Russia’s military invasion of Georgia is abating but its corporate invasion of the outside world marches on. Novolipetsk Steel this week bought US steel pipemaker John Maneely for $3.5bn. That was just the latest in a wave of acquisitions by energy and metals groups, telecoms companies and banks that saw Russian outward investment mushroom 44 per cent to nearly $75bn in 2007.

Critics characterise Russia’s emerging corporate titans, above all in energy, as new tools with which Moscow will seek to project influence, replacing tanks and missiles (though clearly tanks still work). The shareholder scrap at TNK-BP, meanwhile, has raised concerns that, instead of importing international governance standards, Russian companies may export their own Wild East methods. So should we be afraid?