Russia Now #4 DT by Russia Beyond

A product by

RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES Distributed with www.rbth.ru

Tourism

Bridging the gap: Vladivostok gets the San Francisco treatment

Going ballistic: is Nato creating another arms race?

Hidden Russia: regional delights on London menu

P.04

P.06

alamy/legion media

Opinion itar-tass

Special report

P.08

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

This eight-page pull-out is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the contents

The presidency Political and ceremonial traditions continue to evolve as Putin returns to the seat of power

Back to the Kremlin

Presidents may face limit of two terms

Vladimir Putin will become president of Russia on May 7. Russia Now takes a closer look at the ceremony and the privileges it will afford him. marina volkova

reuters/vostock-photo

special to russia now

On May 7,Vladimir Putin will once again become president of Russia after an hour-long inauguration ceremony. After having previously served two consecutive four-year terms of office, this time he will be installed for six years. In spite of its rich history, modern Russia is still a young state. In the 20 years since its new political biography began, new political traditions have evolved. Mr Putin’s first inauguration ceremony was held on May 7, 2000, and subsequent inaugurations – his again in 2004 and Dmitry Medvedev’s in 2008 – have followed on the same date. Every president is given a fixed term under the constitution: even if the presidential election had gone to a second round, the inauguration ceremony for Russia’s head of state would still have taken place on May 7. That date will remain unchanged in 2018, unless Mr Putin leaves office before his term expires – as did Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin. In such a case, the inauguration clock hands would be moved and a new count started – in the hope that such an upheaval would not recur in the future. The American word“inauguration”,which came to Russia under Boris Yeltsin, took some time to take root in Russia. It is a foreign-sounding word that was at first difficult to pronounce for Rus-

Leader’s return: Vladimir Putin’s term of office expires in 2018

sians. So, when journalists covered the event in 1996, they preferred to say that Boris Yeltsin was assuming office and not that he was being inaugurated.They were afraid to get it wrong. Now, though, the term has become part of the Russian language and of Kremlin protocol.

Family matters

Unlike in the United States, the president’s spouse does not stand next to the president during the ceremony,

but looks on from the side; she is essentially surrendering him to the civil service. This is also the case for both speakers of the two houses of parliament and the Constitutional Court chairman. The First Lady’s husband becomes the head of state – and family automatically recedes into the background. The nearly 2,000 guests at the ceremony – who include MPs, government ministers, presidential administrators, governors, cultural figures,

political scientists, media representatives and diplomats – often feel a sneaking sense of sympathy for the person who is about to take the oath, because it can be rather lonely at the top. The seating arrangements of the guests depend on their social and political status, with those lower down the hierarchy watching the events from a screen. The ceremony takes place in and around three Kremlin halls. The would-be

News in Brief

president starts his path to the pinnacle of power by walking along the red carpet amid the breathtaking grandeur of the Grand Kremlin Palace. First, he walks through the magnificent St George Hall. Commemorating Russian military glory, the St George Hall has seen emperors, heroes of the 1812 war, leaders of the Soviet Union and participants in the 1945 Victory Parade. It is still the place where government

decorations and state prizes are awarded. Several minutes later, the future president enters the St Alexander Hall, named in honour of the Order of St Alexander Nevsky founded in 1725 by Catherine the Great. After losing its magnificent interiors in the Thirties, when it was refurbished to house sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, this hall was restored to its former glory in the Nineties. The next destination is the St Andrew Hall, the former throne room and main imperial hall in the Kremlin, where he is met by the head of the Constitutional Court, the master of ceremonies. From there, the main action begins. In the short history of the inauguration ceremony, there has not been a single president of Russia who has not felt nervous covering that path. The inauguration of Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 was the first time the ceremony was attended by a former president – in this case Mr Putin – and his presence provided moral support for the new head of state. Before that, both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin handed over power to themselves – either because they were elected for a second term or because they didn’t assume power from anyone else. Boris Yeltsin became Russia’s first president in 1991, and in 2000 Mr Putin simply had the word“acting” removed from his title of acting president, after the resignation of Mr Yeltsin. It now looks as if the presence of the former president,

A two-term limit could be imposed on future presidents,Vladimir Putin told members of the State Duma. Article 81 of the Russian constitution reads: “One and the same person may not be elected president of the Russian Federation for more than two terms running.” Answering questions from MPs, the president-elect said it would be “reasonable” to consider removing the word “running” from the article. Mr Putin has already served two fouryear terms as president, and is about to serve his third term, which will be for six years. He jokingly pointed out: “The law has no retrospective effect and [if the legislation is passed] I will have an opportunity to work for another two terms.” If this is the case, Mr Putin could serve as president until 2024, when he will be 71.

Pardon request for Khodorkovsky fails Dmitry Medvedev has refused to pardon the former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky, jailed for various white-collar crimes, following a meeting of the president’s Human Rights Council. The council had recommended that Khodorkovsky be pardoned because his trial was not fair. The president said he refused the pardon because Khodorkovsky had not asked for clemency, though an appeal for clemency usually means admitting guilt. The council will raise the issue again at a meeting with Mr Medvedev on April 28.

Russian ‘BBC’ to launch next year

continued on PAGE 2 getty images/fotobank

High hopes for golden girl Yelena at London 2012 Double Olympic gold medallist Yelena Isinbaeva nearly quit the sport but she’s expected to make a strong challenge in London. nikolai dolgopolov

AFP/eastnews

special to russia now

At the start of the year, many commentators predicted that the Russian pole vault championYelena Isinbaeva would retire because of a string of setbacks, notably injuries and poor form. But Isinbaeva has confounded her critics by recapturing her best form and, at the age of 29, she is not only determined to carry on with her career, but has set her sights on a new world record and winning another gold medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in London. One of the most harrowing memories of Isinbaeva’s career was when she buried her face in her hands at the 2009 Berlin World Championships after her third failed vault. Her coach,Vitaly Petrov, who

also trained the legendary pole vault world champion Sergei Bubka, was crestfallen, and her loyal fans were dismayed. But then came another setback at the Doha Indoor World Championship in 2010 when she failed to win the gold medal. Fans had become so used to her imperious form that a

simple win without breaking a record was disappointing. Suddenly, she was failing to win competitions, let alone set new world records. What went wrong? Everyone needs a rest from time to time, but it seems that Isinbaeva needed more than rest to return to form. When she dismissed former

National hero: fivetime world champion Yelena Isinbaeva has broken 28 records

coachYevgeny Trofimov, with whom she had worked successfully since late 1997, after the Athens Olympics in 2004, it came as a shock. Trofimov had led her by the hand to the Olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004 and their relationship had flourished, bringing sporting glory. Isinbaeva wanted to learn a new jumping technique under the guidance of new coach Petrov. She was offered two talented foreign managers who committed her to lucrative contracts. She would take part in a competition one day and rush off to a remote part of China to fulfil key contractual duties the next, only to face another commercial tour a couple of days later. Moving from her home in Volgograd to Monaco to be closer to the tournaments seemed to be a sensible thing to do. Here, she could train all year under an azure sky continued on PAGE 8

Russia to affect balance of power? Britain’s continuing commitment to low-carbon energy may lead to the adoption of Russian nuclear technologies. ARTEM ZAGORODNOV, BEN ARIS SPECIAL TO RUSSIA NOW

Rosatom, Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, could be about to build two nuclear power stations in Britain. With a growing energy deficit and a commitment to cutting carbon emissions, the British government may find itself faced with an offer they can’t refuse. Earlier this month, Rosatom said it was mulling over buying a stake in Horizon Nuclear Power after the British energy firm’s parent companies, RWE and E.ON, shelved a joint venture to construct two nuclear power plants at Wylfa, Anglesey and Oldbury, Gloucestershire. Both German-owned, RWE and E.ON cited increased costs, a longer payback period and Germany’s retreat from the nuclear sector as reasons for their decision. Be-

fore the Fukushima disaster, the world was slowly reverting back to nuclear power in the face of the relentless rises in the price of oil and gas. Only six months before the disaster, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had reversed a campaign promising to wean Germany off nuclear power, which she reinstated again after the catastrophe. “Germany has been talking about abandoning nuclear power since the early 2000s, and Fukushima was only a formal reason to finally do it,”said Rosatom press officer Vladislav Bochkov. “The demand for nuclear power has not changed; its structure has changed. If before we had clients interested in second-generation nuclear reactors, now everybody wants the safest 3rd generation (and 3+) PWR reactors available. Globally, if you compare how many contacts we signed after Fukushima with the number in 2010, it’s practically continued on PAGE 5

In this issue opinion

sergey yolkin

Energy Rosatom ponders UK deal

Olympic special Pole-vault princess seeks third crown

Dmitry Medvedev confirmed this month that the public TV channel, described as Russia’s BBC, will be run by a supervisory council excluding state officials. The channel, which launches next year, will initially be subsidised by the government but will also need private funds. Media experts have expressed concern that government involvement will undermine its independence. The director and editor will be appointed by the president, a practice Mr Medvedev claimed was followed in Britain – although the BBC director-general is actually appointed by the BBC Trust. Vladimir Kasyutin of the Russian Union of Journalists said the channel had to be publicly funded to ensure its independence.

Friends in need

What will it take to get Vladimir Putin onside? TURN TO PAGE 6

Politics & Society

Charity Nobel Peace Prize nomination

A class act when it comes to good causes Two Russian actresses will soon have their outstanding fund-raising work for sick children recognised on the international stage. helen dupuy

Special to Russia now

Cheers: President Medvedev, right, and President-elect Putin enjoy a glass of milk at the former’s official residence

History was made at the 2008 reception when the presidential band performed Smoke on the Water Each of the Russian presidents has their own residence, which is on the state balance sheet are held and the president’s writing desk. The presidential staff are located near their boss, as they refer to him behind his back. But their exact location depends on their post. Those who are very close to the president, including important aides and advisers and the presidential guards, sit in Building 14, connected to Building One by an underpass. However, Building 14 is currently under repair, so all the presidential advisors have moved to Staraya Ploshchad, the former headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, where lower-ranking members of the administration have their offices. Contrary to a popular misconception (which owes

its existence either to analogy with the White House in the US or to the Stalin era when the party elite lived inside the Kremlin), the present Russian leaders only work in the Kremlin, and live several miles outside the Moscow city centre in the most prestigious neighbourhood. Each of the three Russian presidents – Yeltsin, Putin and Medvedev – received their own residence. These properties, which are on the state balance sheet, need not be vacated after the expiry of a presidential term. This will save Mr Medvedev the undignified rush to move home that the outgoing British prime ministers have to face as they bundle their belongings out of 10 Downing Street – before their successor smugly usurps their living quarters. Since Mr Yeltsin’s death, his widow, Naina, has lived at the residence they were given when he was head of state. Likewise, when Dmitry Medvedev became president in 2008, Mr Putin stayed in his former mansion surrounded by pine trees at Novo-Ogaryovo; Mr Medvedev lives nearby in Gorky. These properties are not just residential houses

Life at the top: Mr Putin’s residence at Novo-Ogaryovo

but complexes equipped for work; they even have guest houses. The president spends a considerable part of his time working at home rather than in the Kremlin, and it is to this location that the new Russian president will repair on May 7, after his inauguration. Along with all the presidential paraphernalia, which includes the standard, Air Force One and the nuclear suitcase, Mr Putin will receive two more things: the presidential ID, which he is unlikely to ever have to use because there is not a single person in the country who does not know his face; and colossal responsibility for the important decisions he will have to take over his next six years in power.

Elections United Russia’s poor showing in certain regions has prompted calls for a party rebranding

Independents’ day dawns at local polls United Russia won only 29pc of votes in the Yaroslavl mayoral election, revealing widespread disillusionment with the ruling party. Andrew Roth

In Yaroslavl, a city of more than half a million people situated about 150 miles outside Moscow, an independent candidate dominated the mayoral election held last month. Yevgeny Urlashov, a veteran ofYaroslavl city council, ran on an anticorruption platform with support from a broad spectrum of opposition parties – and won 70pc of the vote. Observers say that the result highlights two growing trends in Russia: modest victories for the opposition in regional elections; and a critical loss of trust in the ruling United Russia party. Even before the results came in, there was a sense that Urlashov’s campaign had found the momentum needed to carry him to victory. Local opposition parties, including the Communists, A Just Russia and Yabloko, united behind the former United Russia city councillor. More than 1,000 election monitors travelled toYaroslavl from Moscow, St Petersburg and other cities to prevent ballot stuffing and other methods of voter fraud, a sign of the growing political activism among rank-and-file Russians.“The road to the Kremlin goes throughYaroslavl,”wrote the Democratic Choice movement leader Vladimir Milov in a blog posted before the

kommersant

russia profile

Opposition attracts: Yevgeny Urlashov won the mayoral race in Yaroslavl in fine style

The election result was only unexpected for someone who doesn’t live in Yaroslavl poll. As opposition protests in Moscow started to run out of steam, a campaign for civic participation gradually took its place. Activist Boris Akunin proclaimed: “The civic movement has entered a new phase. The first phase, romantic and euphoric, is over.” He argued that the opposition should gather power from the ground up. Opposition parties in other areas also won mod-

est victories in the March elections. Several young opposition candidates, supported by the “Our City” ini t i a t iv e ( a m o v e m e n t encouraging normally apolitical individuals to stand against United Russia in district councils), won seats as city councillors in Moscow. United Russia candidates also lost mayoral battles in two high-profile locations, Chernogolovka and Tolyatti. The city of Tolyatti is the home of Russia’s AvtoVAZ carmaker and a recipient of Kremlin largesse. Despite billions in bailout funds to AvtoVAZ, Sergei Andreyev, an independent candidate, won 56pc of the votes, which was seen as a referendum

against the ruling party. Considering that in the UK only four of the 14 directly elected mayors are independent, the success of the three Russian independent mayors is a very significant victory. In the run-up to the election, Yaroslavl was shaken in September by the loss of its Lokomotiv ice hockey team in a plane crash. While local investigators said pilot error was behind the disaster, Mr Urlashov disagreed, quitting United Russia in the process. By the time of December’s parliamentary vote, anti-United Russia sentiment was at its peak in Yaroslavl. United Russia won only 29pc of the vote there, the party’s worst

showing in any of Russia’s 83 regions. In an interview with Izvestia, Mr Urlashov accused his United Russia opponent Yakov Yakushev of running a dirty campaign, in what he called an “attempt to seize power”. The result of the election was, he said, “only unexpected for someone who doesn’t live inYaroslavl”. United Russia has increasingly been seen as “a party of crooks and thieves”, the name given it by corruption whistleblower and opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Because of this public perception, some United Russia party members say the party must change its image. Political analyst Alexei Mukhin said rebranding was crucial for the success of future elections and that the party would need to“change its name, conduct a deep, internal rebranding and change its leadership.” Mr Mukhin also suggested that United Russia should pick new faces from the professional classes in the regions in order to stave off future losses in local, or even federal, elections. Sergei Neverov, the head of United Russia’s general council, warned that Yaroslavl residents would“regret their decision” in the mayoral elections. And, indeed, Mr Urlashov will have his work cut out: local politics inYaroslavl’s city council are dominated by United Russia, and the regional governor supported Mr Urlashov’s opponent in the election. Mr Urlashov has flatly rejected returning to United Russia in order to garner political support, but he told Izvestia newspaper that he was ready to work with local politicians as “institutions of government”. “I will work with them in a business-like manner, fruitfully and constructively,” he added.

THE numbers

26m

roubles (about £550,000) will be spent on the May 7 inauguration ceremony of Vladimir Putin.

1,000 guests will enjoy Russian food with locally produced vodka, wine and champagne at the inauguration reception, according to the administration’s website – which posted a tender invitation to cater for the event.

Actresses Chulpan Khamatova and Dina Korzun are about to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. As co-founders of the charity The Gift of Life in 2006, the pair help raise funds for life-saving treatments for children with lifethreatening conditions. The foundation’s website points out that a large proportion of the cost of these treatments – as much as 66pc – must be paid for by families, many of whom live below the poverty line. The charity is one of Russia’s most successful fund-raising operations, raising money through concerts, exhibitions and other events. Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta editor and instigator of the nomination, said the actresses’“selfless saving of thousands of children’s lives” made them worthy of the prize in a LiveJournal blog. Nominations for the Nobel Prize can be made only by members of the Nobel Prize Committee, members of national assemblies and governments, university rectors and professors, and several other select people, such as those who have received the prize in the past themselves – which is why Mr Gorbachev was approached. “We will talk with people in parliament and government representatives who can also give official support for nominating candidates

who will even deliver a short speech, is likely to become a new tradition. The actual inauguration takes place fairly quickly. The symbols of presidential power – the standard, the president’s official badge and a special copy of the constitution usually kept in the presidential library between inaugurations – await the future head of state. He recites a brief oath, vowing to serve his country, with his hand on the volume of the constitution and not the Bible, as is the case in some countries. Within minutes, the country acquires a new head of state, who makes a short speech immediately after being sworn in. This is a set tradition. As a rule, the inaugural address reiterates what the president promised during his electoral campaign. When Vladimir Putin famously said: “The president in Russia is more than a president” in his first inauguration speech, it had a particularly symbolic ring in the St Andrew Hall, the former throne room. When all the speeches have been made, the president makes the same jour-

ney back through the Kremlin’s three halls. A brief parade of the presidential regiment takes place while the new president prepares for the evening reception, where there are usually 1,000-1,200 guests. With rare exceptions, heads of foreign states are invited neither to the ceremony nor the reception, as this is considered to be an internal Russian matter. Incidentally, history was made at the 2008 reception, when the presidential band performed Smoke on the Water specially for President Dmitry Medvedev, who is an ardent Deep Purple fan. Nothing like it had ever been heard at such events before. Thereafter, the president moves into his new office, which is located in the former Kremlin Senate, a building commissioned by Catherine the Great and constructed from 1776-1787. (In his time, Lenin chose to have his office in Kremlin Building One and Stalin followed suit.) This seat o f p owe r h a s a f a i r ly ascetic look, a tradition inherited from the Soviet leaders: wood-panelled walls, bookshelves, a huge table at which conferences

Former minister Sergei Shoigu moves from Emercom to governorship of Moscow region http://rbth.ru/15302

Angels of mercy: Korzun, left, and Khamatova, right

for the Nobel Prize,”Mr Muratov said. Reacting to the news, Ms Khamatova thanked Novaya Gazeta for its co-operation with the charity in the past. “The newspaper has always helped draw public attention to the most painful problems of pediatric oncology,” she wrote in her blog on network site Ekho Moskvy. Both actresses are well known in Russia: Ms Khamatova has starred in a number of German-language films, such as Goodbye Lenin! as well as in numerous Russian feature films and TV serials with Ms Korzun – who made her screen debut in Country of the Deaf. Among the 231 nominations received so far for the Nobel Peace Prize are former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Russian human rights activists Lyudmila Alekseeva and Svetlana Gannushkina, Microsoft chief Bill Gates and former US President Bill Clinton.

Education Home schooling grows in popularity

Mum’s the word for tip-top tuition More and more parents are opting to educate their children at home believing it will be better for them than going to school.

THE numbers

100,000

children are estimated to be home-educated in Russia. Lack of socialisation is cited as a concern by some educationalists.

maria agranovich rossiyskaya gazeta

Seven-year-old Alisa Chupova begins her day at 9am. After breakfast, it’s time for writing: Alisa inscribes words in her copybook. Her mother sits next to her and watches carefully to make sure she holds her pencil correctly and that the letters are fine. After that comes reading. Today, Alisa reads several pages from Vitaly Bianki’s Forest Newspaper. Then it’s time for some exercise. At about one o’clock, Alisa and her mother, along with Alisa’s younger brother, go to the Zoological Museum to see what those quails, partridges and hawks from Bianki’s tales look like. There are few in the museum on weekdays, making it easy to conduct the nature lesson. Alisa is not being kept away from school because of any underlying health problems; her mother simply opted to educate her at home. As in Britain, it is entirely legal to do so. The popularity of home education is growing in Russia. In just a few years, the numbers have increased nearly tenfold from a mere 11,000 children in 2008 to around 100,000 now. Estimates of the numbers of home-educated children in Britain vary, but it is thought to be roughly 50,000, while in the United States, more than two million are taught

alamy/legion media

continued from PAGE 1

MOST READ

SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA DISTRIBUTED WITH THE DAILY TELEGRAPH TUESDAY_APRIL 24_2012

Big hopes for Vladivostok summit http://rbth.ru/15028

Apec Summit A huge building and infrastructure programme is under way to transform the sparsely populated region of Vladivostok

Will this city be our San Francisco?

Vladivostok’s skyline is being transformed for the Apec Summit in September. But residents fear the investment may not be enough to halt the city’s decline.

Apec Summit, Sept 2-9, 2012

ARTEM ZAGORODNOV RUSSIA NOW

Vladivostok-2012

These days,Vladivostok, the administrative centre of Primorsky Krai, blazes with welders’ flames, and cranes dot its hilly landscape, as development rapidly progresses. The narrow, potholed road from the airport has been raised – up to 10ft in some areas – and expanded into a modern, fourlane motorway, while an express train link from the airport to the city centre will soon open. Elsewhere,

ITAR-TASS

In 1959, after visiting California, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev urged residents of Russia’s Pacific port of Vladivostok, which is nearly 4,000 miles from Moscow, to make it “our San Francisco”. Half a century later, Russia’s leaders aim to realise Khrushchev’s dream as the city prepares to host the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) Summit in September. Similarities between the two cities are obvious to visitors: the buildings and streets meandering up and down the hills surrounding Golden Horn Bay; the tramways dotting Vladivostok’s main thoroughfares; Chinatown; a booming harbour; and atmospheric morning fog. Vladivostok even has a liberal-leaning political climate – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin garnered only 47.5pc of the vote here compared to a national average of 63.75pc in the presidential election. Vasily Avchenko, local correspondent for Russian daily Novaya Gazeta, recently coauthored a futuristic sci-fi book entitled Vladivostok-3000 with Vladivostokborn rock star Ilya Lagutenko, who once took Russia’s pop charts by storm with his hit song, Vladivostok-2000. “Vladivostok-2000 is the city Ilya and I know, see and love. Vladivostok-3000 is a dream about the city I’d like to live in. I recently visited San Francisco, and I felt it had many characteristics of Vladivostok-3000,” says Avchenko.

Russia became a part of Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation), the main forum for promoting free trade in the Pacific Rim, in 1998. At the 2006 forum in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Russian participants offered to host the organisation’s annual summit for 2012 in Vladivostok, the largest Russian city on the Pacific coast. Initial plans for renovating a few downtown buildings were scrapped in favour of the more expensive plans to develop Russky Island – the site of the forthcoming summit. The plans were supported by the then president Vladimir Putin. Russky Island was a closed military zone in the Soviet era, and the remains of a fort are still visible on the highest point of the island.

California dreaming: the new bridge being built over Golden Horn Bay in Vladivostok; below, the Amur River separates Blagoveshchensk from Hehei

Car plant on road to success At the peak of the economic crisis in 2009, Vladivostok erupted in protests after Moscow decided to raise import duties on cars. Residents took to the streets to defend a major source of revenue – driving Japanese and Korean vehicles to western Russia for resale at a hefty profit. The new tariffs would reduce the number of cars imported annually from more than 200,000 to around 60,000. As riot police were flown in from Moscow to restore order, Prime Minister Vladimir

Putin announced a solution: the cars could be assembled in Russia to avoid the import duties. By the end of that year, Russian automobile company Sollers, which assembles SsangYong sports utility vehicles, had moved its production from Tatarstan to Vladivostok. After two years the decision is being hailed as a success by Sollers management – the number of cars produced at the factory is expected to hit 35,000 this year, compared to 25,000 in 2011.

Russia’s Far Eastern territories

two Hyatt hotels are being built, monuments have been repaired and a brand new airport is scheduled to open this summer. One of the most impressive projects nearing completion is the bridge to Russky Island, where the Summit will be held. The two-milelong bridge, partly held up by masts standing on two artificial islands, bears a strong resemblance to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Construction began less than three years ago and, when completed this summer, it will be the longest cablestayed bridge in the world. “When we talk about innovation and modernisation, this is it,” says Alexander Ognevsky, press secretary for the Ministry of Regional Development, as he gestured toward the bridge. “A number of international companies left the tender because they said it couldn’t be done; in the end a firm from Omsk took on the contract. “Their know-how and the technology they developed with this project will be applied elsewhere and even exported abroad.” The campus being built on Russky Island will be trans-

ferred to the Far Eastern Federal University after the talks. “Russia is experiencing a demographic decline, and universities nationwide are facing a shortage of students,” says Vladimir Miklushevsky, who was until recently the university’s rector. “That’s why we’re studying markets like China, Indonesia andVietnam to attract students. We have to find our niche.” Authorities hope that the impressive new campus and generous grants from the state will help to attract the brightest minds from around the world. A special economic zone for tourism may also be set up on the island to take advantage of the fine beaches, which are expected to be a big attraction for students at the university. “Our country’s higher education faces two major problems: universities don’t know how to produce what business wants; and business isn’t very interested in innovative products,” says Mr Miklushevsky. “That’s why our university will focus on creating small start-ups in conjunction with major businesses around the world.” “I have to hand it to the authorities, when they start-

migrants,” he says. “Some of them would like to leave altogether, but don’t have the money for a ticket. The immigrants have to keep working just so that they can eat.”

ed building all this stuff, nobody – myself included– believed that it would be completed, especially not in time for the Summit,” says Mr Avchenko.“Now it’s clear they have succeeded in doing what they promised.” The ultimate success of the project, however, is mostly dependent on the hordes of construction workers who are rebuilding the city. All press contact with the mostly Central Asian workers has been strictly off-limits. “They’re afraid the workers will tell you about how they’re treated,” says Bakhodir Nurakov, a young Uzbek who has been working to protect the rights of the workers in the region through a Vladivostok NGO that helps immigrants and their employers. Mr Nurakov’s gripe is not with the entire project, but with certain contractors who abuse the rule allowing them to legally employ immigrants for 90 days without providing them with a long-term work permit.“They promise to pay them for the first 90 days, and then simply fire them. At that point, the workers have no legal recourse because they become illegal im-

Declining population

A dark, even less visible story has to do with the region’s demographic decline. Over the past 20 years, the population of Primorsky Krai has fallen by 300,000, as people leave for more hospitable regions of Russia, or go abroad. “Of the students I know who are studying Chinese, no fewer than two-thirds want to pursue their careers abroad upon graduation,” says Victor Larin, the university’s director of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East. “Most of the city’s infrastructure is a shambles – roads are falling apart; there’s nowhere I can go for a walk with my wife. The key to getting people to want to live here doesn’t lie in building bridges to nowhere.” “Everyone’s concerned about what’s going to happen after the Summit passes,” says Mr Avchenko. “We

practically don’t even have a local seafood industry. This is especially sad given that, not long ago, local seafood factories were nationally famous.”

New leader’s plans

In mid-March, 44-year-old Vladimir Miklushevsky was voted in as the new governor ofVladivostok by a wide margin. The previous governor, Sergei Darkin, had been abruptly dismissed by President Dmitry Medvedev just weeks earlier after a decade in power. The news came as a shock to many local people, who credited him with lobbying for many of the federal funds that are now pouring into Vladivostok. Mr Miklushevsky promised to make transparency and fighting corruption a cornerstone of his governorship. Speaking to journalists after he was elected, he announced: “We have to base our longterm development on the scientific and educational resources we have at our disposal, especially the Far Eastern branch of the Academy of Sciences and the Far Eastern Federal University. “The Apec Summit will have a direct impact on the long-term development of Vladivostok. The 200bn roubles (£4.2bn) of federal funding coming here will improve infrastructure, a lack of which is a barrier to investment – not only in Russia. “[The Summit] will also put Vladivostok on the world map and make it known throughout Apec. We can’t miss this opportunity. “Miklushevsky is a good manager and is not tied to the local business and criminal elites,”says Mr Avchenko. “But I question how much of a difference that one individual can make in Russia’s current political system. A lot has to be changed: in the economy, laws and, especially, the application of laws. However, places like Singapore show that it’s possible. “However, I definitely have a feeling of lost potential concerning Vladivostok’s development, especially over the past two decades,” he continues. “This concerns the economy, cultural life and basic quality of living. “I hope that we will stop losing people and realise the enormous potential that our city has inherited. But only time will tell how justified my hopes for the city are.”

LORI/LEGION MEDIA

Far East border Russians regularly cross the Amur river to go shopping in China. Now the Chinese are being encouraged to make the crossing for a family holiday

Russia’s Far Eastern city of Blagoveshchensk is being turned into a holiday resort for Chinese tourists from just across the Amur River. VLADIMIR BARTOV SPECIAL TO RN

On the night after the presidential election, a firework display could be seen from the Far Eastern Russian city of Blagoveshchensk. On the south bank of the Amur River, which separates Blagoveshchensk from the Chinese city of Hehei, Chinese authorities were celebrating the victory of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin,

who, over the past decade, has overseen a five-fold increase in trade. Most trade between the neighbours is raw materials exported from Russia and manufactured goods imported from China. The East-Siberian-Pacific Ocean (Espo) pipeline ships Russian crude oil to fuel China’s factories. Thanks to visa-free travel between the two cities, more and more people are making the five-minute bus ride across the frozen Amur or on the hydrofoil that runs during the very short summer to visit Hehei. It boasts shopping malls, saunas,

restaurants, dental surgeries and teashops, all offering their services in Russian. The street signs are in Russian,

The Chinese see the Russians as European and are eager to visit Europe when it’s so close too. Because rents on properties are lower in China, many Russian pensioners live on the Chinese side of the border and supplement their state pensions with rent from their apartments at home.

And many young Russians see their academic and professional future as depending on China and other neighbouring countries. But the boom on the Chinese side has caused resentment. “They used to have a small village over there with huts and dirt roads,” recalls Nikolai Kukharenko, a lifetime Blagoveshchensk resident. “Now there are more skyscrapers on that side than here. A lot of locals are concerned that they’ve advanced at our expense.” Local papers carry neardaily stories of Chinese poachers caught smuggling

everything from protected timber to tiger pelts. The recently appointed minister of economy for the Amur Region, Igor Gorevoy, plans to develop Blagoveshchensk both to attract some of the 100 million-plus potential Chinese tourists who have rapidly rising disposable incomes, and to encourage more Russians to stay. Mr Gorevoy’s vision is based on the notion that the Chinese see Russians as European and are eager to “visit Europe” when it’s so close. “If we set up a few Eiffel Tower mock-ups, a Big Ben and some basic

infrastructure for a leisurely family vacation, they’ll be eager to visit,” he says. Already the first signs of progress are evident as Mr Gorevoy’s “Golden Mile” of Ferris wheels and hotels takes shape. The minister is discussing the possibility of a pedestrian bridge or aerial lift across the Amur. Blagoveshchensk has some of the world’s best-preserved dinosaur remains, and by 2015 the Amur region will host Russia’s main spaceport, now under construction. “It’s our Cape Canaveral. This is world-class stuff,” adds Mr Gorevoy.

XINHUA

The ‘European’ tourist resort five minutes from China

Welcome to China: Russian tourists arriving in Hehei

most read Three Moscow airports to merge http://rbth.ru/15249

Business & Finance

Russia now www.rbth.ru

section sponsored by rossiyskaya gazeta, russia Distributed with THE daily telegraph TUeSDAY_APRIL 24_2012

In the meantime, energy prices continue to rise sharply. A study last month by investment bank Liberum Capital said British energy bills are set to soar by as much as 70pc to £2,200 a year by 2020 due to the growing energy gap. Energy production is sinking slowly but consumption has risen by 11.3pc between 2001 and 2011, while the cost of energy was up a whopping 23pc over the same period.

Safety first

getty images/fotobank

Local landmark: cooling towers at the Kalinin nuclear power plant which supplies electricity to the Tver region

Russia may help Britain build new nuclear plants continued from PAGE 1

doubled,”he says.“If you look at long-term trends to 2030, we now expect a modest 8pc decrease in the number of nuclear plants to be commissioned – 598 against 652 before the disaster.”

The need for nuclear

The British Government finds itself on the horns of a dilemma. Britain used to be a net positive energy producer, following the discovery of oil and natural gas in the North Sea. But as the oil and gas fields neared exhaustion, it went into deficit in 2003. Since 2010 Britain has imported about 40pc of its oil and gas needs, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. An industry study in 2009 found that Britain will face a 20pc generation capacity shortfall by 2015 unless there is significant investment into the British energy sector. “Has any other country, let alone a major economy, experienced such speed and magnitude in its shift of energy systems outside wartime?” asks Chris Vernon of the widely respected Oil Drum magazine. The British Government energy policy calls for an in-

Sizewell B was built in Suffolk in 1995, but in 2009 the Government said it was considering constructing 10 new nuclear facilities. In the UK, Rosatom already delivers nuclear fuel to the Sizewell B plant, which it produces together with France’s Areva. It has been exporting enriched uranium to British nuclear power stations for decades, while one of its daughter companies, Nukem Technologies, was involved in decomissioning several nuclear sites in Britain. Most recently, Rosatom

crease in the share of renewables to 10pc, as part of its commitment to The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan which was adopted in 2009, but progress on this has been slow and the programme has been criticised by industry experts. The first step will be to close half of its coal-fired power stations by 2015 – they currently account for 40pc of UK power generation – although many see this coalfired shutdown only exacerbating the energy deficit. “The UK energy and climate change policy is failing, and

failing at a high cost,” Professors Pierre Noel and Michael Pollitt of Cambridge University wrote in a paper which was presented to Parliament last year. “Electricity bills are going up as consumers are asked to pay for ever-increasing subsidies to renewable energy, the deployment of which does nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” It is hard to see how the goal will be met without the use of more nuclear power.’ There have been no new nuclear power stations commissioned in Britain since

Possible sites for Rosatom reactors in UK

Harnessing the power of fusion Rosatom is conducting research into thermonuclear power through participation in the Iter (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in the south of France. The project, which involves the EU and six other states, aims to create a fully functioning fusion power plant which has the potential to solve global energy problems via a relatively cheap, safe and practically limitless source of energy. Rosatom has also independently developed the Iskra-6 and

Angara-5-1 lasers, which have the capability to heat fusion pellets and facilitate the realisation of fusion technology. The company is also developing clean sources of energy – predominantly wind power – alongside nuclear power. “Nuclear power should provide the basis of a sustainable energy system and be balanced with other factors, like wind and solar power, which are less reliable, but important sources of energy,” said Rosatom press officer Vladislav Bochkov.

and Rolls-Royce signed a memorandum of co-operation last summer under the eyes of important Russian and British political leaders. “No other country in the world has Rosatom’s experience in building nuclear power plants,” Mr Bochkov is quick to point out. “We have opened 20 nuclear power-generating units worldwide over the past 25 years and currently have 25.2 gigawatts of combined capacity in Russia. We are second only to France’s EDF in total capacity for generating electrical energy.”

Rosatom plans to build some 38 new reactors at home over the next 20 years and hopes to sell the new generation 3+ reactors to other countries British energy bills are set to soar by as much as 70pc to £2,200 a year by 2020

The potential Rosatom deal has inevitably raised the question of safety. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine remains the world’s worst nuclear accident. However, Rosatom insists that the Chernobyl experience helped the Russian nuclear industry reach new standards in achieving safe nuclear power.“The Chernobyl accident 26 years ago gave us an additional impulse to develop ever more sophisticated safety systems at our nuclear power plants,” says Mr Bochkov. “The ‘melt trap’ device, which automatically localises any radiation leaks in the event of an emergency within a non-inhabited space, was developed following a comprehensive analysis of the disaster. It’s currently in use at every Russian nuclear power plant. “We’re talking about safety systems that are able to extract heat from the critical part of the reactor amid a complete lack of electricity flowing to the plant,” he continues. “Had these systems been in place at Fukushima, the world would never have heard about that nuclear disaster.” Shortly after the Fukushima disaster, Rosatom’s head Sergei Kiriyenko went to India to inspect construction of the Russian-built Kudankulam nuclear plant. He stressed that Russian nuclear power projects meet all the high international safety requirements saying: “Even if, in the wake of Fukushima, you try to imagine what else should be added to the nuclear plant design to enable it to withstand every conceivable combination [of disasters] – earthquakes, tsunamis, power and water supply cuts, and so on – Kudankulam already has them all.” Rosatom plans to build a total of 38 new reactors at home over the next 20 years, and hopes to sell the new generation 3+ reactors to other countries. As well as India, it has also sealed deals in Ukraine, China, Vietnam, Belarus, Bangladesh and Turkey, offering itself both as a vendor and investor.

Legislation Medvedev amendments to Civil Code will force companies to disclose beneficiaries and stop tax evasion

Reforms clear way for transparency A draft law will simplify business procedures and improve legal protection but it could also make starting a small business more difficult. Tai Adelaja

russia profile

will now be required to form a joint stock company.

Concerns for businesses

Better legal protection

Certain business-friendly provisions in the draft bill, the Kremlin hopes, may also persuade Russian companies not to register their businesses abroad.“It’s common knowledge that big Russian businesses are increasingly moving to foreign jurisdictions these days,” Mr Konovalov said. “We must create adequate legislation and enforcement in our country that would prevent businesses from going abroad to sue each other or resolve conflicts, but enable them to do this in our country.” Many Russian businesses, which operate solely or primarily in Russia, are owned by holding companies registered abroad, meaning that the company can use foreign jurisdictions in legal dis-

itar-tass

President Dmitry Medvedev took further steps this month to improve Russia’s business climate in an attempt to create a legacy of lasting change and protect his businessfriendly policies. Mr Medvedev said he had submitted amendments to the Civil Code to the country’s parliament that should“help to strengthen the foundations of our economic life and improve our country’s investment climate”. The policy thrust of the Kremlin’s draft bill is to improve good governance practices and transparency of legal entities operating in the country. “It [the draft law] concerns practically every aspect of property relations in our country,” Mr Medvedev told an ad hoc meeting of his senior administration officials at his Gorky residence outside Moscow. Through a raft of amendments to the Civil Code, the Kremlin has tried to streamline and simplify procedures for the registration of legal entities and to set new rules for economic activities, such as bankruptcy and mortgage lending, Alexander Konovalov, the justice minister, told reporters in the

Kremlin. Some familiar forms of legal structure, such as additional liability companies and closed joint-stock companies, will cease to exist in Russia, Mr Konovalov said.“The novelty of this draft law is that it systematises the organisation of legal entities and, first of all, that of commercial organisations and NGOs.” Mr Konovalov said legal entities in Russia would be delineated into public companies and private companies, while every legal entity would be expected to prepare its financial statements and share issues in line with the new regulation.

Leader’s legacy: Mr Medvedev, left, and Mr Konovalov aim to improve the investment climate

The draft law concerns practically every aspect of property relations in our country putes, Associated Press reported. It said that Russian business people often preferred to use European courts because the Russian legal system was seen as arbitrary, and Russian laws as outdated and vague. President Medvedev ordered the Justice Ministry to prepare amendments to the bill in November, saying that they had to be ready by

February 1. During a meeting in the Kremlin on February 2, Mr Konovalov assured the president that the passage of the amendments will ensure that the“interests of investors and creditors will be protected in Russia in a substantially more reliable, modern and more correct way than they are now”. He added that the amendments“offer new judicial and legal opportunities for the benefit of those who are investing and are engaged in business in Russia… A considerable effort has been made to ensure that contractual rights and liabilities, property transactions, deals and

contracts – that is, everything that constitutes economic relationships in Russia today – are legally guaranteed.” The draft law includes some controversial provisions, including requirements for offshore companies operating in Russia to disclose their beneficiaries. Mr Konovalov said the provision was necessary to increase the transparency of the Russian economy and to prevent tax evasion. In order to fight sham companies, the minimum share capital for limited liability companies has been increased to 300,000 roubles (£6,300), and up to one million roubles (£21,000)

Analysts say the amendments were long overdue but some legal experts have taken issue with some of the provisions in the draft law. The increase in the minimum amount of capital required to start a company will have a negative impact on entrepreneurs wanting to launch legitimate small and medium-sized businesses, according to the law firm Muranov, Chernyakov & Partners. “Businesses will have to seek additional funds to increase their share capital. And the only way they can do this is by increasing the cost of goods, services or works,” a spokesman said. “It is also likely that small businesses that cannot find affordable finance to raise the minimum amount of capital may decide not to do business in Russia at all.” The spokesman also said the requirement that offshore companies operating in Russia disclose information about their beneficiaries is no less controversial. “First of all, it is unclear how this measure can affect the transparency of business in Russia. “Second, asking offshore companies to reveal beneficiaries, while information about property or assets of government officials is hidden from society, is, to put it mildly, unfair.”

MOSCOW BLOG

A top-down crackdown on corrupt bureaucrats Ben Aris

special to rn

ith the presidential election over and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin poised to return to his old job in May, the Kremlin has returned to the task at hand: fixing Russia Inc. Top of the agenda is the battle against bureaucratic corruption, and the Kremlin has just taken the first steps toward institutionalising the fight. This was always going to be an uphill battle. Eradicating endemic corruption is an incremental process – especially in a country as large as Russia. Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili sacked the entire traffic police force for taking bribes, solving the corruption problem overnight. But Georgia only has a few thousand traffic cops; Russia has about one million. Firing them all at once is simply not an option. Until now, the anticorruption campaign has consisted of a series of ad hoc arrests and investigations into state officials from nearly every branch of government. The strategy seems to have been to fire warning shots towards everyone, making clear they can no longer steal with impunity. The results have not been dramatic. Russia slightly improved its rating on Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index to tie in 143rd place out of 182 countries – up from 154th a year earlier. However, Russia remains one of the world’s most corrupt major economies, on a par with

Uganda and Nigeria. But in the middle of March, outgoing president Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to prepare a draft bill that will force bureaucrats to declare excessive personal purchases of property, securities and vehicles – in fact, anything that costs more than three years’ worth of combined household income. And, perhaps more importantly, Mr Putin attacked the utilities sector in December, calling it“highly corrupt”ordering the state-owned power companies to break any contract where the beneficial owner of the counterparty was unknown. In March, the federal electric grid

The Kremlin has taken the first steps to institutionalising the fight against corruption company FSK said it may break 20bn roubles (£420m) of contracts because the other parties wouldn’t disclose their ultimate beneficiaries. Half a dozen other state-owned generating companies have followed suit. The surprise was that it was Mr Putin’s order, as anti-corruption is supposed to be Mr Medvedev’s baby. But that is the point: the fight has moved from being one fought by individuals against individuals to an institutional improvement in corporate governance and transparency. In this sense, Russia has only just started on what will be a long and bitter fight. Ben Aris is the editor and publisher of Business New Europe.

london blog

Russia can relax: Europe’s shale gas is not a threat Colin Smith

specIAl to rn

his month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the Russian parliament that the country needs “to rise to the challenge” posed to global natural gas markets by the recent increase in production of shale gas in the US. Given how central the export of natural gas is to the Russian economy, one can understand why Putin is concerned about what this new US gas boom might do to global gas prices. While US shale gas discoveries are obviously important for the overall North American supply of natural gas, the potential for Europe to have its own shale gas boom is perhaps of more immediate concern to Russia. Around 70pc of Russian gas exports go to the EU, and while the UK imports only around 2pc of its gas from Russia, other big European countries, such as Poland and Germany, are major customers for Russian gas. Any large increase in the European gas supply would have serious implications for the Russian economy. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Europe has around 75 trillion cubic metres of shale gas, almost five times the previous estimate. That is equivalent to a reserve of 39 years, compared to the current 11-year conventional gas reserves. In early April, the British shale gas company IGas doubled its estimates of shale gas in north-west England to 130 million cubic metres, potentially making the UK’s reserves larger than those in Poland. However, removing this shale gas safely from the ground and distributing it to customers is far more complicated in Europe than it is in the US. European shale reserves generally present far greater geological challenges as its reservoirs are generally thinner than successfully

commercialised shale gas sites in the US. A good shale gas reservoir has a shale thickness of between 90 and 180 metres – as is the case with the major US shale sites. But most European sites have far thinner reservoirs, with the UK’s standing at a mere 49 metres. Most European shale reservoirs are also deeper than those in the US, adding to drilling costs and complexity of extraction. European shale also faces a number of political, legal and regulatory hurdles that are far more pronounced than in the US and are likely to make the commercialisation of shale gas significantly more challenging, despite the higher prevailing gas price. As the US experience shows, public health concerns over “fracking” can develop rapidly and prove a real barrier to access, as

Europe has around 75 trillion cubic metres of shale gas, equivalent to a reserve of 39 years demonstrated by the ban on drilling in New York State. As Europe is typically far more densely populated than the US, these concerns could seriously delay drilling, as they have done in France, Sweden and Bulgaria. Recent experience of drilling European shale gas, notably in Poland, where prospects seem most promising,has been disappointing. That is not to say there will be no shale gas production in Europe, but the pace of growth is likely to be slow in relation to Europe’s rapidly growing need for new sources of gas. It will take to the end of the decade and probably well beyond before it is extracted successfully. Europe will continue to need Russian gas for the foreseeable future, and most likely in increasing quantities. Colin Smith is the head of energy research at VTB Capital

Comment & Analysis

Russia now www.rbth.ru

‘tell vladimir. . .’ ‘of course i’ll tell him’ Fyodor Lukyanov

special to rn

ladimir Putin made both friends and enemies among foreign leaders when he was president between 2000 and 2008. So, as he steps back into the hot seat, what do his relationships with other leaders look like now? And what determines whether he has a solid relationship with one country and a fractious relationship with another? It is generally thought that Putin likes to build his foreign policy on personal links. His close friendships with Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Silvio Berlusconi of Italy were legendary, and these countries have become Russia’s main partners in Europe. Schroeder and Putin were attracted to each other because both spoke German (the German chancellor always had problems with English) and because they had both reached the pinnacle of power from humble backgrounds through hard work. (This was also the basis of the warm relations betweenVladimir Putin and the former Finnish president Tarja Halonen, in spite of their political differences). European leaders who adhere to formalities and protocol have always irritated Putin. Berlusconi was anything but formal and the two leaders famously entertained each other on holiday. But Putin also saw Berlusconi as a man with whom he could do good business. This raises a fundamental question: should the German and Italian benevolence to Russia be credited to the personalities of Schroeder and Berlusconi or to the policies of the two countries? Granted, personality matters, but alone it can’t bring about a

Russo-British relations rapidly cooled as the two leaders disagreed over a number of issues, including Iran, Chechnya and the extraordinary Litvinenko case. The relations between Putin and President George W Bush also turned frosty. The personal chemistry between them was reasonable – experiences they had shared included embracing religion relatively late in life. However, the divergence of views over their countries’ strategic interests and the imbalance of power resulted in the relations between the two states hitting the lowest point for 25 years. Disenchantment with Bush caused Putin to mistrust President Obama, too. It

Putin finds protocol and long diplomatic meetings with foreign opposite numbers boring tectonic shift in relations between two powers. The relations between Putin and Tony Blair in the same period prove this. The British Prime Minister was the first western leader to start building a personal friendship with the new Russian leader even before his inauguration in 2000. They were getting on so well that other Europeans did not hide their envy. But

most read

section sponsored by rossiyskaya gazeta, russia Distributed with THE daily telegraph TUeSDAY_APRIL 24_2012

seems he now believes close relations with American leaders do not achieve anything: tough bargaining and legally binding agreements are the only way forward. By contrast, Berlusconi and Schroeder did not forge but merely consolidated special links between Moscow and their respective governments. Italy and Germany were among the first buyers of Siberian gas which began flowing to Western Europe in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Italian and German businesses have always looked at the Soviet/Russian market with keen interest, even at the height of the Cold War, because of the great opportunities it promised. It is no accident that as

governments changed in Italy and Germany, relations always rested primarily on the countries’ mutual commercial interests. The periods of friendship with Berlusconi and Schroeder may have added to the dynamism, but no more than that. Another remarkable example of the triumph of policy over personality is Putin’s relationship with the French president Nicolas Sarkozy.The two men did not form a close relationship although they shared an interest in ambitious business projects and a desire to assert the greatness of their countries. Sarkozy’s policy towards Russia was marked by two milestones: his role in ending the war in the

Annan’s Syria plan has no chance http://rbth.ru/15289

Caucasus and the sale to Russia of Mistral-class helicopter carriers. Both were historic landmarks that helped maintain a good relations. In any case, the era of personal ties is over. Berlusconi and Schroeder have left politics, and Jacques Chirac, with whom Putin also had a special relationship, though of a different kind, has retired. They say the future Russian president has a rapport with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk. But that rapport is about negotiating and reaching understanding on matters of mutual interest. Interests, mutual or otherwise, will determine whether countries are drawn to or repelled by each other, regardless of whether their leaders are ready to spend evenings marked by degrees of frankness – something for which Silvio Berlusconi was famous – or stay buttoneddown interlocutors. It has long been noticed that Putin finds protocol and long diplomatic meetings with his foreign opposite numbers boring. He much prefers to have meetings with important foreign businessmen where everything is concrete and protocol matters less. It cannot be ruled out, therefore, that having swapped jobs with Dmitry Medvedev, he will try to preserve the tandem model which has worked well in foreign policy. In other words, Prime Minister Medvedev will assume broader functions in foreign policy as a kind of special envoy for Putin, especially as he finds it much easier to build a rapport with foreign leaders. So, the scrap of conversation overheard in Seoul last month between Obama and Medvedev, when Obama told Medvedev to tell Putin that he would have more flexibility (with regard to the missile defence system) after the election, may hint at the preferred form of western communication with Russia in the years to come. “Tell Vladimir…” “Of course I’ll tell him!”

nato has started an ARMS RACE

in an arms race. With respect to missile defence, Moscow has consistently advocated special to rn the so-called sectoral apergei Lavrov, the Rus- proach, whereby Nato and sian foreign minister, Russia would divide zones of arrived for the Rus- responsibility and pool their sia-Nato meeting in defence efforts in countering Brussels just five minutes common missile threats.That after US Secretary of State would save billions of deHillary Clinton. Their planes fence euros for all the parwere parked side by side. ticipants in the group. Yet Nato has turned down “Hello, Hillary”, the Russian minister hailed his American the Russian offer under prescounterpart, as he descend- sure from the US, the reason ed the ramp. “Hello, Sergei”, being the treaty signed by Clinton beamed, as she got Nato in the Cold War. Under into her car. And with a wel- its Article 5, the alliance must coming gesture, she invited protect its members indeLavrov into the back seat, so pendently, without counting that they could drive to the on Russia’s potential. Nato has no intention of changing hotel together. Well actually, no, it didn't that article to bring it into really go like that. Given the line with current reality and current state of Russian- avoid a new arms race. On the contrary, many American relations, neither the Russian foreign minister Nato countries are modernnor the American Secretary ising their armed forces. The of State would agree to go talk about these changes to the Russia-Nato meeting being routine and not threatin the same car. For most ening anybody does not conRussians, the alliance is still vince Moscow. Russia has to the number one enemy, al- take steps to ensure its own though the Russian military security under the new condoes not officially consider ditions and make sure it does Nato countries to be poten- not become“a colossus with feet of clay”in the eyes of its tial enemies. Dmitry Rogozin, Russian western neighbours. Allocatdeputy prime minister in ing considerable resources to charge of modernising the modernise the defence indusdefence industry, posts daily try is an inevitable response progress reports on his Twit- to the military initiatives takter page. Hundreds of billions ing place in Europe. Is there any way to put a of roubles are set aside for the defence programme, brake on this arms race?Yes, which is planned for decades of course. At the Russia-Nato ahead. But these staggering ministerial meeting in Brusfigures, which will affect the sels, Moscow suggested as a lives of future generations, first step that, at its Chicago give people a sense of pride summit, Nato pledges its rather than provoke dismay “adherence to the rules of over money that could otherwise have been used for social programmes. Opinion polls show that most Russians approve of the The Russian public official plans to spend budg- approves of military Fyodor Lukyanov is editor- etary funds on modernising defence spending in-chief of Russia in Global defence. Why? The answer is simple: the Russian public plans. Why? Because Affairs does not trust Nato, believ- it believes the ing that the alliance is play- Nato alliance is ing a game that threatens playing a foul game Russia’s security. These fears are not with- that threatens out foundation. Moscow Russia’s security points out that the alliance is establishing its presence close to Russian borders. international law”in its final New military bases are being declaration. Such a commitset up in Poland, Bulgaria ment would mean that the and Romania. Nato patrols alliance would respect the the airspace above the Bal- jurisdiction of existing intertic states, which was not the national institutions, and recase before they joined the nounce the independent use alliance. The combined mil- of force unless it was authoritary budgets of the Nato ised by a relevant UN Secustates are multiples of what rity Council resolution. Russia spends on defence. Even so, it cannot be ruled Nato’s conventional forces in out that Nato will pointedly Europe outnumber those of refuse to change its agreeRussia. The American mili- ment with the current intertary is developing new types national crisis-response of weapons, including offen- mechanisms. If the refusal is sive systems that will be de- articulated, it would turn ployed in Europe and might Nato, in Russia’s eyes, into change the balance of power the main threat to internain the region. tional stability. Such a turn Despite Russia’s assistance of events would force Russia to the alliance in Afghani- to think about creating milstan, the American military itary counterweights to Nato. is building major military That would put paid to any bases there without any prior chances of stopping the arms consultation with Moscow. race in Europe. These bases, Russian experts All of the programmes for Havana to excuse himself say, are strategically impor- co-operation between Mosbefore Cuba’s Raul Castro. tant for controlling Central cow and Nato would be gradAs for the currency wars, Asia. The Pentagon’s bases ually curtailed, as public while Brazil’s real grew by will remain in Afghanistan opinion in Russia would re2pc against the dollar, Rus- even after most Nato troops ject any form of co-operation sia’s rouble rose a hefty 9.2pc. leave the country, a prospect with a potential enemy. And this is not merely words. The No wonder there are no Rus- Russia does not relish. Yet the greatest irritant in recent Russian decision to sian exports to the US. Of course, we all want de- the relations between Mos- open a transit centre in Ulmocracy for Cuba and Syria. cow and Nato is ballistic mis- yanovsk to deliver non-milBut Brics countries don’t sile defence. The fact that itary cargoes to the coalition want democracy to be ex- both the US and Nato lead- forces in Afghanistan has ported by military interven- ership refuse to offer Russia triggered strong protests at tions and salaries from the legal guarantees that these grassroots level. Nato’s refusal to recognise US for defecting Syrian sol- systems are not targeting diers, a possibility discussed Moscow’s nuclear potential the world order and its deat the recent summit of the forces Russia to take retali- monstrative refusal to reck“Friends of Syria” group in atory measures. All that on with Russia’s geopolitical Istanbul. (With such“friends” Washington is ready to do is interests render meaningless as the ones we saw in Istan- “to offer safeguards in a po- any joint initiatives aimed at litical format”.Moscow, how- countering common threats. bul, who needs enemies?) That is why the disparate ever, does not consider such They merely fuel the arms Brics countries have become political promises sufficient: race that many European in military affairs, it is the countries want to avoid. real friends in need. defence potential and not the Dmitry Babich is a political intentions that matter. Yevgeny Shestakov is editor Moscow has always tried of the international politics analyst at the Voice of to avoid becoming involved desk at Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Russia radio station. Yevgeny Shestakov

Dmitry Babich

special to rn

an Brics, an organisation uniting such very different countries as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, become an international player? The first four were identified by Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O’Neill as the world’s fastest rising economic powers. South Africa joined the group last year because of its growing economic weight and leading role in Africa. With its cluster of the world’s biggest developing nations, Africa was becoming too important globally for it not to be represented in the group. A scholar of the world’s cultures would say that Brics could not become an international player. He would remind us that the Chinese and Indians are not on good terms, and that Russia is still widely snubbed by its Western neighbours as not really European, but it is not seen as truly Asian by its eastern neighbours, either. As for Brazil and South Africa, they seem too far removed from each other and from the traditional global centres of the European Union and the United States. But Brics leaders, who are obviously busy people, manage to convene annual summits. Their foreign ministers and other diplomats meet even more frequently and manage to issue joint statements on which they agree – this, despite China’s lack of enthusiasm for India’s permanent membership of the

UN Security Council. So what does glue these very disparate giants together? The answer is discontent with the policy of the world’s traditional leaders. The Brics meeting in China’s Hainan Province last spring took place during the Libyan crisis. It became obvious at the meeting that Brics members did not share the West’s enthusiasm for the Arab spring, seeing more trouble than gains ahead. At the time, Washington, Brussels and other European capitals were applauding the toppling of Mubarak in Egypt and encouraging the insurgents in Libya. There was jubilation about the coming democracy. The Brics statement came like a bucket of cold water thrown over a jubilant crowd of revellers. The five Brics leaders expressed deep concern about the developments in North Africa. Indeed, one of the Brics leaders, South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, led the African Union’s attempt to achieve a negotiated settlement between Gaddafi and his enemies. The continuing war of militias in Libya, troublesome developments in Egypt with anti-Christian pogroms and tensions between the Islamists and the military, have proved that at least some of the Brics countries’ concerns were reasonable. The meeting in New Delhi last month concerned itself partly with the troubling developments in Syria. At the time, Russia and China were being castigated as the main blocks on the road to peace and democracy in

Letters from readers, guest columns and cartoons labelled “Comments”, “Viewpoint” or appearing on the “Opinion” and “Comment & Analysis” pages of this supplement are selected to represent a broad range of views and do not necessarily represent those of the editors of Russia Now or Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Please send letters to the editor to UK@rbth.ru

sergey yolkin

A tale of Brics and mortar

Syria by the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Alas, we had heard it all before. In Libya, Russia and China’s acquiescence to a dimly worded resolution of the UN Security Council led to a fullblown western intervention. Moscow and Beijing now prefer to leave Mrs Clinton feeling unhappy, rather than see the Libyan story repeating itself in Syria. Indeed, the West’s interventionism is providing mortar to bind these very different nations together. Western actions have been more effective at uniting the Brics than the old leftist illusions, which were in some form present in all of these countries during the 20th century. And by the way, even our common tragic Communist past is, from time to time, used by the West as a tool for lessening the legitimate role

of Russia and China on the world stage – as if Mao’s or Stalin’s crimes make the new generations of Russians and Chinese somehow inferior to the new generation of, say, Latvians. In fact, the interventionist

The Brics statement on the Arab spring came like a bucket of cold water thrown over a jubilant crowd policy of the US and the EU has given Russia and China – two countries whose interests conflict much more than, say, the objective interests of Russia and the EU countries – even more reason to stand side by side on such issues as Syria or events in the former Yugoslavia.

The West’s interventionism is not limited to such cases as Libya or Syria, either. The Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff recently expressed her dismay over Washington’s currency policy – the devaluation of the dollar makes Brazilian exports, and those of other developing countries, to the US much less competitive. The response was a cold shoulder for Rousseff during her recent visit to the American capital. A d d t o i t P re s i d e n t Obama’s refusal to even review the possibility of lifting the long-standing economic blockade on Cuba, which was voiced during the recent Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. It provoked outrage not only in Brazil, but in just about all of the Latin American countries; Colombia’s president had to make a special trip to

This eight-page pull-out is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the contents. Internet address www.rbth.ru Email uK@rbth.ru Tel +7 (495) 775 3114 fax +44 (20 3070 0020) ADDRESS 24 Pravdy STR, bldg 4, Floor 12, Moscow, Russia, 125 993 evgeny abov Editor & publisher aRTEM ZAGORODNOV editor Olga DMITRIEVA editor (UK edition) alexandra guzeva assistant editor shauna massey guest editor (uk) Paul Carroll, sean huggins subeditors (uk) Vsevolod pulya online editor Andrey zaitsev head of photo dept milla domogatskaya head of pre-print dEpt ilya ovcharenko layout e-Paper version of this supplement is available at www.rbth.ru

To advertise in this supplement contact Julia Golikova Advertising & PR director, on golikova@rg.ru or Toby moore on toby.moore@telegraph.co.uk © copyright 2011, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. All rights reserved. Alexander Gorbenko chairman of the board pavel nEgoitsa general director Vladislav Fronin Chief Editor. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents of this publication, other than for personal use, without the express written consent of Rossiyskaya Gazeta is expressly prohibited. To obtain permission to reprint or copy an article or photo, please phone +7 (495) 775 3114, or email uk@rbth.ru with your request. RN is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photos.

most read Literary Russian London http://rbth.ru/15220

Culture

Russia now www.rbth.ru

section sponsored by rossiyskaya gazeta, russia Distributed with THE daily telegraph TUeSDAY_APRIL 24_2012

Moscow Take a tour of the capital to soak up the atmosphere of a vanished era, from Stalin’s bunker to cigarette-pack cameras

The way we were: Communism revisited Statues, buildings and smaller mementoes of the recent past have been preserved as a reminder of Communist times.

Political friendships set in stone

daria gonzales russia now

Hard man: a bust of Stalin in the sculpture park at the Museon on Krymsky Val, which also includes six statues of Lenin and one of Sverdlov

The hidden cameras built into beer cans and cigarette packs make you look around anxiously Turner and William Webster, as well as representatives of major intelligence services across the world. The museum, which is open by

appointment only at certain times of the year, tells the hidden history of the country, starting from the first Russian counter-intelligence against Tatar Mongol invaders up to recently declassified documents concerning the capture of agents and joint work with foreign intelligence services. The model explosive devices and cameras built into beer cans and cigarette packs make you look around anxiously. Among the exhibits are two suitcases in which a Japanese official failed to smuggle women.

Bunker-42

Stalin’s bunker, or Bunker-42, is 65 metres (200ft) underground (Building 11, Fifth Kotelnichesky Lane). Hidden from sight in the heart of the capital, it was guarded round-the-clock by up to 600 officers for nearly 30 years. In the Sixties, Bunker-42 was fully equipped with everything necessary to survive a nuclear attack. Now, it is all on display as part of the Central Museum of Armed Forces. Walk through secret tunnels, see Red Army weapons and communica-

The word on the street ... Bankski’s fame grows

reuters/vostock-photo

Public image: Pavel 183’s cultivated anonymity and style of graffiti art are often compared with that of Britain’s Banksy

daria gonzales russia now

Russian street artist Pavel 183 is rapidly making a name for himself, though we actually know very little about him. Described as“Bankski’’, or the Russian answer to Banksy, his politically charged street art started making waves after images of it were published in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph earlier this year. Like Banksy, Pavel 183 chooses to remain anonymous, often working at night, and he reveals little about his true identity, other than his first name, Pavel; his age, 28; and the fact that he is from Moscow. The number 183 is simply the number on his email address. But Pavel

30 roubles (60p) – you can get a syrupy soda pop from the ancient vending machine at the museum entrance. The old arcade machines were originally assembled at munitions factories and they were remarkably expensive, costing from 2,500 to 4,000 roubles – almost the price of a Zhiguli car.

a place that sells meat pasties (50 Pokrovka St). And, sure enough, the cooks and waiters are all male. Here you’ll taste Moscow’s best chebureki (meat pasty) stuffed with brynza (feta-like cheese). Wash it down with a Zhiguli beer or a soda available in every colour from green to purple. For added atmosphere, valve radios play Soviet songs, posters with pronouncements by Soviet leaders adorn the walls and smoking is allowed everywhere. The building of the former Automotive Transport Ministry now houses GlavPivTorg (5 Bolshaya Lubyanka St), a restaurant that replicates Soviet-era ministerial dining rooms.The interior has baizecovered ministerial desks, a red carpet and a library. The Annushka tram restaurant, which was named after the protagonist of Mikhail Bulgakov’s celebrated novel The Master and Margarita, banned under Stalin, is another phantom of the Soviet era. The restaurant shuttles through Moscow’s historic centre, offering a choice of three routes. Board near the Chistye Prudy Metro station.

tions equipment, as well as the renovated conference room for the leadership and Stalin’s study.

Holiday camps

Many Russians remember going onYoung Pioneer holiday camps at Black Sea resorts when they were children. And a trip to the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines (11 Baumanskaya St) will bring those childhood memories flooding back. Organised by three enthusiasts who have scoured the country for broken gaming machines to restore, the muse-

doesn’t like to be seen as a Russian version of Banksy. In an interview with the BBC, in which he wore a balaclava to disguise himself, Pavel 183 said that he found it strange to be compared with a rich celebrity artist living in the West. He clearly wants to be appreciated as an individual artist.“It’s sad when, after 14 years of creative work, they compare you with somebody else. I am myself, not like anybody else,” Pavel insists. Indeed Pavel 183 began his street art at the age of 14 after seeing the Tsoi Wall – a wall covered in graffiti dedicated to the late Russian rock legend Viktor Tsoi who died in 1990. Pavel has been drawing ever since. Street art was particularly prevalent during the stagnation in the Nineties.Young artists passionately portrayed all the features of society that angered them, and those

that inspired them to become creative. “Russian street art came out of situationism,” Pavel says.“It’s hard to date its first appearance. “If you listen to the Russian director Oleg Kulik, it all began in the 1910s and Twenties and in Soviet Russia: a manifesto by [Vladimir] Mayakovsky, the poet of the Revolution – ‘Let’s paint our city in multicolours’; [Sergei] Yesenin composed poems on the street. “If you dig deeper, you’ll remember 1919, after the Revolution, when the freight cars that transported the soldiers were painted by artistrevolutionaries. Only then it was not called street art. Situationism, to put it simply, is the art of revolution in the streets. I am essentially a street satirist.” Pavel’s work is undoubtedly creative, skilfully produced and often beautiful, but he is philosophical about

The mission of street art is a dialogue with the ordinary person. You don’t need a gallery for that; nobody has to take people’s money so they can look at your work what is considered art, saying that it is a flexible concept. “A friend of mine was washing the dishes and suddenly, in a plate dirty with smears of ketchup, he saw the profile of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. So he did not wash the plate, but left it that way. I believe that one’s own perceptions can also be called art,” Pavel says. After seeing his website, the media wrote that Pavel was studying communication design. “In fact, I was joking,” he claims. “I’ve always

made fun of designers. I have several fields of study: one in design and typography, one in psychology and philosophy.”Pavel says that his profession “is really my tools – my secret brush.” In 2005, Pavel made a film, The Tale of Alyonka, 2005, in which the rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed girl on the Alyonka chocolate wrapper becomes an image representing the modern child. He says everyone is forced to sell themselves in childhood. Alyonka, as Pavel sees her, is the most radiant person on Earth, аlways naive and selfless. “The mission of street art is a dialogue with the ordinary person. You don’t need a gallery for that; nobody has to take people’s money so they can look at your work. In a city, this is a visual game: a person does not go to the museum, but still has a chance to see, to interpret, to think about your work,” he says with conviction. “I am by nature generally austere, accustomed to silence, to solitude. And I very much love… dirt. In the summertime, I look at my shoes and at their soles. Dirt in itself is simple and natural; there is nothing exaggerated about it. When a person can look at himself as if looking at dirt, seeing the great in the small, we achieve balance. Without this balance of our souls, minds, and actions in the outside world, we risk becoming [like] McDonald’s, with its menus and portions, always prepared according to identical proportions and measurements.” According to Pavel, “to make money in today’s Russia, one does not necessarily have to have a head on one’s shoulders”. Philosophical and creative he may be, but Pavel 183 has a business mind, too: his graffiti stencils are reportedly already selling for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Before too long, there may be more similarities between Pavel 183 and the anonymous, millionaire celebrity street artist living in the West.

um has three modest rooms packed with them. They include mini skittles and a shaibu-shaibu ice hockey game (named after the tra-

For three Soviet kopecks, you can get a syrupy soda pop from the ancient vending machine ditional chant of fans), and the collection is growing.Visitors can exchange their roubles to play the games. For three Soviet kopecks – about

You don’t have to go far in Moscow in search of Sovietera food. It is sold on the ground floor of the GUM department store (3 Red Square), or you can visit the eateries on its third floor – Festivalnioye Café and Dining Room 57. There are many pseudoSoviet cafés in the historic centre of Moscow, as well as more authentic establishments that serve pelmeni (dumplings) and shots of vodka. Start the day with a Soviet breakfast of semolina porridge, which was the staple breakfast for all children in the USSR. The Children of Paradise café (25 Nikitsky Boulevard) has a Soviet menu offering 10 types of stewed fruit, soups and lump-free semolina porridge. “Down with kitchen slavery”, reads a poster showing a rebellious housewife that hangs at the entrance to the Soviet-era cheburechnaya –

Read more at Moscow travel site: en.travel2moscow.com

Theatre London turns to Russia for inspiration

Art, power and the playwright Modern satire on the artist’s life under Stalin heads an exciting range of dramas that bring a turbulent history to life. phoebe taplin special to rn

A play by the screenwriter of Trainspotting based on the relationship between writer Mikhail Bulgakov and Joseph Stalin is the most high profile of a series of Russianthemed dramas showing in London this spring. John Hodge’s long-running dark comedy of moral compromise, Collaborators, transfers to the Olivier Theatre, largest auditorium at the National Theatre, on April 30. The story, set in Moscow in 1938, tells how Bulgakov, played by Alex Jennings, is commissioned to write a play for Stalin, played by Simon Russell Beale, to mark the Soviet leader’s 60th birthday. But Bulgakov’s dissident connections lead to difficulties with the secret police and the prestigious commission turns out to be a poisoned chalice for the writer. From a kernel of historical truth, Hodge has createded a satirical fantasy about power and art; Hodge’s Stalin, Nineteen Eighty-Fourstyle, tries to control the mind of the writer, saying that when it comes to man versus monster,“the monster always wins”. Other Russian plays running in British theatres include Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya. The Cherry Orchard, which was Chekhov’s final tragicomic masterpiece, is playing in the Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol until May 5 and will then show at the Rose Theatre in Kingston for a week from May 15. The

press service

museum (often referred to as the KGB museum), which opened in 1989. Among its visitors at various times were former CIA chiefs Stansfield

Urban art Anonymous graffiti artist with passion for politics and philosophy becomes a cult celebrity

Pavel 183 does not like being compared with his British counterpart, Banksy, but the similarities in their styles are undeniable.

War in 1967; then a Cuban figure represented Russia’s close relationship with Havana in the early Seventies. Later, a black man was included to represent the African countries’ struggle for independence. For a while the Soviet man was accompanied by a European worker (usually a Frenchman wearing a beret) – when European Communist parties were campaigning against the creation of Nato. Today, many of these figures form part of the exhibition in the sculpture park of the Museon on Krymsky Val.

A taste of Soviet life Ricardo Marquina Montañana

The days of Soviet Communism are long gone but reminders of the era are all around Moscow, ensuring it will never be forgotten. Not even the thick morning fog that covers Moscow can hide the Stalinist spires of the Seven Sisters weddingcake skyscrapers. They are an ever-present, looming reminder of Stalin. The buildings were seen as symbols of a new era, emblems of the triumph of a resurgent country proclaiming its greatness to the world. Even a trip on the Moscow Metro transports passengers back in time to the days when stations, like Komsomolskaya, were built as palaces for the proletariat. Many of the relics from the days of the USSR are now museum pieces. Statues of prominent Communists that once stood in the city’s central squares were removed after the events of August 1991 which marked the end of Communism. They have since found refuge in the sculpture park at the Museon on Krymsky Val. Among the 700-odd sculptures carved in stone, wood, bronze, and other materials stand six versions of Lenin, a grim Stalin with a chipped nose and a suspiciously athletic Sverdlov (a Bolshevik party leader) peering out eerily in the garden’s snow-white mist. The statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky or“Iron Felix”(the first leader of the secret police) was removed from the museum and placed back in Dzerzhinsky Square several times before finally accepting its fate in the park. The square, which has now reclaimed its original name of Lubyanka Square, is the home of the KGB building which now houses the FSB

Russia’s political allies in the Soviet era were portrayed through a series of sculptures in Moscow. The central figure was invariably a young Soviet man who would be flanked by a representative of nations in favour at the time. One sculpture of a Chinese man was removed following the armed clash with China on Damansky Island in 1969. Next up was a Korean, (representing economic co-operation between the two countries). An Arab figure appeared in tribute to Egypt’s confrontation with Israel in the Six-Day

Power games: Collaborators is a dark satirical fantasy

story takes place in pre-revolutionary, aristocratic Russia and focuses on the charming but feckless Madame Ranevskaya, who returns to Russia to face looming bankruptcy. The production is impressively naturalistic. One audience member, Jeremy Hilton, said: “You forget you’re at a play; it’s as though you’re really there.” A new version of Uncle Vanya is at the Print Room theatre in Notting Hill until April 28. The familiar Chekhovisms are present: linen jackets and samovars, beards, guitars and shots of vodka; but the production has an immediacy and passion, played out in the gold mist of an Indian summer. This is due to a combination of Mike Poulton’s fresh translation and fine performances. The actors are very close to the audience, which is on all four sides of the theatre. Iain Glen’s very physical reactions to the pains of unrequited love, the horrors of ageing and humiliation, are particularly effective. The Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in Forest Hill will show Chekhov’s Vaudevilles

THE QUOTE

Oleg Mirochnikov

The London-based Russian director of Zorin’s A Warsaw Melody

“

The new Belka Productions team’s aim is to create bold, physically expressive and imaginative productions of Russian texts that have rarely been presented to English audiences, and act as a focus for AngloRussian cultural exchange.

(The Bear, The Evils of Tobacco and The Proposal, translated and adapted by Michael Frayn) from May 29 to June 16. The English premiere by Belka Productions of Leonid Zorin’s A Warsaw Melody at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston runs until April 28. It is a play about the long shadow of Soviet history, in this case a love story by an under-appreciated (and, in England, virtually unknown) playwright. Zorin’s young couple meet at a concert hall, but“in Stalin’s brutally controlled empire their love simply cannot be”.

Feature

Russia now www.rbth.ru