Moscow International Business Center

High budget deficits and the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis caused the financial crisis of 1998and resulted in further GDP decline. On 31 December 1999 President Yeltsin resigned, handing the post to the recently appointed Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, who then won the 2000 presidential election.

Putin suppressed the Chechen insurgency, although sporadic violence still occurs the Northern Caucasus. High oil prices and initially weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years, improving the standard of living and increasing Russia's influence on the world stage.

While many reforms made during the Putin presidency have been generally criticized by Western nations as un-democratic, Putin's leadership over the return of order, stability, and progress has won him widespread popularity in Russia.