California has a larger economy than Russia, with a smaller population and less natural resources (and not having a long, direct cultural history to draw a lot of tourists (though the movie industry draws a relatively large amounts) the way European countries do (France is the most popular tourist destination although it is much smaller than the United States)).
It is wise of the G7 countries to notice that Russia is not living up the standards of a free, economically prosperous country -- since its government has returned to a policy of statism, nationalization, expropriation, and political oppression. The Western world should send a stronger signal to Putin that he should liberalize or be cut off from ties with respectable Western powers.
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"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's record is no longer in doubt," the report's author, Hugh Barnes, told Reuters. "He has systematically dismantled Russian democracy and that very fact in some ways makes a mockery of the G8," said Barnes, director of the center's "Future of Russia Programme."I wonder how long it will take before the Usual Suspects from the FSB show up to say, Move Along, nothing to see here....