Medvedev warns Russians of hard economic times ahead

Russia faces "serious challenges" ahead due to global economic recession, President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday. Speaking at a State Council session, Medvedev said it was the government's obligation to tell Russian citizens honestly about hardships to come. Medvedev said that although Russia has overcome the 2008-2009 financial crisis, a new wave of the crisis was inevitable. Therefore, the national wealth distribution system must be decentralized to give Russia's regions wider room to use taxes for local development, he said. "Financial decentralization must provide the regions substantial extra means for comprehensive work. It is time to recognize that Russia is so complicated as a federation that we should take into account these differences to create differentiated legal, investment and maybe fiscal regimes in the separate regions," he said. Medvedev added that it would be the new administration's job to choose the future configuration of the federal executive authorities and governance system of Russia's regions. "There is an idea of appointing ministers for territorial affairs or granting additional powers to presidential representatives," he said. In his final state-of-the-nation address last week, the president said Russia was facing hard times and thus needs "comprehensive" reforms. He called for restoration of direct elections of regional governors which were scrapped by then-President Vladimir Putin in 2004.