TCS Group founder Oleg Tinkov said that states should spend money not on military conflicts, but on treating people and finding ways to defeat cancer.

“Now, innocent people are dying in Ukraine, every day, this is unthinkable and unacceptable!”, – wrote Tinkov in his Instagram.

He emphasized that his foundation saves the lives of people who have blood cancer. “I on myself twice almost being on the other side of life, for the last 2 years, convinced how fragile life is! And it is the only one we have!”, – Tinkov pointed out.

The businessman himself suffered from leukemia: in July 2020, he underwent a bone marrow transplant. In December 2021, the billionaire assessed his condition as “a stage of some struggle”.

Tinkov is one of the first Russian billionaires to take a stand on Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Oleg Deripaska, the head of the combined UC Rusal and En+ Group, also shared his position today. He called the economic situation in Russia a “real crisis” and called for abandoning “state capitalism” in these conditions.

“The rate hike, the mandatory sale of currency (now they will also remember that at the exchange rate set by the Central Bank on the date of settlement) – this is the first test of at whose expense this banquet will really be,” Deripaska commented on the increase in the Central Bank rate to 20% and the decision of the Ministry of Finance to oblige exporters to sell 80% of foreign currency earnings.

On Monday afternoon, February 28, Russia and Ukraine began their first talks after the start of the Russian military operation. The parties had earlier agreed to start dialog without preconditions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 27 February that he did not believe “in the result of this meeting, but let them try”.