It seems you are putting the onus on the west to pressure Russia into solving the social issues that have arisen from the collapse of the Soviet state, as if it were the fault of the western countries. Also, although the west may enjoy an overall better social sharing of wealth, it has many similar problems. In addition, I don't think the Russian government wants the west telling them how to run their country, or even helping to a greater degree. The problems really must be solved from within to succeed, and the west will help if asked. Give it more time for the legacy of the communist system, and cold war policies to evolve. It may be a long bumpy road, and if people are allowed, they need to feel the empowerment of helping themselves, and the sense of self-worth that brings.

Buddahaid

Yes but the thing is, I know that the US can wait almost indefinitely for things in Russia to 'fix up all by themselves', countries right next to Russia kinda can't. I'm just worried that the things that are wrong in Russia don't have to do with Russia alone but also with it's position in the world and where the west decides it should be. It's always kind of been like that, nothing new there.

To me it seems that you think of Russia as a kind of human (?). Well as much as empty platitudes of "selfworth" etc. may work when talking about humans, with an entire nation the situation is a bit more complex. Not completely different by different enough.

But like I've written here before, the intrests of Russia and the US aren't entirely opposite, they have many parallel goals and have had for a long time. So I think the US doesn't really want Russia to become any 'wussier' as a nation, the US needs it's ol' cold war buddy. Russian natural resources are also being profited on by a minute part of the population and the really big wealth is being taken out of the country by people like Abramovich. I guess the Russian people don't own the natural resources of their nation like for example the Norwegians do.