You are no doubt right that the Russian elite was already corrupted to the core, when the USSR collapsed. I can not confirm/deny whether you are more or less fa

You are no doubt right that the Russian elite was already corrupted to the core, when the USSR collapsed. I can not confirm/deny whether you are more or less familiar with the situation. Still, and this is in no way unique to Russia, when a country goes through a chaotic "restructuring" (like the collapse of the USSR), assistance from "instruments" provided by (more stable) foreign institutions/individuals will open opportunities to criminals that would otherwise be far out of their reach. I do not claim that it was not the Russian elite that did this to their own country (I believe they did). But without the foreign support/facilitation, it may never have gone as far and "successful" as it did. In general, because Russia is definitely not the only country that suffers from this phenomenon, the success and perseverance of this kind of kleptocracy usually leans a lot on cross-border assistance/facilitation. Without it, people would actually have a change to do something about it. But in reality, they often do not (as in Russia).