Mukhtar Ablyazov: “Putin will stay in power until the end of April at most”

One of the most influential Kazakh businessmen shared his views on the current state of affairs in the Russian Federation.

Mukhtar Ablyazov, the former Minister of Power Engineering, Industry and Trade of Kazakhstan (April 1998 – October 1999), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Turan Alem (BTA Bank), commented the impact of the Western sanctions on the Russian economy: “Although I used to announce live that the Putin regime had three to six months left, in my view, the optimistic scenario makes three months which seems to be more realistic than that of 6 months. But, so to speak, I have said that Putin’s maximum life expectancy will be 6 months in any pessimistic scenario. But after today’s decision of the Central Bank of Russia to limit foreign currency deposits, I realized that Putin would remain in power until the end of April at max”.

Ablyazov believes that the events in the RF are developing extremely fast. Within a week, 2 million people lost their jobs after Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, and other large trade companies had left the Russian market, Zhiguli halted its production and McDonald’s closed 850 centers. “And that’s apart from America’s recent sanctions of banning oil purchase. The losses here are devastating,” the Kazakh expert summed up.