What's unique to Russia is the sheer scale and brazenness of theft. No one is even trying to hide it, and it goes all the way to the top. Putin was exporting 30% of Russia's oil through a firm owned by his old friend. I very much doubt he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart.
It is not a coincidence that Russia consistently comes in at the bottom of the list in the various corruption ratings. And it's not a coincidence that their economy turns to shit every time oil takes a nosedive. It doesn't take a genius to run a country when you get $200B a year in oil profits, even if you steal two thirds of it right off the bat. It does take a modicum of competence to run a country without that, but with an elite so corrupt and so entrenched, Russia's only hope is that oil returns to $100+/bbl sometime soon. Which it probably won't for another couple of years.