Which means that fewer people in Russia would likely own a car, meaning they walk, bike or use whatever kind of public transportation system exists in Russia.

Eh, pretty much every family in Russia needs and has a car. In the U.S. the avg family has like 2-3 cars, in Russia that's a lot less common. It's just 1. Russia also has many households that are still single earner and will live in the outskirts of the larger cities, will commute to the city, then take public transportation the rest of the way to their job. That type of set up is very, very common. Plus, many people have summer/vacation homes in Russia (dacha) where they drive to.

You won't need a car as much if you live in the city, but that's expensive. Many end up having a similar situation to what we have in the U.S. - where people live in the suburbs 10, 20, 30 miles away then commute. The difference is, most people park outside of large metro stations and then do the last half or quarter leg of their commute on public transportation. Imo it's a much better setup, but public transportation there is nice and common - not filled to the brim with homeless people who are dangerous. They'll be in the entrances, trying to keep a super low profile while still begging, etc. but they won't do anything because they know they will get the shit beaten out of them if they act up. Here homeless people just do whatever the fuck they want, knowing they're untouchable. That makes people less tolerant of walking in the streets, much less going to the public transportation.