Russia & Eurasia — 2026-08-19

Russian State Bank VEB.RF Fires Chief Economist Klepach After 12 Years Over Remarks That Russia Is Losing Economic Competition to Ukraine and West

BLUFKlepach's dismissal on a reported Kremlin-directed order signals that even credentialed insiders face career consequences for publicly conceding Ukrainian economic resilience, accelerating self-censorship across Russia's state-linked analytical class.

VEB.RF chief economist Andrei Klepach was fired on August 16 after 12 years in the post; two sources told The Bell the dismissal followed a phone order "from above" reaching VEB head Igor Shuvalov 1. Both sources tied the firing to remarks Klepach delivered in May at a Moscow Exchange Nikitsky Club event, in which he said Russia is "losing the technological and economic competition" not only to China and the US but "in some respects" to Ukraine, and predicted a domestic "social crisis" even as he assessed the economy would not collapse 123. Those remarks drew wide attention only after The Moscow Times published excerpts on August 14, two days before the dismissal 23. A VEB.RF representative confirmed to Vedomosti and Kommersant that Klepach has left the post and that a successor has already been chosen but not named, declining to state a reason; sources close to VEB told both outlets the departure reflects a divergence between Klepach's personal public assessments and the corporation's official position 45. VEB.RF has not commented publicly on the circumstances of the dismissal 3.

Analysis
VEB.RF's leadership will not tolerate public dissent from official growth narratives even from its most credentialed macroeconomist, and Shuvalov's reported order from above points to Kremlin-level sensitivity to elite commentary conceding ground to Ukraine, with moderate confidence reflecting anonymous sourcing offset by VEB.RF's own confirmation that Klepach's views diverged from corporate position. The precedent creates strong institutional incentive for other state-linked economists to self-censor comparative assessments of Russian versus Ukrainian resilience, narrowing dissenting technical voices reaching Russian media. Reporting rests on independent, corroborated accounts across The Bell, Kommersant, Vedomosti and The Moscow Times with no single-wire dependency, though VEB.RF's stated rationale, that Klepach's independent analytical activity simply diverged from institutional messaging, may reflect routine personnel turnover around a long-tenured economist rather than a Kremlin-directed political purge.

5 sources