I don't know how things are going now, I assume things have picked up a little but they have generations to go before they are up to European/US standards. The Yukos-Russian government conflict is a game of chicken. They have to export oil to keep going whether Yukos is in the game or not, the oil will keep flowing.
Things have changed a lot under Putin. If your friends were familiar with Moscow at that time they might be quite shocked at how the economy has changed. Some parts of Russia still have a chicken and cow economy. The oil will keep flowing for sure. It seems though that for the short term Putin has a lot of control over the price of oil as long as Chavez remains in power. Some argue that Putins timing on the Yukos oil conflict was timed to create this control of the price of oil. I'll PM you a link on that since this is the non politics thread.
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