Thread: О тех, кто в России у власти

Originally Posted by Hanna

What was it that was really bad about living conditions in those days?
I mean, what do you remember as truly irritating and frustrating about your living conditions when you lived there? I never had an opportunity to ask a Russian person that, and it would be interesting to know.

Speaking from my own experience I would say that life back then was about the same as today, living conditions included. Whether everything was really really bad or tickety-boo depended entirely on you just as it does now and I suppose just as it always will. For those wondering how long ago "back then" is, I am 53 so do your own maths.

Originally Posted by Windup Merchantski

Speaking from my own experience I would say that life back then was about the same as today, living conditions included. Whether everything was really really bad or tickety-boo depended entirely on you just as it does now and I suppose just as it always will. For those wondering how long ago "back then" is, I am 53 so do your own maths.

I think your view is particularly interesting then, since you can remember the USSR from an adult perspective.
Most people here just remember it from their childhood, or not at all.

It seems to me that the situation with flats etc must have changed a lot. People can buy a flat according to their finances, whereas as I understand, in the Soviet Union it was problematic and bureacratic to get hold of a flat, or move to a better one.

One of the reasons Russia is so fascinating is that people there have been through so much, particularly people who are a bit older.
Some people might even remember the hardships of the War, then life in the USSR over a few decades, followed by the chaos and hardship of the 1990s and then now.
Hardly any country had so much drama in its modern history!
Then as it happens, Russia has beautiful nature, fun and friendly people + cool culture.
So all, and all very intereresting!

in the Soviet Union it was problematic and bureacratic to get hold of a flat, or move to a better one.

It was not if you were an immigrant in the Baltics. They got them outside of normal queue - while local people had to live in communal apartments (2 or more families in one apartment) while waiting in queue for ~10 years or so.

Hanna, the "drama" you seem to be fascinated by is, in my opinion, rather overrated. Particulary the "drama" of the 90s. Maybe that's just me and my usual unflappable self but try as I may I can't really visualize anything particularly dramatic about that period. Everyone got on with their lives the way people do.

nulle, has someone double crossed you or have you been shortchanged in some way? what's the matter, dude?