In what way?
And sure, there’s plenty to criticize about Russian politics but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a space contender.
Heck, replace Russia with India. India has a ton of basic problems but that is not stopping them from competing.
I mean I'm not sure if this is true.
They until recently sold around 100 RD-180 rockets to the US - none of which experienced issues. Not to mention putting US astronauts into space.
Russia is one of the few nations that actually have the history, engineering talent, finances and the raw resources to compete.
Plus, it's been widely reported that Russian military industrial output is way up with factories working 3 shifts, etc. We are not talking about illiterate Afghanis.