What is your evidence of that? A couple of weeks ago I watched a couple of youtube videos of somebody going through a grocery store in Russia to show what prices were nowadays. To me, it looked like any grocery store I've been in lately. Well stocked, plenty of variety.
I have seen the same thing. Too many people here are living in the past concerning Russia. They underestimate the Russians because that is what they have been led to believe.
They still think it is the USSR.