President Vladimir Putin is contemplating an effort to repair relations with the west as sanctions and growing international conflict obstruct attempts to reinvigorate Russia’s stagnant economy. Ahead of his inauguration next week for another six-year term as president, Mr Putin was considering appointing former finance minister Alexei Kudrin to a heavyweight post in charge of economic strategy and outreach to Europe and the US, said people briefed on the plans.
Mr Kudrin is one of Mr Putin’s oldest political associates and a senior economic adviser, and such an appointment could be read in western capitals as a signal of compromise from the Russian president in the face of conflict with the west on all fronts. “The most likely scenario is that Kudrin gets a post in the presidential administration,” said a Russian government official. “His title could be something like: the president’s representative for international economic co-operation.” Mr Kudrin wrote an economic policy strategy for Mr Putin’s next term in which he urged decisive structural reforms, from raising the retirement age to reorganising Russia’s government and judicial system.