Did Markets Fail in Post-Soviet Economies?

Did Markets Fail in Post-Soviet Economies?
In the last 20 years since the breakup of the Soviet Union, many post-Soviet economies like my home country Russia have struggled to reach economic prosperity. This has led some people to question the virtues of free-market capitalism. I would argue that it has not been a failure of free-market capitalism but rather a failure to create the right conditions where capitalism could prosper. Therefore the right question we should be asking is: Why did some post-Soviet economies grow so much faster than others?
The more successful transition economies are countries like Azerbaijan and Poland, with average GDP growth rates of over 4 percent. These transition economies also tend to be located on the outer edge of the Soviet bloc where corrupt Soviet-style institutions did not take root.
The more successful countries also tend to have more economic and political freedoms, lower levels of corruption and inflation, and more transparent government institutions. All these features help capitalism to succeed. Conversely, countries with relatively dismal economic performance, like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and some Central Asian states, have not grown this fast because they have not created a market-friendly environment. These poorly performing states tend to have high levels of corruption and inflation, low levels of economic and political freedoms, and poorly defined or enforced property rights.
All of these problems make capitalism less successful. In addition to that, oil revenues tend to mask the economic problems these nations face and make their governments more reluctant to reform. While many post-Soviet economies now have large private markets, they are still a long way from having a true market economy. In essence, the dismal economic performance of countries like Russia is the result of inadequate reforms rather than a failure of capitalism.
Free-market capitalism never had a chance to succeed in countries like Russia and it never will unless the market reforms are implemented.