The "evil empire" has returned.

Stealing patents won't help them much. They never really figured out industrial production or global competition. Their main exports were natural resources (oil, metals), vodka --- and crime, lots of crime all over the world.

When Putin demanded that tractors be made domestically, they imported Czech "kits" and assembled them locally and declared the problem solved.

As Putin's friend Trump would say, that is really "smart", kinda "genius".