Political And Economic Results Of March 2015

In March 2015, the topmost headline-makers were various economic issues, including the ongoing discussion on the new draft budget for 2015–2017 and on the future course of Russia’s economic policy. However, the beginning of March was also marked by two very serious and purely political events: the arrest, on the charge of accepting a huge bribe, of Sakhalin Oblast Governor Alexander Khoroshavin; and the arrest of the former deputy commander of the Chechen SWAT Police Battalion Sever [North], Zaur Dadayev, who was charged with murder over the shooting death of Boris Nemtsov. The offi cial comments on these arrests and the respective criminal cases have so far been rather vague and not very informative. Also in March, a package of very ‘conservative’ amendments to the federal budget was introduced into the RF State Duma. It is clear that the amendments were drafted in anticipation of an optimistic scenario, when oil prices would smoothly recover to their previous levels, and the Reserve Fund would continue to be spent so as to make any drastic cuts in budget expenditure simply not necessary. A draft law on the so-called tax amnesty was introduced into the RF State Duma. In the course of the tax amnesty, individuals will be required to declare their assets, not to repay their tax arrears. The economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU remained in force.