And yet, Graham asks, “Where is the Russian Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs? Actually, they exist, but you have never heard of them because they fell flat on their faces when they tried to commercialize their inventions in Russia.”

He points to a 2010 survey of Russian scientists and engineers on their attitudes toward their work. This response was typical: “We do not have an innovation culture — no experience, no traditions. Our scientists, they are all still Soviet in their attitudes, for them business is something dirty. Our scientific culture is practically untouched by the business entrepreneurial spirit.”

Indeed, Graham adds, this anti-business attitude predates the communist experience. In the Tsarist period, he writes, intellectuals saw “biznes” as a “disreputable activity [and] commerce as below their dignity. In recent post-Soviet years, the connection of successful businesspeople, especially the oligarchs, with corruption has only deepened suspicion of business operations.”

So, don’t expect Russia to move up those economic league tables, even if it is able to successfully devour Ukraine.