There is no doubt that the Russian society is not healthy and that the country is one of the most corrupt in the world, no one claims it to be great for quality living but they are stable politically and lets not forget how important that is. Contrary that had been said on here, I think they are relevant because they have immense geopolitical influence on a range of issues in the world; North Korean nuclear proliferation, their decision to protect the Venezuelan regime, strong leverage on negotiations between various opposition factions in Syria, various political strings attached to Turkey and Iran, their vital gas and oil supplies to Europe and Asia, their meddling in foreign politics and cyber influence on different levels in different countries. This is their foreign policy and the relevance on the world stage, they use their leverage to extract concessions from the international community through intense negotiations even at the expense of their own people, aka counter sanctions on the European farmers and the ongoing support of ultra nationalist movements across Europe. They may not be benevolent from the western point of view but their strategy is effective, they have influence and a foot in the door as well as veto power in the United Nations' Security Counsel which they exercise fully to fulfill their geopolitical interests.
The reason why I responded about Russia and carry on with the details is because of the stark contrast between an average Russian to an Average Argentine. On one hand both countries bare similarities, both are developing nations with commodity driven economies, both corrupt and culturally conservative and family oriented yet the Russians are way better off on the longer term because they favor stability knowing that without stability there can be no economic improvements. They let an authoritarian government rule over them because Putin can make a phone call to the central bank and raise interest rates and keep them there until inflation drops from nearly 20% back to 4% in a matter of a year without printing Rubels to pay for the public sector! He can also successfully negotiate a new gas pipeline to Germany and secure a long term contract to guarantee enough revenue for his sanctions ridden home, their domestic manufacturing and the farming sector are booming so on the long term even if some sanctions remain in place they are determined to succeed because of an effective strategy and good stability, none of which are present in here. Argentines meantime are busy disagreeing with union representatives and borrowing more to fund their inefficient government while hoping for a miracle to stabilize the peso while purposefully continuing to devalue it by expanding the money supply by nearly 50% a year.