Over half of Russians complain of hard life

Over half of Russians, almost 56 percent, describe their current living standards as difficult, a survey conducted by Russia's leading opinion pollster VTsIOM said on Thursday. Most of the respondents complaining about their living are from big cities (63 percent), from small towns (60 percent) and among the elderly (66 percent), according to the poll. Among the happiest in Russia, however, are those living in two Russia's largest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, with just 17 percent saying life was hard. The survey questioned 1,600 people in 46 Russian regions, with an estimated marginal error of no more than 3.4 percent.