A surprising country has the best-performing global stock market in 2015 so far

It's something that sounds pretty odd to most people who follow financial and international news: Russia's stock market is the best performing in the world so far this year.

It's up by 28%, dwarfing the European equities rally (the major French, Italian and German indices are all up by more than 10%), and eclipsing the S&P 500's sub-2% gains.

Here's how the performances look so far this year:

Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg

The index is currently near its highest levels since 2011, and another small rise will push it to the highest since 2008. That's despite the fact that "a deep recession in Russia is almost inevitable".

Stocks re shrugging off the effect of a protracted war in Ukraine, and investors don't seem care about the fact that credit ratings agencies are queueing up to slash Russia's rating.

Despite the recent surge, Richard Kelly at TD Securities has cautioned investors on CNBC not to get carried away with optimism about the country's equities. He added that he believes that oil prices will settle nearer to $30 or £40 dollars per barrel, well down from their current levels.