Russia as a foster-mother: why people in the RSFSR lived worse than in other Soviet republics

An interesting question why the inhabitants of the national republics that are part of the USSR, on average, lived better than in Russia, is decided in their publication by the journalists of the online publication "Cyrillic". Of course, this state of affairs did not apply to the capital of both the USSR and Russia, Moscow, however, already in the immediate vicinity of it, for example, in the Russian Non-Black Earth Region, real poverty was observed, while in the rural areas of Transcaucasia or Central Asia, the standard of living was at the order is higher, and often exceeded the Moscow one.

Firstly, in the opinion of journalists, this was because the products manufactured in the RSFSR, including energy resources, were sold in the republics at low prices, but the products of the republics were bought in Russia at higher prices. That is, the Russian manufacturer sacrificed in favor of the national ones, who received more, gave weeks. According to the statistics of that time, only Belarus and Azerbaijan had a surplus in foreign trade of the Soviet Union by 1989, while imports of Russia itself exceeded exports, and also because products and energy resources were supplied to the "fraternal socialist countries" at low prices.

In reality, if we take the world market prices of that time, the picture will be completely different: the foreign trade balance of Russia was positive - 32.6 billion rubles, Azerbaijan - 550 million rubles (of course, due to the sale of oil and gas)., And all the rest is negative.

That is, in fact, Russia fed the rest of the country from the income from the sale of hydrocarbons abroad. The same statistics of 1989 testifies: every resident of the RSFSR annually “invested” more than 200 rubles in other republics - a good average monthly salary at that time. But the rest only received: Lithuania - 997 rubles, Estonia - 812 rubles, Moldova - 612 rubles, Latvia - 485 rubles, Armenia - 415 rubles...

Secondly, in addition to trade, subsidies from the all-Union budget to the republican ones played an important role. Moreover, the further, the more the imbalance grew, in favor of the inhabitants of the union republics and to the detriment of the inhabitants of the RSFSR.

For example, in 1985 Russia produced products for $ 14.8 thousand per person, while consuming $ 12.5 thousand per person, but in 1990 the same parameters were: $ 17.5 thousand and $ 11.8 thousand, respectively. Whereas in Georgia everything is the other way around: in 1985 $ 12.8 thousand were produced and $ 31.5 thousand consumed; and in 1990 - $ 10.6 thousand and $ 41.9 thousand! So the famous anecdote about how Gorbachev and Reagan brag about the wealth of their citizens is completely fair: there the American cites the example of the white population of his country, and the Soviet leader - the Georgian.

The same thing, only in smaller proportions, was in the rest of the republics, with the exception of Belarus, where per capita production at world market prices was higher than consumption: $ 15.6 thousand and $ 12 thousand, respectively, in 1990.

That is, by the end of the existence of the USSR, a unique situation developed: the colonies lived better than the metropolis. That is why the citizens of Russia initially supported the separation of their republic from the rest, which Yeltsin carried out.