Moscow Correspondent of The Times assesses the turnaround in fortunes for Russia's Prime Minister ahead of his Davos addressThe ghosts of history are haunting Russia's rulers. As falling oil prices turn an unprecedented economic boom to bust, Vladimir Putin's monolithic "power vertical" is cracking under the strain. The authoritarian system of government that he built as president to concentrate power in his hands appeared invincible while the country was awash with oil revenues. But as Mr Putin prepares to address the global elite at the opening of this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, the Kremlin's swagger is turning to fear now that the money is drying up and the economic crisis bites. The brittleness of the regime was exposed by a recent newspaper article. Yevgeny Gontmakher, a leading sociologist, described police brutally suppressing protests over factory closures in a fictional provincial city, sparking wider unrest that spread eventually to Moscow.
The ghosts of history are haunting Russia's rulers. As falling oil prices turn an unprecedented economic boom to bust, Vladimir Putin's monolithic "power vertical" is cracking under the strain.
The authoritarian system of government that he built as president to concentrate power in his hands appeared invincible while the country was awash with oil revenues.
But as Mr Putin prepares to address the global elite at the opening of this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, the Kremlin's swagger is turning to fear now that the money is drying up and the economic crisis bites.
The brittleness of the regime was exposed by a recent newspaper article. Yevgeny Gontmakher, a leading sociologist, described police brutally suppressing protests over factory closures in a fictional provincial city, sparking wider unrest that spread eventually to Moscow.
I had an interesting covnersation in the metro this morning with an old colleague who's working on country risk and wondering how to rate Russia today; his position was that Russia's use of public reserves to prop up industry was a sign of strength, not weakness (they made reserves, and are actually using them when appropriate). He was worried about some of the bailouts having political angles, and some companies let to fail for unpredictable political/oligarchic reasons, but not for the overall health of the country, at least not for a while. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
