Vice-President of Gazprombank Igor Volobuev left Russia for Ukraine and joined the ranks of the territorial defense there. He spoke about this in an interview with journalists Denis Kazantsev, Sergei Loiko and Liga.net.

Volobuev was born in Akhtyrka, Sumy region. Now his father and younger brother live there.

According to Volobuev, he went to Ukraine immediately after the start of the war. “I decided that I couldn’t live in Russia anymore. I could no longer observe from the outside what she was doing with my homeland, ”says the former top manager. He went to Ukraine to “defend his Akhtyrka with weapons in his hands.” Volobuev noted that, given his status, it was “very difficult” to get to his homeland – he had to get there through Turkey, Latvia and Poland.

The former top manager sees his return as “repentance.” He stated that he wanted to “wash off his Russian past.” Volobuev called the war against Ukraine “a crime on the part of Putin, the Russian authorities and the Russian people.” Speaking about collective responsibility, he explained that “it is not Putin who kills Ukrainians here, it is not Putin who steals toilets, it is not Putin who rapes women – this is the Russian people.”

The former top manager added that he was ashamed of this, and he “will repent all his life” because he has “double responsibility.” “I’m not just a Russian. I was born here, I lived here [в Украине] I am 18 years old, so I answer double and triple, ”Volobuev explained.

The man worked at Gazprombank for more than 6 years. There he was engaged in PR for industrial assets. Prior to that, he worked at Gazprom for 16 years, 9 of which was the head of the press service. Since the beginning of this year, at least four top managers of Russian gas companies have died under strange circumstances.

At the same time, Volobuev does not link his departure with a threat to life. However, the former top manager does not believe in the suicide of his colleagues. He called the death of another former vice-president of Gazprombank and members of his family a staging. “I know that at the time of his alleged suicide, he was the current first vice president of Gazprombank. I do not believe that he could kill his wife and daughter, I think that this is a staging. Why? It is hard to say. Maybe he knew something and represented some kind of danger, ”Volobuev explained.

He also told how Gazprom has discredited Ukraine over the past 20 years. According to Volobuev, “the task was to tie Ukraine to itself and put it on a gas needle, like Belarus.” In addition, Gazprom managed to denigrate Ukraine as a reliable gas supplier in the eyes of European consumers. This made it possible to convince Europe of the need to build bypass routes: Nord Stream, Turkish Stream, Nord Stream-2. Thus, they wanted to “deprive Ukraine of the status of a transit state.”

According to Volobuev, Russian gas transit volumes have indeed fallen significantly: from 104 billion cubic meters in 2011 to 41 billion cubic meters in 2021. According to him, the information war against Ukraine was led by Alexei Gromov, deputy head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation. Millions of dollars were spent on this. Volobuev also noted that as a result, this made it possible to put Europe on the “gas needle”, where the share of Russian gas has grown from 25% to 40% over 10 years.

Now the former top manager is in Kyiv. He understands that it will be difficult to earn the trust of Ukrainians. Will he be accepted at home, Volobuev does not know. “I understand that I came all in shit, and I have no idea that I can completely wash it all off. They can spit in my face, and I will know why. I understand that it will be very difficult, and I understand that I deserve it, ”he concluded.

Volobuev is not the only top manager of Russian state-owned companies who left Russia after February 24th. Yelena Bunina, CEO of Yandex, and Andrey Panov, Deputy CEO of Aeroflot, also left the country. Both top managers explained their decision by the war in Ukraine.

from https://hindustannewshub.com