The Russian Federation Government introduced a set of measures to support the Russian provinces at the time of a financial downfall. However, this support is not a proof against the local authorities’ failures, the international rating agency Standard & Poor's says in its recent report:

‘The anti-recession measures taken by the government did improve the situation in the Russian regions, but did not prevent any future breakdowns.’

The analysts behind the report believe that these provincial breakdowns are actually not very likely to happen. Nevertheless, given the federal government’s shrinking resources and the unresolved inter-budgetary relations problems (poor transparency, lack of financial equilibrium, and unsatisfactory regional budget autonomy), the aid Russia’s federal constituencies have received might not be enough to avoid the worst case scenarios.