"Central Europe & Russia Fund (NYSE: CEE) is a closed-end fund that invests in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Turkey," says global investment expert Nick Lanyi.

In his industry-leading High Yield International, the advisors explains, "The fund's diversification, high yield and top-notch management team make it the best high-income play on the region today." Plus, he adds, "Now is a particularly great time to invest in these regions." Indeed, he remains strongly bullish on Russia, rgardless of any concerns expressed by political pundits regarding Russia's elections.

"The fund's largest country allocation (about 50% of assets) actually is to Russia, not Eastern Europe. I consider that a plus, because it gives investors exposure to Eastern Europe's strengths, but with the valuable ballast of an accompanying investment in Russia's natural resources sector.

"Prominent Russian natural resource firms Lukoil, Gazprom, and Norilsk Nickel account for about a quarter of the fund's total assets. With the prices of energy and mining commodities in a long-term uptrend, a large natural resources stake could come in handy in a volatile market.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite conservative pick for 2008 is Mobile TeleSystems (NYSE: MBT), the largest cellular operator in Eastern Europe, with 50 million subscribers," says Yiannis Mostrous in The Silk Road Investor.

"The company has licenses in 87 Russian regions, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, covering a population of more than 233 million people. Russia accounts for almost 80% of consolidated revenue, while Ukraine is the second largest contributor.

"This is a company that offers good exposure to Russia's domestic demand growth. Russia is currently in a sweet spot: It's a net oil exporter, has good GDP growth, isn't dependent on foreign capital flows, is relatively stable politically, boasts reasonable market valuations and, above all, enjoys solid exposure to the biggest growth story of our time, Asia.

"Mobile Telesystems will continue to experience strong growth given the regional economic strength. Its valuations are still reasonable and it actually trades at a discount to a lot of its peers in the emerging market universe. This should make it a stock to own going into what is shaping up to be an uncertain New Year.

"The company's investments in its various markets have started producing positive results and it also continues to consolidate operations while taking advantage of market growth. Buy Mobile TeleSystems up to $110."