Putin signs the law suspending Russia's participation in New START 2:52
(CNN) --
Russia could run out of money next year and needs foreign investment, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has said openly.
"There will be no money next year, we need foreign investors," he told an economic conference in Siberia on Thursday, according to comments reported by TASS, a Russian state news agency.
The comments from the billionaire, who called for an end to Moscow's war in Ukraine in the early days of the conflict last year, contrast with a more optimistic assessment of Russia's economic fortunes made by President Vladimir Putin last week.
Putin praised the resilience of the country's economy in the face of unprecedented Western sanctions imposed last year.
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Russia's economic output contracted 2.1% last year, according to a preliminary government estimate.
The contraction was more limited than many economists initially predicted.
But the cracks are beginning to show: Russia is cutting its oil production this month, and Western sanctions could increase further.
Ultimately, Russia's economic prospects depend on what happens in Ukraine.
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Foreign investors, especially from "friendly" countries, also have an important role to play, Deripaska said.
Whether those investments come through depends on whether Russia can create the right conditions and make its markets attractive, she said.
Oleg Deripaska in a file photograph (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
In an attempt to deprive Russia of funds for its aggression, Western countries have announced more than 11,300 sanctions since the February 2022 invasion and have frozen some $300 billion of Russia's foreign reserves.
But China has given the Kremlin an economic lifeline by buying its energy, replacing Western suppliers of machinery and base metals, among other products, and providing an alternative to the US dollar.
Still, Moscow faces a steep hill to replace revenue lost as a result of sanctions, especially on exports.
Data released on Friday showed that European Union imports from Russia fell 51% in value between February and December last year.
The bloc was one of Russia's main trading partners before the invasion of Ukraine, with 38% of Russia's exports going to the European Union in 2020.
Russian government revenue plummeted 35% in January compared to a year earlier, while spending rose 59%, leading to a budget deficit of about $1,761,000 rubles ($23.3 billion). of dollars).
Deripaska made his fortune in the aluminum business during the chaotic scramble for assets that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In 2018 he was sanctioned by the United States, which pointed out that the oligarch "does not separate from the Russian state."
Last year, he was charged with allegedly violating US sanctions.
Forbes estimates Deripaska's current net worth at just under $3 billion.
Anna Chernova contributed to this reporting.
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