(Economist Cover) The man who would change Russia

‘Our cover this week features the most stunning such warning [for Russia] so far.

It comes from Andrey Melnichenko, the world’s fertiliser king and Russia’s biggest industrialist. Mr Melnichenko is hardly a member of the anti-Putin opposition. Far from criticising the invasion, he is an insider whose factories have supported the war economy.Nor is he being high-minded. Having run his companies outside Russia, Mr Melnichenko returned in 2023 as the scope for global business shrank. Like most oligarchs, he has lived by Mr Putin’s rules—make money, but keep your nose out of politics. He is talking now because he and his fellow tycoons can no longer afford to ignore the rot in a country they watched descend into tyranny.

Mr Melnichenko issued his warning over nearly 60 hours of interviews with The Economist and more guardedly in an essay we are publishing online. It is the first time an oligarch in Russia has spoken out at such length. We are giving him space not because we agree with all his views or because he is a champion of democracy and human rights. Instead, he is a pragmatist who wants his firms to thrive. That is why his call could resonate in a country where wars gone wrong, including the defeat to Japan in 1905, have led to campaigns by industrialists for political change.

Mr Melnichenko’s words go far beyond the war, to the bleak outlook for Russia and its neighbours. 

Read it all.

A leading oligarch speaks out, warning of the looming disaster facing his country https://t.co/C3SKtbT1L4

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 9, 2026