Russia says its economy is strong. It just fired a top economist who warned otherwise

People walk in front of a billboard honouring a participant in Russia's military action in Ukraine and reading "Pride of Russia!" and a Neftmagistral gas station pylon which shows that there is no gasoline at the station in Moscow on July 10, 2026.Igor Ivanko | Afp | Getty ImagesRussian government officials told CNBC that the economy is strong and healthy despite "unprecedented foreign pressure" following the country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. That message sits in stark contrast with the views of the former chief economist of Russia's state-controlled development bank VEB, who was dismissed on Sunday after comments he made earlier in the year were reported in Russian-language media.Andrei Klepach, a former deputy economy minister, was reportedly fired after presenting a report warning that Russia could not win a prolonged war of attrition with Ukraine and predicting a major social crisis. Klepach's dismissal was directly linked to his scathing economic assessment, according to exiled independent Russian outlet The Bell, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter when it first reported the news. CNBC could not independently verify the report."In this w...