- The Moscow Times

|
|
Since 1992 No. 5746 March LOOKING BACK
17–23
|
2016 WWW.THEMOSCOW TIMES.COM
looking back
foreigners’ affairs
The Next Battle
Kremlin Tricks?
Green Day
Russia may have saved Assad, but it
Fresh from Savchenko controversy,
The Irish ambassador talks chess,
a place at the top table. → Page 2
used for politics. → Page 3
celebrations. → Pages 12-13
needs to change its game if it wants
18+
Crimea,
Land of
Promises
Two years on, an isolated
peninsula struggles to find
its way → Pages 6, 11
pranksters say they are happy to be
sanctions and St. Patrick’s Day
2
Looking Back
9
years spent by Ramzan Kadyrov as head of
the republic of Chechnya.
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
“I’m saying that my time is up. There are lots of potential
successors in our team, there are very good professionals … It is
a peak for Kadyrov.” Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the republic of
Chechnya.
Kadyrov Forever
539Bln rubles
allocated to Chechnya from
2007 to 2015, according to
Caucasian Knot news.
By Daria Litvinova [email protected] | Twitter: @dashalitvinovv
Despite irritating Vladimir Putin, the Chechen leader will receive
the president’s crucial endorsement to stand for another term.
KREMLIN PRESS SERVICE
B
arely a month has gone by without a
controversy involving Chechen leader
Ramzan Kadyrov. In January, a Kadyrov associate published an Instagram picture
depicting Kadyrov with an aggressive dog
and the caption “Tarzan’s teeth are itching
to tackle [opposition leaders].” In early February, Kadyrov posted on Instagram an image
depicting opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov in the crosshairs of a rifle. This month, a
group of activists and journalists were brutally beaten up, reportedly by Chechens under
his control, in the republic of Ingushetia.
The Ingushetia attack did not go unnoticed by the authorities. Russian President
Vladimir Putin personally ordered that the
Interior Ministry “find and punish those at
fault.”
Kadyrov’s term as head of the republic of
Chechnya expires on April 5, and he will need
Putin’s endorsement in order to be victorious
in September’s elections. Some speculated
that the latest developments would adversely
affect his chances, and so far Putin has not
publicly commented on his reappointment.
“It is certainly unusual,” admits leading
opposition politician and Kadyrov nemesis Ilya Yashin. “Putin usually announces
these things months before terms expires.”
According to Yashin, Putin has, in fact, refused to see the Chechen leader in person
for some time. “It’s making Kadyrov nervous,” Yashin says.
However, a source familiar with the situation told The Moscow Times that approximately two weeks ago Kadyrov was reassured
by officials he would keep his seat as Chechen
“To our knowledge, Putin has not held a meeting
with Kadyrov in a while now.” — Ilya Yashin
leader. “There are no doubts that Kadyrov will
be reappointed,” confirms another source
close to the Kremlin.
In early March, Kadyrov claimed he might
not run for another term, adding that he
would accept any decision made about him.
But that appears to have been nothing more
than a bravado. “Kadyrov never intended to go,
and certainly would know if a real plan to replace him existed,” says a source close to the
Russian authorities.
Despite reports that his relationship with
Putin suffered following the murder of Boris
Nemtsov, the Chechen leader has maintained
close ties to certain Kremlin officials.
Besides, replacing Kadyrov would have presented a challenge to the system on every level.
First, he is Putin’s achievement. “Kadyrov is a symbol of pacification following the
Chechen War. Ending this war is Putin’s most
important accomplishment. If he dismisses
Kadyrov, he disavows his own success,” Maxim
Shevchenko, editor of the Kavpolit.ru online
news outlet, told The Moscow Times.
Second, Kadyrov keeps the region in check
for the Kremlin. “Too much has been built up to
fit a certain person at leadership there. If he’s
replaced, the system would start crumbling,”
says Igor Kalyapin, head of the Committee for
Prevention of Torture, one of the few human
rights organizations still operating in Chechnya. “Kadyrov, unfortunately, can’t be replaced
now. The system needs to be rebuilt first, which
would take two or three years at least — that is
if someone even wants to do it, which does not
look to be the case,” he said.
Kadyrov has also made clear that any outside intervention into the region would be
problematic. “When federal law enforcement
came to Chechnya to interrogate someone,
they were greeted by Kadyrov’s fighters,” says
political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin. “This is a
serious problem for state institutions.”
The Chechen leader, according to his own
Instagram post, has 70,000 trained volunteer
fighters at his disposal.
Kadyrov’s re-election is scheduled for this
fall, along with parliamentary elections. His
next term will be counted as his first, because
the latest legislation, initiated by Putin, resets
the count of regional governors’ terms.
Those who didn’t understand that Kadyrov
is here for the longterm — if not forever — will,
after April 5. TMT
The Moscow Times
No. 5746 (10)
March 17 – 23, 2016
—
Editor-in-Chief Mikhail Fishman
Production Manager Igor Grishin
Advertising Director Maria Kamenskaya
[email protected]
Director Elena Stepanova
© Copyright 2016, The Moscow Times.
All Rights Reserved. This publication
is registered by the Federal Service for
Media Law Compliance and Cultural
Heritage, ПИ No. ФС77-62664
—
Founder and publisher OOO Moscowtimes
—
Founder’s, publisher’s and editorial
address 3 Polkovaya Ul., Bldg. 1, Moscow 127018
Editorial telephone +7 (495) 234 3223
Fax +7 (495) 232 6529
Advertising Sales telephone +7 (495) 232 4774
Fax +7 (495) 232 1764
Distribution telephone +7 (495) 232 1750
Internet www.themoscowtimes.com
—
The views expressed in the opinion
columns do not necessarily reflect the
position of The Moscow Times.
—
Любое воспроизведение материалов
или их фрагментов на любом языке
возможно только с письменного
разрешения редакции.
—
Время подписания в печать по графику
19:30, фактическое 21:06.
Заказ № 160556.
—
Отпечатано в ООО «Первый
полиграфический комбинат», 143405,
Московская область, Красногорский
район, п/о «Красногорск-5»,
Ильинское шоссе, 4 км
—
Тираж 55 000 Цена свободная
—
Cover Illustration by Galina Gubchenko
Mission Incomplete: Syria Has Not
Achieved Bipolar World for Russia
P
erhaps the best way to describe the results of Russia’s military intervention in Syria after President Vladimir Putin’s
surprise announcement that he was winding it down after
167 days of intense air strikes would be to borrow a term from
American football — “incomplete.”
Putin’s plunge into Syria’s fierce civil war was never about
winning. The military capabilities that Russia deployed were
clearly insufficient. Rather, it was about deploying military power to achieve limited political objectives which prior to that Moscow had unsuccessfully sought to secure through diplomacy.
One was to prevent defeat of an old ally by shoring up Syrian
President Bashar Assad’s regime in his fight against foreign supported opposition and jihadi groups. Part of this objective was
to block West-led military interference in Syria to create no-fly
zones or humanitarian havens.
Russian intervention has indeed changed the trajectory of the
war and allowed Assad to consolidate control over most of western Syria. It has weakened moderate opposition forces, ending
their military momentum. But it has not produced a decisive victory for the regime. Putin helped Assad fight the war to a standstill and drag the parties to the negotiating table. The intervention reached the point of diminishing returns.
This situation is reversible and Assad’s position is not secure. Of course, Russia could quickly surge again were the partial
cease-fire to collapse — it keeps sizable assets at two large bases,
but it would be humiliating and costly.
If Putin had not secured an understanding with the opposition’s main backers Saudi Arabia and Qatar that their clients
would respect the truce and negotiate in good faith, his entire
strategy is based on hope. It is also unclear whether Assad will
abide by Moscow’s demands that he negotiates a power-sharing
arrangement with the opposition.
Putin has had more success with his second objective — to
end Russia’s diplomatic isolation over Ukraine. Russia’s willingness to use military force where the United States was disinclined helped resurrect Russian-U.S. cooperation, as Moscow all
of a sudden provided Washington with a strategy it was lacking.
The U.S.-Russia partial cease-fire agreement for Syria perfectly
reflects Moscow’s traditional vision for such settlements — the
two superpowers dictating terms to their proxies. The strategic
goal of the Syrian gambit, to revive the bipolar format of RussianU.S. cooperation and rivalry for influence that existed during the
Cold War, has almost been reached, as U.S. Secretary of State Kerry’s upcoming trip to Moscow attests.
By Vladimir Frolov
Political analyst
Yet, this mission is incomplete. It is obvious that the Kremlin
would like to make Syria a template not only for bilateral relations with the United States, but also to develop new rules of the
game in a broader sense. As Foreign Minister Lavrov indicated in
a television interview on March 13, Moscow would have preferred
to settle the Donbass conflict bilaterally with the United States.
It is not entirely far-fetched. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria
Nuland and Putin’s aide Vladislav Surkov have discussed replacing separatist leaders with Ukrainian oligarchs Rinat Akhmetov
and Yury Boiko — as acceptable both to Kiev and Moscow. The
West, however, has not contemplated any Ukraine sanctions relief for Russia in recognition of Moscow’s role in Syria.
If Moscow’s dream of a “new bipolarity” with Washington
were to gain any traction, the Kremlin would have to jettison
its zero-sum approach and start showing some buy-in a shared
agenda, jointly developing solutions as opposed to gaining leverage by making itself first part of the problem. A good way to start
would be to finally turn Russia’s military sights on IS in Syria,
and, perhaps, Iraq and Libya. Putin justified his Syria intervention by the need to defeat Islamic State — a terror group banned
in Russia — and even called for an international coalition. Six
months later, this task remains incomplete. TMT
YEVGENY PARFYONOV
READING THE KREMLIN
Looking Back
March 17 – 23, 2016
30,000-50,000
“Putin has more important things
to do right now, that’s why we’re
not prank-calling him.” Alexei
Stolyarov, aka Lexus.
rubles earned, on average, by
Vovan and Lexus for pulling
their pranks.
Happy to Be a Weapon
In the Kremlin’s Hands
By Daria Litvinova [email protected] | Twitter: @dashalitvinovv
Pranksters Vovan and Lexus continue pro-Moscow antics with fake Poroshenko letter.
T
President on Call
Kuznetsov, a 30-year-old lawyer, and Stolyarov, a 28-year-old
economist, say they began making prank calls over a decade
ago. In the early days, they would call Russian celebrities such
as actor Mikhail Boyarsky or flamboyant crooner Boris Moiseyev, “just for the fun of it.”
opportunities: “We can sell a recording to a media outlet, or
go on a talk show for a fee, though the income is not regular.”
Suspicions Mount
aLBina ShaiMuraToVa
he two young men are clearly enjoying their moment.
“It’s BBC calling, Vova, answer it,” says Alexei Stolyarov,
aka “Lexus.” He passes his cell phone to Vladimir
Kuznetsov, aka “Vovan,” who takes the call with a smile on his
face — “Yes, how about we prank someone from Europe next?
Or Obama.” Kuznetsov gestures to two Italian correspondents
from La Repubblica newspaper to wait at the neighboring cafe
table in the for their turn to get the story.
Prankster duo Kuznetsov and Stolyarov made international
news when they sent a fake letter from Ukrainian President
Petro Poroshenko to Nadezhda Savchenko, the Ukrainian officer controversially being tried for murder in Russia. Savchenko
was starting her sixth day of a dry hunger strike on March 10,
but the letter, written supposedly from the Ukrainian supreme
commander, urged her to stop.
Savchenko ended her hunger strike, but her lawyers later
discovered Poroshenko had never, in fact, written such a letter.
The pranksters confessed, provoking outrage from the lawyers.
The stunt was but the latest of a series of high-profile
pranks. In September, they tricked singer Elton John into believing he was talking to President Vladimir Putin. Then, they
spoke to Poroshenko “on behalf of” the Russian ambassador
to Ukraine. And then they claimed to have spoken to Turkish
President Recep Erdogan, pretending to be Poroshenko.
Even though the duo were quick to claim responsibility on
all three occasions, Russian security services made no intervention. This relaxed approach has led some to suggest they
were working under arrangement by the Kremlin.
The pranksters deny it, and say their careers are exclusively
media in nature. “We are now on staff at a major national television channel,” Kuznetsov says, before revealing they are launching their own television show in April. He refused to specify
which channel was hiring them, though it might be useful to
note that the duo frequently turn up for state-run, pro-Kremlin
channels Channel 1, Rossia, NTV and RT, among others.
Lexus (left) and Vovan (right) say they do not work on order, but
make no disguise of their pro-Kremlin politics.
Kuznetsov eventually landed a job at a tabloid magazine.
His prank-calling helped him get exclusive information from
celebrities, but he quit after three years. “I got tired of the
show-business stuff. Same faces, same scandals, same dirt,”
he says.
The two have been working together since 2014, and they
quickly became involved in politics — “it’s more important
to know the truth about politicians these days than anyone
else.”
Kuznetsov and Stolyarov proudly admit that they have four
presidents in their “collection.” In addition to Poroshenko and
Erdogan, they say they have fooled both Moldovan President
Nicolae Timofti, pretending to be former Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili, and Belorussian leader Alexander Lukashenko, pretending to be the son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Lukashenko was, apparently, ready
to provide asylum to the ousted Yanukovych.
Experts and officials say it is not easy to call a president,
but the pranksters disagree. “Not all presidents have secure
phone lines, and we often get help from their assistants and
aides,” Kuznetsov says. “Timofti uses a regular cell phone for
example, and we got the number from his spokesman.”
The pranksters say that “many people” offer money for
their services to settle political scores, but they “always refuse
on principle.” Meanwhile, there are plenty of other earning
Easy access to presidents and the obviously pro-Kremlin nature of their stunts have prompted much speculation that
Kuznetsov and Stolyarov are, in fact, Kremlin stooges under instruction.
If true, such an arrangement would fall into a trend of Russian authorities using different trolling techniques to undermine opponents. Right after the mass protest rallies in 2011,
journalists and activists noticed a growing number of proKremlin commentators posting similar or identical comments
— they became known as “Kremlinbots.” In June 2015, The New
York Times found a large organization in St. Petersburg that
was employing dozens of these commentators.
Mark Feygin, the lawyer caught out by the fake Poroshenko
letter, has publicly said that the pranksters were operating as
part of a special operation launched by Russian law enforcement. “There is nothing to discuss. It is clear where they got
the phone numbers and who’s behind them,” Feygin told The
Moscow Times. He says the aim was to discredit Savchenko
and her defense team; in the latter, they certainly succeeded.
Vovan and Lexus deny working for the Kremlin, but their arguments seem strange. “If we worked with the FSB, we would
have spent months on approving the plan about Savchenko, and
she would have been out by then,” Kuznetsov said.
On March 12, Feygin promised to file a formal complaint
to the Prosecutor General’s Office. “They forged a state document. It’s a huge deal,” he told The Moscow Times. Kuznetsov
and Stolyarov responded almost immediately, saying they had
a lawyer of their own to protect their interests.
In the meantime, Kuznetsov and Stolyarov say they plan to
continue playing tricks on politicians. One man, however, is off
limits. The pranksters have a firm, pro-Kremlin position, they
say, and “respect the president.”
“We’d like to meet Putin if anything,” says Kuznetsov. “We
don’t want to be a weapon in the hands of Russia’s enemies.”
But are they fine with being a weapon in the hands of the
Kremlin?
“Why not, if it’s in line with what we feel,” Kuznetsov
says. TMT
4
Looking Forward
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
$5-6M
“You had fraudsters [running things]. We’re here so you don’t
have them again.” Roman Rubanov, director of Alexei Navalny’s
anti-corruption fund.
current average offer for Barvikha property.
prices have halved in the economic crisis.
weekly forecast*
Top-level
politicians and
businessmen
call Barvikha
home. A
group of six
anti-corruption campaigners are
running in the
local elections
this April.
m2, Ruble, GDP
oleg repchenko
head of real estate analytic firm irn
The average price of apartments in
Moscow as of March 14 stands at
166,700 rubles ($2,324) per square meter.
ruBlevKa.ru
Since the beginning of the year, ruble prices for Moscow
housing has dropped by 6 percent.
By the end of the year, the decline in ruble prices for Moscow real estate will reach 10-15 percent compared to the end
of last year. In money terms, prices will fall to 150,000–160,000
rubles ($2,100-2,200) per square meter.
Meanwhile, the pace of price drop may vary throughout
the year, and sometimes may even show a slight rebound
to 170,000-180,000 rubles ($2,400-2,500) per square meter.
However, it is very difficult to predict the exact periods of rebounds, because a great deal depends on changes in the macroeconomic and geopolitical situation, as well as on the ruble.
Breaking Through
The Walls
Maxim Korovin
currency analyst at vTB capital
The dynamics of the ruble are primarily
determined by fluctuations in the
oil market, which will remain quite
volatile for the next several months.
Oil prices now show an upward trend on the back of the news
of a slight decline in production in the United States and expectations from the meeting of major oil-exporting countries.
Meanwhile, the oil supply currently exceeds demand in the
market, which may contribute to consolidation of the market,
given the increase in oil prices of approximately 30 percent
since mid-February. However, it is important to take into account the beginning of the tax period, which often leads to an
increase in the sales of foreign exchange earnings to exporters, supporting the ruble in the short term.
sergei romanchuk
head of aci russia
In 2015 Russian GDP showed a
significant drop and the main question
is whether this decline will continue.
This depends on many factors. Most importantly the global
oil price and the willingness of authorities to enact reforms to
stimulate the economy.
Thus far, the government’s focus has been on external political events, not the economy. However, GDP decline will be
not as sharp as last year — around 1 percent. Next year or the
year after, GDP could show growth of 1 percent. But Russia’s
role in the world economy will continue to fall as such growth
is insufficient to influence the world economy significantly.
Also, such growth means the real wages of Russians, which
have already fallen by 9.5 percent in 2015, will continue to fall.
* This secTion does noT involve The reporTing of The Moscow TiMes ediTorial sTaff
By peter hobson [email protected] | Twitter: @peterhobson15
anti-corruption campaigners stand for election
in the heartland of the elite.
A
few miles west of Moscow, the road begins to be lined
with walls. There are brick walls, stone walls, concrete walls, tall walls, and some very tall walls. Here
and there, a gothic tower or a pillared facade peeks over
the top.
These are the walls of Barvika — the Russian Beverly Hills.
Even in Soviet times, this stretch of the Rublyovskoye
Shosse was dotted with dachas for top officials and intellectuals. And since the 1990s, the Russian elite have crowded
here. A few miles further along the road is President Vladimir Putin’s Novo-Ogaryovo estate. Proximity to power has
attracted oligarchs and top officials.
“Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Aeroflot chief Vitaly Savelyev, Senator
Dmitry Sablin — It’s the same people that we’re always investigating,” says Ivan Zhdanov, a lawyer at the anti-corruption fund led by opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Zhdanov and his colleagues are on the attack. They have
come to Barvikha to launch an audacious election campaign,
right in the beating heart of the Russian establishment.
The anti-corruption fund is in total fielding a team of six
in local elections set for April. If any of them are elected to
the 10-seat municipal government, they will gain influence
over the regional budget and land decisions.
“It would increase our ability to directly fight corruption,”
says Roman Rubanov, the director of the fund. Dodgy land
deals and avoidance of property taxes are rife in these parts,
he says: “We’ll force them to pay.”
The campaign will provide the first real test of the Kremlin’s new domestic strategy. Earlier this month, ahead of nationwide elections later this year, authorities removed top
election officials accused of overseeing fraud during previous votes, signaling that this year’s elections should be perceived as more honest.
With the campaign in Barvikha, Navalny tests the authorities’ nerve. They face a choice, Navalny wrote on his
website: “Either allow honest elections and risk getting
some investigative deputies in their backyard, or use traditional means of dealing with undesirable deputies, and end
hopes of fairer elections.”
Traditionally, “undesirable deputies” are removed from
the elections before a ballot is cast. Rubanov himself submitted his papers to take part in election officials on March
15. They were legally immaculate, he says, “but as always,
it’s a political decision whether they register or not.” He has
no idea which way it will go.
Regional politics in Barvikha are oiled with money.
Threats, bribes and physical violence are commonplace, says
Konstantin Gavrikov, an activist local politician. In 2007,
Valery Yakovlev, a former local government official overseeing property sales, was blown up in his Lexus on the main
road.
But alongside the money — Barivkha is the richest rural
region in Russia — lives an impoverished class. Very little
money filters down to locals who aren’t part of the elite.
When Rubanov and Zhdanov, dressed in shirts and ties,
went knocking on doors, they found plenty of resentment
to tap into: “It’s out of control — we live our lives along
walls,” says Elena, 49, standing in her immaculate pink
hallway beneath a small icon of an orthodox saint. “This
place is full of palaces,” says Maria, 39, at the doorway of another apartment. “But they won’t pay for insulin for my diabetic baby.”
Even if they are barred from running, Rubanov said their
appearance had energized the election and local politics.
There has been a rush of candidates registering to run, he
said. “We have decreased the chances that pro-government
or mafia candidates will get elected.” TMT
Looking Forward
March 17 – 23, 2016
68Bln rubles
“NATO has been developing actively of late and coming
closer to our borders, and Russia is of course responding
to these developments.” Dmitry Rogozin, deputy prime
minister
of funding allocated to the
Black Sea Fleet through 2020.
15
5
Number of new combat
ships added to the Black Sea
Fleet in 2015.
Sky, Land and Sea
By Matthew Bodner [email protected] | Twitter: @mattb0401
Two years of investment has seen Russia re-emerge as the dominant Black Sea power.
F
rom a military point of view, Russia’s ground operation
to annex Crimea in 2014 was an exceptionally clean affair, and gave ample opportunity to demonstrate the
fruits of Moscow’s military modernization efforts. But for Russia’s famed Black Sea Fleet, the most tactically relevant action
it could take was to deny Ukrainian ships from setting to sea by
scuttling one of its oldest and rustiest cruisers to the mouth of
a channel.
Despite efforts since 2008 to upgrade Russia’s aging Sovietbuilt military, the Black Sea Fleet in 2014 was a decrepit shell of
the once great outfit. Under agreement, independent Ukraine
allowed Russia to keep ships in Crimea after the fall of the Soviet Union, but it largely prevented additional Russian vessels
from being added. Much of that fleet spent 25 years rusting
away at their moorings, and many doubted the fleet was capable of combat.
This led to military stagnation in Crimea, but the arrangement was tolerated in Moscow for years. This changed with
the rise of the Maidan protest movement in Kiev. As a proWestern government formed there, the Kremlin could no longer be sure its basing agreements in Crimea would be honored.
In the two years since annexation, the fleet’s fortune and
capabilities have profoundly changed. Moscow has wasted little time in diverting resources to rejuvenating the fleet, adding around a dozen combat vessels since 2014, and Sevastopol
is now a major hub of Russian military and geopolitical power
projection.
tank. “From Sevastopol, the Russian navy can pretty much control all approaches and dominate the region vis-a-vis Turkey.”
This line of thinking was enshrined in the latest draft of
Russia‘s national naval doctrine, released on July 2015. The document envisions a reinvigorated presence in the Black Sea, allowing Russian ships to reestablish lost footholds in the southern Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and through the Suez
Canal. In the document, Russia says its aim is to wield influence abroad and resist NATO encroachment.
These ambitions were enabled largely by the annexation of
Crimea. Although Russia was developing an alternate naval facility at its Black Sea coastal city of Novorossiisk, this position
lacks the centrality that makes Crimea strategically valuable.
With the penisula firmly in Russian hands, Sevastopol now
acts as a forward operating base, supported from behind by
Novorossiisk.
In this capacity, transport ships from the Black Sea Fleet
have been used to deliver goods from Novorossiisk to the Russian naval facility at Tartus on the Syrian Coast, says Maxim
Shepovalenko, a former Russian naval officer, now an expert at
the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
This route, known as the Syrian express, is a vital line of
supply for Russia‘s military operation in Syria. But the arrangement between Sevastopol and Novorossiisk is even more significant in that it allowed the Russian navy to develop a layered defense arrangement incorporating naval aircraft and
ground-based defense units, Shepovalenko says.
The ultimate decision to annex Crimea from Ukraine may have
been a largely emotional and political one, but the strategic
significance of the Black Sea Fleet’s Sevastopol headquarters
provided Russian decision makers with a concrete rationale to
seize the peninsula. Whoever controls Crimea can easily assert
a dominant position across the entire Black Sea region, which
is home to several NATO member states and former Soviet republics that Moscow hopes to keep in its orbit.
“If you look at a map, you can see that Crimea sits right there
in the middle of the Black Sea,” says Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg, an
expert on the Russian navy at the Virginia-based CNA think
The creation of a “defense in depth” arrangement in the Black
Sea kicked into high-gear two months after Crimea’s annexation. In May 2014, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced
that 68 billion rubles ($957 million) would be diverted from a
700 billion ruble ($9.84 billion) modernization budget to overhaul the fleet. Officials at the time claimed it would buy the
Black Sea Fleet some 80 new ships. That number is undoubtedly misleading, as it also counts tugboats among the new assets.
Rearmament takes time, especially when talking about
ships. The first deliveries of new vessels to the Black Sea were
completed by the end of 2014, with two Improved Kilo-class
Strategic Pillar
Re-Militarization
diesel-electric submarines inducted into the fleet. Two more
Improved Kilo-class subs were delivered in 2015, and a final two
submarines are scheduled for delivery this year.
In total, the Black Sea Fleet received around 15 vessels of various sizes and classes, according to data collected by CAST. In
addition to the submarines, these included seven patrol boats
and two missile corvettes.
The heavier surface combatants are expected to go into service with the fleet later this year, and include three brand-new
Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates. Three more are on the way,
but an unintended consequence of Russia’s war with Ukraine
has been the loss of Ukrainian engine deliveries for the large
ships, leading to delays. And an additional 15 new missile corvettes are expected by 2020, according to CAST.
When judged by size, the beefing up of the Black Sea Fleet
may appear to be anti-climactic to citizens of Western nations
that field large navies comprised of increasingly large and
complex ships — such as the United States. But what makes
the modernized capabilities of the Black Sea Fleet noteworthy
is the key capability shared by the Kilo-class submarines, the
Grigorovich-class frigates, and small missile corvettes: they all
serve as launch platforms for Russia’s brand-new Kalibr land
attack cruise missiles.
The Kalibr turned heads in October 2015, when Russia’s Caspian Flotilla launched a major salvo of the new cruise missiles
from the Caspian Sea to hit alleged terrorist groups in Syria.
The strike demonstrated that Russia now has long-range guided attack capabilities, which it previously lacked.
In addition to the new ships, Russia’s has stepped up landbased defenses. Missile and coastal defense systems now cover
the peninsula, and new fighter and bomber wings are stationed at Crimean airfields.
The net result of this activity is simple: in two years Russia
has created an elaborate defensive zone covering Crimea and
most of the Black Sea region. With this net, it can both throw
its weight around the neighborhood and seriously deter any
potential foe from entering the Black Sea.
With even heavier additions on their way, Russia is on track
to reassert itself as the dominant naval power in the Black Sea
region. TMT
Russian naval and air defense positions
Kaliningrad (Baltic Fleet)
2
Attack submarines
55
Warships
Air defenses
500
km
Russia
Sepal coastal defense system
km
NATO members
Crimea (Black Sea Fleet)
4
Submarines
45
Warships
Iskander missile system, deployed
at short notice as part of Russian
military exercises.
400
S-400 air defense system
450
km
km
300
200
km
Bastion, Bal and Sepal coastal
defense systems
Ships from Black Sea Fleet
patrol off Syrian coast
S-400 air defense system
Source: IISS, Russianships.info, Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies
Coastal defenses, deployed at short
notice as part of Russian military
exercises.
450
S-300 air defense system
Latakia
Coastal defenses
400
km
km
6
Russian Tales
“Crimea will be part of Russia
forever, whatever anyone else
might be planning.” Sergei
Aksyonov, Crimean prime minister.
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
43.5Bln
rubles of federal subsidies
go to Crimea’s 2016 budget
70%
Western sanctions restrict investment
in companies and infrastructure,
tourism services such as the docking
of cruise ships and goods and
technology imports to Crimea.
Crimea’s dependence on
Ukrainian energy before
the blackout.
Crimea’s
international
isolation has
had obvious
consequences
on day-today life. Water
and electricity
shortages are
commonplace, but
few are ready
to place the
blame at Russian President
Vladimir
Putin’s door.
Dreams in Isolation
By Eva Hartog [email protected], Twitter: @EvaHartog | Photos by Sergei Melikhov
Two years after annexation, a bright future still eludes Crimea.
D
ZHANKOI, SIMFEROPOL, KERCH, Crimea — The soldiers carry assault rifles and stand guard, some of
them wearing black balaclavas to protect their faces.
No more than 100 meters and a bridge separate them from
the nearest Ukrainian positions. There, against the gray sky,
a blue and yellow flag flickers above a makeshift hut.
The Chongar-Dzhankoi bridge crossing is one of Crimea’s
three land connections with the Ukrainian mainland. It was
here that so-called “self-defense” vigilante groups, backed by
Russian troops, set up camp in February 2014. And it is here
that one of the world’s most disputed borders begins.
Two years on, a referendum “held at gunpoint,” and a
controversial annexation later, few expect this border to be
redrawn any time soon. Most of the soldiers working around
it say there is little to do.
“It’s quiet now,” says one of the Russian guards as I pass
the checkpoint.
Menace, on the other hand, seems yet to fully disappear
from these muddy fields. As the conversation moves to an
interrogation room, three guards ask what this article will
be about.
“You’d better be positive in what you write,” one says.
Blame
A surprisingly tender depiction of Vladimir Putin greets
travelers arriving at Simferopol’s main transport hub.
“Crimea. Russia. Forever,” the billboard’s slogan reads. Putin’s face is everywhere here: on notebooks, posters, mugs
and passport holders.
The undeniable trials that locals have been through during the past year have left Putin’s image largely untarnished.
A buffer zone roughly 1 kilometer wide separates
Russian border control from Ukrainian positions
Neither power, water and supply shortages have turned
them against the Kremlin.
The complaints you hear on Simferopol’s streets are instead
aimed against local officials. Since most Crimean public officials also served the Ukrainian regime before the annexation,
continuing inefficiency and corruption is excused as a legacy
of the old, rather than a new development. Things are bad, but
hardly Moscow’s fault, the argument goes.
Meanwhile, reports of continuing bloodshed in eastern
Ukraine serve as a reminder of what could have awaited the
peninsula had it not been “rescued.” “People believe Putin
saved Crimea from war,” said 25-year-old Svetlana at a café
in central Simferopol. “No matter how difficult life here gets,
it is always better than what could have been.”
In some respects, life for Crimea’s 2 million residents became easier in its second year following annexation. Many
of Crimea’s famously potholed roads have received a fresh
layer of tarmac, with the authorities investing billions of rubles in upgrading its infrastructure.
Less time is being spent in lines. By now, most residents
are in possession of a Russian passport, health insurance
and Russian license plates for their cars. But as the mountain of red tape nears its end, hopes of a quick fix to the peninsula’s problems have also begun to dwindle.
Along with Russian citizenship, Crimeans have also inherited Western sanctions and a ruble tied to dropping oil
prices.
Back in 2014, pensioners represented one of the strongest
groups in favor of annexation. Nostalgic memories of youth
and ruble pensions were enough to persuade most that life
would be better. Yet many locals now complain that their
Moscow pensions have been countered by Moscow prices.
“My life is pretty much identical to what it was [under
Ukraine,]” said Olga, a woman in her early sixties.
She was initially excited, she says, when annexation almost doubled her pension to 8,000 rubles. But food prices in
Crimea have also doubled over the past two years, according
to state statistics, and overall inflation has been around 80
percent.
“Whether under Russia or Ukraine, I still can’t afford to replace the windows in my home to keep out the cold,” she says.
Continued on Page 11 →
Weekly round-up of all
that’s new, delicious and
fun in Moscow.
Erwin’s decor
is just the
right side
of Moscow
ostentation,
which makes
it a great
place for a
celebration.
But it’s not all
appearances.
The seafood
may be the
best in town.
ERWIN. REKAMOREOKEAN
Out & About
7
March 17 – 23, 2016
Erwin. RekaMoreOkean Makes a Splash
By Ruth Moore [email protected] | Twitter: @ruth_skii
S
ituated at the foot of Hotel Ukraina with a
view across the river to the Russian White
House, Erwin has reopened with a new concept and an extended name “RekaMoreOkean”
(River, Sea, Ocean). The restaurant is out to prove
that despite Moscow’s landlocked location, the
capital is punching above its weight when it
comes to fresh and flavorsome seafood.
Erwin’s facelift is the latest venture of illustrious restaurateur Alexander Rappoport, a man
whose list of previous projects reads like who’s
who of high-end Moscow dining. Talented Yana
Pershina, formerly a chef at Novikov’s GQ Bar,
Quality seafood in central Moscow
heads up the kitchen. Pass two heavies, an enormous mythical seahorse sculpture and an army of
glittering hostesses to enter the dining room. So
far, so Moscow.
In the main room, a pillar surrounded by a
shoal of free-hanging metal fish and a statue
of Poseidon in swimming trunks battle for your
attention alongside a mountainous podium displaying Erwin’s choicest seafood. Noble langoustines, prawns of all shapes and sizes and an enormous crab nestle abed a mound of ice, replenished
hourly basis by members of the waitstaff.
You can forgive Erwin its ostentation when
the kitchen takes its seafood so seriously. The restaurant sources 90 percent of its produce from
Russian seas, lakes and rivers, with most of the
remainder coming from Japan.
Start with stroganina, the Russian version of
sashimi or ceviche made from sterlet, a type of
Eurasian sturgeon, omul from lake Baikal or shellfish from Murmansk. The thinly sliced frozen fish is
delicately and artistically presented and the freezing process allows the fish to retain a wonderful
depth of flavor. A caviar bar offers whitefish, salmon and sturgeon caviar from reasonable to eyewatering prices. Alternatively, order Kamchatka
crab and langoustines from the “Crab, Crayfish,
Prawn” menu.
Mains are divided between “River” or “Sea”
depending on their provenance. Try the parchment-wrapped dorado with roasted vegetables or
plaice from the Caspian Sea served with brussels
sprouts. While an extensive wine list and a decadent dessert menu complement your meal, it’s
clear that seafood is the star of the show. TMT
+7 (495) 785 0222
facebook.com/erwinrestaurant
2/1 Kutuzovsky Prospekt, Bldg. 2.
Metro Kievskaya
KATUSHA
VALENOK
WING OR LEG
KOBA NOODLES AND BAR
NEWS & OPENINGS
Wing or Leg
High-end bistro
Koba Noodles and Bar
Street food inside
Valenok
One more Novikov restaurant
Katusha
+7 (495) 650 7262
facebook.com/Крылышко-или-НожкаПатрики-1503917329907664
20 Malaya Bronnaya Ulitsa. Metro Tverskaya
+7 (967) 081 6585
koba.moscow
15 Rochdelskaya Ulitsa, Bldg. 1
Metro Krasnopresnenskaya
+7 (499) 290 0215
novikovgroup.ru/restaurants/valenok
5 Tsvetnoi Bulvar
Metro Tsvetnoi Bulvar, Trubnaya
+7 (495) 629 3288
katushafood.ru
23/1 Ulitsa Bolshaya Dmitrovka
Metro Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya
The third in this chain of upscale bistros recently
opened at Patriarch’s Ponds. The atmosphere is
lively and relaxed, while the food — prepared in
an open kitchen by a team of handsome chefs —
is executed with style, class and a flare for modern aesthetics. While the name suggests chicken,
there is a lot more to choose from, including crab,
burgers and vegetarian dishes.
Koba is a new Asian restaurant and bar on Rochdelskaya. Asian street food and original cocktails
using primarily Japanese liquors are the selling
point of this new spot. Graffiti, cement floors,
Asian-style verandas and neon lights create the
feel of eating street food in a bustling Tokyo alleyway. DJs spin live on Friday and Saturday nights,
bringing in a younger crowd of hip Muscovites.
Take it and go!
Valenok is a traditional winter felt boot, a pair
of which greets you at the entrance of this new
addition to Arkady Novikov’s empire. The open
kitchen merges with a stylish bar. Try the rabbit with millet porridge (550 rubles) or the lamb
cheburek, a central Asian samosa (350 rubles).
The Soviet dessert “kartoshka” (potato) is called
“valenok” and is shaped like one, too (150 rubles).
A new restaurant with a view
Katusha took the place of Hediard, but the layout
stayed the same: bakery and delicatessen on the
first floor, restaurant on the second. Slow service
makes it a perfect spot for a business meeting or
date. Chicken liver pate with balsamic jelly is good
but pricey at 450 rubles. Try flounder with black
radish puree (890 rubles) or codfish with mashed
beets (880 rubles) and enjoy the view.
Four pages packed with the best places in Moscow to eat, drink, walk, shop, listen, watch, dance and sightsee.
A new walking route and listings every week! Take it, use it, save it!
8
Walking Route
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
Fyodor Pavlov-Andreyevich,
Solyanka State Gallery director
A secret basement of the Solyanka Gallery
opens into a 4-kilometer underground maze heading to the Kremlin. Its
residents include explorers, monster rats
and 16th century ghosts. On a bet I once
managed to hide my Kia Quoris car there.
The only other car I saw there was a
Zaporozhets from the 1950s.
Marko Mihic Jeftic, co-founder and
chief architect at Sdelano
The Russian Youth Union at 3/13 Ulitsa
Maroseika is a fine example of constructivism painted a surprising soft green. Our
Sdelano office is here. Outside there is a
very strange, quiet spot at the corner of an
extremely busy intersection. If you stand
by the exit from the underpass, you can
have a cup of coffee while cars and pedestrians pass you by without noticing you.
Around Solyanka and Ivanovskaya Hill
Three great religions
living in harmony
Bolshoi Spasoglinishchevsky Pereulok
By Michele A. Berdy [email protected] | Illustration by Evgeny Tonkonogy
A stroll from Kitai-Gorod up and around
Ivanovskaya Hill, one of the best-preserved
and most charming neighborhoods in Moscow
7
7. Choral Synagogue
1. Slavyanskaya Ploshchad and
Monument to Sts. Cyril and Methodius
This walk begins at the Kitai-Gorod metro
station. When you come out onto the street,
you’ll see a car park-roundabout-square in the
middle of a grand boulevard. This is “Slavic
Square” where on a fine May day in 1992, a
monument to Sts. Cyril and Methodius was
put up. Cyril and Methodius were two brothers from Thessalonika, Greece, who became
monks and brought Christianity to southeastern Europe in the 9th century. Cyril is
attributed with the creation of the Glagolitic
alphabet, the precursor to today’s Cyrillic, in
order to translate the liturgy and Bible into
the language used by the people in this part of
the world.
1
Turn left on Maroseika, walk two blocks and turn left again
on Bolshoi Spasoglinishchevsky Pereulok. Walk down the hill
until you see a magnificent yellow columned building on the
right. This is the Choral Synagogue. In the 19th century it was
originally planned to serve the Jewish community living in
Zaryadye, but built outside the Kitai-Gorod walls by decree of
the authorities. For years the city and congregation tussled
over the plans. Construction finally began in 1887 but stopped
a year later when the city demanded the dome be removed.
It seemed like the matter would never be resolved until the
revolution of 1905, when suddenly all bans of religious worship were lifted. The synagogue was opened in 1906 and never
closed during the Soviet period, although parts of the premises
were used for secular purposes. Now this magnificent synagogue has been restored and is used solely by the Jewish community, which also put up the monument of a hand releasing
a dove of peace across the street. Continue down the street to
Solyansky Proyezd; turn right and end the walk where it began
at the Kitai-Gorod metro station.
10 Bolshoi Spasoglinishchevsky Pereulok
Kitai-Gorod
2
2. Church of All Saints in Kulishki
Across from Sts. Cyril and Methodius is the pretty red and
white Church of All Saints with its slightly leaning bell tower.
Although a church was here since the 15th century, this one
was built in the Moscow baroque style in 1689, with decorative
brick work and kokoshniki (pointed arches) over the windows.
The place name Kulishki has puzzled etymologists. It may
have first meant a bog, then came to mean a remote place, and
finally became part of the idiom “go to the devil in Kulishki.”
Whatever the origins, the devil certainly settled here in the
1930s when the church was closed and used as a place of interrogation and execution by the security service. Saved from the
wrecker’s ball in the 1970s, it was cleaned, reconstructed and
then re-consecrated in 1994. Stop in to see the splendid golden
iconostasis.
2 Slavyanskaya Ploshchad
Solyanka and Ivanovskaya Hill
3-hour walk
Larisa Skrypnik, historian at Museum
of Moscow
If you go into the underpass of the KitaiGorod metro station,
you can see the
ruins of the St. Barbara Tower, which was
once part of the city wall. Nearby in the
16th century, there was a special prison
for drunkards, and then later there were
35 forges and a hay market. In the early 19th century all of the buildings were
demolished to make St. Barbara’s Square.
6
Starosadsky Pereulok
6. Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian
Continue up the hill to the street called
Maroseika, a corrupted from of the Russian
word for “Little Russia” — Ukraine. This
area was originally inhabited by foreigners,
including people from Ukraine, which in the
17th century housed their representative in
a spectacular blue mansion across the street
(No. 17). Now Ukraine’s neighbor, Belarus, uses
this building for its embassy. On the near corner of Starosadsky and Maroseika stands the
Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, two healers much venerated in the Orthodox Church.
This church, built in the 18th century in the
Empire style, has unusual cylindrical side chapels, nave, and apse and a square bell tower.
It is said that writer Fyodor Dostoevsky came
here often to pray. Returned to the church in
1993, it is once again visited by those seeking
the saints’ healing powers.
14/2 Ulitsa Maroseika, Bldg. 3
5
5. Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral
Turn left on Starosadsky Pereulok and climb up Ivanovskaya
Hill (named after the convent) past a variety of urban manor
houses and apartment buildings toward the beacon of a great
church spire on the right. This is the Lutheran Cathedral of
Sts. Peter and Paul, built in 1905 to replace and expand an older
church that stood here. Like its Orthodox neighbors, it too suffered in the Soviet period, being turned into a movie theater
and then a film production company. By the 1950s the spire
had been torn down and the building hardly looked religious
at all. But it was rebuilt, and the altar was re-consecrated 100
years after it was first opened, in 2005. A year later the spire
once again appeared over Ivanovskaya Hill. It is the main
cathedral for Russia’s relatively small Lutheran community
(about 150,000 people) and holds organ concerts several times a
week, where the music and acoustics are close to divine.
7/10 Starosadsky Pereulok
Ulitsa Zabelina
3
4
3. Solyanka VPA
When you walk out of the church, turn right
and walk along Solyansky Proyezd. The salty
street names — Solyanka, Solyansky — come
from the salt (sol) warehouses of the tsar that
were once located here. Right after the street
becomes Ulitsa Zabelina, on the right corner
you’ll see one of Moscow’s newest, coolest,
and most captivating museums: Solyanka
VPA, which stands for Video, Performance and
Animation. Opened in 1989, it first showed
naïve and primitive art, but in 2002 it began
to exhibit works of animation, and later added
film, performance, kinetic sculpture, and
anything that moves and calls itself art. If you
decide to stop in, plan on at least half a day to
see all the exhibits unfold their wonders over
time.
1/2 Ulitsa Solyanka, Bldg. 2.
4. St. John the Baptist Convent
Maly Ivanovsky Pereulok
Continue along Ulitsa Zabelina until you see the walls of the
St. John the Baptist (Ivanovsky) Convent on your right. This
ancient convent has been a place of much sorrow and misfortune. In the 17th century it served as a kind of prison for
cast-off royal wives and criminals, including Darya Saltykova,
a noblewoman who was Russia’s first documented woman serial killer. It was completely destroyed in the fires of 1812, then
rebuilt, only to become one of the first cloisters closed by the
Soviets in 1918. In the Soviet period the buildings were used by
the Interior Ministry and Mosenergo; to this day many buildings are occupied by city and federal offices. But a small group
of nuns has been reconstructing buildings and churches,
and parts of the convent are lovely and peaceful, especially in
spring and summer.
2 Maly Ivanovsky Pereulok
9
Out & About
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
The Night Run
First Run
Stretch your legs
Did you over indulge at Maslenitsa? Or are
you simply looking for a reason to drag your
trainers out from the back of the wardrobe?
It’s finally time to put those New Year’s fitness resolutions into practice. First Run, as
the name would suggest, kicks off running
season in Moscow. At five kilometers, it’s a
chance for seasoned runners to enjoy the
spring weather and get in some practice after
the winter. Newbies have the opportunity to
test their training and experience a fun race
in a relaxed atmosphere. The route involves
a lap of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, and
registration costs 800 rubles. Go on, sign up.
Better yet, sign up that dithering friend.
april 10
Moscow Marathon
Moscow Marathon
The warmer weather and almost dry roads are just beginning to tempt Moscow’s runners
out from their winter hibernation. If you’re looking to set yourself a challenge, or simply
want to enjoy Moscow road running, here’s what’s on in Moscow over the coming months.
If you want more information, check out moscowmarathon.org.
The Color Run
Kaleidoscope race
Here’s a race for the less-experienced but
fun-loving runner. Rock up all in white and
run five kilometers while being pelted with
colored powder paint. By the end you’ll look
like a cross between a rainbow and an explosion in a Skittles factory. The Color Run is
popular all across the world and is billed as
the “Happiest 5k on the planet”. You can sign
up as a solo runner or come with a group of
friends. Lively music, a route around the Luzhniki Olympic Complex and a non-competitive emphasis make this a popular summertime event. The best bit isn’t even the run,
it’s the party at the end where you can dance
and get covered in even more paint.
June 19
Moscow Marathon
Going to the races in Moscow? Time to start training!
Moonlight Moscow
The route for Moscow’s night run begins at
Luzhniki and stretches along the river all
the way to the Christ the Savior Cathedral.
The 10-kilometer run is a unique way to take
in the city by night, at its most peaceful.
Vibrant street lighting and upbeat music at
various points along the route contrast with
the empty streets and serene nighttime atmosphere. Given the sometimes stifling heat
of Moscow summer, it’s probably also one of
the more sensible racing options.
July 16
Music Half Marathon
Pound the pavements to music
A half marathon with a musical twist, the
music marathon is a 21.1-kilometer run that
incorporates DJs, bands and live musicians
to keep your energy up as you run. The route
again begins at Luzhniki, taking in the curve
of the Moscow River all the way to the Novospassky Bridge and back again. This offers a
great chance to soak in Moscow’s sights and
run along the embankment. If you fancy a
challenging race with a party atmosphere,
this is the one for you.
august 14
Moscow Marathon
The Moscow Marathon
Tough run with a phenomenal atmosphere
We realize that the marathon isn’t until midSeptember, but running 42.2 kilometers is quite
an undertaking — so we decided to warn you
well in advance. The race takes a route through
central Moscow passing some of the city’s best
known landmarks, including the Kremlin,
Moscow City and several of the Seven Sisters
skyscrapers. There is also a 10-kilometer route
if you’d like to experience the same buzzing
atmosphere but a shorter distance.
september 25
wings for Life
Mark Boyarsky
Ben Raffetty, student and business intern from Dublin.
My favorite place to eat in Moscow would have to be Strelka. It’s perfect for any
time of the day, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner or even cocktails that you’re
after.
Moscow Marathon
10
Wings for Life Run
Run around Kolomna’s Kremlin
The Wings for Life run takes place in Kolomna,
a city in the Moscow region less than 100
kilometers from the capital. Wings for Life
aims to raise money for spinal cord research by
orchestrating simultaneous races across the
world in dozens of locations. The race has no
set distance to complete. Competitors must run
until they are overtaken by one of the “catcher”
cars. A unique and exhilarating concept.
wingsforlifeworldrun.com
kolomna. trains from kazansky station take
about 2.5 hours to kolomna.
May 8 at 2 p.m.
Russian Tales
11
March 17 – 23, 2016
19 km
“Crimean Tatars are prepared to live without electricity, if
it means [Russian] occupiers will leave sooner.” Mustafa
Dzhemilev, Crimean Tatar leader.
Planned distance of the
Kerch Bridge
← The port of
Yalta used to
be a stopping
point for huge
international
cruise ships.
Now it lies
deserted,
hampered
by Western
sanctions.
→ The UN
has shown
no signs of
recognizing Russian
Crimea. Legal
problems
are likely to
continue for
many years to
come.
← Continued from Page 6
Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the annexation are still in place, meaning payment systems like Visa
and MasterCard are officially out of use. Sanctions have also
suspended the business of multinationals like McDonald’s,
which once ran a thriving business in the center of Simferopol’s bus station. Now the building stands vacant.
Fazil, 55, remembers when McDonald’s opened its first
branch in Moscow in 1990 to great fanfare. The fast food
chain’s departure from Simferopol means more to him than
just a reduction in his burger consumption. “Crimea is taking
a step backwards. Companies like McDonald’s were a sign of
civilization,” he says.
With a large part of the peninsula indirectly or directly dependent on tourism for their incomes, the drop in Ukrainian
visitors has hit people’s wallets. Only 4.5 million people visited the peninsula last year, compared to roughly 6 million before the annexation, according to statistics from Russia’s federal Rosturizm agency.
This year, Crimea is banking on planeloads of Russian
tourists — a result of the weak ruble and a ban on popular holiday destinations Egypt and Turkey.
Taxi driver Ervin is skeptical. “The solution to our problems is always one day away,” he says. “But that day somehow
never arrives.”
Silence
Following the annexation, most Crimeans with outright proUkrainian sympathies fled the peninsula, often out of fear
they would face backlash from the new Moscow-appointed
authorities. Those who remain have steadily been pacified
or alternatively marginalized, portrayed as posing a threat to
stability.
“We’ve been branded extremists and provocateurs,” says
Leonid Kuzmin, 25. “Any display of loyalty to Kiev, even showing the Ukrainian flag, is seen as stirring unrest.”
Kuzmin is one of roughly a dozen openly pro-Kiev activists
still in Simferopol. The group stages Ukrainian film screenings and organizes small pickets around significant dates
such as the birthday of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko.
His activities have had consequences. He was fired from
his job as a history teacher last year and is frequently called in
for questioning by the Russian security services and the Prosecutor General’s Office. The problem is typically settled with
a 10,000-ruble fine — a price Kuzmin is more than willing to
pay to fly the Ukrainian flag in public.
“We will never get the same Crimea back again,” he recognizes. “But we need to show that we exist, that we’re here.
Our strategy is one of survival.”
Few of those Crimeans who share Kuzmin’s views are as
open in showing their support, however.
Svetlana, a painter, says she grew up in a “Russophile”
home in Simferopol; her parents had a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II hanging on the wall. At the same time, she has always
felt Ukrainian, and was “shocked” by the ease with which
Russia took over two years ago. She isn’t ready to say so in
public, though.
“Silence is the only way in which people with such radically different opinions can continue to live together,” she says.
“The vase has been broken. There’s nothing I can do about it
now.”
The Fight
Amina, a bubbly 30-year-old singer, lives in Ivanovka, a village about an hour’s drive away from Simferopol. Ahead of the
interview, she has filled the kitchen table with food — roast
chicken, potatoes, salads and homemade wine. “Crimean Tatar
hospitality,” she says.
The Crimean Tatar population is a Muslim minority that
accounts for roughly 12 percent of Crimea’s population. They
openly resisted the Russian annexation, boycotting the referendum in which a reported 97 percent voted in favor. Much of
the Tatars’ distrust in Moscow stems from the decision by Stalin in 1944 to forcibly deport hundreds of thousands of Crimean
Tatars to Central Asia. Perhaps half the Tatar population died
from starvation or disease as a result of displacement.
“A neighbor I’ve known my entire life just recently told me
that we should all be kicked out again,” says Amina. In a village
where everyone knows everyone, there is no escaping the hostility. “What have I done to her?” she asks.
It is an example of what many Crimean Tatars describe as
the resurfacing of hostility towards Crimea’s ethnic minority ever since they returned to the ancestral homeland in the
1980s.
Two years following annexation, their grievances include
scores of extrajudicial arrests, kidnappings, murders and raids
on their homes and work places in what appears to be a targeted policy directed from the top. ATR, Crimea’s only independent television news channel which also broadcast in Tatar
and was critical of life under Russian rule, was forced to close
last year, allegedly for paperwork violations.
In response, Crimean Tatar activists in Ukraine have become increasingly militant. In September, they set up a road
blockade and stopped lorries on their way to Crimea. Several
months later, unidentified activists blew up several electricity pylons in Ukraine, causing Crimean homes to go dark. With
the reported acquiescence of the Ukrainian authorities, Crimean Tatar activists consequently set up camp at the scene to delay repairs.
The protests have been controversial, with some people criticizing the activists’ partnering up with Ukrainian nationalist paramilitaries. But Nariman Dzhelalov, who represents the
Crimean Tatars’ self-governing body, the Medzhlis, says the
embargo was instrumental in Ukraine’s decision earlier this
year to impose a trade embargo and cut off electricity supplies
to Crimea. “It attracted a lot of attention to our cause,” he says.
The Medzhlis itself was not formally involved in the blockades but two men connected to it — Mustafa Dzhemilev and
Refat Chubarov — played an instrumental role.
Dzhemilev is a veteran dissident and was one of the leading figures in campaigning for Crimean Tatars to have been allowed to return to their homeland. Together with Chubarov, he
was expelled from Crimea after refusing to cooperate with the
pro-Kremlin authorities in the wake of the annexation.
Now prosecutors are targeting the Medzhlis itself, seeking
to brand the body an “extremist organization.” Such a verdict
would see it banned and open the door to members of the body
being prosecuted.
Dzhelalov carries a yellow plastic bag with a 600-page-thick
stack of papers — “the case against us,” he says in a flat voice.
He says he can already predict the outcome of the case.
“We don’t have any illusions,” he says. “This is a political
case, and we can’t rely on procedure or law as our defense.”
Building Bridges
During the four-hour drive to Kerch from Simferopol, billboards carrying a single message interrupt the endless steppe:
“Crimean Spring. We’re Building Bridges,” they say.
It is meant literally. Recent utility disruptions have made
the authorities hit the accelerator on projects to reduce
Crimea’s dependence on Ukraine and connect it to the Russian
mainland.
Two underwater power cables have been laid across the bed
of the Kerch Strait and another two will be installed by May to
connect the peninsula to Russia’s power grid. The entire project to make Crimea energy independent, including the building of two power stations, will cost the federal budget 47.3 billion rubles ($665 million).
Most Crimeans’ hopes, however, are on the Kerch Bridge — a
road and rail connection that will give Crimea an artificial land
border with the Krasnodar region on the Russian mainland. It
is being built by a company owned by Arkady Rotenberg, a tycoon and childhood friend of Putin’s who has been blacklisted
by the West over the annexation.
That bridge would turn Kerch into a centre of activity.
But not today. Today, strong winds have paralyzed the ferry
service that, for now, is Crimea’s only lifeline with the Russian
mainland. The roads have gone quiet while trucks carrying
supplies to the peninsula sit out the weather.
The port city was one of the areas hit hardest by the blackouts. It is also among the cities that will suffer most from
Ukrainian limits of water supplies.
Irina Shopalova, a 41-year-old teacher, came home in December only to find that neither her lights nor taps worked.
She walked out onto the city’s streets. Candles were selling for
70 rubles, roughly three times their original price. Prices for
diesel generators skyrocketed. “Some friends of mine had to
take out a bank loan,” she says.
But less than five kilometers removed from the Russian
mainland, many residents of Kerch say the difficulties have
empowered them to cut ties with Ukraine.
“We will do whatever it takes not to have to return,” says
Galina, a woman in her forties who runs a small hotel in the
city center.
She is in a good mood: It’s been three days since there’s
been uninterrupted water and electricity. But her real hopes
are for the bridge. “That will solve everything,” she says.
On her way out of the room she passes a cupboard and, ever
so subtly, she knocks three times on the wood. TMT
Some names and identities have been changed.
12
Foreigners’ Affairs
1973
The year diplomatic relations between
Russia and Ireland were established
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
€235M
Worth of Ireland’s agrifood exports to Russia
in 2013
The parade on St. Patrick’s Day in Moscow will be held in the Sokolniki
park in northeast Moscow. In previous years it has taken place on novy
Arbat in the center of the city.
The word’s worTh
Is He Completely
Stupid or Not?
Полный идиот: a complete fool
YevGenY PARfYonov
By Michele A. Berdy
Moscow-based translator and
interpreter, author of
“The Russian Word’s Worth” (Glas),
a collection of her columns.
I
feel a rant coming on. Actually, I’ve been working up to
a rant ever since the Russian press got hold of Jeffrey
Goldberg’s enormous piece called “The Obama Doctrine”
that was published in the Atlantic magazine. Out of about
20,000 words covering seven years of foreign policy decisions and considerations, what did the Russian media focus
on? Four words: “he’s not completely stupid.”
And although these words were said about Vladimir
Putin, they were not the only words Barack Obama said
about the Russian president. But they got almost all the attention.
The first issue was what they meant. One writer insisted: Эту фразу можно перевести как “совсем не глупый” или же “не совсем глупый” — кому как нравится
(You can translate that phrase as “not at all stupid” or as
“not completely stupid” — however you like.) A lot of people
who should have known better agreed with this, and it was
hotly debated in the social media. Можно фразу трактовать по-разному (You can interpret this phrase in different ways.) А может быть, двусмысленность специально
оставлена? (Maybe ambiguity was left there intentionally?)
But all that is as wrong as could be; there’s nothing ambiguous about the phrase at all. It can only mean “не совсем глупый” (not completely stupid).
Russians came up with dozens of more or less correct
translations, although some were a great deal stronger or
slangier or ruder than Obama’s phrase. If you ever want
to say this in Russian, you can choose from: Не совсем же
он глупый (He’s not completely stupid); Не конченый же
он идиот (He’s not a total idiot); Он же не окончательно сбрендил! (He hasn’t completely lost his mind!); Он не
полный дурак (He’s not a complete fool.)
But those discussions were on Facebook pages frequented by language nerds. After a day or two, the niceties of context, if they were ever under discussion, had disappeared.
Now the news was simple: Обама сказал, что Путин — тупица. (Obama said that Putin was dumb as a stick.)
And here I start to lose it. Because the words were said
in a specific context, in reply to a specific comment (“I had
been under the impression that Obama viewed Putin as
nasty”), in a spoken conversation, with punctuation added
by the journalist.
The real news was that Obama had good things to say
about Putin. He said he was “scrupulously polite, very
frank. Our meetings are very businesslike.” And then he
said why Putin is behaving this way. He wants to be seen
as a peer when his country is not the economic or political
equal of the United States. “He’s not completely stupid” —
he knows that, and that’s why he’s on good behavior.
It’s not Obama’s assessment of Putin’s intelligence. It’s
a throwaway line, the kind of thing you say in English and
Russian all the time: Я же не полная дура. Я понимаю,
как надо себя вести (I’m not a complete idiot. I know how
to behave.)
But now this will get filed with all the other carefully
culled and intentionally mistranslated American “insults”
and become common knowledge.
Years ago I joked that Russia had finally found its национальная идея (national idea), and it was: Нас обижают!
(They’re mean to us!) I was almost right. It might not be the
national idea, but it has become the national rallying cry. TMT
Painting the Town Green
By Grace Cuddihy [email protected], Twitter: @GraceCuddihy | Illustration by Maria Zaikina
Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Ambassador Adrian
McDaid reflects on the state of Russian-Irish relations.
A
are examples of communication and dialogue fostered with
local authorities. The ambassador described Mayor Sergei
Sobyanin’s office as being “very positive” about the embassy’s plans for the celebration.
The week of events includes a film festival, live music,
comedy, traditional dance and the much-loved parade. And
in a repeat of last year, parts of Moscow’s most central street
Tverskaya Ulitsa will be “greened,” or illuminated in green
light, in tandem with a similar tradition practiced in major world capitals. “We’re hoping to green Red Square next
year, but we have to take these things one step at a time,”
McDaid says.
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations today are a far cry from
what they were in in the Soviet Union. Back then, embassy
staff held small receptions for friends, and attended larger
celebrations at the U.S. Embassy. Not so today. Every March
17, the Irish Embassy bursts with activity, and this year they
will even host two separate events so that everyone who
wants to will have a chance to toast Ireland’s national saint.
This year’s event has particular significance since it
marks the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, the unsuccessful uprising in Dublin against British rule that sparked
Ireland’s War of Independence. A number of the films included in the film festival program will deal with this
theme.
fter a career of exciting and far-flung postings —
from Brezhnev’s Soviet Union to Saddam Hussein’s
Iraq — Irish Ambassador Adrian McDaid never expected he would wind up back in Russia. Repeat postings are
rare in the Irish diplomatic service, he says; and, besides, the
Moscow of the early 1980s was hardly a place to which many
people felt an urge to return.
“The city has certainly become brighter these days,” he
says. “In the 1980s, it was all gray: no bright advertisements
and no consumer goods.” There were very few private cars
on the road, so at least there were fewer traffic jams. But it
was difficult for staff at the embassy to obtain even basic
foodstuffs — they imported almost everything from Finland
and Denmark.
“One thing that hasn’t changed over all these years is my
attitude to Russian grammar,” he jokes. “I didn’t like it in
1981, and I don’t like it now.”
The Irish Embassy on Grokholsky Pereulok, northern
Moscow, has grown since McDaid’s time as consular officer.
It is now attached to the largest Irish visa office in the world,
which in 2014 processed 17,500 visas. The Irish community
in Russia has also increased exponentially: from a handful of
students in the 1980s to the high hundreds today.
But McDaid’s second stint back at the embassy has also
coincided with the most difficult period in relations between Russia and the West of any time since the Cold War.
Derry Roots
Events such as this week’s Irish Week, which has grown out
of the Moscow St. Patrick’s Day parade, first held in 1992,
The ambassador himself was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, a city that has seen its fair share of inter-ethnic conflict. McDaid was 15 years old in January 1972, aka “Bloody
Irish Week
Foreigners’ Affairs
€50M
Adrian McDaid is a fierce chess player. He was a member of the Soviet
Union’s famous Central Chess Club and represented Ireland in an
international chess competition in the early 1980s.
Worth of Ireland’s agri-food exports to
Russia in 2015
Sunday,” when British soldiers opened fire on unarmed
nationalist protestors, killing 14. The events were the cause
of much anger in that nationalist community over the ensuing years. It was only in 2014 that the British finally accepted responsibility, with Prime Minister David Cameron
admitting in Westminster that the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable.”
Perhaps shaped by these childhood events, McDaid
takes a strong line on violence in Ukraine, saying that he
has been “horrified” by the scale of bloodshed in the country. He also says that Ireland “is entirely supportive of the
EU’s position [on Russia],” and will insist on the full implementation of the Minsk agreement: “Sanctions may be
scaled up or scaled down depending on commitments being fulfilled.”
The ambassador stresses that one of independent Ireland’s founding principles was the right to “independently
form foreign policy, without external pressure or threat of
force.” “So we cannot deny that right to any country, including Ukraine,” he says
McDaid does not believe there is military solution in
Ukraine, and can only be ended through a political framework. “Violence is not a way forward and the spiral of violence must be stopped,” he says. Comparing the situation
in Ukraine to that of Northern Ireland, he stresses the importance of respecting the rights of minorities.
“It can often become a ‘them and us’ situation and
that’s never helpful,” he says.
Import-Export
McDaid is frank about the negative effect that sanctions
have had on the once strong economic relationship between the two countries.
The volume of Irish exports to Russia has plummeted
since Russia introduced counter-sanctions in 2014, banning Ireland’s most lucrative exports, such as beef and
dairy products. Ireland’s agri-food exports to Russia, which
in 2013 were worth €235 million ($260 million), crashed to
€50 million ($55.4 million) by 2015.
Though Ireland’s agri-food exports globally have experienced growth in recent years, particularly in China and
the Middle East, Russia now makes up only 0.46 percent of
Irish agri-food exports. The crash in oil prices and the falling value of the ruble has made many Irish products still
available in Russia prohibitively expensive, McDaid says.
That said, Bord Bia (the Irish food board) maintains an
13
March 17 – 23, 2016
Ireland’s food and drink exports
€3.4
Bln
€3.0
Bln
€50
M
€4.4
Bln
€232
M
€50
M
Continental
Europe
Rest of
the world
Russia
Britain
2013
2015
28%
31%
Food
and drink
export
destinations
in 2015
Food
and drink
exports
to Russia
41%
Source: Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
office in Moscow and continues to promote Irish food and
drink products that are not included in the ban, such as
prepared foods, live-breeding animals, beverages, confectionary and alcohol.
A number of Irish products, particularly craft beers,
whiskeys, ciders and cream liqueurs are still successful on
the Russian market, and work is being done to continue to
promote these.
Chessboard Diplomacy
Despite the challenges, the amiable McDaid says he’s happy to be back in Moscow. He enjoys spending time at the
Tretyakov Gallery, which he says has become much more
“user-friendly” since the last time he visited in the 1980s.
He likes traveling and in 1982 he traveled on the TransSiberian Railroad to China. Which is probably just as well,
since apart from Russia he now represents Ireland in all
five Central Asian republics. Just recently he presented his
credentials to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe.
When not traveling, McDaid relaxes by playing chess.
During his previous spell in Moscow, he played competitively, and was a member of the Soviet Union’s famous
Central Chess Club. “They took chess very seriously then,
games would take hours and hours and they would often
come back the next day to finish,” he says.
McDaid represented Ireland in an international chess
competition in the early 1980s, before his posting to the
Soviet Union. “Some of the ambassadors here in Moscow
are chess players, so I’m hoping we can all get together for
a game soon,” he says.
Patience, tactics and constant analysis — the bedrock to
chess — are likely to continue to form the basis of Russian
diplomacy too. TMT
April 12
«MArriott royAl AurorA»
Customs regulation:
prospects for strengthening
the world market and potential
risk exposure
Key topics
l
l
l
l
l
Possible ways to improve customs administration processes. The progress
of the road map.
The EAEC Customs Code project - consideration of the interests of all parties.
Search for common ground.
The future of e-customs: solutions for the automation of customs administration
processes.
Customs aspects of the fight against counterfeiting and labelling problems
in the framework of the EAEC.
Litigation of customs disputes: recent enforcement trends.
Producer
Olga Melnikova,
[email protected]
Sponsorship opportunities
Olga Kalinina,
[email protected]
+7 495 232-3200
www.themoscowtimes.com/conferences
Participation in the project
Alexandra Podlipskaya,
[email protected]
payment 30 000 rubles + VAT
Payment for registration before March 25, 2016
27 000 rubles + VAT
Advertising | 16+
14
Tips for Life
CULTURE
Why are empty bottles put
on the floor?
TMT: Ah superstition, one of Russia’s most
charming and yet baffling mistresses. Although most Russians wouldn’t be able to tell
you why, it’s seen as bad luck to leave empty
bottles, specifically alcohol bottles, on the table. This is the case for bars, restaurants and
even when entertaining at home. Some fear
an empty bottle on the table is an omen of
less prosperous times to come, others see it as
a darker indicator of grief or suffering in the
future.
Russians cite many origins to this superstition. Some say that pagans believed evil
spirits could take up residence in any empty
container for food or drink. Others say the
habit originated in the early 19th century
when the Cossacks drove Napoleon back to
France. When dining in Parisian restaurants,
Classifieds
the Cossack soldiers were charged according
to how many empty bottles appeared on their
table. Cossacks cunningly hid their empty
bottles under the table as soon as they were
finished — a practice which continued when
they returned to Russia.
Why this has become such a steadfast
practice in Russia is one of those mysteries of
the Russian soul. But maybe it’s really simple:
a not-so-subtle hint to the host or waiter that
it’s time to crack open another bottle. In any
case, when in Russia — take those empty bottles off the table.
SHOPPING
Where do I find wool for my
knitting?
TMT: Find a friendly sheep? Knock on the
door of the babushka across the hall?
Fortunately, Moscow is knitting mad and
almost every neighborhood shopping center
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
Advice, answers and
lifehacks to help you
enjoy Moscow.
will have a small craft shop with a selection
of wool. One of the most common chains is
Igolochka, which specializes in sewing equipment but also offers a basic choice of yarn.
If you take your knitting really seriously or are looking for a bargain, trek up
to Semyonovskaya metro and discover the
Semyonovskaya Pryazha factory shop. Here
you can buy pure wool and acrylic yarn of all
textures, colors and sizes at very low prices.
The shop also sells patterns, needles and
buttons if you’re looking to start a new craft
project or hobby and need to kit yourself out.
The best thing about the shop is the incredibly kitsch bags which feature Victorian ladies and kittens knitting in harmony. Don’t
ask why.
If you’re a hipster knitter, head to Ili-Ili at
the Flacon Art and Design Center. Peruse the
array of cozy wools on offer, have a coffee or
join in one of the shop’s knitting classes to
hone your skills.
Igolochka: igla.ru, various locations
Semyonovskaya Pryazha: 5a Ulitsa Izmailovskaya, Metro Semyonovskaya
Ili-Ili: ili-ili.net, Flacon. 36 Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya Ulitsa, Bldg. 2. Metro Dmitrovskaya
CULTURE
Should I shake hands with
everyone in Russia?
TMT: In Russia, real men shake hands. Men
shake hands with both men and women
they meet for the first time. Then they shake
hands with every man they see, even if he’s a
good friend or twice-a-day dog walking buddy. But they don’t shake hands with women
acquaintances. Got that, men? Shake hands
with men you know, nod politely to women
you know.
If you’re a woman, shake hands with men
and women the first time you meet. Women will shake it. Men will shake it or kiss
it. If you’re not sure which way the man is
going to go, master the ambiguously proffered hand: tip it to a 45-degree angle, which
makes either a shake or kiss possible.
And when you greet someone on the street
on a cold day, take off your glove to shake hands.
ADVERTISING
PRIVATE LESSONS
French, +7 (926) 204 2264
English, +7 (916) 015 3603
MASSAGE
MASSAGE, +7 (903) 668 3201,
lic. #77-01-005808
HEALTH & BEAUTY
Antistress massage,
+7 (903) 156 4674
Aromamassage, +7 (903) 792 1930,
www.kalina-service.ru
Anti-stress-massage.ru,
+7 (915) 450 5606, Irina
Antistress massage, +7 (929) 522 9082
www.pretty577.wix.com/lucky-massage
Aromamassage, +7 (929) 965 7110,
is issuing a special page titled
www.bodymassage-moscow.ru
Anti-stress massage,
+7 (963) 661 3088, Natalia,
www.mowmassage.com
Anti-stress massage,
SPA/Beauty/Sport
on April 14
+7 (985) 460 3335, Katerina
TAXI
+7(495) 956 0800
angel-taxi.com/moscow-tour
To advertise, please call Natalia Krygova.
Tel.: +7 (495) 232 4774.
E-mail: [email protected]
The Moscow Times is not responsible
for the accuracy of advertisements contained in this section.
Introductions
ADVERTISING
To our
advertisers:
Olga, +7 (926) 417 3373, English Orchid, Eng, +7 (968) 972 8360, 24H
The Moscow Times
is not responsible for the accuracy
of advertisements
contained in this section.
If the services of your company are subject to obligatory licensing, in accordance with the law on
advertising, the number of
the license and the body it
has been issued by should
be mentioned in the text
of your advertisement.
Real Estate
Classifieds
+7(495) 937 55 72
[email protected]
www.foursquares.com
apartment rentals
serviced apartments
March 17 – 23, 2016
Advertising. To place an ad, please contact Natalia Krygova
Tel.: +7 (495) 232 4774 [email protected]
Implantology, orthodontics, oral surgery, hygiene, cosmetic
dentistry, whitening, 3D scan. Also with the current exchange rates,
getting first class dental care is now costing you approximately
50% less money for all treatment - don’t miss out - book an
appointment now!
MoVinG SERVicES
acE MoVinG
Household goods and personal effects
40/1 3rd Proyezd Marinoi Roshchi, Office 906
Tel.: +7 (495) 645 8543; +7 (495) 645 8534; +7 (495) 798 8317
Fax: +7( 495) 645-8539
E-mail: [email protected]
www.ace-moving.ru
Worldwide international moving services, export & import customs
formalities, personal effects export packing, local removals in Moscow, storage, free survey.
dELiKatnY PEREEZd
Full Service Moving
Tel.: +7 (495) 921 3018
www.pereezd.ru
[email protected]
Operating in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod,
Rostov-on-Don. Local & intercity moves. Office moves. Apartment
moves. Storage services. Free survey and consulting.
Kids
Education
EnGLiSH PLaYScHooL MoScoW
FURNISHED APARTMENTS
PROMOTION
Beautiful FURNISHED townhomes now available. Priority
admittance to the International School of Moscow (ISM) in
Rosinka. WINTER SPECIAL RATES
For all enquiries please call +7 916 969 1354 or
+7 916 927 9465
for Early Childhood Education
Licensed by the Moscow Government
Tel.: +7 (499) 134 2006; +7 (499) 998 3525
87a Leninsky Prospekt
E-mail: [email protected]
www.englishplayschool.eu
Accredited nursery, preschool and kindergarten programmes for
international children aged 2 to 7years with native English speaking
(3-11y.o.): books, history, animals, grammar advanced English Clubs.
Ballet, hand&foot, chess, sport classes. Writing Course. Cambridge
exams, English for beginners (4 –8 y.o.).
KidS cLuB
tSaR of RuSSian
Tel.: +7 (985) 120 1410
Web-site: http://www.tsarofrussian.com/
E-mail: [email protected],
[email protected]
Metro: Pushkinskaya/Chekhovskaya/Tverskaya
Address: Strastnoy bulvar 4 building 3
Russian talking clubs for children, teenagers and adults.
Education
LidEn & dEnZ MoScoW
Gruzinsky per. 3-181
Tel.: +7 (499) 254 4991
www.lidenz.ru
[email protected]
Russian and English language training for the needs of business
community. Internationally accredited language centre. Group/
One-to-one courses. In-company training. Exam preparation.
Certified native teachers. Cross-cultural seminars.
MEdicaL cEntERS
uS dEntaL caRE
Olimpiyskiy Prospect, 16 bld.5, Moscow 129110
Tel.: +7 (495) 933 8686
www.usdentalcare.com
OPEN DAILY, WEEKENDS.
American Board-certified specialist. Since 1994. We have the depth
of a full service clinic and the atmosphere of a small family practice.
BaRS
KatiE o’SHEa’S 26 Grokholsky Per., Bldg. 5
Metro Prospekt Mira
Tel.: +7 (495) 792 5188 (2 Lines)
www.katieosheas.ru
www.facebook.com/katieosheas
THE STAFF & MANAGEMENT OF KATIE O’SHEAS WOULD LIKE TO
WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY ST.PATRICKS DAY.
FULL COVERAGE OF SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP THIS
SATURDAY.
PuBS
Member of the British Association
teachers. Afterschool activities for children of different age groups
Services
15
Groups for bilingual and non-Russian students.
In our talking clubs we will: learn new words in an interesting and
unconventioanl way, watch and discuss Russian comedy serial,
write detective stories and fairy tales with a professioanl writer,
read and discuss books, practice Russian speaking skills in a friendly
atmosphere.
Nightlife
SiLVERS iRiSH PuB
Mashkova 28/20
(On the corner of Mashkova & Sadovoe Koltso)
Metro Krasny Vorota
Reservations. Tel.: +7 (495) 917 1770
www.sillversirishpub.com
www.facebook.com/silversirishpub
HERE’S WISHING YOU A VERY GREEN & LUCKY ST.PATRICKS DAY
FROM ALL AT SILVERS IRISH PUB.
FULL COVERAGE OF SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP THIS
SATURDAY.
REStauRantS
cHEModan
Gogolevsky Boulevard, 25
Metro Arbatskaya, Kropotkinskaya
Tel.: +7 (495) 695 3819
www.chemodan-msk.ru
Chemodan is a little piece of real Siberia in Moscow. The restaurant’s menu is unique and inspired by the cuisine of the Yenisei
Gubernia in the 19th century. Chemodan is a meat and fish restaurant. It receives exclusive deliveries of carefully selected foods
from Siberia. They include fish from the northern reaches of the
Yenisei River and game caught by hunters in Siberia and Altai. There
is an abundance of game dishes on the menu. In addition to fish
and game, Chemodan received wild mushrooms and berries from
Siberia, herbs from Altai and farm-fresh regional vegetables, such as
tomatoes from Minusinsk. The finest Old Russian alcohol is served
as well – the vodkas, liqueurs, ratafias and herbed spirits introduced
by Peter the Great himself are prepared from old recipes using the
technology of those times. Chemodan is truly a Russian restaurant
with old traditions.
SPEciaL offER foR ouR REadER
Restaurant
Noah's Ark
15% discount upon
presentation of a coupon
or The Moscow Times
newspaper!
8 (495) 917 0717
www.noevkovcheg.ru
Malyy Ivanovskiy per., 9
Moscow
I n dia n Spi c e s Sh op
• Wide range of seasonings and spices
• Top class, authentic Indian and Ceylon teas
• High quality Basmati rice and huge choice
of beans
• Food products from China, Thailand,
South Korea and other countries.
36/2 Ul. Sretenka, +7 (495) 607-1621 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
5 Ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, +7 (499) 739-9529 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
What’s On
NMA.gOV.AU
16
Yiwarra Kuju: Australian Aboriginal
Art at Artplay
By Maria Michela D’Alessandro [email protected]
Artplay Design Center is hosting a rare exhibition for Russia called “Yiwarra Kuju: The
Canning Stock Route.” It is an international
traveling exhibition presented by the National
Museum of Australia that lets senior and
emerging Aboriginal artists and traditional
custodians tell the story of the country that a
traditional track route cuts through in stunning works of art.
Organized by the Australian Embassy in Moscow, the exhibition is meant to give Russians
a sense of what’s happening in the Australian
cultural space. The show has already been to
Arkhangelsk and will travel around the country, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, for the
next two years.
This is not the kind of art many visitors are
used to seeing. Kemal Tarba, research officer
at the Australian Embassy, told The Moscow
Times that people should come “with no prejudices, with no information at all. They should
just try to be very open to something new, try
to understand the works emotionally, and only
later read the descriptions and compare what
they felt with what they read.”
Australian Ambassador Peter Tesch told The
Moscow Times that, “the pieces reflect the
importance of the land and its history to the
Aboriginal people. Indeed, the indigenous cultures of Australia are the oldest continuously
existing in the world and can be traced back at
least 50,000 years. The depth and diversity of
this extraordinary history can be appreciated
in the art on display.”
The Moscow Times
No. 5746
See www.themoscowtimes.com
for more listings.
17.03 — 23.03
2 Australian Films
IRISH WEEK
Aboriginal life on the screen
“Charlie’s Country” is the story of a man who
struggles to adapt his culture to the norms
of a modern community. Confused and
disenchanted, he leaves in order to live like
his ancestors in the bush. “Bran Nue Dae” is
a musical comedy about a rebellious teenager
who is sent off to a boarding school and then
embarks on a cross-country trip. Both films
are in English with Russian subtitles and free
of charge on March 19 at 1:30 and 4 p.m.
Artplay
artplay.ru
10 Nizhnyaya Syromyatnicheskaya Ulitsa
Metro Kurskaya
Pre-register at britishdesign.ru/masterclasses
Being Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci comes to Moscow
Italian actor, playwright and theater director Massimiliano Finazzer Flory will bring
Leonardo da Vinci back to life in his unique
production “Being Leonardo da Vinci. An
Impossible Interview” on Saturday.
The ambitious play features Flory dressed in
period clothes, wearing cosmetics to reconstruct da Vinci’s physical appearance and
answering questions from an interviewer in
Renaissance Italian. Muscovites will see the
embodiment of da Vinci onstage, discussing
his views on his life, art and philosophy as if
he had opened a door from the 1400s to the
modern world.
This performance has seduced audiences
across the world since its debut in 2012. The
performance, in Italian with Russian subtitles, also features Inna Bazhenova.
Theater Center Na Strastnom
nastrastnom.ru
8A Strastnoi Bulvar, Metro Chekhovskaya.
March 19 at 7 p.m.
FESTIVAL
Irish Film Festival
Features, shorts, and documentaries, in
English with Russian subtitles
Karo 11 Oktyabr Cinema
irishweek.ru/film
24 Ulitsa Novy Arbat. Metro Arbatskaya
EVENT
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
St. Patrick’s Day at Sokolniki with musicians,
dancers, and 15,000 Muscovites
Sokolniki Park
March 19 at noon
CONCERT
St. Patrick’s Day & Night
8-hour music marathon: folk, rock, dance,
performance, and video art starring Beoga
Izvestia Hall
+ 7 (495) 364 0505
irishweek.ru/day-night
5 Pushkin Square, Metro Pushkinskaya.
March 19 at 3 p.m.
DANCE
Dance Irish
Renowned dancers Fiona Stone and Peter
Wilson will perform onstage with Beoga
Central House of Artists
irishweek.ru/dance
10 Krymsky Val, Metro Oktyabrskaya
March 20 at 7 p.m.
WORKSHOP
Educational Program
Join classes in Irish dancing and Gaelic
football, learn about Irish history on Catholic
Easter, and take in culture at city bookshops
irishweek.ru/edu
Various locations
PARTy
Pubcrawl
Visit Moscow’s Irish pubs every night for
music, dance and whiskey
irishweek.ru/pubs
Various locations
Partner
Nikolai Andreev
Executive Director,
Sberbank-AST
Dmitry Churilov
Director of Fuel
Supply and
Procurement, RAO ES
of the East
Ilya Dimitrov
Business
Ombudsman for
E-commerce and
E-government Service
Providers
Anton Emelyanov
CEO, EETP
Sergei Fakhretdinov
Chairman of the
Board, Ruskompozit
GC
Mikhail Konstantinov
CEO, Gazprombank
ETP
Boris Puzitsky
Head of Procurement,
Eldorado
Aleksandr Sokolov
CEO, Avtodor
Procurement
Georgy Sukhadolsky
Curator of the
Procurement Working
Group of the Expert
Council under the
Government of the
Russian Federation
Andrei Tsarikovsky
State Secretary,
Deputy Head of the
Federal Antimonopoly
Service of Russia
Sponsor
Corporate
Procurement
Market
Payment 30 000 rubles + VAT
Producer Anna Shmakova
[email protected]
Sponsorship opportunities Olga Kalinina
[email protected]
Participation in the project Evgenia Evstigneeva
[email protected]
+7 495 232-3200
www.themoscowtimes.com/conferences
Yakov Geller
General Manager,
Agency for State
Orders, Investment
and Interregional
Realtions of Republic
Tatarstan
Advertising | 16+