Sad part of it is, all this "new" found wealth by the Russian elites is at the cost of the Russian people.  The people are just as poor as they were under communism.  This statement is also true of the other former Comecon countries like Ukraine.  If you were an insider elite during the communism period, you were as poor as a church mouse but had access to better food, western goods and better housing.  The KGB and GRU elites were the most powerful, they knew all the secrets.  Warlord ex-KGB like Putin were minor functionaries but elite.  From Yelsin on, the elite have stolen the wealth of an entire nation.  The Gov't owned the assets, the gov't was the elite, therefore they were able to steal the assets.  All that "new" wealth was not created by hard work and risk taking, it was stolen because they knew and kicked back up to the Warlords like Putin. This has been reported and ignored for 2 decades, KGB Kleptogarchs now influencing the WH.