[csee]

WW1 and the famines after the revolution were more of a humanitarian low point for them than 1991. Even after considering the dip in life expectancy and the financial crises and the kleptocratic corruption, the 1990s doesn't compare to what Russians (not to mention the minorities like the Tartars) went through in the early years of Bolshevik rule.

I would only agree that the 1990s were an unprecedented low point from the viewpoint of national pride via the prism of nationalism, given the losses in territory and influence that Russia had. Which explains why Putin thinks it's the single biggest disaster - he's a fascist and ultranationalist. Such people care about national pride and empire above all else.