Skiers talk softly in the snow-muffled quiet. This is Krasnoyarsk, crumbling metropolis of 1m on the banks of the mighty Yenisei river. Away from the belching smokestacks of its industrial left bank, it is almost a handsome city. For most people, though, life is hard. Wage arrears mount month on month.
Pensions are late and inadequate.
Soaring inflation means lean pickings for the majority. Crime, unemployment and homelessness add to the rising tide of despair. A librarian at the city's institute of technology, she has not been paid for months. The snow and the sun and the freedom of the forest are what sustain me from week to week. Forty minutes out of town, the train carriages have almost emptied.