Billionaire Oleg Deripaska: Russia plunges into chaos of very long crisis

The crisis in the Russian economy, which broke out due to the conflict in Ukraine and ensuing sanctions, may last for about three years, billionaire Oleg Deripaska said.

"This crisis will last for for three years at least. It's a highly severe one — you can multiply the 1998 crisis by three,” said the businessman speaking at a plenary session of the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum.

At the same time, Deripaska expressed confidence that a way out of the situation would be found.

Deripaska also called to support the population of Russia, which is not to blame for anything, he said.

Western countries started imposing tough sanctions on Russia in the midst of the special operation in Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24. In particular, the United States and the European Union imposed restrictions on several Russian banks, including VTB and Otkritie, and disconnected them from the SWIFT system. The sanctions also affected the public debt and operations of the Central Bank.

On March 3, German MEP Markus Buheit said that EU's anti-Russian sanctions were erroneous. In his opinion, they will entail long-term disruptions in trade relations with Moscow, as Russia is an important trading partner of Germany.