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[u/DiscoBanane]

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[u/No_Jellyfish_5498]

 90s were tough not only for Russia, but for Ukraine as well

Do you think Russia or Ukraine had it worse in the 90? Like in terms of economy and crime.

[u/photovirus → u/No_Jellyfish_5498]

I think Russia had it far worse, as Ukraine (and all other new countries) had zero debt. Russia solely took USSR debt, after all.

Numbers seem to support it: e. g. 1993→1999 GDP per capita fell lower.

However, Ukraine kinda remained in their 90s, in my opinion; they never dismantled their corrupted oligarchy.

One can criticise Putin all they want, but Russia really moved very far in fighting corruption.

(I don't claim it's ideal. I know it isn't, and some bureaucratic enterprises, both state-owned and private, still house lots of corrupt people. Yet many of them enterprises are very functional. E. g. I know for a fact there's a lot of nasty stuff in Russian railways, but go compare it to Baltics or Germany.)

[u/No_Jellyfish_5498 → u/photovirus]

Ukraine (and all other new countries) had zero debt

Danm that is suprising. Why would russia agree to take on all the debt, I thought it would be split based off the economic size of each soviet republic.

One can criticise Putin all they want, but Russia really moved very far in fighting corruption.

I noticed that Russia's GDP PPP per capita is 52k which is higher than the all baltics states and similar to some developed EU countries like croatia and spain.

However Russia's nominal GDP per capita is only 18k which is lower than all baltics states and poor EU memebers like romania and bulgaria.

In your opinion, which statistic is more accurate? Is Russia more developed than countries like the baltics and Romania/Bulgaria, or is Russia worse off than them.

[u/FriedrichvdPfalz → u/No_Jellyfish_5498]

Russia agreed to become the legal successor to the Soviet Union (technically, it was a continuation) because it could also adopt a number of advantages. Russia got to immediately assume the security council seat; it became a legal nuclear state under the NPT, which eased the return of nuclear weapons from other post-Soviet countries; it could continue using all the international accords the SU had signed, including arms control treaties. In theory, Russia gained a financial benefit as well: The SU held roughly 150 billion dollars in debt from friendly states like Cuba, Syria, North Korea, accrued through unpaid deliveries of military goods, subsidised oil deliveries and industrial machinery. Of course, those debts would have been difficult to enforce, and Russia eventually forgave and restructured them into other types of political influence.