The Bear Awakes

Originally published in Contact, October/November 2010

Following on from the 2009 British/Russo Chamber of Commerce event that took place in Guernsey where Stephen Dalziel the former BBC's Russian affairs correspondence made a presentation to Chamber members, a group of Guernsey businesses known as The Guernsey Russian and Eastern European Financial Forum is already forging new relations with The Bear. Jon Taylor reports.

Russia is a complex mix of extremes from its geography and weather through to the wide ranges of its economic cycles (the last three years alone have seen boom then bust with a strong recovery now underway), and the disparity of wealth.

From a political perspective, outsiders retain the view that Russia remains a communist state; the reality is that the Kremlin is driving capitalism forward at a breakneck pace. It is actively seeking to move away from an overreliance on exports and attempting to attract foreign investment in order to drive