a month before Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the head of Sberbank of Russia German Gref and the Chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, Putin’s proximities on economic issues, visited his residence in Novo-Ogarsevo to inform about the possible consequences of Western sanctions, writes the publication Financial Times, referring to its sources.
According to them, Gref spoke to Putin with a 39-page presentation, warning the Russian president about the catastrophic consequences that could follow if the tension around Ukraine, which has already reached the climax, will worsen even more.
Nabiullina and some other Russian officials shared Gref’s fears and helped prepare a presentation that warned that tough sanctions for Ukraine could cause panic in financial markets and discard the Russian economy for decades ago.
According to several people familiar with this question, while Gref spoke about the possible consequences, Putin interrupted him and asked what Russia should do to avoid the worst of the sanctions, the article says.
As the publication writes, Putin’s inability to listen to the warnings “devastated the technocrats”: “I have never seen (Gref) this. He was completely lost in a state of complete shock,” said the man who saw Gref in the first days of the war.