After two years of recession, the worst may be over for Russia's economy, but not for its leaders. As the year approaches its final quarter, the Russian government is still trying to finalize its 2016 budget. Though the federal budget has long been a point of contention in the Kremlin, this year's budget battle has been especially divisive amid dwindling funds and disappearing options for spending cuts. To make matters worse for the Kremlin, just weeks before September's parliamentary elections -- a bellwether for the ruling United Russia party ahead of the 2018 presidential vote -- Russians are protesting their economic straits in droves. Facing an unhappy public and a $31 billion shortfall in the current budget drafts, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev has been given a tall order: plug the gaping hole in the budget while also allowing for billions more in social spending....
