There are 300,000 homeless people living on the streets of Moscow and more than 4 million nationwide.
Many of them were Russian citizens living in former Eastern Bloc states.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, life became hard for them in
these newly independent republics. Thousands came back to Russia,
and particulary to Moscow, to start a new life. The economic crisis and social
problems forced them to do it by themselves, with no help or safety net from
the governement. With the state's priorities elsewhere, the newcomers' dreams soon became nightmares.
Vodka consumption in Russia is now the highest the country has never known. The human and
social consequences of rampant alcoholism are are dramatic: Every month, vodka throws hundreds of people
in the streets.
In addition to returning emigrants, the cities are filling with farmers as poverty in rural areas force thousands to leave their
fields in hope of a job. With no future at home, rural youth often follow, joining the army or taking their chances in Moscow or St. Petersburg.
But for most of these people, their journey will end in the streets.
Another endless source of the future homeless are Russia's overcrowded prisons.
After incarceration, it's very difficult for ex-convicts to re-enter society.
In some cases, they even may lose their national identity numbers. with nowhere to go and no social standing, they are homeless at the end of the
sentence.
The rejection of the homeless is a common state of affairs in Moscow. Any aid, such as the distribution of food and clothing, is managed by private intiative or the Orthodox
Church. But the number of homeles is increasing everyday and they can't help everybody.
Muscovites blame the homeless for polluting the metro and the city in general, and accuse them of crimes from rape to robbery to general disorder.
Standing for reelection in 1999, the Mayor campaigned to "throw these rats out of our great Moscow".
Meanwhile, the homeless themselves carry on in their lives of vodka, fear, and loneliness.
