The paper explores the issue of priorities and a vector of the Russian economy development in the context of the country's positioning in the international arena. The author identifies economic cycles in Russia's recent history and reveals the specific features of the crisis of 2014 and peculiarities of the economic recovery afterwards. The author argues that within the country there are growth areas, which can become sources of the economy's sustainable development. At the same time, there are three key factors that may hinder achievement of economic goals by Russia: a slowdown in China's economic growth; potential increase in oil production; deterioration of the business climate and negative expectations of economic actors in the leading countries of the European Union. These and other factors, along with unresolved problems of innovative activities and technologies' competition in Russia, can adversely affect the expected growth of the domestic economy of 1.5-2% of GDP.