Not true anymore. Have you been to Russia? If you work on a menial job in the third-tier Russian city you can afford to rent a decent place, a loan on a new car, unlimited mobile plan and a 65 inch TV+ cable, two overseas vacations and to save on top of this. And that out of $600 monthly income.
Russia is better than other BRICS countries. In lots of ways. Besides issues with health care and heavy medal poisoning. Russian society is far better than it was just 30 years ago. Putin got rid of the rampant crime. And now its a calm place to live. But own a business. And lets see how big your business gets before someone takes it from you. Your wealth is not safe in Russia. You’re better off in Norway or Poland. According to Worldometer Russian life expectancy for last year was 113th. Thats below China and all of its neighbors including most of the former USSR.
After many years of poverty and crime, Russia now provides its citizens a nice stable lower middle class life. Not a long life. But if you concentrate on your family, your garden and your job, it can be a short happy life.