Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 05/2009

Russia's Politics Amidst the Global Economic Crisis An Empty Scoreboard?

Vadim Kononenko

December 2008

Finnish Institute for International Affairs

Abstract

The global financial crisis has had both an economic and a political impact on Russia. Inasmuch as • Russia's political system is infused with business interests and economic considerations, the crisis presents an external and unexpected challenge to the system in terms of rocking the balance between the elite groups. In effect, the crisis calls into question the assumption that the economic and social stability of the Putin years has been successfully sustained during Medvedev's presidency.