The Foreign Service Journal, December 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2016 39 ined, flare on the borders and between nationalities. Families are divided across former republics by political maneuvering and military conflicts. At home, the dvor (apartment yard), with its herd of children banding together after school to explore terri- tory and relationships, is now blocked off by a semaphore gate and occupied by parked cars and trash containers. Filipovich, a retiree who emigrated to California a few years ago, fondly recalls the sense of wonder the average post-Soviet citizen experienced in the 1990s when foreigners shared ele- ments of their high standard of living. A Snickers bar cut into a dozen slices could easily bring joy to an entire group of friends. The bucolic but tipsy countryside, where doors went unlocked and a stranger could appear and count on room and board with no remuneration expected, is no more. Yevgen- evich, a 45-year-old native Muscovite executive, says poverty and a sense of desertion have fostered cynicism and greed in rural Russia. Those who are able flee, migrating to the big cities in search of education, goods and jobs unavailable at home. Residents of regional cities fare better. But by and large, they are focused inward. They use their limited disposable income not for travel, but for apartment remodeling and buying consumer goods—often on credit. The culture of leadership has changed, too. Petrovich, a retired government official in his seventies, laments a loss of accountability among the political elite. When Mathias Rust landed in Red Square in 1987, the defense minister and a dozen generals were fired, and no one was surprised. This year Russia’s reputation as a sporting power was decimated by a doping scan- dal, and the sports minister, a longtime friend of the president, got promoted. Today, power is based on a St. Petersburg pedi- Street musician draws a crowd on Arbat Street, Moscow, 1988. SHAWNDORMAN