Petersburg International Economic Forum and Alexei Kudrin

economy: Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russia biggest annual business event, that the economy was in better shape than seemed likely a few months ago, according to The Moscow Times. But Alexei Kudrin, who was sacked as finance minister in 2011 but is widely thought to still have Putin ear, said the economy needed deep reform. "If you look at the situation from the point of view of growth, we are in the eye of the storm," he said, adding that the worst was not over for the economy. "When we talk about structural reforms, it is not only about writing some document. Government officials assured foreign and domestic investors at the St. We need political will, a team, and a president who shares all these opinions. "Why do we not … bring forward the presidential election and announce a new reform program that would be easier to carry out with a new mandate " It is not clear whether Kudrin has discussed his idea with Putin, who won a six-year third term in 2012 and is eligible to run in 2018, or whether it is backed by others in the Kremlin. He is widely respected in the West. Kudrin was sacked after a disagreement with Dmitry Medvedev, who was president at the time and is now prime minister, over high military spending. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.