IT WAS ALL going so well. Russia’s economic development and trade ministry had upgraded the end-of-year GDP growth forecast twice to 5.7% and economists were even more ebullient. The stock market was flying, having reached analysts’ end-of-year forecast by June. And Russia had seen the first really big foreign investments since reforms started in 1991.
Then, on July 2, Russian police arrested Platon Lebedev, the man credited with rescuing Russia’s biggest oil company, Yukos, from bankruptcy in the wake of the 1998 crisis, and a nasty power struggle broke out between the liberal-market-oriented Kremlin factions and the unreformed old guard.
Access intelligence that drives action
To unlock this research, enter your email to log in or enquire about access
