Having shunned Russian equity for most of 2009, when the leading RTS index lost about three-quarters of its value, investors are now piling back in.

"Gazprom will now be a bellwether stock," said Peter Halloran, president of Pharos, a hedge fund investing in Russian equities.

Not that Mr. Herzog, or his firm, is about to start spending millions of dollars buying Russian equities.

But those moves have soured foreign portfolio investors on Yukos stock, which was the most widely held Russian equity in the world.

Many believe Russian equities would be a good investment.

CS First Boston, for example, says it has put $1 billion into Russian equities this year.

Troika Dialog is active in Russian equity sales and trading.

"On average, Russian equities are more lowly rated relative to their emerging market peers," Uralsib brokerage said in a research report.

The fund, which invests most of its assets directly in Russian equities, was the best performer of all mutual funds in the first three quarters of the year, gaining 115 percent.

It spooked the market because Greenspan mentioned the reality of market panics, and because he linked "Dutch tulip bulbs" with "Russian equities."