Russia could be hit by zero growth

The Russian economy could be set back to zero growth this year, the finance minister warned on Tuesday amid growing spending on Crimea and capital flight. Finance minister Anton Siluanov said at a government meeting that Russia's economy faced "the most difficult conditions since the 2008 crisis," Russian news agencies reported. "GDP growth is estimated as rather low - 0.5 percent," he said. "Perhaps it will be around zero." Russia has seen growth fall over the last years, from 4.3 percent in 2011 to 1.3 percent last year, blamed by experts on its overdependence on energy exports and failure to modernise the economy. The latest figure follows a series of increasingly low outlooks this month. The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecast to 1.3 percent and Russia's economic development ministry estimated 0.6 percent and capital flight of $100 billion, according to AFP.