You do not need to travel far to find evidence of Russia's demographic problems. Just 250km west of Moscow, in the Smolensk region, it is glaringly obvious. Turn off the main road in the village of Semlevo and you will see rusting gates and derelict buildings. Continue for a short distance on what just about resembles a road and you will see a new cowshed.rnA third of the people working here are from Tajikistan. Marina, a 38-year old Russian milkmaid, is married to one of them. Talib, she says, may be strict, but he does not drink or beat her up. She prefers him to her first, Russian, husband who drank himself to death at the age of 47, leaving her with three children. Her 19-year old son is unemployed and drinks heavily.rnTalib came to Russia so that he can feed his other family in Tajikistan, and Marina does not mind Talib having another wife. But local residents resent the Tajik and Uzbek migrants because "they are prepared to work for a pittance and take our jobs." Yet finding sober local working men in the village is difficult, says Sergei Pertsev, the farm manager. "Here, everyone has fallen ill with alcohol." To make sure the farm functions properly Mr Pertsev keeps people in reserve, to fill in for those who go on a binge. It used to be mainly men who drank, but now women do too.
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