I thought that the Russian economy was doing well. What has changed? - -- Michael Perelman ------------
It is still doing well, but rate of growth has slowed significantly. It was 8% in 2000, around 5% last year and is expected to go up 3.5%-4% in 2002. The main reasons for decline in growth are lower oil prices and the fact that increasing domestic buying power has led to a jump in purchases of imports.
In his State of the Nation address last month, Putin really came down hard on his ministers for not giving him higher growth rates (I have the full text in English, if anyone wants it).
Chris Doss The Russia Journal