VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 12 (Interfax) - Anatoly Chubais failed as head of Russian nanotechnology corporation Rusnano both economically and financially, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"He clearly did not succeed in that work at the helm of the company, a large one, that was created to develop nanotechnologies, at least in economic and financial terms," Putin said at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum on Tuesday.
Putin said he believes the possible opening of criminal cases over Rusnano's financial results could have prompted Chubais to relocate abroad.
"I don't understand why he is doing it, why he has fled. It may be related to the complex processes underway within this structure - Rusnano - which he headed for many years, and there is a large hole, a huge financial hole in it. I am not going to give any figures now, but they are quite big," he said.
"Maybe, he fears that all this will eventually lead to criminal cases, which is why he has gone underground in Israel. Why on Earth does he need that? To be honest, I don't understand that," Putin said.
Putin said he had been shown "a photo from the Internet" where the ex-head of Rusnano "is no longer Anatoly Borisovich Chubais but some Moshe Izrailevich who lives there."
The president said he had not read Chubais' recent article, in which Chubais introduced himself as an independent researcher from Glasgow.
"He has even been writing [...] He is pretty clever. I have not read this article. Maybe, he has written something useful," the president said.
Anatoly Chubais was one of the authors of the economic reforms carried out in Russia in the 1990s. In different time periods, he held senior posts in the Russian government and headed the presidential office. He also headed Rusnano in the 2000s. From 2020 to 2022, Chubais served as the Russian president's special envoy in charge of ties with international organizations to achieve sustainable development goals.
It became known in 2022 that he had moved abroad.