Ive got a friend in Ekaterinburg. She and her mother used to live in a state owned apartment overlooking the lake in the centre of town. When the Soviet Union broke up they were given their apartment for nothing, as were all long term renters. She is a successful manager in a Russian company which imports and sells batteries, torches etc. Her brother is a waster who drinks and runs up debts secured on their apartment which she then has to pay off.
There is something broken about many, maybe even most Russian men. Maybe its the enforced conscription for two years in the army - a brutalising time from what Ive heard. .