And what is the number of migrants from Turkmenistan in Russia? Probably in Moscow there is not any one Russian janitor. Let me remind you that the Turkmens are Muslims.
Turkmenistan is a very rich country (thanks to huge deposits of natural gas) and they don't need to send their working age adults to Russia. Most of the immigrants to Russia are from poverty-ridden countries such as Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Moldova, and Kyrgyzstan.
And you want to say that Russian citizens live well? Reserves of Russian gas and oil much more than in Turkmenistan. It seems to me that the welfare of citizens depends not on fossil fuels, but from the corrupt government.
PER CAPITA. Turkmenistan is indeed very wealthy given its historical status as backwater. Russia has 30x more population. Like comparing poorer parts of United States to Norway for example.
I dont think there are many people, who can claim with straight face that their particular government is not corrupt at all. However it is worth mention, that United States spend more on its military than is entire state budget of Russian federation (yes, including welfare, schooling and infrastructure costs).
This is because in America there are so many thieves in power. Putin himself is a thief and has surrounded himself with the same people as he did. Moreover it destroys any dissent. So Russian will be a very long time to live in squalor.
Let me rephrase the argument then.
Can you cite any, and I mean ANY era where people inhabiting Russia enjoyed better living standarts than today? You can link sources and numbers, so we can make this more interesting.
Because I can bet with you, that you wont find it.
Also as far as "America" goes, I believe you mean specifically United States, not rest of the wide continent - it is fine. Corrupt perhaps, but due to geopolitics and protestant mentality of the founders, you enjoy perhaps highest living standarts in the world while still retaining freedoms that are unheard of else where. Russia cannot compare, but not because it would be even more corrupt, but because its past and quite long history has been so much more turbulent.