"In me, the mentality of an analyst prevails over my emotions as a writer. As I see it, this last decade saw Russia's women break free from the syndrome of submissiveness to their husbands. Now they think more about themselves, their education and career. A woman of this sort will not be left by her husband in favor of a raw chick. I'm sincerely happy about this development. And the male part of the population has also seen improvement — they have become more responsible, less prone to drinking and more athletic. It seems to me, Russian families are becoming more European, however, I don't know whether this is good or bad.

Regrettably, people have become less trusting in their relatives, partners, friends and the government. This is probably the result of numerous frauds that have occurred in this last decade.

As far as the fundamental qualities of the Russian character, such as kindheartedness and compassion, they have all been preserved. Just look how many beggars there are on the streets. Many of them have made begging into their profession. They have their own organizations and the city is divided into sectors that are bought and sold. Though everybody is aware of that, people still give them alms because this is part of the Russian character.

Our society is getting increasingly oriented towards the Western standards of lifestyle. Sometimes this acquires ugly forms. I'm talking about the so-called new Russians competing with each other in spending and big banquets. I must note that many of our wealthy have made their fortunes quite legally. It is incorrect to say that they are all thieves.

With the collapse of the U.S.S.R. many in Russia have developed a sense of humiliation because Russia ceased to be the world's No 2 superpower. Many have lost pride in their motherland. But this is largely due to our media, which indulges in revealing everything negative we have. I've been to many foreign countries and nowhere did I feel myself a second-class person due to my Russian citizenship.

During this last decade we have failed to develop the feeling of a consolidated nation. The great majority of us are still passive people and hard to get united. Most of us are more concerned about personal well-being. Everybody wants more comforts for themselves, however, not everybody has succeeded so far.