Peskov: Putin Approved "voluntary Contributions" Of Billionaires
- 27.03.2026, 19:34
Russian oligarchs will "discount" the war in Ukraine.
Russia's dictator Vladimir Putin did not propose at a closed-door meeting with the country's major businessmen to make voluntary contributions to the budget, but supported the idea. His spokesman Dmitri Peskov said this on Friday, March 27, commenting on the corresponding statement published by The Bell.
According to the head of state's spokesman, the media information that such a proposal was voiced by Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin and that the meeting discussed allocating money for the war is incorrect. "The truth is that one of the participants in the meeting did say that he considered it necessary for the state to allocate a certain large, very large amount of money, and this was his family decision," Peskov said in a conversation with reporters.
The businessman explained such a move, according to the presidential spokesman, by the fact that "the vast majority of the participants in the meeting started just their business in the 90s, and mostly, of course, this beginning was in one way or another connected with the state." "Many consider it their duty to make such contributions," Peskov noted. He also indicated that Putin "welcomed such an initiative."
On March 26, following a congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, at which Putin, among others, spoke, the Russian president held a private meeting with the country's major businessmen. According to The Bell's sources, at it the head of state spoke about plans to reach the administrative borders of the Donetsk region during the war in Ukraine, and then offered to make voluntary contributions to the budget.
One of the publication's interlocutors indicated that the idea to "shake up business in hard times for the country" belonged to Sechin, who outlined it in a letter to Putin the day before the meeting. It is said that the letter suggested placing military bonds as a mechanism for raising funds.
A number of businessmen responded to the request directly at the meeting. For example, businessman and Federation Council member from Dagestan Suleyman Kerimov promised to allocate 100 billion rubles, The Bell's sources point out. Another businessman who responded to Putin's offer was metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, the British newspaper The Financial Times reported, citing sources. The publication also confirmed the information of The Bell's interlocutors that Putin at the meeting stated his intentions to continue the war in Ukraine until reaching the administrative borders of the Donetsk region.
The closed meeting of businessmen with Putin was also commented on by Deripaska. "We all need the same result - to restore the rate of economic growth. And the president paid a lot of attention to this very issue - what restrictions, what problems, what prospects given the changed situation on foreign markets," the billionaire said in a conversation with Channel One.