Fascinating article in the Asia Times:

…According to one report, the prime minister of the secessionist South Ossetia administration is a cousin of Mikhail Fradkov, who was Russia’s prime minister from 2004 to 2007 and now heads Russia’s state Foreign Intelligence Service (usually referred to by its Russian initials, SVR)…

…Still, equity markets loathe uncertainty, and the Russian market is no exception. That is why there is unlikely to be any recovery in Moscow for at least a month or two…

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH22Ag01.html