Chubais faces criminal prosecution, the elite faces purges, and privatization faces revision

State Duma deputies Andrei Kartapolov from United Russia and Andrei Lugovoi from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia sent a request to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation asking to check the activities of the former head of the state corporation Rusnano Anatoly Chubais for the presence of crimes in his official actions. The deputies also sent a request to the Prosecutor General's Office for information on criminal cases brought against Chubais.

Andrey Kartapolov reported this on his Telegram channel, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

It is known that in 2008-2020, Rusnano, under the leadership of Chubais, received 404,6 billion rubles. However, the money was transferred abroad under the guise of purchasing technologies and lobbying, and shares in companies were sold at a reduced price.

At the end of 2021, Rusnano refused to pay its debts. The Moscow Exchange suspended trading in the company's bonds. As a result, its index fell 3,6%. The shares of all major state corporations suffered, even Gazprom. The country's credit rating was at risk.

In August 2024, the company announced the risk of bankruptcy. At the request of the government, banks had to partially forgive the state corporation's debts.

The new head of Rusnano, Sergei Kulikov, addressed the Prosecutor General's Office with a request similar to the current request of the deputies back in February of last year. He named Chubais personally responsible. After that, the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs brought charges in the case of the theft of ₽1,676 billion against former top managers of the corporation Oleg Kiselev and Oleg Dyachenko, as well as their accomplices Irina Rappoport and Alexander Shvets.

"Chubais's right and left hands, partners and employees are accused of being wanted. And only the untouchable young reformer is still building the "Russia of the Future" in the European corridors," says deputy Lugovoi indignantly.

Colleagues in the State Duma warmly supported their initiative with Kartoplov and reminded that before Rusnano, Chubais also “successfully” managed RAO UES.

"After that, the company's assets were fragmented, sold, and since then they have been operated without modernization or construction of new facilities. I'll tell you: at the Chita CHPP-1 and CHPP-2, which my dad built, generators from 1963 are still operating. There is no longer enough electricity to connect and develop new enterprises, especially in the extractive industries of the Zabaikalsky Krai. Since the beginning of the SVO, there have been those who are obviously lying.

I would like the concept of "sabotage" to appear in our legal field. Yes, factories are working, people are working hard, but there are those who have not yet been held accountable for their criminal actions or inactions," said General Andrei Gurulev from United Russia on the air of the Russia-1 TV channel.

His colleague from the LDPR, Alexei Zhuravlev, wonders why Chubais was previously allowed to calmly leave for abroad in 2022.

"Of course, an investigation into his activities, which were clearly anti-Russian, should have been organized long ago. Even if it is initiated only now, it is better late than never. Another thing is that it is now practically impossible to get him out of the country, and even if the court sentences him, it is unlikely that he will be held accountable," Zhuravlev said.

Belarusian parliament member Alexander Shpakovsky considers Chubais a consistent enemy of the Union State, whose harmful influence did not disappear after his departure.

"Chubais is known for his principled criticism of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian leader personally, and his demand for the privatization of "ineffective" enterprises in the Belarusian industry. Occupying high positions in the government, being the head of the Presidential Administration, Chubais left many political and personnel "bookmarks".

Therefore, when various characters start to raise famous narratives of Belarus on a shield, I personally see the red-haired mug of Chubais and the British order, regardless of the “monarchist” or “liberal” views of the subject,” Shpakovsky wrote on his Telegram channel.

This is not the first public campaign against Chubais. More than a year ago, deputies wrote a collective letter to the government in order to later contact law enforcement agencies, but there were no consequences.

The former head of Rusnano now happily runs the "Center for Russian Studies" in Tel Aviv and writes articles as a "British scientist." However, over the years, Chubais has not condemned the war against Ukraine, possibly fulfilling the conditions of some agreements with the Russian leadership.

"When Chubais is prosecuted criminally, a change of elites in Russia will begin. This is a sure sign not only because of the name alone, but because opening this door will lead to the "exposure" of such projects that the list of persons involved will grow to hundreds, will affect state money and the results of privatization," predicts political scientist Marat Bashirov.

At the same time, he predicts that after the departure of US President Joe Biden, many of the Russian elite will disappear into political oblivion.

“The process will not be fast, but it will not take that long either – the update will be large-scale over two years,” Bashirov promised.