- Aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska warned Thursday that Russia may run out of money in 2024.
- He told the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum that funds were running low, Bloomberg reported.
Russia may run out of money in 2024 due to sanctions imposed by the West following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Oleg Deripaska warned Thursday.
The aluminum oligarch told the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum in Siberia that Russia "will need foreign investors" as its funds were running low and "there will be no money already next year," Bloomberg reported.
Deripaska, who founded Rusal, one of the world's biggest aluminum producers, said the gloomy economic outlook was due to "serious" pressure from western sanctions, per the report. The US has imposed more than 2,700 sanctions against Russia, more than any other country, according to the Atlantic Council's database.
He told the forum that Russia needed to ensure a safe business climate for foreign investors, Bloomberg reported.
Despite Western sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine just over a year ago, the billionaire said Russia could still sell goods and services to countries with a total GDP of $30 trillion, per the report. "We thought we were a European country. Now, for the next 25 years, we will think more about our Asian past."
Deripaska was personally sanctioned by the United States in 2018 over his links with alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Britain and the European Union also sanctioned him last year shortly after the war began.
His comments come as Moscow considers raising taxes or imposing levies on companies to help pay for the conflict.
Forbes reported in November that the war had cost Russia $82 billion to date. Reuters estimated that Moscow would spend about $155 billion on defense and security in 2023.
A few days after the invasion Deripaska used a Telegram post to call for peace talks "as fast as possible," Reuters reported, adding: "Peace is very important."