Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on reports that Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with major entrepreneurs, suggested they make voluntary contributions to the budget to help finance the war in Ukraine.
“One of the participants in the meeting did indeed say that, for the state, he considers it necessary to allocate a certain large, very large sum of money, and that it was his family’s decision,” RBC quoted Peskov as saying.
The Kremlin representative did not specify who exactly put forward this initiative. According to him, Putin supported the idea.
The day before, two sources told The Bell that after the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), Putin held a closed meeting with major business figures. According to them, the continuation of the war in Ukraine and its funding were discussed there.
“They said, we will keep fighting,” one of the publication’s sources paraphrased the essence of Putin’s remarks. “We will go to the borders of Donbas,” another added.
After that, both sources claim, Putin proposed that business figures make voluntary contributions to the budget. Some oligarchs, they said, responded immediately during the meeting: Suleiman Kerimov promised to contribute 100 billion rubles. The Financial Times reports that Oleg Deripaska also said he was ready to make such donations.
According to a The Bell source, the idea to “shake business down in a difficult time for the country” belonged to Rosneft head Igor Sechin. He had previously presented it to Putin in a letter.
The Financial Times notes that this is the first time Russian business will directly finance the war. Before this, the publication writes, the Kremlin had preferred to raise taxes. In particular, from January 1, VAT in Russia increased from 20 to 22%.