Two former allies of Vladimir Putin have publicly criticised the Russian president's foreign policy - particularly the impact that it is having on the country's economy.

In a rare act of public dissent, Alexei Kudrin who acted as Russia's finance minister between 2000 and 2011, and also served as deputy prime minister, said that the country is likely to experience a long period of stagnation - and that current policies do not "reflect Russia's ability to be competitive in the global economy."

The former-minister predicts that growth between 2012 and 2018 will be close to 1.5 percent - he added that "priority is given to political goals" and that Mr Putin is ready to "pay an economic price" to pursue nationalistic policies.

It is widely predicted that the Russian economy will shrink by between three and six percent in 2015.

Vice News coverage of Vladimir Putin's visit to Crimea in May 2014

Mr Kudrin predicts that the fallout of the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea, and the cost of running the region will be between $150bn and $200bn USD in the next three to four years. Business Insider reports that this figure is close to half of Russia's foreign currency reserves.

The comments came at a round table to mark Putin's 15 years in power, it was chaired by the president's spokesperson.

Support for Vladimir Putin peaked in Russian opinion polls after the country formally claimed the region during spring 2014 - his approval rating passed 80 percent.

Igor Yurgens, a former Kremlin adviser also raised concerns about the political climate in the country - particularly the maringalisation of dissenting liberal voices.

"Without them (liberals) and without the necessary structural reforms, our economy will not survive the policy that the president is pursuing," Yurgens said.

Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov brushed off the criticism, and said that there is a new generation of Russians who are loyal to the president, and who believe in his policies.