Britannica Guide to Russia

The appearance of a new moneyed class, initially in Moscow, but extended now to St Petersburg and increasingly other major cities, was accompanied in its first wave by ostentatious con­sumption. Moscow's western car showrooms and luxury bou­tiques could not restock fast enough for their Russian clientele. Many of those early excesses, though, have been attenuated.

The 1998 economic collapse swept away some fortunes. But among the surviving billionaires, spending habits have been changing. As well as funding property purchases abroad and children's education at British public schools, Russian money has fuelled the international art and antiques market, as wealthy Russians see themselves honour-bound to repatriate master­pieces lost to their homeland as a result of revolution and war.

Townscapes are changing fast. Many cities, not only Mos­cow and St Petersburg, are now ringed with new housing, both high-rise and in executive estates, much of it for private sale. Out-of-town shopping malls have mushroomed, catering to a new generation of urban blue- and white-collar workers with disposable income, and homes to equip. Standards of dress and nutrition are now mostly indistinguishable from those across the western world.

Even so, the discrepancies between rich and poor, and between Russia's private and public domains, remain glaring. In Moscow and St Petersburg some of the most expensive shops and restaurants in the world coexist with stalls where street-sweepers snack on pancakes and pies bought for pen­nies. Glitzy casinos and clubs tout for custom, even as the destitute elderly or disabled beg from passers-by.

Although many town centres are in the course of impressive renovation, with Moscow and St Petersburg leading the way, much public housing remains sub-standard, in rural areas, more remote villages are dying, their mostly elderly popula­tions marooned by changed social priorities. Even in the many newly prosperous villages, where every house seems to have new window frames and a new roof, serviceable footpaths, let alone roads or even mains water and electricity, remain a distant dream. What changes the individual can make are mostly complete; where state effort is needed, however, work has barely begun.

The bonus from surging oil and gas prices in the first years of the new century may have boosted the Russian state's image at home and influence abroad, but it has not - yet - been translated into urgently needed modernization in any general­ized way. A recent master plan outlines projects to bring the dilapidated infrastructure up to international standards by 2020. But neglected transport networks, school buildings, and medical facilities all represent large bills accumulating for the future.

Image, though, counts for much. At grass-roots level, re­surgent Russian patriotism is tangible, matched by a revival of regional and civic pride. The contemporary art and literary scene has a dynamism and fearlessness reminiscent of Berlin in the decade after the Wall fell. Theatre, ballet, and cinema, which languished when Soviet state subsidies fell away, are starting to flourish once again.

Yet it is not just in material things that the Soviet era still casts its shadow. Although a whole generation of young adults has now grown up without communism, their parents and grand­parents bear the scars of those years, in terms of poor health, damaged family life, and an unspoken fear of arbitrary state power. To all this, during the 1990s, was added sudden exposure to a capricious free market, an increase in violent crime, and the risk that the still-fragile state might fracture further.

It was these old and new fears that Vladimir Putin set out to allay when he became president. But the hand he applied was at times heavy. The degree of force used against the Caucasus region of Chechnya when separatists there renewed their fight for independence was condemned outside Russia, and hy brave souls within, Putin set limits on the freedom of state broadcasting, although the Internet and satellite stations are increasingly available and uncensored. What were conceived of as ambitious reforms of the judiciary and state bureaucracy were compromised by corruption. At the same time, the fast- growing middle class, a rediscovery of family life, and an upward trend in the birth rate testify to a nation that believes again in its future.