Recovery proves elusive for Russian Federation

Russia's plus points are becoming more difficult to discern amid ever darker economic storm clouds. With an economy and industrial sector mired in Soviet-era techniques, it is difficult to see the upside.

Russia's potential has still to be fulfilled. There are as many reasons to lose faith in the country as to keep it.

Alone among the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Russia is headed for negative GDP growth this year. Its inability to wean itself off commodity-dependent export revenues and industries coupled with the alarming disappearance of some basic democratic government principles have combined to panic existing investors and scare off those who may have been tempted by the