Analysts and politicians in Russia are increasingly frantic about the political fallout from the country’s six-month economic crisis, judging by the number of doomsday scenarios aired recently in the press and in speeches.

Commentators say rifts in the cabinet will put additional strain on the relationship between Dmitry Medvedev, left, and Vladimir Putin

Warnings of social unrest, normally limited to small opposition newspapers and liberal commentators, are now aired in the mainstream media – as are comments on the regime of Dmitry Medvedev, the president, and Vladimir Putin, prime minister.