No, it's a second world country and always has been.

The terms first second and third world countries were coined to describe their allegiance during the cold war.

First world country's are developed nations that are allied with the US and capitalism.

Second world countries are counties that were allied with the USSR.

Third world countries are countries that are not allied with either superpower or are too underdeveloped to make a significant impact in the cold war.

People just misunderstood what the terms meant.

One could argue after the collapse of the USSR Russia became a first world country as they adopted capitalism, and in that sense you'd be right on the money, but I don't think that's precisely accurate.

I think what you are getting at is still very valid though. They (both the USSR and Russia) have been a paper tiger since at least the 80s. They fell way behind the US in pretty much every way, but the US benefited from the perception they were a bigger threat than they really were because it helped drive and incentivize our insane military budget.

People, especially on the left really fail to grasp how beneficial our military expenditures have been. Much of modern technology we take for granted like GPS and the Internet itself came directly out of this. Global trade is maintained and stabilized by our defacto dominance. That's one of the many reasons why the USD is the global standard for currency. As long as we have the military dominance we do, we can mandate trade and the dollar remains globally stable.

This is just scratching the surface of the tip of the iceberg. Despite how shitty things look now, it's still great to be an American.