Social services are failing, unemployment soars and the Russian ruble is in collapse.
An estimated 73 million Russians are now living below the poverty line. Conditions last winter were much worse for Russians as the economic crisis caused millions to lose their savings in the banking chaos, or left them without payment of wages or pensions. Russians have held demonstrations to protest unpaid wages. The crisis also pushed up food prices, created widespread shortages and increased the cost of the fuel so desperately needed for heating. The remotest regions were dealt another blow when lack of transportation funds halted the shipment of many of the winter's supplies, like food and medicine.