Economically, the Russia economy indeed has great room for development. It is overly dependent on oil and gas exports, and not sufficiently innovative to charge ahead. In the world economic forum’s global competitiveness report, Russia ranks only 51st in innovation (out of 133 countries), behind china (26th) and India (30th). Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president between 2008 and 2012 (while Putin was prime minister), published an article in 2009 titled “Russia forward!” “should we drag a primitive economy based on raw materials and endemic corruption into the future?” he asked. In 2010, Medvedev, an avid ipad user, created a major center for innovation in Skolkovo in the Moscow suburbs as well as numerous technoparks and special economic zones throughout the country.