Greetings From Moscow

contents

EDITOR’S LETTER - PAGE 2 A TRIP TO THE MUSEUMS - PAGE 4 royal academy OF ARTS - PAGE 6 DESIGN MUSEUM - PAGE 12 V&A - PAGE 16 PUSHKIN HOUSE - PAGE 18 WHAT IS IT LIKE TO LIVE IN MOSCOW? - PAGE 22 THE EXPATS - PAGE 24 THE STUDENTS - PAGE 32 FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - PAGE 46 ANNA KARENINA - PAGE 60

Editor’s Letter Greetings From Moscow

“A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” - Winston Churchill on Russia. This could not have summed up this fascinating nation more aptly.

Much like any city, in order to understand how it is today you need to explore its complex and tumultuous history. If you think about Russia, you think about politics. For the second issue, Greetings From is continuing our love letter to Europe by delving into what can be described as Russia’s heart, Moscow.

Moscow is situated in the centre of what is know as European Russia. A chaotic city, upbeat, vibrant and often wearisome. It hosts a hodgepodge of architectural styles, the ancient and modern exist side by side. Since the collapse of the Soviet Empire it has opened itself up to business and tourism alike, continuing to experience rapid social change.

Greetings From visited four exhibitions to gain a better understanding of Moscow’s history. The Royal Academy of Art and Design Musem’s exhibitions focus on the most murderous period in history, 1917-1932, the Revolution.

Both convey how art became a tool of the state as propaganda was used to manipulate and control.

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With this in mind it is understandable that the Mosocovites of today remain closed, an effect of the aftermath of Communist Russia. We interviewed people living in the capital to get a true sense of what it is like to live in the Russian city, the majority of whom wished to remain anonymous, a very telling factor. All agree it is a diffcult city to live in, but an amazing one to visit.

A city of grandeur and beauty, immortalised in infamous Russian literature such as Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.

Speaking with the younger generation you get a sense that change is approaching as people are becoming restless with the regime. An exciting time for Moscow, one we hope to introduce to you. We invite you to join the conversation and explore a once closed and oppressive city. #GreetingsFrom encourage you to share your experiences of your travels and special moments that make you proud to have been part of the wider European community.

We wish you were here xoxo

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a trip to the museums In order to understand Russia today, it is important that we examine its history. Greetings From takes a look at four exhibitions currently showing in London.

Royal Academy – Revolution Russian Art 1917-1932 Design Museum - Imagine Moscow V&A - Another Russia: Post-Soviet Printmaking Pushkin House - Alcohol: Soviet Anti-Alcohol Posters

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Revolution Russian Art 1917-1932 royal academy OF ARTS “Fake News”; a phrase associated with President Trump. It is with great irony that the birth of ‘fake news’ dates back exactly a century. Obviously governments lied to the public long before this, but none took manipulation of the media using propaganda to the levels of the Soviet. The Royal Academy of Arts Exhibition, Revolution Russian Art 1917-1932, explores this.

This exhibition showcases the rich diversity of art made in Russia during one of the most turbulent periods in modern history. In October 1917 Vladimir Lenin and the socialist Bolshevik Party swept to power and ended centuries of autocratic rule under the Tsars. Shortly afterwards, civil war broke out as the Reds (Communists) and Whites (Tsarist Russians) fought for control.

After Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin rose to power. Under his dictatorship the Soviet Union, as the republic was now known, became increasingly repressive. Freedom of the individual was crushed in favour of a collective ideology.

Therefore, the title of such exhibition is perhaps a little misguided. This work is not a ‘celebration’ and should not be sentimentalised in this way. 1917-1932 was one of the most murderous periods in human history.

The walls of this exhibition hold not just art, but showcase the death of hope at the hands of the government. Such power is illustrated by the manipulative and oppressive propaganda. The revolution started with a belief in the power of change and excitement for the future. That was slowly crushed under the totalitarian revolution at the hands of the Bolshevik party. They used methods of torture, surveillance and executions to build a one-party state. This meant art lost its beauty and became a tool of the state.

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Alexander Deineka, Textile Workers

The Royal Academy showcases a collection of radical avant garde pieces, examples of stoic social realism, stark propaganda posters and even a bit of architecture. You are initially met with depictions of the great leaders Lenin and Stalin. You are then immersed into the industrialisation of the nation with large images of workers in enormous factories conveyed by the likes of Alexander Deineka. He portrays men drilling into rock, or waif-like, futuristically androgynous factory workers.

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Upon entering the big central gallery you can sense the hope and excitement felt by the people at the time, as they are swept up by the possibilities of the revolution. Avant-garde greats like Vasily Kandinsky are showcased. There’s even a full-scale replica of El Lissitzky’s model for an ideal Soviet apartment.

The cracks soon start to appear as photographs show artists, composers, poets and intellectuals who were murdered in the gulags or who fled the country: people for whom the dream of communism quickly became a nightmare. The bold phrase ‘SALUTE THE LEADER’ looms over viewers as you sense this is a demand not a request.

Malevich, one of the most renowned Russian artist felt such demand. He created the style ‘suprematism’ in 1915. Suprematism; the supremacy of pure artistic feeling, creating your own world rather than depicting our own. Best known for ‘Black Square’ and ‘Red Square’, the geometric forms float weightlessly with the white space representing infinity, representing the ‘zero of form’. The ultimate distillation of form and colour. This artistic freedom wasn’t to last.

Suprematism was replaced with Social Realism, an idealised depiction. He changed to figurative art, but would often sign work with a defiant black square. Social Realism came to define Communist art as the only style accepted by the regime.

Kazimir Malevich, Black Square

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At the beginning of the Bolshevik’s rule they had only 350, 000 followers in a country made up of 140 million people. This meant propaganda was an essential tool as many of the population were illiterate. In April 1918 Lenin announced his Plan for Monumental Propaganda. Painting and sculpture promoted Bolshevik ideas and glorified the leader. Palaces were covered with posters and slogans, and grand plaster-cast monuments were temporarily erected to honour the Party. Regular festivals and street parades were organized, at which red revolutionary banners, commissioned by factories, were proudly carried aloft by workers. All of this was done with the aim to indoctrinate the nation with Bolshevik ideals.

Russia was a profoundly Christian country but soon the Russian Orthodox Church was banned.

‘Icons’ of Lenin replaced those of Christ. When Lenin died in 1924, he was treated like a religious saint and his body was enshrined in a mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square. Petrograd (formerly St Petersburg) was named Leningrad.

The freedom and euphoria of the Revolution produced some of the most remarkable talents in art, theatre, music, literature and architecture. But as early as 1921, their innovations were constrained by an increasingly repressive state. One of the greatest poets of all time, Alexander Blok, died that year, heartbroken by what the Revolution had so rapidly become, “All sounds have stopped. Can’t you hear that there are no longer any sounds?” For many, his death symbolised the death of the Revolution.

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Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, By Lenin’s Coffin

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IMAGINE MOSCOW DESIGN MUSEUM

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‘The streets shall be our brushes, the squares our palettes,’ said the Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky in 1918, a year after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. Opposing the previously discussed Royal Academy exhibition, the Design Museum’s “Imagine Moscow” presents an idealistic version of the Soviet capital that was never realized. The idea of the nation as a blank canvas inspired many architectural proposals, this exhibition looks at six of these unrealised projects.

Large-scale architectural drawings are supported by artwork, propaganda and publications from the period. Taken together, these unbuilt projects suggest an alternative reality for the city, offering a unique insight into the culture of the time.

Each of the six projects presented in the exhibition introduce a theme relevant to life and ideology in the Soviet Union: collectivisation, urban planning, aviation, communication, industrialisation, communal living and recreation.

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Communal House by Nikolai Ladovsky (1919-20) The nurseries and kitchens were aimed to lighten the workload for Soviet women, thus allowing them to devote time to self improvement and work. This was part of a wider scheme to induce communal housing and break down the traditional family unit

Cloud Iron by El Lissitzky (1923-25) This network of eight skyscrapers aimed to maximise a limited footprint. The blocks were intended to consist of offices and apartments, which would then be linked to metro stations at street level.

Lenin Institute by Ivan Leonidov (1927) The sphere illustrated was intended to host an auditorium with a tower attached at the back containing 15 million books. This complex would also contain science lecture theatres and an auditorium which would have broadcast to the rest of the world via radio.

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Health Factory by Nikolai Sokolov (1928-29) Sokolov designed a retreat for to provide respite for tired city goers. Such retreat consisted of rest pods along with communal dining, where food was to be distributed on a conveyor belt so people did not have to queue.

The aim of such project; to improve the productivity of workers once they returned to Moscow.

Commissariat of Heavy Industry proposals by the Vesnin brothers and Konstantin Melnikov (1934-36) A winning design was never selected for the Comissariat of Heavy Industry. Such building was intended to showcase the importance of industry to socialism. To make way for this building a vast majority of Moscow’s old town would have had to be demolished.

Two proposals are shown at the exhibition.

Melnikov’s scheme was for a pair of 40-storey buildings linked by an escalator, while the Vesnin brothers suggested four blocks to mirror the towers of the Kremlin.

Palace of the Soviets by Boris Iofan (1931-41) Iofan’s intentions were to build a 100m statue of Lenin on the roof of Iofan’s Palace of Soviets. This would have made it the tallest building at the time (516 metres). Work began on this proposal by demolishing the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, however work was halted by the German invasion of 1941.

‘Imagine Moscow’ is a fascinating look at an era forgotten whilst simultaneously presenting a scary interpretation of the present day and future. It presents a moment in history that arguably appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as fast. However, these designs aren’t just history they’re haunting the present as they continue to influence the work of contemporary architecture and the radical ideas remain highly relevant. You leave the exhibition asking questions and imaging what could have been.

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Another Russia: Post-Soviet Printmaking V&A The political and economic crises that marked the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 coincided with a period of creative innovation in Russia. Non-conformist groups which had emerged in the 1980s, no longer defined by resistance to authority, could reflect on utopian themes. They also brought a fresh perspective to current issues within the international art scene: architecture and urban living, the relationship between art and politics, national and other forms of identity, and conflict and migration.

Print has become an important component of recent Russian art practice. The relationship between printing and publishing, strictly controlled under Communism, made the new conditions of freedom all the more inviting. Artists from various disciplines such as painting, sculpture, installation, performance and video have adopted print media for various purposes: to get around economic constraints, reach out to new audience and markets, or add layers of meaning to their work.

A variety of approaches and techniques are used such as; etchings, gum prints, mono-prints, lithographs, open bite etchings and artists’ books. Featured artists include Timur Novikov, Alexander Brodsky, Ilya Utkin, the Mit’ki group and Mikhail Karasik.

Red Tower, Yuri Avvakumov, 1986 – 98, Russia.

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ALCOHOL: SOVIET ANTI-ALCOHOL POSTERS Pushkin House The eighth, and final leader, of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev initiated the ‘dry law’ campaign in 1985. This lasted for two years. During this time posters were created and put up in public in an attempt to sober up the Soviet citizens by forcing them to confront the issues associated with excessive alcohol consumption. This allowed the poster designers to present the anti-alcohol message in highly graphic terms.

Gorbachev’s 1985 campaign to eliminate the drinking culture and alcoholism had several aspects to it. Policies included forcing distilleries and breweries to produce non-alcoholic drinks, while closing many retail outlets that sold alcohol. At the same time the Soviet government raised drinks prices considerably in order to minimise the losses in revenue.

However the result of these measures was drastically counter-productive, and encouraged the mass consumption of “alcohol surrogates”. Such substitutes killed tens of thousands of citizens from alcohol poisoning.

While various types of homemade drinks and moonshine vodkas were produced during this period. Not taking into account the substitute alcohol, consumption of spirits in Russia grew by 233% between 1988 and 1998. While consumption figures were falling in several countries in Europe, in the Soviet Union things had become much worse, with repercussions lasting long into the future.

The government campaign involved the creation of a wide variety of posters (and also stamps) warning drinkers of the damage that they were doing to themselves and their families.

The anti-alcohol drive succeeded in little more than helping to further the disintegration of the country’s economy and the mass drinking that followed.

The exhibition retains the integrity of the original posters by pasting prints of them directly onto the walls of Pushkin House, transforming it into a Soviet workers’ club. The bold graphic attempts made by designers to try and mitigate an unfolding crisis in Soviet society. In that sense they remain powerful examples of a nationwide communications programme – but one that failed utterly to work.

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SHE STOLE HIM AWAY...

HE DRANK ON HIS PAYDAY; HE DRANK ON SATURDAYS, SAID HE WAS SPENDING HIS OWN MONEY AFTER ALL. BEFORE HE KNEW IT, HE TRADED HIS FAMILY FOR VODKA. 19

VODKA BRINGS ALONG: CRIME, HOOLIGANISM, SHOODY WORKMANSHIP, PARASITISM, ABSENTEEISM DRINKING AND HOOLIGANISM GO HAND IN HAND ALCOHOL IS A CAUSE FOR INJURIES once there was a person ...

A ‘PRO’ DRUNK WHY IS HE HOVERING BY THE LATHE SO TIMIDLY FOR HOURS ON END? THE REASON IS THE CORK, AND THE 40 DEGREES INSIDE WHEN THE WEEK’S PAY GOES IN HERE, THE DAY OF RECKONING IS NEAR DON’T DRINK YOUR LIFE AWAY DO NOT DISGRACE THE STATUS OF A PIG! HONOUR, FAMILY, WORK, HEALTH 20

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what is it like to live in Moscow?

To get a true sense of what it is like to live in the Russian capital, we interviewed a mix of people. These included two expats who moved to the capital and three Moscovians currently studying in Newcastle at Northumbria University.

The Russian interviewees wished to remain anonymous. This says a lot about Russian culture and the general attitude of the Russian people. Communism is a thing of the past but people still live in fear. We tackled difficult issues with the interviewees whom all give honest and at times critical accounts of their experiences.

Pictures taken by anonymous interviewee

the expats marco

Marco North is a photographer, filmmaker and published author based in Moscow, Russia.

Born in New York, his award-winning weekly blog Impressions of an Expat is followed by readers from over 130 countries.

All photos featured, Marco North.

Why did you move to Moscow?

I was in a very rough position in my personal life - if I wanted to remain a father to my daughter, I had to move to Moscow to preserve that relationship. The good news is; she has lived with me full time since that fateful moment.

What was it like when you initially moved to the city?

I had been to Moscow eight times before living here, sometimes for a full month so it was not such a culture shock. That said, being a tourist here and being a resident are apples and oranges. I will admit that when I first lived here, I felt a certain paranoia - for example, that everyone on the metro was laughing at me for some unknown reason. I think that is a normal expat experience though.

How are you treated as a foreigner in this city?

There are a few different modes. First of all, they see foreigners as cheap marks to price gouge. Things are triple charged for you, and they do it with a very straight face. I had a taxi driver ask for 500 rubles to drive less than a minute away, for example - for anyone else that would pay for halfway to the airport which is almost in the suburbs. Next, you get treated as a celebrity, and are always introduced as “a famous (x) from (x)� when that is not who you are at all. They treat you like you are on a pedestal, and that carries a lot of baggage. Third, you get treated like a nuisance, someone who needs help ordering lunch, or how to get home, or how to do just about anything - you are a turtle on his back. And last, yes there are some good kind and generous people who just want to have you over for dinner or out for a beer and simply share stories with you, the trials and tribulations of any human on this planet regardless of where you are from. They exist.

Could you describe the good and bad aspects of the city?

I always just sound like a cranky New Yorker with questions like this one. The metro does not work 24 hours in Moscow, that is just silly. The traffic in Moscow is utterly brutal.

People drive beyond recklessly, and the consequences for literally killing people when you hit them with your car are very light. It is fairly insane. To be frank, I do not have any strong examples of what is good here. It is extremely expensive here, and the quality of restaurants and goods is mediocre at best.

Have you visited other parts of Russia? If so where and what were your impressions?

I have been to some villages, and they are different. People are not more open there, but they smile at least. They have an inherent kindness and I do not see them as greedy or in competition with their neighbors. You might say that the people that live outside of the cities have much more sense of self, and greater self confidence.

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Could you summarise Moscow’s atmosphere?

Often it is toxic here. The air is polluted, and sometimes there are chemical spills that cause warnings to stay inside. There are angry old people living on pensions, arguing over the price of potatoes at a cash register. There are young people obsessed with celebrities and their smartphones. So, it is the same as any other big city in many ways. You might say “but there is so much history in Moscow!� But honestly, people tend to ignore the statues, and history. They are obsessed with material things, cars and jewelry, fancy watches and designer labels.

What is it like to raise a child in this city?

Complicated, but again - that is everywhere! My daughter goes to a state school. She likes some of her teachers, others she does not. Some of things that happen at the school are ridiculous patriotic rituals, some things are not.

There are many preconceptions about Moscow due to their political history, did you have any when moving here? If so, do you still believe these to be true?

Like many Americans, when I think of Russia I think of Dostoyevsky first. To be honest, he is fairly insignificant here. There is maybe one statue of him, in some forgotten corner of the city. Instead, it is all about Pushkin and Tolstoy, Marx and Chekhov. I was really surprised to understand that more people may be reading and discussing Dostoyevsky outside of Moscow, than in it.

It is too compacted to say anything definitive. Half of what we see on the news is hard to prove, it is often hearsay and spin, one organization passing along a report, passed along a report from another. Knowing the real truth - it is elusive. What do we know? That a great country has lost great cities, nothing but rubble. We know that millions of people that would never leave their homes, did leave their homes so something onerous had to cause that.

That we can agree on. Are there Syrian refugees in Russia? No, they are not offered asylum here. Russia does not help the innocent people, that we can say. It helps the government. Being involved means helping on a person by person level. Everything else is just political horse trading.

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How would you describe the gay culture in Moscow? Do you have any observations to share?

I do not have any significant experience with gay people here, so it is hard to say anything beyond some basic observations. The main point is, there are the headlines that people read – these flagrant, hostile messages and then there is what really happens. There was a “gay propaganda” law passed some years ago, “to protect children”. I found it laughable (like many people here).

For example, I saw a giant poster for Dallas Buyer’s Club - Jay Leto in full drag, a few stories tall outside a movie theater half a kilometer from the White House. Across the street from this theater is an elementary school, and a music school. There is no question every single child saw that poster for a few weeks, many times a day. No one cared, nothing happened. As much as you hear about the gay culture’s treatment in Moscow, understand that the laws and how they are enforced are two very different things. Russia, like many countries likes to talk big - saber rattling, and that is enough to convince many people in the world. Putting those words into action, yes of course it happens and it is terrible, but that is only a percentage of the time compared to what you might assume. A lot of the laws and conversation is just hot air.

A very current topic of discussion is Russia’s involvement in Syria, what are your thoughts on this?

It is too compacted to say anything definitive. Half of what we see on the news is hard to prove, it is often hearsay and spin, one organization passing along a report, passed along a report from another. Knowing the real truth - it is elusive. What do we know? That a great country has lost great cities, nothing but rubble. We know that millions of people that would never leave their homes, did leave their homes so something onerous had to cause that.

That we can agree on. Are there Syrian refugees in Russia? No, they are not offered asylum here. Russia does not help the innocent people, that we can say. It helps the government. Being involved means helping on a person by person level. Everything else is just political horse trading.

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hannah 24-year-old Hannah moved to Moscow a month ago to teach English at BKC-International House Moscow. She shares her first impressions.

One thing I’ve noticed about Russia in general is that a lot isn’t really spoken about. Its very much a culture of not asking or telling. There are more hints at things. Like I remember once asking a girl in a bar if she like Russia, she got very nervous and told me ‘not here’, as in don’t discuss these things in public. There are lots of in-between public/private places that feel safer where some discussion is still had. Still ultimately in my experience you wouldn’t bring up the majority of the political issues, or if you do so in an ambiguous way. This is why I’m not overselling my knowledge (she laughs). Its not a place that exposes itself easily/willingly.

The culture has definitely become much more westernised. In the last two years (or so I’ve been told) lots of craft ale places have popped up. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about this in general, but then at the same time I have students who remember growing up in the Soviet Union, and there was barely any food in the grocery stores. So there is this watering down culturally, but also there is access to diverse food and a middle class etc. I don’t speak Russian apart from the minimum to get by (no bag please, I’d like this please) but I don’t have too many major issues.

Furthermore, the younger generation is very friendly and eager to chat to you whether they speak English or not! (The latter situation can get awkward). No one smiles on the metro (but I guess you could say the same in London) and occasionally I’ve seen blood stains on the street and there’s stories you hear about dead bodies in winter when people freeze to death but then you just carry on with life and honestly nothing feels as foreign as I had expected. There are lots of McDonalds, the clubbing is really good, the beers are cheap enough, and people are super nice and if anything are just confused by what I’m doing here...

Anyways, there’s a brief novel on my observations.

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the students

Speaking with these students you get a sense that attitudes could be changing as people are starting to get frustrated. With the new generation restless after having seen that life can be different, could this mean a political upheaval for the country?

“If you look too rich that’s too bad for you�

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Computer Networks and Security student, male What are the good points of Moscow?

Moscow still has a lot of cultural heritage. We are very lucky compared to the rest of Russia, we have cultural heritage going back to the 12th/13th Century. The Kremlin was built a long time ago. A lot of cities got less lucky, what was built there before is just replaced with modern buildings. Depending on which building it is it can be replaced with new flat complexes or trade centres, nothing much in terms of industry these days. Lenin is still there; I’m surprised we maintained his mausoleum. I suspect it costs a lot to maintain this.

What are the negative points of Moscow?

Transportation absolutely sucks. Because the city is so old and because of the urban sprawl into the other regions, its a very common thing to talk about Moscovian traffic as being a thing you can get stuck in for hours and hours and hours. We also see a lot of misuse as people get so upset at having to wait, they will willingly break the rules to get to their destination faster.

We have a lot of people migrating from former Soviet countries into Moscow for work in the summer and these are unregistered workers so they might not get paid enough they might live in poor conditions. Apart from that it’s generally seen that despite the amount of ethnicities living in Russia, it’s quite an intolerant country of any outside influences. The large influx of migrant workers seasonally is seen as a bad thing. It also doesn’t help that the culture of those migrants demands bloodline revenge. So if you accuse somebody while they’re working they might call their relatives in and there are cases of murders on the grounds of revenge due to cultural differences.

Would you feel unsafe walking in Moscow?

In central Moscow and the daytime no, otherwise yes. There are very few places you can safely walk in the evenings or during the night. There are certain places you would not

go into, not because they’re dangerous but because they’re just apartment complexes and there isn’t anything else here anyway. People here would either be poor or think they could take what is yours. It’s not uncommon to be robbed, I’ve been robbed four times.

Violent robberies?

I have a scar here (points to eyebrow) so I guess you could classify that as a violent robbery. I’ve been hit with a bottle and had to get stitches. People are getting beaten over phones and tablets and whatnot. You certainly wouldn’t go round flaunting your phone.

Would you describe people’s attitudes as generally angry?

I guess, I mean it depends on who you ask. I know there are some people who are frustrated with what’s going on. Again depends a lot on the section. Certain places in Moscow have buildings that are very old and they are supposed to be demolished and reconstructed into proper housing and that just doesn’t happen.

What else? Widespread causes of corruption.

It’s better now you pay taxation. It doesn’t help when yet another politician gets exposed. It also doesn’t help people that there are elections next year. Depending who you ask the President is the hero of all the people and he does everything right about Crimea and Syria and everything else. But I keep hearing reports about human rights violation. I know the opposition suffered significant losses because of that. There was a case for a young journalist being held hostage for two years and tortured. They only released him because of pressure from his family. He was held in one of the police station basements. That’s just one case. So freedom of speech suffers quite a bit.

There all kinds of intolerances you’d get attacked for. There are territorial wars. If you live in a certain area and there are gangs there that fight with people who live in the neighbouring area you might become a casualty. If you go to visit your friends in the other area. If you look too rich that’s too bad for you.

If you look lavish and you have the money behind it, you would live in a different spot and would have one or two bodyguards with you. So there is some level of grandiose and you might say it is a cultural thing and that’s why people embezzle so much or steal stuff.

Would you say your Prime Minister is held on a pedestal? For example, our Prime Minister is often openly spoken about negatively. If this were to happen in Russia would there be consequences?

In the UK, Prime Ministers are chosen, both parties have significant representation. In Russia, by now, there is essentially a one party system, therefore hating the Prime Minister is not different from hating the President. Hating the President is not much different than hating 94% of the population. So you’d be in the minority immediately. Any opposition against any ruling party especially in times of elections you’d be classified as the opposition and in trouble. I don’t think we have shifted to any kind of parliamentary view of the governing ever. It was the royal families then after the revolution it was the leader of the ruling party and then to the presidency.

You mentioned the President’s involvement in Syria earlier, how would the Russian public view this?

There is a lot of movement, there’s quite a patriotic view at the moment. ‘Brave Russian soldiers’ helping the country, much like the American propaganda for Iraq. We are sending them help so everyone can live better. There’s also critique on the affair much like Crimea. I would say a lot of people still have the same notion as they would about the Cold War, USA is the main enemy of Russia. I don’t think that will change just because the US and Russia have some interest in Syria, these notions only work with the battlement of whatever the major opinion is of the whole affair.

If the President says we’re doing this because it’s good, then it’s good.

What he says is trusted?

By and large. If you don’t want to end up in the minority of people. I mean it might sound very light and humorous but the current fashion is to put people in prison for what they post on social media. Even if you post an official piece of news in your newspaper that can be classified as extremism and you go to jail.

How long for generally?

A couple of years perhaps. Then again unlike the UK where prisons are rehabilitation places, when you are sent to jail in Russia it is very likely you are not going to reform.

The people who commit robberies, do they go unnoticed?

To some degree, I think the rate of prosecution is 36%, two thirds of serious crime can go unnoticed, because they’re never found.

Would you report them?

You would sometimes if you don’t know who they are, you might not if they are an organised gang. If you do report, we don’t have the best witness scheme. Some people don’t trust the police as such, they call the European court of human rights the Russian court of reason. The reason being most of the cases of violation of human rights come from Russia because local courts don’t rule those kind of judgements in favour of their victims, or so we are told anyway.

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“Hating the President is not much different than hating 94% of the population”

How would you describe Moscow as a place to visit?

If you were there short term, that’s fine. You can get lost there for days. Especially if you come in season of the theatres opening, there are some pretty good view. You can go and see the Ballet or the Bolshoi theatre set ups. Those are grand and you wouldn’t be there to see all the negatives. If you stay in the designated tourist area and you don’t stray too far, you’d be fine. In one of the museums you can see a pipe containing the river. For a week long/two week long visit you can see the beauty flourish and have a rich experience.

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Business with Marketing Management student, female What would you say is the best thing about Moscow?

Probably the museums and galleries. My favourite thing about it is the amount of space, its quite a large city so it takes you a long time to get somewhere. Just the scale of the city. I get the same feeling in London, you get a lot of space to think and be creative and get inspired by the buildings, architecture, the people. Its a very nice place, I really like the theatres. Pretty much the cultural parts.

Red Square is the main tourist thing but there are many more tourist things than that. I love Gorky park, all the young people go there, its quite massive. We’ll go and cycle there, hang out, go to restaurants, it’s a very hipster place.. My other favourite place would be this street that is only for pedestrians called arbat street. There’s a lot of restaurants and bars, it’s a really interesting place, you sometimes get a few weirdos! Its very Camden-esque.

What do you dislike about Moscow?

Traffic is quite bad. The overcrowding is probably the worst thing about Moscow. People can be rude but then you get scumbags everywhere!

What about the food?

To be honest there isn’t any special traditional Russian food. We’ve taken things from Slavic cuisines all the Eastern European stuff. Its pretty much potatoes, cabbage, beetroot, cucumber, pickles you know. In Moscow though, because its such a metropolis there’s a lot of Italian and Japanese. You can get anything you want at anytime.

What about the nightlife?

They have their underground scene and then you get all the clubs where people just go to get dressed up. Even the people who don’t have money they go to try to show off. No one dances like crazy, everyone is very composed. Especially in comparison to Newcastle, its crazy!

How would you describe the general atmosphere and attitude of the people?

The first thing you notice is that everyone is really serious and has this poker face. You might feel a bit unwelcome its just the thing that we have. We’re not open to people we don’t know. The second you get to know someone this changes and people start talking. I remember me and my friend were just joking round speaking English in Gorky Park and people thought we were English and they approached us like ‘where are you from?’ being really friendly. People are really interested in other cultures, especially the young people.

What would you say is the main difference between Moscow and the UK? Probably the attitudes of the people and the culture. We’ve had Communist, where everything was closed and no one was speaking to each other. Now it is a little bit different. Moscow is a different city from the likes of St. Petersburg. Moscow is all about getting money, like New York.

Everyone goes there to live up their dreams. They’ll go there with no money and try to do anything because in Russia laws are really loose, so people can get money one way or another.

It’s a dirty money place, there’s a lot of corruption.

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Do you think with the upcoming elections things could change?

Absolutely people were protesting in March, this was led by the opposition guy (Alexei Vivalny) who they’ve been trying to jail for a really long time. He’s getting people to attend another protest in June. Hopefully people will come out for it and show what they think because before that democracy never worked in Russia. People were too scared, you know what happened with Pussy Riot and stuff, they got jailed (Russian feminist protest punk rock group). So everyone lived in fear of this. It just gets to an extent where you can’t bear it anymore and it all just gets too much, too annoying. You can see it, you can feel it and you know it exists. Young people disagree with it, this new guy who’s leading this opposition definitely has my vote. I’m so sick of everything there. When I spoke to my mum she was like why are you focusing on this, it will always exist and my response is well why don’t you do anything about it? It’s a hot topic for me.

How do the people feel about Russia’s involvement in Syria?

All this involvement of Russia that we obviously deny with Ukraine and Crimea, it already took a lot of money away from the people with taxes. We’ve already spent too much money on the war that we don’t need. We need to take care of our country first, it’s a useless war and I don’t understand it. Maybe its just America and Russia trying to prove who’s got bigger balls. Its none of my concern, I care about the people and how we live. Some of them can’t even survive in the conditions, minimum wage is ridiculous. My mum was working in real estate agencies and everything just stopped, she couldn’t earn as much money as she used to because of all the sanctions and rules. Food became more expensive; it just became harder to cope. Anything they do politically is useless.

Do you think the opposition could win?

I hope so, I hope he wins the democratic vote at least. He is really trying and they can’t do anything about it because he’s following the law and as long as he’s following the law they can’t break him. He always proves that he’s right so they always have to let him go. I think that people aren’t afraid anymore. For the latest protest about a thousand people were arrested, that’s more than the last biggest protest in Moscow. I want to go there and be a part of it but I can’t because if they find out I’m studying abroad they’ll think oh my god she’s been injected with some weird shit in the head, they’ve manipulated her.

How would you describe the fashion in Moscow?

You have some types of people who have a sense of style. They come from the capital. Or you get people who come from small villages who don’t know how to dress whatsoever. You get these two extremes. You get normal people who dress normally, tattoos are pretty standard.

People try to be hipster and European. Girls are very feminine, they like to wear dresses and get dressed up all the time. Any possible moment they would wear heels. Its stupid I know! You see a lot of couples, a lot of love around. If a guy is going on a date with a girl he’ll always bring flowers. There’s a lot of kissing in the parks and on the metro. Its very cute!

People really care about how they look, girls especially. My friends spend hours and hours before we go somewhere and I’m always worried about us being late but they just want to look good. Schools and universities have dress codes. So for girls a black skirt, white shirt, always manicured. I don’t belong there! Russia is all about appearances, everyone loves their cars and loves to show them off. Imagine Russia in winter, snow ice, dirt and these girls are still wearing heels, it sums it up.

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“PEOPLE ARENT AFRAID ANYMORE”

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Digital Marketing student, female Here at Greetings From we want to get an understanding of what its like to live in Moscow …

The city is really big. It’s just really giant but really beautiful. In terms of architecture it’s a bit chaotic because since political regimes change, its normal that there would be some old medieval buildings and then next to it something imperial Russian. Its very mismatched but its still really nice.

Do you like it here in comparison to Moscow?

Here’s the thing, Moscow, I really like it but its too big for me. Also in most of the big cities people aren’t that friendly. Moscow isn’t real Russia, life quality is different. There are a lot of things you find there that you can’t find anywhere else. In France people say the same about Paris. The rest of France is France and this is just another big city. In Moscow you get a bit spoilt because everything is available almost 24/7, nothing ever closes. Restaurants are open until 4, clubs never shut before 3am.

What is the nightlife like?

In Moscow there are a lot of really posh places where they can refuse the look of you. If you’re European or you speak a foreign language they assume you have money and just let you in, they don’t care how you look. They can just be really really rude, sometimes it is ridiculous.

There are a couple of clubs you literally can’t get in unless you have a VIP card. There’s a very fast turn around with clubs, one place will shut and another opens after a year or two.

What is your favourite thing about Moscow?

I really love it but I don’t want to live there. It’s nice when you have the ability to leave and go somewhere else. In summer its great, you have a lot of parks and free festivals and a lot of events. Its really warm, warmer than here. Its really really beautiful.

What’s your least favourite thing?

Moscow is nice. Winter is probably my least favourite thing. Actually no traffic is unbelievable. It takes me twenty minutes to get to university but in winter it can take three hours. Its really surprising, every year snow falls down and every year everyone is like ‘what are we going to do?

This never happens’. In summer a lot of people have country houses so a lot of people go every Friday and the city stops. Once we were stuck on a highway for eight hours and everyone started to take out their grills and made food on the road.

I really like the metro in Moscow, it was built as an art object. Everything is made of marble with statues and pictures and murals. The new ones they are trying to make are more modern and less creepy and dark. The metro is really cheap and fast, every minute.

How would you describe Moscow’s culture?

It’s a bit mixed, we have a lot of traditional churches and people are really religious recently.

We have a lot of exhibitions where there is a ridiculous line of people waiting to get in because everyone wants to see. We have a lot of galleries like the Tretyakov. We have a lot of films, with more choice rather than just the American and English. In Russia we show European films in the cinema translated to Russian. You can find a lot of places with art house films. There are two or three places that show the films in the original language.

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“It doesn’t matter who is our President, it is already too rotten to the core”

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Are many other languages spoken in Russia?

No not really, there are places like Chechnya that have their own language. We don’t even really have accents or dialects which is weird considering how big a country we are.

Where would you recommend a tourist to visit?

First of all, I would say go in the summer! Walking in the city centre is good, you have the Red Square and Gorky park. This is the central park in Moscow. Its connected to a statue park, there’s always some kind of summer festival on there. I’d recommend Expedition restaurant, it sells a lot of traditional Russian food like your raw fish and caviar. They go into Siberia and get the wildlife using old recipes from these trips.

How would you describe Russian food?

We have a lot of mixed food because it is hard to find traditional food. People mostly eat Georgian food or sushi. Sushi is huge in Moscow, pizza places make sushi, everywhere makes sushi.

Moving to the topic of Russian politics, you have the election next year …

Its going to stay the same. There is an illusion of democracy that you can go and vote. If you work on the government jobs, there is a chance that I know some people don’t go because they know that they have to vote a certain way. If there is a protest they don’t want to be seen there as they can lose their job. Or if there is a protest there for the existing government they have to go.

Are protests allowed?

They have to be sanctioned and you have to apply two weeks before the protest then they have to be approved before, there are certain protests they wouldn’t allow. There was a wave of protests in Moscow in March against corruption against our Prime Minister. There was a huge investigation published by non profitable organisation that he owns a lot of place that he is not supposed to have the money to owe. People started to protest based on this to get him removed. Half of these protests were legalised and half weren’t, so it all turned a bit sour. There were a lot of school kids and arrests.

If a protest is not approved and this goes ahead is this considered illegal?

Yes. It is ridiculous, people who are there at the time of the protests and are not involved will get arrested.

Protests for LGBT are banned …

Me personally I don’t have anything to do with it. It’s ridiculous what is happening in Moscow.

People are homophobic and in general racist in Russia. They’re really religious and its coming back now for some reason, perhaps something the government is trying to push. Its something I’ve noticed recently, a huge queue outside the church at Easter.

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Why would you say religion is coming back so much now?

I don’t understand! It surprises me. The thing is the main federal channels are all owned by the government so even though these protests, they were all around the country but they weren’t shown on the TV as if nothing was happening. On the internet you could find photos but on the TV/radio nothing as if nothing was happening. For someone who lives in a small town and doesn’t have internet they have no idea. All the traditional media and newspapers are so controlled. If its something against the government its not published. Well it can be but its probably to set an example, they’re very manipulative.

Do you think it will ever change?

Its already started to change. A lot of young people are going abroad and they can see its different so they want change. My school mate, he wanted to be a politician, he started his own initiative called donor day where people come to hospital and donate blood. The government contacted him and told him to stop because he is doing a good thing and it looks like they are doing nothing. He was like what do you mean? They started pressuring him to either come and join them and do something from their name or stop doing it. He made them look bad. It doesn’t matter who is our President, it is already too rotten to the core.

I remember when I went to America to do this work and travel, and in the preparation they were saying to everyone please don’t try and bribe police officers if you do anything wrong its really illegal, remember you’re not in Russia. Someone would stop you for road violation or speeding, you may be fine they just want to stop you to get money.

Would you say you started to notice this when you moved here?

I was noticing it before, everyone knows it. They don’t really see that it can be different. In Moscow its not as bad as the government is there and its somehow regulated. In smaller cities its even worse. People don’t have money its really low salaries. In my home town in school they have price lists for exams. Teachers can openly say to students if you want this mark you pay this amount. We were laughing that maybe I should just register back to my grandma and take exams in my hometown and get the highest mark.

How would you describe the general atmosphere and attitude of people?

My boyfriend (he’s English) visited Moscow and he said that everyone was really nice. But I think this is also because he doesn’t understand Russian so when someone was rude it was me who was responding and me who took it. If you live there its hard, its really hard. People are tired a lot because they have to work and then its such a big place so if they want to meet someone its so long.

How would you describe Moscow’s aesthetic?

Recently Moscow is really decorated, they try to do it now all the time. Dependant on season, for example summer, they put flowers everywhere. In winter they have a lot of lights and snow castles. In February it looks like its Christmas. Russia is a lot for show, its all about impression.

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“Russia is a lot for show, its all about impression�

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from russia

Model Alex Fisher

with love We are currently in the age of over sharing. Snapchat stories, Instagram stories, everything we do is considered public information. Take someone’s Facebook profile, within two minutes you know someone’s age, relationship status, sexual orientation and where they went on holiday in summer 2013. This same mentality of openness is seen in everyday life.

This is not the case in Moscow. Here people do not want to live their lives in this talk-show culture, they just want to be able to live their lives in the way they want without feeling threatened. A simple ask. Sadly, this is not the case for the LGBT community. Yes, Russia allows a lot more liberties than before the Revolutions of 1989 but they are a long way off equality.

In 2012 a Moscow Court banned Gay Pride for a hundred years, despite the European Court of Human Rights declaring Pride bans in Moscow illegal just two years earlier.

In 2013 all Russian states implemented legislation outlawing ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations’.

This same year on Russia’s ‘family, love and fidelity’ day, Putin’s party United Russia unveiled a ‘straight flag’ to combat ‘gay fever’. Such laws have effectively legalised discrimination against LGBT people, classing them as second class citizens with a growing number of LGBT people being attacked and harassed.

Today in 2017 in other parts of Russia, specifically Chechnya, the gay community is trying to be ‘eliminated’. In what is being called a ‘gay purge’, men have been detained and tortured for their sexual orientation.

Greetings From spoke with an anonymous male about gay rights, or the lack thereof, in Moscow.

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Before we begin I need to clarify something. I need to say something about Chechnya, this is something quite specific and is clearly not the case in all parts of the country. Some of the people don’t know but Czechnya is a very special region in the south of Russia, very very little in common with the rest of the country. It has a completely separate government, a separate culture, they are Muslims they have their own president blah blah blah. You probably know this but I need to make it clear. I have a lot of friends from Europe that don’t understand. It is really shocking what happens there, it is very dangerous. Luckily this hasn’t spread to other parts of the country, definitely not in Moscow.

Chechnya is definitely a big point of discussion here at the moment. There is a constant conversation about gay rights in western media, is it fair to say that this is less so in Russia?

I would say the main mass media they pretend discussion has already happened, because it is very interesting that when someone asks Putin a question on a conference in Europe, ‘what do you think of gay rights’ he pretends ‘oh I’m so bored of this question, it’s so long, I’ve said everything I thought’. They try to say there is no problem. Putin always says it’s not a crime, there is no problem. I would say this is the main message they send, there’s nothing to discuss. In particular, the spokesperson for the Russian ministry of foreign affairs, she was asked this question about Czechnya by an American interviewer.

She said no no this is not my topic, this has happened somewhere else, its very unusual and just some crazy people.

How would you describe gay culture in Moscow, is there a good nightlife, specific clubs?

From my perspective of course, this may not be true of what every other gay person experiences, for some reason I don’t feel part of the whole culture. The problem with the Russian LGBT community is that it isn’t really a community in many ways. Today it is not like that, in the 70’s it was more like that. Always there was more of this sense of community and the feeling I get, and that a lot of my gay friends get, is that those who actually fight for gay rights they’re good people. I’m really glad that someone is. At the same time, they kind of look pathetic, it’s a really bad thing to say but their efforts really look pathetic.

As for routine gay life, there are some clubs, its not dangerous to go there. They try to make them believe it can be. Generally, Moscow is pretty European, you can find anything you want, it’s not particularly my cup of tea. I’m not the person to go clubbing all the time.

When it comes to high cultured things like poetry, cinema, music, its fairly reasonable if there is some sort of queer poetry, queer literature. Its here but its not something you can see. I know a couple of gay magazines, no one really reads them. There is a gay film festival but every time they try to shut it down. The police come and say stop it, thank you, goodbye.

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“They find a scapegoat with the gays.

One does not feel very safe here.”

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Are they allowed to do that?

Erm, they’re kind of allowed to do that, the thing with, I mean I suppose you’ve heard of this law? The Russian state passed in 2013? The prohibition of propaganda. Its not allowed to propagate homosexuality to minors. Its kind of allowed if there are no minors.

The funny thing is that since you’re British, this law, very much reminds me of paragraph 28, Thatchers law. (Thatchers law stated that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality”) It resembles it very much, it was only cancelled in something like 2001. I find it very funny.

How do you feel the LGBT community are treated by the Russian government? Would you feel safe being openly gay?

I am openly gay.

Would you feel safe to walk down the street holding hands with your boyfriend?

No I don’t do that because that’s dangerous of course. It’s not just about the government.

The government really plays into it. It uses this topic as a source of manipulating political score and capital. Because they find a scapegoat with the gays, its their fault blah blah.

One does not feel very safe here.

Would you say the outskirts of Moscow are worse?

Yes, much worse. If you go to other places in Russia, particularly outside Moscow and St Petersburg its much, much more dangerous. You can’t be gay at all, you can’t be visible at all, you don’t do that. For example, I have my hair dyed (gestures towards bleached hair) its naturally black, it doesn’t mean I’m gay. Having your hair dyed doesn’t mean you’re gay, but people see this as a sign of being gay. This is something you can’t do elsewhere, it’s very dangerous.

Would any of your outfit choices vary as a result of this, as in would you worry how people could perceive you?

You can wear pretty much anything in Moscow, it gradually becomes less of a sign, gay or being part of a certain subculture, this is changing very quickly, he’s wearing this he’s gay or I don’t know emo or something. It’s really changing very quickly. But again the important thing is that in other parts of Russia its still completely different. A lot of people believe in Moscow we have this feeling that this is a different country. When you cross this line, there’s this circle road around it, its kind of famous when you cross it, we have a word for it in Russian that translates the land out of the circle, the thing is that the line outside of it is a different world, even in terms of identity I don’t identify as Russian for many reasons, I do identify as a Muscovian or Muscovite, whatever you want to call it.

With the election next year, do you think anything could change?

In the first place I think it’s absolutely impossible that the opposition will win, but if he (Vivaldi) wins, as part of his programme is to support the minorities, LGBT as one of the more troubled minorities. This is completely out of the question (him winning). I am entirely sure, because its not just the actual vote, the actual support from the population, its about the system which is completely corrupted. Even if Putin doesn’t get like 70% they will make it, they will use all the systems to change it.

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‘The problem with the Russian LGBT community is that it isn’t really a community’

That’s so shit!

Welcome to Russia.

He’s recently organised protests in March and more in June …

The number of people at these protests is getting bigger actually, there were like 60, 000 people at the last one which is massive for Russia. Even 10, 000 is a big number because no one goes and protests. My guess is that its going so bad, they had no other option, they needed to.

Another thing is that the protests, there are much more young people now. There are a lot of high school children participating.

Would you say that’s because adults have accepted that this is Russia’s fate, whereas children are growing up in the social media generation so think things could change?

I do think social media has played a very big role in it. Its not because the adults don’t know, they do use social media, they do read the news and they do have access to the other sources of information but I guess its more of a cultural thing. They are the generation, the children of the Soviet system, so they know it isn’t going to change, no amounts of protests will do anything. There is no point in voicing an opinion and going outside and protesting. Its strictly a cultural thing. The generation we are in now is the free generation, they had freedom of speech from the moment they were born. They had all the freedom and they know this is fake, they feel it. There’s some psychology of this age at 16/17 where you feel the fake-ness/phoney-ness brightly.

What would you say is your favourite thing about Moscow?

I would say the rhythm. Its very chaotic in a way, if you go round the circle there’s one building from the 16th century the next building is Georgian the next building is 19th century. It’s a mix of everything, there’s a lot of energy. There’s a mix of people. Moscow has this very strong vibe, particularly there’s been a rise of urban culture. In terms of the way we see our city, the way we’re going. We’ve formed identity through things in the city we like. We’ve appropriated it.

How would you describe the atmosphere of the city?

The thing about Moscow is probably that its only recently we started to develop this single identity for people who live here, still on the whole people are very disintegrated, they don’t feel as a whole. It’s really hard to say what the one atmosphere is. My circle of friends, young people, educated, European. My answer is that its really mixed and there’s not a single vibe you can get. One more important thing is that in Russia, we don’t really have the sense of neighbourhood, everyone lives separate, there are no neighbourhoods, there are districts but everybody lives everywhere.

Would you ever consider moving?

I am considering it actually; I am trying to.

Where are you hoping to go?

Hopefully to Berlin. I do love Moscow, I was born here, I will be sad to leave. I don’t really see how to apply myself to things here, how to connect with things.

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Model courtn

anna karenina Leo Tolstoy’s classic story of doomed love transcends the ages. Set against a canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, playing out the contrasts of city and country life. It is one of the most admired novels in world literature.

Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with Count Vronsky, presenting the hypocrisies of society. Anna Karenina is one of the most loved and memorable heroines of literature. Her overwhelming charm dominates a novel of unparalleled richness.

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ney bole

“Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.�

“Love.

The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.�

“I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.�

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“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”

“Whatever our fate is or may be, we have made it and do not complain of it.�

“But I’m glad you’ll see me as I am.

Above all, I wouldn’t want people to think that I want to prove anything.

I don’t want to prove anything, I just want to live; to cause no evil to anyone but myself.

I have that right, haven’t I?”

“All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.�

“Something magical has happened to me: like a dream when one feels frightened and creepy, and suddenly wakes up to the knowledge that no such terrors exist.

I have wakened up.�