Crisis-hit Russia must scale down its ambition

Commentary feature on the challenges facing Russia in the context of the global credit crunch. The author concludes:

'Russia needs to scale down its geopolitical ambition to its real weight - that of an emerging economy with only 3 per cent of the world's gross domestic product and a quarter of America's living standard. Also, it desperately needs to develop its human capital. The Putin era is over but Medvedev's has not begun. This is the real Russian crisis'.