Russia country side

On our way to Saint Petersburg from Moscow we have seen lots of countryside scenery of Russia.  One thing shocked me the most was once we are outside Moscow, the suburbs look depress and dead. Moscow is really rich and fancy but the suburbs look quite awful. 

In Australia, some people's dream is to live in the country. You get a big piece of land and some cows or sheep. Life can be pretty relax and beautiful out there. 

In Russia, you wouldn't want to live in the country. It's old and unpleasant. Some houses don't even have a proper roof. Every now and then we see some colorful Northern Europe style houses, but they are not that fancy either. People just look after the piece of farm land in front of their houses. I think some of the land is smaller than someone's front lawn in Australia.

I wonder what makes them living in this condition. Does the government only allow them to have certain size of the land in the country? Or is that because the soil is not fertile enough for them to farm anyway?

It's quite depressing to see from one extream to another. Do people in these places know what sort of lives people are having in Moscow? Do people leave their town to find a life in Moscow and leaving the old people behind? Lots of questions going through my head and I think I will never find out.