Igor Volobuev, longtime vice president of Gazprombank, has fled to Ukraine to fight against Russian troops. “I want to get rid of my Russian past,” explained in a video interview on YouTube.
Volobuev was vice president of Gazprombank for six years and before that, public relations manager at Gazprom for 16 years. The former manager said he left Russia on March 2. He made the decision to flee because he was born in Ukraine, condemned the invasion by Russia and wanted to “defend his homeland with gun in hand”.
In the interview, Volobuev also criticized his former employer, whom he calls the “throttle bat” of Russia. “Moscow has always tried to extort its neighbors and Europe with its natural gas,” Volobuev said. Gazprombank’s PR team led by Volobuev is said to have been tasked with undermining Ukraine’s gas transportation system in the eyes of European consumers.
Volobuev has also questioned the successive deaths of Vladislav Avaev, former vice president of Gazprombank in Moscow, and Sergei Protosenya, former chief executive of Spain’s energy giant Novatek. Volobuev does not believe that these are suicides.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.