Putin’s Been Stingy With Stimulus Because of Sanction Fears

During his decade-plus tenure as finance minister, Alexei Kudrin became President Vladimir Putin’s most trusted economist by keeping a lid on spending and salting away hundreds of billions of dollars in a rainy day fund that helped the Kremlin weather economic crises with confidence. Now the fiscal conservative says Russia should be spending more.

The Kremlin is turning a deaf ear, despite a 40% rise in the value of Russia’s National Wellbeing Fund this year. Putin doesn’t want to risk running down his savings now, even if it means starving the economy during the pandemic. That’s because after more than five years of escalating tensions with the U.S. and Europe, including countless rounds of sanctions, the Kremlin is digging in for more.