"But that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus"

According to Russia’s former Foreign Minister, AndreiVladimirovitj Kozyrev, the causes of Russian aggression are due to a consensus amongst the conservative elite which emerged as early as the mid-1990s. 

Recent Kozyrev called on Russian diplomats to resign and not support the Russian operation in Ukraine. 

Russia billionaires move superyachts to
Maldives as sanctions tighten.

But the Russian Foreign Ministry replied that `Kozyrevshchina´ has always been considered synonymous with betrayal.

Andrej  Kozyrev - who was foreign minister of the Russian Federation under President Boris Yeltsin from August 1991 to January 1996: 

"Russian military. The Kremlin spent the last 20 years trying to modernize its military. Much of that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus. But as a military advisor you cannot report that to the President. So they reported lies to him instead. Potemkin military" 

Read this one and more:

2. Russian military. The Kremlin spent the last 20 years trying to modernize its military. Much of that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus. But as a military advisor you cannot report that to the President. So they reported lies to him instead. Potemkin military

— Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022

 End. Now the Russian Foreign Ministry will not replied

According to Kozyrev there were the hard times in 1991-92 when the Soviet economy came to a complete standstill, when there were barely any medicines, and in some areas even food. [imrussia.org]

"We were handed help, provided with substantial humanitarian aid. Moreover, the U.S. helped us preserve our status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to remain the only nuclear state in the territory of the former Soviet Union, and then to remove nuclear weapons from the territory of other former Soviet states. They helped us join the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other organizations. This all happened at a seminal moment when Russia could have lost everything—both its statehood and international status. America helped us not only to preserve all this, but also to elevate our status. Already in 1993, we began to participate in G7 summits and became a non-full member. Therefore, these `humiliations´ are just myths and lies which are convenient for the Kremlin today."

End.