Russia is being prevented from borrowing when it doesn’t really need to borrow. The situation is very different from 2008, when the country last teetered on the brink of default.

The current economic turbulence resembles a fire at an explosives warehouse during a flood and an earthquake, all at the same time.

Mikhail Mishustin is replacing Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister of Russia after nearly a decade as director of the Federal Tax Service (FNS). Russians can expect a shift in emphasis from taxation to the allocation of funds as Mishustin draws on his management skills to make government spending as orderly and transparent as taxation became under his leadership.

The greatest risk, which will grow together with funds and reserves, is that of the open or creeping politicization of investment. In other words, the state will choose to invest in “friendly” but unstable currencies, as well as to extend loans to even “friendlier” states and companies. Experience of past crises should make the responsible government agencies stay well away from such initiatives—as far as it’s politically possible.

Talk of an impending economic collapse in Russia is misplaced. The Reserve Fund is doing what it was built to do—cushioning the economy from the shock of falling oil and gas prices and giving it time to adjust to new conditions.

A new proposal to extend repayment of a Russian intergovernmental loan to Ukraine may ultimately suit all parties.