The institutional transformations undergone by post-Soviet Russia raise interpretation issues and challenge so-called neo-institutional approaches. A hypothesis of institutional flexibility is more relevant than one of rigidity. Yet available accounts do not explain the specific and uncertain evolution of the Russian economy. The 1999 turning point confirms the capacity for adaptation of a society that has succeeded in setting up a viable subsistence economy, where the actors’ strategies and their relationships give shape to a development that is still difficult to characterize. JEL codes: P2, P3, P51