ABSTRACT
When one hears about the Russian Federation, or simply Russia, he or she evokes his or her own set of social and cultural images of this country. Some think about an economically struggling post-communist country, while others see quite developed and prosperous cities such as Moscow. Some imagine everlasting winters and miserable countryside roads of peripheral Russia, the poverty and continuous struggle of Russian citizens, while others talk about the successful transformation of the communist regime into a democracy, in which a free market economy develops giving rise to a large middle class.
