The architect of Russian fiscal policy under President Vladimir Putin is having a hard time watching the system he created come undone. The budget is in a state of “shock” after officials failed to make timely decisions to temper spending and implement structural changes, especially on pensions, Alexei Kudrin, who was finance minister in 2000-2011, said in an interview in Moscow. That’s forcing the government to deplete its reserves even as outlays are falling fast, he said. “It’s difficult for me to see the reserves whittled away,” said Kudrin, who helped introduce the policy of amassing the stockpile in 2004 by funneling windfall revenue from oil and gas sales. “A buffer for the most critical situations must remain. The number of uncertainties and risks is too vast.” Russian budget policy is pushed to the limit as authorities grapple with a recession-hit economy crippled by a drop in oil prices, […]