It doesn't mean Russians will be mean to Americans (on the contrary as I'm sure you witnessed) -- but historically, they do have genuine envy and resentment with how the world turned out and have trouble taking the blame.
They blame America and the West not just for the 1990s, but even for Stalin's crimes. Look at the quote from the article:
"In the last 27 years, Russia has failed to discuss an extremely important topic, which is that totalitarian regimes consider the use violence not just a tool, but as an end in itself.
According to the official Russian line, violence was perpetrated by unnamed dark forces acting under Western influence, or else it simply happened by itself, with nobody to blame.
It's really sad because it's this type of thinking they feel gives them license to sabotage other neighboring former Soviet countries who may want to take a direction different from the Kremlin line.
Because naturally, by resenting America -- you also resent the values America stands for: freedom, rule of law, dignity of the individual, human rights -- and in their efforts to undermine the image of America, the Russian people have undermined their own opportunity to adopt some of those principles for themselves.
On top of that, by not facing up to their past or repenting, they have only given free rein and housing for the same demons to continue to operate and dredge up the same old realities that led the people to the brink of self-annihilation in the first place.
As Gulag historian Anne Applebaum points out, "Like a Pandora's box, the past lies in wait for the next generation."
The sad thing is that the US, under Roosevelt and his successors, was either very supportive of Stalin or turned a blind eye to him. You still cant write or talk about his destruction of Russia in respectable academic circles.