To the people who critisized my purchase of Russian shares in December.
YOUR LOSS people!

Here is how these random shares performed since I bought them in November or December last year.

Sistema +214%
Amur Minerals +33.3%
Gazprom +34%
Magnit +40%
Raven Russia -5.3%
VTB Bank +30%

Average growth of my Russian shares in five months: 58 %

Compare the with the average development of the FTSE or Dow Jones since then.

With this level of growth I'll have 100% growth in under a year..
Russia, a loser country, doomed to failure? I think not!

Russia has a fraction of the debt level of the USA, or even the UK.
It has substantive verified gold reserves, as opposed to the USA. They don't have the increasingly complex immigration problems Europe has, and they are not ruining their economy with endless wars and making enemies of everyone, like the USA. It may be a bit tough for Russia now, but the long term prospectives are good.

I have kept an eye on events in Ukraine and Donbass, as sad and tragic as they are. After making sure I heard both sides of the story, I don't see that Russia has done anything sufficiently immoral for me to turn my back. Certainly not in comparison with the UK where I live.