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According to what we were told during this trip, Gorbachev's Perestroika and Glasnost, that are so heralded in the West, are not regarded to have been an unqualified success by the majority of Russians. Many, who are still suffering economically, question the value of freedom when it appears to equate to a sub-standard life style. Clearly there is great disapproval of a system that permits a few to live like kings while the majority of people just manage to get by from one month to the next. The extremes of Communism and it's total failure appear to be understood, but at the same time the "unbridled freedom" that led to the rise of the oligarchs is severely criticized.
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