The article provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of the mechanisms of leveraging Russia’s oil and gas resources in the Soviet Union and present-day Russia as ensuring the acceleration or on the contrary, slowing down the development of the innovative sector of the national economy. Analysing the advantages and disadvantages of such mechanisms, the author describes the underlying reasons for the radical transformation of the role of the oil and gas industry from being a “donor”, which had contributed to the accelerated growth of the high value added sectors of the national economy, into a kind of “vampire”, which now is an obstacle to the development of high tech products and amplifies the symptoms of the "Dutch disease". The higher contribution of oil and gas sector to the high-quality growth of the Russian economy in the post-sanctions period is associated with a reversal of the current tax policy, the reorientation of a larger share of energy resources to the domestic market while limiting their exports to the volume of critical imports, and strictly regulating energy prices.