Analysis: Is Russia falling apart?

Russians are reeling from a spate of tragedies

By Eurasia analyst Stephen Eke

In the latest technological mishap to draw the world's attention, Russia temporarily lost control of four military satellites forming part of its early warning system.

Despite assurances from Moscow that there was no danger to the outside world, US experts have again warned of the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear missiles.

There has been little spending on the medical or education systems

It looks like another sign of Russia's decrepit - and dangerous - infrastructure.

The idea that a fire at a relay station could result in a complete loss of control of military tracking satellites is unnerving.

Russian officials have put the incident down to a short circuit.

That brings back uncomfortable memories of the blaze which destroyed part of the Ostankino television tower in Moscow in August 2000.

In that, perhaps more spectacular, incident, overloaded power supply cables eventually melted and set fire to the upper sections of the tower.

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But it does not take an accident on the scale of Ostankino or the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine to make clear the fragile state of Russia's infrastructure.

As any visitor to Russia knows, once outside Moscow or a handful of other big cities, this is a country whose physical fabric is falling apart.

The infamous pot-holed roads, the ramshackle housing estates - all are testament to a country in far from good shape.

Lack of investment

But it is the condition of Russia's military installations that causes the greatest concern to the Kremlin and western leaders.

The lack of investment over the decade since communism fell is largely to blame.

President Vladimir Putin set out why he thought there was no rush to invest in Russia's infrastructure in his recent State of the Nation address.

Russia's ambitious space project did little for ordinary people

Pointing to the fact that 60% of all investment goes into Russia's gas and oil industries, he blamed "high risks", "limited incentives" and "a lack of credibility" for frightening off potential investors.

He said he would slash Russia's burgeoning bureaucracy - which has doubled in size over the last 10 years - to deal with these barriers.

The legacy of communism is one that has proved costly for Russia to deal with.

The Soviet Union's development boom in the 1960s resulted in prestige projects inspired by political rather than economic objectives.

Soviet rule destroyed any culture of personal responsibility and created long decision-making chains of command - they remain largely unchanged

Those projects included the space programme, which swallowed vast sums of money but is now reduced to taking wealthy tourists into space.

And human factors also play their part in creating Russia's catalogue of accident-prone woe.

Soviet rule destroyed any culture of personal responsibility and created long decision-making chains of command. They remain largely unchanged.

Communism's legacy remains for many ordinary Russians

But restoring Russia's physical fabric from outside is too large and costly an enterprise for any one international organisation - or foreign state - to undertake.

Russia has the potential. But it is undermined by massive capital flight.

The Kremlin often blames foreign governments for allowing tens of billions of dollars to be exported out of Russia - often illegally.

But it still has not come up with a strategy to persuade its own people that their money is better off as investments in projects Russia needs.