Alexei Kudrin on Ukraine

[alice malice]

Some here claim that Putin has done a good job for the Russian people,
that their standards of living have improved, but the irresponsible
management of Russia's economy, too heavily dependent on energy
revenue, has left her vulnerable to market risk, the price of oil, and
the military escursions and the costs of these, including, now
sanctions, hardly supports the argument that Putin is a man of the
people. Moreover, his popularity will fade with the economy and the
protests that he faced may return, though Putin has and probably will
do everything to prevent them. Unfortunately, he can do little to
fight off capital flight, a free fall in oil and the currency, so his
everything will be more repression and violence against citizens.


Alexei Kudrin, is the former deputy prime minister and may still have
some influence on Putin. He has consistently called for economic
reform, reforms that must also include independent courts and a legal
system that guarantees property rights; competitive, free, and fair
elections; a substantial, freely operating, and responsible political
opposition as a permanent element of national politics; and state
accountability to society.




from a brief in Reuters today by Darya Korsunskaya and Elena Fabrichnaya


n December 2008, oil fell during the global financial crisis to around
$36 but even then Russia did not reinstate capital controls.

"This crisis is more psychological, more emotional than those we have
seen in the past. But in principle, the situation is not very
different from 2008. We can always switch to measures we used in
2009," the source said, naming state guarantees and direct funding of
troubled companies among possible measures.

However, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said the current crisis
was different because of the sanctions. "To come out of the crisis,
the government and the president should settle the conflict with
leading powers, mainly Europe and the United States," he said last
week.

However, the top-level government source held out little hope for an
easing of tensions with Washington. "Relations with the United States
are frozen," he said. ($1 = 56.2950 roubles)
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