Russian crisis makes East European companies fret over 1998 redux

Prague

SHEDDING communism and embracing the European Union was supposed to shield the former eastern bloc from Russia's economic pains. A quarter of a century later, there are companies that remain vulnerable.

The rouble's decline is reviving memories of the 1998 default. Moscow's former satellites have tied their economic fortunes to Western Europe and the proportion of exports to Russia is less than 5 per cent, yet the financial turmoil is aggravating the pain caused by the trade confrontation between the 28-member EU bloc and Russia.

"A successful year is becoming unsuccessful," said Miroslav Student, commercial director at Abovalve, a Czech producer of butterfly and check valves for industrial applications. "The…