All news

Russian businessman predicts crisis in Ukraine to last 3-4 years

“We must get over it and wait for three to four years to recuperate,” Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, the main shareholder of the nonferrous metals producer UC Rusal, said

DAVOS, January 22. /TASS/. Current development of the situation in Ukraine is a tragedy that everyone will have to get over, believes Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, the main shareholder of the nonferrous metals producer UC Rusal.

As he took the floor at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Deripaska said the Ukrainian misadventure would take three to four years to calm down. “That’s a tragedy,” he said. “About 40% Russians have relatives in Ukraine and about 70% Ukrainians have relatives in Russia. The whole situations won’t be too dragged-out.”

He sees a whole range of reasons for what happened in Ukraine.

“This couldn’t be foreseen for several years on end from whatever side and the whole story looks much more as a disastrous mishap,” Deripaska said. “But sufferings bring up wisdom. I don’t know when this situation comes to an end yet I feel confident joint work is the right answer to it.”

“We must get over it and wait for three to four years to recuperate,” he said. “There hasn’t been a single war between Slavic peoples over a thousand year, which anyone would take pride in afterwards.”