Veteran Russian reformer and presidential advisor on climate agenda Anatoly Chubais has stepped down and left the country, citing his opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on March 23 citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.

This would make him the highest-level official to break with the Kremlin over the military invasion of Ukraine so far. As suggested by bne IntelliNews, Chubais' departure will further contribute to wrecking the nascent Russian state green agenda.

Chubais – the man behind the country’s 1990s privatisation drive – was appointed "Climate Czar"  by Putin in 2020, curating and co-ordinating state efforts to curb climate change and other pressing ESG issues.

He previously headed the Rosnano state nanotechnology agency, but has left his post in the recent massive restructuring of Russia's cumbersome development institutions, and was appointed by Putin as special ESG envoy for liaisons with international organisations.

Previously Arkady Dvorkovich, who was senior economic adviser to Dmitry Medvedev during his presidency and a deputy prime minister until 2018, stepped down as head of the state-backed Skolkovo technology hub fund after condemning the invasion. 

In the meantime, the head of Russia's natural gas major Gazprom, Aleksey Miller, addressed the company's employees and urged them not to succumb to "destructive influences" and to rally around Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The address of Miller comes amid a sharp escalation of oppression in Russia, with the last independent media shut down, foreign social media banned, and a barrage of laws targeting dissent and protest. On March 16 President Vladimir Putin urged the cleansing of the country of "scum and traitors", while the West relies on "a fifth column, on national traitors".