State/publicly-owned assets were co-opted/stolen/gifted by oligarchs at after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Assets and funds that should have found their w

State/publicly-owned assets were co-opted/stolen/gifted by oligarchs at after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Assets and funds that should have found their way into the public coffers were given away or 'sold off' in an obscene case of plutocrats plundering the wealth of the people. The beneficiaries of this massive transfer of wealth are now the ruling class of Russia. They're no better than gangsters. Russians are poor, but their 'leaders' are rich beyond imagination, and it was all stolen from the people they are supposed to be serving. Russia is the embodiment of modern kleptocracy.