We’ve been carefully following the story of Sergei Storchak’s arrest and the alleged campaign to undermine Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. We are fortunate to have just received “hot off the press” an exclusive analytical dispatch on the situation from a frequent reader and informant of ours, who is a well connected Russian government adviser in Moscow. For many understandable reasons, he wishes to remain anonymous, as the article speculates who is behind this indirect attempt to seize control of the state budget at a time of extraordinary yet well concealed instability in the Russian government as the managed elections approach. Our contributor’s article raises some interesting questions: Is there a connection between Storchak’s arrest and the spy wars? What does the timing tell us about who wants to seize power from whom? What indicators should Kremlin-watchers keep their eyes on to know what’s going on in this case?