From a new column by Anders Aslund on Russian economic policy:

Apart from Russia’s excellent fiscal policy, just about everything has been wrong with the country’s economic policy since authorities arrested former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky in October 2003. Shortly after this, Yukos was confiscated. The only significant short-term relief is to free the ruble so it can depreciate. Apart from the very fall in oil and other commodity prices and the international liquidity squeeze, Putin has caused the lion’s share of the country’s current economic problems.