History and declining economic standards are the biggest obstacles to democracy in Russia, Sergei Grigoriev, a former deputy spokesperson to Mikhail Gorbachev, told an Institute of Politics audience of about 50 on Wednesday.

Grigoriev, a visiting professor at Northeastern University, gave several reasons why Russians are developing a negative attitude towards democracy.

He said many Russians feel "something was lost" in the breakup of the Soviet Union.

"For a lot of people, they no longer feel like they're citizens of a great power," Grigoriev said.

Poor living standards are also disappointing Russians, Grigoriev said, noting that 55 percent of the nation is near or below the poverty line.

Grigoriev also said Russians are losing confidence in the future.

Russia's history as part of the Soviet Union was marked by aggressive maintenance of the status quo, Grigoriev said. If Russians didn't have much to expect from the future, they were at least able to predict it.

Democracy and capitalism, however, are processes with "uncertain results," Grigoriev said.

Finally, the former Soviet official said that Russians are dismayed by growing economic inequalities.

The government, though, seems unwilling or unable to iron out the inequality. And a small percentage of the country is living quite elegantly, he said.

To illustrate, Grigoriev pointed to the remark of a government official following a change in monetary policy that exacerbated inequalities it was designed to mitigate.

"We wanted to make sure it would be better this time," the official said. "But instead, it turned out as usual."

Grigoriev also surveyed the history of Russia and the Soviet Union. He characterized the reign of Joseph Stalin as totalitarian.

But upon the dictator's death in 1953, Grigoriev said, the Soviet Union began progressing towards a pluralistic society, featuring clashing interest groups and varying levels of popular participation.

When Gorbachev rose to power, the Soviet Union was "already in a state of transition," Grigoriev said.

The series of reforms "began not because Gorbachev and his col- leagues decided it was enough," Grigoriev said."The real problem with the society was that thesystem, economically and politically, hadexhausted itself."

Grigoriev outlined the major events of theGorbachev era, from the many nuclear disarmamentpacts with the U.S. to the toppling of the BerlinWall to the spirit of openness characterizingglasnost.

Today, he said, Russia has to decide what kindof society it wants for itself and whether presenttrends are favorable.

In the question-and-answer session followingthe talk, Grigoriev spoke about education, thevarious political parties and obstacles toinvestment in Russia