hmmm, the russian economy grew after the fast food chains responsible for the downfall of the ussr left
HMMMM π€ π€
Incoherence of the union center and its parts falling into civil war with each other were somewhat more important than fast food chains IMVHO.
But if not for GKChP coup, it could be preserved as a single state.
These guys turned on jammers over half of USSRβs territory, sent troops to take control of TV and radio broadcasting stations, put tanks to Moscow streets and then just went βoops, we surrenderβ.
This may not seem important for many people, but they also participated on Azeri side in NK, guaranteeing Armenia breaking away, and tried to use force in Baltics leading to them breaking away.
I guess the reason they surrendered was they saw what their actions in such a short period of time caused, so wanted someone else to take the blame.
Itβs not all black and white, of course. If not for 1993 coup (because Yeltsin did just that), Russia itself would still be technically very Soviet (weird enough, more so than under USSR where party organs would bear power which on paper belonged to Soviets ; so - somewhere in 1989-1993 what was on paper almost became the reality), which would make its foreign and domestic policy different from what happened IRL.
