In 1945, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow received a carved wooden seal from Soviet schoolchildren. Hidden inside was “The Thing” - a spy device that transmitted every word in his office for seven years.

When mobs stormed government buildings and hounded the president from office in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan after disputed elections last month, Vladimir Putin seemed unimpressed.

From railways and automobiles to metals, coal, diamonds and cement, some of Russia's biggest industrial companies are putting ...