Andrei Klepach of VEB said Russia’s economy was falling behind China, US and ‘in some respects Ukraine’ Europe live – latest updates The chief economist at Russia’s second-largest bank has been fired after a series of critical comments about the state of the economy, including warnings that Mosco...
Source: [Guardian World](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/17/andrei-klepach-russian-banker-fired-warning-economy)