I think what you mean is that Russia has always been a conciliar society. It is true that living in an apartment in Moscow, as I did many times, means you are part of a group of people who all share a sense of community. Babushki I had never met stopped to tell me how to better dress my child.
Backward is a fairly bizarre term, no matter how you mean it, for a country which has produced some of the greatest literature, music, and architecture on the planet.
Please see # 63.