It appears that the Russian authorities have once again turned to their favorite pastime of successfully imitating reforms. After two years of fighting first in Ukraine and then in Syria, Vladimir Putin decided to address the crisis in the country. The elections are close at hand, while the economic situation in the country has been steadily deteriorating for the last two years, and the population is being increasingly affected by it. The quasi-patriotic rhetoric and the “Krym nash” (Crimea is ours) slogan cannot save the government’s poll standings from slumping anymore. Putin decided he needed a program and appointed his loyal colleague and former Finance Minister Kudrin his main “reformer”. However, in 16 years in power, Putin has never successfully implemented any major structural reform. Thus, this new seemingly liberal initiative will be nothing more than yet another step in the process of appropriation of state resources and unsystematic campaigning.
It is obvious that there can be no successful structural reforms in Russian under the Putin regime if only because reformers have no real authority regardless of the informal status granted to them by Putin. Created in 2012, the Economic Council under the Russian President has until now stayed dormant. Putin’s St Petersburg friend, Alexei Kudrin Read More “Kremlin Imitators: Putin, Medvedev, and Kudrin Who Joined Them”
