Tag Archives: economy

NY Dispatches: COVID-19 and Russia – part 2

This week, following a warning from Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin, the number of registered COVID-19 cases in Russia has surged as the country stepped up testing. The government now encourages people to stay home and has sought emergency powers. Vladimir … Continue reading

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NY Dispatches: The shape of the constitution

Friday was going to be the (extended) deadline for presenting amendments to Vladimir Putin’s constitutional reform bill that the State Duma adopted in the first reading in January. Pavel Krasheninnikov, the co-chair of the constitutional reform working group however announced … Continue reading

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NY Dispatches: Pompeo in Belarus

Last week US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Minsk amidst an ongoing dispute between Belarus and Russia over the price of oil following the “tax maneuver”, a revamp of Russia’s system of taxing oil extraction and exports, which Belarusian … Continue reading

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Putin’s endgame

Vladimir Putin unveiled a set of sweeping constitutional amendments, Dmitry Medvedev’s government resigned, Russia’s new prime minister is a little-known tax official and Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov is “temporarily incapacitated”. And all of this happened within a couple of hours. … Continue reading

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NY Dispatches: 2020 – plans and reality

According to an old adage, a political analyst is a person who is able to give a coherent prediction of what is going to happen in six months’ time, and also able to explain coherently, in six months’ time, why … Continue reading

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Risky business

Economic growth was all the talk in Russia in recent weeks. The debates that have started earlier this year seem to have identified the problem – a chronically low investment rate – correctly. The solutions offered, however, reflect an inability … Continue reading

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NY Dispatches: Russia’s growing Welfare Fund

Russia’s frugal fiscal planning and the recovery of oil prices may land some extra money for the government to spend in the next two years, before the 2021 legislative election. Who gets this money, when and how will say a … Continue reading

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