Anatoly Tsubais, who was President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to international organizations for sustainable development, is well known in Russia. He held high-profile positions for almost three decades, starting with Boris Yeltsin, the first post-Soviet leader. Some public figures condemned the invasion of Ukraine and relinquished their positions in state institutions and companies, which could signal divisions in Russia’s official war-torn class. So far there are no indications that the resignations have reached Putin’s inner circle. The small setbacks came as Putin ousted those who opposed his path as “scum and traitors” whom Russian society would spit “like a gnat.” Some of the high profile personalities who turned their backs on the Kremlin because of the war:

Anatoli Chubais

On Wednesday, the Kremlin confirmed media reports about the resignation of Chumbais, 66, who was the architect of Yeltsin’s privatization campaign. Reports, citing anonymous sources, said he had resigned because of the war. He did not comment publicly on his resignation. Under Yeltsin, Chubais reportedly advised the government to hire Putin, a move widely seen as a milestone in Putin’s career. Putin became president of Russia in 2000 when Yeltsin resigned. Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, appears with Chubais near Moscow in November 2016. (The Associated Press)
Chubais was also deputy prime minister from 1994 to 1996 and first deputy prime minister from 1997-98. The Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported on Wednesday that Chubais was spotted in Istanbul this week and posted a photo of a man who looked like him at a Turkish ATM. Since the beginning of the invasion, Istanbul has received many Russians who want to relocate.

Arkady Dvorkovich

Arkady Dvorkovich was once the Deputy Prime Minister and is currently the President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). He criticized the war with Ukraine in comments he made to Mother Jones magazine on March 14 and came under fire from the ruling Kremlin party. “Wars are the worst thing one can face in life. Any war. Anywhere. Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and ambitions, freeze or destroy relationships and ties. Including this war,” he said. Putin shakes hands with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich during a meeting in the Kremlin in April 2018. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / The Associated Press)
Dvorkovich added that FIDE “takes care that there are no official chess activities in Russia or Belarus and that players are not allowed to represent Russia or Belarus in official or rated tournaments until the end of the war and the return of Ukrainian players to the chessboard.” ». FIDE has banned a top Russian player for six months for his vocal support of Putin and the invasion. Two days after Dvorkovich’s comments, a senior member of the United Russia party called for his resignation from the presidency of the Skolkovo state institution. Last week, the foundation reported that Dvorkovich had decided to resign.

Lilia Gildeyeva

Lilia Gildeeva was a longtime presenter on the state-funded NTV channel, which for two decades carefully approached the Kremlin line. He quit his job and left Russia shortly after the invasion. He told the independent news website The Insider this week that he had decided to “stop it all” on the first day of the invasion on February 24. “It was an immediate nervous breakdown,” he said. “For several days I could not restrain myself. The decision was rather obvious immediately. There will be no more work.” Gildeeva said news coverage on state television was strictly controlled by the authorities, with the channels receiving orders from officials. He acknowledged that they had been involved since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and began supporting an separatist uprising in Ukraine. “When you gradually retreat into yourself, you do not notice the depth of the fall. And at some point, you find yourself face to face with the image that leads to February 24,” he said.

Zanna Agalakova

Zhanna Agalakova was a journalist for another state television channel, Channel One, who spent more than 20 years there working as a presenter and then as a correspondent in Paris, New York and other Western countries. Three weeks after the invasion, reports began circulating that Agalakova had resigned. This week, she gave a press conference in Paris confirming the reports and explaining her decision. Zhanna Agalakova, a journalist for Russia’s state-run Channel One television station, was spotted in Paris on Tuesday. (Francois Mori / The Associated Press)
“We have reached a point where on television, in the news, we see the story of a single person – or group of people around him. All we see are those in power. In our news, we do not see the country. In the news “We do not have Russia,” said Agalakova. Referring to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the support of separatists in Ukraine, she said that “she could not hide other than propaganda”, even as a foreign correspondent. Agalakova said she should “talk only about the bad things that are happening in the United States.” “My reports did not contain lies, but this is exactly how propaganda works: You take credible facts, you mix them up and a big lie comes together. The facts are true, but their mixture is propaganda,” he said.