For years, Russian companies have been struggling to persuade European and US investors that investing in Russia is not as dangerous as it seems. Following the Russian financial crisis in 1998, which sparked a series of bankruptcies and concerns about unfair treatment of minority investors – too often including non-Russian shareholders – all but the most steely nerved equity investors have steered clear.

Even bond investors have only recently been seduced back to the higher yields offered by Russia's corporate issuers, who have declared their commitment to better corporate governance, greater transparency and reporting in line with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).