“Current state of affairs does not peak to whether a country is improving or declining.”
That would be correct, but there is no upward trend.
GDP is declining.
Life Expectancy is not improving.
Their cash reserves are at a critical level.
Oil production is stagnant.
The have had and continue to have the highest abortion rate on the planet.
Alcoholism rates are not improving.
There does not exist a democratic system in Russia.
Corruption is devastating the economy.
Russia exports few goods and services.
There is no positive trend in Russia.
And all of that makes Russia a third world dictatorship and there is no trend that points to improvement.
I have followed their demographics for a while and I assumed they couldn’t exit their death spiral, as did most demographers. Perhaps we were wrong.