Defence workers turning militant

№14
(4366)
www.mnweekly.ru
17 — 23 APRIL 2009
Defence workers
turning militant
FEATURE
Get past face control
at the VIP cemeteries
and see how the
other half dies.
p 12
By Anna Arutunyan
The Moscow News
T
rouble is brewing in
the factories that supply Russia’s defence
industry, with previously
loyal unions staging protests
over months of unpaid wages.
‘Bad bank’
idea gaining
ground
By Ed Bentley
The Moscow News
T
Banks are unlikely to see any
profit in 2009 and the amount of
non-performing loans is predicted
to reach 10 per cent, while some
analysts believe it may hit 20 per
cent by the end of the year. This
could cause a second wave of the
crisis and a bad bank that would
take on toxic assets is one potential
solution the government appears to
be considering.
“If we are persuaded that [setting
up a bad bank] is the right thing to
do, then we will have to listen,”
Deputy Prime Minister Igor
Shuvalov said, Forbes reported.
The first deputy chairman of the
Central Bank, Alexei Ulyukayev, also
said that it was “unwilling to support” the idea, Forbes reported, while
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has
played down the idea in the past.
Currently the number of nonperforming loans in Russia is smaller than in the United States and
Europe, standing at 3.7 per cent. But
the number of new ones is increasing by 20 per cent a month and
could reach 10 per cent, according
to German Gref, CEO of Russia’s
largest lender, Sberbank. However,
analysts from other banks have
warned that the actual figure is
much higher.
“I think 10 per cent is already the
reality, it is no longer the scary scenario,” said Natalya Orlova, chief
economist at Alfa Bank. “The scary
scenario is now 20 per cent.”
page 8
»
RIA NOVOSTI
he idea of creating a
“bad bank” to soak up
Russian banks’ toxic
assets could become a reality if the economic situation
worsens, even though senior officials currently reject
the idea.
Military reservists in Vladivostock call for an end to defence cuts and better pay and conditions
If their demands aren’t met, the
workers could link their grievances to
those at other defence plants across the
country and officers protesting defence
cuts in the Far East, union leaders say.
After two months without pay, hundreds of workers at a state-owned factory near Murmansk, which repairs
nuclear submarines for the Northern
Fleet, took to the streets. Mikhail
Barinov, the chairman of the factory's
union, said he feared the situation
would get worse later this year, as work
contracts could dry up completely.
“Money for completed contracts
should arrive any day now, and we will
be able to cover February’s salary and
part of March,” he said, speaking by
telephone from his office near
Murmansk. “Delays in salary are of
course indicative of the tensions, but
we are even more worried about the
second half of the year.
“These government enterprises,
which were created in the interests of
the state, in the interests of defence,
they are facing enormous difficulties
in getting contracts. We might end up
without a single kopek.”
At some other factories supplying
the Navy the wage arrears are worse, as
they haven’t been paid since August
2008, Barinov said.
About 600 people turned up at a
protest rally on April 10 in Murmansk.
The rally was initially reported in the
Russian media as a “strike”, but
Barinov said the description was inaccurate, as strikes in the defence industry were “illegal”.
The factory employs about 700
people, down from about 6,000 in
1991. That number slowly dwindled
throughout the 1990s, and some see
the current troubles as heralding a
return to those turbulent times.
page 5
»
Foreigners’ work visa hassles grow
By Ayano Hodouchi
The Moscow News
G
etting work permits
for foreigners in
Russia has traditionally been a thorny issue, mired
in red tape and confusing,
constantly-changing rules.
But that confusion appears to be
getting worse during the current economic crisis – not least because government agencies are tightening rules,
as they come under increasing pressure to provide jobs for Russians first
as unemployment soars.
Near the end of 2008, there seemed
to be much more hiccups than usual
for companies trying to hire and
retain foreign employees, whether
those companies were trying to fumble through the red tape themselves,
or pay law firms and agencies to take
care of their problems.
People who thought that everything
should be ready in two and a half
months realized that things were tak-
ing much longer, and those with work
permits expiring at the end of 2008
found themselves forced to leave the
country as their papers were not ready
on time.
The procedure is especially multilayered for a representative office of a
foreign firm.
page 5
»
Comment & Analysis
By Roland Oliphant
russiaprofile.org
The limits
of pluralism
vents in Moscow and Sochi in the last few days show
both tentative steps from the Kremlin towards allowing the green shoots of pluralism, but also their limits.
In an important signal, President Dmitry Medvedev
broke new ground in giving his first newspaper interview
to Novaya Gazeta, the campaigning opposition newspaper that has been one of the Kremlin’s harshest critics –
both during his time in office and the eight years of Vladimir
Putin, his predecessor.
The interview, with Novaya’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry
Muratov, was intended as a sign of solidarity after two more
people associated with the newspaper, journalist Anastasia
Baburova and lawyer Stanislav Markelov, were gunned
down in Moscow in a double killing earlier this year.
Medvedev’s gesture also comes soon after the collapse
of the trial into the 2006 killing of Novaya Gazeta’s most
famous reporter, Anna Politkovskaya.
But Medvedev’s pluralism only went so far, as his
answers were not particularly groundbreaking.
He staunchly defended the Kremlin’s record on democracy, denying that there had been any rollback of democratic rights in the last several years.
And in his answer: “Democracy existed, exists and will
be,” some Kremlin-watchers saw a doublethink echo with
the Soviet-era mantra: “Lenin lived, lives and will live.”
In the interview, conducted on Monday, Medvedev said
that the Sochi mayoral election was a “real political battle”,
but on the same day a Sochi court barred businessman
Alexander Lebedev from the city’s mayoral election on a
bizarre technicality.
This whittled down the original field of more than 23
candidates to just a handful, leaving the United Russia
candidate, acting mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, in a stronger
position to fend off the challenge of liberal opposition
leader Boris Nemtsov and local Communist Yury Dzagania.
Lebedev based his campaign, much like Nemtsov, on
promising to battle corruption in Sochi in the run-up to the
2014 Winter Olympics there. As a prominent critic of government bureaucracy and corruption, Lebedev has cast
himself as a moderate oppositionist, and is part-owner of
Novaya Gazeta with former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev.
Lebedev’s and Nemtsov’s campaigns made both their
bids for office in Sochi very difficult, as they clearly ruffled
the feathers of powerful local interests.
Lebedev’s barring from the race also makes it difficult to
speak of pluralism in the country’s political system.
Certainly, it speaks of how far the Kremlin’s writ extends
when it comes to deciding who controls Sochi’s massive
Olympic construction contracts.
Much has been made by some commentators of the
fact that Putin has never given such an interview to Novaya
Gazeta, and that other nuances in the two leaders’
approaches signify real differences between them.
But others point out that the same policy differences
show Medvedev simply playing out a predetermined role
- that of “good cop” to Putin’s “bad cop”, or investor-friendly CEO to Putin’s more hard-headed chairman of the board.
In this role, whatever its exact parameters, Medvedev
is clearly encouraging pluralism and direct criticism of the
government. That pluralism only goes so far – at this stage.
What happens if bigger differences emerge between the
Kremlin’s ruling clans as the economy worsens may be a
more interesting story.
Tim Wall
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
NCO “EN “Moscow News”
Timur Rudnikov, General Director
The Moscow News (MN)
Tim Wall, Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Chater, Culture and Entertainment Editor
Nathan Toohey, Local News Editor
Anna Arutunyan, Ed Bentley, Ayano Hodouchi,
Vladimir Kozlov, Andy Potts, Correspondents
Elena Kirillova, Production Manager
Dmitry Alenushkin, Helen Ashdown, Liza Chapkovskaya, Daria
Chernyshova, Deidre Dare, Sergei Dmitriyev, Dominic Esler, Maria Levina,
Bojan Soc, Phoebe Taplin, Mark H. Teeter, Contributing Writers
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
SOCHI ELECTION
EDITORIAL
E
THE MOSCOW NEWS
A
lexander Lebedev went
first. Following an appeal
by another candidate, the
Sochi District Court on Monday
found that his candidacy was illegal. On the same day, Andrei
Bogdanov, another liberal candidate, stepped down. On Tuesday,
the same court that ruled against
Lebedev also barred the Just
Russia candidate from the race.
If the Sochi elections started out
as a circus, it seems the ringmaster is now imposing some order.
The details are still somewhat hazy, but
according to Lebedev’s spokesman Artyom
Artyomov, the move came after another
candidate, Vladimir Trukhanovsky, complained that Lebedev had not accounted for
three “illegal” money transfers in his initial
financial declaration. Artomyov said those
transfers consisted of just 500 roubles from
teenagers (it was their age that made the transfer illegal - donations from minors are forbidden under Russian law), and that the money
was returned “as soon as we knew about it.”
He also called the judge’s decision to kick
Lebedev off the ballot “illegal,” and claimed
that both the prosecution and the electoral
commission were against it. “We returned this
money as soon as we knew about it,” he said,
“and of course, we will appeal.”
The election, to be held on April 26, has
attracted one of the most diverse ranges of candidates seen in any Russian election in recent
years. Apart from Lebedev, the candidates
include the United Russia candidate, acting
Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, and Boris Nemtsov,
a leading liberal opposition figure.
The ultranationalist Liberal Democratic
Party of Russia briefly fielded Andrei Lugovoi,
who is a murder suspect in the killing of
Alexander Litvinenko, before withdrawing him
on the grounds that he was more useful in the
State Duma. Other candidates included a ballerina, a porn star, an arm wrestler and the
Communist Party candidate Yury Dzagania (a
local who was so disappointingly sensible a
choice that most reports on the race initially
failed to mention him, though he is tipped by
some to come second).
The rush to run is partly because the stakes
are high – the winner will host the 2014
Olympics and have considerable say over how
the vast sums allocated for the Games be spent.
But analysts have also suggested that it may be
because in Sochi, candidates can register for
the ballot simply by paying a “candidate’s fee,”
rather than gathering signatures. In the past
the requirement for signatures has been used
to disqualify opposition candidates for presidential and State Duma elections.
Lebedev was one of the candidates in Sochi
who had opted to pay the fee, rather than gather signatures. Still, the move to remove him
from the ballot does not come as a surprise.
On Tuesday, the same court ruled that Just
Russia’s candidate, Viktor Kurpitko, should also
be removed from the ballot – also for failing to
fill out his registration documents correctly.
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02
Alexander Lebedev announcing his bid to be Sochi’s mayor last month
And then there
were none
Both Just Russia and Artyomov have
described Trukhanovsky as a spoiler (or, as they
put it, “technical”) candidate who has been
entered the race to eliminate the rivals to
Pakhomov. “He is there only to screw things
up for the other candidates,” said Artomyov.
Opacity about who he is or why he is standing – he is described universally only as a
“Krasnodar businessman” – only adds to that
suspicion. But if he is pawn of the powers that
be, then it seems to signal that the authorities
have changed tactics.
Lebedev and Kurpitko are not the only ones
to be eliminated from the race. Anastasia
Volochkova, a ballerina and socialite, was disqualified two weeks ago on a similar technical-
The election has seen
its list of candidates
whittled down from
23 to a handful
ity – forgetting to put her date of birth on the
bank deposit slip for her election fee. Andrei
Bogdanov, a former opposition figure who
now heads the Kremlin-friendly Democratic
Party, chose to step down on Monday.
“At first the authorities – probably the local
authorities – attempted to make this election
a farce, a circus, to discredit the opposition. So
you had people registering like Volochkova,
and [porn star] Yelena Berkova. But then this
idea encountered some resistance – at the federal level, not the regional level – and the election took on a somewhat more thoughtful
character. People like Volochkova and Berkova
quit or were forced out, and they managed to
find a more or less respectable reason to do so.
As for Bogdanov, neither his decision to stand
nor his withdrawal could have happened
without consultation with the authorities,”
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said Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst.
Oreshkin believes Bogdanov was originally
invited to stand as a counterweight to
Nemtsov, and his exit is likely to consolidate
the liberal vote in Nemtsov’s favour.
If Lededev, another liberal favourite, fails to
overturn the court’s decision (and he has less
than two weeks to do so), the election could
become a straight fight between Nemtsov and
Pakhomov – and, lest we forget him, Dzagania,
the Communist.
“That could definitely happen,” said
Oreshkin. “We’ve now just nine people in the
race. But the greatest chance obviously goes to
Pakhmonov – he can call on the administrative resource to support him, the media
resources, and he is the incumbent.”
Lebedev has vowed that he will appeal and
that the campaign will go on, and his team
seems convinced that he is headed for victory.
Asked about Lebedev’s chances, Artyomov
bullishly declared that “if he is not disqualified,
without question he will win. He is very popular in Sochi.”
Polling data is contradictory, however. Data
from pollsters close to United Russia suggests
the results will break down in a familiar pattern, with Pakhomov taking over 50 per cent,
followed at a considerable distance by the
Communists and Nemtsov. But Nemtsov’s
campaign says he could take 20 percent of the
vote. VTsIOM, a state-run pollster, says it will
conduct a poll this weekend and publish its figures on Tuesday.
It is not clear if the authorities will continue
their crackdown over the next week and a half.
In an interview with Novaya Gazeta published
on Wednesday, President Dmitry Medvedev
denied knowledge of why Lebedev had been
ejected from the race, and praised the process.
“In any event, what is happening in Sochi is
a proper political fight,” he told the paper.
It certainly started that way, but it may not
end like that. I
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Comment & Analysis
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Saakashvili
is not mad,
STANDOFF IN GEORGIA
By Adrian Blomfield
Tbilisi, Georgia
Its huge glass dome, shaped like a rugby ball,
dominates the Tbilisi skyline, towering above the
left bank of the Mtkvari River, which winds greasily through the city. But the soaring pillars remain
unpainted and the facade is hidden by ugly scaffolding.
I don't know why progress has been so slow
and I feel nervous about asking. President Mikheil
Saakashvili’s aides seem twitchy at the moment,
bridling at any hint of criticism and the issue
seems too trifling to raise.
An aide leads me along empty corridors and
up a silent staircase. We pass through a door that
opens into a cavernous hall, open to the elements.
A chilly breeze whips through the room as we
cross a gantry, thrown drawbridge-like over a
chasm of naked girders and building materials, to
the president's office on the other side.
Saakashvili's study is as bare as the rest of the
building. There are a few paintings on the walls,
but the bookcases are largely empty. A minstrel's
gallery, made of pinewood, surrounds the room
but it, too, is unadorned.
Alone in this vast, empty space, the president
greets us. With an air of proprietorial delight, he
draws our attention to a representation on his
desk of an elegant aluminium arch that passes
through an inverted triangle.
Misha, as everyone refers to the president, is
proud of the model. The sculpture it depicts will
soon grace the streets of the Black Sea resort of
Batumi, which he wrested from separatist control
in 2004.
Every time I have met Misha, he has spoken of
his plans to prettify Georgia's cities. The first time
I encountered him, I was taken, along with a group
of other journalists, on a tour of Batumi to see all
the adornments he had built in and around the
city since his triumph there. There was a fun-fair
and a collection of coloured fountains that danced
to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.
Across the river from where we were having our
latest meeting, on Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue, thousands of protestors were rallying to demand the
president's resignation.
Mainly they were angry with him for last year's
war with Russia over the breakaway region of
South Ossetia, a rash conflict, they said, that led
to humiliating defeat within five days.
But the protestors were also miffed about other
things: creeping authoritarianism, a failure to
tackle high-level corruption and, above all, widespread poverty and unemployment. The president, they said, had lost touch with his people. He
has become a remote figure, preoccupied with
architectural beautification, concerned more with
circuses than bread.
MOLDOVA RIOTS
By Dmitry Babich
russiaprofile.org
T
he riots in Moldova, which until recently
seemed to be the most democratic country
in the CIS, puzzled a lot of Russian commentators.
Even those who are usually ready to answer any
question, interpreting any event in the former
Soviet Union as a result of the continued rivalry
between Russia and the Western, were at a loss to
explain the events in Chisinau, where a crowd of
angry youths stormed government buildings, only
to surrender them a few hours later.
Was it another U.S.-inspired coloured revolution, such as the ones in Georgia and Ukraine?
But why would the West decide to topple Vladimir
Voronin, Moldova’s pro-European leader who irritated Moscow so much that it imposed economic
but out of touch
RIA NOVOSTI
T
hey have been building the
president's offices for nearly
five years.
Protesters in Tbilisi urging President Mikheil Saakashvili to quit
Some even say he has gone mad. That is certainly a version that Russia pushes with wearying regularity. State television repeatedly shows
images of Saakahsvili, caught in an unguarded
moment, chewing on his tie.
Saakashvili is not mad. A polyglot with abundant talent, he is excitable, passionate, intense,
but undoubtedly sane. He has done many good
things for his country, radically reforming a
woefully corrupt police force, restoring electricity, raising pensions (a little) and making
Georgia the most investment-friendly former
Soviet state outside the Baltics.
Yet, as we talk inside his fortress-within-a-
fortress, I cannot escape the conclusion that
Georgia's president has isolated himself from his
people. True, the streets of his cities are ramshackle, the buildings peeling and rundown, but
I don't get his preoccupation with civic titivation
and foreign investment over the welfare of
Georgia's benighted masses.
For the president, the protestors on the streets
are nothing but a tiny minority of troublemakers.
He refers to them disparagingly as remnants of a
"semi-criminal" late-Soviet era, unwilling to face
the realities of the market.
"When I was 14, all my friends wanted to
become thieves-in-law," he says, referring to the
03
title capos in the Russian mafia give themselves.
The implication is clear: those who oppose him
are lazy crooks with shadowy ties, reluctant to
work for a living and still too taken by the glamour of organised crime. The rest are corrupt
policemen and wasteful bureaucrats that he fired
as he instituted his reforms. "Eighty per cent of
them come from one Tbilisi neighbourhood."
The president's characterization is unfair but
not entirely without merit. The opposition coalition that is leading the protests is a fragmented
bunch, grouping 17 parties united only in their
desire to see Saakashvili go, even though he held
an early presidential election just last year.
Opposition leaders have come up with no manifesto and have few substantive ideas about how to
right the country's problems.
They may, as the president claims, be receiving
funding from Russia. It would be surprising if the
Kremlin was not involved in untoward plotting
to remove the man they failed to oust on the battlefield last year.
Indeed, most Georgians seem to have little time
for the opposition, viewing its leaders as divisive
and immature. A majority, according to opinion
polls, are opposed to holding a new election.
That does not mean they support Saakshvili,
however. Commentators reckon he has the
backing of just 30 per cent of voters. Ordinary
Georgians I have spoken to, people who did not
join the protests, say they no longer like the
president but remain uninspired by the opposition.
"I just feel despair," one Georgian woman said.
For the moment, Saakashvili seems to be winning the battle against the protestors. Unlike in
November 2007, he has kept troops off the streets.
Running low on steam and fresh ideas, the
demonstrations have dwindled to a few thousand
participants, leaving a trail of fetid, foul-smelling
litter in their wake. But it would be a mistake for
Saakashvili to relax. Georgia, in terms of popular
feeling at least, seems to have gone back in time
to the turn of the millennium.
In 2000, Georgians returned Eduard Shevardnadze to office after a rigged election which
he would have won anyway. They did so not
because they liked him, but because they saw no
point in backing anybody else.
Then, in his second term, Shevy appointed
Saakashvili as his justice minister. Misha would
later turn against the president and oust him after
the Rose Revolution of 2003.
The president needs to be careful if he does not
want history to repeat itself. He is not as popular
as he seems to think.
The president should see the likely failure of the
protests as a lucky escape rather than a vindication of his rule. After all, Shevy, like Misha, was
once a darling of the West too. It counted for little in the end. I
Adrian Blomfield is the Moscow
correspondent for The Daily Telegraph.
This comment was first published on his blog at:
www.telegraph.co.uk
Worse than a revolution
After the riots, Moldova is further away from democracy than before
sanctions on Chisinau in 2002? If it was a clever
ploy of someone inside the country trying to seize
power, why were the protesters so ill-prepared for
their initial success? And why, instead of taking
their occupation further, did they just smash the
furniture and put up Romanian flags?
Russian state television interpreted the events
in Moldova as a failed coloured revolution, showing a photo of one of the protesters wearing an “I
love Obama” T-shirt and interviewing numerous
conspiracy theorists, who explained the “technology” of managing the mob, allegedly invented in
the West by some evil manipulators. Using lots of
old footage, these reports went as far back as the
1968 general strike in France, which was given
the dubious honour of being called the first
coloured revolution.
“I was not impressed by these reports and
comments,” said Valery Khomyakov, the general
director of the Council on National Strategy.
“They smacked of a desire to please the country’s leaders, some of whom continue to be concerned about a possibility of a rerun of the 2004
Ukrainian events in Russia. But there was no real
conflict inside the ruling elite. … Obviously,
there was no money involved, since the protesters did not have tents or food to keep them
through the night. The real reason for the riots
was the critical state of the Moldovan economy.”
“Instead of NATO encroaching or a change of
strategic balance with the United States, Russia
should fear a sudden destabilisation in the countries on its fringes,” said Khomyakov.
The riots also achieved the opposite of what the
other coloured revolutions aimed for. Moldova
now seems further away from democracy than just
a few weeks ago.
Vladimir Voronin and his Communist Party
appear to have been strengthened by the riots,
while the leadership of the breakaway region of
Transdnestr is now less willing to compromise
than ever. I
04
News
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
By Andy Potts
The Moscow News
W
hen does a revolution stop revolving? It might
depend how you feel about
the government facing the
angry mob.
ADVERTISING
Take Tbilisi. As the ‘Sack Saakashvili’
protesters lined the streets and decorated the gates of the presidential
palace with chewed neck-ties in a bid
to humiliate their leader out of office,
the world’s press got confused about
how a campaign might “intensify”.
For Russia’s media there was little
doubt: every passing day of protest was
another nail in Misha’s coffin. RIA
Novosti ran with the ‘intensification’
line, concluding on its English-language website that “The Georgian
president is facing the toughest challenge yet to his leadership”.
Much of the international media
agreed, especially after pulling their
staff from Georgia over the weekend
and relying on agency copy. So it was
left to the BBC to maintain lukewarm
Western support for Saakashvili.
Citing the thoughts of their correspondent Tom Esslemont, their website reported: “With a diminishing
turn-out the opposition seems increasingly unsure as to how to convince
[Saakashvili] or the rest of the country
of its cause. Others see no alternative
to him as president and are wary of
further destabilising their country.”
Elsewhere there are efforts to imag-
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Intensely diminishing in Tbilisi
ine a post-Saakashvili Georgia. France’s
Le Monde quoted two different
schools of thought, one arguing ditching the president would solve all the
problems with Russia and another
insisting the Kremlin would never forgive those overtures towards NATO.
In Kommersant, surprisingly, there’s
even some backing for Moscow’s
bogeyman of choice. Although
President Dmitry Medvedev has publicly stated he doesn’t want to negotiate
with Saakashvili but might be willing
to talk with his successor, the paper
quoted Valery Khomyakov of the
National Strategy Council saying a
change wouldn’t help Russia.
Fearing further “anarchy and instability” if a new leader is swept to
power, Khomyakov warned that the
Kremlin has lost the influence it wielded in 2003 when Eduard Shevardnadze
was persuaded to stand down. “Some
say the early downfall of President
Mikheil Saakashvili would be to
Moscow’s advantage, but they are
wrong,” he added.
Zimbabwe with rockets?
Sneering Western diplomats loved
to dismiss the Soviet Union as “Upper
Volta with rockets” in the Brezhnev
era – but frustrated mayoral candidate
Alexander Lebedev reckons Russia has
shifted south.
Having been booted out of the race
to become Sochi’s mayor, the newspaper owner complained that it was
“Almost like in Zimbabwe” on his blog.
Although Lebedev will appeal the
court decision, which he insists is politically motivated to ensure an easier
ride for United Russia’s candidate
Anatoly Pokhomov, there is little time
for a legal challenge to reinstate him
before polling on April 26.
Lebedev’s team has pointed the finger at supporters of Pokhomov, the
acting mayor, accusing them of pressuring the courts and removing campaign posters to ensure there is no
embarrassment for United Russia.
But he has support from an unlikely quarter, according to Britain’s
Guardian newspaper, which quotes
electoral commission member Sergei
Mendeleyev saying: “As far as we’re
concerned he’s still a candidate.”
Mendeleyev went as far as to say that
the whole election had been called into
doubt by the decision.
Fellow candidates have also rallied
round. RIA Novosti reports that Communist candidate Yury Dzaganiya has
called on the courts to invalidate
Pokhomov’s bid, using a legal technicality similar to that used against
Lebedev.
Lebedev lost his place for failing to
submit a financial document. The
Commies say Pokhomov should be
ousted from the race because he was
nominated by United Russia party officials, not its members.
Yet in his first interview with an
opposition newspaper as president,
Medvedev told Novaya Gazetta that
“such a bright campaign is good for
democracy”, adding that the specific
circumstances of defeated or disqualified candidates “happen all around the
world”.
Sochi, which will host the 2014
Winter Olympics, has become a coveted prize among Russia’s generally predictable elections. A colourful cast of 26
potential candidates was eventually
reduced to nine – eight if Lebedev is
unable to run – with perennial Kremlin
irritant Boris Nemtsov still in the race.
Good week
Soviet no more
St. Petersburg will have all its
Christmases at once when officials
complete the renaming of 10 “Soviet
Streets” – and return them to their prerevolutionary name ‘Christmas Street’,
Interfax reports.
Governor Valentina Matviyenko
told TV reporters that the paperwork
had been prepared.
The switch will end a decade of
debate about removing Communistera names from the city formerly
known as Leningrad.
Shoots of recovery
A small tree growing inside a man’s
lung stunned surgeons in the Urals city
of Izhevsk, Komsomolskaya Pravda
reported.
Artyom Sidorkin, 28, complained of
extreme chest pains, and had been
coughing up blood. Doctors suspected
cancer, but in the operating theatre they
opened him up to find a 5 centimetre
spruce. “I thought I was seeing things,”
said surgeon Vladimir Kamashev.
Medics believe he had inhaled a seed
which sprouted inside his lung, and
reached his capillaries.
Bad week
Siberian farmers for sale
A failing collective farm in Altai
went up for sale – and its new owners
bought the residents as well as the land
and buildings. The Gogolesque saga is
set for an unhappy end, life.ru reports,
as the new-look Nadezhda co-operative wants to turn them out of their
homes. Faced with a 60,000 rouble bill
just to keep her home, Valentina
Chernenko blamed the authorities for
not helping: “We went to the district
prosecutor’s office, and the regional
officials – all brainless!”
Lice mess
A karate enthusiast in Kazan was left
itching for a fight after his wife was
infected with head lice. But he proved
to be over-enthusiastic in dealing with
the neighbours he blamed for it, leaving two dead and one hospitalised
before his arrest, according to Respublika Tatarstan newspaper.
Investigators weren’t overly sympathetic to the victims, according to Vesti
TV. Eduard Abdullin said: “No one
liked them and no one talked to them.”
Statements from other residents of the
communal block complained that the
family “drank constantly and were covered in lice”. I
News
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Defence protests
WORKERS’ RIGHTS
“Today union leaders are meeting in
Moscow with the Commander-inChief of the Navy, and I hope they
decide something,” Barinov said on
Thursday. “If the situation with contracts for the rest of 2009 is not
resolved by May 1, we may have to
consider cutting the working week for
our employees.”
Barinov plans to stage a bigger
protest on May Day, he said.
The repair plants are not the only
factories in the defence industry that
are finding it increasingly hard to make
ends meet as funding dries up in wake
of the economic crisis.
Molot, a factory making Kalashnikov rifles in the Kirov region, has
resorted to paying employees in emergency food packages – oil, pasta, sugar
and canned goods – as unpaid salaries
mount.
Over the weekend in Vladivostok,
some 300 officers rallied to protest
against plans for military budget cuts.
The unions at the Northern Fleet
factories are not naturally radical, as
their official representatives generally
support the authorities.
Valentina Dolgaya, an official in one
of the factory’s unions, ruled out workers ever holding a strike, stressing that
they participate only in authorised
protests. Barinov said that the only
political party that has demonstrated
any support for their plight is the proKremlin United Russia.
“The opposition – they don’t have
any information, and they work in
their own interests,” he said. “But
United Russia has taken measures,
a deputy from the regional Duma personally met with the Defence Minister
on our behalf, and has taken our issues
under his personal control.”
FOREIGN STAFF
RIA NOVOSTI
Continued from page 1
Officers in Vladivostok protesting on April 11 against low pay
With unemployment and wage
arrears rising fast in some strategic sectors, the prospect of large-scale protests
– and the danger that they could get
out of control – is growing.
Some speculate that one of the
political measures the government is
taking as it faces the threat head on is
giving more clout to the established
left-wing opposition in the State Duma
– the Communist Party and a Just
Russia – in a bid to let off some steam.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov let off some such steam in his
most recent performance at the Duma,
where he launched a blistering attack
on Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin
after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
reported to deputies last week.
“In terms of strikes and massive
uprisings, we do not feel this is happening yet,” says Anatoly Lokot, a
Communist Duma deputy. “But social
tension is increasing due to closing
enterprises, with shorter working
weeks and delays in salaries. So far,
people are living on their savings. But
this tension will grow, and public
protests will become bigger.”
Lokot, a deputy from Novosibirsk,
said his party was working closely with
independent unions, particularly in the
defence industry. “The regional union
committee in the defence industry in
Novosibirsk has put in a request to
hold a joint [protest] rally on May 1,”
he said.
Citing a source in the presidential
administration, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
wrote that the Just Russia party, a leftleaning party that reportedly enjoys the
support of Kremlin officials, had been
given carte blanche to criticise the government, as a way of drawing support
away from the Communists.
Gennady Gudkov, a Just Russia
deputy, rejected the idea that his party
was working with the Kremlin to control grassroots protests.
“When the accounting office becomes the dominating organ in the
government, when the influence of
Kudrin is as big as the influence of
[Stalin-era KGB chief] Lavrenty
Pavlovich Beria, what dialogue can
there be?” said Gudkov. “We’re on
course to cooperate with independent
unions, because the [Kremlin-backed
Federation of Independent Trade
Unions] … is like a Soviet-era continuation of the party.”
Last month, the union federation’s
head, Mikhail Shmakov, met with
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
But Boris Kravchenko, chairman of
the more left-wing All-Russian Con-
05
federation of Labour, which unites
unions across the country and is seen
as a more grass-roots organization, is
sceptical. “It’s all words. They support
whoever they’re allowed to support,”
he said. “No one from the Communist
Party or Just Russia has set foot in my
office in many years. And we need
help, we could use support from a
political wing.”
Nevertheless, Just Russia has been
notably more daring, experts say.
“Suddenly, Just Russia started voting
differently from United Russia,” said
Vladimir Pribylovsky, head of the
Panorama think tank, who described
the changes as evidence of growing
clout of left-leaning or pro-statist factions within the Kremlin who are
critical of Kudrin. “The sanction to
criticise was given by enemies of
Kudrin,” he said, adding that it was
unclear who those enemies were.
Putin, for one, has always defended
Kudrin, he said.
“When the left has more arguments
in their favour and the government has
less oil dollars,” parties like Just Russia
are encouraged to be more oppositionist, he said. “It might become useful in
channelling discontent.”
“I think [Just Russia] has every
chance to win votes from the left-wing
electorate because they are more energetic than the Communists,” said
Sergei Markov, a senior United Russia
deputy.
Yet in the defence plants, the question of formal political allegiance to
one party or another may be irrelevant
if wage arrears aren’t paid, as the workers are feeling increasingly militant.
If the Northern Fleet factories’ wages
are not paid by May 1, the workers
“will make our demands on a federal
level,” said Barinov. “We’ll unite with
factories across Russia, in the Baltics
and in the Far East, and we’ll take collective action.” I
Foreigners’ work visa hassles grow
Continued from page 1
To open a representative office in
Russia, the firm first needs to be
accredited in Russia, usually by the
Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
or by the State Registration Chamber.
A few other companies are accredited
elsewhere – banks, for example, are
accredited by the Central Bank. The
representative office is issued a permit
– usually valid for two years – where it
is also stated how many foreign
employees the representative office
may hire.
Basically, a representative office may
hire foreigners within this limit, and
the employee is issued not a work permit, but an accreditation card from the
accrediting body which becomes the
basis for applying for a multiple-entry
visa. Until recently, this was the standard, but there have been cases of
police officers harassing such
employed foreigners during their routine document checks in the streets,
and the Japan Business Club and
Association of European Businesses
instruct their members to obtain work
permits for accredited foreign employees working in representative offices.
One major problem was encountered late last year when the Transport
Ministry said it would no longer give
out any accreditations. Airlines had
traditionally been accredited by the
Transport Ministry, but they suddenly
faced the need to be accredited elsewhere, while their employees’ work
permits were fast expiring.
Getting hard information about the
real situation regarding work permits,
quotas and visas can prove elusive.
Telephone, e-mail and faxed
enquiries to the Federal Migration
Service and various foreign business
associations for this article over a period of several weeks turned up little,
with the only responses coming from
‘I’ve worked for
45 years – no
one asked me if I
finished school.’
people who declined to be identified,
citing the sensitive nature of ongoing
discussions on the issue.
Everyone agrees that a major problem is that the rules are constantly
changing. Even Russian companies,
which do not have the hassle of accreditations, often come up against problems. Quotas for foreign employees
must be filed far in advance – applications for 2010 are accepted until May
1, 2009. Quotas are specified by
nationality and profession, so employers have to plan a year ahead, which is
not always possible.
The Federal Migration Service has
become stricter in enforcing rules, as
well. Two years ago, diplomas attesting
to the applicant’s qualifications were
necessary only for language teachers,
but since October 2008, the rule is
being enforced for all professions. One
Russian company in the automotive
sector immediately ran into some
problems. While most of their foreign
employees were able to produce appropriate diplomas, the plant manager
had only a high school diploma, while
another employee, a translator, had
applied for the position of “equipment
engineer” because the company had
not filed for a quota for a translator,
and one specialist engineer didn’t even
go to high school.
“I’ve been in this job for almost 45
years,” he said, on condition of
anonymity. “No one ever asked me if I
finished school.” After posting a vacancy for plant manager at the employment centre for a month and failing to
find an appropriate candidate, the
migration service issued a work permit for the manager.
Meanwhile, the translator was told
that without a diploma in engineering,
there would be no work permit for
2009 and that the company should
apply for an appropriate translator
quota for 2010. The specialist engineer
is still waiting.
“One of the problems is that we
really don’t know what’s going on.
Some companies have problems, some
in the same circumstances don’t. There
are several FMS branches in Moscow,
and they each seem to have different
interpretations of the rules. Most foreign companies pay agencies to deal
with this, and the result appears to vary
depending on the agent’s expertise.
There is no definite guideline, and that
leaves us unsure how to proceed,” commented the director of a foreign business association, who asked not to be
identified, citing ongoing talks with the
authorities about visa issues.
An associate working at an international law firm confirmed that procedures are taking longer, mainly due to
the mandatory one-month waiting
period while the vacancy is posted at
the employment centre. This is to
ensure that a suitable candidate cannot be found amongst Russian citizens.
Vitaly Dianov, a lawyer at Capital Legal
Services, said that the entire procedure
can take up to six months.
Spending six months on getting a
work permit valid for a year doesn’t
make anyone happy, but there seems
no alternative at the moment.
Asked if the government is squeezing out foreigners to help unemployed
Russians get back into work, Dianov
said: “De facto, the Moscow immigration authorities have frozen examining
the quota applications until they are
provided with guidelines from their
superiors regarding further development of the immigration policy in
Russia. We do not expect the authorities will simplify these procedures.
Moreover, we foresee a reduction in
the quota for 2009 and probably for
2010.”
The FMS, the Association of European Businesses and the American
Chamber of Commerce declined to
comment for this report. The AEB
said, intriguingly, that they might be
willing to disclose more information
by the end of April or early May.
One longstanding idea that may be
finally making progress is to give
some white-collar professionals from
the European Union, the United
States and Japan “green cards”, which
would allow their holders to avoid
bureaucratic hassle with quotas.
A Federal Migration Service-drafted
bill may be introduced to the Duma
in July, The Moscow Times reported
last month. I
Business
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
banks to accept other assets in lieu of non-performing loans. VTB expects to score a tidy profit
on the deal, especially if the stadium is included
in Russia’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
But some fans took a different view: on the
Sovietsky Sport web forums there was dismay that
the new stadium would carry the bank’s name as
well as goalkeeping hero Lev Yashin’s. Fans of rival
clubs took the opportunity to taunt the Chekists
on becoming bankers.
More serious debate focused on the likely
impact on the team’s on-field performance and
the prospect of the sale of more star players following the departures of Portuguese star Danny
and midfielder Igor Semshov to St. Petersburg
team Zenit last year.
A bunch
of bankers
RIA NOVOSTI
Less than two weeks after Dinamo Moscow
football club insisted that VTB would have no
part in running the team’s financial affairs, the
state-owned bank happily announced it was taking over the famous Chekist football club.
As VTB president Andrei Kostin posed with a
personalised football shirt, the bank also netted a
75 per cent minus one share stake in the Dinamo
Management Company, which is responsible for
the $1.5 billion redevelopment of the Petrovsky
Park stadium.
The deal converts much of the club’s debts into
shares for the bank, reflecting a growing trend for
ADVERTISING
New Dinamo signing Andrei Kostin
An offer you can’t refuse
Trying to return an unwanted gift is always
embarrassing, but when the ill-chosen knitwear
comes in the form of cash support from the
Russian government, “no” might not eventually
mean “no”.
Oil producer Tatneft has asked to be pulled
from the list of 295 strategic companies in line for
state aid during the crisis, feeling that the rewards
will be small and the stricter reporting duties are
too onerous, Vedomosti and Kommersant reported.
The Economic Development Ministry, however, is keen to press its largesse in return for tighter
control of major resource producers.
Among other doubters are Gazprom CEO
Alexei Miller, who has also expressed scepticism
about the support on offer.
With strategic companies required to submit
monthly 70-point reports, instead of their current
quarterly assessments, and little sign of government willingness to invest in long-term business
development, it’s no surprise that these handouts
are being marked “return to sender”.
But the Economic Development Ministry
warned that this offer would be hard to refuse.
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
“Government monitoring will be continued,
regardless of the companies’ wishes,” an official
said.
ernment. Putin announced the extra cash in discussions on the future of the nuclear industry at
the Kalinin power station in Tver Region.
Another gas flare-up
The rumbling gas dispute between Russia and
Ukraine could spark into life yet again as
Gazprom prepares to extract a fine from Kiev over
its failure to import enough gas in the first quarter.
Despite assurances from Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin and Gazprom officials that Russia
would not seek financial redress, Kommersant
Ukraina cited an unnamed source at the energy
giant claiming a demand for a $530 million fine
had been sent to Ukraine’s Naftogaz.
Gas imports from Russia were less than half the
amount agreed between Moscow and Kiev at the
end of January’s Gas War-3, triggering the potential penalty payment, but Putin said last month
Gazprom would not seek the money.
“We are waiving this fine, based on realities –
they can’t pay,” he said. “They are now on the
verge of bankruptcy, and you perfectly understand
that you cannot finish off your partners.”
Since then, however, a $5 billion deal with the
EU to help modernise Ukraine’s gas pipelines has
provoked anger in Russia.
Toxic assets:
Raging bulls:
Ace for diamonds
Diamonds are the market’s best friend – especially if you have shares in Alrosa. The Russian
diamond miners posted a whopping 1,650 per
cent rise in quarter-on-quarter profits for
January-March 2009. The company raked in
$55.7 million, compared with $3.4 million in the
fourth quarter of 2008.
Rosatom glows
Nuclear power supplier Rosatom got a positive
reaction to its request for extra capital – getting
50 billion roubles ($1.49 billion) from the gov-
Disconnected
Staff at the Perm branch of phone store
Yevroset have seen their salaries almost cut off by
their employer – and have called on the authorities in the Northern Ural city to ring the changes
RIA NOVOSTI
06
A Yevroset store
and get them the full rate. Website life.ru quoted
one saleswoman complaining she never got an
“intelligible response” from the management.
Perm City Prosecutor Rustem Daripov had a similar problem, but pledged not to stop until the bill
was settled.
Champagne loses fizz
Champagne stocks are losing their sparkle as
the recession means the party’s over for premium drinks producers. Remy Cointreau has
blamed a slump in the Russian and U.S. markets
for a 13 per cent fall in full-year sales.
Bloomberg reported that the firm, France’s second largest liquor company, faced “negative
shipments”, and shareholders have been left feeling decidedly flat as stocks have fallen 34 per
cent this year. Global champagne sales fell 12 per
cent, while the company’s core cognac trade
dropped 14 per cent. I
Business
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
By Ed Bentley
The Moscow News
O
PEC is squaring up for a
spat with Moscow as it
becomes increasingly
frustrated with Russia’s
reluctance to curb oil output as
agreed with the international cartel.
Oil prices continued to hover around the $50a-barrel mark despite a statement from the
International Energy Authority (IEA) that
demand would fall more than expected.
However, OPEC is becoming for prices above
$60 and is frustrated with Russia for not reducing its exports in line with the cartel’s record cuts
this year.
Russia’s oil exports increased 6.3 per cent in
February and 2.2 per cent in March, including
by 10-fold to the United States. At the same time
U.S. imports from OPEC fell by 14 per cent, or
818,000 barrels per day.
“OPEC is frustrated with the fact that
Russian oil production is not falling as promised (it rose in March),” said Chris Weafer, chief
strategist at Uralsib in a note to investors. “It is
believed that Russia assured OPEC, at a
December meeting, that oil production would
slide steadily all year.”
OPEC’s cuts have raised the oil price from $35
in February to around $50 a barrel, but Saudi
Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said at
OPEC’s last meeting on March 16 that suppliers
need a price of $60 to $75 to support production
of higher cost resources. The following day,
Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said he was
disappointed Russia hadn’t cut production to
support prices, Bloomberg reported.
Russia is expected to reduce production this
year but only by about 1.5 per cent, which is considerably less than OPEC’s cuts. Although Russia
does not have any formal obligations to OPEC,
it would naturally benefit from higher prices.
“I think some kind of price regulation was discussed jointly but in terms of quota setting and
production Russia has its own independent pol-
Oil production
puts Russia
on collision course
RIA NOVOSTI
OPEC ROW
Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting on energy co-operation in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
icy,” said Lev Snykov, an oil and gas expert at
VTB Capital.
Despite being the world’s largest oil producer,
the 5.02 million barrels OPEC shipped in January
dwarfs Russia’s exports of 157,000 barrels per day
to the United States, limiting the amount they can
influence prices.
“I don’t think that Russia will have an effect on
the price and in addition I don’t think the
Kremlin has abandoned its plan of aligning itself
with OPEC’s efforts to sustain price levels,” said
Artem Konchin, oil and gas analyst at UniCredit
Aton.
‘I don’t think Russia
will have an effect on
the price of oil.’
– Artem Konchin
Some Western analysts have claimed that
Russia is trying to increase its exports to the
United States and is trying to take advantage of
OPEC’s commitment to reducing production by
4.2 million barrels per day.
07
“Russia has been trying to get a foothold in our
market for a long time,” said Bill O’Grady, chief
markets strategist at Confluence Investment
Management in St. Louis, Bloomberg reported.
“With both gas and oil Russia hopes to gain
geopolitical leverage.”
The IEA announced last week that world oil
demand would fall 2.4 million barrels a day this
year, while OPEC predicted it would slide 1.37
million barrels per day. Both groups have revised
these figures upwards from previous forecasts,
which is likely to put downward pressure on the
oil price in the short term
Russian analysts have warned that it doesn’t
matter who Russia sells oil to, but did say that it
could cause problems with OPEC, which wants
to support the oil price.
“Russia will resume building up exports and
this could raise issues with OPEC,” said Valery
Nesterov, oil analyst at Troika Dialog.
The Russian government’s budget takes a large
chunk of its revenue from the energy sector and
has forecast an average price of $42 a barrel for
2009. However, Snykov stated that VTB expects it
to be $55 for the year, while Mary Ann Bartels,
chief market at analyst at Bank of America’s
Merrill Lynch Unit predicted a price of over $70
a barrel this year, Bloomberg reported.
If Russia does not cut production then OPEC
might increase production to lower the price in
order to put pressure on the Russian budget,
which already has a big deficit at $42 per barrel.
“If Saudi Arabia decides to make life difficult
for Russia over the next few months to bring pressure to try and force production cuts, then the second quarter might be even more difficult than
expected,” said Weafer. “Saudi Arabia is in a better position to withstand a period of much lower
oil prices to try and force Russian compliance.”
While the federal budget would suffer, Russian
oil companies would be well placed to withstand
this kind of attack from OPEC. Production costs
in Russia are approximately $15 per barrel and
any decrease in price would hurt all suppliers.
“There is the theory that OPEC can flood the
world with oil to make it really tough for Russia
to get by but price wars would also hurt OPEC,”
said Konchin. “Russia and OPEC are mature enough to find a common aim in this situation.” I
EMBEZZLEMENT CASE
RIA NOVOSTI
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) – Russian
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei
Storchak has been charged with
attempted fraud 18 months after he
was arrested, the Prosecutor General’s
Office said on Thursday.
Storchak, who oversaw foreign debt
talks at the ministry and was a key figure in Russia‘s talks with the Paris
Club, was detained in November 2007
and accused of attempting to embezzle $43 million from the state.
The Prosecutor General’s Office
issued a statement which said that
“final charges had been bought against
Sergei Storchak
deputy finance minister Sergei Storchak, former deputy finance minister
Vadim Volkov and Viktor Zakharov,”
for attempted fraud.
Storchak who was released in
October last year on a pledge not to
leave the country participated in a
meeting of the Finance Ministry this
week.
“The investigation into this criminal
case has been completed, all the
accused and their defense teams have
started to familiarise themselves with
the criminal case files,” the statement
said.
Storchak has maintained his innocence throughout the investigation. If
convicted, he faces between five and 10
years in prison.
Some analysts see the case against
Storchak as a sign of a power struggle
within the Kremlin between free-market liberals like Russian Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin and conservative elements favoring a greater role for
the state in the economy.
However, Kudrin had words of support for Storchak on his release from
custody in November last year, saying
he believed the accusations were unfair
and unfounded. I
ADVERTISING
Storchak to face
fraud charges
Finance
08
MARKET WATCH
By Ed Bentley
The Moscow News
R
ussian markets moved little this week as investors
anxiously wait for signs of
recovery from world markets, but indications that the
decline in the United States is slowing and growth in China have been
viewed as positive.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s beige book saw a
contraction in overall economic activity but
found that the rate of decline had slowed in 5 of
the 12 districts, while several noted stabilisation
in some sectors.
“Although there has been a raft of very poor
economic data, the market has been very willing
to believe that the situation is improving,” said
Tom Mundy, vice president of equity strategy at
Renaissance Capital.
Other banks were less positive about the U.S.
data, which saw industrial production down 1.5
per cent and capacity utilisation fall to a record
low of 69.3 per cent.
“This week has brought some unpleasant surprises for green shoot believers,” Ivan Ivanchenko,
head of strategy at VTB Capital, wrote in a note to
investors. “There was a frosty report from the U.S.
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Waiting for U.S.,
China recovery
Census Bureau … pointing to the U.S. consumer
retrenching in March after promising upticks in
retail sales series in January and February.”
U.S. stock markets rallied Wednesday night on
the back of the economic data, while in Moscow
the MICEX opened up 10 points on Thursday.
The MICEX has hovered just above 900 this
week as investors wait for U.S. financials to report
their first-quarter earnings, although better than
expected profits of $1.8 billion from Goldman
Sachs lifted global markets on Monday. However,
the announcement of the sale of $5 billion worth
of stock saw its share value subsequently drop 12
per cent.
Russian banks performed well on the back of
Goldman Sachs’ results, with Sberbank gaining 9
per cent Tuesday and VTB up 5.7 per cent.
With JP Morgan expected to announce positive results late on Thursday, and Citibank to follow on Friday, world markets were forecast to rise.
Citibank’s shares rose 5.53 per cent on Tuesday as
investors predicted strong earnings.
“[JP Morgan] has previously stated that it had
a positive financial performance for the first two
months of this year,” UralSib wrote to investors
on Thursday. “Factual proof will likely provide
another positive boost for financial stocks globally and the broader market.”
‘This week brought
some unpleasant surprises for green shoot
believers’
– Ivan Ivanchenko
Russian economic data has been poor this
week, with the Federal Statistics Service announcing that industrial output declined 13.7 per cent
year-on-year in March.
“The data shows that in March the situation in
the real economy continued to deteriorate, which
is disappointing – but expected,” UralSib commented.
However, world macroeconomic data is continuing to drive the Russian markets, particularly
China, where 6.1 per cent growth in the first quarter has been seen as positive, despite being down
from 6.8 per cent in the final quarter of last year.
“There are still extreme strains in Russia,” said
Mundy. “It is bad but I think the market is hoping
that any indication that things are picking up in
the U.S. and China will start to turn these things
around.”
Next week should add more clarity to both the
Russian and world markets with many of the
major banks set to release their first quarter
results, including Bank of America and Morgan
Stanley, as well as Citibank and Merrill Lynch on
Friday.
“The market is going to be very interested in
what’s happening to U.S. banks and how their
first quarter earnings are holding up,” said
Mundy. I
BAD DEBTS
TOXIC STORE
Continued from page 1
The idea of creating a vehicle for
toxic assets was first used in Sweden
which was suffering a banking crisis
after a housing bubble burst in 1990.
However, the number of non-performing loans in Sweden was significantly higher than in Russia and the
policy is seen as more suitable for
Western countries with more exposure
to toxic assets.
“In the view of the authorities creating such an agency would be tantamount to simply mimicking the
actions in the West,” said Yaroslav
Lissovolik, chief economist at Deutsche
Bank. “In their view, Russia’s conditions would not favour the creation of
such an agency at this stage.”
Kudrin’s meeting in March with the
governor of Sweden’s Central Bank,
Stefan Ingves, fuelled speculation that
they were discussing Sweden’s experience and how it could be adapted to
Russia if things turned worse.
If official estimates of non-performing loans do reach 10 per cent, which
many banks have considered a plausible bad scenario, then it is an option
the government will begin to consider. Lissovolik conceded that the chance
Sweden’s
‘bad bank’
solution
‘It would simply
be mimicking
the West.’
– Yaroslav Lissovolik
of a bad bank being created was 35 per
cent to 40 per cent if the economy continued to worsen.
“The question of such an entity
depends on the scale of the problem of
bad loans,” said Lissovolik. “Given that
ADVERTISING
THE MOSCOW NEWS
www.lot.com
RIA NOVOSTI
I
MDM Bank’s Oleg Vyugin and Federal Financial Markets chief Vladimir Milovidov
Interest in ‘bad bank’
at least so far this problem is not as
pronounced as in most of the developed countries it may be the case that
this is not something that is necessary
under the current circumstances.”
However, the problem of bad loans
in Russia is very different from that of
the toxic assets that are plaguing the
U.S. and German economies. Russian
banks bought very few derivative securities, bundled packages of loans,
which have lost almost all their market
value since the crisis began.
“Russia does not have a major toxic
asset problem in the banks,” said
Martin Gilman, a professor at the
Higher School of Economics and a former IMF representative in Russia.
“Russian banks were not really
involved in buying these derivative
securities.”
Without a toxic asset problem, a bad
bank is unnecessary as loans are
backed against tangible assets, such as
real estate. Russia may not run into a
capital problem, even if the rate of
non-performing loans increased to 10
per cent, Gilman said.
“The banks in Russia, as a group, are
relatively well capitalised, they are not
insolvent,” said Gilman. “That being said
there are certain banks that are insolvent. They overlent to the wrong borrowers without doing due diligence.”
It is mostly smaller, regional banks
which may face insolvency, particular-
– tickets online without Service Fee.
ly with the minimum capital requirements being raised. These banks are
likely to go bankrupt unless they
receive more funding or offload assets,
which could be done into a bad bank.
“This idea of using a toxic asset
scheme in Russia is one way, some are
suggesting, of salvaging the banks that
made bad credit decisions and whose
non-performing assets would wipe
them out,” said Gilman.
It is unlikely there would be much
support for protecting smaller banks
as there are already too many lenders
in Russia. The government is also
reluctant to create a toxic assets vehicle because it could create opportunities for corruption. I
n 1991 the Swedish housing
bubble, which had boomed in
the 1980s, burst leading to widespread bank insolvency. The
economy started contracting,
unemployment quadrupled and
interest rates peaked at 500 per
cent to try to avoid a depreciation
of the kroner.
Banks were acquired to write
down losses and the government
assumed bad debts and received
stock from the banks. Two major
banks, Nordbanken and
Gotabanken, were nationalised
and their bad debts sold to two
newly created asset management
companies who sold of the assets
to recoup some of the money for
the state. The asset management
firms were shut down in 1997
once all the assets had been
sold.
The entire process cost approximately 4 per cent of GDP, comparatively less than the United
States’s $700 billion bailout.
After selling all the assets and
selling government stock in the
nationalised banks, the estimated cost to the taxpayer was
between 0 per cent and 2 per
cent.
A new regulatory body, the
Bank Support Authority was created to supervise economic institutions. I
– Ed Bentley
Entertainment
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
09
Obsessions
of Ja’bagh
Photographer Ja’bagh Kaghado
PHOTOGRAPHY
By Elena Kirillova
The Moscow News
T
ake a glimpse
behind the
scenes of Paris
and New York
fashion weeks
at American photographer
Ja’bagh Kaghado’s new
exhibition.
COURTESY OF JA’BAGH KAGHADO
Called “The Obsession of…”, the
exhibition at the M’ARS Centre of
Modern Art is part of the Fashion and
Style in Photography Festival, and consists of three parts. The first is backstage photos from fashion shows of
such prominent design houses as
Chanel, Dior and Ungaro. In grainy,
black-and-white, cinematic style, they
reveal models sans makeup, all unique
individuals distinct from their glamorous catwalk personae – energetic or
tired, flirty or annoyed. The second
part features Kaghado’s photographic
work for various fashion magazines,
and the third is a video installation
called “Sex with John Galliano”.
Kaghado left his native New York –
where he had been assisting the fashion and celebrity photographer
Roxanne Lowit – and came to
Moscow at the age of 22 to make his
own career taking photographs for
fashion magazines. Success came
quickly, and now, at 27, he has an
impressive portfolio of work for publications including Om, Harper’s
Bazaar and Cosmopolitan.
“I wouldn’t call it a miracle. I guess I
was here at the right time and my style
was quite what Moscow needed,” he
said in an interview. “I had great energy and that’s why the magazines liked
my work. It happened so fast I didn’t
have time to observe it and think ‘wow’.
It started up very naturally. Of course
it’s flattering at the age of 22 to be
shooting for such big name magazines,
but it never went to my head.”
Describing Lowit as his “inspiration”, he credits her with having taught
him a lot. “What I learned mostly with
her, was 1 – the business side of photography, 2 – being professional, 3 –
the communication side of being a
photographer. You can’t be a photographer and be silent. A good photographer first is a good director. If you
are just technical, that doesn’t work.”
Kaghado is the youngest photographer to have had a solo exhibition in
the Moscow Museum of Modern Art –
last year’s “Moskva Raw”, which
showed photos of young people who
were not famous, but chosen for their
creativity and alternative style. Photos
from that exhibition can still be seen
in his “Moskva Raw” book.
“The idea of the whole [“Moskva
Raw”] project was to inspire creative
youth,” Kaghado said. “They gave me
some new vision, new inspiration,
making it more interesting and more
intriguing for me as well. We are like
them – attracted by what we do. For
me it’s more real than the commercial
things I shoot for magazines. It got
very redundant, repetitive, nothing
challenging for me as a photographer.
What can you do? Different lights?
Shoot in different places? They’re all
the same mostly.”
Kaghado’s planned future projects
include directing his own film. He
revealed few details, saying he wanted
to keep it a surprise, but said he had
written his own script based on personal experiences in Moscow.
“It has a social message. I like that.
Social problems, make awareness. You
can’t hide from reality,” he said. “I
would like to do something arthouse,
and I want it to be very creative.”
One of Moscow’s most eligible expat
bachelors according to a recent article
in Tatler magazine, Kaghado stands
‘There is no
right or wrong
in fashion.
Fashion is
an opinion.’
– Kaghado
out from the crowd, always wearing
sunglasses and his family emblem on
a chain around his neck.
“There’s no explanation why I wear
sunglasses,” he said. “I don’t hide my
eyes, I just feel better with them. There
is no right or wrong in fashion. Fashion
is an opinion. If you feel good doing or
wearing something, just do it.”
COURTESY OF JA’BAGH KAGHADO
Kaghado said coming to Moscow
had been a “positive rise”.
“Not only with me, but with everything that’s happening around,” he said.
“The city is growing and the people in
it are growing with the city. Unlike New
York, which is very saturated, very stable. When you’re young and creative,
you look for places that are more
experimental and more developing.
This I really like about Moscow. Besides
the people. I really enjoy the people, I
like their attitude.” I
WHEN & WHERE
“The Obsession of…” runs until April 28 at
the M’ARS Centre of Modern Art, 5 Pushkaryov
Per., 623-5610, www.marsgallery.ru.
Open Tues.-Sun. midday-8 pm, closed Mon.
ADVERTISING
ELENA KIRILLOVA
COURTESY OF JA’BAGH KAGHADO
COURTESY OF JA’BAGH KAGHADO
One man’s view of catwalk couture and dressing-room dramas
10
Entertainment
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
CONCERTS
FOLK ROCK
SINEAD O’CONNOR
For some reason, just about any internationally known Irish artist finds some kind of following in Russia. Even Sinead O’Connor, whose heyday was back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, would
seem to have some fans here, since she has played
in Moscow several times over the last few years.
O’Connor’s singer career began at the age of 14,
when she participated in the recording of a single by the Dublin-based band In Tua Nua. Her
first album, “The Lion And The Cobra”,
came out in 1987, almost immediately
bringing her international fame. In
addition to her singing, she is known for
controversial actions on stage, including
tearing up a picture of the Pope. O’Connor
has not released a new record since 2007’s
“Theology,” which the singer presented in
Moscow two years ago as part of her world tour in
support of the album. According to her web site,
the upcoming concert will be acoustic, “like last
RIA NOVOSTI
ROCK
year’s shows.” with just O’Connor together with
guitarist Steve Cooney and multi-instrumentalist Kieran Kiely. – Vladimir Kozlov
April 23, 9 pm / B1 Maximum
11 Ul. Ordzhonikidze
m. Leninsky Prospekt
FOLK
MELNITSA
Deep Purple
f all the late 1960s and early 1970s
hard rock bands that are still active,
Deep Purple is the most frequent visitor to
Russia, attracting not only aging old-school
fans who were unable to see their favorite band
playing live during Communist rule, but also
younger audiences. Incidentally, Deep Purple’s
arguably best-known Russian fan is President
Dmitry Medvedev. Last year, a minor controversy broke out over a cancellation of a Deep
Purple show in Nizhny Novgorod, allegedly due
to fire safety concerns, but that didn’t seem to
have any impact on the band’s desire to tour
Russia. The English band, which reformed in
1984 after an almost decade-long hiatus, has
continued releasing new material, the most
recent album being 2005’s “Rapture of the
Deep”. And although only three members of
Deep Purple’s classic lineup are still in the
band, their audiences know what to expect. –
Vladimir Kozlov
April 18 and 19, 9 pm / B1 Maximum /
11 Ul. Ordzhonikidze / m. Leninsky Prospekt
MELNITSA.NET / K-MOSHKOV.COM
O
POP
CHAMBER MUSIC
JANE BIRKIN
The best orchestras of the world have their own small chamber ensembles, and the Novosibirsk Philharmonia is no exception. Their quartet “Filarmonica” celebrates its 20th anniversary next year. Its members may have changed over the years,
but the class and quality they stand for have remained
unchanged – they perform a standard repertoire from the classics to the Romantics and the well-known Russian and Soviet
composers such as Borodin and Shostakovich, but also lessknown modern works by Roslavets and Mosolov. With nine
CDs out by now and concert tours throughout the world
behind them, they stand proudly as one of Russia’s finest
ensembles.
This week they come to Moscow, and the playbill includes
quartets by Italian composer Respighi, Soviet modernist
Mosolov, a later work of enfant terrible Prokofiev and all this
is rounded up by Dvorak’s “American” quartet – a curious
work of openness and freedom, reflecting his positive experiences and visions of the New World. – Ayano Hodouchi
This well-known British-born, Francebased actress and singer is to perform in
Moscow as part of the ongoing series Live
At Elysium. Mass audiences primarily
29 Tverskaya Ul., bldg. 3 / m. Mayakovskaya
KUBISS.DE / EMI RECORDS
CLASSICAL
April 17 / 7 pm / Chamber Hall of the Moscow Philharmonia /
Melnitsa is arguably Russia’s most successful folk
band of the last few years. It has been able to secure a
niche on the pop/rock scene by mixing Russian, Celtic
and Scandinavian folk tunes with fantasy-influenced
lyrics, and came to the limelight thanks to heavy rotation on the country’s main rock station, Nashe Radio.
Melnitsa has been around for 10 years and has four
studio albums to its name, the most recent of which,
“Dikiye Travy” (“Wild Grass”), was released earlier this
year. The album came out after a year-long hiatus by
the band, and the CDK show is part of a tour in support of the new record. Singer/guitarist/harpist Natalia
O’Shea (born Nikolayeva) participates in several other
folk-themed lineups, such as Clann Lir and
Romanesque. – Vladimir Kozlov
April 18, 9 pm / CDK MAI / 8 Ul. Dubosekovskaya / m. Sokol
OPERA
know her as the late 1960s and 1970s partner and muse of French singer Serge
Gainsbourg. Back in 1969, the song “Je
t’aime... moi non plus”, a duet with Gainsbourg, stirred some controversy because
of Birkin’s sexy whispers and moaning.
She has also had a long and prolific film
acting career, which included a role
in Michelangelo Antonioni’s classic
“Blowup”. Two years ago, her directorial
feature debut, “Boxes”, was released. As a
singer, Birkin has collaborated with artists
as diverse as Placebo’s Brian Molko, Franz
Ferdinand, Manu Chao and Goran
Bregovic. Birkin is coming to the Russian
capital on a promotional tour for her 13th
studio album, “Enfants d’Hiver”, which
was released late last year, and is expected
to play a 90-minute set. – Vladimir Kozlov
April 18, 9 pm / Elysium / 9 Bolotnaya Nab.
m. Kropotkinskaya
GERZMAVA: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
Tchaikovsky competition winner and renowned
soprano Khibla Gerzmava sings Lucia di
Lammermoor again at the Stanislavsky Nemirovich-Danchenko. Donizetti tells this tragic tale
charmingly, and Gerzmava’s lyrico spinto voice is
versatile enough to effortlessly sing this demanding
role. Gerzmava, a native of Abkhazia, is one of the
most promising and solid singers of the younger
generation singing in Russia today. Since she won
the Tchaikovsky competition 15 years ago, she has
sung leading roles in St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky
Theatre and London’s Covent Garden, and tours
extensively around the world for recitals and concerts. Moscow audiences are fortunate that she is
still based in Moscow, and that we can still hear her
for a few hundred roubles. – Ayano Hodouchi
April 22 / 7 pm (will be repeated May 20 and June 13 but cast
may be different) / Stanislavsky Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical
Theater / Ul. 17 Bolshaya Dmitrovka / m. Pushkinskaya
NIGHTLIFE CALENDAR
April 17
• Sax & Sex
11 pm: Arka, Kitaigorodsky Proyezd,
1st arch on the right, m. Kitai-Gorod
DJs, photographers and musicians create an atmosphere of love and sexiness with the help of a live duet (saxophone + house music).
• Freak Parade
11 pm: London, 14 Prospekt
Vernadskogo, m. Prospekt
Vernadskogo.
Freaks of different colours and cultures,
outcasts, metrosexuals, transvestites
and the body modified show the art of
transformation under the slogan ‘Off
with dull routine!’ Includes a Most
Creative Freak contest.
• Home Sweet Home
11 pm: Neo, 27 Varshavskoye Shosse,
m. Nagatinskaya
This party is meant to catch the spirit,
atmosphere and positive emotions of
home parties, where nobody cares
about your status and image, and only
loving people are near. Invite your
friends.
April 18
• Bob Sinclar
11 pm: Forbes Club, 2 Ul. Maroseika,
m. Kitai-Gorod
French Grammy-nominated author of
such hits as “World Hold On”, “Love
Generation” and “Rock This Party”.
• Sound of Couture
11 pm: Jet Set, 37 Ul. Malaya
Ordynka, bldg. 1, m. Dobryninskaya
Fashion plus house music. Features
talented designers Milena Stankovich,
Elena Kasatkina, Dasha Brezhneva,
УЛЯshova, Maya Abrosimova, as well
as a special go-go performance.
• Crystal Waters (USA)
11:50 pm: Famous, 15 Rochdelskaya
Ul, m. Barrikadnaya
Crystal Waters is one of world’s most
highly regarded club vocalists, having
had a hit with “Gypsy Woman” as well
as a comeback in Alex Gaudino’s
“Destination Calabria” from 2007.
April 20
• Venetian Carnival
11 pm: City Caf Na Lestnitse, 1/4 2nd
Smolensky Per., m. Smolenskaya
For one week (April 20 to 27) this cafe
adopts a carnival spirit. Classical music
will be mixed with deep house, and the
best films of the most outstanding
Italian directors will be shown.
Crystal Waters
April 21
• Peter Nalich
8 pm: Teatr Estrady, 20/2
Bersenevskaya Nab. m. Borovitskaya
Presentation of the first concert DVD by
a Russian musician with Bosnian roots
who became famous through Youtube.
Entertainment
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
CINEMA NEWS
Sand sculptors compete
at Kolomenskoye
New Bekmambetov
project in production
T
begin creating works in the Kolomenskoye
open air museum in south Moscow on April
30, RIA Novosti reported. The contestants are
competing for the world champion’s trophy,
and are expected to erect 12 three-meter tall
sculptures on the theme of “Mankind’s
Highest Achievements,” the museum told RIA.
From May 2, the sculptures will be open for
public viewing, and the jury is expected to
name the winners on May 7. Sand sculptors
from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark,
India, Ireland, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and the
United States are taking part. The championship is taking place at Kolomenskoye for a
second time this year.
RIA NOVOSTI
I Sand sculptors from nine countries are to
A sand sculpture at last year’s event
Pyotr Mamonov returns to stage
I Renowned Russian singer and actor Pyotr
RIA NOVOSTI
Mamonov is returning to the stage after a
two-year hiatus, with a concert at the
Estrada theatre on April 27, RIA Novosti
reported. RIA quoted Mamonov’s wife and
manager, Olga Mamonova, as saying that
Pyotr Mamonov
the show, which is meant to celebrate the
25th anniversary of the singer’s stage
career, will include 13 songs from the
albums Mamonov recorded with the band
Zvuki Mu in the 1980s, as well as videos of
his theatre performances and excerpts from
movies he acted in. She added that tickets,
which went on sale a week ago, have
already sold out. Back in the 1980s, Zvuki
Mu was a star of the Soviet underground
rock scene and later earned some international exposure, touring Europe and the
United States. In the early 1990s, Mamonov
dismissed the lineup to perform as part of
the duo Mamonov and Alexei and later completely abandoned rock music to focus on
theatre and film. He achieved wide renown
two years ago after starring in Pavel Lungin’s
movie “Ostrov” (Island).
he shooting of “Chyornaya Molniya”
(“Black Lightning”), a feature film produced by Timur Bekmambetov, Russia’s only
younger-generation director to have made it in
Hollywood, has come to a close on location in
Moscow. Known for his highly
successful movies “Night
Watch” and “Day Watch”,
as well as his Hollywood
debut last year, “Wanted”,
Bekmambetov is now producing Universal’s first feature film
shot in Russian for the domestic market. This fantasy action
movie, directed by Alexander
Voitinsky and Dmitry Kisyelev,
is to introduce an urban
superhero into Russian cinema for the first time. The main
character, university student
Dima, receives an old Volga
21 car as a gift from his father,
and soon finds out that it can
fly like an airplane.
11
Meanwhile, the tragic death of his father turns
Dima into a superhero and guardian angel of the
city’s residents. The movie is scheduled for a
theatrical release on December 31.
– Vladimir Kozlov
CINEMA
English-language movie picks
FRIDAY, APRIL 17 – THURSDAY, APRIL 23
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
(U.S.A., 2008)
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
(U.K., INDIA, 2008)
Oscar-winning crime/drama/romance set in Mumbai.
Pyat Zvyozd Novokuznetskaya: Fri. to Wed. 4:30 pm.
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
(U.S.A., 1939)
Black-and-white drama based on Victor Hugo’s
novel.
Illusion: Fri. 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm.
’80s cult movie ‘Igla’ to be remade
I Director Rashid Nugmanov is working on a
remake of his 1988 movie “Igla” (“Needle”),
Interfax reported. The director told the wire service
that some footage from the original movie will be
used, and some actors who starred in the original
film, including Alexander Basharov and Pyotr
Mamonov, will also be in the new version. “Igla”,
which earned cult status largely thanks to the participation of the late rock star Viktor Tsoi, was
Nugmanov’s first feature film. For the last decade
and a half, he has been residing in France.
A documentary on Al Gore’s campaign to draw
attention to the problem of global warming.
American Center: Tue. 5 pm.
GENOVA (U.K., 2008)
Psychological drama directed by Michael
Winterbottom.
35 mm: Fri., Sun., Tue. 3:15 pm and 9:15 pm, Sat.,
Mon., Wed. 11 am and 9:15 pm.
Pyat Zvyozd Novokuznetskaya: Fri. to Wed. 5 pm,
Thurs. 4:55 pm.
Moscow Easter Festival gets
a 150 billion-ruble boost
I More than 150 billion rubles ($4.45 million)
has been allocated from various sources for
the organization of the Moscow Easter Festival,
scheduled to take place from April 19 to May
9, a source in the Moscow city government
told RIA Novosti. “Forty five million rubles will
be coming from the Moscow city budget,
52.25 million rubles from the federal budget
and another 55.25 million from the private
sector,” the source was quoted as saying. This
year, the festival’s main theme is a celebration
of the 200th anniversary of renowned Russian
author Nikolai Gogol. The festival’s venues
include Poklonnaya Gora, the Tchaikovsky
State Conservatory, Christ the Saviour
Cathedral, the Moscow International House of
Music and the Kremlin. The main highlight is a
gala concert on Poklonnaya Gora on May 9.
Free days at city museums
I Admission to Moscow museums will be free
from 10 am to 8 pm on April 18 and May 18 as
part of the celebration of the Days of Moscow’s
Historic and Cultural Heritage, a spokesperson
for the Moscow city government told RIA
Novosti. Visitors may benefit from free admission to exhibitions that will be on display at cityowned museums and galleries on those dates.
THE WRESTLER
(U.S.A., FRANCE, 2008)
Mickey Rourke plays a faded pro wrestler.
35 mm: Fri., Sun., Tue. 12:30 pm, 5 pm and 7 pm,
Sat., Mon., Wed. 10:30 am, 2:45 pm and 7:10 pm.
ROSE-MARIE (U.S.A., 1936)
Musical western directed by W.S. Van Dyke.
Illusion: Wed. 1 pm.
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
(U.S.A., 2008)
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
(U.S.A., 2008)
Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz in Woody
Allen’s romantic comedy.
Pyat Zvyozd Novokuznetskaya: Fri. to Wed. 5:35 pm,
Thurs. 5:05 pm.
A comedy drama directed by Charlie Kaufman.
35 mm: Fri., Sun., Tue. 10:30 am, 2:30 pm, 9 pm
and 11:15 pm, Sat., Mon., Wed., 12:30 pm, 5 pm,
9:15 pm and 11:15 pm, Thurs. 10 am and 4:45 pm.
ADDRESSES:
35 MM
I 47 Ul. Pokrovka, 917 5492, m. Kurskaya
AMERICAN CENTER
I 1 Nikoloyamskaya Ul., 777 6530, m. Taganskaya
ILLUSION
I 1/15 Kotelnicheskaya Nab., 915 4353, m. Taganskaya
PYAT ZVYOZD NOVOKUZNETSKAYA
I 8 Sredny Ovchinnikovsky Per., Arkadia shopping center,
916 9169, m. Novokuznetskaya
Feature
Feature
THE MOSCOW NEWS
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Vagankovskoye Cemetery
The expansive Vagankovskoye Cemetery was established
in 1771 at the height of a plague epidemic and quickly
became one of the largest sites of mass burial. Inside its
vanilla walls, poet Sergei Yesenin and Soviet bard Vladimir
Vysotsky share their final resting place alongside other
luminaries. In the depths of Vagankovskoye Cemetery, a
statue of Sonka the Golden Hand, the infamous and
beloved 19th-century criminal, is a mecca for those on the
wrong side of the law.
By Helen Ashdown
Special to The Moscow News
S
pring has certainly sprung and
what better way to make the
most of the struggling sunshine
than to enjoy a leisurely stroll
through one of Moscow’s
numerous cemeteries.
With more than 60 to choose from, would-be graveyard
visitors are spoilt for choice. And with strict face control
(for the dead, of course) and VIP zoning, you may find
they’re not all that different from the capital’s nightspots.
Many of the cemeteries boast a bevy of bygone writers, war
heroes, scientists, actors, singers and those with the necessary financial clout to procure a final resting place alongside some of the greats of Soviet and Russian history.
Danilovskoye Muslim Cemetery
This small and unassuming cemetery lies a stone’s throw
from Danilovskoye’s main Orthodox graveyard and can be
accessed in style via a veterinary clinic car park which lies
between the two. Here the headstones are smaller and less
bling than the big guns and there are fewer eerie likenesses
etched into marble, replaced instead with Islamic crescent
moons. Among the late Muslim greats entombed here is
Makhmud Esambayev, legendary Soviet actor and dancer.
Donskoi Monastery
At just over 400 years old, Donskoi Monastery is the spot
many noble and aristocratic families chose as their last.
Beyond the central church you will see numerous aged
stone sarcophagi, some centuries old, and further on, beautiful ornate tombstones. On the southern wall, enormous
high-relief sculptures portraying biblical themes astound
with their intricate detail; these were transferred here following the demolition of the original Church of Christ the
Savior Cathedral by the Soviets in 1931. This cemetery is
absolutely exclusive – one-time patriarch and later canonized Tikhon of Moscow rubs shoulders with recently
deceased literary hero Alexander Solzhenitsyn
and the architect of the Bolshoi Theater Osip
Bove, as well as the noble families of Zubov
and Golitsyn. Look out for the creepy grave
of Darya Saltykova, an 18th century
noblewoman, landowner and serial killer
who is buried here.
Where VIPs RIP
SERGEI PYATAKOV/RIA NOVOSTI
notorious British-Soviet double agent and defector. There’s
also Nadezhda Mandelstam, who amazingly committed her
husband Osip’s works to memory in order to avoid a paper
trail, and Leonid Gaidai, favorite Soviet comedy director.
.
ADDRESSES
Kremlin Wall, Red Square, m. Okhotny Ryad
Novodevichy Cemetery, 2 Luzhnetsky Proyezd., m. Sportivnaya, 246-6614
Vagankovskoye Cemetery, 15 Ul. Sergeya Makeyeva, m. Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 253-8017
Donskoye Cemetery, 4 Ul. Ordzhonikidze, m. Shabolovskaya, 952-0321
.CO
M
Vvedenskoye Cemetery, 1 Ul. Nalichnaya, m. Baumanskaya, 360-6500
MIO
Danilovskoye Cemetery, 2 Dukhovskoi Per., m. Shabolovskaya, 952-2963
PAN
ORA
Danilovskoye Muslim Cemetery, 10 2nd Roshchinsky Proyezd, m. Shabolovskaya,
952-2963
IR/
Vvedenskoye Cemetery
Located in south-east Moscow, the
Vvedenskoye or German cemetery was
established in the early 1770s, incorporating an older German cemetery into
its grounds. It traditionally served the
Catholic and Protestant populace but
since secularization in 1918 all denominations have been accepted. Vvedenskoye
is home to several ornate stand-alone
crypts with chapels, but most graves are
typically plainer with simple crosses. Throughout
history it has been the final resting place of Russian and
foreign soldiers. Peter the Great’s notable generals Franz
Lefort and Patrick Gordon were transferred here in the
19th century. In 1889, the French government unveiled
an obelisk in memory of the fallen French of the
Grand Armee who died during the campaign of
1812-1814. The cemetery is known as a hangout
for goths, who appreciate its romanticism.
Danilovskoye Muslim Cemetery
VLA
DIM
Kuntsevskoye Cemetery, 20 Ul. Ryabinovaya, m. Kuntsevskaya, 440-6984
GRAVE TRUTH
1
5
RIA NOVOSTI
RIA NOVOSTI
3
Khrushchev’s grave at Novodevichy
2
Yeltsin’s Novodevichy monument
4
The graves of Gogol (1) and Mayakovsky (2) at Novodevichy
Cemetery; Vysotsky (3) and Yesenin (4) at Vagankovskoye
Cemetery; the presumed tomb of 18th-century noblewoman and
mass murderer Daria Saltykova in Donskoi Monastery’s graveyard
(5); and a monumental French tomb at Vvedenskoye Cemetery (6).
MERKUSHEV VLADIMIR/PANORAMIO.COM
HEV
Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery, inaugurated in 1898, currently
houses some 27,000 deceased. During Soviet rule, interment here was runner-up in the prestige stakes only to burial in the Kremlin Wall, a practice that has since ceased.
Among the first to be buried at Novodevichy was writer
Anton Chekhov, who was later joined by other literary
heavyweights Vladimir Mayakovsky, Mikhail Bulgakov and
Nikolai Gogol, who was moved here following the closure
of the Danilov Monastery in the 1930s. Revolutionary
director Sergei Eisenstein shares the hallowed ground
alongside composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitry
Shostakovich. Nikita Khrushchev’s imposing black and
Donskoi Monastery’s graveyard has numerous centuries-old sarcophagi and beautiful, ornate tombstones
KUS
Square. The site quickly became a favorite among communists, located as it was near the seat of power and, unlike
a traditional cemetery with requisite church, was considered suitably atheist. Burial in the ground and interment of
ashes in the wall were both practiced sporadically throughout Soviet rule, with the former preferred for the real bigwigs including Felix Dzerzhinsky and Mikhail Kalinin.
6
MER
RIA NOVOSTI
Sculptures from the original Christ the
Saviour Cathedral, now at Donskoi
Soviet luminaries along the Kremlin Wall
NATHAN TOOHEY
Kuntsevskoye Cemetery
This is another cemetery worth a visit, if only for the big
names interred there. Here you can find Kim Philby, the
PYOTR/PANORAMIO.COM
The Kremlin Wall
The Kremlin Wall Necropolis, with Lenin’s Mausoleum
as its centerpiece, is the pinnacle of exclusivity, boasting a
who’s who of Communist heroes. It includes the first man
in space, cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, and all but two General
Secretaries – Nikita Khrushchev was well and truly faced
and demoted to Novodevichy, while Mikhail Gorbachev,
the only surviving person to have held the post, will also
miss out on a spot. The Necropolis was first used as a burial site in 1917 when 240 pro-Bolshevik casualties of the
October Revolution were buried in mass graves on Red
13
Danilovskoye Cemetery
Yet another cemetery to owe its existence to the unfortunate 1771 plague outbreak, Danilovskoye is more jeans and
trainers than its ostentatious cousins. The headstones are of
a more digestible size and plain, simple crosses are much
more frequent. Having said that, Danilovskoye does have its
fair share of celebrity, including Soviet football legend Valery
Voronin, and can claim to have been the first resting place
of the Blessed Matrona Moskovskaya, before she was shipped
off to sunnier climes at Pokrovsky Monastery near Taganka.
white grave is another favorite. More recent incumbents
include Boris Yeltsin and the gigantic opinion-dividing tricolor monument erected in his honor.
TROL
CE CON
A
F
Y
R
E
CEMET
SERGEI PYATAKOV/RIA NOVOSTI
12
A plot for a price
Should you get a taste for the quiet (after) life in one of the
city's cemeteries, you may be disappointed. You can
expect to pay anything up to and over $200,000 for a 4square-meter plot, if there’s even space available. In order
to bury well-loved actor Alexander Abdulov in 2008, the
authorities at Vagankovskoye had to uproot trees and move
pillars. Of course, if you’re famous or rich, doors open and
more than 1,000 people are buried in long-since “closed”
cemeteries every year. However, unless you’re some kind of
hero (or a zillionaire, the language of money is universal
after all), you can forget burial in Novodevichy or
Vagankovskoye, as interment here can only be approved by
the mayor of Moscow. Of course, there is a thriving black
market in plots and gravestones, but the likelihood of such
a transaction going smoothly is small.
Restaurants & Bars
By Ayano Hodouchi
The Moscow News
N
ow would seem like an
unlikely time for a highend restaurant to open in
Moscow. Although we have
not yet seen restaurants toppling over
like dominos, things aren’t looking
bright, and Nobu might not have
made it here if it weren’t for the help
of some rich and high-profile backers.
Nobu, the newest addition to an internationally renowned chain of Japanese restaurants, is
in a prime piece of property on the corner of
Stoleshnikov Pereulok and Ulitsa Bolshaya
Dmitrovka. The interior, done almost entirely
in wood, is stylish yet warm, and the windows
allow in plenty of natural sunlight. There’s a
sushi bar at one end, and a bar at the other.
The restaurant’s opening press conference last
week, attended by movie star and co-owner
Robert de Niro as well as executive chef Nobu
Matsuhisa, drew masses of reporters and cameramen. There was nearly a riot as they all swarmed
in taking seats and setting up their equipment.
Naturally, almost all of the reporters’ questions
were directed at de Niro or Matsuhisa.
De Niro traces his involvement in the Nobu
chain back more than two decades, when he frequented a restaurant called Matsuhisa in
Hollywood. He told the chef, Matsuhisa, that they
should open a restaurant in New York and that it
would be a great success.
It was. Fifteen years later, the chain has grown
into 24 restaurants in 11 countries. De Niro says it
is both a personal hobby and a serious investment.
Surprisingly, Nobu is more famous for its food
than for being backed by a Hollywood star, unlike
many other star-sponsored places that open with
great fanfare and disappear after a while.
RESTAURANTS
NEDALNY VOSTOK
From quick bites to haute cuisine...
OSTERIA
MONTIROLI
BUDDIES CAFE
Highly regarded Italian chef
Massimiliano Montiroli is in charge
of both the atmosphere and the cuisine in this new restaurant, where he
strives to make everything just like in
Italy. On the menu there’s an interesting and appetizing selection of pizzas, home-made pastas and risottos,
as well as grilled and baked fish and
various meat dishes, salads and
soups. The prices aren’t aimed at paupers.
I Tverskaya St, 12/8
+7 (495) 694 02 29
ITALIAN
ASSAGGIATORE
I 60 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ul., bldg. 2,
Prices have crept up since this
restaurant opened about one-and-ahalf or two years ago, so any reputation of being “democratic” and especially good value would seem to be out
of date. Still, what do you expect on
the Ostozhenka “Golden Mile” –
the locals probably still think it’s
cheap. And the place has still got a lot
going for it. For one thing, it’s devoid
of gold, marble and rococo fittings; the
simple and straightforward interior is
light and bright like a breezy seaside
café. The food’s not bad either.
799 5590,
m. Barrikadnaya
www.restsindikat.com/restaurant/
osteriamontiroli / noon-midnight
I 6/1 Ul. Ostozhenka, 767-5592,
m. Park Kultury / www.assaggiatore.ru
10am-midnight
VENEZIA
For years, the fabulous Venezia
eatery on the boulevard has been
winning new fans, who happily line
up for tables – and that’s not surprising, because the food is great, serving
sizes are generous and prices are reasonable. Now it has a more spacious
branch at Shabolovka, where you can
enjoy the good-value pasta and pizza
minus the crowds.
I 4/3 Strastnoi Bulvar, bldg. 3, 650 6009,
m. Pushkinskaya; 17 Ul. Shabolovka, 236 1770,
m. Shabolovskaya / www.trattoria-venezia.ru /
weekdays 11 am-midnight,
weekends noon-midnight
FUSION
NABI
In addition to the usual Japanese,
this luxurious restaurant’s cuisine
includes Asian-European fusion with
a variety of Thai, Vietnamese and
Chinese flavours. There are all sorts of
nem rolls, dim sum, wok and teppan
dishes, even curries. It’s worth saving
some space (and money) for the
desserts.
CAPRI
Make a culinary trip around
Italy with “Capri” restaurant, one
of the most elegant and luxurious
Italian places in Moscow.
The best Mediterranean cuisine.
Sushi-bar
I m. Turgenevskaya
7, Akademika Sakharova prospect
Tel: +7 (495) 607-52-53,
+7 (495) 607-04-01
ADVERTISING
Perfectly located at Pushkin
Square.
Buddies Cafe brings you “LIVE”
sports entertainment and 1 of the
best Chinese/Thai Cuisine in Moscow at reasonable prices.
ADVERTISING
ASIAN
I 4 Maly Afanasyevsky Per., 691-4060,
m. Arbatskaya
www.restsindikat.com/restaurant/nabi
noon-midnight
With interesting pan-Asian and
fusion cuisine to match the innovative
interior by Japanese design bureau
Superpotato, this restaurant is sure to
impress. Recently it introduced a new
weekly spectacle, the “Tuna Show
Non-Stop”: Each Thursday at 8:30
pm, the chefs slice up a huge whole
tuna fish, giving guests the chance to
get acquainted with different cuts and
sample them in sushi, sashimi, tartare
and other dishes including grill.
I 15 Tverskoi Bulvar, Bldg. 2, 694 0641,
m. Pushkinskaya / novikovgroup.ru
Sun.-Thurs. noon-midnight,
Fri. and Sat. noon-1 am
KAI RESTAURANT &
LOUNGE
French cuisine with Asian flavours focusing on seafood and
meat. Unique dining experience will
surely impress the most refined
gourmet. Business lunch-1450 rub.
I 2nd floor of Swissotel Krasnye Holmy
Kosmodamianskaya nab., 52 bld.6
m. Paveletskaya / 7 495 221 5358
ADVERTISING
EATING & DRINKING
same problems that all other Japanese restauraMany reporters were concerned about how
teurs face in Russia – procurement of ingredients
Nobu will keep its high standards. Matsuhisa
and staff training. For the latter purpose, three
stressed repeatedly that the chain is a family, a
waiters from the United States, one woman and
close-knit team, and that the Moscow branch has
two men, were flown in. Here for three months,
been placed in the capable hands of chefs who
they are training the local
have already worked many years
staff to rise to the standards
in Nobu restaurants in other
of Nobus elsewhere. Smiling
cities of the world.
“I am not here. But my family De Niro says it is and professional, they briskly
and efficiently gave direcis here. I trust them completely,
both a hobby
tions to the rest of the staff
that they will maintain the highand a serious and kept everything in
est standards I have always insistapple-pie order.
ed on,” he said.
investment
This is a high-end estabThe restaurant is backed by the
lishment, and the average bill is said to be about
Crocus group, headed by Aras Agalarov, a Baku3,000 roubles. It isn’t cheap, but there are much
born real estate developer who is no stranger to
pricier places in Moscow. Nobu’s standards are
the restaurant business. The new Nobu is right
high, so if they can really give us their best for
above a Crocus store retailing high fashion.
only 3,000 roubles, it may be actually be quite a
Asked about opening a restaurant in Moscow
bargain. I
during the crisis, de Niro laughed and said, “Well,
it just happened that we found the Agalarovs now.
Without them, we wouldn’t have managed it.”
WHERE & WHEN
Matsuhisa added that the restaurant had taken
three years to open, and during the planning, they
I 20 Ul. Bolshaya Dmitrovka, 645 3191, www.noburestaurants.ru
had not expected financial havoc. “But we’ve been
Open daily for dinner, 6 pm – 11 pm; lounge bar 7 pm – 11:45 pm
working on this for so long, it’s not like we can
abandon it all just because the economy is bad.”
After the press briefing, waiters came from the
kitchens, carrying plates and glasses with some
of Nobu’s choicest items. In a glass were sticks
with lobster ceviche, fragrant with coriander
leaves and lime juice. Matsuhisa had his first
experience abroad in South America, and
his original dishes have elements of
South American cuisine. Rows of freshly fried spring rolls, some with vegetables, some with soft shell crab, delighted us next. The spring rolls were hot
and crispy, with huge chunks of crab
meat rolled in a delicate pastry.
Platters of rolled sushi appeared
simultaneously, and the crowd eagerly relieved the staff of their toothsome
burdens. Then came lettuce leaves
cradling tender pieces of fish – I believe
it was black cod with Saikyo miso sauce.
I could only marvel at how these people
procured such a delicacy in Russia.
Indeed, Matsuhisa admitted that he faces the De Niro and Matsuhisa at the new Nobu
TI
comes to town
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
VOS
RIA NO
COURTESY OF NOBU
Nobu
THE MOSCOW NEWS
SKY LOUNGE
Located on top of the “Golden
Brains” Academy of Sciences building,
this stylish restaurant has amazing
views in every direction, making it the
perfect choice for a special occasion or
to splurge with visiting guests. Not only
ADVERTISING
14
Restaurants & Bars
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
is the panorama spectacular, the food is
as well. In addition to Japanese and seasonal menus, there are some original
Asian-European creations on the menu
to tempt your taste buds. The prices are
substantial, but the whole experience
makes it worth every kopeck.
Monday’s Co
I 31 Novinsky Bulvar, 580 7756, m. Barrikadnaya
/blueelephant.com/moscow
noon-midnight
PUBS & SPORTS BARS
EAT & TALK
Although it’s in a business centre, Eat
& Talk is surprisingly cosy, with an
interesting layout. It’s got fittings salvaged from the legendary old Rosie
O’Grady’s on Znamenka, which are
tastefully incorporated into a modern,
eclectic interior design. A good place for
drinks after work as well as on the
weekend.
DEE THAI
I 7 Mokhovaya Ul. (Mokhovaya Business Center)
This place is hard to find but worth
the effort, because it serves the tastiest,
spiciest, best-value Thai in town. A creation of the people behind another of
Moscow’s best restaurants – Darbars,
the Indian restaurant at the top of the
Sputnik hotel – it has a chef from
Thailand whose work is both delicious
and beautifully presented. Rather than
pandering to Russians’ timid tastes, Dee
Thai has and a policy of cooking for
people who love authentic Thai. Try the
tom yum.
/ 961-2193 /
m. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina
www.eattalk.ru / noon-midnight
I 10 Nikolskaya Ul., (1st floor, left side of
Sheremetyevsky shopping mall),
641 3202, m. Lubyanka / 11 am-11 pm
OM CAFÉ VISHVA SHANTI
A lovely, cosy, little eatery with
incense and Buddha statues, this place
strikes the right balance in many ways.
The Thai chef makes tasty food and
there are lots of tasty treats on the
menu, from classics to some less common offerings. If you ask them to make
it spicy, they’re likely to oblige. Prices
are mid-range and fair.
Part of the bar feels like a lecture hall,
with a big screen hanging from the ceiling and a stand that slopes back. While
this may not be conducive to a quiet
chat or romantic dinner, it is perfect for
watching sport. There are also smaller
flat screens mounted around the walls.
There is an extensive menu of tasty
food at a reasonable price, and the beer
prices are decent
I 24 Ul. Bolshaya Lubyanka
624 3636 / m. Lubyanka
www.ligapap.ru / 24 hours
MOLLY MALONE’S
KRUZHKA
Not only are Kruzhka bars the
cheapest sports bars in the city, they are
among the cheapest watering holes of
any kind around town. Beer goes for an
unbeatable price and the food, mainly
shaurmas and shashliks with chips, is
also democratically priced.
I 1 Kudrinskaya Ploshchad /
(499) 252 1068
m. Barrikadnaya
I 15 Nikolskaya Ul., bldg. 1 / 710 7199
m. Ploshchad Revolyutsii
I 40 Dolgorukovskaya Ul. / (499) 973 5626
m. Novoslobodskaya
for the other two-dozen addresses see
www.kruzhka.ru or call 411 9445
Sun.-Thurs. midday-midnight,
Fri. and Sat. midday-4 am
This pub used to be called Dublin.
The main difference since its rebranding is that now drinks are ordered at the
bar. There’s a good selection of beer at
mid-range prices, and an extensive
menu of food including lots of beer
snacks.
I 38/2 Staraya Basmannaya Ul.
231-1171, / Mon.-Fri. midday-12:30 am,
Sat. and Sun. 5 pm-12:30 am
m. Baumanskaya
PRICE RANGE OF RESTAURANTS
up to $30
$30 – $50
$50 and up
Sky Lounge
THAI-THAI
4 Ul. Pokrovka, bldg. 1, 510 1813,
m. Kitai-Gorod
www.thaithai.ru / 11 am-11 pm
DISTRIBUTION PARTNERS
POLLY SAD
Polly Sad restaurant has a mansion’s
interior decorated in natural materials
and pale tones. Calm music plays while
you enjoy the classical setting. Guests
can enjoy the fruit cocktails and other
Open: 24 hours
LIGA PAP
I 15 Ul. Novy Arbat, bldg. 1, 691 8617,
m. Arbatskaya
www.omcafe.ru / noon-midnight
Calling itself a café rather than a
restaurant, Thai-Thai is a small, stylish
and laid-back place to go for a not-tooexpensive meal. The chef is from
Thailand, all the classics are on the
menu and the food can be spicy if you
insist, but there are also Japanese and
European menus for your chilli-intolerant Russian friends.
ADVERTISING
Moscow, Zemlyanoy val, 26
tel: (495)917-01-50, fax: (495)917-99-86
www.hotdogsbar.ru
Anti-CRY
2.00
19.00-2 et 2
ot – g
Order sh
The restaurant is open daily
from 13.00 until the last guest leaves.
22nd floor,
32a Leninsky
Prospekt
781 57 75,
938 57 75
www.on-top.ru
drinks of Bulgarian barman Max
Bradarsky. Citizens of the megapolis will
certainly enjoy this cosy, beautiful place.
I 41/2 1st Brestskaya Ul.,
m. Belorusskaya / 250 2530
ACCENTI
Accenti is an Italian restaurant spread
is the oldest panoramic
restaurant in Moscow.
It is located on the 22nd floor
of the Russian Academy
of Science on Leninskie
(Vorobyovy) Gory. Sky Lounge
is an ideal place both for
romantic dates and business
talks. Sky Lounge offers
original “cosmopolitan”
cuisine including European
and Japanese flavours, quiet
and relaxing atmosphere,
lounge music, comfortable bar
and cocktail zones.
Moscow’s best DJs play in
the restaurant all evenings.
Sky Lounge is a visual
and gastronomic paradise.
out over three halls and a summer
verandah. The place is worth visiting as
its chef, Igor Shurupov, was honoured
for his contribution to the development
of Italian cuisine at the Gastronomical
Festival of the Italian council.
I 7 Kropotkinsky Per.,
m. Park Kultury / 246 7182
ADVERTISING
A Bangkok-based chain with more
than a dozen restaurants around the
world, this is probably Moscow’s most
up-market Thai restaurant. A large
restaurant with numerous rooms in
different styles, its lavish interior overwhelms with its exotic plants, waterfalls and ornamentation. The “Royal
Thai” cuisine is fancy and delicious
but may seem to be adapted to
Russians’ tastes, although vegetarians
are well catered for. Prices are high –
this is a place for a special occasions.
Tuesday
n
e
k
n
u
r
D
ram
SIS prog
(Margarita unlimited
from 9 pm to 10 pm )
ADVERTISING
BLUE ELEPHANT
THURSDAY’S
GIRLS PARTY
untdown
19.00-20.0
0
b
u
y
1 drink get 4
20.00-21.0
21.00-22.0 0 buy 1 drink get 3
0 buy 1 drink
get 2
ADVERTISING
THAI
is a legendary sport bar which offers you:
Regular broadcast of sport matches
Parties & DJ – Live music – in our club
Live Bands perform 6 times per week
Business lunch menu, Breakfast menu.
I 32a Leninsky Prospekt, 22nd floor
938-5775, 781 5775 / m. Leninsky Prospekt.
www.on-top.ru / weekdays 1 pmmidnight, weekends 1 pm-1 am
15
UZBEKISTAN
Uzbekistan is one of the oldest and
most famous restaurants located in
the center of Moscow. Enter through
carved wooden doors of a 19th century mansion. The interior is calm
and cosy with soft light, comfortable
couches, mahogany floors, handcraft
carpets and Oriental music. Uzbek,
Arabian, Azerbaijani and Chinese cuisine.
Belly dancing, water pipe and cock
fighting.
I 29 Neglinnaya Ul.,
m. Tsvetnoi Bulvar
623 0585, 625 3284
To place an ad in this section, please contact Maria Danilova on +7(495) 645-6403/6565 or fax 637-2746 or e-mail: [email protected]
16
Entertainment
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Rimsky Korsakov and Mussorgsky, and
it is often said that only Russian musicians know how to play it right. Other
people commonly make the mistake of
making the “bells” in their music ring
too clear, but Russians know that bell
ringing isn’t necessarily harmonic and
rhythmically well organized. If you
don’t exactly get what I’m talking
about, stroll by one of the churches
ringing bells for the festival and you
will understand.
This year, the star artists gracing the
festival may not be as varied and
numerous as in past years. Israeli violinist Nikolai Znaider is here again, to
MUSIC
By Ayano Hodouchi
The Moscow News
T
his Sunday sees
the opening of
one of Russia’s
most prestigious
classical music
events, the eighth annual
Moscow Easter Festival.
One reason for
the festival’s
popularity is
the fame and
talent of the
participants
RIA NOVOSTI
Second only to the White Nights
Festival in St. Petersburg, the festival
is the brainchild of conductor Valery
Gergiyev and Moscow Mayor Yury
Luzhkov. Having delighted Moscow
audiences since 2002, in 2004 it
spread to the regions, and this year
more than 100 concerts are scheduled
to take place in 28 cities across Russia.
One major reason for the festival’s
popularity is the fame and talent of
the participants. Besides Gergiyev and
his company, the Mariinsky Orchestra
and Choir, participants have included opera singers such as Olga
Borodina and Anna Netrebko, string
players Vadim Repin, Yury Bashmet
and Misha Maisky, pianists Mikhail
Pletnev and Efim Bronfman, among
many other high-calibre performers.
The festival can be divided into
three main sections: symphonic concerts, choral programs and bell performances. Since the weeks near
Orthodox Easter usually encompass
Victory Day (May 9), often some performances are war-inspired. This
year, the festival ends on May 9, and
the program includes Shostakovich’s
11th Symphony, a tribute to his own
generation, which suffered two world
wars, not to mention famine and civil
war. Despite the disquieting music
showing more of the desolate and
horrifying side of war than patriot-
Moscow’s best bell-ringers and major churches participate in the festival
Ringing
in the Easter Festival
ism and victory, this music brought
Shostakovich back into party favour
after falling out with Stalin.
Eighteen choirs are participating in
the choral part of the festival, including one from Tskhinval, South
Ossetia. As is well known, Gergiyev is
Ossetian and has always been sensitive to problems in the Caucasus,
often giving concerts in memory
of the victims of war and terrorism.
In Moscow, the concerts take place in
numerous cathedrals and churches
around the city, as well as in orphanages
for charity programs. Most of these
events take place in the day time, but a
few gala concerts take place in the
evening at concert halls – on April 22 at
the Conservatory’s Great Hall and April
30 and May 7 in the Tchaikovsky Hall.
The bells have become a tradition of
this festival, and the best bell-ringers
and most of the major churches in
town participate. Usually taking place
in the early afternoon, this is an excellent chance to hear something that is
unique to Russia and a fundamental
part of Russian life and culture. Many
composers have emulated Russian
bells in their music, most famously
play Sibelius’ violin concerto, Yury
Bashmet lays down the conductor’s
baton to play the viola, and piano star
Denis Matsuev plays some Schedrin.
Matsuev may have been just a beefy
athletic pianist when he won the
Tchaikovsky competition in ‘98 (he
said he wanted to be a football player
or pianist when he grew up, one of the
two) but fortunately, he matured greatly in the next few years, and by now, is
an artist with a solid reputation.
Gergiyev has been criticized for
overworking his people, not having
enough time for rehearsals and putting
in too many performances, but still,
he’s no charlatan. Even on his worst
days, he’s far better than most, and this
year’s Easter Festival will be worth
attending. I
EASTER FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
SYMPHONIC CONCERTS
Sunday April 19, 7 pm
terpiece, the 2nd symphony, “Resurrection”.
A massive symphony of five sprawling movements, the music depicts a spiritual
resurrection – one man’s personal odyssey
through despair, soul-searching and rediscovery
of faith.
Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory,
13 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ul.,
m. Okhotny Ryad
BELLS
Wednesday April 22, 7 pm
Christ the Saviour Cathedral, 15 Ul. Volkhonka,
m. Kropotkinskaya: Sunday April 19, 3:30 pm; Monday April
20, 3 pm; Saturday May 9, 12:30 pm.
Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, 13 Bolshaya
Nikitskaya Ul., m. Okhotny Ryad
Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares choir (Bulgaria).
Church of the Great Ascension, 36 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ul.,
m: Arbatskaya: Tuesday April 21, 2:30 pm.
Gergiyev at a previous festival
This concert opens with the world premiere of
Shchedrin’s Symphonic Diptych, followed by
Stravinsky’s one-act opera, “The Nightingale”.
The beautiful Olga Trifonova, who sings the title
role, is a coloratura with a lithe, sweet voice,
and sings this role effortlessly. The second half
of the programme is one of Valery Gergiyev’s
earliest recording successes – the second
symphony of Rachmaninov.
Danilov Monastery, 22, Danilovsky Val,
m. Tulskaya: Wednesday May 6, 3:30 pm.
Less well known than “Romeo and Juliet” but
perhaps even more delightful, Prokofiev’s ballet “Cinderella” will open this concert. That is
followed by modern music – Shchedrin’s 5th
piano concerto, with virtuoso Denis Matsuev
as soloist. The second half is heavier, with
Shostakovich’s 11th symphony on the bill.
Titled “1905”, the symphony is a tribute not
only to the revolution, but the suffering of the
people of those years, as they went through
turmoil and war again and again.
Novodevichy Convent, 1 Novodevichy Proyezd:
Thursday May 7, 3 pm.
RIA NOVOSTI
This is a not-to-be-missed event – Sibelius’ popular violin concerto, coupled with Mahler’s mas-
Wednesday April 29, 2 pm
Uspensky Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, Sobornaya
Ploshchad, m. Alexandrovsky Sad
Mariinsky Theatre Choir (St. Petersburg)
Bell-ringing at Danilov Monastery
Monday April 20, 7 pm
Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory,
13 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Ul.,
m. Okhotny Ryad
Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares
RIA NOVOSTI
RIA NOVOSTI
Saturday May 9, 8 pm
Moscow International House of Music (MMDM),
52 Kosmodamianskaya Naberezhnaya, bldg. 8,
m. Paveletskaya
Piano virtuoso Denis Matsuev
Thursday April 30, 7 pm
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 4/31 Truimfalnaya Ploshchad,
m. Mayakovskaya
CHOIRS
Monday April 20, 2 pm
Mariinsky Theatre Choir with soloists Yury Laptev
and Svetlana Gorenkova
Christ the Saviour Cathedral hall, 15 Ul. Volkhonka,
m. Kropotkinskaya
Thursday May 7, 7 pm
Gala concert featuring the Mariinsky
Theatre Choir (St. Petersburg), Christ
the Saviour Cathedral choir (Moscow),
the First Belgrade Singing Society (Serbia),
and the Blagovest Sacred Music Ensemble
(Moscow).
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 4/31 Truimfalnaya Ploshchad,
m. Mayakovskaya
Gala concert
Not all events are listed. For full listings,
go to www.easterfestival.ru
Local
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Dis-United Russia
flip-flops on holidays
MAY DAY
By Nathan Toohey
The Moscow News
I
n what seems to have
become a perennial
occurrence, the State
Duma has once again
seen a last-minute bid
to extend the May holidays
thwarted and sent back to
the drawing board.
gested the winter holidays be kept
and before the May celebrations
they are proposed to be extended,”
said Isayev. “In these times of crisis,
there is work that needs to be done,
we need to calmly work now and
when the crisis is over, then maybe
we can return to weighing up this
question.” He added that the bill was
unlikely to be passed in the near
future.
Moving public holidays is a popular initiative with State Duma. The
speaker of the Federation Council,
Sergei Mironov, has on numerous
occasions stated that December 31
should be made a public holiday as
well as suggesting that the New Year’s
holidays should be cut to allow for
the May holiday to be extended.
The parliament has criticised the
New Year’s holidays as lasting too
long. Although formally they run
from January 1-5, when combined
with Orthodox Christmas the break
ends up being in the order of nine to
10 days.
When the extended New Year’s
‘Shifting the New
Year’s holidays to
May will be in the
interest of 20
million families
of gardeners.’
RIA NOVOSTI
A United Russia deputy, Valery
Zakharyashchev, tabled the proposal
to extend the May Day holidays, only
to have it knocked back by members
of the same party. Zakharyashchev’s
bill would see Spring and Labour
Day, as it is officially called, extended
to run from May 1-4, with the New
Year’s break being correspondingly
cut by three days to only include
January 1 and 2.
“In this way we will keep the total
number of non-working days and the
May holidays will run from May 1-4,”
said Zakharyashchev. The bill was
tabled in the State Duma on March
24.
Zakharyashchev said that the
changes were necessary as the beginning of May in Russia was the start of
planting season for the nation’s large
number of vegetable gardeners who
head en masse to garden plots at this
time.
“Shifting the New Year’s holidays
to May will be in the interest of 20
million families of gardeners or some
70 million Russians in total,” said
Zakharyashchev, adding that his proposal was “an important anti-crisis
measure”.
Zakharyashchev said that in
numerous regions, including the
Leningrad and Kemerovo regions, the
governors had decided to allocate
land plots to citizens as well as sell
them to families at discounted prices.
He also suggested that May 2 should
Shifting holidays is a popular initiative in the State Duma.
Last year more than 10 bills calling for changes were rejected
17
Zakharyashchev said extending the May holidays would let citizens work on their garden plots
be declared All Russia Gardeners Day
and “a tree should be planted in the
Kremlin and ecological issues discussed”.
Zakharyashchev said that 80 per
cent of the population supported the
idea of moving the New Year’s holidays to May and families that worked
together on their garden plots
helped build stronger family bonds.
Zakharyashchev said that he wanted
to see his bill passed in April so that the
new extended holiday could start this
year. He added that in the conditions
of a global financial crisis popular
measures were needed to support the
average citizen and that allowing
Russians, who had fallen on hard times,
see less large-format shopping centres open. A significant number of construction sites were either
frozen or progressing slowly.
Malyshkov said that this year approximately
1,500 retail outlets were expected to open.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Cobblers crisis-proof
Muscovites have been using the services of cobblers several times more often during the crisis in
order to economise on new shoe purchases, the
head of the city’s consumer services department,
Vladimir Malyshkov, said late last month.
“I have more than once said that Muscovites’
demand for consumer services during the crisis
has fallen,” RIA Novosti quoted Malyshkov as saying. “Many people have started to prefer to wash
and clean their clothes themselves rather than use
services of dry cleaners and laundromats.
However, demand for shoe repairs in Moscow has,
on the opposite, grown.”
Malyshkov said that maybe this was connected
with people looking to economise by buying less
new footwear by repairing their existing shoes.
He added that due to the crisis the city would
RIA NOVOSTI
Icy Easter egg
The Russian Ice Sculpture Gallery and the
Central Administrative District’s culture department are holding an Easter egg celebration in
Krasnaya Presnya this Sunday.
On Easter Sunday the gallery’s sculptors will
create a traditional Easter egg from a completely
untraditional material – blocks of ice. TsAOInform web site reported the organisers as saying
that unique construction would be created following the best traditions of Carl Faberge with an
inimitable composition and a surprise. The
“Faberge from crystal ice,” will weigh approximately 500 kilograms and reach a height of two
metres.
RIA Novosti reported that the organisers were
planning to apply for their ice egg to be included
in the Guinness World Records.
Public transport hours extended
Easter night will see public transport hours
extended.
“In connection with the large numbers attending Moscow’s churches for Easter, for the convenience of Muscovites and guests of the capital on
the night of Easter, April 18-19, above-ground city
transport running from metro and train stations
will be extended from 1 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.,” said a
press release from the capital’s transport depart-
to work on their garden plots would
help ensure food supply security.
The head of United Russia’s labour
and social policies committee, Andrei
Isayev, seemed unimpressed, however, saying that the proposal needed
more work.
“This happens every year – leading up to the winter break it is sug-
ment. The press release said that metro closing
hours would also be pushed back from 1 a.m. to
2:30 a.m.
Lenin returns
After two months of prophylactic work, the
Lenin Mausoleum is once again open for business
this Saturday. The preservation work has taken
place on a yearly basis since the creation of the
mausoleum. The tourist attraction is open from
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day except Mondays,
Fridays and public holidays when events take
place on Red Square. Valery Bykov, the director of
the Scientific Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic
Herbs, said that modern Russian techniques
allowed Lenin’s body to be preserved for many,
many years. “This is not simply mummification,
– Valery
Zakharyashchev
break was introduced in 2004, United
Russia said it would allow parents to
spend more time with their children
and strengthen the Russian institution of the family.
In December, the Duma rejected
more than 10 bills that called for
Russia’s public holidays to be changed
or moved. it is a more complicated procedure,” said Bykov.
Previously, during the mausoleum’s visiting
times, Red Square was closed to the public with a
special cordoned off corridor allowing visitors to
access to Lenin. This regime was cancelled in 2007
for tourists’ convenience.
Parade expenses announced
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) – Moscow authorities have allocated 205 million roubles for preparations for the May 9 Victory Day parade on Red
Square, a source in the municipal administration
said on Wednesday.
The source said the spending will include
repairs of paving slabs on Red Square and in the
surrounding area, and preparation of roads for
the arrival of military vehicles.
This year the Victory Day parade is set to
involve 8,729 service personnel, 112 military
vehicles and 70 aircraft. The parade will be
accompanied by a military orchestra of 1,100
musicians, and comprise three sections – a march
pass, involving military personnel followed by
sophisticated hardware and a fly over by combat
aircraft.
Victory Day marks the final surrender by Nazi
Germany to the Soviet Union in the Eastern Front
of WWII, referred to as the Great Patriotic War in
Russia and other former Soviet states.
Last year, the parade involved almost 8,000 personnel, 111 tracked and wheeled military vehicles, as well as 33 aircraft and helicopters.
The first Victory Parade was held on Red
Square on June 24, 1945 on the order of the thensupreme commander-in-chief, Josef Stalin.
Local
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Krutitskoye Podvorye’s lovely Assumption Cathedral
Easter
monasteries
WEEKEND WALKS
AROUND MOSCOW
By Phoebe Taplin
Special to The Moscow News
T
You might want to start at Proletarskaya, stroll
down to the monasteries by the river,
buy a chocolate egg and hop on the boat.
Keep going along this little road, parallel to the
river, and you reach the back gate of the
Krutitskoye Podvorye (5). The brick buildings on
this side were used as a military prison from the
time of Catherine the Great. The Metropolitan’s
Palace on the left is connected by brick walkway to
the lovely Assumption Cathedral. Go through the
gateway into the yard to admire the ornately tiled
“teremok” and go into the dimly-lit cathedral. The
ensemble also includes a rarely-open Museum of
Pilgrimages, and a number of old wooden houses around the yard. The little orchard completes
the pleasing sense of a hidden oasis of old Russian
architecture in modern Moscow.
Krutitskaya (“steep”) Ulitsa leads down from
the wooden houses towards the main road. Before
you get there, you reach the (free) Museum of
M
7
PROLETARSKAYA
8
6
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e
Nab
aya
titsk
Ulitsa Simonovsky Val
4
r
ive
Kr
ut
it
sk
ay
a
Na
be
sc
Mo
re
R
ow
kaya
lozavods
Ulitsa Ve
2
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Slo
aya
3
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ins
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L
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1
PHOEBE TAPLIN
Leave Avtozavodskaya metro station near the
end of the train, turn left out onto the street and
you should see one of the brown and white fortified towers of the Simonov Monastery ahead of
you. Walk towards this, passing a car factory and
turn left into the little park before you reach the
tower. Following the factory fence on your left,
you come to the gateway and lane, which lead to
the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (1). The
location is bizarre, surrounded by the semidefunct ZiL Motor works, which used to make
limousines for Soviet leaders. The church was
used as a storage shed for the factory, but now the
repainted interior glows in the candlelight. A fresco on the west wall shows Prince Dimitry
Donskoi’s troops assembling, ready to leave for
the battle of Kulikovo, a vital turning point in
defeating the Mongol Horde.
As you walk back towards the monastery tower
on the road, you can see an impressive stretch of
wall, which is one of the few features that survived
the Soviet era. Founded in 1371, the Simonov,
known as the “sentinel of the city” was one the
great fortified monasteries that formed a defensive ring around the south of Moscow. Going in
through the gate near the tower, you can see the
buildings that are left. The only extant church, the
17th century Our Lady of Tikhvin (3), is slowly
being restored and houses a community centre
for deaf parishioners. The shop in the church sells
an informative booklet in Russian and English.
The grey building next door to the monastery
is the ZiL Palace of Culture (3), designed in the
1930s by the Vesnin brothers. The second set of
doors on the left lead to a little café with great
views over the Simonov. Even diehard fans of
Constructivist architecture will regret the fact that
so much of the monastery was demolished to
build it. Going on past the Torpedo football stadium next door, follow the road round to the left,
then curving right along Simonovskaya
Embankment, where an intriguing panorama
opens up (4). Standing above the Moscow River,
you can see another constructivist icon: Vladimir
Shukhov’s radio tower (to the left), a radical early
1920s structure. In the other direction, you can
see the domes of the Novospassky Monastery and
the church of the beautiful Krutitskoye Podvorye.
Beyond the garage, cross over the busy road,
follow a pale green wall on the far side and turn
left along a track that runs behind block No. 13.
WITH KIDS...
Kru
o celebrate Orthodox Easter
this Sunday, why not explore
some of the monasteries in
the south-east of the city.
The churches are full of gilt and frescoes, lit by oil-lamps and bees’ wax
candles. Moscow has been ruthless
with the countryside that used to surround these buildings, but the suburban and industrial areas have their
own surprises: constructivist workers’
clubs, riverside panoramas, tower
block flower beds and the Moscow
Museum of Water.
Water (6) in another old courtyard on the left.
Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays, the museum
charts the history of Moscow’s water systems
through well shafts in the Kremlin towers up to
the present day. There are some beautiful architectural drawings of the late 19th century waterworks at Mytishchi. A similarly charming red
brick pumping station, on the riverbank behind
the museum, is visible through the windows.
The grand Novospassky (“new saviour”)
Monastery is on the far side of the main road. To
visit this collection of 17th century churches,
women should be wearing not only a headscarf,
but also an at-least-knee-length skirt. A box of
fetching, flowery wraparounds is available just
inside the gate. The Transfiguration Cathedral
(7), built by the Romanovs to imitate the
Kremlin’s Assumption Cathedral, has some fantastic frescoes, but is closed for restoration until
the summer. You can get a flavour by peering
through the window from the painted side-chapel
at the top of the steps. The smaller church behind
the cathedral is also being restored, and contains
the tomb of Count Nikolai Sheremetev’s serfopera-singer bride, Praskovia. The bells in the yellow bell tower chime the hours and half hours
very sweetly. The monastery also has two great
shops – a bookshop and the usual church “lavka”,
currently stocked with some great Easter gifts,
including painted, chocolate or enamelled eggs.
With souvenirs in hand, you can head back to
the main road and turn left towards Proletarskaya
metro station. Alternatively, you can turn right
from the monastery, past the monastic fishpond
to find the Novospassky Most river station (8),
for scenic cruises (400 roubles) to Kievskaya. I
zh
na
ya
PHOEBE TAPLIN
18
AVTOZAVODSKAYA
The tiled teremok at Krutitskoye Podvorye
M
Start:
Avtozavodskaya metro
station (green line)
End: Proletarskaya
metro station
(purple line)
Distance:
4km
Jobs
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
CHILLING OUT
LIFE BALANCE
No panic
at the
office
By Ayano Hodouchi
The Moscow News
By Andy Potts
The Moscow News
M
ost Russians
believe the economic crisis has
made little difference to life
in their office, according to a
survey conducted by Russian
Public Opinion Research
Centre, or VTsIOM.
Despite doom and gloom over
unemployment figures, and almost
daily reports of financial woes afflicting all sectors of the economy, an
overwhelming majority of people in
work do not believe their relationship with their bosses has been
affected.
In total 81 per cent of workers
polled felt that the attitude of management had remained unchanged since
the crisis took hold.
Among people who regarded their
personal finances as “very good” or
“good”, the figure was up to 87 per
cent, though in lower income brackets it dropped to 76 per cent. Low
earners were also more likely to complain that things were getting worse,
with only 2 per cent of the top set
fearing things were going downhill.
People living in large or mediumsized cities, as well as older respondents, tended to report fewer
changes, with 89 per cent of over-60s
saying things were continuing as
before and 85 per cent of urbanites
agreeing.
Overall 7 per cent of respondents
felt things were getting worse, while 5
per cent said relations with the top
brass had improved as the economic
picture deteriorated.
There was less confidence that
management was leading companies
through the storm as effectively as
possible, however, with only 35 per
cent nationwide believing that their
A
employers had successfully delivered
measures to overcome the current
problems. Moscow and St. Petersburg workers were more impressed
than most, with 42 per cent in the big
cities endorsing their managers’
efforts.
Splits also emerged in different
professions: uniformed officers
tended to claim that their bosses
were doing nothing special, since
they were largely unaffected by the
crisis. At the same time, specialists
with higher education felt that
either their leaders were successfully grappling with the problem
(44 per cent) or had so far failed to
make progress despite their efforts
(21 per cent).
Two-thirds of workers feel that their
bosses are trying to preserve staff conditions as well as they can, although
there was a big variation among different income groups. While 82 per cent
of the top earners felt supported by
managers, only 54 per cent of the lowest-income groups agreed. Twenty-six
per cent of them felt their working
conditions had got worse.
Otherwise, there was praise for a
lack of panic – only 9 per cent feared
the workforce was being demoralised by managerial uncertainty.
Just over three-quarters felt that
their employers were staying calm,
with a similar split between well-off
(89 per cent) and poorer (67 per
cent) respondents. More than twothirds felt that company leadership
responded in a friendly and tactful
way to any problems, with only 13
per cent feeling they suffered a lack
of respect.
The survey, carried out by Russia’s
oldest opinion polling organisation
in February 7-8, polled 1,600
respondents from 140 population
points in 42 regions across Russia.
The poll had an error margin of 3.4
per cent. I
Advertise
Jobs
in The Moscow News
The Moscow News
offers an ideal solution to your staffing needs,
with its employment advertising section.
If you’ve got a job vacancy to advertise –
or if you’re a job-hunter seeking
to advertise your services – contact:
ADVERTISING
(495) 645-64-03
or send an e-mail to [email protected]
survey that asked
what Russians were
willing to give up
in order to advance their
career revealed almost half
were ready to sacrifice
their vacations and private
time, while few were ready
to sacrifice time with
their family and children –
less than 1 per cent, RIA
Novosti reported, citing a
study conducted by the
Research Centre Portal
SuperJob.
“If necessary, I am ready to work
overtime,” answered 46 per cent of
the respondents, showing that they
were ready to sacrifice their time off,
hobbies and recreation on the altar of
success.
Nineteen per cent of Russians
believed that for future success,
they could temporarily accept a
lower salary or invest money in
training, education and further
qualifications.
“Any cuts backs I make today
ought to bring in bigger profits
tomorrow”, “I took courses at my
own expense and as a result I got a
new job”, some respondents commented.
Seven per cent of Russians were
ready to give up good working con-
‘I already once
sacrificed my
family and child
for my job. No
good came of it.’
– participant in
a SuperJob
survey
ditions. In their opinion, “the most
important thing is a well-equipped
workplace, the other benefits are not
so important”.
On the other hand, only 2 per
cent of those surveyed said they
would be prepared to compromise
19
Russians ready
to sacrifice
vacations
for their career
Children
Career
on moral issues, and no more than
1 per cent were ready to sacrifice
their families or children for their
careers.
“The family should always come
first”, “I already once sacrificed my
family and child for my job. No
good came out of it”, said participants in the survey.
Russians in their 40s and 50s were
more prepared to give up their personal time, as well as those with low
income levels (51 per cent).
The younger generation, in their
20s and 30s, was more ready than
those older than them to sacrifice
money (22 per cent of younger people, as opposed to only 5 per cent of
those over 50), while the older generation was more willing to compromise on good working conditions
(14 per cent).
Young people were slightly more
willing to set aside their morals than
the older respondents – 3 per cent
of young people. As well, more
young people (3 per cent) say they
were ready to sacrifice family.
The surveyors said that this was
not surprising, given that at this age,
the majority of respondents still had
not acquired families or obligations
related to settling down with a
family.
In addition, men were more likely than women to turn a blind eye
to poor working conditions (8 per
cent versus 5 per cent), whereas
women were more likely to agree to
work for less money or to invest
in training or further education
(22 per cent of women versus 17 per
cent among men).
Twenty-two per cent of Russians
declared that they would not sacrifice anything for their careers. Those
over 50 were more likely to choose
this answer (30 per cent).
According to respondents, “work
is needed in order to live normally
and there is no need for sacrifices”,
“a career can be built without sacrifices of a personal nature”.
Some of those who chose to
answer “other” (2 per cent), were
ready to give up “harmful habits” for
success, while others were confident
that “you can combine a career, family and children, and even find time
to rest”. I
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20
Extreme English
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
For a good job, we’ve got you covered
R
ussian speakers studying English soon learn
that Anglo-Saxons
observe a large number of formal conventions in their
speech and writing – what are
Anglo-Saxons if not slaves to
convention? – and that some
of these rituals, such as the
form letter, are taken fairly
seriously. Note, for example,
Sir Max Beerbohm’s classic
model for a young woman’s
thank-you note, which begins:
Dear Lady Amblesham,
Who gives quickly, says the old
proverb, gives twice. For this reason I
have purposely delayed writing to you,
lest I should appear to thank you more
than once for the small, cheap, hideous
present you sent on the occasion of my
recent wedding.
Only a mentality as hogtied by formality as ours could find a parody like
this both hilarious and wonderfully
liberating. But to cases, specifically the
case of the one form letter you really
cannot satirize or do without – the
eration and getting chucked forthwith.
And don’t worry that your final version may seem “too good” for your
level of English. If someone asks, tell
the truth: “I wrote the letter and then
asked a native speaker to check it over
just in case.” This shows both honesty
and thoroughness (in a business culture not famous for either) and may
well be what the employer expects anyway, since you’re not marketing yourself as a native English speaker.
There – you’re welcome. Now go get
a good job and show this damn crisis
who’s boss! I
Mark H. Teeter
is an American English teacher
and translator based in Moscow.
ADVERTISING
Finally, for ending the salutation I
recommend a colon, not a (less formal) comma – and certainly not the
beloved Russian exclamation point,
which gives Anglo-Saxons the feeling
that someone is shouting at them.
We’re conventional, not deaf.
Length and depth. Three paragraphs
should do it. In the first you confirm
your mission (“I write to apply for the
sales position advertised in…”); in the
second you note the highlights from
your résumé that correspond best to the
job description (but avoid beginning
this with “As you can see from the
attached résumé…” – trust me, they’ll
see it); and in the third you sign off in a
manner that is upbeat and expectant
but not pushy (“I am excited at the
prospect of working for Smith Widgets
and look forward to hearing back from
you”). If you want to insert something
slightly more personal – say, “Like many
Russians of my generation, I’ve enjoyed
using your widgets for years” – this is
the place to do it. But keep it short.
Closing. Again, don’t translate:
“Sincerely yours” works fine. And don’t
“translate” your name: if you are
Mikhail, sign it that way, not “Michael.”
Checking and authenticity. When
you’ve finished, ask a native Englishspeaking friend to look the letter over;
lacking such a friend, hire one – not a
Russian with “really good English,” or a
native-speaking sixth grader. This final
check may make the difference
between your letter getting real consid-
ADVERTISING
By Mark H. Teeter
Special to The Moscow News
notorious “cover letter” that majorityEnglish-speaking employers normally
require job seekers to submit in conjunction with their résumés. This letter is brief but not optional, and you
owe it to yourself to be as AngloSaxonly obsessive with it as you can.
First, the good news: 98 percent of
what you need to know about this
“mere formality” pops up instantly in a
simple Google search under the phrase
“cover letter”: several dozen sites offer
both free advice and example letters to
imitate.
As someone who has read hundreds
of such letters for various employers –
and written dozens himself – I assure
you that these aids and models may be
used with confidence. But the following points, both general and Russianspecific, should also figure on your
cover-letter checklist:
Salutation. Do not substitute translated Russian here (“Respected” this or
“Esteemed” that). The English form
starts “Dear _______” – regardless of
the lack of dearness involved. And no,
this is not a place to show your “creativity” or “pleasant informality” with
a jaunty “Hey there!”, “Wazzup?” or the
like.
Your reader is expecting “Dear Sir or
Madam” or, if a name has been provided in the solicitation, “Dear Mr. Jones”
/ “Dear Ms. Smith.” A no-title, firstand-last-name salutation like “Dear
Richard Jones” or “Dear Laura Q.
Smith” may be a tad off-putting.
Изучение английского языка
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International Certificate
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www.optimus-lingua.ru
tel.: 662 -99-39
AVAILABILITY: NTV-PLUS / COSMOS-TV / AKADO
On April 20th Neo-Nazis and MONDAY–THURSDAY (13–16.04)
other white supremacists
plan to commemorate 120th I News: 00:00, 00:30; 00:45, 01:00, 01:30, 02:00, 02:30, 02:45, 03:00, 03:30, 04:00, 04:30, 04:45, 05:00, 05:30, 06:00,
06:30, 06:45, 07:00, 07:30, 08:00, 08:30, 08:45, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 10:45, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 12:45,
birthday anniversary of Adolf
13:00, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 14:45, 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, 16:45, 17:00, 17:30, 18:00, 18:30, 18:45, 19:00, 19:30,
Hitler and on April 22nd the
20:00, 20:30, 20:45, 21:00, 21:30, 22:00, 22:30, 22:45, 23:00, 23:30
birthday of Vladimir Ilyich
Lenin, the founder of Soviet- I Business: 00:21, 01:21, 02:21, 03:21, 04:21, 05:21, 06:21, 07:21, 08:21, 09:21, 10:21, 11:21, 12:21, 13:21, 14:21,
style Communism.
15:21, 16:21, 17:21, 18:21, 19:21, 20:21, 21:21, 22:21, 23:21
Is the crisis over?
Aleksey Ulyukaev,
First Deputy Chairman
of the Russian Central
Bank, is talking to
Al Gurnov on Spotlight.
I Sport: 00:46, 02:46, 04:46, 06:46, 08:46, 10:46, 12:46, 14:46, 16:46, 18:16, 20:46, 22:46
I XL Report: 01:31, 05:31, 09:31, 13:31, 17:31, 21:31
I Spotlight: 03:31, 07:31, 11:31, 15:31, 19:31, 23:31
I Weather: 00:28, 00:58, 01:28, 01:58, 02:28, 02:58, 03:28, 03:58, 04:28, 04:58, 05:28, 05:58, 06:28, 06:58, 07:28,
07:58, 08:28, 08:58, 09:28, 09:58, 10:28, 10:58, 11:28, 11:58, 12:28, 12:58, 13:28, 13:58, 14:28, 14:58, 15:28, 15:58,
16:28, 16:58, 17:28, 17:58, 18:28, 18:58, 19:28, 19:58, 20:28, 20:58, 21:28, 21:58, 22:28, 22:58, 23:28, 23:58
FRIDAY–SATURDAY (17–18.04)
I News: 00:00, 00:30; 00:45, 01:00, 01:30, 02:00, 02:30, 02:45, 03:00, 03:30, 04:00, 04:30, 04:45, 05:00, 05:30, 06:00,
06:30, 06:45, 07:00, 07:30, 08:00, 08:30, 08:45, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 10:45, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 12:45,
Under the initiative
13:00, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 14:45, 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, 16:45, 17:00, 17:30, 18:00, 18:30, 18:45, 19:00, 19:30,
of the President of the
Republic of Bulgaria
20:00, 20:30, 20:45, 21:00, 21:30, 22:00, 22:30, 22:45, 23:00, 23:30
a summit on “NATURAL GAS I Business: 00:21, 01:21, 02:21, 03:21, 04:21, 05:21, 06:21, 07:21, 08:21, 09:21, 10:21, 11:21, 12:21, 13:21, 14:21,
FOR EUROPE. SECURITY
15:21, 16:21, 17:21, 18:21, 19:21, 20:21, 21:21, 22:21, 23:21
AND PARTNERSHIP”
I
Sport: 00:46, 02:46, 04:46, 06:46, 08:46, 10:46, 12:46, 14:46, 16:46, 18:16, 20:46, 22:46
will take place on 24-25
of April 2009, in Sofia. I XL Report: 01:31, 05:31, 09:31, 13:31, 17:31, 21:31
I Spotlight: 03:31, 07:31, 11:31, 15:31, 19:31, 23:31
Kalmykia is situated in I Weather: 00:28, 00:58, 01:28, 01:58, 02:28, 02:58, 03:28, 03:58, 04:28, 04:58, 05:28, 05:58, 06:28, 06:58, 07:28,
07:58, 08:28, 08:58, 09:28, 09:58, 10:28, 10:58, 11:28, 11:58, 12:28, 12:58, 13:28, 13:58, 14:28, 14:58, 15:28, 15:58,
the south-east of Moscow.
Its people love chess more
16:28, 16:58, 17:28, 17:58, 18:28, 18:58, 19:28, 19:58, 20:28, 20:58, 21:28, 21:58, 22:28, 22:58, 23:28, 23:58
than football. This part of
Russia is Europe’s only SUNDAY (19.04)
Buddhist republic. Find out
more about Kalmykia from I News: 00:00, 00:30; 00:45, 01:00, 01:30, 02:00, 02:30, 02:45, 03:00, 03:30, 03:45, 04:00, 04:30, 04:45, 05:00, 05:30,
06:00, 06:30, 06:45, 07:00, 07:30, 07:45, 08:00, 08:30, 08:45, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 10:45, 11:00, 11:30, 11:45,
James Brown on RT.
Sports News presents
the most important events
in the world of sport,
covering competitions
from around the world.
12:00, 12:30, 12:45, 13:00, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 14:45, 15:00, 15:30, 15:45, 16:00, 16:30, 16:45, 17:00, 17:30, 18:00,
18:30, 18:45, 19:00, 19:30, 19:45, 20:00, 20:30, 20:45, 21:00, 21:30, 22:00, 22:30, 22:45, 23:00, 23:30, 23:45
I Sport: 00:46, 02:46, 04:46, 06:46, 08:46, 10:46, 12:46, 14:46, 16:46, 18:16, 20:46, 22:46
I XL Report: 01:31, 05:31, 09:31, 13:31, 17:31, 21:31
I In Context: 03:31, 07:31, 11:31, 15:31, 19:31, 23:31
I Weather: 00:28, 00:58, 01:28, 01:58, 02:28,02:58, 03:28, 03:58, 04:28, 04:58, 05:28, 05:58, 06:28, 06:58, 07:28, 07:58,
08:28, 08:58, 09:28, 09:58, 10:28, 10:58, 11:28, 11:58, 12:28, 12:58, 13:28, 13:58, 14:28, 14:58, 15:28, 15:58, 16:28,
16:58, 17:28, 17:58, 18:28, 18:58, 19:28, 19:58, 20:28, 20:58, 21:28, 21:58, 22:28, 22:58, 23:28, 23:58
Sport
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
21
SHOCK SACKING
Laudrup
out as
Spartak
struggle
By Andy Potts
The Moscow News
Karpin, who takes the reins as
caretaker “for the near future”, told
Sport Express on Wednesday that it
would be unfair to judge Laudrup
on the first four games of the season, adding: “We have total faith in
the Dane.”
But, having raised concerns about
the side’s attitude – especially when
they encountered problems on the
field – he changed his mind after a
second-half collapse saw them
knocked out of the Russian Cup and
ended their hopes of European football in 2009.
Karpin takes his side into a home
clash with Terek Grozny on Saturday (5:30 p.m.) after a performance that illustrated his concerns
about their attitude.
A bright start against a Dinamo
side missing two key defenders
through suspension had no end
product, and shot-shy Spartak had
run out of ideas long before
Alexander Kerzhakov, Dmitry
Khokhlov and Fyodor Smolov gave
the Blue-and-Whites their first away
win over their rivals in 20 years.
In the Russian Cup semi-finals
Dinamo, who share top spot in the
Premier League after overcoming
the first-half dismissal of Leandro
Fernandes to beat Rostov 1-0 last
Saturday, meet the winners of next
Wednesday’s Lokomotiv – CSKA
derby, with the Railwaymen looking
to avenge their 4-1 defeat in
Sunday’s league clash.
Before that, Loko have a tricky
home league match against Zenit St.
Petersburg on Sunday (2 p.m.).
CSKA face criticism from outspoken former coach Valery Gazzayev.
A long-standing opponent of foreign trainers in Russia, he
complained that his replacement,
Brazilian legend Zico, had totally
changed the team’s style “without
bringing success yet”. Zico has been
in charge for nine competitive
games, winning the Russian Super
Cup, and picking up four victories,
two draws and two defeats in the
UEFA Cup and the Premier League.
He takes his side to bottom club
Khimki on Sunday (4:30 p.m.).
On Sunday Dinamo travel to
defending champions Rubin Kazan
(7 p.m.), who reached the cup semis
with a 2-0 win over Sibir Novosibirsk,
while FK Moskva – 3-1 winners over
Spartak last time – go to Saturn
Ramenskoye (Sat., 3 p.m.). RIA NOVOSTI
A
3-0 home defeat to
city rivals Dinamo
saw Spartak Moscow
coach Michael Laudrup
sacked – just hours after
receiving a public vote of
confidence from the club’s
general director Valery
Karpin.
Faded Soviet-era arenas, like the Kirov Stadium in St. Petersburg, are to be replaced with gleaming modern venues
2018 BID
By Andy Potts
The Moscow News
S
ports Minister Vitaly
Mutko is a man with a
dream – he wants to see
FIFA bring the 2018 World
Cup to Russia, giving the
country its first shot at hosting a major international
football tournament.
Apart from putting on a big show,
Mutko’s report to the government last
week hoped the World Cup would
revitalise Russian tourism, transform
the nation’s regional infrastructure and
inspire the next generation of sporting
heroes to take up their preferred game.
It’s a tough ask: while Luzhniki successfully held the 2008 Champions
League Final, most of Russia’s club
grounds are crumbling Soviet-era concrete bowls where small crowds are
penned in primitive conditions.
With FIFA calling for up-to-date
venues holding at least 40,000 fans –
and requiring at least 10 of them in the
winning country, in at least nine different cities – Russia’s prospects seem
bleak.
In addition to Luzhniki, Moscow is
likely to have two or three more suitable
stadiums ready within the next four or
World Cup dreams
five years, and there are plans for new
grounds in St. Petersburg, Kazan (for
the 2013 World Student Games) and
Sochi (for the 2014 Olympics).
After that, things become a bit hazy.
“Recommended” developments in
Yaroslavl, Samara, Rostov-on-Don,
Krasnodar and Podolsk are still at the
planning stage, while possible stadiums
in Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov and
Kaluga are merely ideas. But the
Russian Football Union’s general director Alexei Sorokin remains confident
that any problems can be overcome.
“The only criterion at the moment
is that all the stadiums will be in the
European part of Russia,” Sorokin told
Sovietsky Sport last week. “We do not
have a final list yet.
“With regard to the lack of private
investors in certain planned stadiums,
this can occur at any time, and it is not
as difficult as it may seem. In Europe,
for example, many stadiums are
named after major corporations.”
The competition
It’s widely believed that FIFA will
award the 2018 World Cup to Europe,
which hasn’t hosted the world’s biggest
sporting event since Germany 2006. So
the claims of Australia, United States,
SPORTS SHORTS
Torpedo sunk
One of the most famous names in Russian football –
Torpedo Moscow – officially ceased to exist this week
after failing to convince the football authorities that it
had a viable management structure.
Vitaly Mutko, head of the Russian Football Union,
made it clear there was only one way back for the Black
and Whites, who had hoped to play in Division Two this
season.
“Of course Torpedo could return, but they have to
start from the bottom in the amateur leagues and climb
to the second division through sporting success,”
he told rfs.ru.
The club, which produced the so-called “Russian
Pele”, Eduard Streltsov, won three Soviet championships and six cups before the Iron Curtain rusted.
But in post-Communist times the team, long associated with the ZIL car plant, ran into financial difficulties
soon after winning the Russian Cup in 1993.
Sold by the factory and recreated as TorpedoLuzhniki, their fan base was split when Torpedo
Indonesia, Japan and Mexico seem
stronger for the 2022 games.
Three other European bids are set to
go toe-to-toe with Russia, though
FIFA’s reluctance to consider jointnation hosts will count against the
Belgium / Netherlands and Spain /
Portugal double acts.
So it’s likely that England, the home
of football, will be Russia’s closest rival.
With Premiership clubs regularly
housing 40,000-plus crowds in modern stadiums, can Russia’s ambitious
plans on paper compete with the allure
of Wembley, Old Trafford or Anfield?
Shots on target
The World Cup has never gone to
Eastern Europe, and recent years have
seen FIFA keen to push the boundaries
of the sport far beyond its traditional
heartlands.
For advertisers and sponsors, Russia
is a vast developing market similar to
China, which held the last Olympics.
The successful construction of two
brand new ice arenas for the 2007
hockey world championships showed
that Russia can develop the necessary
infrastructure – officials hope a successful Sochi Olympics in 2014 will
reinforce this point.
Metallurg (now FK Moskva) took over their traditional
Vostochnaya Ulitsa home. A further Torpedo brand –
Torpedo RG – started life in the lower leagues with backing from Rossiskaya Gazeta, and the original began a
slow decline from third in the 2000 championship to
relegation in 2006.
Dropping out of the first division into division two
(west) last year was the final straw.
The autoplant bought the team back for $1 but the
Russian Football Union is unconvinced that the new
owners can fund the squad for the upcoming season.
The Torpedo banner will instead be flown by TorpedoZIL, the new name for Torpedo-RG, who begin their season on Saturday at home to FC Dmitrov.
Potential banana skins
World Cup hosts South Africa and
Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine have
both run into difficulties delivering
ambitious construction programmes.
The football authorities might want
a “safe pair of hands” for the 2018
event.
The recession is already having
an impact on construction projects.
Dinamo Moscow have had to sell
a controlling stake in the club to
VTB bank to protect their new
stadium project; will other schemes
run into more serious financial problems?
The timetable
Formal bids were registered with
FIFA, world football’s governing body,
last month. The hopeful nations have
until May 14, 2010, to prepare a
detailed proposal, with the final
decision due to be announced in December 2010.
The odds
British bookmaker William Hill
makes England favourites to host the
2018 games at 6/4. They have Russia in
fourth place at 6/1, behind Australia
and the Iberian joint bid. and bringing a second major sporting trophy to the Tatar
capital following Rubin’s 2008 football championship
triumph.
Russia readies itself for title defence
Russia’s hockey team continues preparations for the
World Championships at the final stage of the Eurotour
this weekend. After playing Finland in Tampere on
Thurday the Russians face the Czech Republic on
Saturday and Sweden on Sunday, both in Liberec. The
squad, which will be reinforced by several Russians
playing in North America, as well as stars from play-off
finalists Ak Bars and Lokomotiv, begins its World
Championship defence in Bern on April 24 against
Germany.
Ak Bars lift cup
Ak Bars Kazan became the first winners of ice hock-
Krylya flying in play-offs
ey’s Gagarin Cup – appropriately on Cosmonauts’ Day –
with a 1-0 win against perennial bridesmaids Lokomotiv
Yaroslavl. Captain Alexei Morozov got the decisive goal
with 10 minutes left, handing Ak Bars a 4-3 final series
success in the Continental Hockey League’s first season
Krylya Sovietov Moscow have reached the final of the
Premier League Hockey play-offs – one level below the
KHL – after a 3-0 series win over Neftyanik Almetyevsk.
They will face either HK Dmitrov or Yurga Khantsy
Mantsisk in a best-of-five series starting on April 22.
22
Real Estate
ON THE MARKET
Low-quality
real estate
returns to
the market
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
their apartments off the market during the large price drops that
occurred in autumn-winter.
Since then, however, the owners have
come back to the market, lured by “predictions of stability in the real estate
market in the upcoming quarter”.
At the same time, according to
experts, because of the crisis, demand
in the capital’s housing market has
changed significantly – buyers’ interest has shifted in the direction of
high-quality, economy-class apartments, such as apartments in brick,
five-storey buildings and modern
prefabricated homes.
“This segment accounts for 77 per
cent of demand, therefore it is unlikely that the expectations of sellers of
By Ayano Hodouchi
The Moscow News
T
he supply of
lower-price-category apartments, such as
Khrushchyovka
-type flats and low-quality
paneled housing with
small rooms and a smaller
kitchen, rose sharply on the
secondary housing market
last week, according to a
study conducted from April
6 to 12 by the analytical
centre of the Incom real
estate agency. Prior to the
crisis, this category attracted the majority of home
buyers in Moscow.
The study showed that the volume
of ready housing on sale in Moscow
reached 41,000 offers, which was 5.4
per cent higher than for the period
from March 31 to 5 April. In the
Moscow region the volume of offers
increased 9 per cent to 25,400 properties.
“In view of housing in the capital,
the most active supply of apartments
has increased among the lower price
category,” said the company’s ana-
ADVERTISING
Hopes of stability bring budget housing back to the market
lysts. “Last week, 4,700 such apartments were offered for sale.”
The Moscow region also saw its
largest growth in supply in the lower
price price category, with the supply
of such apartments increasing by 20
to 30 per cent.
The analysts said the owners of
very cheap and, therefore, very lowquality housing in Moscow took
ADVERTISING
OLGA KIRSANOVA
More cheap
apartments may
lower asking
prices and
increase the time
it takes to sell
property
low-quality apartments for a quick
sale will be met,” the analysts said.
Moreover, experts said that the
large numbers of cheap and unmarketable apartments on the market
may further lower average offering
prices as well as increase the average
time it takes for a property to be sold.
Incom said the average cost of one
square metre of ready housing in
Moscow decreased by 2 per cent last
week to $5,900, or in roubles by 2.9
per cent to 199,000 roubles.
In the Moscow region the average
price for a square metre also decreased both in roubles (by 1 per
cent) and in dollars (by 0.1 per cent),
reaching 81,800 roubles or $2,440 per
square metre. I
Sex in the City
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
SEXPAT
Hit the road, Jack
By Deidre Dare
Special to The Moscow News
T
he King of Spades is
doing renovations.
Now, nothing bores me
more than renovations and
I’ve generally tried to keep out
of the way. However, one lovely
morning as we were having
coffee in bed at my place,
his Uzbek contractor phoned.
“Fuckers!” the KoS muttered in
anger after he’d hung up.
The police were trying to get into his
flat.
“What do they want?” I asked in
horror.
“Probably a bribe,” he answered.
“Let’s go to my flat.”
When the KoS has important Russian business to attend to, he likes me
to come along. Apparently, even though
no one really likes Americans, we are
still considered reliable and trustworthy (or, maybe just wealthy) as individuals and it helps the KoS conduct his
transactions if I’m sitting by his side
saying, “What’s happening now? What’s
going on? What’s she saying?”
Well, it turns out, it wasn’t the
police, it was JACK and we had to go
to the nearest JACK office and find an
inspector named Svetlana, the contractor informed us.
“What’s JACK?” I asked him as we
walked.
“You don’t want to know,” was all he
answered.
(ZhEK is the acronym commonly
used to describe the communal housing services department, I am now reliably informed.)
Svetlana turned out to be quite a
problem and my American-ness didn’t impress her at all. Conducting herself as if she were FSB, she grilled the
KoS relentlessly and accused him of
flooding the bank underneath his flat,
which was just not possible because the
work he was doing was purely cosmetic. She even asked him if his contractor was licensed, which, apparently, is
unheard of in Moscow, and which
enraged the KoS.
“You will admit it!” she shouted as
she called in “The Plumber”. Who this
guy was, I never determined (but he
looked as if he’d just gotten out of bed
and had scary looking scabs on his
face) because the KoS began shouting
and, knocking over benches in fury
and slamming some doors in wrath,
stormed out, with me following sheepishly after him in bewildered surprise.
More doors were slammed. People
were chasing us and shouting. It was a
melee.
Back to the apartment we went,
where the KoS told the contractor
NOT to let Sveta in no matter what
happened. As we left the flat and
entered the foyer of the building to go
to breakfast, there was a terrible
pounding on the outer door.
“Svetlana! I’m certain of it!” I whispered urgently.
Sure enough, it was her. As we
opened the door, she stomped past us
in a rage, shouting some more, and ran
up the stairs.
She was acting like one of Charlie’s
Angels. “I will find evidence!” she yelled
down to us. “I will investigate this
myself! You will not get away with it!”
“Remember your Zhivago?” the KoS
asked, turning to me quite calmly, but
with the usual laughing sneer he used
whenever that movie came up in conversation. I nodded.
(I had made him watch Dr. Zhivago
once. He had thought it a ridiculous
film, and called it a silly and typical
American interpretation of Russia.
I had demurred and blamed
Pasternak. He had just given me a bit
of a disgusted look that said,
“Pasternak! Please!”)
“The scene where he comes home
right after the Revolution and all these
Soviet petty officials are milling around
his mansion ordering people around
and calling them ‘Comrade’ and they
question him about his discharge
papers?” he reminded me. I nodded
again.
“That’s the mentality this woman
has. It’s because we let them get away
with it in 1917 that we have to put up
with this shit today.”
From upstairs we heard nothing but
silence.
“Well, the contractor let her in,”
I suggested, “or we’d hear her pounding on your door.”
“Fuckers,” the KoS said, and we
returned to the flat.
23
No Svetlana.
We stood around, perplexed and then
I heard her rushing down the stairs.
“She’s coming!” I warned.
When she reached the top of the
landing and saw that he was still there,
her entire attitude suddenly relaxed
and her face lit up with a smile. Then,
the KoS turned on the charm and
about five minutes later, she was eating out of his hand and was coquettishly complimenting him on his innovative renovations.
“I hear ya, Sister,” I muttered in
English, because I knew exactly how
she felt.
The whole thing reminded me of a
time when the KoS and I were in a
restaurant in the States and we’d had a
terrible fight because I had been talking to the valet parking attendant. Not
flirting mind you. Talking. The fight
had escalated to the point of shouting
and slamming and storming and the
KoS had left me at the bar with a vow
that he never wanted to see me again.
When I’d left the bar myself about
10 minutes later, forlorn and frustrated, there he was in a cab, waiting for
me and oozing that Kingly charm. The
relief was so great, all was immediately forgiven and I was amazed to find
myself apologizing to him.
It had worked with me. And it
worked with Svetlana of JACK, despite
the Bolshevik mentality.
Russian men play women like Garry
Kasparov plays chess.
And, take it from me, it feels so
gooooood.
xxoo DD
I Deidre Dare’s novel “Expat” can be read
online at: www.deidredare.com
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24
Local News
THE MOSCOW NEWS
№14 / 17 – 23 April 2009
Shades at night
“Eligible bachelor”
and photographer
Ja’bagh Kaghado
takes you behind the
scenes at fashion
weeks in Paris and
New York. p9
De Niro’s waiting...
RIA NOVOSTI
... his restaurant,
that is. The world
renowned chain Nobu,
part-owned by
the Hollywood star,
has opened
in Moscow. p14
‘The Master and Margarita’ inspired mural at Bulgakov House
BULGAKOV MUSEUM SPAT
I
n a bizarre court case
that could have easily
made the pages of
Mikhail Bulgakov’s best
known novel, “The Master
and Margarita”, a privately
operated Moscow museum
dedicated to the writer is
facing the confiscation of
its exhibits and possible disruption of its operations.
Moscow’s arbitration court recently
ruled that Alexander Morozov, who
lives in the same Garden Ring building
that houses the ground-floor Bulgakov
House Cultural Centre, is the rightful
owner of 6 million roubles’ worth of
the museum’s exhibits. Morozov has
said the items were stolen from him.
The museum plans to appeal the
ruling.
Nikolai Golubev, the museum’s
director, shrugged off the accusations
as absurd and unsubstantiated. “The
whole thing was so bizarre that we
weren’t even worried at the beginning,” he said. “[Morozov] just came
to the museum, took pictures of the
exhibits and claimed that they
belonged to him. From the viewpoint
of common sense, this is nonsense and
he is obviously lying.”
The museum building, located at 10
Bolshaya Sadovaya Ulitsa, was where
Bulgakov himself lived for several years
after moving to Moscow in the early
1920s. In “The Master and Margarita,”
he described the No. 50 apartment
where he stayed as the “Nekhoroshaya
A statue of Bulgakov is unveiled at the cultural centre
kvartira” or “Bad Apartment.” Bulgakov died in 1940, and only 25 years
later, when Soviet society’s ideological
restrictions were loosened, was the
novel first published in Russia. It
quickly earned a cult status, which later
turned into massive popularity all
around the world.
By the late 1980s, the “Bad Apartment” and the building itself had
RIA NOVOSTI
By Vladimir Kozlov
The Moscow News
RIA NOVOSTI
Devil in
the details
Mikhail Bulgakov, who once
lived in the contested flat
become the focus of pilgrimages by
Bulgakov’s fans. In the early 1990s, the
building, which used to host a design
bureau, stood half abandoned. Besides
hanging around the building’s hallways, some Bulgakov fans actually
moved into the apartment, which
turned into a kind of a squat. In the
meantime, ownership of the building,
which had both residential and commercial spaces, changed hands several
times. Dozens of squatters lived in
apartment No. 50 and apartment No. 6
until the authorities evicted them in
But if the appeal is rejected, the
the mid-1990s, after one of the apartmuseum could face financial troubles.
ments was reportedly damaged by fire.
The director said that Morozov’s motiIn 2000, some of the building’s resvation was money.
idents, including Morozov, formed
“He put his alleged losses at
The Foundation for the Preservation
$200,000, but that figure is absolutely
of the Bulgakov House. In 2004, a
random,” Golubev said. “He doesn’t
group of Bulgakov-loving entreprewant these exhibits, he wants cash.
neurs opened the Bulgakov House
What would come out of that? Our
Cultural Centre on the ground floor of
bank accounts would be frozen and we
the building at 10 Bolshaya Sadovaya
wouldn’t be able to properly operate.
Ulitsa. While it doesn’t have official staIt’s too bad that it is all happening at a
tus as a museum, it is open free to the
time of an economic downturn and no
public and provides guided tours.
one has any extra cash.”
Three years later, the state Bulgakov
“We would, in fact, like to help the
Museum was opened in the “Bad
cultural centre, but we don’t have that
Apartment.” It has sometimes been
authority – it’s not a government museconfused with Bulgakov House.
um,” Komsomolskaya Pravda reported
Komsomolskaya Pravda daily
Romuald Krylov-Iodko, deputy head
reported Morozov as saying in March
of the city’s cultural
that The Foundepartment, as saydation for the Preing. “In any case, it’s
servation of the
‘He doesn’t want very sad for the culBulgakov House
tural centre. In
was the original
those exhibits,
many ways they are
owner of the musehe wants cash.’
a lot more active
um’s antique collection. The paper
– Nikolai Golubev than our state museum,
which
reported him as
recently opened in the ‘Bad Apartment’
saying that the foundation once ran a
at No. 50 of the same building. It’s curchildren’s theatre. His wife, a former
rently at the stage of being set up, so it’s
actress, would sing for the children and
all rather difficult. If we receive all those
that their parents were so happy with
people who currently visit the cultural
the performances that they donated
centre, I’m afraid we won’t cope. For
the antiques en masse to the foundastarters, Golubev has well developed
tion, from where they were later stolen.
programmes and excursions. And secGolubev said he was certain that the
ondly, they have more space – we are
ruling was a court mistake. “We are
terribly cramped.”
preparing for an appeal,” he said. “In
Both Morozov and The Foundation
the meantime, the museum is operatfor the Preservation of the Bulgakov
ing as usual. Moreover, we are collectHouse were not available for coming new exhibits and are launching a
ment. The appeal is scheduled for April
theatre stage downstairs in the same
26 in the Moscow arbitration court. I
building.”
May Day distress
Gardeners are left in
the cold as calls for a
longer spring holiday
are rejected once
again. p17
Sport
Stuttering Spartak
sack sixth coach in six
seasons after a home
humbling at the
hands of Dinamo
dumps them out of the
Russian Cup. p21