Is Russia still a key world power?

Russia has been eclipsed as a world power by China Whether Russia, one of 15 successor states to the USSR, which broke up in 1991, is still a genuine world power in 2015 is open to question. It remains the world's largest country and the largest oil producer It retains its permanent seat on the UN Security Council (one among five) Its nuclear arsenal (in Cold War times one of five countries, but now one of nine) has been progressively modernised Sustained increases in defence spending have brought it close to its goal of escalation dominance in local and regional war But the economic base for these capabilities is steadily declining. Russia's economy is the 10th largest in the world, producing little of value beyond hydrocarbons. Corruption and rent-seeking extract an enormous economic toll. It remains burdened with Soviet era infrastructure, and its ability to meet the educational and medical needs of its population is rapidly declining.