The gruff governor of Krasnoyarsk, Gen Alexander Lebed is not noted for his sharp turn of phrase. There was, however, one exception. Speaking from the battlefront of one of the many small wars which have bedevilled the territory that was once the USSR, he said: "Anyone who does not regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who thinks it can be put back together has no brain."

Russia, which effectively ran the Soviet Union, is now its successor state. It has taken over the USSR's permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations along with its right of veto. It has, perhaps unwisely, also taken on the Soviet national debt and to some degree also its attitude to the smaller nations within its orbit.

In 1991 as the rule of the Communist Party came to an end and the USSR was being dismantled, Russia was not in particularly good shape. Its economy was in tatters. Its military might was in the process of severe erosion. There were food queues, but those with hefty incomes or political clout did well. The average life expectancy was close to that of Western countries.

State-owned industrial dinosaurs produced goods more in theory than in practice. But there was a sense of hope, a sense that things would get better and if perestroika had failed, glasnost had brought with it freedom of expression and outspoken media. And the country was at peace.

Eight years later Russia's economy is in tatters once more. Its position in the world is such that it has been rebuffed by NATO, which has expanded almost to Russia's borders despite assurances to the contrary.

Food is plentiful in the shops, but it costs a lot. Those with hefty incomes have political clout. Those with political clout have hefty incomes. With one or two exceptions, the big industrial concerns tick over, produce little and don't pay their workers.

The media, now in the hands of a group of oligarchs, reflect the political ambitions of their owners rather than the views of the people. Russia's military might has been further eroded. Life expectancy has dropped to a level below that in India. And the country is at war.

It has been a sad story of hope dashed, of rampant corruption in high places, of endemic violence, of multi-billionaires flaunting their new wealth in front of the impoverished.

When the economy collapsed in August 1998, it was not the superrich who suffered. They, the "new Russians" as they are known, had salted their capital away in foreign banks. An estimated $2 billion is understood to have left Russia in capital flight on a monthly basis.

The ones who suffered were members of the fragile middle class who had just begun to trust Western-style financial institutions instead of putting their money under the mattress. These people lost every kopeck they owned. They have lost faith in the West which they regard as having led them up the proverbial garden path.

Russians tightened their belts when they were asked to. They watched a parliament being shelled. They saw their sons die in a futile war in Chechnya and are now seeing a sad reprise of that conflict. They followed the West's advice all the way only to see their economy and their savings destroyed.

True, those who plundered the country's wealth were Russians in high places, but they did it under the noses of Western "experts" and consultants. Some Western experts were simply conned; others, with a blind faith in ideology worthy of a Marxist-Leninist, felt sure the market would sort things out. On August 17th, 1998, the market sorted things out and the economy collapsed.

Corruption, capital flight and money-laundering continue. The finger of suspicion has been pointed at the doors of President Yeltsin's closest associates known as "the Family", Yeltsin leaves office according to the constitution after presidential elections next summer.

There are many people who derive their power and wealth from their associations with the President. When he goes their power will wane unless his selected successor, the Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, defeats opposition. But this time there will be no straight fight between "the Family" and the Communists. Strong non-communist but anti-Yeltsin forces have been established.

If the Family loses power there will be a lot of people wanting vengeance. The main non-communist alliance, Fatherland-All Russia, has offered Yeltsin immunity from prosecution. But the same offer has not been made to the rest of his entourage. Things could get very messy if the Family doesn't get its man elected.

In the meantime, the economic pressure on Russia has been aggravated by another phenomenon. The country's demographic statistics have begun to point towards disaster. Russia's population at the end of the Communist era was almost 150 million. By 2015, according to projections, it may fall to 138 million and by the middle of the next century it could be down to 80 million, a figure smaller than the current population of Germany.

The incidence of tuberculosis is on the rise and a virulent strain resistant to multi-drug treatment is rampant in Russia's ramshackle prison system. HIV and AIDS figures are rising and alcoholism and smoking of (American) cigarettes are lowering life expectancy, too. Another cause is the advent of the gun as a business tool, with large numbers of young businessmen dying from old-fashioned Dodge City-style lead poisoning.

The birth-rate has fallen, too, and the ethnic-Russian population is being hit much harder than that of minority nationalities within the Russian Federation. At present Muslims, for example, number 20 million out of 145 million. In future they are likely to represent a much higher percentage of the population as a whole.

But still, Alexander Lebed was right. Despite all this the majority of Russians do not want to go back to the old system. Most Russians, metaphorically at least, have good hearts and fine brains. They will battle on within the new system but will look for greater probity from their leaders.

They will also look westwards with great wariness.