The corruption rankings put Russia among the most corrupt nations and those are the ones that have the worst economic and military performance. The most recent corruption surveys show Russia as more corrupt than China and getting worse. Avangard is an expensive defense against an imaginary threat. Meanwhile, the growing corruption and shortage of competent people (who are leaving Russia or avoiding defense industries) makes it more and more difficult to complete high-tech weapons projects of any kind. [emphasis added]
Russia's hope to be a great power able to defend its incredibly long borders on land and sea--and surely the Kremlin rulers actually know that China is the threat and not NATO, right?--seems like it will falter on this problem. Russia can't live off of Cold War research and development forever.
Will Russia pull a USSR move and seal off their border to prevent a brain drain by building a physical new Berlin Wall to keep Russians inside Russia without state permission to travel abroad?
Already, Russia is trying to put in their version of an Internet "wall" to control information and monitor their subjects.
