Background
Twenty years ago, on August 17th, 1998 to be precise, a financial crisis hit Russia (RSX, ERUS). It resulted in the Russian government and the Russian Central Bank devaluing the ruble and defaulting on its debt.
The Russian crisis of 1998 happened only one year after the Asian financial crisis, that began in July 1997, gripped much of East Asia.
Both crises had severe impacts on many economies (especially of neighboring countries) and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion.
Twenty years later, and it's interesting to