in addition to mineral deposits they also have natural gas and historically a good amount of people in the developed cities well trained in math, programming, and technical sciences.
They could have been an economic powerhouse in 21st century if they weren’t beholden to Putin and oligarchy.
There is a fun Netflix documentary where a guy creates his own cult: Kumare.
In the end he feels bad for taking advantage of peoples’ trust particularly when vulnerable and has a semi-sincere apology for including them in his project.
So the first requirement is you need to be a bit of a sociopath or a true believer (aka a bit crazy)