During Easter I went to visit my parents in Russia. They live 40 km from Moscow. It usually takes an hour to travel to them from Moscow by train or bus.
I live outside Russia since year 2000 and each time when I come to Russia I feel a bit sorry about what is happening there. I do not mean political thing, I mean how people has changed since Soviet times, what they became...
When I was a child, our living place was very clean, there was a long field of grass where we (children) liked to play. There were small shops where we could by food (not a big choice of food but there still was). And people cared about the place. Buildings were clean, painted and repaired in time, roads were not excellent but good (Russian climate is much stronger then European, so roads in Russia is always a headache, no material can stay intact when temperature varies from +30 to -30). There were no strangers, most people new each other.
Now there is a lot junk on the streets: papers, boxes, cigaretes, bottles... Old houses slowly become older, no one repairs them. Lots of drunk people. Large 17-stairs building is built in our beautiful field and old buildings do not see sky anymore. Old shops are closed and newer build but built without any architecture in mind: looks horrible.
There are a lot of foreigners from Asia, criminal activity is high. Cars stay on the grass due to lack of parking spaces (private cars were not common in Soviet union).
But worst change is people's menthality. They do not care about anything any more. They live around all this junk and they do not see it. It became natural to them. They do not want to change anything, they are ok with it. They care about only buying cheaper food to save some money.
Films are cheap American, with fighting, killing and demolishing of property. Nice Soviet films where people loved each other and were happy, are no longer in use... Hate, blood, catastrophes is everywhere on the TV and in the news. This all also started in Yeltsin's time. Some good shows appeared recently (thanks to Putin) but they are not to close to people mind -- to much was lost during these years...
So in general I am very disappointed of what happened to my place of childhood due after Gorbachev/Yeltsin changes. Russia degrades. Now it degrades slower then it was when drunk Yeltsin was president but still degrades. I can only hope that Medvedev continues Putin's policy and finally degradation stops and russian people become normal people again.
Very hard for me to go to Russia these years... Can't see what was made with my beautiful country by Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Let them be in hell forever for what they have done to my country and our people.
