BY NOE GANDILLOT
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

There’s apparently a price to pay for criticizing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin learned that the hard way this week.

He was forced to resign after he had some harsh words for Medvedev. RT has a look at the icy debate.

MEDVEDEV: “If you think your views on Russia’s economic agenda differ from mine as President, you can resign. But you have to answer right here and now. Are you going to resign?”

KUDRIN: “My opinions do differ from yours, but I’ll only take such a decision after I’ve talked to the Prime Minister.”

MEDVEDEV: “You can talk to whoever you want, including the Prime Minister, but as long as I’m the President, I make these decisions.”

Mr. Kudrin was appointed by Putin in 2000 and was a key actor in Russia’s government.

The Economist called Kudrin: “Russia’s long-serving and highly respected finance minister” and said he was “...largely responsible for Russia’s fiscal discipline in the early part of the decade.”

Last week, Vladimir Putin unsurprisingly announced he would run for President next year, and appoint Medvedev as Prime Minister. So, The Financial Times says Putin had no choice but to accept Kudrin’s resignation.

“Mr Kudrin has long had a fractious relationship with Mr Medvedev and was thought to harbour hopes – dashed by Putin’s deal with Mr Medvedev – of becoming prime minister himself. Mr Kudrin was long thought to be unfirable... But allowing Mr Kudrin to stay on would have risked a split in the ruling tandem of Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev.”

The FT also notes -- the political scheme between Putin and Medvedev to swap jobs provoked a -- quote -- “furious backlash in Moscow political circles". In fact Kudrin himself says it was the reason for his decision to resign. The New York Times agrees there is tension between Russia’s decision-makers at the moment.

“By criticizing Mr. Medvedev and affirming his loyalty to Mr. Putin, Mr. Kudrin exposed rifts within the ruling elite that some analysts said could undermine the so-called leadership tandem that had long been presented to the public as inviolable.”

In any case, most agree Kudrin’s resignation is bad news for Russia’s economy. As France’s Le Monde puts it.

“Kudrin … was the only man capable of managing very tightly the country’s public deficit and to tackle the necessary reform of pension funds. Without him, public spending is likely to skyrocket. Weakened by the decrease in oil price and by sluggish world economic outlook, Russia’s economy is in trouble.”

According to the Moscow Times, Medvedev isn’t promising the administration will continue to mirror Kudrin’s fiscal restraint. Putin has appointed a replacement -- two actually: One to oversee economic policy and another as acting finance minister.