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And that's the clue. Russia is merely a banana republic, relying on nothing but gas and oil. 140 million nation reduced to the role of extracting the natural resources. And where all the oil money goes? Potyomkin villages, Sochi olympics, Mundial - events which are supposed to build a fake image of wealthy and developed country that Russia certainly isn't. And of course - military power, in order to threaten and invade defiant neighbours and force them to stay in it's sphere of influence - because the soft power of Russia makes the every aware nation in the world to want to be as far as possible of it and it's ingenious ideas like communism. Several years of oil bull market should have made you to invest in other branches, diversify your economy, as the transformation from the soviet model would be less painful. Yet, all the money went to waste. I think someone already linked here an article about a Swedish manager from Volvo who was hired by Lada in Tagliatti. The man couldn't believe that in 21st century an automobile manufacturer is administrated like some kolkhoz. And I wouldn't be surprised if that's a prevailing pattern in most of the Russian companies. And that's a main problem for Russia and Russians. They can't properly address their own issues: anachronistic economy, troubled public health care and addictions(krokodil, opiates), surging rates of AIDS but simultaneously they attempt to impose their dominance (and their sick vision of the world), not being able to accept the fact that the other people want to live normally - "doesn't matter if it's ridiculous, what matter is our supremacy". Why all the former countries of "people's democracy" as soon as they had the chance to break the soviet chains fled under the NATO protection and tied themselves with the West? Because they know what does Russian domination really mean - and they've had enough of it.