Until more investment is pumped into these fledgling free-market economies, this technological backwardness will continue to exist. A dangerous legacy of corruption will also persist for at least the near future, and unfortunately hold back both countries, until all citizens can be assured that they can make a fair wage without shaking down each other for some extra cash. Not only will investment need to continue to go to these countries, but prudent spending of this money needs also to occur. For a number of years, fresh capital from western nations flooded into Russia and some of the more promising republics. But, a large amount of this money has found its way into the pockets of corrupt politicians or businessmen.
Privatization is also a concept that has had a hard time being implemented.
Unfortunately, a number of factories and businesses were simply given to the very same bosses and managers who ran the firms during Soviet times. A story was told to me while in Georgia, about a former communist party boss who was given ownership of a company he used to run. Instead of operating this new business by trying to attract foreign investment and forming crucial business partnerships, he simply sold all of the equipment and machinery to a German firm for a large sum, and fired all of the workers. Now, this example may not be indicative of how all privatization schemes have worked. But, corruption and the ensuing distribution of wealth into the hands of a few, will eventually cause foreign investment to slow and create real inequities between the Russian citizenry.