Once the dust settles on the global market earthquake, investors may well decide Russia is just too big to ignore regardless of how far its war in Georgia has damaged its economic and diplomatic relationships.
The specific political risks of doing business and investing in Russia will need be tested against the allure of a resource-rich economy with a fast growing middle class hungry for consumer goods.
The EU economic relations with Moscow could also become a source of transatlantic friction, to judge by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech urging Europe to join Washington in standing up to "bullying" by Moscow.
The EU's two-way trade with Russia, its biggest energy supplier, reached almost €237 billion last year, more than 10 times the volume of US-Russian trade at €18 billion last year.
That helps to explain why the EU-Russia relationship is one of economic interdependence, while Washington's ties with Moscow remain based on geopolitics and security, and hence more prone to ideology than pragmatism.
European governments are split between those, mainly in continental western Europe, who favour engagement and those, mostly in ex-communist central Europe, who advocate a tougher line to isolate and contain a resurgent Russia.
Some EU officials say that dichotomy could be exacerbated if Republican John McCain wins the US presidential election and lives up to his anti-Russian campaign rhetoric.
The Georgia war does not seem to have changed minds in the governments of France, Germany or Italy, although a pan-European opinion poll showed public concern about Russia's behaviour was growing across Europe as early as June.
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have dismissed suggestions that they triggered a wave of capital flight by sending tanks to crush an August 7 Georgian attempt to recapture the separatist region of South Ossetia.
For investors already caught up in a global tide of risk aversion, the war compounded concerns over the treatment of British energy major BP in a dispute with Russian partners in a joint oil venture, and over Mr Putin's threats against coal miner Mechel.
Analysts say Moscow could further undermine confidence with more politically related energy supply disruptions this winter.
"There is clearly a reassessment of Russia risk and that will make funding conditions for Russian banks and Russian corporates difficult even after the current crisis," said Shahin Vallee, a currency strategist at BNP-Paribas.
Political tension and fear of arbitrary state action against foreign companies will make it hard for Moscow to entice investors back, he argued, even if the government takes business friendly measures and sticks to prudent fiscal management.