A longtime Putin advisor has reportedly resigned over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and left the country

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A longtime Putin advisor has reportedly resigned over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and left the country
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) listens to Rosnano Chairman Anatoly Chubais while visiting the Chelyabinsk Pipe-Rolling Plant, in Chelyabinsk, Russia, December 5, 2016.Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
  • A longtime Putin advisor has reportedly stepped down from his post and fled the country.
  • Anatoly Chubais left his job in Russia's government over the country's war in Ukraine.
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One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's high-ranking advisors has reportedly stepped down and left the country, according to Russian state media outlet TASS.

Anatoly Chubais, who served as Putin's climate change envoy and gave Putin his first government job in the 90s, quit in protest over the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.

Chubais has been an influential reformer in Russia's government since the fall of the Soviet Union. The oligarch is the highest-level Kremlin official to break ties with Russia after Putin launched a full-scale invasion against Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.

Last week, Arkady Dvorkovich, who formerly served as former deputy prime minister under Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, resigned from his position as chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, and openly denounced the war against Ukraine, which has resulted in thousands of fatalities.

"My thoughts are with Ukrainian civilians," Dvorkovich said in an interview with Mother Jones. "Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections

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During a televised speech last week, Putin lambasted citizens who don't support Russia in Ukraine, according to Aljazeera.

Russians, he said, "will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths."

"I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country," he added, according to the report.

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