Putin, who has his power base in the military, or, as some believe, is controlled by the military, is not in a position to overrule the military or make them appear inferior. As callous as it appears, no leader would readily accept assistance from a foreign nation when military secrets may be revealed in the endeavor. In retrospect, Putin did not act wisely by criticizing his nation and its infrastructure after reporting on the inferno on top of the Moscow television tower. He may have wanted to give the Russian people a brutal assessment of their plight and stimulate then into a vigorous program to rejuvenate the infrastructure. It only embarrassed them.
Similar calamities occur daily in other parts of the industrial world.
It is becoming apparent that Putin is leaning towards a limited but similar apparatus as the one that operated the Soviet state- a strong military, alliances with those who favor government economic controls and an ubiquitous security system. In the near future, he may have no other alternative to this governing method. Russia has the resources and capability for rebuilding the country's infrastructure. Abundant cement, coal, iron, steel, oil, petrochemicals and machine tools are available to construct houses, roads, bridges, factories, communications, etc. The present private economy is not organized nor has the capital to support the efforts.