Former Putin economic advisor: Number of Russians living in poverty will explode due to Ukraine war

According to a report from Business insider, a former economic adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin predicted that the number of Russians living in poverty will explode as international economic sanctions over the Ukraine invasion take hold.

During an appearance on the BBC's "Talking Business" program, Andrei Illarionov, who served as chief economic adviser to the Russian strongman from 2000 to 2005, claimed that approximately 19 million Russians live in poverty, based on World Bank estimates.

Taking into account economic actions levied against Russia due to the unprovoked attack on its neighbor, Illarionov estimated an enormous number of Russians will see their economic well-being disrupted.

"We'll see probably doubling the number of those people, maybe even tripling," he explained before lamenting that Putin's global ambitions "are much more important than anything else, including livelihoods of Russian population."

The economist stated that Russia's ability to "to increase or even to sustain the income of the population is actually pretty limited."

According to the Business Insider, "The Institute of International Finance expects Russia's economy to shrink 15% this year, wiping out 15 years of growth. The Centre for Strategic Research, a Moscow-based think tank, estimated on April 1 that two million jobs could be lost in Russia this year as unemployment rates rises" with the possibility of inflation rising to 20 percent by the end of the year.