Word: russia
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...this is a matter of principle for Russia, it is stupid politics.' ALEXEI MALASHENKO, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on reports that former Soviet republic Kyrgyzstan plans to close a U.S. military base, potentially jeopardizing NATO supply lines to Afghanistan...
...want to take the pulse of Russia as its oil and gas boom of the past few years comes to a sudden and wrenching stop, leave behind the garish consumerism of Moscow and drive 220 miles (355 km) southwest to the small Russian town of Lyudinovo. For the first part of the five-hour trip, the road is a smooth four-lane highway that whisks you past gleaming gas stations and a brand-new Samsung TV factory. Then everything slows down. The highway turns single-track and becomes progressively rougher. For the last 20 miles (32 km), you bump along...
...world financial crisis buffets country after country, Russia hasn't been spared. It's in much better shape than it was during the last financial crisis, in 1998, when the ruble collapsed and the country defaulted. This time, Russia has $450 billion in foreign reserves left from the $600 billion it had amassed thanks to the soaring energy prices of the past few years. Its biggest banks, all of them state-controlled, appear to have largely avoided the toxic assets that have been the downfall of so many of their counterparts in the U.S. and Western Europe. Yet the drop...
...Today, Russia's finances look a lot less robust. The government budget was based on oil at $70 per bbl., far above the current price, and it will consequently swing into deficit next year for the first time since 2001. The stock market has dropped more than 70% in the past year, as the nation's business élite have dumped stocks to repay the huge loans they had taken out to finance acquisitions in Russia and abroad. Capital is fleeing--investors have pulled about $245 billion out of Russia since August--and the ruble is under pressure...
Lyudinovo's woes are not exceptional. The markets of the huge exporting firms that are the foundation of Russia's recent prosperity have suddenly dried up, and that's having an immediate effect on machinery makers and other manufacturers...