For decades basic maintenance of the roads network has not happened as money was siphoned off by oligarchs. In a small city a couple of hours from St Petersburg heavy rain caused the complete disintegration of roads and streets that had not been maintained for decades. A report on Channel 4 news showed how an ambulance had sunk into the mud that was all that was left of a major street. Locals up to their waists in mud formed a human chain to rescue a patient on a stretcher from the back of an ambulance.
The reporting journalist explained that the city was the Russian equivalent of Manchester and the street the equivalent of Market Street. Locals explained that the streets there had not been repaired since the 1980s and the streets had completely disintegrated. Shoppers were shown walking to shops through muddy streets that were akin to muddy fields with roads that had completely disintegrated.
So the dereliction of buildings shown in the picture is not remotely surprising. One woman interviewed said that under communism at least the locals had normal urban streets, then joked with a smile that back then she walked on streets to shops without sinking in mud, but when they got there the shops were empty. She told the reporter that she despaired of Russia!
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