For just one example, his claim that the typical St. Petersburg man walks around with a bottle of beer and a cigarette is sufficient to cast doubt on the credibility of ANYTHING he says. I can assure you I saw nobody except a couple of teenagers drinking beer anywhere (same as in any city here). If he invents what is trivially easy to disprove by direct observation (like, why not try going there in person?) then why believe anything of his.
Did he mention anything (I could only bear to skim the article) about the tens of thousands of churches reopened or rebuilt from the ground up, the 350 reopened or rebuilt monasteries in Russia (as evidence of spiritual freedom and revival), or anything else one might consider "good"?
Speaking of Harvard where he teaches, isn't that the same American university which was fined $50,000,000 by the Russian court for fraud in the privation thing in the 1990's?
Perhaps Ferguson meant St. Pete, Florida? I don't recognize the St. Petersburg Russia he writes about. Perhaps my over 40 visits to the city since 95 pales in comparison to his two weeks there, but me smells a fraud!