There are a lot of housing blocks just like this across the USSR. I've visited a number of them in former East Berlin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plattenbau). They aren't pretty on the outside, but some have been modernized into higher-end apartments on the inside.

As for the units that haven't been modernized, they're still better quality housing than what you find in lower income neighborhoods in the United States. I wouldn't be thrilled to live in one, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.