Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska was attacked by supporters of the war in Ukraine on Friday after making a rare anti-war statement in which he described the conflict as "insane" and called for an unconditional ceasefire.
Deripaska made the comments in an interview with Nikkei Asia in Japan this week on the sidelines of a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council, where he was officially representing Russia.
Told Nikkei Asia that he criticized his country's defense spending and called for an "immediate, unconditional ceasefire" in Ukraine, saying: "If you want to stop the war, you have to stop the fire first.
The reported comments marked the strongest criticism of the war by any Russian businessman still in Russia since the conflict began in February 2022.
"Previously, Deripaska's position on the special military operation was ambiguous. He has now clarified his position. He is on the other side," said the philosopher Alexander Dugin, considered one of the key ideologues of the war.
"This is a knife in the back of our forces and help for terrorists from the Ukrainian army who invaded the Kursk region," Dugin added in a statement posted on his Telegram channel.
Representatives for Deripaska did not respond to a request for comment.
Deripaska expanded his metals trading business when the Soviet Union collapsed, making a fortune by buying up stakes in aluminum plants. Forbes ranks his fortune in 2024 at $2.8 billion.
His latest comments surpassed his previous ones from 2022, when he called for peace in Ukraine and portrayed the war as a tragedy for both the Russian and Ukrainian people.
Deripaska has been under US sanctions since 2018 and has tried to legally challenge them in US courts. It has been under sanctions by the European Union and Britain since 2022. He called the sanctions a "19th century tool" and said they were ineffective.