Q: Why am I Still Staying Away from Investing in Russia?
I’ve written here a couple of times that Russia, now with the 4th largest reserves of any central bank in the world, is not to be ignored. However, I’ve also stated that until they clean up their political corruption issues, I’m staying away. First, Andrei Kozlov, one of their central bankers that was leading a fight against money laundering was murdered in an apparent contract killing, then journalist Anna Politkovksaya, one of the most outspoken critics of Russian President Putin, was murdered. And just this week, in another apparent contract killing, Alexander Plokhin, a manager of a state-owned Moscow bank, was gunned down. Everytime I think of entering the Russian markets, I receive another reminder to stay away.
