Jim O’Neill, a prominent economist who coined the term “BRIC” to describe the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, says Russia wasted a big chance during the boom years.

“It’s very disturbing,” he says. “They’ve got lazy ’cause of oil.”

And now that’s coming back to haunt Russia. In the past couple of years, Russia’s economy has been stagnating. Growth is anemic, and inflation is high. O’Neill says Russia is ever more reliant on higher oil and gas prices.

“And that is never a good place to be because oil prices might go down,” he says. …

“The need for them to do more international trade is huge, and what they’re doing here is not helpful,” O’Neill says.

Russia needs to help its businesses become competitive, sell more products around the world and attract foreign investors. Instead, it is now facing sanctions from the U.S. and Europe.