Leonid Bershidsky: Watch what Putin does to his top prosecutor
Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) chairs a Security Council meeting at the National Defense Control Center in Moscow on Dec. 11.
The ubiquitous corruption and lack of accountability in Vladimir Putin's Russia were, until recently, easy to sweep under the rug. But the relentless decline in oil prices is making the president's political bets unsafe. Now the country's problems are beginning to fester in plain view, giving the regime a tough choice: Start liberalizing or go for harsh repression.
