Russia's actions in 2014 were shocking both for their scale and abruptness. Tossing aside all concern for world rankings, economic considerations and the standards of international cooperation — all of that boring baggage of today's global system — the Kremlin set sail for unchartered waters. According to philosopher Mikhail Yampolsky, "Russia moved from the post-modern world to the modern" — that is, back to the first half of the 20th century.
In 2015, Russia is facing consequences that nobody in the Kremlin could have imagined in their worst nightmares just two years ago. Russia was evicted from the G8, its relations with Germany are mired in deep crisis, the United States and the European Union have imposed hard-hitting sanctions and many European firms have stopped supplying Russia with much-needed high-tech equipment.
Russia is losing its place as the world's eighth-largest economy, its credit rating will likely get downgraded to junk status in 2015 and in place of the attractive investment climate that Russia has offered for over a decade, it has become an extremely vulnerable economy. The fall of oil prices and the plummeting value of the ruble have forced real monthly incomes down from an average of $1,000 in June 2014 to $600 or lower today — levels not seen for several years.
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