Oleg Deripaska, a key Putin oligarch ally, posted a scathing anti-war commentary on Telegram
It also ripped into Joe Biden's Warsaw speech. Some more details /1
Deripaska accused Biden of falsely framing the Ukraine war as a conflict between NATO and Russian oligarchs
He sarcastically asks, "apparently they planned it. Who? Potanin with Yevtushenkov"
This builds on Medvedev's recent comments that oligarchs did not influence Putin /2
Deripaska described the war as "madness" and said "we will be ashamed for a long time before our descendants"
He also stated that Russia and Ukraine, and the West by proxy, extinguished their hope of diplomacy, and instead created a "hellish ideological mobilization" /3
Deripaska predicted that Russia's war with Ukraine could last a "few more years," as all participants in the conflict (unnamed but presumably Putin, Biden and Zelensky) had elections in 2024
He called this escalation a "crazy turn" and invoked the movie "The Tail Wags the Dog /4
Deripaska's strident tone could have personal motives
Australian sanctions on alumina cut directly into his business, and his Western assets have been frozen
But it illustrates the potential for public Russian oligarch discontent as the war rages on /5