After a decade of high growth, the Russian economy is experiencing a slowdown in the wake of the global financial crisis. While Russia’s strong short-term macroeconomic fundamentals make it better prepared than many emerging economies to deal with the crisis, its underlying structural weaknesses and high dependence on the price of a single commodity make its impact more pronounced than otherwise. But the crisis also presents an opportunity to address the medium- to longer term challenges of competitiveness, economic diversification, and financial sector modernization which are necessary to boost growth and living standards.