"The Wild Nineties": description, history and interesting facts. "The Wild Nineties": description, history and interesting facts 90s events

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When it comes to the 90s, each of us sighs heavily. “Oh, it was a difficult time!” - remember those who happened to be young or born in this decade. Even though the time was difficult, these people can still be called lucky.

The times of youth are always remembered with nostalgia. The dashing nineties were a difficult time in the life of the country, but today many miss them. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that at that time the republics of the Soviet Union had just gained independence. It seemed that everything old had sunk into oblivion, and a wonderful future awaited everyone.

If you ask contemporaries what the “dashing nineties” mean, many will talk about the feeling of infinity of possibilities and strength to strive for them. This is a period of real “social teleportation”, when ordinary guys from residential areas became rich, but it was very risky: a huge number of young people died in gang wars. But the risk was justified: those who managed to survive became very respected people. It is not surprising that part of the population is still nostalgic for those times.

The phrase “dashing nineties”

Dashing nineties. Photo

Oddly enough, this concept appeared quite recently, at the beginning of the so-called “zero”. Putin's rise to power marked the end of Yeltsin's freedom and the onset of real order. Over time, the state strengthened, and there was even gradual growth. Food stamps are a thing of the past, like Soviet-era lines, and empty store shelves have been replaced by the abundance of modern supermarkets.

The dashing nineties can be perceived negatively or positively, but the country needed them in order to be revived after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It's unlikely that things could have been different. After all, it was not just the state that collapsed, an entire ideology collapsed. And people cannot create, learn and accept new rules in one day

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Chronicle of significant events Russia declared independence on June 12, 1990. A confrontation between two presidents began: one - Gorbachev - was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies, the second - Yeltsin - was elected by the people. The culmination was the August putsch. The dashing nineties have begun. Crime received complete freedom, because all prohibitions were lifted. The old rules were abolished, but the new ones had not yet been introduced or were not established in the public consciousness.

The country was swept by an intellectual and sexual revolution. However, economically, Russia has sunk to the level of primitive societies. Instead of wages, many were given food, and people had to exchange some products for others, building cunning chains involving sometimes even a dozen individuals. Money has depreciated so much that most citizens have become millionaires.

On the path to independence It is impossible to talk about the “dashing nineties” without mentioning the historical context. The first significant event was the “tobacco riot” in Sverdlovsk, which occurred on August 6, 1990. Hundreds of people, outraged by the lack of smoke in stores in their city, stopped the movement of trams in the center. On June 12, 1991, the people elect Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Federation. Criminal showdowns begin.

A week later, a coup attempt occurs in the USSR. Because of this, a state of emergency committee was created in Moscow, which was supposed to govern the country during the transition period. However, it only lasted four days. In December 1991, the “center” (one of the criminal groups) opened a casino in Russia. Soon Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and last president of the USSR, resigns his powers “for reasons of principle.” On December 26, 1991, a declaration was adopted on the cessation of the existence of the USSR in connection with the formation of the CIS.

Independent Russia Immediately after the New Year, on January 2, 1991, prices were liberalized in the country. The food immediately became bad. Prices soared, but wages remained the same. On October 1, 1992, the population began to be issued privatization vouchers for their housing.

So far, foreign passports have been issued only with the permission of the regional leadership. In the summer of 1993, the Government House in Yekaterinburg was shelled with a grenade launcher, and in the fall, troops began an assault in Moscow. Six years later, Yeltsin resigned early, and Vladimir Putin came to power for the first time.

Order or freedom? The dashing nineties were racketeering and gangsters, glitter and poverty, elite prostitutes and sorcerers on TV, prohibition and businessmen. Only 20 years have passed, and the former Soviet republics have changed almost beyond recognition. This was not a time of social elevators, but rather of teleportations. Ordinary guys, yesterday's schoolchildren, became bandits, then bankers, and sometimes deputies. But these are the ones who survived.

Opinions

In those days, business was built completely differently than it is now. Then no one would even think of going to college to get a degree. The first step was to buy a gun. If the weapon did not pull down the back pocket of his jeans, then no one would talk to the aspiring businessman. The pistol helped in conversations with dull interlocutors. If the guy was lucky and didn't get killed early on, he could quickly buy a jeep. The opportunities to make money seemed endless.

Money came and went very easily. Some went bankrupt, and the more fortunate took their accumulated wealth, or rather plunder, abroad, and then became oligarchs and engaged in completely legitimate types of business. In government agencies the situation was much worse. Employees' salaries were constantly delayed. And this is during a period of insane inflation. They often paid in products, which then had to be exchanged in markets. It was at this time that corruption in government agencies flourished. If the guys went to the “brothers”, then the girls went to the prostitutes. They were also often killed. But some of them managed to earn “a piece of bread with caviar” for themselves and their families.

Representatives of the intellectual elite often became unemployed during this period. They were ashamed to go to the market and trade, as most people did, hoping to at least somehow earn money. Many tried to go abroad by any means. During this period, another stage of “brain drain” occurred. Experience and habits The dashing nineties determined the entire life of an entire generation.

They formed a whole set of ideas and habits among those who were young then. And often, even now, twenty years later, they still determine their lives. These people rarely trust the system. They often view any government initiative with suspicion. Too often they have been deceived by the government. This generation has great difficulty trusting banks with their hard-earned money. They are more likely to convert them into dollars, or better yet, take them abroad. It is generally very difficult for them to save money, because during inflation they literally melted before their eyes. Those who survived the turbulent nineties are afraid to complain to various authorities.

In those days, bandits were in charge of everything, so the common man had no business trying to enforce the letter of the law. Although the youth of the nineties themselves do not like to adhere to any rules or restrictions. But their advantage is that they are not afraid of any difficulties. After all, they were able to survive in the dashing nineties, which means they are hardened and will survive any crisis. But can that situation happen again?

The dashing nineties: heirs It seemed that with Putin’s coming to power this period of time in Russian history ended forever. The country gradually emerged from poverty and unemployment, and the mafia was almost forgotten. However, after the global financial crisis, the notorious stability never returned. And many began to wonder whether the dashing 90s would return. But can organized crime appear on its own, as is commonly believed? The forecast for the future of modern Russia depends on the answer to this question. Although, without going into details, two elements are needed for the emergence of crime: the need for a large-scale redistribution of property and the need to preserve democracy as a government policy.

However, it is unlikely that the “freedom” of the nineties will be repeated.

These were the years.

Everyone whose character was formed during this period has common traits, which we will now talk about. So, if you were born, grew up or were young in the dashing 90s, then this is all about you!

1. You don't trust the system. And this is not at all surprising! The collapse of the Soviet Union and all the ensuing consequences could not help but instill fear of the actions of the state machine. Especially when it comes to such serious things as pension reform. Bitter experience has shown that the state cannot be trusted, and no one wants to give money to it for safekeeping.

2. You know how to defend yourself. Of course, considering how much you've been through. An ordinary skirmish with hooligans at that time could very easily end in bloodshed. This taught you to be prepared for anything and to protect yourself and your loved ones in any situation.

3. You really love sex. And with pleasure you bring sexual fantasies to life. Why not experiment? After all, you grew up at a time when so much information about sex fell on our shoulders. Do you remember those porno tapes disguised as documentaries hidden on your parents' shelf? Everyone experimented back then, and you still have the urge to do so.

4. You don't know how to save money. Due to the fact that a lot of capital went bankrupt in the 90s, you got stuck in your head with the idea that you need to spend everything at once. Otherwise, hard-earned money, if not sunk into oblivion, will at least depreciate. Therefore, now your lifestyle is excessive extravagance. And if you manage to save, it’s with very great difficulty.

5. You don't know how to complain. You lived at a time when you shouldn’t trust anyone - corrupt police, gangs, corruption and complete chaos all around. Well, how could you not close yourself off here? Complaining was dangerous, and you've been afraid to do it ever since.

6. You think our girls are the sexiest. Now the fashion of the 90s seems too frank and vulgar. It’s so good that girls stopped wearing waist-wide miniskirts! But they still exude the spirit of sexuality and freedom. Girls still wear beautiful dresses, heels, jewelry, emphasize their figure with belts and love deep necklines. Everyone is trying to be the most beautiful. How can you not admire this?

7. And your most important feature is that you are not afraid of difficulties. If you managed to survive the dashing 90s, then now you are no longer afraid of anything. You have gone through fire, water and copper pipes, which means your character is tempered and stable. And you can cope with any difficulties in no time!

That's how complicated we are, people who come from the 90s!

Now admit it: do you recognize yourself here? Write in the comments how many points you matched and be sure to share this article with your friends!

They love to scare us. Frightened sheep always huddle close to the shepherd, whom the “national leader” fancies himself to be. The fear of banditry, of poverty and devastation, diligently instilled by the media, is perhaps the main core around which the vertical of power is growing. Everything is bad, everything is terrible - they are diligently escalating the situation with the help of gangster series, analytical programs with “independent” presenting authors working in structures affiliated with the Kremlin. Perhaps the main horror story, the repetition of which we are called upon to fear like fire, is the “Dashing 90s.” “Thank Putin that they are over,” they tell us every day. But let’s try to take a sober look at such a recent past.

Petr Baranov, mail.ru
2011-11-17 09:33

In general, the “dashing 90s” is a very recent phrase, appearing in the 2000s of Putin, at a time when the young leader still seemed to many compatriots to be a fighter against the oligarchs and a guardian for the cause of reviving the former power of our country. When many still saw in him a man who would restore the long-awaited order and revive Soviet power. It was at that time that this opposition between Yeltsin’s freemen and Putin’s order arose. And before that, to reflect gangster reality and devastation, the expression “like in the early 90s” was used, and only very recently in our memory, with the help of the media, it was artificially replaced by “the dashing 90s.”

Let's now look at the gangster lawlessness that was supposedly eliminated during Putin's stable years. Let's turn to the data of the Federal State Statistics Service and compare the last Soviet year 1990, the “dashing” 1995 and the “stable” 2009.

murder and attempted murder
intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm
rape and attempted rape
crimes related to drug trafficking

As we can see, there is less domestic murder and rape. In general, they steal and rob no less often than in the “dashing 95”, but the number of robbers and drug dealers has increased significantly. There is no need to talk about any obvious and noticeable reduction in crime. And this is according to official data, which the authorities have been monitoring very closely in recent years, so as not to “rock the boat.”

The column on drug-related crimes is especially impressive. As we can see, at the height of the “dashing 90s” there were 3 times fewer of them than in the quiet era of the vertical of power.

Indeed, visually some changes compared to the early 90s (and not all of them “dashing”) are noticeable. There seem to be fewer high-profile murders and shootings on city streets. This is not surprising, since the markets have long been divided and each legalized bandit “hoes his plot like St. Francis,” in the language of the chief overseer of the country. So, “the lads don’t shoot at each other” anymore, since the lads actually sorted everything out, all the Rams were killed, and there is peace and quiet throughout the country. Like in the village of Kushchevka. The fact that half the country lives precisely under the rule of legal and semi-legal criminal clans, as in the hitherto unremarkable Krasnodar village, is, in general, no secret to anyone.

Are the new capitalists now dividing property? Maybe less often, but they share. And the division is sometimes no less bloody than during the period of privatization. But now large owners live not in the apartments next to us, but in mansions on Rublyovki, and therefore the division takes place much less noticeably. In 1991, a normal Soviet person, suddenly faced with the lads who had emerged from all the cracks, was shocked, scared, and confused. The contrast between the past “totalitarian” life and the morals of “democratic” Russia was forever etched with horror in his memory. The memory of that shock is diligently used by the media to propagate the myth of a dashing decade.

Now let’s remember another scarecrow from the dashing 90s, about the “seven bankers” and the terrible oligarchs who plundered the country and who were allegedly taken over by Putin. He tidied up, but he only tidied up the most odious and stupid of them (stupid because money loves silence, and not flickering on TV screens), and these tidied up can be counted on the fingers of one hand. According to the notorious Forbes magazine, in the “dashing” year of 1999 there were no dollar billionaires in Russia. In 2010 there were 62 of them. Where did the money come from, earned honestly? No one will believe this except the oligarchs themselves and, perhaps, members of their families. So what happens that in the dashing Yeltsin 90s the country was not plundered so actively? It turns out that yes. It’s just that now part of the population receives a small percentage in the form of crumbs falling out when breaking the oil pie, and therefore “poverty is receding” indeed. But only in big cities and only for the young and healthy.

In the “dashing 90s,” they will explain to us from the television screen, the country was on the verge of collapse, and only Putin’s coming to power saved it and stopped the parade of sovereignties. Here it is necessary to remember that we are again talking about the first years after the collapse of the USSR, and not about all the “dashing 90s”. By the time Putin appeared, the parade of sovereignties had already ended, and there was only one unrecognized Ichkeria. But during the years of VVP’s rule, the tumor of radical Wahhabism (a kind of Islamic Trotskyism) spread not only throughout the Caucasus, but also took root in Muslim Tatarstan and Bashkiria and is beginning to receive its first adherents among Russian youth. Let us add to this that an attempt to feed the Caucasus with money only leads to an increase in banditry in the region, and among Russians - to a wave of discontent and indignation at the unfair distribution of public funds. The slogan “stop feeding the Caucasus” is gaining more and more popularity, simultaneously with the continuous growth of nationalism in the Caucasus and with the increasingly frequent interethnic conflicts in the Russian regions, the instigators of which are “guests” who have become disconnected from both their own and Russian culture and have sometimes degraded to the cave level. And this, alas, is just the beginning.

Sooner or later, free petrodollars will run out. Everything tends to end sooner or later, as the wise King Solomon noted. So you shouldn’t believe some of his fellow tribesmen who have proclaimed themselves experts in economics and claim (in all seriousness!) that the current situation will last forever. Sooner or later everything passes. This too shall pass. And it is obvious that with the end of the oil freebie, which the ever-blue Yeltsin could not even dream of, the dashing 90s will seem like heaven on earth. And this doesn’t even take into account what is happening under Putin with the army, education, medicine, courts, prosecutors’ offices and the unprecedented level of corruption.

Were there any “dashing 90s”? Of course there were. The years 91, 92, 93 will forever be remembered for famine, monstrous inflation, an unprecedented decline in morality, the destruction of spiritual ideals, and rampant crime. In a word, all the “charms” of the collapse of a power, multiplied by incompetent rule and reforms carried out by the godfather of all today’s government economists, Yegor Gaidar. But after the first nineties, stagnation began, a continuation of which was the Putin years, in which the country slept through the possibility of unprecedented growth, possible thanks to unprecedented oil prices.

So what is Putin’s merit in comparison with the “dashing 90s”? It is only that the media are now completely controlled and bring to the masses the myth of the “dashing 90s”, and nothing else.

The times of youth are always remembered with nostalgia. The dashing nineties were a difficult time in the life of the country, but today many miss them. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that they had just gained independence then. It seemed that everything old had sunk into oblivion, and a wonderful future awaited everyone.

If you ask contemporaries what the “dashing nineties” mean, many will talk about the feeling of infinity of possibilities and strength to strive for them. This is a period of real “social teleportation”, when ordinary guys from residential areas became rich, but it was very risky: a huge number of young people died in gang wars. But the risk was justified: those who managed to survive became very respected people. It is not surprising that part of the population is still nostalgic for those times.

The phrase “dashing nineties”

Oddly enough, this concept appeared quite recently, at the beginning of the so-called “zero”. Putin's rise to power marked the end of Yeltsin's freedom and the onset of real order. Over time, the state strengthened, and there was even gradual growth. Food stamps are a thing of the past, like Soviet-era lines, and empty store shelves have been replaced by the abundance of modern supermarkets. The dashing nineties can be perceived negatively or positively, but the country needed them in order to be revived after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It's unlikely that things could have been different. After all, it was not just the state that collapsed, an entire ideology collapsed. And people cannot create, learn and accept new rules in one day.

Chronicle of significant events

Russia declared independence on June 12, 1990. A confrontation between two presidents began: one - Gorbachev - was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies, the second - Yeltsin - was elected by the people. The culmination was the beginning of the dashing nineties. Crime received complete freedom, because all prohibitions were lifted. The old rules were abolished, but the new ones had not yet been introduced or were not established in the public consciousness. The country was swept by an intellectual and sexual revolution. However, economically, Russia has sunk to the level of primitive societies. Instead of wages, many were given food, and people had to exchange some products for others, building cunning chains involving sometimes even a dozen individuals. Money has depreciated so much that most citizens have become millionaires.

On the way to independence

You can’t talk about the “dashing nineties” without mentioning the historical context. The first significant event was the “tobacco riot” in Sverdlovsk, which occurred on August 6, 1990. Hundreds of people, outraged by the lack of smoke in stores in their city, stopped the movement of trams in the center. On June 12, 1991, the people elect Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Federation. Criminal showdowns begin. A week later, a coup attempt occurs in the USSR. Because of this, a state of emergency committee was created in Moscow, which was supposed to govern the country during the transition period. However, it only lasted four days. In December 1991, the “center” (one of them opened a casino in Russia. Soon Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and last president of the USSR, resigned his powers “for reasons of principle.” On December 26, 1991, a declaration was adopted on the cessation of the existence of the USSR in connection with the formation of the CIS.

Independent Russia

Immediately after the New Year, on January 2, 1991, prices were liberalized in the country. The food immediately became bad. Prices soared, but wages remained the same. On October 1, 1992, the population began to be issued privatization vouchers for their housing. So far, foreign passports have been issued only with the permission of the regional leadership. In the summer, the Government House in Yekaterinburg was shelled with a grenade launcher, and in the fall, troops began an assault in Moscow. Six years later, Yeltsin resigned early, and Vladimir Putin came to power for the first time.

Order or freedom?

The dashing nineties - and the lads, glitter and poverty, elite prostitutes and sorcerers on TV, prohibition and businessmen. Only 20 years have passed, and the former Soviet republics have changed almost beyond recognition. This was not a time of social elevators, but rather of teleportations. Ordinary guys, yesterday's schoolchildren, became bandits, then bankers, and sometimes deputies. But these are the ones who survived.

Opinions

In those days, business was built completely differently than it is now. Then no one would even think of going to college to get a degree. The first step was to buy a gun. If the weapon did not pull down the back pocket of his jeans, then no one would talk to the aspiring businessman. The pistol helped in conversations with dull interlocutors. If the guy was lucky and didn't get killed early on, he could quickly buy a jeep. The opportunities to make money seemed endless. Money came and went very easily. Some went bankrupt, and the more fortunate took their accumulated wealth, or rather plunder, abroad, and then became oligarchs and engaged in completely legitimate types of business.

In government agencies the situation was much worse. Employees' salaries were constantly delayed. And this is during a period of insane inflation. They often paid in products, which then had to be exchanged in markets. It was at this time that corruption in government agencies flourished. If the guys went to the “brothers”, then the girls went to the prostitutes. They were also often killed. But some of them managed to earn “a piece of bread with caviar” for themselves and their families.

Representatives of the intellectual elite often became unemployed during this period. They were ashamed to go to the market and trade, as most people did, hoping to at least somehow earn money. Many tried to go abroad by any means. During this period, another stage of “brain drain” occurred.

Experience and habits

The dashing nineties determined the entire life of an entire generation. They formed a whole set of ideas and habits among those who were young then. And often, even now, twenty years later, they still determine their lives. These people rarely trust the system. They often view any government initiative with suspicion. Too often they have been deceived by the government. This generation has great difficulty trusting banks with their hard-earned money. They are more likely to convert them into dollars, or better yet, take them abroad. It is generally very difficult for them to save money, because during inflation they literally melted before their eyes. Those who survived the turbulent nineties are afraid to complain to various authorities. In those days, bandits were in charge of everything, so the common man had no business trying to enforce the letter of the law. Although the youth of the nineties themselves do not like to adhere to any rules or restrictions. But their advantage is that they are not afraid of any difficulties. After all, they were able to survive in the dashing nineties, which means they are hardened and will survive any crisis. But can that situation happen again?

Wild nineties: heirs

It seemed that with Putin coming to power, this period of time in Russian history ended forever. The country gradually emerged from poverty and unemployment, and the mafia was almost forgotten. However, after the global financial crisis, the notorious stability never returned. And many began to wonder whether the dashing 90s would return. But can it appear by itself, as is commonly believed? The forecast for the future of modern Russia depends on the answer to this question. Although, without going into details, two elements are needed for the emergence of crime: the need for a large-scale redistribution of property and the need to preserve democracy as a government policy. However, it is unlikely that the “freedom” of the nineties will be repeated.

In the 90s, Russia embarked on the path of global reforms, which turned into innumerable disasters for the country - rampant banditry, population decline, and a sharp drop in living standards. For the first time, Russians learned what price liberalization, a financial pyramid and default are.

Half a liter for the price of a Volga

In August 1992, Russian citizens were given the opportunity to purchase privatization checks (vouchers), which could be exchanged for assets of state-owned enterprises. The authors of the reforms promised that for a voucher, the nominal value of which was 10 thousand rubles, the population could buy two Volgas, but by the end of 1993 it could barely be exchanged for two bottles of vodka. However, the most enterprising players who had access to classified information were able to make a fortune from privatization checks.

Change - I don’t want to

Until July 1, 1992, the official exchange rate of the ruble corresponded to 56 kopecks per American dollar, but it was impossible for a mere mortal to purchase currency at such a rate, which did not correspond to the market price. Subsequently, the government equated the dollar to the exchange rate, and it suddenly soared to 125 rubles, that is, 222 times. The country has entered an era of currency speculation.

Both for yourself and for others

Everyone who found themselves in the foreign exchange business in the early 90s fell under the “roof”. The currency speculators were protected either by bandits or the police. Considering the solid margin (the difference between the real market rate and the speculative one), both the currency traders themselves and their “roof” earned good money. So, from 1000 American dollars then you could make $100. On the most successful days, a currency speculator could earn up to 3,000 bucks.

Shrink belts

In 1991, grocery stores were usually divided into two parts: one selling goods without restrictions, the other selling goods using coupons. In the first one you could find black bread, marinades, seaweed, pearl barley or barley, and canned food. In the second, after standing in a huge line, you could use coupons to buy milk, ham, frozen fish, rice, millet, flour, eggs, butter, tea, candy, vodka and cigarettes. At the same time, the volumes of purchased products were strictly limited - 1 kg of flour, 1 dozen eggs, 1 liter of butter.

Prices are crazy

Changes in the cost of essential goods were the main indicator of the deteriorating economic situation in the country. So, if at the end of 1991 a loaf of bread cost 1.8 rubles, then at the end of January, after the liberalization of prices, you had to pay 3.6 rubles for it. Further - more: in June 1992, the price tag for bread jumped to 11 rubles, in November - to 20. By January 1994, the price for a loaf of bread had already reached 300 rubles. In just over 2 years, bread prices have risen 166 times!

I can't afford a cloak

The record holder for price increases was communal services, which increased 147 times over the period 1992-93. At the same time, salaries were increased only 15 times. What was the purchasing power of the ruble? For example, in June 1993, the average salary in the country was 22 thousand rubles. 1 kg of butter cost 1,400-1,600 rubles, 1 kg of meat – 2,000 rubles, half a liter of vodka – 1,200 rubles, a liter of gasoline (AI-78) – 1,500 rubles, a woman’s raincoat – 30,000 rubles.

Everything to the market

Many Russians had to change their field of activity in order to somehow survive. The most popular profession at the dawn of the 90s was the “shuttle trader”. According to some data, up to a quarter of working-age citizens of the Russian Federation were suppliers of consumer goods. It is difficult to establish the exact earnings of the shuttle traders, since almost all the money was put into circulation. On average, in one trip it was possible to sell goods worth 200-300 dollars.

Deadly product

Alcohol consumption in the mid-90s reached its highest level in the entire history of our country - 18 liters per person per year. They drank mostly surrogates and cheap imported products. It’s all to blame for the exorbitant excise tax of 90%, which left high-quality domestic vodka – Stolichnaya, Pshenichnaya, Russian – gathering dust in warehouses.” The number of deaths from poisoning with low-quality alcohol, among which the Dutch Royal alcohol was in the lead, reached 700 thousand annually.

Frightening decline

The 90s are remembered for catastrophic demographic indicators. According to the calculations of deputies of the Communist Party faction, in the period from 1992 to 1998, the natural population decline exceeded 4.2 million people, and the number of the country's working population decreased annually by an average of 300 thousand. During this period, approximately 20 thousand villages were depopulated.

No one needs

In May 1992, the Russian government repealed the pension law in force in the USSR and introduced new standards, to which reduction factors were applied. As a result of the scandalous innovation, the real pensions of about 35 million Russians were halved. The contingent of street vendors will primarily come from among pensioners.

Survive at any cost

On September 30, 1991, mortuary workers and forensic experts from a number of cities in the Far East met in Khabarovsk to discuss issues of survival during the crisis. In particular, they touched upon the issues of entering markets for organs removed from corpses. And there was something to bargain about. So, an eyeball cost a thousand dollars, a kidney - $14 thousand, a liver - $20 thousand.

Money down the drain

On August 17, 1998, the Russian government declared a default. In just a few months, the dollar exchange rate soared by 300%. The total losses of the Russian economy were then estimated at $96 billion, commercial banks lost $45 billion, the corporate sector - $33 billion, ordinary citizens - $19 billion.

Defend yourself

On July 8, 1991, during another attack by the Caucasian mafia on one of the mines in the Magadan region, a kilogram of gold was stolen. And again the Kolyma police were unable to help. Then law enforcement authorities allowed state gold miners to arm themselves. After all, it was weapons that were the main factor restraining bandits from attacking free miners.

Bloody years

The mid-90s in Russia were marked by an unprecedented rampant banditry. According to FSB Major General Alexander Gurov, about 32 thousand intentional murders were registered per year, of which 1.5 thousand were contract killings. Old people especially suffered. Over the course of a couple of the most terrible years, in Moscow alone, about 15 thousand lonely elderly people were killed because of apartments.

Coveted fast food

The first McDonald's in Russia, which appeared on Pushkin Square in January 1990, caused an unprecedented stir. Over 25 thousand applications were submitted for 630 jobs. The monthly salary of a McDonald's employee could reach 300 rubles, which exceeded the average salary in the country. Prices at McDuck were outrageous. For example, for a Big Mac you had to pay 3 rubles. 75 kop. For comparison, lunch in a regular canteen cost 1 ruble.

So why are they still called dashing, these legendary years of the 90s? The question is, of course, interesting. And philosophical at the same time. Each generation of that time has their own answer, their own vision of what they experienced.

It is impossible to speak unambiguously about the 90s, just as the word “dashing” itself, its derivatives and synonyms are ambiguous. If you are brave, daring, determined - good. If it’s heavy and brings trouble, it’s bad. Some events of the 90s can be assigned “good” adjectives from the list above, others “evil”. Some accomplished facts are remembered with a smile, others as if in a nightmare.
It turns out that if we talk about the 90s, then the word “dashing” should be perceived as “different” - both good and bad. But who has more of what is strictly individual.
The most unpleasant thing, to put it mildly, was the appearance in the lexicon of the phrases hot spots, military operations, internally displaced persons. Hard times were marked by military conflicts in Chechnya, Dagestan, and Abkhazia. What can we say about the regions if tanks appeared on the streets of Moscow at the beginning of the decade and shooting was heard. People were dying. It was an incomparable general grief, and real hardship.
This background pushed into the background the criminal squabbles of pumped-up and fierce brothers who zealously divided spheres of influence. At the same time, the word oligarch came into use and took a dominant place. It was they who bought bankrupt enterprises for pennies and became millionaires overnight. That was their time, when weakened state power was rushing about in search of a way out of the economic crisis. And the political elite of the former Soviet republics shared the wealth acquired through back-breaking labor during the Soviet period.
What was a common man to do? Survive! This means going to work for an idea, in the hope that someday your wages will be paid (and it was also a great happiness to have a job). Run around the shops and stand in lines. Come up with recipes for meatless cutlets, pies and water pancakes. Cook broths using Gallina Blanca cubes, which were popular at that time, and prepare soy goulash. To love, to manage to celebrate weddings, to give birth, to raise children. In a word, live and try to find joy in a series of rapidly moving events. Which, in fact, is what they did.
If we talk about children of that time, then for the most part, they took everything for granted. Born in the late 80s or early 90s, they did not know that they could live differently. Moreover, adults tried their best to provide them with a happy childhood. We are not talking about extremes. There have always been exceptions, in the form of street children, for example, or extreme poverty.
The country was changing, decisively and irrevocably. And one cannot help but pay tribute to the 90s for the restoration of Orthodox shrines trampled under communist thinking. What did it cost to recreate the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow? For the return of Solzhenitsyn from emigration and acquaintance with his work, which was previously prohibited. For the return of that Russia that was lost with the beginning of socialist construction - if we combine all such phenomena.
Much in that troubled time lost its secrecy and appeared before the people. True, we had to separate the wheat from the chaff - there was so much new information that sometimes it was difficult to figure out where the truth was and where the lies were.
In the 90s, the window to Europe, and indeed to other parts of the world, was reopened. The generation that grew up on communist ideals was introduced to a different life. By the way, not always in absentia. There was an opportunity to travel abroad. True, not everyone could afford it. The majority drew conclusions from their TV screens that not everything in decaying capitalism was bad; a lot could be learned. We studied as much as possible, accepted for ourselves what was not distasteful to the soviet nature. But they enjoyed using foreign innovations. This applies to clothing, technology, and entertainment.
90s television also brings back good memories. So many completely new programs have appeared, both entertainment and news. Some opened their eyes to everything that was happening, others amused, distracting from painful thoughts.
There is a good proverb: “To get to something, you need to go through something.” So the 90s became a kind of intermediate stage on the path to a bright future, a kind of transitional period. They have already become our history, which must be honored and remembered. And at the same time draw conclusions. And wait. What? That same bright future.