As an American, I wish you the best in finding a place in the free world.

I think the west treatment of Russa in the '90s was based on wishful thinking - that a society that had never known true democracy, and had been oppressed by communism and its attendant corruption for so long, could become both a free market and a free country. The west hoped for that, and tried to cause it to happen. But the sudden privatization was hijacked by the oligarchs, and the state enterprises were essentially stolen from the people, rather than becoming true companies in a free market.

In other words, Russia was not ready for freedom. It still is not, as one can easily deduce from your earlier, excellent article on the problems of Russian society.