Russian President Vladimir Putin has often surprised observers in the West in the past few years, but when it comes to running Russia, he doesn’t like surprises. As he begins his fourth term, his decision to re-appoint prime minister Dmitry Medvedev should end all chances of a meaningful economic policy change, even if former finance minister Alexei Kudrin — the biggest hope of Russia’s "system liberals" — gets a Kremlin job. Putin’s third presidential term was tumultuous: the EU forced the state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom to redraw its critical European contracts and lower prices. Meanwhile, Russia’s aggression in Ukraine brought Western sanctions. But Medvedev spent a rather quiet six years leading from behind and avoiding any decisions that required courage or vision (unless you count the ill-conceived counter-sanctions on European food). Elvira Nabiullina, the central bank governor, was responsible for the important economic moves between 2012 and 2018, including the s...
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