“how did all the russian property get divvied up when the soviet union fell? ”
The big assets went to “oligarchs” in corrupt auctions. Some state assets were privatized by sending all Russian citizens shares of their stock, which they sold too cheaply rather than hold on to.
Russia is poor outside of its big cities, has a declining population, and lots of hideous communist apartment megaprojects.
Thatcher privatized a fair amount of public housing in England by selling it to the residents at a subsidized price.
It looks like Russia mostly gave the apartments away for free to their long-time residents. According to this article, about 20% of them refused to take them because they prefer being public housing tenants for various reasons.
