Imagine that you live in a poor and corrupt country and Russia/Britain is going to capture your country, whom would you choose? Russian Empire or British Empire? I see America, Australia, New Zealand, UK. Brits captured these countries but they dramatically improved the quality of life there but Russians? Have a look at post-soviet countries: Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, etc.  They are still poor and corrupt, and soviet buildings look awful too. If there is an improvement in these countries right now, that's because of the western world.