Finding ways to bring free, non-communist Russia into the community of nations was the biggest challenge of the 1990s, and no one rose to it. The Russians themselves failed most dramatically. Integrating Russia into the world order is a huge task, in part because the devastation left by seven decades of communist rule can't quickly be repaired. Nikolai Shmelyov, an economist in Moscow, observed recently that a third of Russia's industrial capacity is useless, yet much of it pretends still to operate. Russia produces a steadily smaller proportion of the food it consumes.
Environmental degradation is ubiquitous.
Russian men have a life expectancy of less than 60 years. Russia remains suspended between a horrific past and an uncertain future. Because the Soviet Union disappeared without bloodshed, the old regime was never fully displaced. The rule of law remains largely a dream. Corruption is taken for granted.