Much the same can be said for Ukraine. Under President Viktor F. Yanukovych a government and business elite grew wealthy as corruption spread and the quality of everyday life deteriorated. “Both Russians and Ukrainians are very similar in the way they evaluate the corruption and poor governance of their respective countries,” says Lev Gudkov, director of the Levada Center, an independent pollster. “But unlike Russia, Ukraine has no unifying figure, a Vladimir Putin who can use the power of the state to cast himself as a protective force, the source of all social benefits, public good and national security.” Moreover, Ukraine lacks the vast natural resources that keep Russia afloat, and its economic situation is worse.

While Russia is not the nation Mr. Putin yearns it to be, it would be unfair to say that the country has never tried to resolve its problems. A tax and an administrative reform program was implemented during his first term as president, from 2000 to 2004. Numerous initiatives to fight corruption have been announced, and Moscow is currently seeking to improve Russia’s standing in the World Bank’s Doing Business index and other indices.

But those responsible for improving governance have never had the power to do so: Modernization programs have always been stymied. In a phrase coined by the political scientist Nikolay Petrov, the reformers in Russia Inc. have always been mere managers, never real shareholders in the country’s fate.

There was a time when the Kremlin tried to play with the problem by producing its own (“fairer”) assessments of social and economic conditions. A few years ago the Moscow State Institute for International Relations published a list of nations with strong “international influence” potential, ranking Russia as seventh from the top. If only they continued that ranking, Russia would be on the way to No. 1 right now. The growth of Russian G.D.P. would have been endlessly celebrated, and the state-run media would be certain to trumpet the news whenever Mr. Putin won praise from a Western publication.

But the internal conflict between democratic reform and the status quo has ended. Most Russian sources of honest information and constructive criticism — the independent media, academia, the business community — are blocked. Most formerly autonomous government institutions, such as the courts and the Parliament, have been destroyed or brought under control. The country’s managers are reduced to acting as Kremlin errand boys who are kept busy minimizing the damage while Russia Inc.’s “shareholders” loot the nation.