I would probably rather live in Soviet Russia than modern Russia.
Modern Russia is just a complete mess.
Russia is a mess today, because of the USSR.
People in this thread seem to be decoupling the "collapse of the USSR" from the USSR itself, which ignores the fact that the collapse was caused by the way the USSR had developed and the way it was led and especially its economic situation.
The USSR collapsed because it was a entity established at the point of a machine gun, by thugs, murderers and ideological quacks. Everything from its manner of economic development to its repressive government were contributing factors to its eventual demise.
The only reason why things were somewhat more glued together before the collapse, was the force of inertia created by it being a totalitarian regime, and as along as the government could impose its will, things would remain glued together. The problem is that the USSR's ability to enforce its will on its people was eroded by its economic weaknesses, foreign policy adventurism and incompetence.
The mess that was left behind following the Soviet Union's collapse is a product of the Soviet Union's existence in the first place.
Russia had always been a reactionary power, a highly religious country and a country that has largely focused inward but desired means by which to interact with the world. These three considerations dictated every decision made under the Tsars for hundreds of years. The fact that Russia has reverted to being a reactionary power (propping up right wing political movements), a highly religious country and one focused inward but always desiring access beyond (Crimea), illustrates more than anything the failure of communism to rewrite the destiny of a culture or to erase innate nationalistic tendencies. Russia looks more like it did in 1900 than it did in 1985.
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