Russian stocks fell, extending yesterday’s record drop, as a plan by President Dmitry Medvedev to lend billion to banks wasn’t enough to convince investors the government can halt its worst financial crisis since 1998.

Russia’s military presence in Georgia has unnerved refugees who fled here from Chechnya in the 1990s.   When Russian tanks rolled toward Tbilisi, Georgia, in August, shops closed and streets emptied as residents stayed indoors, glued to their televisions and radios. A hundred miles northeast, in the mountainous enclave of …

The bear is back. That’s what all too many Russia-watchers have been saying since Russian troops steamrolled Georgia in August, warning that the country’s strongman, Vladimir Putin, was clawing his way back toward superpower status.