It’s not the 80s and Russia is no longer Soviet.
I didn’t say these are good things. Try not to let hatred of Russia blind you to what is obvious.
“It’s not the 80s and Russia is no longer Soviet.”
Yes, they’re in an even more precarious position than they were then, since they no longer control all key sectors of the economy, so they have fewer options available to help them weather these kind of things. They are also more reliant on foreign investment, which the sanctions are making disappear, another problem they didn’t have to deal with in the 80s.
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century...As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.” —Vladimir Putin, in his annual state of the nation address in 2005
The Kremlin’s English translation of Putin’s words:
“Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself.”