WebProNews

Deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Russia have a few people worrying about an exchange of missiles.  Executives of American Internet companies may also be concerned about missed business opportunities, as Russia has been declared home of Europe's fastest-growing Internet population.

Between June 2007 and June 2008, this group grew by 27 percent, according to comScore.  Runners-up France and Spain saw increases of 21 and 15 percent, respectively, while the Internet population of Europe as a whole only got bigger by eight percent.  There's a clear current leader here.

 Russia's Internet Population Rising Fast
(Image Credit: comScore)

Russia's way behind in terms of Internet penetration, though (14 percent compared to Europe's 39), which signals that this sort of growth might become the norm.  This, in turn, leads us back to the market's huge potential and Americans wanting to join in.

Internet advertising in Russia is already taking off, with Google acquiring Begun in order to get a share of the pie.  AOL has a respectable reach in the country, and Yahoo pops up on some lists, as well.

So long as no nuclear apocalypses bring business to a halt, count on all of these parties demonstrating increased interest in the future.