[knowledgesale]

Let us make a quick comparative analysis of the post-soviet countries. Most of the characteristics of failed state you listed can be said about Ukraine, Belarus, Caucasian or Central Asian countries as well.

This natural experiment shows us that we cannot simplify what is happening in Russia by attributing it to a single person's fault. It must be a systematic phenomenon of complex nature.

[Symmetry]

The Baltic republics aren't doing bad, but they weren't conquered by the Soviet Union until WWII. I wonder if the parts of the former Soviet Union that it grabbed from Poland in WWII are doing better than the other parts of their respective countries now?