I seriously wonder if it's possible to genuinely diversify economically when you are consolidating political power in the manner Putin has. The Skolkovo innovation center is never going to turn into Y-Combinator. I think evidence suggests that dictatorship isn't fertile ground for economic diversification; I don't think Putin ever could have caught that boat. No doubt dictators can be effective stewards, but diversification doesn't seem to be a tool in their box.The most sensible criticism of Putin I've seen (and I agree with it) is that he failed to effectively take advantage of the tremendous wealth pouring in from the energy sector to transform and diversify the economy to make it more broad based. His administration may have missed the boat on executing economic reform of the type that could more effectively insulated them from what is happening right now.