This NY Times article reports on the Russian government’s removal of the final restrictions on foreign equity investment in the state-controlled Gazprom, which is Russia’s natural gas monopoly, Russia’s largest company and the producer of a third of the world’s supply of natural gas. Analysts who follow Russian energy markets are predicting that the company will double in value in the next year or two after President Putin signed a decree last week lifting a 20 percent cap on foreign ownership and a prohibition on nonresidents owning shares traded on Russian domestic stock exchanges.
Meanwhile, in case you feel particularly enthusiastic about making that bet, this London Telegraph article reminds us of one of the more knotty risks of investing in Russian companies:

A former top executive in Russian oil giant Yukos, who is wanted by the Russian government to face fraud charges, will not be extradited, a [UK] judge ruled yesterday.

Interestingly, it’s a good thing that executive was not an executive for a UK bank doing business in the U.S.