Moscow was in squalor, including the subway , in the 1990s.
Of course that was the era of Western economic neo-liberal economic “experts” combining with Oligarchs to rob Russia.
Putin cleared those guys out after 1998, and things have been improving ever since. (helped by higher oil prices).
As a shortwave enthusiast, one of the things I remember from the 90s, was that Radio Moscow was so desperate for money, they would allow anyone to use their facilities.
One of those groups they allowed was Aum Shinrikyo, who committed the deadly sarin attack in the Tokyo subway.