ABSTRACT
In the 1990s Russians routinely described themselves as ‘degraded and insulted’ (unizhennye i oskorblennye). The word degradation (degradatsiia) was employed to describe Russia’s diminished international status and the domestic crisis confronting its people. Talk of a Russian genocide became common as, through a combination of a falling birthrate and declining life expectancy, the total population continued to fall. In the 1990s Russia fell down the United Nation’s Human Development Index from the top to the medium tier of countries. Poverty levels rose in the face of economic crisis and benefits did not keep pace with rising prices. The economic crisis and poor tax collection in the 1990s led to steadily decreasing federal and regional budgetary resources for the social and health sectors. This situation was further exacerbated by disputes between federal and regional levels over the funding of services. The Russian people, who were accustomed to the state providing for them and who had not been able to make private provisions during the soviet period, were suddenly confronted by a major crisis in state provision. Article 7 of the 1993 Constitution continued the paternalistic role for the state established during the soviet period, but the Russian state was less able than before to meet these constitutional obligations.
