And the west pushed this Privatize All The Things model into the former Soviet bloc, too, where mass brutal privatization of the huge portfolio of state assets created the kleptocrat economic they have there now.
Nobody ever denied that the free market is efficient. The question is: efficient at what?
Moving control of capital to capitalists. That's what it does. That's all it does. That's all it's ever been capable of doing.
Its really disconcerning how many people simply assume that small nations have no agency whatsoever. It's this kind of thinking that births ideas about Russian/American zones of influence around Europe and similar very dangerous antiquated nonsense.
It need to die.
As for zones of influence... It is very real. That's why we jumped into NATO at first opportunity. A lot of companies were privatised looking for capital from, e.g., specifically USA, to make sure they have more interest in our survival. And any Russian investment is seen as a possible risk.