Life is pretty in Russia

Arguably, the most widespread mistake of a foreigner coming to Russia is thinking that the culture of this country (and the other post-Soviet states, such as Ukraine or Georgia) has a lot in common with that of the West. Such an attitude is an example of cultural insensitivity and inability to recognize that, despite the fact that on the outside Russians look like Europeans, deeper inside they undergo the process of growth and maturation in a completely different sociocultural environment. Russia is neither Europe, nor Asia (neither it is a healthy synthesis of both in an entity called "Eurasia"), it is historically a totally self-contained space-time continuum with fewer ties with the West than one may think. In fact, it seems that of all the places in the world a country that (socioeconomically) has the most similar characteristics to those of Russia is… Nigeria.

A year ago the Russian edition of the Esquire magazine offered a comparative analysis of Russia and Nigeria. That article demonstrated the sad truth that (no offense to Nigeria) both countries are amongst the worst environments to inhabit in terms of life comfort, ecology, corruption, average income, safety, mortality rates, employment, and other indices. The following table (taken from the aforementioned article) vividly illustrates what, I believe, can be called a sociocultural catastrophe that is going to affect not just people in one country, but the entire planetary system (the idea that Russian problems are not just Russian problems will become self-evident to any citizen of the world, if he or she recognizes the fact that the most striking difference between Russia and Nigeria is that the former has a huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, not to mention the humongous quantities of indestructible and irrecyclable weapon-grade plutonium, vast amounts of which are lying around relatively unprotected and tiny amounts of which, if accidentally released into the atmosphere, are enough to destroy all complex life on the planet Earth).

A brief comparative table

RUSSIA		NIGERIA
Population
142 021 thousands		140 003 thousands
The Gini coefficient* (according to CIA)
40.5		43.7
The degree of corruption (according to Transparency International, 2007)
143rd rank in the world		147th rank in the world
Environmental pollution as a result of gas flaring (according to the World Bank, 2007)
1st rank in the world		2nd rank in the world
Leading suppliers of liquefied natural gas by 2030 (according to Gazprom)
1st rank in the world		2nd rank in the world
Rate of increase of gold reserves (according to Bloomberg, 2006)
73,5% (1st rank in the world)		73,4% (2nd rank in the world)
Average life expectancy for men
58 years		52 years
The number of citizens confident in the superiority of democracy (according to World Values Survey, 2006)
47,8%		44,2%
The level of protection of property rights (according to Property Rights Alliance, 2007)
63rd out of 70		64th out of 70
Rating of the most dangerous places for recreation (according to Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007)
4th out 10		5th out of 10
Number of people who are sure that stability is more important than freedom of speech (according to GlobeScan Incorporated, 2007)
47%		43%
Place in the ranking of media freedom (according to Reporters without Borders, 2007)
144th out of 169		131th out of 169
Mortality (according to CIA, 2007)
16,04 per 1000		16,68 per 1000
Migration rates (according to CIA, 2007)
0,28 per 1000		0,26 per 1000
Unemployment (according to CIA, 2007)
6,6% [10,2% in 2009, according to International Labour Organization]		5,8%
Place in a rating of "Ease of Doing Business" (according to World Bank estimate for 2008)
106th out of 178		108th out of 178
The level of economic freedom (according to The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, 2007)
120th out of 161		131st out of 161
Place in the Global Peace Index (according to Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007)
118th out of 121		117th out of 121

* The statistical measure of the degree of social stratification in terms of annual income.

Here is just one episode (of many) that may illustrate how aggressive the social environment in Russia is. A few weeks ago when I was returning home from a gym, I had an encounter with a Dagestanian right in the downtown of St. Petersburg, on a corner next to the main street (it was around 8 pm, which is early evening in Russia). He was giving brochures that advertised an illegal prostitution service to people who were passing by. After I refused to take a card with a prostitute's phone number, he pulled out a gun, jumped to me, and pointed the gun at my head. I felt metal touching my right temple. In order to prevent any further foolish moves from that man, I quickly took the card he held in the other hand and continued to walk as if nothing happened, at the same time reaching for my cell phone (I was going to call up my friend and tell him about what just had happened). A minute later the same Dagestanian ran to me probably because he thought I was going to call police or bratva (an organized crime group of some sort) to "take care" of him and offered apologies, saying that he was new to the city, he just came here from Dagestan, and he shouldn't have acted like this. I put my arms on his shoulders, looked into his eyes, and told him that in the future he should avoid behaving like this in the downtown. Although I talked calmly, at that point I was so angry that I had to force myself not to punch the guy in the nose. Had I impulsively punched a potentially gun-armed man, this could have led to some unpredictable consequences. I haven't seen that person ever since—and I don't mind it.