Alexei Makarkin, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies think tank, said the current situation can be compared to the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when economists were sounding the alarm but the population at large was lulled into a sense of false security by relative stability.
But when oil prices dived in 1986, people suddenly felt that "they can be economic experts too," according to Makarkin.
"As the Soviet Union collapsed, everybody realized that the economy is relevant and its indicators affect everybody," he said.
Some analysts have claimed that economic ills are being camouflaged by state-run media, which blames factors that are not under Russia's control for them. According to Makarkin, this view is simplistic.
"Propaganda only stirs up authentic sentiments, such as imperial nostalgia and so forth. If there was a significant dissonance between what they said on television and what people felt and saw around them, propaganda would not work," he said.
"No one will take action until all hell breaks loose," he concluded.
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