US is a really big ground for operation. You can get into anything criminal there to make money if you got brains. Same with many other good situated countries. This isn't the 90's in Russia anymore, when you need to fight over for one small market in the local city. That's why there's no such things like major LCN or Russian groups going into conflict nowdays, they more often will work together in various schemes than go into conflict, which is just logical as it's better to make money than to kill each other and risk the consequences.

Russian groups aren't anything near to LCN by structure, there are small crews like you remember the Brigade Chulpayev was in and there are large organizations like Izmailovskaya or Solntsevskaya that base themselves in Russia and have brigades operating in other countries. A small brigade will not have big power, as you might predict. But a larger organization like Izmailovskaya, if they'd go into conflict with another larger organization in US they'd have enough force to use against it.

Take in mind, groups such large can easily turn all these small brigades on their side in exchange of money and contacts to more business or by just saying they'll get onto eliminating them or their relatives back in Russia. It's familiar to the thing that the Mexican Mafia did to Sureno gangs, with just one sentence "If you won't get into prison, your friends or family will, and we'll be there."