The village Gorbachevo (no connection with the former Soviet president) in western Russia, population 22, like most villages across Russia is dying. With the disintegration of state collective farming, low salaries and new opportunities offered in the cities it is rare that rural youth stay in their home village after finishing the mandatory 10 years of school education.
Gorbachevo once boasted a general store and regional meeting hall. Both have been closed and of the village's 20 houses only nine remain inhabited -- five see life only in the summer when their new city owners come for vacation and six have been abandoned. The nearest store is in the next village over, an hour away by horse buggy. Tonya, 45, receives about $8 a month from the village collective to make the trip twice a week for bread and vodka purchases(photo #2). The remainder of their food the villagers raise or grow themselves.
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