With oil priced at less than $30 per barrel, the ruble down 10 percent so far this month and no coherent government plan for dealing with Russia's deepening economic crisis, President Vladimir Putin faces a choice similar to that of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev: Should he relax controls on the economy, rein in external assertiveness and engineer a rapprochement with the West -- or take the path of domestic repression?
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