MOSCOW — Fuel subsidies for farmers, cash for small businesses, housing upgrades for residents of dilapidated homes -- all courtesy of the government, and plenty more where that came from.
Facing down the most perilous Russian financial crisis in a decade, the Kremlin hasn't flinched. The nation's leaders are downplaying the severity of this oil-rich land's economic troubles as they unveil a string of populist projects, taking pains to show ordinary people they won't be left behind.
"In actual fact, it isn't that bad," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday, summing up the message being proclaimed by state news services and from lecterns in Moscow.
Behind the optimistic statements, uncertainty is deep in Moscow. The stock markets have plummeted. There are fears that oil prices will stay relatively low, that the federal budget will have to be redrawn and that the ruble is ripe for further devaluation. Economists and businesspeople are asking themselves how long Russia's massive cash reserves, padded by previously high oil income, will hold up.
Many analysts regard the possibility of prolonged economic troubles as the most serious challenge Putin has faced in eight years of virtually unquestioned authority. First as president, and now as prime minister, the former KGB agent became increasingly popular as Russians watched their salaries and pensions climb.
This has been the unwritten social contract that rules Putin's Russia: The public enjoys improvements in living standards and, in exchange, stays out of the way of an increasingly autocratic Kremlin. Falling oil revenue could threaten the balance.
"The Russian government has been spoiled by this bonanza, by basically unlimited resources and the ability to pour money onto social problems," said Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center. "I think the country is moving toward a situation in which there may not be resources for everyone, and that's a huge change."
Middle-class workers who bustled along the boulevards of Moscow said that, despite reassurances, they were deeply worried about the economy.
"The only thing we want is for our salaries to keep going up," said Pyotr Zapalov, a 53-year-old stonemason. "We listened to what they promised before the elections. If they don't deliver it, then our respect for them will decrease."
Yelena Bocharova, a 49-year-old technical school director, shuffled along with a sack full of fresh-baked pastries.
