There is no singular answer, it’s a mixture of the worst type of economic restructuring done to the Eastern bloc cartelizing the entire economy, a dearth of strong political parties, too powerful an executive, Yeltsin’s anti-democratic tendencies, patronage networks, & election rigging, the remaining presence of the nomenklatura, and, perhaps most importantly, Russia’s size and diversity incentivizing a strongman system to keep the country together
Genuine question; what prevented Russia from becoming more like a functional western democracy post 1991? Lack of political culture or corruption? I dont know enough