Interesting comment on Russia’s 3% budget deficit from Sergei Guriev, professor of economics at Sciences Po in Paris:
The 3 percent GDP deficit is not large but because Russia lacks access to financial markets, it can rely only on its Reserve Fund. Given that the Reserve Fund accounts for only 6.7 percent of GDP, it is not surprising that the government stopped drafting three-year budgets.
Read more at Deglobalizing Russia – Carnegie Moscow Center – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace