the ottomans by like 100-fold. the russians afaik never controlled any balkan territorry, apart from occupying some romanian provinces when at war with ottos.  in general, the baltics prove that you can work towards redemption and try to become a proper country after the bear finishes raping you. in contrast, despite > 100 years of independence, there isn't a single post-ottoman country that isn't a corrupt shithole and doesn't suffer from institutional rot. not one. sometimes it gets so bad that it's not just not meritocratic (due to connections/clientelistic party types/nepotism), but ends up being the opposite of a meritocracy. yet another crowning achievement of the balkans. you could say as long as the state of israel was ashkenazi dominated it was decent (towards its citizens, that is), but they were not under the ottomans, they were an imported population from the european empires and republics. it does not matter at all whether you were in nato or the warsaw pact. the ottomanness is neither in the economy nor in the system of governance. it's a cluster of traits that keep you stuck as a low trust society where anyone skilled and will to change things is actively pushed toward migration via a 1000 blackpills. while europe had the printing press, we were vastly illiterate, except mostly priests. it also was not really in the interest of the church to play more of an educational role. they were doing just fine and amassing primo real estate and wealth in general. the ottoman empire was not just an empire. it was a recipe for societal disintegration, followed by stagnation across every single sector and no semblance of meritocracy. it was all designed to keep the peace and stability of the empire.  well it worked flawlessly until they were so behind it didn't matter they were an empire. i'm not blaming the turks directly, they did what they did, no point in complaining. but i am blaming greeks for not being any better. we are de ottomans now.
Greece