Slobodan,
Welcome back.
Thanks, Rob!
To elaborate about my excitement regarding the OP photos: it brings back memories of my eight years working in Russia (for American companies). It was mostly the glitter of westernized places in Moscow, but I did travel to some provincial sites as well, though definitely not as remote as the OP one. Even in Moscow, it gets dark and gloomy pretty early in winter time, and even there exist parts of the city with similarly desolated living conditions.
I can almost smell the air in those photographs, just as many Russian building entrances had a specific smell I never encountered anywhere else. I remember those flowery wallpapers, peeling wall paint, old furniture. Rugged, weathered, stoic men.