- The Moscow Times

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Since 1992 No. 5743 February LOOKING BACK
25 –
March 2
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2016 WWW.THEMOSCOW TIMES.COM
russIAN tALes
LIvING here
Fight for the Skies
Anarchy’s Children
Graffiti Wars
The inside story of the arrest of
Teenagers influenced by Russian
Street artists and the authorities are
owner → Pages 2-3
Siberian towns → Pages 6, 11
walls → Pages 12-13
Domodedovo Airport’s billionaire
prison culture are terrorizing
One Year
Without Nemtsov
battling it out for Moscow’s blank
“An act of terrorism, intended to intimidate” → Page 3
Fear and disunity in the Russian opposition → Page 4
18+
2
Looking Back
“He’s practically autistic. But all
geniuses differ from normal people.”
Anton Bakov, businessman, politician
and friend of Kamenshchik.
The Moscow Times
No. 5743
$2.9Bln
Dmitry Kamenshchik’s
net worth
$1.5Bln
Private investment in
Domodedovo under
Kamenshchik’s control.
“Domodedovo’s management put
passenger numbers over security and
that allowed Magomed Yevloyev to
carry a bomb into the airport.” Russian
Investigative Committee.
The Moscow Times
No. 5743 (07)
February 25 – March 2, 2016
‘Why Didn’t You Run?’
By Peter Hobson [email protected] | Illustration by Yevgeny Tonkonogy
The inside story on the arrest of
Russian billionaire Dmitry Kamenshchik
O
n the morning of Feb. 18, Dmitry Kamenshchik, Russia’s 27th-richest tycoon, packed a backpack with some
spare clothes, a toothbrush, and shoes without laces — the essentials for a stint in
prison.
The billionaire owner of Moscow’s
Domodedovo Airport was unemotional, says
his lawyer. 10 days earlier, three current and
former executives at the airport were jailed.
Kamenshchik weighed the odds, and figured
the chance of joining them was high.
He arrived in Moscow from his suburban
woodland house around midday. For seven
monotonous hours, he sat with an investigator in a cramped room on the eighth floor
of an office block; a room that seemed not to
have been decorated since the days of the Soviet Union.
Once the paperwork was filed, FSB operatives escorted him to a cell. He had been accused of indirect responsibility for the deaths
of 37 people following a terror attack at his
airport in 2011.
The arrest created instant shockwaves. Investigators say the airport’s security system
was criminally lax. Everyone else — pundits,
lawyers, business people — says the charges
are trumped-up, legally baseless, and are being used to strip him of his airport. Kamenshchik and his colleagues face up to 10 years
in prison if found guilty.
The case has prompted comparisons with
Vladimir Gusinsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky
and Vladimir Yevtushenkov — Russian billionaires who were jailed on questionable
charges and lost some or all of their assets
under President Vladimir Putin.
Kamenshchik’s lawyer, Mikhail Kolpakov,
recounted a conversation between state in-
vestigators and his client that demonstrated
the cynicism of the situation. As the session
wound up, the incredulous investigator asked
Kamenshchik why, having watched the imprisonment of his colleagues days earlier, he
had not fled the country.
“Why run?” the 47-year-old said. “I know
the truth is on my side.”
Autistic Genius
Kamenshchik‘s reply showed a stubbornness that may complicate any attempt to take
Domodedovo away from him.
“He is devoid of emotion, feelings and personal connections,” says Sergei Kapchuk, a
former Russian state official who knew him
in the 1990s. “His business is everything. He
is a machine for making money.”
When Kapchuk met him in 1992, Kamenshchik had just quit a philosophy course and
was helping run an airline tour company,
working out of a three-room apartment in
southwest Moscow that he shared with his
girlfriend and her young son.
Kapchuk said that one day, two men broke
into the apartment. They put a grenade to
the boy‘s head and said, “hand over your cash
or we all die.” Losing the money would have
meant the end of Kamenshchik‘s business.
Without a word, Kamenshchik threw himself across the room, wrested the grenade
from the hands of the bandits and bundled
them out.
“He’s practically autistic,” says Anton Bakov, a businessman and politician who gave
him his first job in the aviation business in
the early 1990s. Bakov, like everyone who has
met him, agrees that Kamenshchik is a business genius.
Kamenshchik started managing small
charter flights for Bakov in 1990, ferrying Polish tourists via Moscow to Asia with “perfect”
efficiency. By about 1992 the two men were
flying Russia’s emerging class of small traders to China. There, the passengers would
disembark, buy as many electronics and
clothes as they could stuff into a suitcase, and
haul them back to Russia to sell at a profit.
Kamenshchik went solo with an airline, East
Line, and began flying freight. In the mid1990s, he began his work at Domodedovo.
Back then, Domodedovo, 20 kilometers
south of Moscow, was in shambles. During
the Soviet era, the airport handled internal
flights to Central Asia and Russia’s eastern
regions. It was small, chaotic, and had nowhere to sit. There was frequently standing
room only on the flights also. Kamenshchik
and East Line began to cut deals with the airport to improve its infrastructure section by
section. On the way, he privatized the buildings and consolidated his ownership.
Under him, Domodedovo became the first
modern Russian airport. In 2002 he launched
a fast train connection between Domodedovo and central Moscow. There weren’t any
trains, so he bought factories to build some.
The old concrete terminal disappeared under
new glass and steel. Over a decade and a half,
Kamenshchik says he plowed more than $1.5
billion of private investment into Domodedovo. By the mid-2000s, it was the largest airport in the country; in 2014, it was processing
more that 30 million passengers a year and
Kamenshchik said it was worth more than $8
billion.
As another of Russia’s superstar businessmen, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, once put it: “Out
of s**t he made a chocolate candy.”
Continued on Page 3 →
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Looking Back
“Sub-standard work and / or services
resulted in the death of two or more
people.” The charge investigators
leveled against Kamenshchik.
← Continued from Page 2
Do You Understand?
It wasn’t all smooth sailing. As the airport became more successful, it faced relentless litigation. In total, some 6,500 legal
cases had been brought against the airport since 2001, Kamenshchik said in an interview with the Vedomosti business newspaper in 2014. Among them were accusations that East Line
transported contraband. In the mid-2000s, the government
fought a four-year battle to annul Domodedovo‘s privatization
and return it to state ownership. Kamenshchik said Domodedovo had a team of more than 100 in-house lawyers to deal
with the caseload.
Sometimes these conflicts turned ugly. In 2011 a video of Kamenshchik‘s business partner, Valery Kogan, cavorting with two
young men in skimpy underwear was leaked to the internet.
The pressure has made Kamenshchik risk averse, even paranoid. For more than a decade he hid his ownership behind a
series of offshore front companies to reduce his vulnerability to
takeovers and attacks. He told Vedomosti he was often unsure
whether a constant stream of checks, inspections and lawsuits
was the state performing its legitimate function as overseer or
motivated by malign interests.
His defense strategy is one that befits a man who is almost
autistic — to be pedantic about the letter of the law. He denies
using kickbacks and cutting deals with influential figures. He
says intense attention from authorities is “a kind of penalty”
for his refusal to play by a corrupt rulebook. The airport’s lawyers have knocked back most of the accusations.
But uncertainty created by the stream of litigation has
hampered investment. The government has taken years to
approve new runways and expand road links to allow the airport to grow. Together this has slowed the pace of Domodedovo‘s development and allowed Moscow’s two other airports,
Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, to catch up. Both those airports
are co-owned by the government.
The worries keep coming. A few years ago Kamenshchik
was approached by a potential buyer for Domodedovo. Kamenshchik says he was told: “You do understand? … They‘ll take
it all. Or unite it with state airports. If you don’t agree to our
terms you’ll be making the biggest mistake of your life.”
New Attack
A new opportunity to pressure Domodedovo emerged out of
tragedy.
On Jan. 24, 2011, a 20-year-old named Magomed Yevloyev
carried up to 5 kilograms of explosives past security personnel
February 25 –
March 2, 2016
37
died in Domodedovo
bombing, Jan. 24, 2011
“When managers say ‘Safety is
worthless — profits are everything,’
sooner or later a tragedy will happen.”
Russian Investigative Committee.
into the airport. He had been sent to Moscow from a village in
Russia‘s North Caucasus by Islamist separatists. Melding with
the crowds in the terminal building, he detonated a device under his shirt, killing 37 people and wounding more than 170.
Investigators immediately sought to prove that Domodedovo‘s management and owner shared responsibility for the
crime. They say airport security should have made everyone
entering the building pass through a metal detector, which
could have enabled them to discover Yevloyev’s bomb.
The investigators’ arguments have been repeatedly discredited. Several Russian courts have ruled there was no law
that obliged Domodedovo to conduct total checks at all entrances and that there was no wrongdoing by the airport.
Russia has suffered hundreds of terrorist incidents in recent
years, including fatal bombings on trains and in Moscow’s
metro. In none have either the owner or management been
prosecuted.
Nevertheless, investigators last summer suddenly revived
the case. On Feb. 8 and 9, two former Domodedovo executives,
Svetlana Trishina and Vyacheslav Nekrasov, and one acting
top manager at the airport, Andrei Danilov, were arrested. 10
days later, Kamenshchik joined them behind bars.
The precise motivation for the case is murky, but it certainly appears to be being directed from above. An indication
of this came when the investigator handling the case on the
night of his detention suddenly softened his position from
calling for Kamenshchik to be kept in jail to seeking house arrest. Kolpakov, the lawyer, suspects that he received a call during the night from someone further up the line.
Backing for the case may go as high as President Putin.
A source close to the Kremlin told The Moscow Times the
switch to house arrest could not have happened without Putin’s involvement. Investigators have persistently sought to
convince the president that Kamenshchik was avoiding paying compensation to victims of the terror attacks and deserved investigation, the source said, but in the event there
was no support for his imprisonment.
The justification offered to Putin is echoed in public statements by investigators, which accuse Domodedovo of being
too greedy to be concerned with airport safety or compensation. But most onlookers say the real reason for the investigation is to force Kamenshchik to sell Domodedovo at the
cheapest price.
Kamenshchik has consistently refused to share control of
the airport. At the start of the 2010s, he resisted government
plans to merge it with Moscow’s two state airports. Now,
the government is pursuing a new concept of public-private
22
3
years spent working at
Domodedovo by Dmitry
Kamenshchik
ownership involving businessmen friendly to the authorities.
Arkady Rotenberg, a friend and former judo partner of Putin’s, has taken a stake in Sheremetyevo. Many think he wishes to expand.
And Domodedovo looks like an increasingly attractive acquisition. The airport is profitable, and Russia‘s economic
slump is reducing the quantity of easy money in the country.
Pressure
Kamenshchik and the other defendants now face up to a year
and a half in detention. State prosecutors have said the case
against them is flawed, which means that trial and sentencing are unlikely, says Kolpakov. But investigators can spin out
the investigation for as long as they like, he said. The only
limiting factor is that a suspect can be held for a maximum of
18 months without the case reaching court.
Kamenshchik may be under house arrest rather than in a
prison cell, but the pressure on him is still strong. The detention of Trishina, Nekrasov and Danilov is one way to increase
it. Their incarceration increases the psychological pressure on
Kamenshchik — a tactic used in previous Russian trials. None
of the three have been questioned in the two weeks since
they were detained, says Kolpakov. Trishina has two young
children.
One lawyer described their situation as “light torture.“ According to the Kremlin source, Kamenshchik’s partner Kogan
tried to pull strings to get them out of jail, but failed.
No one who knows Kamenshchik thinks he will give up
the airport easily. He and Domodedovo are inseparable, said
Bakov, “They’ve fused together.”
Kolpakov said that when Kamenshchik emerged from his
night in the cell on Feb. 19 he was calm and composed. He
walked down the hallways of the court building in a hooded
sweater like a boxer, flashing an occasional sardonic smile beneath thick dark hair and heavy brows. He told the court: “I
devoted 22 years of my life to this airport. To me it is a question of honor to see this case to the end and demonstrate that
neither I nor employees of this airport are guilty.”
Bakov said even the threat of 10 years in jail wouldn’t spook
him. Kamenshchik in Russian means, stonemason. From
there came his nickname — “The Stone.” Friends describe him
as immovable.
In 2014, Kamenshchik told Vedomosti that he insisted on
following the letter of the law “because we believe it’s more
reliable” than depending on personal relationships. But, he
added, “whether that‘s the best survival strategy — time will
show.” TMT
Fake Investigation Paves Way for
Yet More Assassinations
B
oris Nemtsov never believed he would be murdered. Of
course, he understood he might be harassed in one way
or another. He knew the authorities might have plans to
send him to prison. He felt this even more keenly after they
called him in for questioning and searched his apartment.
But he never for one minute imagined that someone could
shoot him in the back.
Nemtsov occasionally recalled the time when then-FSB
head and now President Vladimir Putin came to his government office asking for help in obtaining apartments for intelligence officers. Those FSB employees feel pretty high and
mighty these days, but back in the 1990s they were just midlevel functionaries at best. Nemtsov pulled some strings for
Putin and genuinely believed that the FSB chief would always
remember the favor.
“I was deputy prime minister, Putin’s boss,” Nemtsov used
to say. “They can’t kill me.”
Putin himself was ambiguous when he met with journalists in December 2015. “Nemtsov embarked on a path of political struggle, but that does not necessarily mean that he had
to be killed,” he said. It was a statement both cynical in form
and monstrous in its message.
Of course, Nemtsov realized that he was running a risk
by working for the opposition. But he was never afraid. He
walked around Moscow without bodyguards, carried a metro
pass in his wallet and was not averse to taking the subway if
his car got stuck traffic.
People greeted him warmly wherever he went; they’d ask
for autographs and to take pictures with him. He loved speaking with people and could easily find a common language
with everyone — even with his critics and opponents.
Occasionally someone would try to provoke him by
throwing food at him or even physically attacking him. But
Nemtsov was a strong guy and was always ready to repulse
an attacker. I remember an instance in Yaroslavl when a man
tried to hit Nemtsov, but ended up with a fist in the face for
his trouble.
I don’t think Nemtsov ever really accepted the possibility of
his own death. He thought he would live forever. At 55, he was
an accomplished runner, could do pull-ups with ease and was
proud of his physique. He was an amazingly cheerful person.
It never crossed his mind that everything might suddenly
end. I never met anyone with such a love for life, anyone who
could so easily infect others with his optimism.
And now already one year has passed since his murder.
This was essentially an act of terrorism, a high-profile assassination, intended to intimidate others. I am certain that
he was killed in order to silence critics of the Kremlin, and to
By Ilya Yashin
Politician, activist and friend of Boris
Nemtsov
compel them to leave Russia. And many people did exactly
that: They got scared and left the country. But the murder also had the reverse effect, one that whoever ordered the murder had not anticipated. Many people who were shocked by
Nemtsov’s murder joined the protest movement and became
activists for the opposition.
The killing also demonstrated that the siloviki’s hands are
tied when it comes to investigating political assassinations.
During the initial stage, investigators managed to apprehend
the trigger man and put together a criminal case with strong
evidence showing that he was an officer of the Chechen battalion “Sever.” But the moment it became clear that the trail
led back to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and other government officials, the investigation stopped.
It is now abundantly clear that the people behind Nemtsov’s murder will escape accountability — at least until a new
team moves into the Kremlin.
All of this raises serious concerns for the future of Russia.
After all, if people with close Kremlin ties can carry out such a
brazen murder with total impunity, it means they essentially
have carte blanche to do what they want.
And that means that the federal authorities and the siloviki have through passivity and inaction set the stage for yet
more political assassinations. TMT
SofIa MIroYeDova
The OppOsiTiOnisT
4
Looking Forward
“I knew [Nemtsov] personally, we
didn’t always have rocky relations.
I wasn’t the one to worsen them.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin
The Moscow Times
No. 5743
15 Chechens
reportedly involved in
cake attack on Mikhail
Kasyanov.
5 men
Writing on Instagram, Ramzan
Kadyrov said he knew one of those
accused of Nemtsov’s murder as “a true
patriot of Russia.”
charged with the murder of
Boris Nemtsov.
SeRgeI KaRpuKhIN / ReuTeRS
Boris
Nemtsov,
Vladimir
Ryzhkov,
Mikhail
Kasyanov and
Ilya Yashin
(left to right)
lead a rally in
January 2013.
Since then the
opposition
protest
movement
has been
steadily losing
ground to the
Kremlin.
Backs Up Against the Kremlin Wall
By Daria Litvinova [email protected] | Twitter: @dashalitvinovv
One year after the murder of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition finds
itself suffocated and fearful.
I
lya Yashin was in the middle of a press conference presenting a special report on the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov — a genre invented and made successful by his late
friend and ally Boris Nemtsov — when a police officer tried to
force everyone to leave the building.
The officer claimed he was acting on an anonymous tip-off
about a possible bomb in the building. But Yashin was calm
and unfazed. “Come on, officer,” he said. “You were here yesterday and you knew we were planning an event. What you’re
trying to do is to deliberately sabotage an opposition event.”
The Kadyrov presentation was scheduled four days before
the anniversary of Nemtsov’s murder, an act that shook the
Russian political opposition to the core. For the second year
in a row, the opposition has hemorrhaged political ground
under the onslaught of pro-Kremlin forces. They have lost in
courts, in voting booths and even in the streets, with authorities blocking their every attempt to engage in significant activity.
In the year following the murder, opposition leaders faced
a relentless intimidation campaign, right up to hints of a repeat of Nemtsov’s fate. And the campaign has largely worked:
Anxiety and fear has pierced their ranks.
“No matter who decided on murdering Nemtsov, they have
made quite a step in setting up an atmosphere of fear,” Alexei
Navalny, an opposition leader, told The Moscow Times. “‘You
shouldn’t talk or write about that, otherwise you are going to
be killed’ is no longer a joke in today’s Russia, it’s real. It’s a reality for the opposition and it’s a reality for society.”
Weaponizing Fear
In January, Ramzan Kadyrov began a bizarre social media
campaign against the opposition, posting pictures of large
dogs and rifles accompanied with messages that could be interpreted as murder threats. Mikhail Kasyanov, the former
prime minister, and Boris Nemtsov’s successor as leader of
the PARNAS opposition party, has been targeted specifically.
In an Instagram post, Kadyrov uploaded a video of Kasyanov, showing the opposition leader in the crosshairs of a sniper’s rifle. A week later, several Chechen young men followed
Kasyanov into a restaurant and hit him with a cake. Some of
them were detained, but the police refused to open a criminal
case, implying that the incident wasn’t serious enough.
The Kremlin showed few signs of willingness to intervene.
On the contrary, several days later, Kasyanov was confronted
in Nizhny Novgorod by pro-Kremlin youth activists. He was
forced to hide in a hotel cloakroom, and when he emerged,
was insulted, pushed around. A pro-Kremlin television crew
was there to record his ordeal, documenting every stage of the
humiliation.
Nemtsov’s murder has made the opposition take such
threats seriously. “The failure to investigate the murder
shows just how ready the Kremlin is use Kadyrov’s ‘death
squadrons,’” Navalny said. “They exist, and they operate with
impunity outside traditional law enforcement.”
Dmitry Gudkov, the only remaining independent State
Duma deputy, echoed his sentiment. “We are living in a country where the fear is not that you will be hit in the face with
a cake, but that you will get bullets in your back,” he told The
Moscow Times.
Russian society is falling victim to the fear, as well, says
another prominent opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov.
According to the former deputy, people are “afraid to publicly
support the opposition, to run as opposition candidates or,
even, to stay in Russia.” The Kremlin’s campaign against the
opposition has weakened it greatly, he said, and “things are
unlikely to get better any time soon.”
Mounting Problems
Nemtsov’s murder has largely broken the opposition, but the
new atmosphere of fear that it created is only half the story.
Nemtsov’s great strength was as a unifying figure — always
pushing for different opposition movements, parties and alliances to come together. Now that he is gone, such unity is
under pressure. “It became much more difficult to negotiate
with different parties and movements without him — he was
the moderator,” said Gudkov.
With “the moderator” absent, the opposition was unable to
run on a single ticket across all elections to regional legislatures last year.
Navalny’s Party of Progress, Kasyanov’s PARNAS party and
several other parties formed the Democratic Coalition, which
put forward joint candidates for the regional parliaments of
Novosibirsk, Kostroma, Magadan and Kaluga. In Kaluga, however, they faced competition from another opposition party,
Civil Initiative, that refused to be part of the coalition.
The breakdown in cooperation was yet another obstacle
for the opposition campaign, which was facing several legal
problems. Their campaign manager in Kostroma was arrested
for supposedly bribing a police officer.
Navalny’s closest ally and the mastermind behind the
campaign in Novosibirsk, Leonid Volkov, was subject to criminal charges for allegedly “interfering in the work” of a proKremlin journalist, for which he faces up to six years in prison. And the opposition candidate in Magadan, was detained
and fined 22,000 rubles ($300) after distributing brochures
about the campaign.
Soon enough, all opposition campaigns were backed into
a corner. In all the regions except Kostroma, opposition politicians were banned from running. And in Kostroma, where
Ilya Yashin ran, the Democratic Coalition failed to pass the
necessary 5 percent barrier required for representation.
This year, the stakes are higher. Opposition politicians say
they are planning to run for seats in this year’s parliamentary elections, despite the rising pressure. “The only way the
democratic opposition can stop a full-blown civil war from
happening is by telling people the truth, taking part in elections and challenging the ruling elite,” Ilya Yashin told The
Moscow Times.
According to the seasoned political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky,
the Kremlin has demonstrated fallibility that may well offer
opportunities for the opposition. In his view, Nemtsov’s murder was a sign that authorities are weak and “unable control
certain forces inside the country.” Pavlovsky told The Moscow
Times that he believed the opposition had “failed to respond
adequately” to such a signal. “Will the opposition become a
force strong enough to respond in future? That is the question
to be answered,” he said.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September. Rotation among lawmakers is expected to be high, since the
Kremlin has hinted at the need for fresh blood. Recent experience, however, suggests the authorities will do anything
in their power to stop independent voices entering the new
Duma. TMT
Looking Forward
February 25 –
March 2, 2016
15
“We are closer to a cease-f ire
today than we have been.” John
Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State.
the number of countries in
the U.S.-led coalition
“We are determined to ease
the suffering of the Syrians. We
hope to do it.” Sergei Lavrov,
Russian Foreign Minister
No Easy Fix for Syria
>250,000
5
people have died since the
conflict in Syria sparked in
2011, the UN estimates.
A U.S.-Russian partial truce deal is just the beginning.
I
t is not peace in our time, it may well never even happen, and even if it does, probably won’t last. It is not the
result of humanitarian impulses and diplomatic good
will, but of cynicism, exhaustion, and geopolitical calculation. Even if it does take effect, it is likely to be marred by
local breaches and tit-for-tat claims of who is to blame.
For all that, it would be a mistake to write off the “cessation of hostilities” plan announced by Russia and the
United States on Feb. 22, and due to take effect Feb. 27.
Grounds for Hope
First, it is easier to start thinking about a lasting settlement during a truce than in the middle of fighting, however distant a prospect of a deal between Damascus and at
least some of the rebels may currently seem. Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Russian allies are still hoping to
expand and consolidate the area under their control. The
rebels have not abandoned their commitment to toppling
the regime. But if there is to be any settlement — and I
stress if — it will come from dialogue.
Secondly, it allows and requires the Russians to do what
they have said they are there to do — batter Islamic State,
a terrorist group banned in Russia. There is now the prospect for the kind of combined — if not necessarily coordinated — U.S. and Russian aerial onslaught that might be
able to make serious inroads into the movement’s military,
political and economic capacities.
The partial cease-fire agreement is also an opportunity
to call the participants’ bluffs. Moscow and Damascus have
long practiced the art of “talking while fighting,” giving
ZAiN KARAM / REUtERS
Op-Ed by Mark Galeotti
Professor of Global Affairs at New York
University and expert in Russian security
services
No deal: A partial “cessation of hostilities” does
not cover “UN recognized” terrorist formations
the appearance of openness to dialogue, while trying to
change the situation on the ground to their advantage.
Likewise, many of the rebel groups, some of which are
little more than bandits and warlords’ retinues, have been
able to point to the regime’s barbarity to excuse their own.
Now, they will all be forced to make good on their commitments, or be held accountable for their failure.
Finally, every day, every minute the guns are silent
is good for ordinary Syrians — for a population that has
spent years caught in the murderous crossfire of a complex and intractable war. It is unlikely to make a major difference to the flows of refugees (indeed, many may regard
this as a good moment to make a run for it), but any truce
will allow aid to reach populations in desperate need.
Obstacles to Progress
This article is being written before the partial cease-fire is
meant to take effect, and it may all have fallen through by
the time you read it. Damascus and Moscow may have no
plan to observe it. But that is unlikely: They know full well
they will likely face blame if it does break.
More to the point, the rebels are a ragtag collection of
units, leaders and movements, with often wildly different aims and approaches. Even in the best-case scenario,
not all will observe the cease-fire. Ascribing blame will be
much less helpful than rapid efforts by the guarantors—
Russia and the United States—to isolate and control any
local skirmishes.
Perhaps most pernicious is the extent to which this is
such a multi-vectored war.
On the government side, not only are there subtle but
real divisions between different factions, there is the much
more evident divide between the regime’s two backers:
Russia, which largely works through the military, and
Iran, which has built a parallel power base through the militias in the National Defense Forces, supported by Lebanese Hizbullah.
Then there are the Kurds of northern Syria, backed by
Washington, demonized by Ankara. Turkey is making an
aggressive play for regional authority, and currently with
some support from Saudi Arabia.
There are other obstacles to progress: Israel, Iraq, the
Gulf States, and a range of others involved in this vicious
power play with seemingly less interest than Moscow or
Washington in a swift resolution.
Assuming at least some of the fighting does stop on
Saturday, the attention on the ground will rightly focus on
the diverging campaigns of humanitarian relief and antiIslamic State warfighting.
The real diplomatic priority, however, must be to start
to disentangle Syria’s tragedy from regional rivalries. For
as long as Syria is still treated as the board for some Middle Eastern game of Risk, temporary, partial and not completely satisfactory lulls in the fighting are going to be
about the best it can accept. TMT
6
Russian Tales
“I wish all the boys were into sports
— then there won’t be … delinquent
teenagers.” Pavel Astakhov,
children’s rights ombudsman.
The Moscow Times
No. 5743
646,319
1.5 times
number of inmates in
Russian prisons as of Feb. 1
Russia has the third largest number of
inmates worldwide (after United States
and China), according to the Institute
for Criminal Policy Research.
more crimes committed by
Zabaikalsky teenagers than
their Moscow counterparts
“They arrested
our mate, and
that’s not on”
DMITRY MARKOV / FOR MT
Teenagers
Sergei, Ilya,
Lyokha
and Sasha,
outside
the state
correctional
school in
Chita. Their
attack on the
local police
station made
national
news.
Putin’s Children
By Oliver Carroll [email protected]
A breakdown in government control in deepest Russia
has left locals turning to the criminals for protection.
T
he driver’s voice teeters between depression and aggression.
“What kinduva life do yoo call this?!” he shouts.
“Weerrall peepul … peeeeepul, for sheeettin sake! ... Fook,
Ruussia, yoo make me want to cry!”
We veer from side to side of the snow-covered track. Outside, the mercury pushes twenty under, and the black cloak
of Siberian night is falling. “Thiziz uh crrrriminal ... village” the driver says. “We had ah shoooting here ... pulice
n’everything”. Turning toward me, he makes a frustrated
gesture, before opening his toothless mouth and releasing a
putrid burst of ethanol breath.
The car jolts and the driver returns his attention to the
road. He continues his story: “The prisssnurs, they had guys
in the school, taking tax from the kids, for fooks sake!...
‘magine?! Poor wons had to give 100 rubles, the middle wons,
200, and the rich wons, it’s fooking 250 rubles, fook me!”
The harsh Zabaikalsky region, some 4,000 miles from
Moscow, is not, typically, a good news factory; locals do not
leave their front doors in the morning expecting miracles.
But two flashes of anarchy earlier this month have led some
to wonder if the bad is about to get badder, and if the dark
days of Siberia’s tumultuous 1990s are returning.
The first episode, here in Novopavlovka, saw parents revert to mob law against a group of young criminals embedded in the local school. The second, in nearby Khilok, saw institutionalized teenagers attack a police station with stones
and metal weapons. Separated by less than 24 hours, the episodes were sufficiently unnerving for Moscow to send investigative teams to the region.
According to excitable local media, the root of the problems was a movement pushing youngsters into the criminal underground. This movement has a name — AUE —
standing for “Arestantsky. Uklad. Edin,” or “Prison. Order.
Universal.”
Ground Zero
Chita, the administrative capital of Zabaikalsky, is, on first
appearances, pleasant enough. A smattering of histori-
cal buildings and bustling central streets set it apart from
other Russian provincial capitals. But one only has to travel to Chita’s more insalubrious and jobless outskirts, to see
a different picture altogether.
“The default mode on these streets is crime,” says my
guide, Andrei Kulikov, 37, a former convict. “Chita is built
on prisons, and no one is ever more than a phone call or
family member away from the underground.”
We stop by School 17, an unhappy, drug-infested cluster of wooden huts on the edge of existence. School 17 has
no street lighting, and utility supplies are basic, but the
neighborhood is a reasonable first port for those recently
released from any one of the region’s ten prisons.
It is in places like this, says Andrei, that former inmates
connect with keen teenage runners. The criminals call
them the ragged ones, and they help with anything from
drug deliveries to organizing “grev” — supplies of tea, cigarettes and cash for serving prisoners.
“This isn’t the place to be walking around at night,
Towns on the Edge
Ulan-Ude
Khilok
Novopavlovka
Moscow
Chita
Chita
mind,” says Kulikov. “There are weapons on the street —
and no one respects the understandings no more.”
The “Understandings”
In criminal circles, the “understandings,” or Russian prison
code, are laws above laws. They forbid all cooperation with the
police, establish an obligation to collect grev, and map out an
alternative system of order and justice.
According to another former convict, Sergei Chugunov, the
criminals’ courts are the “fairest in all Russia.” If someone has
been unfairly imprisoned, he says, criminal authorities will
“always” find out the truth via their networks outside. Chugunov himself spent four years serving alongside Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Chita’s most famous inmate, in Krasnokamensk.
Keen to hit home the “morality” of Chita’s underworld, Sergei invites me to one of its more notorious hangouts. The bar
is named after Yermak Timofeyevich, the Cossack who conquered Siberia in a shower of blood. “It doesn’t matter who
you are, this place will always welcome you,” says Sergei. “Just
don’t leave your valuables in the cloakroom.”
The bar’s color scheme is fecal brown, interrupted only by a
mirror ball and fairy lights. From time to time, the DJ, a stocky
man in his late forties, makes a weird comment few seem
to register, but which adds to the otherworldly atmosphere.
“Who likes to walk around their apartment naked?” he asks.
A bottle of vodka later, and news breaks that a lynx has run
into town. Another half bottle, and the DJ returns to the microphone. With a wink to Sergei, he announces the presence
of an “English guest,” and dedicates a chanson, a traditional
song from the criminal underworld, to the moment.
By the time the first verse of “District Prosecutor” is over,
the room has reached transcendental highs; everyone is dancing violently, screaming with delight:
“For you I’m no one, and for me you’re no one”
“I spit at the law, you send me to prison!”
In a town so obviously pregnant with prison culture, I ask
Sergei about the process of recruiting kids to the AUE cause. He
denies youngsters are actively recruited: “It is against the code;
Continued on Page 11 →
Out & About
7
February 25 –
March 2, 2016
Weekly round-up of all
that’s new, delicious and
fun in Moscow.
The only thing
purely Russian
at Severyane
is the big
Russian
stove — and
the diners.
The decor is
urban rustic
and all the
dishes have
been invented
by the chefs.
Reservations
essential.
Unique Cuisine at Severyane
By Andrei Muchnik [email protected] | Photos by Evgenia Kanak
S
everyane, a new restaurant by the stellar culinary duo of Ilya Tutenkov and William Lamberty, just opened in Moscow. Georgy Troyan,
last year’s winner of the “Silver Triangle” award as
Russia’s best chef, heads the kitchen. The place is
already a hit.
The design is minimalist, with a few tricks here
and there, like LCD lights that look like candles
hanging from the ceiling.
Just about the only thing Russian about Severyane is the huge traditional oven. The name
Severyane, which means “the Northerners,”
doesn’t refer to North Russian cuisine, but to an
Fine dining for the adventurous palate
obscure Dutch art house movie, a favorite of one
of the owners. This isn’t Russian cuisine, or Scandinavian, or any kind of national cookery. The
dishes have been created by the restauranteurs.
The most inventive part of the menu is the
starters. Try Romano salad grilled in the Russian oven with shrimp and baked pumpkin (600
rubles); or lamb tongue with beet and horseradish
sauce (650 rubles); or celery root ground into thin
vermicelli with truffle sauce (500 rubles).
The not-to-miss main dish is the beef fillet
served with mouthwatering sweet pepper stuffed
with oxtail (900 rubles). Another special dish is
oven-baked pike perch served with daikon marinated in cuttlefish ink and lemon foam, reminiscent of molecular gastronomy.
There is also a section of the menu intended
for groups of people. One of the entries is tomahawk — a one and a half kilo steak (700 rubles for
100 grams). All the main dishes can be served with
vegetables grilled in the Russian oven. Try the celery and cauliflower (350 rubles each).
Try some of Severyane’s trademark cocktails (450 rubles). The most interesting one is
called Lea’s, a version of Bloody Mary served
with mushrooms. There’s also a selection of
wine and ten types of beer on tap.
The dessert menu is full of surprises (all for
450 rubles), the main ones being black pineapple
(steeped in cuttlefish ink) with coconut cream
and sweet fried black olives, and baked apple with
marshmallow and beer ice cream. The sweets go
great with the signature teas, such as pinecone
sweet tea and Kuril Islands tea with lavender (350
rubles each). TMT
+7 (499) 700 0898
facebook.com/severyane.moscow
12 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ulitsa
Metro Biblioteka Imeni Lenina, Okhotny Ryad
YULIA YEGORUSHKINA / VK
SHAURMEN
HUNKY DORY
SIBIRSKY GASTRONOM NO. 1
NEWS & OPENINGS
Sibirsky Gastronom No. 1
For your honey and dried fish needs
Hunky Dory
Healthy food in a mall
Shaurmen
Hip cafe with shaurma on Kamergersky
Professor Poof
facebook.com/groups/sibgastronom
Tishinka shopping center
1 Tishinskaya Ploshchad. Metro Belorusskaya
+7 (499) 499 3992
facebook.com/hunkydoryru
16A/2 Leningradskoye Shosse.
Metro Voikovskaya
+7 (985) 927 6464
facebook.com/shaurmen1
4/1 Kamergersky Pereulok. Metro Okhotny Ryad
+7 (915) 432 5264
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009253789999
9/1 Ulitsa Volkhonka. Metro Kropotkinskaya
Sibirsky Gastronom sources its produce directly
from Siberia. Fragrant teas, traditional pelmeni
and of course, a great selection of honey and caviar might tempt even a sceptic of Slavic cuisine.
A long counter displays a large variety of dried,
salted and “wilted” fish including sturgeon, eel and
trout. A warning — don’t look in the meat freezer
if you’re an animal lover. Rabbits and a whole lot
of veal and boar will stare back at you.
Located on the first two floors of the business
center next to the Metropolis mall, Hunky Dory is
full of Buddhist and “feel-good” paraphernalia. To
feel “all hunky dory,” start with chicken meatball
soup (222 rubles), something from the varied salad
bar and a shrimp taco (444 rubles). Hunky Dory
also serves a carob drink for 139 rubles and a teapot of masala for 249 rubles.
Take it and go!
Shaurmen has distinct, in-your-face decor with
meat grinders, canned goods, and everything
served on disposable dinnerware. The portions are
small, but the food is great and reasonably priced.
Chicken shaurma is 258 rubles, plov (pilaf) is 289
rubles, and cheburek (Central Asian samsa) is just
129 rubles. There are also salads, including khorovats with grilled vegetables (159 rubles), humus
(109 rubles) and soups (from 139 rubles).
Fast food with old school Russian flavor
Professor Poof is a contemporary, street-food
take on Russian cooking. The Russian noodle
soup (lapsha) is a bit like ramen soup with buckwheat noodles, bits of egg and duck (249 rubles).
The delicious sandwiches are bukhanets, like
a pita (from 189 rubles) and lomot, more substantial fare reminiscent of bruschetta (from
249 rubles). Try chifir, cold black tea mixed with
lemon juice.
Four pages packed with the best places in Moscow to eat, drink, walk, shop, listen, watch, dance and sightsee.
A new walking route and listings every week! Take it, use it, save it!
8
Walking Route
The Moscow Times
No. 5743
Evgenia Kuznetsova, literary
manager of the Sovremennik Theater
Architecture experts say that the white
columns and aristocratic feel of the Sovremennik theater
defines all of Chistiye
Prudy. But there’s also a bit of mysticism.
Paranormal experts say that the theater
is a power node. Walk up to the right side
of the facade, turn into the courtyard and
take two more steps. Stop at the wall,
make a wish and see what happens.
1. Monument to Alexander Griboyedov
We start our walk outside the Chistiye Prudy metro station,
now a rather desolate space, cleared of shopping arcades.
But cleaning up is the main theme of Chistiye Prudy (“Clean
Ponds”). Centuries ago there were several “Foul Ponds” here,
filled with waste from the vendors on Myasnitskaya Ulitsa
(Butcher’s Street). In 1739 they were dredged, cleaned and
turned into one large pond, even though their name is still the
plural Clean Ponds. Overlooking them is the writer and diplomat Alexander Griboyedov, or rather the monument erected to
him on the 130th anniversary of his death in 1959. As a writer,
he is famous for his comedy “Woe From Wit,” characters from
which dance around the podium his monument stands on. But
he died for his diplomatic profession, killed by an angry mob in
Tehran (then the capital of Persia) in 1829 after Russia ratified
treaties that made Persia cede its northern territories to Russia.
6 Chistoprudny Bulvar
Chistiye
Prudy
1
Chistoprudny Bulvar
2
Arkhangelsky Pereulok
3. Church of the Archangel Gabriel
Walk along Chistoprudny Bulvar away from the metro station and turn right on
Arkhangelsky Pereulok for a short detour to a strange and beautiful little church.
On your right you’ll see the salmon-pink sliver of the Church of the Archangel
Gabriel, also called Menshikov’s Tower. It was built in 1707 by Prince Menshikov,
Peter the Great’s closest friend, in an imitation of Western church architecture.
It was originally topped by an enormous, very pointed spire with an angel on top,
but when it was destroyed by lightning, it was replaced with a more modest and
culturally acceptable filial. The rebuilding was done by an architect who was a
Mason and placed Masonic symbols on both the interior and exterior. Most of
them were removed later, but a few remain. See if you can find them.
15A Arkhangelsky Pereulok
Around Chistiye Prudy
See Where Politics
And the Arts Collide
By Michele A. Berdy [email protected] | Illustration by Ilya Kutoboy
A walk around the broadest and most
elegant part of the boulevard ring, full of
cafes, shops and history
2. Annushka
3
As you walk toward the pond, be careful to
mind the tram tracks and occasional tram. By
tradition, the trams that run around the pond
are called Annushka for Tram A, the tram line
that went along the Boulevard Ring. (Bukashka — Tram B — circled the Garden Ring Road.)
Annushka took her maiden voyage in 1911 and
has had many routes over the decades, including one that was immortalized in Mikhail
Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita.” But
wherever the tram goes, it always returns to
circle at least part of Chistiye Prudy.
Around Chistiye Prudy
Anna Narinskaya, literary critic at
Kommersant:
The beautiful art nouveau mansion at
6 Pereulok Ogorodnaya Sloboda
is home to the Children’s House of Arts.
Writer Boris Pasternak taught here. In
front is a statue of young Lenin, whose
head came off in a recent storm. It was
fixed badly and looks like Lenin is a kid
suffering from a bad case of mumps and
was allowed to go home early.
4. Monument to Kazakh Poet Abai Kunanbayev
9
4-hour walk
Alexander Mozhayev, historian,
expert at the State Museum of
Architecture
If you go through the arch of No. 9 on
Chistoprudny Bulvar, you’ll see 9 Ulitsa
Zhukovskogo. Here Ilf and Petrov came up
with the idea for their novel, “The Twelve
Chairs.” It was actually suggested by writer Valentin Katayev. Now Chitalcafe
is in the basement — a bookstore, a lecture
hall and a cafe all rolled into one.
5. Sovremennik Theater
Double back to Chistoprudny Bulvar and turn right. Soon
you’ll see another monument on your left in the boulevard
park. This is to the Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev, put up by
the government of Kazakhstan in 2006 as part of an exchange
with Russia; a monument to poet Alexander Pushkin was
put up in the capital city of Astana by the Russian government. More recently, in 2012 this monument gained fame as
the venue for part of the protest movement. A camp was set
up here with the hashtag of #OccupyAbai and was decorated
with quotes from the poet’s works.
After a pause to recall recent political activism in Moscow,
walk across the boulevard park to the other side and continue
walking away from the metro. You’ll see a white building with
columns in a kind of airy contemporary version of classical
architecture. This is the Sovremennik (Contemporary) Theater,
founded in 1956 by a group of actors who had just graduated
from the Studio School of the Moscow Art Theater. Created in
the year of Nikita Khrushchev’s “secret speech” denouncing
Stalinism, the theater was meant to bring life, realism, and
creativity to the Moscow theatrical scene. Now headed by one
of its founders, Galina Volchek, it remains one of the city’s finest theaters.
19 Chistoprudny Bulvar
4
6. Pond and Ice Rink
5
7. Faceted House
Walk around the pond to the other side of
the boulevard so you can enjoy the whimsy
of house No. 14. Called the Faceted House, it
was built as a four-story apartment building
in 1909 by the architect Kravetsky in a style
called “late national art nouveau.” The fantastical creatures were done by the artist Sergei
Vashkov. The top three floors in yellow Stalinist classical style were unfortunately added in
1945, but the house still retains its charm.
14 Chistoprudny Bulvar
Back in the boulevard park, walk along the pond, which in
a cold winter is one of Moscow’s most popular ice rinks. Ice
skating was not always a popular sport in Russia, or even a
sport at all. It seems to have been imported from Europe by
Russia’s favorite borrower, Peter the Great, but didn’t really
catch on until 1865 when the first fancy rinks were opened
in St. Petersburg. Then it took off as a sport among the upper classes, who could afford the rather expensive skates
and spend hours practicing their turns and spins on the ice.
Leo Tolstoy was a skater, and so were his characters Levin
and Kitty, who flirted on the ice. The Chistiye Prudy pond is
free of charge and open round-the-clock. Unfortunately, it
depends solely on natural weather conditions. But when it’s
cold, you can feel like a character from a Russian novel, flying
on the ice with the city lights twinkling around you.
6
8. Pokrovskiye Vorota
7
8
The far end of the boulevard park ends at
Ploshchad Pokrovskiye Vorota. Here gates to
Ulitsa Pokrovka were cut in the long wall that
stood where today’s boulevard ring is. It is a
good place to end a pleasant stroll: the block
behind the square is filled with bars, cafes,
shops and restaurants. It’s also a good place to
remember to download or buy the 1982 comedy Pokrovskiye Vorota, which takes place in a
fictional communal apartment on the square
in 1956, the same year the Sovremennik Theater was built. Enjoyment guaranteed.
Out & About
The Moscow Times
No. 5743
Charlotte Gubbins, MBA student and freelance tutor
I’m a big fan of Khachapuri, which has several branches across the city. Georgian
food is a real crowd-pleaser and the relaxed atmosphere, colorful interior and
reasonable prices of this place make it the perfect spot to catch up with friends.
Roll Hall
Put your skates on
Roll Hall is Moscow’s largest and best-known
indoor roller-skating area. The rollerdrome
covers 1,500 square meters, giving you ample
room to practice your moves or fall over
without the risk of causing a domino effect.
If you have your own skates, you just pay for
entry, which starts at around 300 rubles. You
could also rent skates by the minute, and
then Roll Hall will waive the entry fee. The
venue also has a food court and restaurant,
and even offers segways for hire.
Roll Hall
roll-hall.com
3 Kholodilny pereulok
Metro tulskaya
Learn the ropes
Always fancied yourself as Spiderman but
never had the chance to scale a giant wall?
Head to Big Wall where there are hundreds
of climbing routes for you to try out. The
center caters to both novices and pros and
also offers a children’s climbing zone for
adventurous youngsters. An adult starter
session costs between 1,100-1,300 rubles
and includes five climbs with an instructor
— and all the necessary climbing equipment to boot. Big Wall also has a tropical
bar, although we’d recommend getting a
cocktail after your climb, not before.
Big Wall
bigwallsport.ru
19 Bymazhny proyezd, Bldg. 1
Metro savyolovskaya
4 Dive Bars, Where
Cheap Means Good
NoViKoV Group
Jump around
Whoever said trampolining was just for children? At Nebo (Sky) trampoline park you can
try extreme trampolining (where you bounce
off the walls as well as the trampoline), play
trampolining dodgeball and even shoot hoops
as you bounce. One hour in the trampoline
park costs between 600 to 800 rubles. Alternatively, if you take yourself a bit more seriously,
you can opt for a session with an instructor
or join one of the center’s group lessons. The
perfect way to put a spring back in your step.
Nebo Batutny Park
nebojump.ru
80 leningradsky prospekt, Bldg. 11
Metro sokol
Big Wall
Kamchatka
Killfish
Cheap, popular and just a little seedy
Go to Killfish expecting to wake up with a
very bad hangover. While there is virtually
no atmosphere, there is cheap beer, whisky
and any other liquor you can think of on tap.
Ask any student in Moscow and they’ll either
have, or know of the Killfish discount card
which offers further reductions. While we
wouldn’t recommend it for a date, it’s a good
spot to deaden your emotions after a breakup
or watch a game and nurse a beer. The chain
has a dozen branches across the city.
Various locations
killfish.ru
Stolovaya that comes alive in the evenings
Kamchatka is a bit of a curveball from upscale restaurateur Arkady Novikov. By day a
Soviet-style stolovaya with tasty eats, by night
a sweaty, crowded bar with loud music and outrageously cheap beer. You’ll need sharp elbows
to be served, and on the weekends it’s not unheard of for people to dance on tables, adding
to the fun. In summer you’ll recognize it by the
outdoor barbecue and hoards of young people
spilling out onto the pedestrianized street.
+ 7 (495) 624 8825
facebook.com/pages/KamchatkaBar/365341593534868?fref=ts
7 ulitsa Kuznetsky Most. Metro Kuznetsky Most
pod MuKhoi
Nebo Batutny Park
roll hall
NeBo BatutNy parK
The thaw has come early this year, and unless you are an incredibly motivated athlete or
completely mad, it’s wiser to avoid the slushy, sludgy streets for the time being. Feeling
like you need a workout but hate the gym? The following venues offer you a chance to try
something new and have a bit of fun, too.
Killfish
Indoor exercise for a rainy day
Perfect your putting
It’s no news that the Moscow climate doesn’t
exactly lend itself to a long golf season. If you
are itching to get some practice in before the
summer, why not visit City Golf, which allows
you to play a round in a luxurious indoor setting? Simulators measure the angle of your
ball and the movement of your golf club to
give the impression that you’re actually playing on a real golf course. Afterwards you can
have a shower, visit the restaurant or even
organize a business meeting in one of the
lounges. One session costs 1,200-1,800 rubles.
City Golf
citygolf.ru
Krasny oktyabr
5 Bersenevsky pereulok, Bldg. 2.
Metro Kropotkinskaya
Pod Mukhoi
MyBar
BiG Wall
City Golf
BiG Wall
City Golf
10
MyBar
Dive bar with heart
There are flashy bars around Kuznetsky Most,
but MyBar is the kind of place that gives you a
warm welcome. Order yourself some nachos
and a beer, then chat to the crowd of expats
and locals who have popped in for a drink after
work. It’s packed on weekends, so best to get
there early. The bar shuts once the last customer departs, so you can party until dawn.
+ 7 (916) 583 5279
facebook.com/MyBar-159984587359987/
3 Kuznetsky Most, Bldg. 2. Metro Kuznetsky Most
Basement bar in the center
Tourists have a hard time finding a centrally
located bar that won’t break the bank. A
basement bar off Pushkin Square, Pod Mukhoi (Russian slang for tipsy) may be rough
around the edges, but is a quintessential
dive bar with a strong crowd of regulars and
tourists. Noodle dishes are made to order and
cocktails are cheap. This place gets pretty
crowded from Thursday onwards. Decor is
austere, as are the bouncers on occasion, so if
you’re blessed with a youthful countenance
be sure to bring ID.
+ 7 (495) 650 2779
pod-muhoy.ru
6 strastnoi Bulvar, Bldg. 2. Metro Chekhovskaya
Russian Tales
11
February 25 –
March 2, 2016
7,692
“AUE is an anti-culture: Our
children don’t deserve to be learning
in prisons.” Mikhail Fedotov,
Presidential Human Rights Council.
number of orphans in
Zabaikalsky region
At end of 2015, the Zabaikalskiy region
had Russia’s highest crime rate.
28,000 crimes had been committed,
local law enforcement said.
30,000 rubles
average monthly
salary in the Zabaikalsky
region.
← Continued from Page 6
Without
running water
or central
heating, life in
the Siberian
wilderness
can be tough.
Some fear it is
about to get
even tougher.
you can’t recruit, but you can’t push away either.” Besides, he
argues, the “whole of Chita is AUE” — “it’s a mentality.”
A rough street survey of two dozen Chita schoolchildren
suggested almost all knew about AUE, about the understandings and grev. A few of them admitted to contributing for grev,
and some said they knew someone who did. One said a book
“How to become a Thief” was doing the rounds at school.
The older children become tight-lipped when asked about
AUE — refusing to answer further questions.
Several hundred Chita teenagers are subscribed to AUE
groups on Russia’s most popular social network VKontakte.
When contacted, the majority offered laconic responses of the
sort: “Go f*ck yourself,” “agent!,” “AUE! Freedom to thieves”
and “AUE! F*ck off.” One 17-year-old AUE follower, Dmitry F.,
warned against unwelcome interfering. No one would speak to
me, he said: “That’s the deal. We didn’t start this, but we’ll finish it. Take my advice, you’ll be better off that way.”
If Chita’s AUE teens want to stay in the shadows, the other side,
understandably, are even keener to preserve anonymity.
“I want you to write everything down, but you must promise
to change my name,” says Lyudmila, one of Novopavlovka’s 4,000
residents. “You can’t imagine what we’ve come to. We’re at war,
terrorized by these kids, by their parents.”
It has been three weeks since Novopavlovka residents saw
their village shoot to the top of national news. It all started when
a group of teenagers, working under a local criminal boss, began
extorting grev payments in the local secondary school. Payments
were set between 100 and 250 rubles per month per child. Those
who couldn’t pay accrued debts.
The children were sworn to secrecy, but parents eventually
found out. The turning point came around the new year, when
one indebted 13-year-old boy was stripped of his coat, on a day
when the temperature outside was minus 40 degrees Celsius.
One of the boy’s classmates decided to raise the alarm, and told
his father, Ivan, what was going on.
The extortioners were well-known to police, but had dodged
prosecution because of their age. Over the years, they had developed a sense of invincibility, and things looked to be going the
same way again.
On Feb. 1, however, a group of parents led by Ivan took matters into their own hands.
The results of their action left several of the gang with injuries, though Ivan says reports of him inflicting “serious injuries”
on the boys are exaggerated. “It’s said that we crippled a 17-yearold … The maximum we did was break a nose or two.” Ivan says
the physical showdown was initiated by the boys themselves,
when they challenged his son to a fight.
The AUE boys, however, went to the police to file a complaint,
and now the vigilante parents are anxiously waiting to hear
whether they will be prosecuted themselves.
According to Lyudmila, about 40 percent of the village youngsters are AUE: “The only thing our village gave them is hopelessness, but the criminals made them feel wanted. Children sense
when they aren’t wanted.”
Putin’s Children
OliveR CARROll / MT
The harshness of Siberian life hits home when we make our
way to the neighboring town, Khilok (population 10,000). Set in
beautiful snow-covered hills and conifer forests, Khilok could be
in Switzerland, were it not for everything else. Most locals live in
DMiTRy MARkOv / fOR MT
A Village at War
damp, unforgiving wooden huts, without heating or water. Pensioners and children wheel water cans along the streets.
“We know its shitty living but we’re resilient and we’ve got
used to life’s little hardships,” says Yury Lukyanov, 62, a railway
worker now on his pension. “It’s the crime we can’t cope with.”
Like the majority of residents, Yury says he is unnerved by the
boys from the state juvenile correctional school on the northern
edge of town. He says he is scared to go out at night, and complains of unrelenting robberies. “If you leave the house unattended, they’ll come around to steal something,” says Yury. “They
watch and gather intelligence for more serious criminals too.”
Yury says locals are infuriated the youngsters appear to live
both above the law, and better than the rest of the town: “They
get fresh fruit and vegetables, more than our kids could dream
about. And yet 17 of them head off to trash the police station!”
“These kids are untouchable” he says. “You can’t put them in
prison and you can’t arrest them. Because they’re protected by
the state. Because they’re Putin’s children.”
Syria? No Problem!
After negotiations through a fence, we meet with four of “Putin’s children” — Sasha, Seryoga, Ilya and Lyokha — all of them
“heroes” of the police station rampage.
So were they brave or just dumb? “Brave,” they say in chorus,
laughing. “The pigs started it anyway,” says Lyokha. “They arrested our mate, and that’s not on.” Their friend’s only crime
was being drunk at school, they say.
The boys admit to being attracted by the romance of prison
culture — the tattoos and the understandings. But when asked
about AUE, they look to the ground and claim ignorance.
As for the future, well that is a choice between crime and the
army. “It’s not a bad career in the army right now,” says Lyokha.
“Yeah, I’d have no problems going to Syria,” agrees Seryoga.
We say our goodbyes and head for the local
restaurant. The menu is limited: fried sausage,
AUE and
buckwheat, chocolate, vodka and cognac. “Soup
other criminal
might be on later,” says the waitress. We opt for
themed
the cognac.
graffiti can
“You’re here about the boys, aren’t you?”
be found
says a woman, a rare voice in a town that
all over the
doesn’t speak. She moves closer to our table.
Zabaikalsky
“I’m a dermatologist, I used to work at the
region
school and I can tell you they are out of control.
Every year, we’d get several cases of syphilis. In
13 year olds!”
The woman drops to a whisper. “You ask
anyone — they’re terrified of them boys. They
only know how to rob. They’ve started stealing
sticks and garden equipment. God only knows
what they’re planning.”
The last stop of the evening is the police station, where the story began. When we arrive,
seven officers are sitting behind the metal grill
in various states of blankness. Some are reading magazines,
some drinking tea. Others are filling out crossword puzzles.
I knock on the window, and ask if I can get a comment. The
receiving officer looks at me, then at his colleagues.
“There’s no one who can talk to you here,” he says.
A Message to Nowhere
Pursuit of an official commentary turns into a fruitless ring-aroses around the regional offices of official government bodies.
Eventually, the region’s deputy governor agrees to meet. A
doctor by profession, Sergei Chaban was happy to see me, he
said, provided I was “objective in my reporting.”
The local authorities understood the problem: “We’re not
ostriches burying our heads in the sand — it’s there, we don’t
deny it exists, we see the graffiti around.” But, he says, the
media reports of a widespread AUE system were exaggerated.
“There are individual episodes of criminals recruiting youngsters to the cause … but overall, juvenile crime is on the way
down ... down by 20 percent over the last two years.”
For Chaban, one solution would be to re-militarize the region. Until recently, Chita was the headquarters of the Siberian
Military District, but a reorganization in 2010 saw resources
move to the Far East Khabarovsk region, leaving the region’s
teenagers short on legitimate male role models.
The deputy governor says the government is looking to
open new military, patriotic and sporting programs in the region. “We have just opened a new elite Suvorov military training academy,” he says. “We hope boys can now start talking to
military men, not criminals.”
Roman Sukachyov, head of the region’s Human Rights Center, is less confident about the governmental approach. He says
tackling a problem like AUE requires “dealing with an entire
philosophy” that permeates official life. “It’s difficult to reduce
the influence of criminal ideology when the [state-sponsored]
Channel 2 put on a criminal chanson special on New Year’s
Eve,” he says.
The regional government also needed to “get real” about the
extent local police chiefs were cooperating with criminals. To
demonstrate his point, Sukachyov plays me a video of a joint
drinking session between a head of the local criminal police
and a criminal underboss. “The whole system is intertwined:
Police agree rules with crime bosses, and there is little local
populations can do about it,” he says.
Some locals seem to have given up on the power of government. The Novopavlovka parents, for example, say they have
decided to take their problem to “higher instances.” “The criminals’ own rules say that you aren’t supposed to involve the police,” says Ivan. “So we’ve decided to make our own connection
a little further up their chain of command.”
“The only way our village can start sleeping soundly is if the
criminal authorities put people back in their place.”
Some identities and identifying features have been changed.
TMT
12
Living Here
The Moscow Times
No. 5743
1 day
“Sometimes you can’t get permission,
so you have to [make art] illegally.”
Alexander Zhunev, street artist.
average lifespan of illegal
graffiti in the city center
5 minutes
Graffiti is an inscription made
on a public surface, usually with
spray paint.
the average time it takes
to spray a stenciled image
onto a blank wall
The word’s worTh
ArtVandal
used the
wave of patriotism surrounding the
Sochi Winter
Olympics to
make a statement on state
spending and
corruption in
Russia.
The posters were
plastered at
several points
throughout
Moscow and
Sochi.
How to Stop
Shooting
Перемирие: cease-fire
ARTvAnDAl
YEvGEnY PARfYonov
By Michele A. Berdy
Moscow-based translator and
interpreter, author of
“The Russian Word’s Worth” (Glas),
a collection of her columns.
I
Yes, We Spray Can!
By Eva Hartog [email protected]
Despite government pushback, political street art
is standing its ground in Moscow.
S
ometime around Feb. 20, a new work of art appeared behind the protective grid of a power box in central Moscow. In flaming red, yellow and black, the work sketched
out the outline of man’s face, with sunken cheeks, dark, accusing eyes and lips sewn shut with a coarse thread.
Few of the passers-by realized that the image behind the
grid was of shock performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, a man
currently imprisoned for setting alight the doors of the headquarters of Russia’s security service. After all, in a country
where the Kremlin decides what information Russians receive, Pavlensky is a complete stranger to all but the initiated.
Perm street artist Alexander Zhunev, 31, wanted to change
that. Speaking to The Moscow Times, he said that his symbolic decision to place an iconic portrait of Pavlensky behind a
metal grid was “an act of solidarity for those who are trying to
expose the regime’s failings.”
It took 24 hours for police to arrive on the scene, only to
find that Zhunev had locked the grid with a padlock. In desperation, the policemen resorted to spray cans to paint over
Pavlensky’s face through the barrier. Zhunev loved it. A photographer’s snapshot showed the policemen looking very
much like the vandals they were supposed to be fighting.
Zhunev belongs to a group of graffiti and street artists who
use Moscow as their canvas to spread social and political messages. They form part of an underground community dressed
in hooded sweatshirts and working under cover of darkness.
A mural
by central
Moscow’s
Prospekt
Sakharova
depicts a Russian blender
containing
star-spangled
piranhas. The
street art
is the work
of patriotic
group SET.
SET
haven’t been very hopeful about the negotiations in Syria,
particularly last week when Syrian President Bashar Assad
was quoted as saying, “Regarding a cease-fire, a halt to operations, if it happens, it doesn’t mean that each party will
stop using weapons.” I mean, isn’t the definition of a ceasefire when each party stops using weapons?
Perhaps, I thought, it’s a translation problem. And it might
be. I can’t comment on the Arabic, but I spent a few hours
learning how to stop fighting in Russian and English. It’s not
as simple as I thought.
I thought the Russian word used for cease-fire in these
documents and discussions was перемирие. Перемирие is
an interesting word, one of only a few examples of the prefix
пере- meaning a kind of break or in-between time, like передышка (a breather, a break to catch your breath, a respite,
from дышать — to breathe); перекус (a snack, an in-between
meal, from кушать — to eat); and the holiest of holies in the
office: перекур (a smoke break, i.e., a time to go outside and
gab with your friends, from курить — to smoke). Following
this pattern, перемирие is peace break — a time of peace in
between fighting, a cease-fire.
Перемирие, it turns out, is an enormously complicated
thing: временное прекращение военных (боевых) действий по соглашению воюющих сторон (the temporary
cessation of military [combat] activities by agreement of the
warring parties). You can sign off on общее перемирие на
всём театре военных действий (a general cease-fire in the
entire operational theater). Or it can be местное перемирие
на отдельном его участке (a localized cease-fire in one part
of the operational theater).
And there is a whole batch of standard and optional conditions that go with this kind of cease-fire, like прекращение
всех наступательных действий (cessation of all offensive actions) and действия оборонительные считаются дозволенными (actions taken in defense are considered permissible).
But when I pulled up the official Russian and English texts
of the agreement, the word перемирие was nowhere to be
seen. What’s being negotiated is прекращение боевых действий в Сирии (сessation of hostilities in Syria). As far as I
can tell, прекращение боевых действий (cessation of hostilities) is way down the agreement ladder, quite circumscribed,
and has a gazillion conditions that need to be met.
Sometimes the translation of those conditions struck me
as being somewhat inexact, as if the translators were trying
to make each other’s side happy without actually changing
the terms. For example, the English document stipulates that
the signatories agree to stop attacking the “Armed Forces of
the Syrian Arab Republic, and any associated forces.” In Russian, this вооруженные силы Сирийской Арабской Республики и силы, оказывающие им поддержку (Armed Forces
of the Syrian Arab Republic and forces providing support to
them.” The sides also have “to refrain from acquiring or seeking to acquire territory from other parties to the cease-fire.”
In Russian these parties are другие стороны, участвующие в
прекращения огня (other parties taking part in the cessation
of hostilities.) One man’s cease-fire is another man’s...
I also looked for the word гарант (guarantor), which is
what the U.S. and Russia are supposed to be calling themselves. Those words don’t appear anywhere. But both sides are
definitely готовы сотрудничать (prepared to work together).
Which is great. Let’s just not oversell this. TMT
When the sun rises, some return to regular office jobs — with
only traces of paint under their fingernails offering a clue as
to their night-time activities.
The Root of Rebellion
Graffiti had a late start in Russia. Most of the street artists working today began their careers only in the post-Soviet 1990s. As graffiti culture washed over from the United
States, Russian youth became infected with the virus of rebelliousness.
After decades of subordinating to the collective, graffiti
provided a tried and ready way of demonstrating individuality. Hooded Russian youngsters took to spray-painting
suburban trains to declare loyalty to gangs or football clubs.
Groups tried to outdo each other’s peacock designs, “in the
same way that cats mark their territory” says the artist Ivan,
who belongs to the ArtVandal duo.
From the outset, graffiti artists have worn the label “deviants” with pride, and one of their most frequent targets is
the state railway company, Russian Railways. They say that
“train bombing,” as the practice of covering trains in graffiti is known, isn’t just about the rush of adrenaline. It is also
about indirectly targeting the Kremlin, and challenging the
status quo.
“It’s a gray morning. You’re standing on the platform.
You’re thinking about your job. And then a bright-colored
train shows up, sprayed with words you can’t read,” says Misha Most, a prominent street artist. “That moment could
change you. It gives you the idea that the system is optional.”
ZACHEM
In the early 2000s a crew of graffiti artists began working together to cover the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg with
the word ZACHEM. In Russian, this translates as “Why?”
or “What For?.” Before long, the six-letter word confronted
Russians from bridges, roads and central buildings as they
went about their daily business.
No one knew what it was about. Some wondered whether the word was a criticism of Putin. Others speculated the
word was a comment on the (lack of) merits of the structures
on which it was sprayed.
One of the founders of the movement, who asked not to
be named, said ZACHEM was meant to make Russians rethink what they did in all spheres of life. “We were asking
Living Here
3 years
“Just because it’s painted on a wall,
doesn’t make it graff iti.” Misha
Most, street artist.
A New Entry
Sixteen years after its founding, ZACHEM is still alive — but the
city has changed.
When Misha Most, 35, started out, he said, the city’s authorities “could barely afford to put lightbulbs in street lan-
Street artists want the general
public to have an emotional response
to what they are seeing.
vlAdimir Andreyev
the maximum prison
sentence for “vandalism”
400 rubles
AlexAnder Zhunev
why people do what they do,” he said. “You have a choice in
everything you do: to do or not to do it.”
Many of the first generation of graffiti artists, including
those belonging to the ZACHEM crew, went on to expand their
technique, using images and sometimes installations, as a
simple way to share their message with the public.
“I’m not a [Franz] Kafka, I can’t sit and write at a desk. I
want my message to be heard. That’s why I draw outside,” said
street artist ZOOM.
Perhaps the most famous Russian street artist is P-183, a
young man who gained fame in the 2000s with anti-establishment protest works. In one of his most famous projects, he
plastered images of Russian riot police officers on the doors of
a Moscow metro station. Commuters had to push back on the
policemen to continue on their way — a symbolism lost on few
who experienced the 1991 attempted coup. At the time, P-183
said his goal was to “teach people in this country to tell lies
from the truth and bad from good.”
P-183 died several years ago, but his legacy continues in the
work of artists like ArtVandal.
At the height of the Sochi Olympics, ArtVandal plastered
the capital with an image of five piggy banks in the colors and
constellation of the five Olympic rings, to protest state spending and corruption. Another work showed a Sochi Olympics
branded glove with raised middle finger. ArtVandal had prepared their defense of the piece should they get caught by the
cops: “We would just say that it’s a ‘F*ck you’ to the world, not
to Russia!” said a laughing Andrei.
Not every street artist is as explicit. Misha Most, for example, says street art should allow the passer-by to make up his or
her own mind on the message. “I don’t want to be a propagandist for one side or the other,” he said. “I want to make people
think.”
In a work called “Constitution,” he spray-painted the full
text of several articles of the Russian Constitution onto walls
around Moscow. One of the works reproduced the article on
freedom of speech in a location only several hundred meters
away from the Kremlin.
“It reminded everybody — policemen, passers-by, everyone
— that this is our constitution,” he said.
13
February 25 –
March 2, 2016
terns.” So, while non-commissioned graffiti has always been
illegal, the city’s response was slow and uncoordinated.
Today, the authorities are sharper — it takes them a day on
average to paint over fresh street art or graffiti, but if the image
is politically or socially sensitive, they are even quicker.
Those caught redhanded can face a fine of up to 40,000 rubles
($524), which is more than the average monthly wage. But if the
graffiti is political, or can be described as “vandalism” of state infrastructure, a three-year prison sentence comes into play.
More worrying to some, however, is that the authorities
have entered the realm of street art on its own terms. New murals have appeared across the city promoting “sober Russia” and
healthy lifestyles. In style, they are little different to Soviet-era
propaganda campaigns on good conduct.
But some of the new murals promote overtly pro-Kremlin political messages. Following the annexation of Crimea in March
2014, some walls in the city center were plastered with the slogan: “Russia and Crimea — Together for Always.”
As the Russian economy nose-dived, a painted work told
Muscovites “there are more important things than the stock
market.”
And residents of Moscow’s central Prospekt Sakharova now
look out onto a gigantic image showing a hand hovering over
the ON button of a blender painted with the Russian flag. Inside
the blender are piranhas in American stars and stripes.
An obscure patriotic group called SET is behind all three
of the pro-Kremlin murals. When contacted by The Moscow
Times, SET declined a request to comment, but a statement on
the group’s website said the painting of the blender was a “metaphor for the world.”
average price
of a can of spray
paint
Zhunev
installed his
portrait of
performance
artist Pavlensky behind a
secure grid in
central Moscow. Unable
to remove the
metal barrier,
police used
spray cans to
get through
the grid.
For many street artists, the new activity is a sign that proKremlin movements are using street art to further their own
agenda. “We’re heading to a point where Putin will look down
on us from every building,” said Andrei, 27, of the ArtVandal duo.
The introduction of large sums of money into the street art
scene has put the community on alert, and led to deep division. Many of the painters who are commissioned by City Hall
and commercial clients once belonged to the underground
graffiti scene. Some of their friends now accuse them of hypocrisy for “train bombing” at night and working for the government during the day.
Misha Most says that by employing former illegal street
artists, city authorities have also gained power over the community. “One of the best ways of neutralizing the street art
community is to put it into a reserve and control it from
there,” he said.
With money to be made from legal art, and authorities stepping up their game, there are fewer and fewer incentives for
executing illegal art in Moscow. But that has not stopped a
generation of graffiti artists from coming to the fore.
Fyodor Korotayev who heads the city’s amenities inspection
service, told The Moscow Times his department had already recorded 300 instances of illegal graffiti in the first two months
of the year. Most of it is being done by young teenagers.
For the underground scene this is good news. “Russia has
many blank walls,” says ArtVandal’s Ivan.
Out of all the remaining blank walls in Moscow, there is one
that would be “perfect” for painting, his companion Andrei
said — the pristine white ones of the White House, the main
seat of the Russian government. TMT
14
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SILVERS IRISH PUB
Mashkova 28/20
(On the corner of Mashkova & Sadovoe Koltso)
Metro Krasny Vorota
Reservations. Tel.: +7 (495) 917 1770
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www.themidastheatre.com
Tel.:+7 (916) 746 2449
The MIDAS Theatre presents Life, Rehearsed, a comico-tragedy
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proper tragic roles despite the whirlpool of circumstances he might
or might not get out of. Written by Peter Heavenheld. Directed by
Egor Gavrilin. Starring: Jonathan Bex.
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among Indians, such as using soft spots,
special lighting, and hand-tinting. Finally,
based on those photographs, street artists
made paintings. All these phases are represented at the exhibition at Manege.
“Tout Contre” (All Against) by Claudia
Huidobro also attempts to challenge our
stereotypes. Huidobro, a former model, takes
the camera in her own hands to make a
series of photographs. She uses herself as a
model and strikes different poses in an empty room of a castle in the south of France.
All these photographs are devoid of the
attributes of her previous modeling experience: expensive dresses, make-up, luxurious
surroundings. This is really a reimagining of
Huidobro’s whole identity, the creation of a
new self.
The other exhibitions are Graziano Arici’s
“Venice. World Culture in the People”;
“Open-Mouthed” by the Spanish photographer Cristina Garcia Rodero; “Turbulent
America” by Jean-Pierre Laffont; and Yusuf
Sevincli’s “Derive.” All will run until March
17.
Manege Central Exhibition Hall
moscowmanege.ru
1 Manege square. Metro Okhotny Ryad
THEATER
Life, Rehearsed
English-language comic tragedy
If you fancy laughing through tears this Friday, head down to “Life, Rehearsed,” a play by
Peter Heavenheld premiering at the Art-Cafe
Durov. The play’s protagonist Daniel Nash,
played by Jonathan Bex, is an actor so consumed by his art he finds himself struggling
to juggle the conflicting commitments of his
love life, friendships, career and Hollywood
aspirations. Don’t we all?
Art-Cafe Durov
art-durov.ru
6 Ulitsa Pavlovskaya. Metro serpukhovskaya
Fri. at 7 p.m.
FESTIVAL
VeniceTOMOscOw
A Smorgasbord of
Foreign Culture
KinoFEst
Estonian film festival in Moscow
This is the ideal event for all the Baltic states
film buffs among you. And even if you don’t
count yourself in their ranks, when else are you
going to catch an Estonian film festival? Top
picks include “Tangerines,” a film about the
1992-1993 war in Abkhazia, which was nominated for both an Oscar and Golden Globe last
year, and “A Lady in Paris,” featuring Jeanne
Moreau. The festival will run from Thursday
until Monday at the 35MM cinema.
35 MM
kino35mm.ru
47/24 Ulitsa Pokrovka
Metro Krasniye Vorota, Kurskaya
FESTIVAL
From Venice to Moscow
A taste of Italy
Wednesday is opening night of the city’s
sixth Italian film festival, “From Venice to
Moscow,” hosted at the Illuzion cinema.
Highlights include “Per Amor Vostro,” a film
about a Neapolitan woman on the verge of a
nervous breakdown, and the quirky documentary “Harry’s Bar.” If you’re suffering
from the Moscow blues, dreaming of the
Mediterranean or simply love the sound of
Italian, why not treat yourself to a “notte
della cultura?”
For festival information, see coolconnections.ru
illuzion-cinema.ru
1/15 Kotelnicheskaya naberezhnaya
Metro Taganskaya, novokuznetskaya
OPERA
Carmen
An opera to get your pulse racing
Bizet’s Spanish tragedy is perhaps the
best-known opera in the world. Tuesday’s
performance will be a full-blooded revival of
the French composer’s vision, performed by
a renowned international cast. Lithuanian
soprano Justina Gringyte takes the role of
Carmen, with Ukrainian tenor Dmitro Popov
in the role of Don Jose. The ensemble will
be directed by esteemed conductor Mikhail
Simonyan. If you fancy a night of high-brow
decadence and debauchery, look no further.
Dom Muzyki
mmdm.ru
52 Kosmodamianskaya naberezhnaya, bldg. 8
Metro Paveletskaya
Tues. at 7 p.m.
Live Music
The Neighbourhood
California cool in Moscow
The Neighborhood, also known as NBHD, are a
group of five guys from sunny California. Their
single “Sweater Weather” became an immediate hit and also gained the band popularity in
Russia, maybe because “sweater weather” is so
common here.
Yotaspace
11 Ulitsa Ordzhonikidze. Metro Leninsky Prospekt
Thurs. at 8 p.m
Maybeshewill
It’s time to say goodbye
Maybeshewill will visit Moscow on Friday
as part of their farewell tour. The band announced their split in September last year.
The British group play instrumental postrock or math-rock.
Teatr Club
20/1 staraya basmannaya Ulitsa
Metro Kurskaya, Krasniye Vorota
Fri. at 8 p.m
MOLLy niLssOn
Moscow’s 2016 Photo Biennale that recently
opened has exhibitions ongoing throughout
the city. One of the main venues this year is
the Central Manege Exhibition Hall, where
no less than seven exhibitions opened last
week.
One of the most interesting projects this
year is “Evolution of Sight. 1991-2016,” devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Russian
Union of Art Photographers. The exhibition
is very comprehensive and covers the postSoviet evolution of both documentary and
art photography. You can actually track the
succession of different styles and trends and
the transition from film to digital format.
The exhibition represents three generations
of Russian photographers, including both
well-known and comparatively young artists from all over Russia.
Another exhibition of notice is French
artist Olivier Culmann’s project “The Others.” In this case, the “others” in front of
the camera are people in India. In this
multi-phase project, first Culmann tried
on his subjects every stereotype that exists
in Indian society and took portraits in his
New Delhi studio. Then he manipulated the
portraits digitally in styles that are popular
See www.themoscowtimes.com
for more listings.
TanGeRines
FOTOsOyUz
Photo Biennale at Moscow’s Manege
The Moscow Times
No. 5743
MaybeshewiLL
What’s On
yUsUF seVincLi
16
Molly Nilsson
Synth-pop from Sweden
Molly Nilsson, an up-and-coming synthpop act from Sweden, will play at 16 Tons on
Friday. Nilsson released a few albums before
becoming known as John Maus’ collaborator a couple of years ago. Now her albums
and singles get reviewed by Pitchfork. Her
music uses live instruments and has a 1980s
nostalgic feel.
16 Tons
6/1 Ulitsa Presnensky Val
Metro Ulitsa 1905 Goda
Fri. at 11 p.m.
Artemiev
Catchy Russian pop
Artemiev is Pavel Artemiev, once a member
of the boy band Korni, alumni of the Fabrika
Zvezd (Star Factory), the Russian equivalent
of American Idol. Now a solo artist, Artemiev
specializes in indie-pop with thoughtful lyrics and catchy melodies.
Masterskaya
4 Pushechnaya Ulitsa. Metro Okhotny Ryad
sat. at 8 p.m.