and simon fenton fletcher he is a portfolio manager with renaissance asset managers we also have tom monty he is chief strategist at a critter and nick poole he's archy's business editor but first let's have a look at the issue of political risk in russia as perceived by investors. in the last decade investors had their eyes and russia's nylander stability backed by high oil price and political certainty the protests against delegations of voting fraud in the recent parliamentary election brought the issue of political risk to the forefront after a significant drop the stock markets soon regained all its losses and further protests did not trigger such a nervous reaction on the stock exchange it became clear that the protests had a peaceful character and the arab spring scenario was ruled out nonetheless banks are split on the level of political risk citigroup estimates the political risk premium of two hundred basis points assuming there are many issues which could spark for the protest a different perspective is expressed by renaissance capital those who underestimate putin's ability to