Here's the paradox of the Russian capital markets. On the one hand, the markets appear to be booming. The economy is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to grow by 4.8% this year, the RTS Index of 50 Russian stocks was up 15% by April, although it has fallen back slightly since, and Russian exchange-traded funds have attracted around 50% of all emerging market inflows so far this year.

Yet, on the other hand, Russian initial public offerings are struggling. Five Russian IPOs have been pulled this year while many of those that have managed to come to market have done so at the bottom of their price range, and traded lower still in the secondary market. Only two Russian listings this year, by state-owned bank VTB Group and internet search engine Yandex, are trading above their listing prices.