Nothing epitomized the everyday experience of the urban Russian 1990s like crime. As this first comprehensive statistical study of the 1990s demonstrates, crime was just as bad as everyone had anecdotally experienced. The numbers also reveal some unexpected trends.

This St. Petersburg graffiti wall, which commemorated the Leningrad Rock Club, survived for two decades until its 2010 erasure by the building’s new owners.

Yegor Letov (1964-2008) performs his song “Moia oborona” (My defense), during his “concert in the hero city Leningrad,” part of Grazhdanskaia oborona’s 1994 tour Russkii proryv (Russian breakthrough).