Sputnik/Pool via Reuters
Russia’s Vladimir Putin lashed out on Tuesday at a former ally who bailed on the country last year in apparent protest at the war against Ukraine, mocking him for “hiding” and “going underground” in Israel.
Putin’s comments, filmed at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, marked his first public reaction to the departure of Anatoly Chubais, who resigned as climate envoy and adviser to the Russian president shortly after the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion last year. He was purported to be the highest-ranking member of the government to ditch the country over the war.
According to Putin, who cited “some photograph from the internet,” his former adviser “is no longer Anatoly Borisovich Chubais, but some Moisha Israelievich.”