Russia could find its coffers empty next year and needs investment from friendly countries to break the hold of sanctions on the economy , billionaire Oleg Deripaska said on Thursday.
“There will be no money already next year,” he said at the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum in Siberia.
“We will need foreign investors."
Mr Deripaska, founder of United Co Rusal International, the biggest aluminum producer outside China , said funds were running low and “that’s why they’ve already begun to shake us down".
They were among the most outspoken comments by a prominent business leader as the government looks to make large companies pay after ending last year with a record fiscal deficit and the budget still deep in the red for the start of 2023.
Authorities are already planning to raise more budget revenue with proposed changes to how they tax oil companies, and they may wrest more money from other commodity producers by means of a one-time levy.
While Russia had a surprise boom in capital spending last year, the outlook has turned more grim, especially as huge military spending strains public finances.
One year of the Russia-Ukraine war - in pictures February 24 will be a year since Russia started the Ukraine war. The National picks out the most powerful images from the conflict. AFP
A member of Ukraine's 79th Air Assault Brigade fires a rocket-propelled grenade at Russian positions near Marinka in February. Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses MPs in Westminster Hall, London, in February 2023. Getty Images
Destroyed buildings 32km west of the front lines in Donetsk in January. Getty Images
An anti-aircraft gun in January fires at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk. Reuters
Destruction in the village of Bohorodychne, Donetsk. AFP
A Ukrainian artilleryman discards an empty shell on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, in December 2022. AFP
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Parts of a drone, which Ukrainian authorities said was Iranian-made, after a Russian strike in Kyiv in October 2022. Reuters
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A bomb crater on the Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river in Kherson, July 2022. AFP
Maksym and Andrii with plastic guns at a 'checkpoint' they set up while playing in Kharkiv, July 2022. AP
Ukrainian troops on Snake Island in June 2022. Reuters
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Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv in June 2022. Getty Images
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The wreckage of a Russian helicopter in a bomb-cratered field in Biskvitne, May 2022. Getty Images
A Ukrainian army officer inspects a grain warehouse shelled by Russian forces in May 2022 near Novovorontsovka, Kherson. Getty Images
A boy from Mariupol arriving at an evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia in May 2022. Getty Images
A Russian serviceman on guard outside Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in May 2022. AFP
Oksana searches for salvageable items on the destroyed second floor of her home in Hostomel, April 2022. Getty Images
A floral memorial wall in Lviv for Ukrainian civilians killed during the Russian invasion, April 2022. Getty Images
People fleeing Lviv, eastern Ukraine, in April 2022, wait for a bus that will take them to Poland. Getty Images
A Russian soldier patrols a bombed Mariupol theatre in April 2022, as Moscow intensified its campaign to take the strategic port city. AFP
A Ukrainian celebrates success in Hostomel in April 2022. Getty Images
Julia Palovskaya reads to children during an air raid drill in the basement shelter at a preschool in Lviv, April 2022. Getty Images
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Bucha in April 2022, where hundreds of bodies were found in the street and it was claimed the Russian leadership was responsible for killing civilians. AFP
Oleh Smolin, 23, who suffered leg injuries from Russian shelling in April 2022, in hospital in Chuhuiv. Getty Images
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Ukrainians under a destroyed bridge as they try to cross the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv in March 2022. AP
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Russian army vehicles in Armyansk, Crimea, in February 2022. AFP
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 25, 2022, in a video on Facebook. He said 'we are all here', shortly after the Russian invasion began. AFP
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A metro station in Kyiv in February 2022, crowded with people trying to escape the invasion. AFP
A police officer addresses people gathered to protest against the invasion of Ukraine, in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, February 2022. AFP
A protester in support of Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany, in February 2022. Getty Images
Ukrainian soldiers prepare to repel an attack in Ukraine's Lugansk region on February 24, 2022. AFP
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 24, 2022, after Russia launched a full-scale invasion. AFP
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Security personnel inspect the remains of a shell in Kyiv on February 24, 2022, soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine. AFP
CCTV footage shows Russian military equipment crossing a Crimea border checkpoint on February 24, 2022. AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin early on February 24, 2022, when he announced a 'military operation' in Ukraine. AFP
But even with sanctions and other restrictions squeezing revenues from energy exports, the economy may grow slightly this year, the International Monetary Fund said.
Mr Deripaska, on whom the US imposed sanctions in 2018, was also placed under European penalties after Russia attacked Ukraine a year ago.
He called for peace in the weeks after the invasion but has taken a more cautious line on the war in recent months.
Mr Deripaska said building “state capitalism is not an option” and warned of “serious” pressure from sanctions.
“Russia should keep developing the market economy,” he said.
“A foreign investor will look at how a Russian investor makes money, what conditions exist.”
Russia and Ukraine conflict latest - in pictures A tank, seen left, fires a round in Soledar, a town in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Reuters
Tank fire in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters
Firefighters work to put out a blaze at a Kharkiv fireworks storage site after it was struck by a Russian missile. Getty
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, visits his troops on the frontline in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters
A Ukrainian flag attached to a tank flutters in the wind in Bakhmut. Reuters
A specialist from an emergency crew works on a residential building in Donetsk that was damaged in recent shelling. Reuters
A missile fragment left by shelling in Russian-controlled Donetsk. AP
Residents remove debris and carry their belongings out of a building destroyed by recent shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters
Ukrainian forces fire an anti-aircraft weapon as Russia's attack on the frontline city of Bakhmut continues. Reuters
A car drives past a destroyed building purported to have been used as temporary accommodation for Russian soldiers, dozens of whom were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike in Makiivka, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters
The site of a temporary barracks for Russian soldiers in Makiivka, which was destroyed in a Ukrainian missile attack. Reuters
A Ukrainian serviceman carries his injured comrade from the battlefield to a hospital in the Donetsk region. AP
Smoke rises after shelling in Soledar, the site of heavy battles with Russian forces in the Donetsk region. AP
Countries with “serious resources” could become partners for Russia, Mr Deripaska said.
The government needs to make sure Russia is attractive for such investors by ensuring a safe business climate with more economic freedoms and competition, he said.
Even with many of the world’s biggest economies against Russia, it still has access to markets, with a population of 4.5 billion and accounting for $30 trillion of global gross domestic product, he said.
“We thought we were a European country,” Mr Deripaska said. “Now, for the next 25 years, we will think more about our Asian past.”
Updated: March 02, 2023, 9:28 PM