With Russia’s economy in shambles, President Dmitry Medvedev has been distancing himself from his predecessor and friend of 20 years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In doing so, Medvedev has fueled speculation that the former-KGB agent’s days in Moscow may be numbered.

E.On (OTC:EONGY) took a bite out of Gazprom (OTC:OGZPY) today. Germany’s largest utility company just got nearly a quarter of Gazprom’s Yuzhno Russkoye natural gas field. And all it had to do was give back some of the Russian giant’s stock. Not bad.

Russia’s main stock markets remain closed this morning after a slump in equities prompted the authorities to suspend trading. Falling commodity prices and financial turmoil have hit Russian investors hard. But Money Morning’s Jason Simpkins says Putin-lead Russia has itself to blame for scaring away foreign investment with its heavy-handed policies.

If you’re a global investor looking for global profits – including one potential way to double your money – you need to “Hit the BRICs.”

Higher oil could lead to a worldwide economic collapse, according to a top analyst at Germany’s largest bank.

“Two-hundred dollar oil would break the back of the global economy,” Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank AG (DB), told Bloomberg News in an interview yesterday (Wednesday) in Tokyo. “Next step after $200 would be global recession and bad news for everybody.”

Just a little over a year ago, $200 oil seemed out of the question…

Global investors seeking undervalued markets might want to look at Russia, China, India, Malaysia, South Korea or Brazil. And if they want to avoid overvalued markets, they’d be best to eschew Italy, the United States, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, or Germany.

New Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wants better links with Europe.

The government hasn’t gone so far as to say, ‘leave Russia to the Russians,’ publicly, but you can imagine the sentiment being passed between cabinet ministers and police chiefs as they rifle through TNK-BP’s Moscow offices (which they did a couple of weeks ago)