Buying vs. Building

Russia, flush with cash when commodity prices were high, imported the consumer goods it needed. It did not develop its own industries to build them. Now that commodity prices, like the price of oil, are dropping, they're in a world of hurt.

Russia’s consumer economy has been built on the commodity economy. The great oligarchic fortunes are in oil and metals. Although domestic consumption has contributed significantly to growth in recent years, diversification away from commodities has barely started since the high price of oil strengthened the exchange rate and sucked imports into the retail sector, and oil revenues made it easier to posture as a great power. The downturn in the commodity economy will thus have a multiplied effect on the consumer economy and the Russian standard of living.

They're hurting for many other reasons, too, but if all you do is sell things you pull out of the ground, you'd better be able to eat and wear those things when no one wants to buy them any more.