Well, Capital flight in Russia is indeed real, and it will only get even worse with time as the sanctions keep biting, making investors/russian officials/oligarcs/corrupt officials move their money from a risky Russia to a safer place in the west/U.S. As i siad Putin has overplayed his hands, The sanctions wont be lifted anytime soon, as long as Russia continues its support to its seperatists in eastern Ukraine(he even recognized their illegal elections recently, which was condemned by the international community/E.U/U.S). so things will get worse befoe they get any better anytime soon. So dont expect the sanctions to be lifted anytime soon, it indeed might even be increased if Putins continues with his policies in eastern Ukraine. And to be honest i dont see him stopping at all, he seems to have crossed a point of no return.
So expect things to get even worse for Russia these coming years, reason Japan should be cautious with its approach with Russia as well, since our governments in the west/U.S still have issues with Moscow, and Japan needs to show its with the international community/abide by world rules/laws. Russia by going head on against the west/U.S alone, will find out that it might think its a big power, but we are a bigger power for now, and it will only slow its economy down even further than it was already, Its an 'emerging' country, yet its growth rate is now the lowest among BRICS and even the developing world, the hell even western developed countries like U.K are now growing faster than Russia. which shouldnt be the case at all, judging Russia still has room for growth(low GDP per capital). This is without talking about all the Russian billionaires emmigrating to the west/U.S every year(there are lots of them here in London alone), if Russia was such a nice place to invest/live for them, im sure they wont be leaving the country in droves, so expect the capital flights to only get worse coupled with sanctions, my guess is it will top over 300billion(more than Vietnams entire GDP) by next year. Anyway lets just keep enjoying the show.
You really think it will be that much? $300 Billion is insane. Where are these Russian billionaires / millionaires going to anyways? I hear there is a large Russian presence in London, one of the largest group of real estate buyers are Russians. Can you verify?
That would practically nullify the recent Sino-Russian Energy Agreement (worth $400 billion).