Moscow has a relatively high status. Russia is nearer the top than it is to the bottom of the 196.
To pick an aribtrary example WITHOUT casting aspertions because that’s not my goal - a Somalian company producing the best product X would struggle severely against a trashy X made in, again arbitrary choice, China.
Yes, competing on quality requires trust, which you call "status". If you don't have that, you must spend some time competing on price first. That's how China did it (and has now moved up to making iPhones) and how Somalia can do it as well. See also: Indian software outsourcing used to be a total joke, but it was cheap, and now look at the demographics of Google including the CEO.
To pick an aribtrary example WITHOUT casting aspertions because that’s not my goal - a Somalian company producing the best product X would struggle severely against a trashy X made in, again arbitrary choice, China.