During the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev had a stock answer to the frequently asked question: would perestroika - Russia's liberal economic reforms - ever be rolled back? "I am certain that perestroika is irreversible" the then Soviet leader, would say. "But everything can change."

Russia's leaders today display a similar attitude towards their economy in the face of the worst crisis it has faced in 10 years. Something resembling liberal economics still rules Russia, even if liberal politics vanished long ago.