the_perm_days-7 by Nikiforova Oksank

november 2007

«The Perm Days» is the newspaper for foreign guests of Perm region and english-speaking Perm and Perm region

Industrial leaders of the Perm krai: Open JSC “METAFRAX” BUSINESS 9 >>

TOURISM

Opening Perm Tour «the Big Ural Ring»Urals Cherdyn, ancient capital of the Urals Cherdyn, ancient capital of the Urals Usolje — the city on the island Perm’s Tower of Death: History and Legends Once at the Khohlovka gates

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Oil — Black Gold of the Urals

10 billion rubles will be allotted for repair works of roads in Perm

Animal Kingdom is on the Move

Duisburg — the third “sister” city of Perm

The Perm region is well known for the recovery and processing of its abundant natural resources. The rich landscape of the region provides a great the opportunity for the growth of these key industries. Perm Region’s engineering, chemical and petroleum industries are making a mark for themselves on both home and foreign markets. BUSINESS 8 >>

At the meeting, held on October, 5th, the Perm region government confirmed an investment program for road construction period 20082010. 10.07 billion rubles will be allotted for construction of the regional roads within that program.

The subject of the Perm Zoo is a sore point for the city. A question of relocation of the Zoo was raised several times, as its area is pretty small. Another reason is the general aesthetics of the zoo.

As part of the VII annual Russian - German forum in Wiesbaden held recently, an Agreement on the establishment of sisterhood relations between Perm and Duisburg was signed.

Our partners:

NEWS IN PERM

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NEWS IN PERM

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NEWS IN PERM 5 >>

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

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News in Russia The new railway boom in Russia

Names List Sergey Mironov.......... 2 Vladimir Putin..........2,5 Ilya Klebanov............. 2 Viktor Zubkov............ 3 Demidov.....................16 Stalin..........................16 Akinfiy Demidov.......16 Daniel Defoe..............16 Stroganov...................19 Romanov....................18 Edward Grib................ 7 Nicholas II.................17 Wen Jiabao................. 3 Andrei Klimov............ 6 Larissa Kleyner........... 7 Elena Guilyazova........ 7 Vyacheslav Loginov... 7 Leonid Starodubcev... 7 Vladislav Polushkin...15 Levitan.......................15 Velaskes.....................15 Savrasov.....................15

ecently, at the first congress of “Russian Railway men” a strategy was presented for the next 25 years of rail development in Russia. In reporting on the Congress, the Russian magazine “Expert” observed the plan would make “the Russian Railway worthy competition for other types of transport, but it will require an investment of more than 2.5 trillion rubles ($US250 Billion). The proposed railway transportation development until 2030 is planned two phases. The first stage, planned to be complete by 2015 call for the full replacement of an outof-date rolling stock

and overcoming socalled “bottlenecks” in an infrastructure, which currently prohibit growth in the amount of rail traffic. This phase would also include the integration of Russian railways with the Eurasian transport system. The second stage, to be completed by 2030, assumes the expansion of some 20 thousand kilometers of the major railway network. This, in turn, will allow an expansion of high-speed passenger train service through the introduction of the latest technologies and a corresponding increase in the speed of cargo trains as well as the carrying capacity of the “Mobile Park” rail transport system.

The strategy as a whole has been approved by the government. Having emphasized the ambitious nature of the plan, Vladimir Putin said «Speaking directly, the country’s railway boom will be comparable with that which occurred at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.” “Actually,” according to the President, “the proposal is a qualitative updating of the railway economy for the country and modernization of the branch system. All of these measures should strengthen the competitive and geopolitical position of Russia and provide a serious impetus for the social and economic growth of the nation”.

Polenov......................15 Dore............................15 Henry Terpilovskiy.... 7 Meshkov..................... 4 Hani Rashid................ 4 Wolfgang Prix............ 4 Eric Owen Moss......... 4 Hans Hollein............... 4 Lars Spuybroek........... 4 Odille Decq ............... 4 Zaha Hadid................. 4 Peter Zumthor ........... 4 Angela Merkel............ 5 Armen Garslyan.... 9, 11 Victor Baranov...........11 Ivan Kostin................11 Anatoliy Ufimkin.......11 Konstantin Podvalniy 1 1 Petr Kondrashev........11 Vladimir Daut............11 Vladislav Baumgertner..............11 Eugeny Bachurin........ 5 Marcelo Tholel..........23 Larisa Kleyner............ 7 Elena Guilyazova........ 7

Drivers will lose their driving license for life

ussian drivers who constantly break the Traffic Regulations rules will now face the loss of their driving licenses forever. This announcement was recently made by Ilya Klebanov, the Plenipotentiary of the President of theNorthwest Federal District of RF during a conference on traffic safety. “A large

amount of deaths on the road are due to drivers who repeatedly neglect the rules of the road”, Mr. Klebanov said. Among the other “culprits of death” on Russian roads, he also cited the poor repair state of the pavement, inefficient coordination by various authorities on proper precautionary measures to prevent traffic accidents and

the sharp increase of the number of cars using the roads. Sergey Mironov, Speaker of the Council of the Russian Federation also took the floor during the conference. He said that STSI (the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate) should not pardon deputies and celebrities for breaking the rules of the road. “It can’t be accepted that a lot of deputies and celebrities get off with light penalties or with only a “caution”. The law should be the same for everybody: offenders should be sentenced to large fines and public works”, said Mr. Mironov.

Mironov does not refuse idea of the third term

he chairman of Council of Russian Federation Sergey Mironov has once again declared that he would not remove the offer on prolonging Vladimir Putin’s presidency to a third term. “I would not remove the offer on the third term for president” he said when questioned on the subject. He went on to say V. Putin is a “recognized world leader who has returned our country to the international scene and has forced it to consider Russia”. Minonov reinforced the point repeatedly adding “The legitimate

continuation of Vladimir Putin stay in authority would be the blessing, and this question is not off from the agenda”. The chairman of Council of Russian Federation also considers “that it is natural to pass on spontaneous references about a potential third term as President of the country. And we, legislators, should think on how to make it happen. Maybe it is not necessary to rewrite the Constitution of the Russian Federation for this purpose — there are other options and I will think about it and work seriously in this direction”.

Address of the newspaper: Russia, Perm, Karpinskogo 97/a-208, e-mail: info@pimg.ru, tel. 8 912 98 362 79. Establisher and publisher: The Bureau of translators, interpreters and guides-followers “The Perm interpreters”, Establisher and publisher: The Bureau of translators, interpreters and guides-followers “The Perm interpreters”, Director Aljona Mouse (hal@pimg.ru). The chief executive “PERM INTERMEDIA GROUP“: Oksana Nikiforova (nog@pimg.ru). Editor-in-chief: Larissa Azanova (alv@pimg). Authors: Al, Azanova Larissa, Dubrovskaya Karina, Makhles Hellen, Medvedeva Arina, Proskurina Nadezhda, Raskolnikov Michael, Rayngardt Olga, Ludmila Prokopets. Translators: Yakov Farbrerov, Kamalutdinova Alina. Sociologists: Olga Rayngardt, Yegor Neustroyev. The editors do not share the responsibility for the maintenance of the promotional and advertising material. No part of these materials may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the editorial board. The editors may not share the authors’ point of view. The editors reserve the right to themselves for reduction of publications texts without change of their sense, and also for placing of promotional materials at own discretion if another situation is not stipulated by the contract. Circulation is 5000 copies. Press: “New Print - Perm”. 614014, Perm, 1905 st., 35.

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

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News in Russia Why people support Mr. Putin

he forthcoming election has actually turned into a referendum, or to be more precise, a plebiscite. That the majority of the population of the country support Mr. Putin is clearly evident even without a nation-wide vote. It is high time to ask the question: Why, in fact, do the people support the president of Russia? The Russian newspaper “Izvestiya” says the following on this subject: “Someone would say that this can be explained by mass propaganda. Someone would remind us of economic growth but… let’s be frank, economic growth has not become a factor that can “buy” people’s support. The reason isn’t that the there has been sufficient growth but, rather, for the reason is

that the majority of Russian people have fortunately not learned yet to sell their favour and respect for money..” Some would say that Mr. Putin has been actively engaged in establishing basic order in Russia. He has firmly suppressed terrorism and separatism, established the power of law and tried to get the authority to carry out its commitments. There is no doubt all this is true but… The fight against terrorism and separatism has a cost known to us victims, the power of

law is still resisted by crime and corruption and the process of creating a mechanism for carrying out authority’s commitments has not been completed yet. And people know it very well… They also feel and realize one more thing. One of the bases of Chinese classical political science has always been the principle that is difficult to understand for a person with European mentality. The principle says: “People live badly not because of poverty but because

of anxiety”. By the way, this was “anxiety” – anxiety for the present and the future of themselves and their family that the Russian people had felt for almost twelve years before Mr. Putin came into power. It was such anxiety, such uncertainty of the future, such lack of any positive outlook that made their life bad more than all the material losses. While the present Russian leader has been in power, Russian people have felt stability, stability of development but not of stagnation. People have found anew a belief that a normal life is possible in Russia. Is it surprising that the citizens of Russia support a person who has helped them to find again this belief? It is no wonder. This is how things should be”.

Oil price will only rise T

he World market still offers surprises to Russia, especially before the elections. Oil price may rise as high as $125 for a barrel. This overwhelms all previous “daring ” forecasts of oil price increases up to $100 previously thought only possible within the next few years. This time the forecast comes not only from analysts and “great theorists” but also from “invisible hand” of the market. According to the report of New York commodity exchange, by the end of October traders

obtained the right to buy more than two million and a half of barrels of oil and sell them for $125 for a barrel in December. The price for a barrel has grown by 19% for the last few months. Drastic price increases are accounted for by three reasons: demand for oil significantly exceeds its supply, the conflict between the USA and Iran, and, on the other hand, the dollar’s growing weaker and the US securities are getting less attractive for as a fund reserve. Increase in the demand for oil is due to the dramatic economic develop-

ment of some of thelargest “Third World” countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China. Their economic growth is connected with a geometric increase in consumption of energy supply. Apart from that, currently oil (as well as precious metals) has become even more demanded by investors as an alternative to investment in the US securities. The stock market of the USA suffers from a crisis in the real estate market and US treasury bonds are losing their yields due to rate reductions by the US Federal Reserve System.

In these circumstances, investors direct their attention to commodity values – oil and gold. “Pelf” rises in price for the same reason: world price for an ounce of gold has increased to $800, which is the highest it has been since 1980. For the present moment there are no alternatives for oil as the main energy source. And there won’t be any in the nearest future, until the appearance of new revolutionary, technologies, or, perhaps, until there is no more oil on the Earth.

Banks have 514.1 bln rbs on CBR correspondent accounts on November 7

Russian banks have 514.1 billion rubles on correspondent accounts in the Central Bank as of November 7 including 364.2 billion rubles for Moscow banks. The balance on November 6 was 498.9 billion rubles and 350.4 billion rubles, respectively. Banks had 103.3 billion rubles on deposit accounts in the Central Bank on November 7 against 104.8 billion rubles on previous day. “Interfax”

Gazprom looks to buy filling stations in Poland

Gazprom is readying itself for its arrival on the European refined oil product market. The Russian natural gas monopoly was offered the possibility of acquiring 300 filling stations in Poland as part of a joint venture deal with British Petroleum (BP). A Gazprom source confirmed that such talks were underway, noting however, that prior to purchasing the assets, the monopoly would have to assess its chances of supplying its own oil to these filling stations, the RBC Daily newspaper wrote today. The possibility that the gas stations would be handed over to the Russian gas giant’s subsidiary Gazprom Neft has not been ruled out. Analysts estimate the proposed deal at $300$600 million. rbk

Russian and Chinese PMs meet

The Prime Ministers of Russia and China bear personal responsibility for the implementation of the bilateral long-term goodneighborliness, friendship and cooperation agreement, Russian PM Viktor Zubkov announced during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Moscow November, 6. Zubkov believes that reaching an agreement to prepare a new action plan for carrying out the agreement for 20092012 was an important step. He noted that relations between Russia and China had reached an unprecedented level, having become a powerful positive factor in world politics. Zubkov added that strengthening the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership was in line with the national interests of both countries. In turn, the Chinese PM pointed out that the strategic partnership between the two countries was on the threshold of a new decade of its development. Jiabao also welcomed the advancements of cooperation, referring to them as positive changes. rbk

Russia suspends arms treaty

The Russian State Duma has suspended Russia’s participation in the Treaty on the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE), although the President has the right to resume the country’s participation. The bill was ratified unanimously (418) and will come into effect once it has been published. rbk

Ãàçåòà çàðåãèñòðèðîâàíà â Ôåäåðàëüíîé ñëóæáå ïî íàäçîðó â ñôåðå ìàññîâûõ êîììóíèêàöèé, ñâÿçè è îõðàíû êóëüòóðíîãî íàñëåäèÿ. Ñâèäåòåëüñòâî î ðåãèñòðàöèè ñðåäñòâà ìàññîâîé èíôîðìàöèè ÏÈ ¹ÔÑ77-29867 îò 10 îêòÿáðÿ 2007 ãîäà. Àäðåñ: Ðîññè, Ïåðìü, óë. Êàðïèíñêîãî 97à-208. E-mail: info@pimg.ru, Òåë. 8 912 98 362 79. Ó÷ðåäèòåëü: Ìóõàìàäååâà Åëåíà (hal@pimg.ru). Èçäàòåëü: OOO “Ïåðìü Èíòåðìåäèà Ãðóï”. . Èñïîëíèòåëüíûé äèðåêòîð: Íèêèôîðîâà Îêñàíà (nog@pimg.ru). Ðåäàêòîð: Àçàíîâà Ëàðèñà (alv@pimg). Êîððåêòîð: ßðè Ýäâàð. Àâòîðû: Al, Àçàíîâà Ëàðèñà, Äóáðîâñêàÿ Êàðèíà, Äóáðîâñêàÿ Êàðèíà, Ìàõëåñ Åëåíà, Ìåäâåäåâà Àðèíà, Ïðîñêóðèíà Íàäåæäà, Ðàñêîëüíèêîâ Ìèõàèë, Ðåéíãàðä Îëüãà, Ïðîêîïåö Ëþäìèëà. Ïåðåâîä÷èêè: Ôåðáåðîâ ßêîâ, Êîìàëóòäèíîâà Àëèíà. Ñîöèîëîãè: Ðåéíãàðä Îëüãà, Íåóñðîåâ Åãîð. Ðåäàêöèÿ íå íåñåò îòâåòñòâåííîñòè çà ñîäåðæàíèå ðåêëàìíûõ ìàòåðèàëîâ. Ìíåíèÿ àâòîðîâ ïóáëèêàöèè íå îáÿçàòåëüíî îòðàæàåò òî÷êó çðåíèÿ ðåäàêöèè. Ðóêîïèñè è ïèñüìà íå ðåöåíçèðóþòñÿ è íå âîçâðàùàþòñÿ. Òèðàæ: 5000 ýêç. Ïå÷àòü: â ÎÎÎ «Íîâàÿ òèïîãðàôèÿ - Ïåðìü». 614014, Ïåðìü, óë. 1905 ãîäà, 35. Çàêàç ¹1923.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

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news in perm Animal Kingdom is on the Move T

he subject of the Perm Zoo is a sore point for the city. A question of relocation of the Zoo was raised several times, as its area is pretty small. Another reason is the general aesthetics of the zoo. The animal cages are situated in the area which was a bishop’s cemetery until it’s conversion to a zoo in the 1920’s. This was, almost certainly, more of a political statement of the new Soviet government than a selec-

aspect associated with it. The government has identified new locations for the Zoo and has even set deadlines for a move. Despite all this, the Zoo still cannot see its future clearly. The city council promised that the area of the Zoo will become a property of Perm’s bishopric in the future. The administration believes that since this area used to be the property of Russian Orthodox Church till the Revolution of 1917, it would be fair to give the land

park district don’t want to lose a good place for walks. And that’s the reason for the Perm authorities have begun to work on a new location for the Zoo. During the last meeting at council, the new project passed preliminary conformation. This plan supposes the transfer of the zoological garden into the zone, situated on the Kama’s right riverside. The authorities intend to build up a recreation zone with a mini-park, a water park etc. This area

The Perm State University celebrated its 91st birthday

he Perm university was founded as a branch of the St. Petersburg university on Ocotober 14th, 1916. It was the first university at the territory of Ural, and being a “forefather” of all the state universities in Perm, formed higher education system of the whole region. The status of independent university it received in May, 1917. A great contribution in the university foundation was made be N.V.

Meshkov, public figure, manufacturer and Maecenas. He provided his houses for educational buildings, apartments for teachers, appropriated half a

million rubles for the university maintenance, scholarships, library acquisition, purchasing of antique collection for the antiquities and art museum.

The increase of birth-rate and decrease of death-rate is observed in the Perm region

In the Perm region for the 9 months of 2007 the bodies of registry office registered 24.5 thousand new-borns, which is almost 1.5 thousand more than for the same period last year. At the same time in 46 territories of the Perm region reflected a decrease of the number of deaths registered.

Perm welcomes world known architects

A tion based on its central city location. In 1967, the government appropriated an area of 30 hectares in the Balatovsky forestpark for a new Zoo; Balatovsky forestpark being a large forested area within the city. The government even started some construction works, but financial problems prevented the Zoo from being completed and the idea was set aside for many years. Since 2001, there have been many hot discussions held on the subject of the zoo, both about the poor facilities at the current location as well the sacrilegious

back to the bishopric at no expense. Meanwhile the Zoo stifles from lack of space. The animals are crowded into a mere 2 hectares instead of the 30 hectares necessary. The main candidate for a future residence of the Zoo, Tchernyaevsky forest, was eliminated due to the protest of Perm scientists and public. Tchernyaevsky forest-park is a special landscape protection area. It is charged that the Zoo would have a negative influence on natural balance of the park. Besides, people living in the neighboring to the

occupies 400 hectares. They plan to place the Zoo itself on 5-20 hectares of the land. Meanwhile, of course, the new area also has some serious flaws. In particular, the area is situated in the zone of catastrophic water flooding. Additionally, the area is now in a state of extreme desolation. The city council added that the Zoo won’t move in the near future – neither this, and, apparently, nor the next year. “The relocation of the Zoo is a timetaking and laborious process. It’s the work that can’t be done over a year”.

number of world famous architects, participants in the second round of the competition for the new Perm State Art Gallery building, arrived in Perm at the end of October.

Among the luminaries visiting Perm are: Hani Rashid, Wolfgang Prix, Eric Owen Moss, Hans Hollein, Lars Spuybroek, Odille Decq and Zaha Hadid.

The architects visited the future building site of the Art Gallery and the surrounding area; the urban and cultural context where the design project will be placed. They also became acquainted with the collection and the conceptual framework of the Gallery’s development. In total, there are 25 architects who have reached the second round of the competition Perm Museum XXI. The results will be judged by the jury headed by Peter Zumthor. The prize fund for the competition is $300,000 (US) with the winner receiving $100,000.

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

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news in perm Lufthansa adds another flight The airport will be reconstructed to its weekly Perm-Frankfurt Regional route schedule TheDevelopment Investment program has adopted its budget for 20082010 with a total of 3.6 billion rubles ($US 144 Million) targeted at projects throughout the region.

ufthansa airlines announced that they will expand routes and increase trip frequency during the winter time flight schedule. The winter schedule of Lufthansa airlines for 2007-2008 includes 188 destinations to 79 countries. There will now be 4 flights a week from Rostov-na-Donu, Nizniy Novgorod and Perm to Frankfurt. Also, for the first time, Lufthansa has organized special New Year trips Perm-Frankfurt and Kazan- Frankfurt that will be nonstop, reports the press service of the company. For the winter schedule, Lufthansa

airlines will make 13,272 trips a week, a 2.9% increase over last year. This year Lufthansa airlines will also open new destinations with flights to Orlando (USA), Karachi and Lehor (Pakistan), Bordo (France), and Vroclav (Poland).

The winter schedule of 2007-2008 began on October 28, 2007 and will operate until March 29, 2008. Currently, Perm is served by “AtlantSojuz”, “Aeroflot RA”, “AeroflotNord”, “UTair”, and also “Aviaprad” as well as “Lufthansa”.

Duisburg — the third “sister” city of Perm

Highlighting this investment will be the Perm’s “Bolshoye Savino” international airport. The specially created commission identified 8 major projects in the program. It will, however, also consider applications on construction and reconstruction of other objects in the sphere of education, culture, transport,

s part of the VII annual Russian - German forum in Wiesbaden held recently, an Agreement on the establishment of sisterhood relations between Perm and Duisburg was signed.

The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the chancellor of Germany of Angela Merkel were present at the signing ceremony. Perm has two other sister cities: the city of Oxford, England

was “twinned” with Perm in 1990 followed by Louisville, Kentucky, USA in 1994. A number of joint art and educational projects are planned between Perm and it’s newest sister city Duisburg, Germany.

In the addition to the airport expansion and renovation, the 8 project currently identified also includes work on the “Perm Opera House, the building of a psychiatric-dispensary in Lysva and the construction of a prenatal centre in Perm.

The price of air tickets in the Perm region will not rise

ccording to the forecasts of «Rosaviatsiya», the cost of air transportation in 2008 may increase by 40 %. The head of the department Eugeny Bachurin has declared that the deterioration of aircraft fleet of the domestic airlines coupled with the constant growth in prices for fuel will

housing-and-municipal service and social security corresponding to the priorities of social and economic development of the Perm region. A financial reserve of 1.82 billion rubles ($US 72.8 million) has been set aside for these new projects.

contribute to the anticipated price rise. However, other experts are also predicting these prices may not impact the Perm market. They believe the factors noted by Bachurin are basically applied to the Moscow market. These experts believe the recent and anticipated arrival of new competitors in the Perm market will hold

local prices down as they struggle to grow their share of the red hot Perm air market. The volume of passenger traffic at the Perm airport “Bolshoye Savino” increased by 44% over last year. The volume of passenger traffic on flights international in Perm has also increased considerably in recent years.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

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news in perm 10 billion rubles will Direct flight from A new plant has been Perm to Italy starting be allotted for repair started in Perm works of roads in Perm n October, 12th for different service summer 2008 Onew optical conditions will procommunication cable plant “Eliks-Cabel-PNMPPK” began business in Perm. The enterprise is design to produce more than 1,000 km of cable per month. A new research and practical use Center is planned to be created at the basis of the plant with support of Russian Academy of Science and the city higher education institutions. The plant forms the basis of the “Perm scientific-industrial instrument company”. The ability to produce different kinds of cable

vide an opportunity to perform orders for consumers from the Urals and neighboring regions. It will also significantly reduce production time and transportation expenses. The need for this product line is urgent because the optical cable is used in all fields where informational technologies are required, which, today, includes virtually every enterprise. The “Eliks-CablePNPPK” facility has targeted to take a 10-15% share of the rapidly growing market within Perm and its neighboring regions.

A new player appears on the Perm internet market

he company Golden Telecom, an international supplier of telecommunication and internet services, intends to invest about $1.3 billion on developing broadband internet access in 65 regions in Russia within the bounds of the project Triple-65. Strategic plans of the company presuppose a more intense development of the broadband access to the internet in Perm. At small part of the local Perm broadband market was acquired by Golden Telecom as a result

of its purchase of the “A-Tel” company which provides services to private organizations. Perm is in the list of top 20 prospective Russian cities from the point of developing broadband internet access to the internet and with the help of program Triple-65 the company intends to increase service by locating company representatives in the target markets. Today about 40% of Perm inhabitants use internet access services. Information source: Business class newspaper

“Landa Tour Voyage” travel agency (Moscow) is interested in operating a charter flights from Perm to one the Italian cities. Presently, the project is at the exploratory stage, but experts in the tourist industry predict the program may be approved as early as April-May of next year. It is expected the charter program may be approved after

an agreement with the “Perm airlines”, which owns “Bolshoe Savino” airport, has been reached. The travel agencies aspire to open the direct flight to Italy primarily because of increased passengers flow. According to the perm travel agencies, all the regional charter flights in 2007 are 100% full with all the tickets booked 1 or 2 months in advance.

Perm region took part in “Orthodox Russia-2007” A Perm region delegation took part in the global Russian exhibition-forum “Orthodox Russia2007”. The exhibition took part from the 1st to the 4th of November in the Moscow Expocentre. Perm senator Andrei Klimov was on hand to participate in the work of the forum. At the 2nd interregional Orthodox Exhibition “Orthodox

Russia-2007” one can get acquainted with cloisters and cathedrals, church attributes, orthodox publishing houses, icon-painting, artrestoration and jewelry masters, peal casting and other handcrafted items. Source: newspaper “Noviy Region – Perm”. Source: newspaper “Noviy Region – Perm”.

At the meeting, held on October, 5th, the Perm region government confirmed an investment program for road construction period 2008-2010. 10.07 billion rubles will be allotted for construction of the regional roads within that program. As the Perm region administration informs, the first order objects for 2008 are such road sections as Perm-Krasnokamsk, Kosa-Solikamsk, southern Perm bypass and second part of Krasavinskiy bridge. The objects are planned to be placed in operation in September 2008, 713.1 million rubles

will be appropriated to fulfill this term. Also the program, compiled till 2010, includes construction of bypass of Polazna, and such routes as Perm-Berezniki, Perm-Chaikovskiy, Kudymkar-Syktyvkar, reconstruction of eastern Perm bypass, crossing of Stakhanovskaya str.-Iva, project of second part of Chosovaya river bridge construction. The investment program, designed for three years, is based on development project of roads network, worked out by road agency of the Perm region for period from 2016 to 2036.

The products of Publishing house “Mamatov” include local lore history, economy and artistic literature; albums, postcards and “premium class” calendars. The firm has extensive experienced in polygraphy and as well as producing editions in electronic format. “Mamatov” is a unique firm that specializes in original publishing projects. The program “World of Information” envisages the creation web sites, e-books in CD and DVD format and their placing in the internet. The program “Cultural World” unites literature and arts projects of high polygraphy: books, albums, set of postcards, calendars and guide-books. The program “the Discovery of Perm” in the serial edition presents the natural and cultural-historic resources of the Perm region. “Mamatov” reputation for high quality attracts the best painters, designers, well-known writers and scientists. The “Mamatov” name is a guarantee of creative originality and professionalism in the realization of any project. Perm, st. Krasnova, 1 Phone. + 7(902)801 7 545

Working with “Mamatov” will give your editions originality and unique style!

St.Petersburg , Voznesenskiy prospect, house 55A Phone. +7(912) 989 7 545 www.mamatov.ru

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

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news in perm O

Bitter page in the history of Solikamsk

n October 30, 2007, a memorial devoted to the victims of political repression was unveiled and dedicated in the city of Solikamsk, located some 300 km to the north of Perm. The name “Solikamsk” has a special meaning in the history of Russia. In Soviet times it became a shelter for thousands of “public enemies”. Virtually all the industrial capacity and infrastructure of Solikamsk was created with the “slave” labor of those people. They built apartment buildings, municipal structures and a host of other community roads and buildings Throughout the Soviet era, the socalled antagonistic elements of Soviet society were exiled to Solikamsk and then “written off”. Despite many the thousands who were sent to work there, one can only find about 500 data cards in the Perm archives for the “exile” employees who built and worked at the various potassium and magnesium

plants of Solikamsk. A paper mill was also created with the labor of many thousands of political prisoners and their family members. In the early days of the Second World War, 15 thousand “mobilized” Germans were sent to the city of Solikamsk to build defense installations. Another 15 thousand Soviet citizens were forced to work at lumber camps in the region of Usolye. These repressed citizens have been passed over in silence for a long time. They have no graves. Even the locations of the mass graves for those who

were shot during this period were kept strictly confidential and have been lost to posterity. It only seems reasonable, now, when the horrors of the past have been finally brought into the light of day for there to be Solikamsk where the descendents of these long suffering people could come to lay flowers, a place for people to come and find peace and reflection on from this bitter page in the history of Russia. The initiative of the memorial creation belongs to the head of German Cultural Soci-

ety of Solikamsk, Edward Grib. For its part, the city administration has fully supported the undertaking. Last September, a fundraising for the memorial construction started. Money resources flew in from ordinary Solikamsk inhabitants, from large corporations as well as from the few surviving “repressed” and their descendents. The proceeds from this effort have been used to construct the memorial and provide some measure of assurance that the suffering of those people will not be forgotten.

Charity help from “Medlife” R

ecently, the medical corporation “Medlife” made a donation to Perm regional hospital for war veterans by donating rehabilitation equipment, medical tools and other needed essentials worth over 560,000 rubles ($22.4 thousand US). At a ceremony to mark the occasion held in front of staff and patients, the head of the hospital Leonid Starodubcev

thanked Medlife’s Director Vyacheslav Loginov and explained the value of donation to the hospital patients. “I want to thank medical corporation “Medlife” for the goodwill gesture. For the first time, a private medical establishment supports a Perm regional hospital. Our only goal at the facility is to rehabilitate our patients”, said Leonid Starodubcev. He added “The

equipment that was donated will increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation at the hospital and will let us broaden the spectrum of rehabilitation treatment as well as facilitate the work of our dentists”. At present time, the patient treats those actively serving in the military as well as the veterans who have served in military conflicts throughout the world. In addition, the hos-

pital continues to provide rehabilitation services for the veterans and invalids of World War 2. The facility has specialist in gerontology, diagnostics, therapy, neurology and cardiology. The two medical blocks of the hospital can accommodate 500 patients. Hospital patients range in age is from 19 to 100 years old. Information source: CompanjONline

Fashion on a professional basis

odels, representatives of ateliers, light industry, shoe workshops and many other representatives of fashion industry have decided to unite, following the call of the Ministry of Development of Small and Medium Size Enterprises of Perm Krai. The object is to create a professional fashion-association to address common business and creative work concerns. “This enterprising group has already begun to establish an association. In the near future we’ll

start working out Regulations and preparing documents for registration. Everybody who is interested in establishing a sectoral association is invited to take part in this work”, announced Larissa Kleyner, the initiator of the association and the president of the fashion festival “Brilyantovaya bulavka”(Brilliant pin). Elena Guilyazova, a minister of trade, thinks that “we’ve got a great risk for having a fashion industry that does not “grow” only because nobody “waters” it. So let’s do it!”.

Perm “Jazz-fever” will start again

rom November, 26 till November, 30 the festival “Jazz-fever” will be held in Perm. The festival is devoted to the memory of of Henry Terpilovskiy, a well known local musician and composer, one of the founding figures of Russian jazz who had worked in Perm many years. The first “Jazzfever” was held in Perm last year. It’s success motivated the organizers to make it an annual event on the local music scene. This year the festival will expand participation to include musicians from the entire Perm region and not just the Perm city musicians as was done last year. The musicians will “kick-off” the start of the festival in Perm on November, 26 followed up on successive days with festival performances in various other cities within the Perm region. The festival

will end on November, 30 with a gala concert to be held in the Cultural Business centre of Perm. The concert will include both local and foreign jazz stars. Next year the musician Henry Terpilovskiy would have been 100 years. If this years festival continues the success begun with the first festival, it is hoped the “Jazz fever” festival will be able to mark this occasion with an even bigger event.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

PAGE

Business “Permsky” branch of Raiffeisenbank participates in “Loans. Investments. Insurance 2007” finance expo

From September 13 till September 16 “Permsky” branch of ZAO Raiffeisenbank Austria has participated in the annual “Loans. Investments. Insurance” finance expo. Exhibition booth of the bank has attracted visitors with its bright yellow-black appearance and proactive approach of Impexbank and Raiffeisenbank representatives. Visitors were able to learn about the products offered by both banks as well as the upcoming merger of JSC Impexbank and ZAO Raiffeisenbank Austria. At the closing ceremony “Permsky” branch was awarded with a certificate for “Offering wide range of services for private individuals and middle market companies”. Over 80 participants from various regions of the country have taken in the 4-th “Loans. Investments. Insurance” expo. The government of Perm Krai, city administration, Main Territorial Department of the Bank of Russia for Perm Krai, Perm Guild of Insurers and United Perm Bar Association acted as official sponsors of the event. “Loans. Investments. Insurance” expo is held annually to promote banking, insurance and factoring services for general population, highlighting newest technologies and financial market possibilities, establishing business contacts between financial market companies, corporations, entrepreneurs and general population. as well as encouraging participation of foreign and leading Russian banks and other financial institutions in economic development programs of Ural and Volga regions. During the expo “Permsky” branch of Raiffeisenbank has presented a new product – “Investment” deposit with higher than average interest. Apart from that visitors have shown great interest in mortgage programs and car loans.

ZAO Raiffeisenbank Austria and OAO Impexbank are subsidiaries of Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG. In 2006 Raiffeisen International purchased 100% shares of IMPEXBANK. Together Raiffeisenbank and Impexbank form the largest foreign-owned banking group in Russia, ranking 7th in terms of assets among top Russian banks based on H1 2007 results (Interfax-CEA). Raiffeisen Group is ranked 6th in terms of corporate lending based on H1 2007 results (InterfaxCEA). According to Interfax-CEA, the banks together ranked 4th in Russia in terms of private deposits and 5th in consumer lending in Russia based on H1 2007. Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG (Raiffeisen International) operates the largest banking network in CEE. 18 markets of Europe’s growth region are covered by subsidiary banks, finance leasing companies, two representative offices and a number of other financial service providers. About 12.7 million customers are attended to through more than 2,950 business outlets. Raiffeisen International is a fully consolidated subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB), which owns 70 per cent of the common stock. The remaining 30 per cent is free float, the shares are traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange. RZB is a leading corporate and investment bank in Austria and the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group, the country’s largest banking group.

A review of Perm Region industry

Oil — Black Gold of the Urals By Olga Rayngardt The Perm region is well known for the recovery and processing of its abundant natural resources. The rich landscape of the region provides a great the opportunity for the growth of these key industries. Perm Region’s engineering, chemical and petroleum industries are making a mark for themselves on both home and foreign markets. The fuel and chemical industries have developed mainly due to the local availability of raw materials. The oil and gas industry in Perm has developed into a modern, powerful and vertically integrated complex of oil and gas processing. One of the basic factors to reflect the real condition of the regional industry is the value of its product throughput. This includes the cost of manufactured goods, services as well as the income from the resale of goods bought elsewhere (without taxation, excises and other obligatory payments) for use in the local industrial process. According to the data obtained from the January-November 2006, the turnover for the all enterprises in the “Mining Resources” sector was 69.3 billion rubles ($US 277 million) and 292.8 billion rubles ($US 11.7 billion) for “Processing Industries”. The turnover for “Mining Resources” enterprises is principally from the gas/oil sector. The biggest component in “Processing Industries” turnover and as in the volume of goods produced is also from this sector as well as from the production of coke from coal.

In comparison with 2005 figures oil production has increased by 286.5 thousand tones (2,8%). Among the basic oil refining products, the amount of diesel fuel increased (by 14,3%), naval black oil grew (by 10.2%). The volume of primary oil refining was 98,6% 2004 levels. Not all product sectors increased. The manufacture of automobile gasoline went down slightly by 0.4%), black oil by 22.3% and lubricant oils by 7.6%. As of January 1, 2007, “large” and “average” Perm companies together earned

79.3 billion rubles ($US 3.2 billion) in profits which is a 20% increase over the previous year. More than half of this profit was earned by processing industries, some 40,9 billion rubles ($US1.6 billion), while 38.9% of the total was earned by chemical production and mineral oil production firms. The largest regional enterprises engaged in oil production and oil refining are «Lukoil Perm», «Permoblneft», «Eurasia - Perm». The presence in Perm of specialized scientific centres and the highly skilled staff provide are

Activities

a strong factor in this presence. The 2006-7 data also revealed that the highest average salary within the processing industry was in coke and mineral oil production where workers earned an average of 25,985 rubbles ($US 1,040) a month. In comparison with December, 2005, wages have increased by 33%. The dynamics of development of industries such as in oil recovery and production and, in particular, in the production of mineral oil, have demonstrated significant growth patterns in recent years. Accordingly, this trend makes the industries attractive for investors resulting in further growth and development. This trend seems to be triggering a new age in the development of the Perm region. With this growth in “Black gold” industries, as oil is known, there is growing confidence that this industry will remain the core of the regional economy for the 21st Century.

Industrial Production growth (%)vs. 2005

Mining Resources

105.7

Processing Industries, including

100.7

Woodworking

99.8

Pulp and paper industry; publishing and polygraphist work

97.8

Production of coke and petroleum derivatives; nuclear production

105.1

Chemical production

96.6

Gum and plastic production

77.9

Steel production and metal products

104.9

engineering

104,7

Electrics, electronics and optics production

121.4

Production of vehicles and equipment

92.3

Electric power, gas and water production and allocation

100.0

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

PAGE

Business Industrial leaders of the Perm krai: Open JSC “METAFRAX” The “METAFRX” company was founded in 1955. At the time, it seemed a small chemical plant with few prospects for development. Today, however, Open JSC “METAFRAX” is a modern, financially stable, multi-disciplined enterprise that, for several years, has ranked among the 200 largest companies of Russia. It has achieved this success through productivity increases coupled with closely following industry and trends and markets which has allowed it to steadily increase its production volume. Primarily, “METAFRAX” is the first-rate producer of methanol in Russia, the supply of which constitutes about 40% of the all-Russian methanol market. Technical methanol “A” produced in by “METAFRAX” is successfully delivered both to the Russian domestic and international markets. According to its qualitative adjectives, it complies with the severe requirements of all national and international standards. Although methanol is considered to be “METAFRAX” major product, the enterprise has escaped the fate of a “placing all its eggs in one basket”. According to the Complex Program of the Company Development adopted for the next several years, the company presently focused on production development. In 2003, “METAFRAX” set up a new urea-formaldehyde concentrate (UFC) plant with productive capacity of 60 thousand tons per year. The facility was designed by the Swedish company “PERSTORP FORMOX”, a recognized world leader in formaldehyde production

engineering. In 2004, another UFC plant was brought on line. A third facility started up a year later. As a result of this expansion, “METAFRAX” is now the largest producer of UFC in Russia. In October 2004, a new urea-formaldehyde resin manufacturing plant operated by the joint venture “METADINEA” (“METAFRAX” and the Finnish company “DINEA CHEMICALS Oy”) began production. Already, “METADINEA” is one of the principal players in the Russian synthetic resins market. In 2006, “METAFRX”, working with the Austrian company “PÖRNER” set a formalin plant with productive capacity of 270 tons per year into operation. The same year a large-scale methanol works reconstruction was accomplished with the help of the Swiss company “METHANOL CASALE”. Current plans include the construction of a new paraformaldehyde production plant. The German company “MEISNER” will act as technology supplier, while engineering will be accomplished by the Austrian partner “PÖRNER”. According to Armen Garslyan, chairman of board of directors of the company “METAFRAX”, this plant can be called unique. There is only one more experimental small-capacity plant of this kind in Russia within the company “URALCHIMPLAST” (Nizhni Tagil, Sverdlovsk region). “Production volume is not determined yet”, says Garslyan, “however its tentative capacity is set to be around 20-30 thousand tons per year.

We will principally head for the European market, although supply may provoke product demand in Russia”. The new paraformaldehyde plant is scheduled to begin operation at the end of 2009. “METAFRAX”’s immediate plans include a urotropine works reconstruction. “Currently, “METAFRAX” is the biggest urotropine manufacturer in Russia. Today we actually start to construct a entirely new facility, an urotropine plant that will be the most modern in Europe. It took us a long time to choose which would be the best technology. We are looking forward to entering a crowded European urotropine market”, says Garslyan. The German company “MEISNER” will act as technology supplier. Plant construction will take approximately two years. About 60% of the plant output is consigned to be exported to Europe, Brazil, Argentina and other countries. Garslyan reports that at the moment, “METAFRAX” top-managers are searching for potential partners for other chemical works with the company. Garslayn said: “It is essential to construct a large carbamide and ammonia plant. At present we are working on this matter in order to determine for ourselves with whom, how and where to construct it. It will be an absolutely new kind of plant. We constantly keep in touch with co-investors, manufactures and engineering companies to have a full picture. I cannot say yet when it will be accomplished. In general construction of such a plant with 600-650 thousand tons per year capacity will take about 4 years”. It is apparently that the company’s history has been one of constant forward movement. Today Open JSC “METAFRAX” is one of the few Russian enterprises of a European standard whose success is not governed by monopoly or raw materials exploitation but rather by the application of modern technologies and high production standards. Is this reason “METAFRAX” remains in the forefront of industry in the Perm region and in the Russian chemical complex.

RESULTS OF THE COMPANY’S ACTIVITY OVER THE PERIOD OF 9 MONTHS IN THE YEAR OF 2007 Production volume and shipments for the first 9 months of 2007 comes to 5.2 billion rubles ($US 206.1 Million) which exceeds its 2006 showing for the same period by 35%. These results seem to prove that ambitious management plans for annual product output of 7 billion rubles in 2007 are achievable. Total volume of exports over the period of 9 months is about 41%; with 2.12 billion rubles ($US 84.8 Million) shipped for export. In this same 9 month period, the company produced 696 thousand tons of methanol (35% more than in 2006). This pace will allow “METAFRAX” to reach one of its major goals — production of 1 million ton of methanol per year. Also in the first 9 months of 2007, the company produced about 203 thousand tons of 37% formaline. Production volume of the ureaformaldehyde concentrate, which the company has produced since 2003, increased by 10% and constitutes 150 thousand tons. The company has also produced about 15 thousand tons of pentaerythritol (28% more than last year), about 11 thousand tons of urotropine, over 7 thousand tons of sodium formate and about 850 tons of bulk and granulated polyamide. Open JSC “METAFRAX” balance sheet profit increased more than twice and constituted 1.552 Billion rubles ($US 62.1 Million) over the period the first 9 months of 2007.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

10 PAGE

Business Chusovskoi Metallurgic Plant ranks high

husovskoi Metallurgic Plant, part of the United Metallurgic Company, was recently included in a list of the largest federal holding “subunits” working in the greater Ural region. The plant was ranked 15th out of 50 companies reporting export volume more than $130

Million. Altogether there are more than 500 “sub-units” which included in the ratings. During 2006, the main exports of the Chusovskoi plant were the pig iron (to Spain and Belgium) and ferrovanadium FVD 50 (to Netherlands and Ukraine). Presently “CMP” has export contracts totaling more than $280 Million.

European Marketing at Perm industrial enterprise

n November 6th and 7th, the “Industrial enterprise marketing” training seminar was held by Center of Professional outsourcing and business management with the support of the Perm Chamber of Commerce. According to many participants of the seminar «Business-toBusiness”, a market having such features as a limited number of parties to a contract, a complex purchase decision and the a high importance of personal relationships, had special significance to the Prikamye industrial market due to the fact that the industry, as well as the region in general, is frequently closed for newcomers. Such issues as marketing nature and concept, collection and analysis of marketing information ar-

rangements, marketing research, segmentation and positioning, and also product policies, pricing, marketing communications and distribution system were discussed at the seminar. Moreover, every participant could elect to take part in «Sectoral analysis» and «Problem Area for the marketing industry» roundtables. The lectures were conducted by representatives of marketing departments from such Perm enterprises as OAO ZHBK-1 «, “Scientificresearch institute of chemical goods”, “Sorbent” and others. The Center of Professional outsourcing and business management made a good start on the process of implementing global marketing principles into mentality of Prikamye. This time is right to, as they say, let the ignorance pass in the sea of knowledge and crafts.

«Belkomur» project is speeding up I

n the very near future, the Perm region, Archangelsk region, Komi republic and the «Russian Railroad” company will sign an agreement for the construction of a «Belkomur» main, to connect three northern regions. The project was begun 1993, but is only now to be fully realized. The Belkomur Main will total 1252 km, 795 of which are to be constructed under the project which will result in a significant shortening of distances (by 10-30%) between the three regions. The existing sections are owned by «Russian Railroad» whose interest in the project is based on a projected rise of the different freight flows through the new main. The Russian Railway will fund the construction of the proposed additional rail branches. It is planned to execute the project in two steps. The first one is

three-year construction of the railroad «northern section» from Archangelsk to Syktyvkar, which length will be 672 km. After the section is placed in operation, freight operation distances will be shortened by 160-420 km and freight cost reduced by 20-65%. This first phase will also provide direct access to the sea ports of Archangelsk and Murmansk. The second phase, scheduled to be

complete in the following 5 years, includes the construction of the “southern section” (Syktyvkar-GainySolikamsk), which will connect Syktyvakar to Transsibirskaya trunk-railway. Construction of this section will reduce the cost of transportation by 40-50% and shorten distances of freight transportation by 300-800 km or even more. That will provide the shortest way from the

Komi republic to Urals and allow for the direct delivery of goods from Urals to Archangelsk, Karelia and ports of Finland. That is exactly why all the experts are certain that “Belkomur” will solve not only domestic goods transportation problems, but also will be able to extend the export potential of the country. The project’s effectiveness has been verified by the experts. They estimated that the project would pay for itself in 6.5 years. Moreover the project will create substantial employment growth. The project will include the staffing of at least 25 permanent facilities in addition to the large numbers of workers required for the huge construction effort. The project has attracted of both Northern Europe and the USA and may make the new the “Belkomur” Main railway an important part of the international transport corridor.

Industrial leaders named in Perm

he Perm administration has announced winners of the second stage of “The best city enterprise for productivity and solving social problems” contest. The contest was organized by the department of industrial policy, investments and business as well as the city administration. 36 Perm companies participated in the competition, 17 of which became winners and laureates. The participants were divided into 3 groups according to the number of em-

ployees employed; Group I, less than 100 employees; Group II, 100-500 employees; Group III, more than 500 employees. In the category of production effectiveness, nominations for companies were rated by such indices as labor productivity, profitability, net profit per employee, ratio of expenses to innovations, to the product prime cost and expenses for environmental protection. Winners were chosen by the contest commission on the basis of rating of the enterprises

socio-economic indices for 2006, which were compiled by department of industrial policy, investments and business. The Leaders in “Pocessing Industries” category are “Torgmash” plant (Group II), “Reductor-PM” (Group III). The Leaders in “Chemicals and oil products production” category are “Ashlen MSP” (Group I), “HenkelPemos” (Group II) and “LUKOIL-Permneftorgsynthez” (Group III). The winners in “Machinery, electrical equipment

and measurement instrumentation production” contest are “Iskra-Energetica” (Group II) and “Perm motors plant” (Group III). The laureates in the “Cellulose, wooden goods production and printing industry” competition are “Saw-timber “Krasniy Octiabr”” (Group II) and “Goznak” (Group III). “Perm flour-grinding plant” was named the winner in the “Food products industry” segment.

Information source: prm.ru

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

11 PAGE

Business Wood sold out

or the first time, on October 16, 2007, the Regional Office of Industry and Natural Resources sold three lots of wood at an auction organized. All the lots went for a surprisingly high price and if all the winners confirm their bids, the budget of the region will benefit from some 100 million rubles. Analysts believe that is was investors who wished to use the lots for site development and not just wood harvesting who increased the price dramatically. Regardless, however, the local

op-1000 Russian managers” rating has been recently compiled within a joint project of Russian Managers Association and “Kommersant” newspaper. The Perm region is well represented in the list in which the Russian business community identified chairmen of leading companies

authorities are satisfied with the results. “Our target is to earn not only on the wood but also on its

repartition. This auction showed that the regional forest area is very valuable as a resource”.

Airlines purchase planes equipped with Perm engines PS90A

n the beginning of October, the “Red Wings” and “Volga - Dnepr” airlines both bought planes equipped with PS-90A engines manufactured by the Perm Motor company. ‘Red Wings’ bought the plane “TU - 204100” from the company «Ilyushin Finance Company» on conditions of financial leasing for the period of 15 years. “Volga Dnepr” purchased its second IL – 76TD90VD.

Both types of the planes are equipped with different versions of the PS-90A engine. These engines can be flown in Europe as they meet the ICAO requirements on noise and emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere. “Volga - Dnepr” company plans to enlarge its fleet with three IL – 76TD90VD’s by 2010. At the same time, Red Wings and “Ilyushin Finance Company” have signed a con-

tract for the delivery of five more planes TU - 204 with the new engine modification PS-90A2. The price of this contract will make about $170 million. In August, 2007 during Moscow aerospace exposition MAKS-2007, Red Wings signed a contract to purchase six liners TU - 204. Based on current plans, by 2010 the airline will become the largest buyer of Russian planes TU - 204 equipped with engines PS-90A.

Europe shows interest to products of the Perm companies

rade representatives of several European countries are seeking contact with the official of various firms within the Perm region. The interest in Perm’s exports came about as a result of the “Promotion of Perm

Perm representatives of the best Russian managers list

Companies Products” campaign recently launched by the Perm Ministry of Commerce. Included in the campaign was information collected from a host of Perm companies. The information was sent it to representatives of many countries such as Italy,

Germany, Holland, Singapore, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Perm offers the world’s market many unique and cost effective products which the campaign seeks to publicize along with the firms within the Perm region who produce them.

from many different industries. Included in the list of Russian top managers are the following leaders in the Perm business community: Victor Baranov, the “Solikamskbumprom” president; Ivan Kostin, the “Motovilikhinskiye plants” director general; Anatoliy Ufimkin, the director general of “Uralsvyazin-

form”; Konstantin Podvalniy, the director general of “Ermak”. Also honored in the list are almost all the “chemists” of the region: Petr Kondrashev, the “Silvinit” director general; Vladimir Daut, the “Metafraks” director general; and Vladislav Baumgertner, the director general of “Uralkaliy”.

City Administration sells out the shares of public corporation “Kamskaya Dolina”

he department of privatization of city administration announced an auction for its shares in the large Perm building company “Kamskaya Dolina”. The auction took place on October, 31, 2007.

The budget of the city includes plans to get at least 55 million rubles based on the initial price of its share holdings. The city owns 7,64% of the authorized capital stock of “Kamskaya Dolina” and accounting

for 268,882 shares with the nominal price of 0,25 rubles each.

The Austrian company will construct a factory

n Austrian company “Kronospan” has selected a 100 hectares site in Dobryanka to potentially construct a factory to manufacture low-density wood chipboard Manufacture. Spokesmen for the company indicate the investment would total some €300 million. Dobryanka is located some 60km north of Perm City. An initial investment of some €80 million is expected within the first year for the construction of the factory. Startup is expected to be within two years from the start of

construction. The advantage for locating the factory in the Perm region centers on its use of many waste byproducts from the region’s woodworking industry. This “waste” is an essential component in the manufacture of low-density wood chipboard, laminate, etc. If it is placed in Perm region, then products of Joint-Stock Company «Metadinea» (pitch and glues) will be also used in manufacturing process. Usually, when “Kronospan” builds a factory, it builds the installation for pitch-manufacturing as well among other

capacities. However an exception will be made for Perm. According to the general director of Open JSC “Metafrax” Armen Garsljan, the arrival of this company to our region will allow Joint-Stock Company «Metadinea» to increase its manufacture of pitches by 200 thousand tons. “Kronospan” also began the construction of manufacturing facilities in the Egoryevsk area of Moscow region in 2002. Today “Kronospan” is the leading manufacturer of wood plates and the floor laminated coverings in Russia.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

12 PAGE

Real Estate Russian hospitality

Review of the hotel business market in Perm

n the course of the last several years the hotel business market in Perm has been very active, demonstrating the progressive development of all spheres of business in Perm. The growing volume of Russian and foreign visitors has generated demand for both an increase in the number accommodations and in a rise in quality of the lodging being provided. There are today in Perm about 50 hotels (including mini hotels). In addition, the local the hotel market in Perm is represented both by private mini hotels and by caravanserais which add another 400 rooms for visitors.

According to levels of services, additional functions and categories of clients, the hotels of Perm generally fall into four groups:

1. Old hotels of the “soviet” standard – such hotels occupy 50%

of the hotel services market in Perm. To this group belong such hotels as “Ural” (“Almaz Urala”), “Prikamie”, “Dynamo”, “Tsentralnaja” and “Profsouznaja”. These hotels often have a more favorable location by virtue of almost exclusive rights during

Welcome befitting a nobleman The new hotel “Viscount” awaits elite business guests in the Perm city center The “Viscount” format provides for the room transformation into a minioffice. And hotel dining zone can easily be transformed into a meeting room for tete-a-tete negotiations, holding seminars, fourchettes and business meeting with the use of available multi-media equipment. “Viscount” provides its guests with transfer services, car parking or car rental complete with driver. You can even book plane and train tickets without leaving your room. Every room features beds for two, a suite of upholstered furniture, mini-bar, a safe and a desk with all the necessary writing-materials. The need of the business traveler for advanced communications is also addressed. Long distance and international telephone lines, facsimile, Wi-Fi Internet, area are all available in each room and laptop computers are available on request. Translator-interpreter and business translations services are also available.

Perm, st. Sovetskaya, 40. Phone (342) 21-55-670. www.hotelvicont.ru

the soviet years of building in comparison with the newly built hotels. One more distinguishing trait of this category of hotels is a bulk of rooms. Target clients of this group of hotels are the most “economic” including religious groups, tourist groups, groups of schoolchildren, students and sportsmen. As a rule, hotels offer both low class rooms and presidential suites. Generally, the availability of businessclass rooms in these hotels is very limited or not available at all. The typical furnishing of the rooms includes a television set, telephone, refrigerator, bath-room and furniture. In the hotel, there can be found a restaurant, laundry, possibly sport and training halls, playing room for children, aviation and railway ticket offices and parking. In the biggest hotels of this group there may also be a swimming pool, conference hall and hairdressing saloon. Room furnishings in these hotels are renewed but the quality of service provokes complaints. The low level of service is mainly caused by the low level of competition which should be regarded as a result

of small number of functioning hotels. The building boom in the hotel business and the appearance of the new progressive hotels is a recent phenomenon and not yet reflected in the economics of the older hotels. These hotels have not had enough time to reorganize themselves. For the most of them reorganization is a long process because of their inertness and low portability caused by their large sizes. On the other hand, because of the fact that hotel business in Perm was, for a long period of time, stagnate, and it appears their management is not ready yet for the changes taking place in the market.

2. Businesshotels – such

hotels occupy 30% of the hotel services market in Perm and mainly target business tourists. To this group belong such hotels as “Grand Hotels”, “Amaks”,

“Eurotel”, “Kama”, “New Star Hotel”, “Park-Hotel” as well as “Plaza Olympia”. The “Plaza Olympia” is the first hotel in the Perm region to receive four-star hotel status. From the point of view of conformity with present-day demands, this category of hotels is more competitive as these hotels were built in the last several years and their owners took current standards into account. The first thing one finds in these hotels is the style of the interior in which some idea is always presented. The range of services may be much wider as well. For example to traditional list of services may be added a massage room, beauty saloon, sauna, billiards and casino. Room interiors may include a jacuzzi as well as mini-bars, a convenient but expensive feature of many business hotels around the world. Some these hotels there are also ex-

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

13 PAGE

Real Estate

pensive suite rooms, business class rooms and some even offer economy class rooms.

3. Mini hotels

– such hotels form about 13% of the hotel services market in Perm and are made for different categories of visitors. Examples of this class include: “Monica”, “Xozjaushka”, “Sport-hotel”, “Hotel”, “Galatea”, “Mikos”, “Nicole”, “Gloria” and “Astor” hotel that officially takes up a three-star mini hotel status. Most often hotels of this category are not “true” hotels in a normal meaning of this word. Usually such hotels are situated in the buildings that are not intended for that purpose. Often they occupy one or several floors in an apartment building have at their disposal a limited number of rooms (10 rooms at the average) and offer a wide range in taste and style. This class of hotels (often called “boutique hotels”) is very “hot” in the world market, and very promising in the Perm hotel market. Definitely, tomorrow is with them.

4. Hostels of hotel type – ho-

tels form about 7% of the hotel market in Perm. Included are the hotels “Ubileinaja”, “Sputnik” and “Gostinitsa na ulitse Revolutsii”. These hotels are characterized by worn out rooms and the absence of the elementary conveniences and additional services, often accompanied by poor service. In reality they do not meet the requirements made of hotels and occupy the very lowest end of the market place. Summing up, it is clear there is a considerable lack of the medium and high category hotels in Perm. Inadequate development of the hotel business in Perm is partially caused by its reputation as simply an industrial region. Also, the presence of a number of previously “secret”

factories meant that Perm was, for a long period of time, even closed to foreigners and continued to discourage development for a long time. The hotel services market in Perm is only now in the formation stage and is extremely far from saturation. Taking into consideration the growth in the business development of Perm coupled with obsolescence in the city’s hotel economy (more than 70% of the market), Perm is an attractive city for the realization of hotel projects. In Perm the erection of several new hotels is scheduled in the near future, according to official reports. The Perm city and regional administrations both offer help to developers in the realization of large-scale hotel projects (100 rooms) both through allotment of building sites and through the attraction of local investors. Under conditions of growing competition, the appearance of new operators, both Russian and foreign cannot help but result in a corresponding rise the quality of services provided in Perm hotels. Recent announced entries into the Perm market include the Hilton Company with its partner London & Regional Property Limited and the Moscow Company LLC “KaSa-Stroy” whose founders are Turkish companies Kayi Insaat and E-I Group.

Correction There was an error in the September 1-15, 2007 edition article “Stars for hotels”. The first certified hotel in Perm (according to the new classification system) was, in fact, the hotel “Polyet” (3 stars). A certificate confirming the category of the hotel was received on January 25, 2007. We apologize for this error.

Country real estate

KD Group invests 500 million rubles in project “Southern manor”

D Group Company plans to invest about 500 million rubles ($US 20 million) into the “Southern manor” country housing project located in Kultaevo village of the Perm Territory. In total, 60 thousand sq. m. of

country habitation are planned for the 70 ha site by 2012. The realization of the project will take place in three stages. Within the first stage of the project for the building of 32 brick single-level 283 sq. m. houses on. The Company has already invested

150 million rubles ($US 6 million) in the project since December of the last year. During the second stage, 25 brick two-level townhouses with 233 sq. m. area are planed. A third stage will include 120 two-room, 311 sq. m. houses.

The first economy class cottage village

he building of the first “economy class” cottage village in a suburb of Perm is planned. The building will start early next year. The total area of the site is about 165 ha, with the building of 1,200 houses planned. A reduction of the project prices will be achieved thanks to cost-effective

building materials (siding, wood, brick) and the large area of the site. The price per square meter in the village is expected to average 20 thousand rubles ($US 800) on top of a building which may be bought for 3 million rubles ($US 120,000). Analysts note that on the whole, the start of such a project will not signifi-

cantly influence the development of the country real estate market as builders will continue to concentrate on the hot market for elite and business-class cottages and townhouses. It is only this market which will justify removing the lot from the agricultural status and building of an infrastructure system.

There is a mortgage boom in Perm Territory

erm Territory residents took out 4,428 mortgage housing loans worth 5.25 billion rubles ($US 210 Million) for the January-September 2007 period. This was twice the

volume of housing loans targeted for Perm within the national project “Reasonable and comfortable domicile” by the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

14 PAGE

Real Estate Let’s go skiing!

Perm Shopping

n Perm, just as across the whole of Russia, active tourism is back in fashion. The Winter Olympic Games in 2014, which will take place in the Russian city of Sochi, have already increased the popularity of winter sports. The demand for winter sports was previously quite big, and has increased dramatically. As a result several companies have announced their plans to develop mountain ski resorts in the Perm region. The most expensive planned project is the construction of a mountain ski resort between Perm and Ekaterinburg. Around $850 million

The current state and prospects for the commercial Real Estate market in Perm

T is being invested into the project, which will include the construction of the ski resort and the development of the adjoining territory: cottages, seven hotels, mini hotels, restaurants, a sports center with swimming pool and aqua park. The resort will be able to accommodate 20,000 visitors at a time. Amongst the development within the region, the project at Belaja Gora (the

White Mountain) is one of the most interesting, because of its location beside the famous Belagorsky monastery. This part of the region sees the highest level of precipitation, and the longest ski season. In order for this project, and other such ambitious development projects to be realized, it is estimated that around $800 Million will need to be invested.

he retail sales area market is one of the most dynamically developing segments of the real estate market in Perm. In recent years the demand for retail floor space has continued to grow even as tenants and buyers become more fastidious. Despite a significant upsurge in the construction and opening of new retail outlets in the city, demand in this dynamic market remains high. The development of business real estate sector is determined by general economic situation in the region. With the retail trade turnover during the January-May time frame in Perm some 21.4% higher (to 81.13 billion rubles or $US 324.5 Million) than the comparable period last year, it is clear the economic situation remains favorable for commercial expansion. Today, the priority in retail sales market is given to shopping centers. This priority demands special attention be given to them from the direction of tenant builders and designers in questions of architecture, outward attractiveness of the project and interior design. Rental rates in shopping centers of Perm vary from $200 up to $1700 per sq. m. a year. The most expensive rent on offer in the city currently is in SC “Cemiya” and the “Iceberg”. The constraints for developing additional retail space is first and foremost the the high cost of lots, especially central building sites. A

large scale project can minimize this impact and thus help guarantee profitability of the project on the whole. Currently, the largest shopping centers are: “Stolitsa” – 30,000 sq. m., “Almaz” – 40,500 sq. m., “Cemiya” – 28,656 sq. m. However even the biggest Perm shopping centers can not be compared to the metropolitan centers such as “Gorbushkin dvor” with 51,000 sq. m. and “Metropolis” with a total area about 205,298 sq. m.

What’s new?

As for the new shopping centers, several projects have either just completed or are near completions. Recently, SRC “KUM” (a regional department store) opened in the center of Perm with a total area of 28,000 sq. m. On the outskirts of the city, the city’s biggest wholesaleretail trade project “METRO Cash and Carry” has been operating for just under a year. Next door to it, another international giant, “IKEA” will open a store in the new year. An interesting idea based on the reconstruction of the railway station complex “Perm II” presupposes and expansion of its sales areas is still at the study stage, but the project, by all indications will be realized.

Tendencies and forecasts It is clear the available shopping centers of Perm are not capable of meeting the current demand of clients and tenants. The economic development of Perm Territory is,

therefore, considered an attractive one for Moscow and foreign investors. These investors are looking to open shopping centers in our region shopping centers totaling some 100 thousand sq. m. in the foreseeable future. With per capita income that exceeds the Russian average, there is evidence of the practicality of their investment into the commercial trading sphere. Until these new shopping centers are built the demand for the available ones will exceed the supply and the rent will remain high or even rise. Moreover, the closing of the sprawling “open” markets in the various micro districts of Perm per the plan that was approved by the regional Government, numerous venders and retailers will suddenly find themselves in the real estate market further fueling this “hot” market as demand exceeds the supply by many times. In conclusion, it should be noted that the commercial retail real estate segment will keep its high profitability investment appeal. According to thee metropolitan experts of the London Consulting and Management Company, the profitability of investment in a shopping center segment in the Ural region remains at a very healthy of 20% per annum, and the markets of the largest cities of the region will not achieve a satiation of quality sales areas until the coming year at the earliest. The data is given by Perm Real Estate Trading House

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

15 PAGE

faces of perm THE MAN WHO TAKES THE LEAD OVER TIME

f someone told the Second World War veteran lieutenant colonel Vasily Vladimirov that he would one day become an inventor, he would have never believed it. He started inventing suddenly and unexpectedly, even for himself: First came tubeless elastic tires, then safety traffic control devices… and since then he could not stop. Today all his patents, designs, developments and ideas are hard to enumerate. Vladimirov has cooperated with many organizations, scientific institutes, including Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the

Vasily Vladimirov Internet site of which some of his inventions and developments are presented. This year he will turn 81 but he hasn’t ceased inventing. Included in this ever growing list of inspirations are: Speaking on the process of invention, Vladimirov commented: “In order to

invent a truly useful thing one must be a very versatile and educated person. An inventor should be constantly hunting for something new. As for the tasks, they are determined by modern life. Poor condition of Russian roads that I am forced to use as a Russian citizen and the endless ordeals of our drivers inspired the invention of “Car devices for overcoming heavy-going roads and drifts” as well as new methods of tires’ studding as the currently used method is unacceptable for the Russian roads. And then everything you see in the news: natural disasters, terrorist attacks, buildings standing in

ruins, impossibility to rescue people… This is how my rescuing system, simple and easy to employ in all these dangerous situations, appeared. I don’t know about the others, but I am never idle, I am always at work. Life is so unpredictable, so unsettled that one can always find an occasion to improve something and even to create something absolutely new to solve one of the problems around us”. If you think that is enough for one man? Inventor Vasily Vladimirov is also working on social projects to help elderly people and homeless children and another project to reorganize the army.

all-metal elastic tubeless wheel This wheel was designed for heavy motor trucks as well as 1.Multi-purpose for heavy four runners, it improves traveling comfort and bearing capacity (up to 250 tons). It makes the tire’s

rubber resist big loads (which can reach hundreds of tons, for example in the case with lorries removing rocks from the quarry) Vladimirov additionally developed the technology of armor rubber production, which can be used in the manufacture of tires for this wheel. device for the car wheels These are removable track (studs) can be put on the wheels by 2.Rough-terrain the driver in order to overcome a long stretch of heavy-going road (snow, black frost, slush, sand, etc.), afterwards they can be removed as easily as they were put on.

studs These studs are adjusted in the tire’s rubber; new construction presupposes usage of old tires 3.Truck which allows instead of labor-intensive process of the old tires deletion to use them a lot longer for both passenger cars and lorries.

wheel 2BC The wheel has inner shock absorbers and improved speed and safety characteristics 4.Railway which allow it to substantially improve ride control, speed and load capacity – in brief, everything that mod-

ern railway wheels lack. Moreover, the rails currently used in Russia are compatible with the shockproof railway wheels. These new railway wheels require a new braking system. As far as the weight of the car with new railway wheels is substantially heavier, the new breaking system should be applied. The proposed system allows reducing the braking distance of the heavy stock from 1-2 kilometers to 300 meters. The wheel can be employed for currently operating goods trains. car wheel This automobile wheel with protective rim and sectional type inner tube tire: construction 5.Safety of the wheel makes it nearly invulnerable to all kinds of damages, for instance, puncture of one (or several)

inner tubes of the wheel doesn’t prevent the car from moving further because all the others inner tubes are functioning properly and don’t let the wheel out. Protective rim employment in the wheel construction allows improving its safety characteristics and prevents tires from damage in the risky sections of the road. car wheel this wheel owing to its design can overcome pits up to 1 meter in depth, deep 6.Rough-terrain potholes, steep eminences up to 1.5 meters high, ascents (65-75 degree) and heavy-going roads (snow, black frost, sand, marshes, slush, etc.)

ladder for rescuing people from burning high-rise buildings that can be applied at the time 7.Rope of fire extinguishing or other disasters traditional rope-ladder served as a prototype of this invention.

Design of the new ladder gives more opportunities for rescuing people. Its safety and toughness characteristics allow to use it at the time of fire or other disasters, e.g. in the mountains, mines, buildings with damaged walls, floors or stairwells. It can also be used for parachutist and mountain-climber’s training or high-rise buildings construction and repairs. While many people currently become victims of natural disasters or terrorism, equipping every house, office, apartment or hotel room with the rope-ladder of such a unique construction will provide a practicable possibility for rescue at a minimum cost and high reliability. There is also a modified version of this ladder that provides for rescuing disabled and elderly people, infants and others who cannot walk unassisted. system “PANTSYR-BC”; body armor garment Vladimirov designed armored garment of all pos8.Armored sible bullet-resistance levels, on the whole 25 items were invented. There are monolithic (nonseparable) as

well as mountable-and-dismountable armored garments, the latter one can be as easily assembled and put on, as disassembled and put off. The inventor considered the questions of shock-absorption of armor materials and armor garment items in order to prevent injuries from bullet blows; in addition he developed effective methods of armored garments ventilation. These projects aren’t fulfilled yet. All the inventions are registered.

Painting without brushes and paint

ladislav Polushkin is an artist who excels in the unique art form “marquetry”. Marquetry is a mosaic technique, creating pictures using pieces of different kinds of wood. As the artist says himself “You see, it’s all very simple”.

In comparison with other kinds of painting, marquetry works are imbued with the art and plastic qualities of the wood itself. Paints can be mixed, receiving various color shades. In marquetry, however, the image arises owing to use of a natural palette - colors, structures and power of various kinds of wood. In the skilful hands of an artist such as Vladislav Polushkin, these “paints” become wonderful creations. Marquetry is an antique art. Historically this technique was used to decorate different pieces of furniture such as can be found today at museums all over the world. But Polushkin has ventured into new concepts for this old art form. He has begun a series of projects using marquetry to reproduce masterpieces of great artists, including masterpieces by Levitan, Velaskes, Savrasov, Polenov, Dore and others. His work includes beautiful landscapes and ancient temples which are revived in Poluchkin’s work, appearing in new shades and textures. Pictures created in marquetry posses a rare feature which never seems to get boring. The pictures easily attract one’s attention and seem to emit the invigorating energy of wood. It is as though a tree, even being cut down, continues to live, sharing it’s warm-heartedness with mankind. Wooden mosaic pictures keep this natural warmth and magnetism. The wood itself seems to enliven the picturesque marquetry art works. Moreover, when combined with Polushkin’s unique artistic skills, the pictures seems to be lit from inside. Moreover, the works are always exclusive as well as expressive and are exceedingly difficult, at best, to forge or reproduce. Currently there is great interest in the works of Vladislav Polushkin, not only in Russia, but all over the world. His pictures have become treasured and are kept in private collections in such diverse cultures as Syria, Germany, USA, France, Portugal as well as his native Russia. At the present time the artist lives and creates in Perm and has some 200 major pieces to his credit.

Vladislav Polushkin is a creator of new art form, named «Painting without brushes and paint».

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

16 PAGE

tourism Opening Perm For many years, the Perm area, home to one of the largest “secret” militaryindustrial complexes on the country, was “closed» to foreigners. The name of the city was not to be found on any maps and even most Russians did not know that it existed. Today, the Perm region has opened its doors for both Russian and

foreign tourists alike. And there are many things worth seeing. Perm Krai (or “state”) has a rich historical and cultural heritage. Traveling across the towns of the region will provide one with a unique view of Russian provincial culture. In these towns there is epic Russia, temples which have seen greatness, destruction and revival in their lifetime. In other words, Perm Krai is a great place to visit! It holds interest for both those

who like historical and cultural tourism as well as those who cannot imagine their holidays without extreme sports. For this latter group, there are rapid rivers for rafting, alps for mountain-climbers, taiga paths and challenging bicycle routes. For “spelunkers”, there is unique cave diving and even salt-mines to be explored. Let us the tourist Agency “Krasnov” show you a Perm Krai you never knew existed!

Tour «the Big Ural Ring» The first day

exhibits reproducing the Russia of old, presented in a realistic open air setting. A landlord rural bench, a theatre-museum of Russian wooden toys, children’s exhibition roundabouts, a well and even a authentic mill were transported here from different neighboards of Prikamye. Unlike the dry, academic experience of many museums, the Chusovoj facility is “hands on”. Everything here can be picked up and examined including “big-bellied” samovars containing two buckets of water, distaffs, kerosene lamps and many more articles from Old Russia.

Departure from the capital of Ural Ekaterinburg (maybe reached by rail from Perm the previous day) Nevyansk – the capital of the Demidov dynasty, well-known Russian factory owners and patrons of art. It is a cosy and calm ancient city which celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2000. Because there are no high-rise buildings in the town, the town’s main point of interest, a legendary inclined tower, can be seen from far away. The tower was constructed in 1725 under the order of well-known Ural factory owner Akinfiy Demidov and was the symbol of power of his dynasty. The tower is 57.5 meters high, several meters higher than the Pisa tower which inspired it. Unlike Pisa, the Nevyansk tower built to be an inclined. Bricks were specially trimmed to create the effect.

The third day 1818 a watchtower built on the top of - Lisya Mountain. Today it serves as the symbol of Nizhny Tagil while providing visitors with a vast panorama of the city. Kachkanar and excursion to the Kachkanar ore mining and processing enterprise The city of Kachkanar is situated at the foot of the mountain of the same name. Today, the name is also associated with a highly successful company, proud of its excellent reputation and playing a key role in the economy of Russia.

The second day

The border between Europe and Asia

Nizhny Tagil

Both its population and industrial significance make Nizhny Tagil the second greatest city in the Urals (after Yekaterinburg). Located in the very heart of the city is an old metallurgical works of the famous manufacturers Demidovs. At present it is abandoned but has been converted into a museum. On the clear day the whole city of Nizhny Tagil can be seen from

The border between the two parts of the world is marked with a grand pillar monument. Here there is also an observation platform providing as splendid a view of the Ural Mountains as may be found anywhere.

Chusovoj

Perhaps the most popular tourist destination in the region is the ethnographic complex “The Museum of History of the River Chusovoj”. A visit to this remarkable village, will help one to get acquainted with the cultural and historical heritage of Perm Krai. In this museum are

Solikamsk

Solikamsk has the status of a historical reserve. Daniel Defoe even wrote about this city in his book «Robinson in Siberia». Solikamsk was the “salt capital” of the Russian empire. The town’s history originated in 1430. In the XVI century a salt deposit was found on the territory of Solikamsk. Because Solikamsk was only town where salt was actually extracted, it became a real “salt-cellar” for the empire. Solikamsk surprises everyone who when seeing it for the first time. The breath of antiquity is clearly reflected in its rare monuments to Russian architecture. To walk across Solikamsk in winter on a sunny day is really unforgettable. There are bleached roads, trees, white walls of temples, but all of this sparks and shines under the sun: snow, gold domes of churches — a fantastic empire which has stood as if in a magic dream. Visiting of the working saltmine of Open JSC “Salvinit”. One of the mine lifts containing up to 30 persons will take you and your guide on to one of the mine’s many levels. A special bus will then transport you into the labyrinth of the mineshaft to where the salt extraction is still carried out. In the past, the work was performed by

hand with manual boring-drilling machines. The machines were not only noisy but also very slow. The work was long and hard made worse as it was very harmful to the miners’ health. Now the work is performed by huge modern dredges which bore through rock with the help of 30 rotating gear disks. Simultaneously, the alluvial ore, sated with salt, is transported on long transport belts. Although the modern ventilating system constantly lets in fresh air into tunnels, the atmosphere remains rather dusty. But as opposed to other types of mines, here the dusty air is actually good for your health, as it contains salts beneficial to your lungs. Some people visit the mines expressly to improve their health.

The fourth day Cherdin, the most ancient city of Perm Krai, and Nyrob settlement

The fifth day Usolye, an ancient residence of the richest Russian dynasty of Stroganov merchants. Arrival in Perm and a farewell banquet

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

17 PAGE

tourism Tours “the Small Ural Ring” The first day

Excursion around Perm

In the very heart of Russia one of the Urals greatest cities, the city of Perm, spanning both banks of the powerful Kama river. The city stretches out for over 70 kilometers along the Kama. Today Perm is a dynamic and rapidly evolving city; open to innovations but respectful of the past.

revolution seized Russia. During the Soviet era, the cathedral was largely destroyed and stood deserted until the end of the 90s when restoration began.

In the middle of the Ural woods and hills there is lonely White Mountain of 446 meters height. At the top of the mountain there is a grandiose cathedral with seven domes, which is the 7th biggest temple in Russia. The monastery can be seen from a distance of many kilometers and appears to be dramatically soaring in the sky above the surrounding countryside. Belogorsky monastery was founded at the end of the XIX century, and the construction of the cathedral was finished in 1917 just as the October

The second day

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg ranks the third after Moscow and Saint Petersburg in importance in Russia due to the level of business activity. It is one the great business centers of Russian with world-wide economic importance but blessed as well with many historical sights. Today the cathedral is almost totally restored. Near the cathedral there is the Imperial cross of 10 meters height high above the residential buildings around the foot of the mountain. The monastery will surprise your imagination. In clear weather, one can view a magnificent panorama from the monastery. Even the Kungur town and cloud smog of Perm can be seen. But even in a fog this place is no less impressive. With the mountain and surrounding countryside shrouded in fog, it is easy to imagine you are in heaven and floating above a sinful earth.

Belogorsky monastery

and flowing amaze ice will surprise and delight you.

Kungur

Kungur is a ancient merchant city. Standing on the main trading routes, in the middle of the 18th century the city became the most important trading and craft centre in the region. Many of the constructions from that time survey to this day, including whole quarters of merchant private residences and numerous churches. Kungur ice cave An original pearl of nature, the Kungur ice cave is the sixth longest plaster karst cave in the world with known caverns extending more than 5 kms into the earth.. The Kungur ice cave is known throughout Russia and unique for its easy access by tourists. During the 1.5 km excursion track, you will see magnificent ice crystals and huge stalagmites. The columns

The most famous Orthodox Church in Yekaterinburg is the Cathedral on the Blood build on the spot where the last Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family, were assassinated.

meters high are one of “the tourist Meccas” of the Western Urals. In the summer it is a cross point for hiking routes, in the winter skiers flock here, and all the year round the Kolpaki attract mountain-climbers seeking the challenging training rocks the area is famous for. Due to their natural beauty and importance, the Kolpaki have achieved the status of being a “historical natural complex”.

The fifth day

Chusovoj

An excursion to the Political Repression History Museum “Perm – 36” The Political Repression History Museum and Memorial «Perm - 36» is a former labour camp for political prisoners. Of all the political labor camps during the Soviet era, “Perm – 36” was the most infamous because it boasted the highest security system. There were three guards assigned the camp for every prisoner. The prisoners of the “Perm – 36” labor camp were considered by the regime to be the most «dangerous» dissidents - authors

The third day

Nevyansk Nizhny Tagil The fourth day

Kachkanar excursion to

the Kachkanar ore mining and processing enterprise

The border between Europe and Asia Ascent to the mount of Kolpaki

The Kolpaki (or “Long Fingers”) Mountains rising 614

and advocates of anticommunist literature, participants of human rights movements, religious, patriotic and other organizations considered by the authorities as anti-soviet.

Returning to Perm *An overnight rest in the hotels and a visit to a traditional Russian bath-house (banya) are optional but recommended.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

18 PAGE

tourism Cherdyn, ancient capital of the Urals

Church of St. John the Divine (1704-1718), interior, icon screen

Church of All Saints (1815-1817), southeast view

Church of St. John the Divine (1704-1718), south view

Cherdyn city is the Perm district center. It is situated at the right bank of Kolva river, the right inflow of Vishera River (Kama River basin). The distance between Perm and Cherdyn is 300 km, and it takes 6 hours to get there by bus, perhaps 5 by car. It is one of the smallest (its population is 6.5 thousand people) and most hard-to-get-to cities in central and western Russia. The only industrial facility in the city is a bread-baking plant, but the main source of income for the residents is timber cutting. The prices are very low for all products and services and represent a bargain for the intrepid tourist.

herdyn, the oldest Prykamye town, is not just a place with huge number of historical and natural memorials, but also the home of a unique civilization. It is a place where, in many ways, time has stopped since the days of Old Russia. Cherdyn on the right bank of the Kolva river, like ancient Rome, is spread on seven hills. Here there is such a thick cultural and historical layer below your feet that simply standing on the ground can carry you back in time to ancient Russia. The first settlement at the site of Cherdyn dates back to the 7th Century A.D. The local pagan tribes here had commercial relationships with Persia, Byzantium and Chorezm, long before Russians came to the Urals. During period from XV to the XVII centuries Cherdyn was a administrative, military, craft, trade and reli-

gious center of Perm Velikaya (Perm the Great) or Perm Region today. Visiting Cherdyn, it is better to start your sightseeing trip from the Troitskiy hill, former site of the Cherdyn wooden citadel, established in 1535. This fortress survived 11 sieges by Tatars and Voghuls and was never been given up. Another great memorial is the John-theBaptist monastery, the oldest monastery in the Urals, situated on, reasonably enough, Monastery hill. It was established in 1462, when the Perm Velikaya (diocese) was christened into the Russian Orthodox Church. The local permyaki (residents of the Perm Velikaya territory) weren’t really happy with the new religion. The people killed bishops, but even more startling, archeologists have found cemeteries of baptized babies, apparently slaughtered by their pagan parents.

The city centre of Cherdyn is full of merchants’ mansions, each and every one of which has its own legend. The streets are wide, clean and in the spring and summer covered in green leaves. There are almost no stores and kiosks and very little car flow. It is calm and cozy. The highest structure in the city is the bell tower of the fivedomed white Voskresenskiy (Resurection) cathedral, built in 1754. During the Soviet era, the cathedral was reconstructed as the “palace of culture” which it remains to this day. The belfry of the bell tower was also reconstructed as an astrological observatory, and the entrance portal shows the remains of the “Spas Vsederzhtelya” (Savior of the Almighty) fresco, which was repeatedly whitewashed. The Uspenskaya church is now the museum of “faith” history, and has a great collection of icons and

church plates. Cherdyn land is full of different treasures. The treasures were usually found by local farmers, who then sold them to merchants, officials or historians. Many Cherdyn merchants even gathered their own collections. For example, after a fire in the Alin merchant’s house, a melted clod of silver was found which weighed in at more than 100 kg. Many of Cherdyn’s treasures were shipped to St. Petersburg and are included in the world famous Hermitage collection of Middle-Eastern antiquities. But not all are gone as some merchants donated their collections to the local museum where they remain to this day. Approximately 10 km from Cherdyn there is a large village named Pokcha. In the VX century, the village was one of the 4 pagan settlements in the region. If you plan to visit this town, go to the ruins

of the Blagoveshchenskaya (Annunciation) church, established in 1785. It was destroyed, burned, and was even struck by lightning. Now the ruins astonish visitors with it’s unique wild and frightening beauty. The village of Vilgort (“vilgort” means “new village”) is located some 22 km from Cherdyn and has over 200 homesteads. There is cemetery, covered with large firs, with an abandoned wooden chapel situated among grave crosses. And all around, the views remind one of pictures from a Russian fairytale. Another fascinating destination located about 38 km from Cherdyn is Iskor, where an archeological dig of the Iskorskoe gorodishche (settlement) is being conducted. Nyrob village, 44 km from Cherdyn, is the place, where Mikhail Nikitich Romanov, uncle of the first tsar of

the Romanov dynasty, was exiled in 1601. He was kept in an underground hole, and died after a year spent mostly in prayers. Nyrob peasants, who helped him during his imprisonment, were executed. But after the Romanovs took the crown, they endowed the city with their charity. A square has been reconstructed at the site of the underground cell and made into a memorial, devoted to 300th anniversary of the dynasty. The memorial was repaired for the 2001 jubilee. Tourists are allowed to walk down into the hole. And the “miracle” chains of the “Nyrob prisoner” are on view today in the Cherdyn museum. Nyrob is a large village, because there is a cantonment adjoining the central area. Coming to Nyorb, do not be afraid of the long grey fence with barbed wire and watch towers. To this day, the city remains a city of exiles.

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

19 PAGE

tourism Usolje is district center at the north of the Perm region the smallest city of its region (5,900 inhabitants as of-2006) and is situated on the right bank of the Kama River. For the last several decades it has been a distant district of chemical giant Berezniki, located on the opposite river bank. It is about 200 kilometers from Perm. Usolje is basically an agricultural centre. The industry is represented by a single furniture factory and local inhabitants mainly work in Berezniki.

Usolje - the city on the island A

trip to Usolje is not a “fun” outing. It is, rather, a spiritual experience or even in some ways a pilgrimage. And it is not only just because this city seems to come straight out of the Russian Middle Ages of Russia, although it does. Usolje is located on the right bank of the Kama river, opposite the city of Berezniki; an industrial giant of the Perm region, with a population of some 200,000 people. Berezniki is the Russian capital of potash salt and titanium-magnesium concentrates. And so it is that the gothic cathedrals of Usolje are situated directly across from the huge chemical plants of Berezniki. The two banks of the river have stood in stark contrast to each other for many decades. It is a natural collapse of the centuries. And it here in Usolje that you may understand better than anywhere else how the 20th century has impacted Russia and its people. Usolje was founded as a salt mine city in 1606 by a little known (at that time) merchant named Stroganov. For more than 4 centuries, the Stroganov dynasty played a defining role in the fate of the city. Salt production was a profitable business. Usolje quickly turned into a big industrial settlement. An architectural ensemble of the city was created that rivaled even St. Petersburg’s. Well developed and prosperous, the city entered the 20th century. But after the 1917 revolution and its resulting demolition of the nobility, the city began a precipitous fall into decay. But the 20th century had another and far more serious trial in store for Usolje. It partially went under water because of the construction of the Perm hydro-electric power station foundation. Only the very old buildings of the city center located on top of a hill remained un-

flooded. But today, these buildings keep alive the memory of that golden century when Usolje was the salt capital of Russia and the rich capital of the Stroganov commercial empire capital. The modern Usolje consists of two parts: the city itself, which represents two parallel streets lined with wooden houses (wooden building in the city was exceptionally popular in the Urals and Siberia) and Stroganov’s complex which is located on the island by the right bank of the Kama river. Stroganov’s complex is, in itself, a small town that includes dozens of houses, palaces, churches of 18-19 centuries, the majority of which are now deserted. In the heart of the complex are buildings: SpasoPreobrazenskiy cathedral, bell tower and Stroganov’s Chambers. They were all built in the early years of the 18th century and represent the best masterpieces of Stroganov’s architecture. The Spaso-Preobrazhenskiy cathedral is a beautiful piece of “Stroganov’s baroque”, there are only five churches built in this style (four are situated in Solvychegodsk, Ustjuzje, and two are in Nizhniy Novgorod). All six buildings were erected approximately at the same time to commemorate the Stroganov’s dynasty that had obtained the title of “baron”. Usolje’s church is more modest than the Rozdestvenskaja church in Nizhniy Novgorod but it has all the peculiarities of its style such as many colored cupolas, set at different sides of the world and ornamentation, made of figured bricks, that really impresses the imagination. A fifty meters cathedral bell tower of the 18-th century predominates in the ensemble of Usolje. It is a Russian “tower of Pisa”. The bell tower remarkably leans to the south side. There is a popular explanation that it was partially ruined by

the waters of Kama reservoir. But that’s not true. The bell tower leaned in the first part of the 19-th century. At that time, by its foundation from the river side stone-made trading rows were built for its strengthening. The most incredible monument in Usolje may be Stroganov’s Chambers. They are incredibly ancient. Despite the fact that the Chambers were built simultaneously with the Cathedral and bell tower, they look far more ancient. Their main planning and decorative elements have a mark of the 17th century. Stroganov’s palace is one of the biggest chamber buildings in existence in modern Russia. In addition to the two stone built stories currently there, the chambers originally had the third wooden story which is planned to be reconstructed. All in all, forty -three cultural structures of civil and industrial architecture are identified and registered in old Usolje. Among the other buildings of the city are two monuments that bare the stamp of a famous architect Veronihin, a native Usoljan, and the celebrated creator of the Kazanskiy cathedral. The private residences of the duke Galicinskiy and the Nikolaevskaja church are both brilliant pieces of classicism. A tourist trip to the city of Usolje can be expanded to the first Stroganov’s capital – Pyskor village. Until the 18th century, a richest cloister was located here. Now only the church of Nikoly Na Gore (1695) remained. At present time, there are archeological excavations underway there. Unfortunately, the unpalatable truth is that Usolje is slowly falling into decay. But it remains an ancient, beautiful place in Russia which should be visited while there still time to make a pilgrimage into the past.

Spaso-Preobrazhenskiy cathedral

Old town

Tstroganov’s Chambers

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

20 PAGE

tourism ONCE AT THE KHOKHLOVKA GATES

Perm’s Tower of Death: History and Legends By Hellen Makhles

here is no other building in Perm which is mentioned so frequently in legends like the Department of Home Affairs, which is known amongst locals as “The Tower of Death” It covers almost the entire block between Komsomolskiy Avenue and Geroev Hasana Street. Its façade faces Komsomolskaja square, effectively closing off one of the most important axis’ of the city. The corner of the building is in the shape of a high three-tiered tower, the first two floors in the shape of a hexagon, topped by a tower, which is crowned by a cone-shaped roof and steeple. Its contours remind one of prominent buildings in Moscow. This is probably why people say it was originally designed to be the main building of the Perm State University; something like the Perm’s response to the buildings of Moscow State University. Nevertheless since the day of its construction (1952) it has been the location of the Perm police headquarters. It is said that during the times of terror (revolution and civil war) innocent people were executed at the site of the building, that the prisoners who were constructing the building were bricked up in the walls of the tower. Some say that convicts were thrown down from the tower to the inner yard, and it is even said that prisoners threw themselves off the tower as well. Others say that in the basements of the tower people were tortured, that there was an underground prison and underground passages that connected the Tower with other “horrifying” parts of the city, such as the old Yegoshihinskoje cemetery and prison. Even today people say that they have seen a ghost near the walls of the building. For all these reasons the building got was given its gloomy title. However, there may be a more simple explanation for the title. Whilst the tower was being constructed, a film “The Tower of Death” was shown at cinemas across the city. The tower was then the tallest and most noticeable building within the city. The question is, why was this name so firmly imprinted into the minds and language of local people? Traditionally, Russians have had a very negative attitude towards the police service, which has always been viewed as a source of tyranny and violence. Also, the uniqueness of the new building in the city had a big impact on local people. At the time it was by far the tallest building in the city. Surrounded by a large vacant space, it rose over the city like a tower. Thus this unusual building became an unexpected emblem for the tragedy that took place in the then Soviet Union.

By Ludmila Prokopets

n Russia, currently, there are more than a hundred open air museums. The series of articles «Once at the Khokhlovka gates» will introduce you to one of the best; the architectural-ethnographical museum «Khokhlovka». Ages ago, when many rivers were still nameless, several people gathered together. One thing united all of them; each of them perceived the world in a different way from their neighbors in each of their native villages. The people decided, therefore, to build their own village. They chose a site on the peninsula in the very heart of the Ural Region. Because folk used to call people different from all the others «khokhlaty», the new villagers thought it only appropriate that they name their village «Khokhlovka». On the September 19, 1980, the architectural-ethnographical museum (AEM) «Khokhlovka» was opened on a 40 ha site on this same peninsula. Workers at the newly established Perm museum of local lore, history and economy research workers collected wooden architecture

exhibits or memorials from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century on the area of some 40 ha. For our ancestors, a house is the place where the family will live. Their houses were built to be cozy but also to provide security from a wild and potentially hostile environment. People put their whole soul into creating each new home and structure. As a result, each building gained its own soul as well. Every memorial in the museum has its own atmosphere inside, its own story. There is Pavel Kudymov’s izba that is warm and welcoming even at 30 degrees of frost while Igoshev’s izba appears gloomy and as if concealing some secret. In almost all the villages, churches were constructed at the most prominent place. In the AEM «Khokhlovka» you can visit two churches. Transfiguration church was built in 1702 and brought from the north of Perm region. Mother of God church, the oldest in the museum, was built in the south of the region in 1694 and today it stands on the highest place of the peninsula next to the belfry. There are all in all more than 20 exhibits in «Khokhlovka». Be-

sides those mentioned above, there is the universal favorite the windmill. There is also a hunting lodge and labazes (pantries for game) and a chain of salt plant production constructions on the Kama bank. Every memorial is a cause for fairy or scary tales, long talks and heated discussions about the history of not only architecture but of humanity in general. According to another legend, the name of the village descended from a bird with pappus («khokholok» in Russian) that lived in the woods of the peninsula. The woods still remains on the peninsula and a great number of these birds still make their home

in them. In addition, of course, there is a host of squirrels, lizards and hares and other forest creatures. These creatures, at times, cross tourists’ paths unhurriedly, seemingly oblivious to and unafraid of the human interlopers into their home. Also to be found within the site of the museum, are some 200 species of plants including juniper trees. From my point of view there’s some truth in the legend about «khokhlaty» people, the founders of Khokhlovka. To this day, the peninsula continues to attract extraordinary personalities. The AEM is frequently host to film makers, artists’ «plein airs» as well as artistic and photographic exhibitions. This unique glimpse into Perm’s history is a popular destination on holidays and several festivals are held here annually. The museum is open for visitors all year round; its hours are 10 am till 6 pm everyday of the year. Located only 40 km and about an hour away from Perm, it can be reached by regular bus service or by private vehicle.

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

21 PAGE

Restaurant and café guide Author’s column

Talk at pleasure, eat without measure

Nadezhda Proskurina practising psychologis

At times cuisine tells more about the country than the lyrics of the national anthem. The shortest way to understanding another culture (as well as to the beloved’s heart according to the old Russian proverb) lies through the stomach. Real Russian cuisine is hard to find in the West. Numerous “Russian” restaurants in Western Europe and the United States offer dinners “à la russe”. Typically, however, this “Russian” dinner will be seasoned highly seasoned with gypsies, balalaika, vodka shots and pirozhok with, perhaps, pelmeni ap-

petizers being served. And all offered, of course, at unreasonably high prices. One should be aware that Russian cuisine is not based on the art of cookery in the traditional sense of this word; the preparation of the food is, rather, simple and conventional. Most likely you’ll get a sense of good Russian cookery while paying a visit to a Russian house. Today one seldom tastes real “ancient” Russian dishes. However, some of them have became so traditional that they still provide a basis for everyday plain fare and may even be included in a restaurant menu. Russian cuisine is mainly renowned for abundance of appetizers that forestall every feast. A wealth of food is a high priority with Russians: refreshments should overload the table to satisfy everybody’s taste; lush variety of food strikes the eye. Cold meat and fish cuts, lavishly spiced pickles, all types of salads… There are traditional salads served at any restaurant and any

Russian household, for a example a salad with a fashionable in the past French name “Olivier” (in the West it is called “salade russe”). Every Russian housewife has her own “special” recipe of “Olivier” that she’s proud of. Thanks to the unprecedented repertoire of foods and an seemingly endless list of soups, Russian cuisine is varied as it is flavorable. A Russian daily meal is rich in starchy food, especially pastry and simple bread. As you probably know, Russians are very fond of pelmeni which are similar in shape to Italian ravioli but very different in taste. Of course, “real” pelmeni is traditionally cooked in winter. The process of cooking involves the whole family, pelmeni are molded by the hundreds and frozen afterwards. Today home-cooked pelmeni has become something of a rarity, but the food industry compensates sufficiently for it: every grocery store offers dozens of varieties with meat, mushroom, chicken and other fillings.

Russians enjoy a substantial meal. Is it good or bad? Remember that the human organism requires a lot of energy in frigid conditions. What might constitute overeating in some temperate climates, may only be life sustaining during the infamous Russian winter. On the whole comparing Russian and French cuisine, it must be said the former is not so dainty, elegant and full of nuances and it is not reckoned to be among the fine arts as it is in France. It is, on the contrary, quite functional. First, it should satisfy one’s hunger and second serves as the backdrop for another, if no less important value to Russians, a rich and lively conversation. Ceremonious European dinners where everybody’s attention is concentrated on the taste of food and drink such that there’s no room for talking left will seem boring and meaningless to a Russian. Probably Russians prefer to develop their creative potential in other fields rather than cookery.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

22 PAGE

Perm FASHION A Foreigner Speaks to Foreigners

Happy Owners Never Drive Anything (else!) Honda cars are beloved both by owners and the motoring press. This affection is not only in the West but also in Japan itself, known for it’s high tech market place. But for those who are familiar with the brand and it’s cars, none of this comes as a surprise. Almost every component of Honda has a lifetime guaranty. They are typically made of high-quality alloys and seem to last forever. The Japanese home islands are constantly besieged by trade winds, monsoons and other salt heavy winds and anti-rust protection is a priority in the construction of Japanese cars. The Honda brand in particular, has built on this emphasis to become almost synonymous with reliability and durability. Honda cars are equipped with the most advanced technologies and other electronic devices to ease the driver’s life. Moreover, their most popular models, the Honda Legend and the Honda Accord, have been continuously improved from generation to generation and their loyal customers see the newest models as approaching perfection. Recently, a test drive of the new Honda Legend was organized in Perm by the city’s Honda Centre (24, Vosstanyay St.). This car has already become popular in Russia. Based on this test drive, we think Perm wouldn’t be an exception as the new Legend seems to have everything. Without any exaggeration, we can say that the car is a true premium-brand. The elegant design of the car corresponds to its status, while dynamic lines define its sport character, subtlety hinting at the power of the engine. One of the characteristic features is a sloping bonnet. Straight lines, the shape of windows and the short boot highlight the wedge shape of the Legend when viewed from the side. Performance is also excellent. The Legend’s the engine is rated at a powerful 295 HP with its maximum speed electronically capped at 250 km/h (155 mph). The car’s 0 to100km/h (62 mph) time of 7.3 seconds after start is certainly respectable in this class. The cabin of Legend combines refinement and comfort. Special attention is paid to the quality of the material with the principal: “Long live luxury!” Almost unbelievably, the built-in cruise-control system will decelerate the car and keep a safe distance up to a full stop if another vehicle appears in front of it. And there are numerous other technical miracles under the luxurious skin of Legend. The latest version of the automakers most famous mark, the Honda Accord was also presented by the Honda Centre with its Special Edition model.

Al Okay…. I have in articles past, provided profound advice to you foreigners on all manner of topics I believe would be helpful to you in your early or only days in Perm. It is advice that only someone as myself, with little Russian language skills at my disposal but having a number of years working and living here can do. In other words, how to survive and enjoy being in Perm. I am sure my past advice is still available… please email the editor. But the Boss insists I must now provide a review of local restaurants for your benefit. And the Boss, being a typical Boss, gave me a choice of reviewing any restaurant I wanted to as long as it was either the “Nairi”, (or «Наири», in Russian) or “Le Marche” , which is uhhhhh… “Le Marche” in Russian, I guess. Well I have been to “Le Marche” and was eager to go again but they were having a set price menu with an imported, visitng French Chef which the newspaper could neither afford nor seemed applicable to you reader types as it is now ended… so it will await another column. So that leaves... the other one...

Location

Location, location, location as they say in the retail biz and this is pretty good. Niari is located at 67 Sovietskaya, in the city center about 4-5 blocks

from both Kom-Pros and Lenin streets, if you now where those are. It has an attractive well lit façade, with an elaborately carved, faux-ancient wooden door. Because it is in easy walking distance (or short taxi ride) of several large hotels in the Center City, The Foreigner gives it an 8 out 10 for location.

Cuisine

Okay nobody told me before I went but this is an Armenian Restaurant and they feature Armenian cuisine. To be honest, I am not all that clear about Armenian cuisine but based on this experience is similar to Greek/ Turkish(don’t tell them that!) and middle eastern cuisines.

Price

Medium to high prices... not uncommon for the restaurants The Foreigner inhabits in Perm when not eating fried chicken or sushi. It should fit your expense account... (tell them you were in Moscow, anyway). The wine choices seemed pricey but then I shy away from Armenian wines which may have been somewhat more affordable then the decent French Bordeaux I selected at 1,500 rubles.

Atmosphere

Now this is an important thing…… particularly if you are out to impress someone. Niari presents a well appointed interior... The maitre de was all decked out in a tux… the coat check tab was really cool; made of solid brass and weighing in at about a pound an a half. The décor, tables, fixtures were all elegant Armenian, ...But, and this is a really big “but”, the place was lit up like Giant Stadium on Monday night.

I mean... really... There was no pretense to “romantic” here. The restaurant was mostly full on the Friday evening I was there, and the room noise was considerable, at times even overpowering the very loud, live, Armenian background music. Our waiter placed a candle on the table but it was hard to detect any flame given the glare of the overhead lighting. Call me a sucker for romance, but... 4 (I loved the coat check tab!) out of the old 10. They really tried but… can someone turn the lights and the noise down?

The Service

Our waiter did not speak English but was an earnest, attentive and nattily attired young man with only a minimal grasp of how to serve the food. I was not given, for instance, an opportunity to do my sniff and swirl act on the wine before it was served around. That is one of my best acts and I was very disappointed in not being able to perform it. But “attentive” is good. 6.

The Menu and Food

The menu was only available in Russian. To make matters worse, being an “ethnic” restaurant, the dishes were all named (I presume) with their Armenian dish names. Which is to say they were not to be found in my 6 inch thick English-Russian Dictionary. The menu was large and offered a vast choice of delicacies, I guess. How the hell would I know? I went for the lead appetizer because it had the Restaurant’s name on it and it featured 5 somethings which proved to be stuffed, pickled eggplants. 3 of the 5 eggplants things were

unusual and tasty, One was okay and the other... Well maybe if you are Armenian., I will save it for you next time. The serving was large and suitable for 2 which seemed to be theme for the rest of meal. I would conclude, therefore, Armenian food is served “family” style, like Chinese, for example. For the main course, I ordered from the special seasonal menu which featured 8 items; 2 were beef and the other 6 were fish dishes, which is about as far as I got in figuring out what they were. I closed my eyes and picked one of the beef dishes. It turned out to be a broiled flank steak cut into 4 or 5 pieces. The flavor was quite good with a nice spice marinade even if the meat was somewhat overdone. It was served with a plum sauce that was not to my taste but enjoyed by others so who knows? I eventually realized there was no garnish of any kind so I belatedly ordered rice which turned out to be the highlight of the meal as far as I was concerned. It was a mixture of wild rices and peppers and tossed with olive oil and was excellent. I liked the rice, so the Menu/Food eek’s out a 5. But if you want the Foreigner to eat here again you are just going to have to work on that English menu. Or provide a bi-lingual Armenian with each visit. Location= 8, Cuisine=Armenian, Prices=Medium-High, Atmosphere=4, Service=6, Menu/Food=5

Overall: 6 stars out of 10 Next time... somewhere else! — The Foreigner.

Perm region newspaper

november 2007

23 PAGE

Perm FASHION The Way to London Style The most fashionable hairdressing brand in the world today is… Toni&Guy! Toni&Guy is a well known English brand with a 43 year history. Today it is a worldwide corporation with over 400 salons and 24 “creative” academies. Toni&Guy salons are located in the most prestigious addresses in the world’s biggest cities. The salon masters of Toni&Guy create their unique masterpieces in the United States, Japan, countries of Western and Eastern Europe, Australia, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and, of course, Russia. The first salon in Russia was opened in 2002, in the very center of the capitalStaleshnikov Alley. Tony Mascolo, one of the founders of Toni&Guy, was present at the official opening of the Moscow salon. A second salon was opened in Moscow at Novyi Arbat in the spring of 2005. In 2006, yet another salon was opened, this time in St.Petersburg.

Since 2002, many famous people in Russia have chosen to make “Toni&Guy” their favorite Russian salon. Among our clients are Tina Kandelaki, t.A.T.u, Ilya Logutenko, Avrora, Maxim Pokrovskiy, Anastasia Stockaja, Sergey Lazarev, Yurii Grymov, Anastasia Volochkova, Pelageja, and many more of Russia’s most stylish personalities. International admirers of Toni&Guy include Brad Pitt, Uma Thurman, Jennifer Aniston, Kylie Minogue, David Beckham, Pink and many, many more. The philosophy of Toni&Guy is simple. “Hairstyle maintains and forms the appearance of a person”. The idea is to express the individuality of a client in a way that will suit his life style, clothes style, face shape and even world outlook. If the eyes express our soul, a hairstyle should reflect the personality

and individuality of each of us. Fashion trends changes, as they say, but style remains eternal. This is why Toni&Guy has continued to be, for several years running, the official salon sponsor of London Fashion Week. As it is customary in the world of fashion, Toni&Guy twice a year produce seasonal hairstyles for autumn/ winter and spring/summer. The success of Toni&Guy is based on the continuous education and training of its highly professional staff. The company provides regular educational programs in London, as well as every day “master” classes for the salon’s artists. The innovative ideas driving the success of Toni&Guy have become transformed the company into its own subculture. Isn’t it time you found the style and fashion that is truly you? Toni&Guy salons can make it happen!

Marcelo Tholel (Amsterdam), general manager «TONI&GUY» in Perm, Russia

Let me introduce myself:

I’m Marcelo Tholel, born in Suriname, grew up in the Netherlands. I am the Educational Director of classic cuts, advanced cutting (master), seminars, workshops, academy teacher, product knowledge educator and manager for TONI&GUY Hairdressing for the last 8 years. I’m still very enthusiastic to be working for TONI&GUY International Hairdressing. To me, it is the best hairdressing company in the world; because of its continuous educational program… you never stop learning! The Artistic Team of TONI&GUY each year produces 2 design collections Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer for the inspiration and motivation of our clients and which reflects today’s fashion. When my wife, Marpessa, and I came for the first time to Russia in September 2007 for a business meeting we had no clue what to expect. To our surprise we found Perm, Russia quite a nice city which has to us a touch from Italy, Germany and certain parts even remind us of Columbus, Ohio USA where we yearly visit our mother church, The Pool of Bethesda, The Church of The Living God International. The hairdressing students I meet from Perm are very co-operative and eager to learn. When I am teaching I can see desire in my stylists to become the best. Inspiration, motivation and education are one of the key elements for natural progression! The English language is for most of the Russians very difficult (“no speak but understand”) The Russian language is very difficult but, with constant repetition and the help of my great and intelligent stylists, I have learned quite a few of Russian words and phrases in only a short time. Together, my stylists and I will soon open a TONI&GUY salon at Lunacharskogo 62b.To be honest, Perm really feels like being home because those that I’ve met are nice and friendly to me and that causes me to feel comfortable here! Even “strangers” come and shake my hand when I walk the streets of Perm. The stylists and the people whom I’ve met are teaching me to develop a taste for the delicacies of the Russian cuisine. I’m fond of eating and I must be very careful not gain weight” There are great restaurants in Perm and one of my favorite is “Valida”. The people from Perm are very stylish and fashionable and I would like to push them a little on the edge, to become more daring in hairdressing. Most of the men have quite similar haircuts and I want to give them more stylish haircuts. I have been told that the style I see on the streets has been around for the last three years. TONI&GUY will provide haircuts that will suit the individual along with strong techniques that reflects expressionism, character and flair. It is very refreshing and motivating to be in a different country for the same company.

Perm region newspaper

NOVEMBER 2007

24 PAGE

POSTER Advertising Job Opportunities

New offer from “The Perm Days”

Starting the next issue, The Perm Days will publish local, all-Russian and world-wide advertisements, dealing with job vacancies, information on education, trainings and seminars in Russia and abroad. Special offer for people, looking for a job. You can place your mini-resume in The Perm Days pages. Price of the advertising space 2 000,00 For more detailed information please call: 8912-98-36-279, 8-902-47-61-789.

Service for Business

THE COACH-CONSULTER FOR FOREIGN AND RUSSIAN BUSINESSMEN (ENGLISH AND GERMAN language) The coach is consults in Perm, Moscow and Europe for all kind negotiations and meetings in the sphere of real state and open sales. Confidence is guaranteed. All request and necessary information please ask by mobile call + 7 912 98 362 79 Halena

Welcome to PERM “PERM TRANSL ATORS AND INTERPRETERS”!

ONLY BY US THE NEW SERVICE IN PERM —

MODELS-INTERPRETERS We are ready to arrange our modelsinterpreters for you, for meeting of your guests, partners at the airport. All of those speak foreign languages: German, English, French, Turkish and even Kirghiz. We are glad to offer you rare opportunities to meet our marvelous city in any time you want. Our models-interpreters will show you the nightclubs and favorite restaurants of Perm. Monthly casting secures high esthetic and speaking level of models. Let’s write short letter to us or just call 8 912 98 362 79 and we answer all your questions about our services and possibilities in sphere of Perm visiting and translating/interpreting. The free access places of “The Perm days” newspaper The Perm region administration (foyer) Fitness-center (“Colliseum” Mall) Gravitsapa (“Colliseum” Mall) Restaurants: “Big Ben”, “Avgustin”, “Khromaia Loshad”, “Ernest”, “Stariy Koovshin”, “Vertel”, “Green Duck”, “Ma Do”, “Mandarin”, “Fusion Hall”, “Zapravka”, “Zhili Bili”, “Khutorok”, “Greece underground”, “Sabantui”, “Elba”. Cafes: “Kexx”, “Coffee-city”, “Eshche by”, “Telega”, “Hochu”, “Glamour”, “Chocalate”. Pubs: “Gvozd”, “Pinta”, “Prazhskiy dvor”, “Bob”. Hotels: “Zhemchuzhina”, “Vicont“, “Olimpia-Plaza”, “Mikos”, “Sport”, “Amaks”, “Eva-hotel”, “Prikamye”, “Ural”, “Eurotel”, “Astor”, “New Star”, “Siberia”, “Region 59“. Entertainment centers: “Amaks”.

Exhibitions Great song of speechless space. Temples and mountains An exhibition of works by the famous Perm artist Arthur Karapetyan. Date: 18.10.2007 - 11.11.2007 Central exhibition hall Time: 11 am – 6 pm, day off: Mon Address: Komsomolsky av., 10 The Perm Territory master of photography 2007 Cultural-business centre Date: 02.11.2007 - 14.11.2007 Address: Kuibyshev st., 14, tel. 23514-92

A. Saulskaya (mezzo-soprano) Moscow theatre New Opera soloist Date: 10.11.2007 Time: 7 pm ARK SUPERFUNK collective «American Black Super funk jazz band» Cultural-business centre Date: 12.11.2007 Time: 7 pm

Organ concert hall

Address: Lenin st., 51b, tel. (342) 23151-00

Le Cabinet Valery Bender’s personal exhibition. Soyuz-Art Date: 25.10.2007 - 15.11.2007 Time: 11 am – 7 pm, Sat: 11 am – 6 pm, day off: Sun, Mon Admission free Address: Lunacharsky st., 32, tel. 21289-56

Violin music soiree Performer: International competitions laureate Elena KORZHENEVICH (Moscow) Piano part: International competition laureate Julia Rogachevskaya (Moscow) Program includes: E. Shosson, M. Ravel, A. Glazunov, S. Prokophyev, A. Schnittke Date: 09.11.2007 Time: 7 pm

Olga Subbotina and Michael Pavlyukevich works exhibition Joint exhibition of the works of Olga Subbotina and Michael Pavlyukevich. Artist’s house Date: 29.10.2007 - 23.11.2007 Time: 11 am - 6-30 pm, Sat: 11 am – 4 pm, day off: Sun Admission free Address: Gorky st., 27

Salon romance “Romance trembling sounds”. First concert Alexandra Saulskaya (mezzo-soprano, Moscow), Anatoly TITOV (guitar, Moscow) Program includes: A. Varlamov, Y. Feldman, S. Pocrass, G. Sviridov romances Date: 10.11.2007 Time: 7 pm

Reality squared Exhibition of two young Perm artists Anton Koshcheev and Alexander Grekov within the framework of the “New Names” project. Central exhibition hall Date: 06.11.2007 - 24.11.2007 Time: 11 am – 6 pm, day off: Mon Address: Komsomolsky av., 10

Perm music lover

Perm museum of local lore, history and economy Address: Komsomolsky av., 6 Time: 10 am – 6 pm, day off: Fri Plates and dishes general For the first time, an exposition of samovars is represented in in its entirety and diversity. Date: 07.05.2007 - 31.12.2007 Capitals of Perm the Great Date: 25.12.2006 - 30.12.2007

Exhibition Centre Perm Fair

Address: Gagarin blvd., 65, tel. 26258-58 Oil. Gas. Chemistry 2007 9th international exhibition of oil, gas and chemical industry technologies and equipment. Date: 20.11.2007 - 23.11.2007 Jewellery fashion 2007 2nd international exhibition of jewelry and modern jewellery industry technologies. Date: 06.12.2007 - 09.12.2007

Club events DJ Lutique [kiev.ua] Night club «Mama» Date: 10.11.2007 beginning: 11 pm Address: Kuibyshev st., 66, EC «Triada», tel. 277 21 13 Perm electronic projects concert All the funds got from the event will be transferred on the account of Heart Institute children’s department. Date: 16.11.2007 Cafe MENU Address: Komsomolsky av., 34, tel. 219-64-35

Concerts Cultural-business centre

Address: Kuibyshev st., 14, tel. 23514-92

Opening of the III city chamber classical music festival Concert of the I and II “Perm music lover” festivals laureates Date: 12.11.2007 Time: 7 pm Piano music soiree “Grand piano wonderful sounds”». First concert Performer: Alessio Bax (USA) Program includes: J. Brahms, S. Rahmaninov, M. Ravel Date: 17.11.2007 Time: 7 pm Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments Perm philharmonic orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments “Classic-duet” consisting of: Tatyana Nenasheva (domra), Larisa Koksharova (piano) Program includes: R. Shchedrin, D. Shostakovich, S. Gubaidulina, N. Budashkin Date: 21.11.2007 Time: 7 pm Guitar music soiree “My island is Guitar”. First concert Performer: Dmitry TATARKIN (Moscow) Program for guitar solo: S. Rudnev, N. Koshkin, A. Piazzolla, F. Sor Date: 23.11.2007 Time: 7 pm Organ music concert Performer: Ishtvan MATYASH (Hungary) Program includes: S. Karg-Elert, L. Marchan, S. M. Vidor, M. Tariverdiev Date: 24.11.2007 Time: 7 pm Jazz and classical music “Jazz soiree with Valery Grohovsky”. First concert Performer: Valery GROHOVSKY (piano, USA) Program includes: Chopin, jazz improvisations in various styles from Scott Joplin to Chick Corrin Date: 28.11.2007 Time: 7 pm

The Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre

Address: Komunisticheskaya st., 25а, tel. 212 5416 Premiere of C. Monteverdi opera “Orfeo” Date: 15.11.2007

16.11.2007 Time: 7 pm “Nutcracker” ballet to Tchaikovsky music Date: 18.11.2007 Time: 12 pm G. Rossini opera “The barber of Seville” Date: 18.11.2007 Time: 7 pm R. Leoncavallo opera “Pagliacci” Date: 20.11.2007 Time: 7 pm “Giselle” ballet to A. Adan music Date: 21.11.2007 Time: 7 pm A. Borodin opera “Prince Igor” Date: 22.11.2007 Time: 6 pm Premiere “Romeo and Juliet” ballet to S. Prokophyev music Date: 25.11.2007 28.11.2007 Time: 7 pm Premiere J. Massne opera “Cleopatra (Life of an actress)” Date: 29.11.2007 Time: 7 pm “Anyuta” ballet to V. Gavrilin music Date: 30.11.2007 Time: 7 pm

Perm State Circus

Address: Uralskaya st., 112, tel. 26048-87, 8-809-300-6670 Perm circus continues the thirty eighth season with the new program “Our good circus” with the famous bear trainers Nelly and Renata Kaseeva. Date: 10.11.2007 - 11.11.2007 17.11.2007 - 18.11.2007 24.11.2007 - 25.11.2007 Time: 12 pm, 4 pm

Sport

Cup «Sozvezdiye (constellation) -2007» 11th international sport dance tournament Riding-hall “Spartak” Date: 10.11.2007 - 11.11.2007 Time: 10 am, 2 pm, 6 pm Address: Lokomotivnaya st., 1, tel. 219-23-80

Basketball

Ural-Great (Perm) - Yenisei (Krasnoyarsk) Super league А USP Molot Date: 13.11.2007 Time: 7-30 pm Address: Levedev st., 13, tel. 265-70-10, 265-77-06 Ural-Great-2 (Perm) - UNIKS-2 (Kazan) Super league А USP Molot Date: 24.11.2007 Time: 7-30 pm Address: Levedev st., 13, tel. 265-7010, 265-77-06 Ural-Great (Perm) FIBA Europe Cup USP Molot Date: 27.11.2007 Time: 7-30 pm Address: Levedev st., 13, tel. 265-7010,

Hockey

Molot-Prikamie (Perm) - Gazovik (Tyumen) USP Molot Date: 14.11.2007 15.11.2007 Time: 5 pm Address: Levedev st., 40 Molot-Prikamye (Perm) - Zauralye (Kurgan) USP Molot Date: 18.11.2007 19.11.2007 Time: 5 pm Address: Levedev st., 40