How is it possible that Russia per capita GDP is so low, compared to Western Europe?

I have been to Moscow for three days and it looked a quite wealthy place. Is the rest of Russia that much poorer?

Wladimir Feldman, studied Economics (1998)

A picture worth a thousand words.

This is a photo I’ve made just outside of my office:

This wooden houses are more than 100 years old but people still live in them because they do not have money to buy anything better.

And this is a picture I’ve made after a 5-minute walk:

You see that modern building at the background? It is a theatre that was built about 5 years ago. It costed more than $300 million and about half of that sum was stolen by government officials (starting with a federal minister who was responsible for funding). It is large and pretty but is surrounded by 100+ years old houses inhabited by people earning $200 per month.

It is Russia in a nutshell: a small islands of “normal” life, mostly built on the foundation of oil revenues and theft, surrounded by wast ocean of poverty.

https://www.quora.com/ Меня давно интересовал тот же вопрос, что же в действительности изменилось в России, ведь я там не была 40 лет.  И ответ этот абсолютно подтвердил мое мнение.