The portrait of German Gref, Russia’s most liberal kleptocrat Vitaly Soldatskikh, Mikhail Rubin, Roman Badanin, with contributions from other journalists of The Project, January 10, 2023 German Gref is considered one of the main “liberals” in Vladimir Putin’s entourage. Many expected Gref and others like him to disagree with the Kremlin’s decision to wage war on Ukraine, but they did not. Gref even remarked recently that the crisis caused by the war only makes life more interesting.