SIGNS of Russia's economic problems appeared long before the annexation of Crimea or the war in the Donbas region in Ukraine. The country's previous growth model, in which profits from oil and gas sales were funnelled into the consumer economy, petered out around the time Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in 2012. But Mr Putin in effect rejected a new model, based on innovation and investment, because of its troublesome political implications.
Economist: Russia on the edge of recession
A woman walk past a currency exchange office in central Moscow on Sept. 26, 2014. The Russian ruble fell to a record low against the dollar, breaking through the level of 39 to the dollar for the first time ever.
