Russia's former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin gestures as he attends the Reuters Russia Investment Summit in Moscow September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin warned President Vladimir Putin on Friday that "excessive conservatism" could restrict economic and political freedoms and said populist policies would weaken Russia.
Kudrin, a liberal economist and long-time Putin ally, also said it would take years to woo foreign investors back to Russia and restore trust in the rouble, hit by an economic downturn aggravated by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
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