Actually many major and a few smaller Russian airports have gone thru major upgrades.
As for being surprised about OLCIed BPs,well it's much much better now. When OLCI was just introduced by S7 and UN we would consistently have arguments with the gate agents and security staff.
And as for security checking your name against the passenger list,it's a Soviet feature. In the past when all tickets were paper tickets,you would present it to security,they would stamp it and you would then proceed to check in.
It all changed when a new law was passed banning liquids over 100ML in hand baggage. Immidiately after that most airports placed counters with staff after check in (but before you get airside) who made sure that your hand baggage did not have any liquids. Most airports since then moved to the so called "check in island" systems,where you would check in and then go thru security. There are a few exceptions though (like PKC).
Glad the flights with S7 went smooth
