Did Soviet infrastructure dispersal cripple modern Russia?

Did spreading Soviet infrastructure among the republics and Warsaw Pact states cripple the later Russian Federation?

Not to the extent often claimed; some capacity was in Ukraine, but Soviet planners largely treated Ukraine as part of the integrated core.

In this assessment, deliberate distribution across Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact states did not principally cripple the Russian Federation. Important capacity did sit in Ukraine, but Soviet planners treated Ukrainian territory almost as an integrated extension of Russia rather than as a separate satellite. Weak investment from the late Soviet period onward receives more weight in the explanation. Russian roads and railways are described as having fallen behind the position they held in the 1980s. The post-Soviet separation of assets therefore cannot carry the whole explanation for Russia's infrastructure decline.