MOSCOW, Aug. 18 -- For 12 years, Andrei Klepach told Russia's government what its economy was actually doing. On August 16, Russia's government finally stopped listening.

Klepach, the chief economist at VEB.RF - Russia's state development corporation and one of the country's most significant financial institutions - was dismissed after the organization's leadership received a phone call, according to people familiar with the matter. The call came "from above," sources told The Moscow Times, without naming the precise source. The official reason given: "harsh personal assessments" incompatible with VEB.RF's institutional position.

The assessments dated to May, when Klepach appeared at the Nikitsky Club, a closed-door economic forum hoste...