Chubais resigned his post as Kremlin’s special envoy and left the country over the war in Ukraine, according to Reuters, which quoted two sources familiar with the matter. Chubais did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. He has not independently confirmed that he left Russia or the reason for his resignation.
Chubais has been working in the environmental field since Dec. 4, 2020, TASS said.
In the 1990s he rose to prominence as Boris Yeltsin’s finance minister.
According to Reuters, Chubais was blamed by his opponents for selling state assets to a small group of oligarchs after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of these oligarchs have been placed under Western sanctions since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
However, his supporters praise Chubais’ attempts to transform Russia’s economy into a free market.
In the early days of Putin’s rise to power, Chubais was seen as an opponent of the current president. In a series of interviews in 1999, Putin claimed that Chubais had resigned from the Kremlin job he had originally been offered.
In recent years, Chubais has continued to call for economic reforms and has been one of the most high-profile liberals associated with the Russian government.