A Russian businessman has labelled the invasion of Ukraine a “massacre” and called for an end to the “insane war”.
In a message on his Instagram, Oleg Tinkov, 54, denounced Russia’s invasion and said he did not see a “single beneficiary” to the conflict.
Mr Tinkov, who founded the Tinkoff Bank in 2006 and has been based out of Russia over the last few years, said that the majority of Russians do not support the invasion of Ukraine.
“Waking up with a hangover, the generals realised that they have a s**t army,” Mr Tinkov said on Instagram.
“And how will the army be good, if everything else in the country is s**t and mired in nepotism, sycophancy and servility?”
He then switched to English, where he wrote: “Dear ‘collective west’ please give Mr Putin a clear exit to save his face and stop this massacre.
“Please be more rational and humanitarian.”
Tinkoff Bank, whose founder stood down as chairman in 2020, said it would not comment on a private opinion.
Russia introduced a so-called fake news laws in order to clamp down on dissent against the ongoing conflict.
The new laws will see anyone who spreads so-called false information about the Russian state or the army charged with prison sentences of up to 15 years.
While the businessman criticised the war, the UN refugee agency says more than five million people have fled the country since the war began. A further 2,224 civilians have also been killed.
