Putin Uses Oil to Deflect G-8 Criticism of Economic Policies

Kenneth Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said, “Oil insulates Russia from criticism.”

That leaves finance ministers including France’s Thierry Breton and John Snow of the U.S. in a quandary: While they want to press Russia to modernize its economy, they don’t want to antagonize the world’s second biggest oil producer because they need it to restrain fuel prices and lobby Iran to curtail its nuclear program.

Bloomberg