Previous periods of low oil prices in the 1980s & 1990s contributed to the downfall of two Kremlin administrations -- those of Gorbachev & Yeltsin.
From The Wall Street Journal:
Russia's oil-fired economic miracle is unraveling as industry shrinks and job losses mount. Now the first stirrings of social unrest have the Kremlin groping for a response.
The drop in oil prices is eroding the Kremlin's ability to replenish its gold and foreign-currency reserves just when it needs them most. Although the country's reserves are the world's third-largest behind China and Japan, it has been spending tens of billions of dollars in an attempt to prop up its falling ruble and stave off public panic.
Previous periods of low oil prices in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the downfall of two Kremlin administrations -- those of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. Often, social discontent has begun in Russia's far-flung regions, where Kremlin control is comparatively tenuous.
Russia's oil-fired economic miracle is unraveling as industry shrinks and job losses mount. Now the first stirrings of social unrest have the Kremlin groping for a response.
The drop in oil prices is eroding the Kremlin's ability to replenish its gold and foreign-currency reserves just when it needs them most. Although the country's reserves are the world's third-largest behind China and Japan, it has been spending tens of billions of dollars in an attempt to prop up its falling ruble and stave off public panic.
Previous periods of low oil prices in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the downfall of two Kremlin administrations -- those of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. Often, social discontent has begun in Russia's far-flung regions, where Kremlin control is comparatively tenuous.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 1:43 PM
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