Claims the guy, whose never even been to ex-USSR countries, lives in a stable Western-European country and gets his info from totally unproven, unreliable sources. From all the people active in this thread, you are furthest from the front you know. 
This. To make up your own judgment only 2 things are required, and both can be hard to do for many people. 1 is to go and see for yourself, and talk to people involved, 2nd is to decide to try to be open.
In my head, simple geography is one of basic reasons of the "divided" ukraine we see now. Western Ukrainians have gone to at least Poland. They see that another kind of society and life is possible. They quickly understand that the something smells about the anti-western propaganda they are exposed to from Russian and Russian friendly TV-channels.
Likewise, westerners who play down the utter rottenness of the "Russian system", have never been there, never lived there, have never seen the reasons for the miserable situation in Russia and states under their influence. To me it's clear as day.
You cannot build a fair state where corruption and plain theft is the default mode. One thing is common corruption like paying a doctor to get better service, a symptom of poverty. The horror begins when the corruption decreases the state income, (Greece, Italy) and the worst of all, destroys all good decisions. For example building a nice highway so the oligarchs can have easier access to their dachas, or throwing the money meant for school refurbishment at a corrupt/criminal building company.
That is simply waste, and the end result are countries throwing away their growth and future. Not the "west sabotaging them". It's a self-sabotaging, rotten system, and the sooner you realize it, the better.
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