Note, I'm not talking about Russia, the current somewhat democratic country, but the USSR. The oil and gas trade is good for both sides. It's not like Russia i

Note, I'm not talking about Russia, the current somewhat democratic country, but the USSR. The oil and gas trade is good for both sides. It's not like Russia is some benevolent country that provides for others, they sell resources for money and influence. But soviet rule was shit. It institutionalized a system and a whole kind of thinking that was unsustainable, which then devolved into chaos.