1. Russia paid early more than a third of its debt to the Paris Club of Creditor Nations and repaid in full its debt to the International Monetary Fund.
2. After long stagnation, the Russian stock market registered record high growth. In September 2005, it overcame the psychological level of 1,000 points of the RTS (Russian Trading System) index. The stock market grew by almost 82% in 2005 compared with just 3.6% in 2004.
3. The Stabilization Fund of Russia, set up to accumulate surplus revenues from high world oil prices, will reach a record level of 1.5 trillion rubles (about $52 billion) at the end of 2005, a three-fold increase compared with the end of 2004.
4. Following the decisions by the international rating agencies Moody's (2003) and Fitch (2004), Standard & Poor's assigned an investment-grade rating to Russia in 2005.
5. The state returned control of the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom by increasing its stake in the gas giant to more than 50%. At the end of 2005, Gazprom lifted the "ring fence" around its ordinary shares. Now foreign investors can own more than 20% of Gazprom's stock.
6. Russia and Europe made a decisive step towards getting rid of intermediaries in the transportation of Russian natural gas to the European market after they launched the construction of the North-European Gas Pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to deliver gas directly to European consumers.
7. The unprecedented rise of world oil prices to the level of $70 per barrel considerably improved Russia's solvency and its positions on the world market as a large and independent energy supplier.
8. World gold prices reached the level of $540 per troy oz in mid-December, a record high level for the past 25 years.
9. The law on monetization (the replacement of benefits in kind with cash payments) came into force on January 1, 2005. It sparked unprecedented protests from people. The government admitted that mistakes had been made during its implementation.
10. After twelve months of judicial hearings, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of the embattled oil company Yukos, and his business partner Platon Lebedev were convicted of fraud and tax evasion.
