), is one of the most high-profile former senior Kremlin officials to openly criticise the war.

The war in Ukraine began on February 24 when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a "special military operation," the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.

During the show, an activist held up a sign in English and Russian that said: "NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you here."

The protester could be seen and heard for several seconds before the channel switched to a different report so she was no longer visible.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in