Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A law slated to go into effect on Jan. 1 is designed to clamp down on Russian citizens and companies that the Kremlin thinks are avoiding taxes through the use of offshore tax shelters. The law requires Russians to disclose ownership of foreign assets and imposes a tax on them, part of something officials have referred to as 'deoffshorization.'
Experts point out that President Vladimir Putin wants to limit capital outflows in the face of economic and political troubles. Internationally priced Brent crude is near a five-year low, and the Russian ruble on Monday suffered its worst one-day drop since 1998.
Crude petroleum accounts for 39 percent of Russian exports, and refined petroleum 15 percent, according to data aggregated by the Observatory of Economic Complexity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Read More Russia ready to defend ruble as rocky ride continues
Even before oil's declines, Russia's economy was suffering in the face of sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States, and trying to absorb the domestic costs involved in annexing Crimea from Ukraine.
'With the Kremlin's concerns (about) finances, foreign intervention in Russia and dissenting social groups, this latest anti-corruption campaign is designed to shape the Kremlin's control over each, as the Kremlin faces a series of crises all at once,' said Lauren Goodrich, senior Eurasia analyst at research firm Stratfor.
The Kremlin has a history of using anti-corruption campaigns to shape the finances of various groups, Goodrich said. Russia engaged in an anti-corruption campaign in 2003 that brought down a number of its powerful oligarchs, and it targeted some Russians with foreign ties in 2013.
Entities 0 Name: Kremlin Count: 4 1 Name: Russia Count: 4 2 Name: Ukraine Count: 1 3 Name: Andrey Rudakov Count: 1 4 Name: Goodrich Count: 1 5 Name: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Count: 1 6 Name: Observatory of Economic Complexity Count: 1 7 Name: Vladimir Putin Count: 1 8 Name: Eurasia Count: 1 9 Name: United States Count: 1 10 Name: Bloomberg Count: 1 11 Name: Russian Count: 1 12 Name: Crimea Count: 1 13 Name: Stratfor Count: 1 14 Name: European Union Count: 1 15 Name: Lauren Goodrich Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/12ibGE0 Title: How The Ruble Crash Could Strengthen Putin Description: The ruble is crashing, but the Russian government isn’t going to any time soon. Ironically, it might even make Vladimir Putin stronger. The reasons for the ruble’s rapid decline - it’s dropped by nearly 13 percent against the dollar in November alone, and this week has seen more of the same-are neither obscure or surprising....
