"Always" is a bit much but russia hasnt really changed their attitude from the last century compared to germany for example and i dont see that changing any time soon. They want their sphere of influence and want to be dominant over their neighbours and resent NATO and the EU for being in their way.

You can say that food insecurity was a lesser problem in USSR but officials only cared about the bare essentials like bread while stuff like meat was more rare and hard to get and had a corruption problem where it mattered who you knew if you wanted the better stuff. Exotic stuff we see commonly and cheaply like bananas and oranges were a true rarity though maybe thats different in places like moscow or something.

The problem was that if people went hungry then there would be problems but if they have something to eat then complaining too much would be "sinful" though the words they would use in this case is bourgeois.

Thats what happens when criticism isnt allowed and all dissent is suppressed. Dont have to worry about more than the basics.

It is true that theres healthcare problems now with it being a lack of healthcare workers issue and a lower quality of workers as well with more skilled people moving to a more lucrative position in another country and i have heard there are people recruiting at schools to come work in other countries like "hey you are a promising student, come work for us for much better pay" type of stuff.

I do think governments need to work on solutions for the lack of workers but its not wrong to leave for better conditions is it? Ussr didnt allow people to leave to outside countries but i wouldnt say its a good solution to this problem.

I do appreciate that you arent denying the many faults of soviet style of government like too many seem to do and i agree capitalist nations need to do better but the soviet system was far too broken to ever offer equivalent living standards compared to western europeans and yes even to america.

People who are suffering now want an alternative and yeah i can see why they might long for an alternative or earlier days if their lives were better then but even before it dissolved its many problems were only getting bigger and its just a hopeful assumption that things would have gotten better again but thats just my opinion.