Except - traditional Russian retailers are terrible compared to Ikea. They do represent a real improvement.
As for improving the lifestyles, you'll soon realise that cheap chinese wares don't improve the lifestyles that much. Cheap, but ugly and non-durable.
Especially global corporations are known for doing it in less economically developed countries to own them as they wish. Example is South America: there were some wars, even, growing out of conflict between two American oil corporations.
Now you can say that there's good bribe and bad bribe (first for doing legal things, second for questionable), but it's bribery in either case.
Although my experience is 5 years old, I don't think things have changed so much that Ikea isn't paying bribes.
I know that on the basis of having some.
As for retailers: if it wouldn't be an IKEA mall, it would be some other kind of mall, it's not like there would be much difference.
"In other news, IKEA, after operating in Russia for 9 years, suddently discovers that there's a massive corruption there".
IKEA uses press to bash government for bad process; I use HN to bash IKEA for bad wares; If I troll, don't they?
What bothers me with the attitude of neo-patriotic Russians under Putin (which you seem to represent well) is that it considers the logic of "everyone cheats, therefore we can too, even so bad that it goes off the charts" valid.
To me it seems Ikea is not in this for any political games: it wants to make business, within moral codes it has set up for itself, that should be reasonable to everyone, even you. You on the other hand seem to be in this out of hurt national pride. That is not an argument as compelling as the first.
It is not difficult to understand that Russians do have a hurt national pride, looking at recent history. But don't take it out on Ikea - they're not the one at fault here. Take it out on the corrupt local government. That would be more constructive, and even build up some credit with Russia's current skeptics.