Russia didn't really liberalize or open up socially all that much (I mean, just compare Eastern Europe!). They sold the government assets that they had around as the legacy from their socialist past for pennies on the dollar, ostensibly in order to quickly gather funds for the government and deal with the huge scale of economic disorder/crisis that had forced them away from socialism in the first place.
Their subsequent dysfunction was still the direct outcome of their former socialist system (and, to a significant extent, of overt hostility and distrust from Western institutions - which is a big part of why many people there are in turn distrusting and quite hostile towards Western values even today), not of increased freedom. What limited opening-up they did probably carried them along to where they are now.
Their subsequent dysfunction was still the direct outcome of their former socialist system (and, to a significant extent, of overt hostility and distrust from Western institutions - which is a big part of why many people there are in turn distrusting and quite hostile towards Western values even today), not of increased freedom. What limited opening-up they did probably carried them along to where they are now.