The New York Times has some choice morsels from its interview with Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who it refers to as ‘the third most powerful figure in the Kremlin‘.  Not a whole lot here is new, although his comments on oil production over the next decade are striking insofar as he says that Russia’s ability to rescue its economy by ramping up production is coming to an end.  He also says that, as diversification of the economy is now already in process and inevitable, what’s really needed now is for Russia to focus on making its judicial system credible.  Fine words from the third-in-command…but categorically phantasmic, at this point.  

Here’s Kudrin: