Regional governments are battling for federal funds …Russia’s regional governments are positioning themselves to hold onto their respective shares of the shrinking federal budget. Putin also created a regional debt crisisAn intractable regional debt crisis further fuels discontent. In 2012, campaigning for his third term in the Kremlin, Putin ran on a populist platform that included a promise to increase public-sector wages by up to 50 percent by 2018. In eight Russian regions, debt loads exceed fiscal revenues when subsidies are not considered. Even the main soccer club in Mordovia, a highly indebted Russian region, has not paid its players’ salaries since March 2016.

Source: Washington Post February 24, 2017 12:00 UTC