Russia Reform Monitor: No. 2028

December 8:

Ousted oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky faces a new bout of legal trouble in Russia. Radio Free Europe reports that the former oligarch - who spent a decade in prison in Russia, and now lives in Europe - has been formally accused in a criminal case surrounding the 1998 killing of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of the Siberian oil town of Nefteyugansk. Khodorkovsky's involvement in the case allegedly stems from the fact that the oil concern he previously headed, YUKOS, was headquartered in Nefteyugansk at the time of Petukhov's murder. Khodorkovsky himself has denied all charges contained in the most recent summons issued by Russia's Investigative Committee, which since this past summer has reopened Petukhov's case, citing new evidence.

Buffeted by ongoing economic malaise and Western sanctions, Russia could soon fully deplete its financial reserves and be forced to raise taxes, a leading economic observer has predicted. Alexei Kudrin, who served as the country's finance minister from 2010 to 2011, told audience members at a Moscow Exchange conference in London that the country increasingly faces a "dire" economic situation, reports Business Insider. The problems, he noted, are structural - and related to the Kremlin's current way of doing business. "The main thing is we should change the economic structure," he said. "What we're seeing is that the current growth potential is quite low."

In particular, Kudrin made clear, Russia's government will need to reduce its payment of pensions and give its various region more autonomy in economic affairs if it hopes to weather the current fiscal storm intact. It will also need to increase expenditures on infrastructure and development - and do so by reducing funds currently allocated for national defense and military modernization.

December 9:

A leading Kremlin critic has called for wholesale revolution in Russia. Such regime change is both "inevitable and necessary," former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky told a webcast conference in London in commentscarried by the Associated Press. The goal, according to Khodorkovsky - who served a decade behind bars on controversial tax evasion, fraud and criminal charges before being released in 2013 - is "to ensure that the rule of law is restored through a revolution" and that President "Putin and his entourage will have to be held accountable to society in front of an independent court."

December 11:

Despite deepening economic problems, Russia's military is on the march. According to Sputnik, the Russian armed forces have announced plans for more than 4,000 military exercises of various scales in 2016. The largest of the drills, says Russian Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov, will be the "Kavkaz-2016" command-and-staff maneuvers.

Russia's campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group will not extend to North Africa, the country's Foreign Minister has said. Although the group currently has a significant foothold in Libya, Russia has no plans to expand its current counterterrorism operations in Syria to target the group there, Sergei Lavrov has said during a news conference in Italy in comments carried by Reuters.

December 12:

The Kremlin is reinforcing pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, London's Express reports. According to the British paper, the Russian government has dispatched 20,000 troops to Ukraine to beef up its own forces stationed there and provide additional firepower to separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The deployment "takes the number of Russian troops in the region to 70,000," the paper observes.