Is Russia a good place to do business?

It depends what you want to do. However, the common characteristics about companies that are successful in Russian business are that they committed, dedicated and serious. Russia, we were once told, is not a market for 'dilettantes'.
This should be obvious; however, for reasons that have never been quite clear to us, there is an all-too-common misconception that business in Russia should be easy and that if a piece of big business hasn't fallen in one's lap, one just hasn't pulled the right strings or met the right person. One can always relate cases of where this has indeed happened, but in general they are very rare.
Another all-too-common misconception is that Russian business is quite difficult. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in-between: for those companies who are prepared to do all the groundwork and take the market seriously, yes, Russia usually is a good place to do business.
It is probably fair to say that the Russian market still shows great inefficiencies in many areas, and that certain sections of the market (sectoral and geographical) are greatly undersupplied or underexploited. Some of the best opportunities lie in these areas. Of course, such opportunities come with their own problems: after all, if there were nothing to it, everyone would be doing it, right?
However, Russia is not for everyone, and it takes a special temperament to succeed here. Business in Russia is not for the timid middle unimaginative, or the unadventurous entrepreneur who has never worked outside his country, nor for the easily frazzled or frustrated. Meeting the challenges of doing business in Russia requires all the stamina, fortitude, perseverance, and patience one can muster.
Source