In Russia the unemployment rate is 7.9%, much much lower if you are engineer...some larger companies even higher now Americans and Euros to fill ranks...and in Russia, unlike US, Engineering and "geek" courses seen in high lights.
As for the apartment, consider the things he promised to move to Israel...he and family have big disappointment, after selling apartment and small dacha in Kharkov.
As I said, people from the Communist countries don't understand how capitalistic countries work. What kind of change would you expect the rest of the country to undergo to give fair chances to Russian speaking immigrants?