They’re incredibly cheap by any measure Russian stocks have been beaten down and are cheap by almost every measure.Once again, Russia is accused of disrespecting the sovereignty of its neighbors — this time after a recent border dispute with Georgia. And once again, the world shakes its head and wonders when Vladimir Putin will just knock it off and stop acting like a schoolyard bully. It’s reductive but mostly true to say that Russian shenanigans as of late have been borne mainly out of economic disputes in the region. Last year’s high-profile conflict in Ukraine was bred in large part by disagreement on whether to more closely associate with the European Union on trade and immigration, and the most recent border trouble in Georgia stems (yet again) from Russia’s efforts to control crucial oil and gas pipelines. To a Western investor, then, it’s natural to think that Russia is a lost cause. After all, the World Bank estimates a 2.7% decline in Russian gross domestic product this year and an anemic 0.7% growth rate in 2016. But a closer look at publicly traded Russian companies actually reveals some serious outperformance. While the S&P 500 SPX, +0.80% is up only about 2% this year, the Market Vectors Russia Index ETF RSX, +1.85% is actually up more than 20% in the same period! So why have Russian investments performed so well if the economy is struggling and the Kremlin is getting the cold shoulder from many Western leaders? And most importantly, what’s next for investors in Russian stocks this year and in 2016?What’s ahead for Russia To see where Russian stocks are headed, it’s important to remember where they’ve been. Because while the recent run for the RSX has been nice, the past hasn’t been so grand. Namely, the fund is still down 50% since January 2011. And its peer, the Market Vectors Russia Small Cap ETF RSXJ, +1.82% is down 70% from its inception in April 2011. By contrast, the S&P 500 is up more than 67% since the beginning of 2011. Still, contrarian investors looking for a value play may have a lot to like in Russia — and judging by the recent uptick in stocks here, some have already gotten wise to this trend. According to Star Capital calculations, Russia has a cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (that’s CAPE, also known as Shiller PE) of just 4.8 — the lowest in the world, and a fraction of the 25.5 reading for the U.S. right now. Russia also has a conventional P/E ratio of 9.4, one of the lowest in the world and less than half of America’s 19.8.