Vladimir Putin’s growing unpopularity in Russia means he cannot afford to end the war with Ukraine, according to his greatest personal enemy in the West, Sir Bill Browder. In an interview with the Independent’s World of Trouble podcast, Browder stated that if Putin does a peace deal, he will lose power and potentially face severe consequences from his own people.
Browder, an anti-corruption campaigner who once ran the biggest investment fund in Russia, has fought against Putin for nearly two decades. He believes that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is part of a desperate attempt to cling onto power after manipulating the country’s wealth for so long. According to Browder, Putin and those around him have stolen over a trillion dollars from the Russian state, which should have been spent on public services such as schools, hospitals, and roads.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in over 1.2 million casualties for Russia, and Browder believes that if Putin compromises over Ukraine, the nation will react with rage at the waste of life. He claims that Putin is a cowardly man who is scared to death of his own people and has created a foreign enemy to start a war. Browder also believes that the war is not going to end and that Putin will never sign a peace treaty.
Instead, Browder predicts that the war will grind down to a low level, potentially even a totally quiet front, similar to the situation between North and South Korea. He believes that Ukraine will become a booming, democratic, and vibrant economy, while Russia will become isolated and shrouded by dictatorship.
Browder’s warnings come as Nato leaders have agreed to allow Kyiv to produce its own Patriot air defence missiles, vital in withstanding the onslaught from Moscow. The US Magnitsky Act, inspired by the killing of Browder’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, is now the legal basis for personally targeted sanctions in America against Russia and corrupt officials all over the world.
Browder, who was knighted in 2024 for his efforts to clean up dirty Russian money in the UK, warned that many other corrupt officials and leaders from around the world still use the British capital as a safe haven for stolen loot. He believes that the war will drag on and end up in a stalemate with neither side winning, and that the best likely outcome is that Ukraine extracts such a heavy price for Russia’s war that it dwindles into a frozen cold conflict.
