At a government investment forum in Sochi late last month, Russia’s new-found confidence was brimming over. With 10,000 delegates and $22bn of business deals signed – and the chance to show off the Black Sea resort recently awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics – the forum outstripped a similar event in St Petersburg in June that delivered $13bn of deals.
Not even the Russian government’s resignation a week earlier and the appointment of a little-known ally of President Vladimir Putin as prime minister, nor the global credit squeeze, could dampen the mood.
