Svetlana,
Didn't i just say that it's good for Russia to keep oil prices high? And now you are telling me that their prosperity is because of high oil prices? Are you now arguing with yourself or something?

By the way, if you insist of using 1 year of 2009 data lets look at the latest, not the articles from the crash time.
***********.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adjZXmRpLU04
again for 8 years GDP was growing at 8% vs 3% in US. real wages were growing at 10% vs flat in US. And they do have 13% flat tax. What's not to like?