Paul Roderick Gregory: A Russian crisis with no end in sight, thanks to low oil prices and sanctions
A worker of Russian gas and oil giant Gazprom works on Feb. 18, 2015 in Novoprtovskoye oil and gas condensates oilfield at Cape Kamenny in the Gulf of Ob shore line in the south-east of a peninsular in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, 250 km north of the town of Nadym, northern Russia.
Former Russian prime minister Evgeny Primakov Former Russian prime minister Evgeny Primakov warned that, if Vladimir Putin continues his Ukraine policies, Russia will become a pariah third-world petro state. The fundamentals of the Russian economy, as it enters 2015, suggest that Russia is fulfilling Primakov's prophesy. Russia's fate depends on economic factors beyond its control (energy prices and gas markets) and on Putin's continued international adventurism, which he is loath to abandon for fear of regime change.
