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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Elections Who can lead the bedroom city of Khimki out of its current state of controversy?
NEWS IN BRIEF
Search for light in the forest
Liberal bilateral visa agreement in effect
The second largest city in the Moscow region is about to become the stage for this fall’s biggest political confrontation. ROMAN VOROBYOV RUSSIA NOW
During the Soviet era, the majority of Khimki residents were employed in closed enterprises related to scientific development, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, the city’s proximity to Moscow attracted new retail and housing developments. Khimki is located on the M10 highway, which connects
An agreement between Russia and the United States that simplifies visa regulations between the two countries came into effect on September 9. Under the new rules, businessmen and tourists will receive 3-year multi-entry visas, while government officials of both states will be eligible for one-year multi-entry visas. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it hopes this will lead to “further liberalization of the bilateral visa regime, including lifting it completely.”
Moscow Sretensky Monastery U.S. tour The Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir returns to the United States this October for the first time since their historic 2007 world tour. Along with performances in the nation’s most prestigious concert halls, from the John F. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on Oct. 8 to Carnegie Hall on October 15, the choir will participate in liturgies and vespers as well as outreach activities. The secular selections include Russian, Ukrainian and Cossack folk songs. The fight for the Khimki forest is what brought Evgeniya Chirikova to the political stage.
Moscow and St. Petersburg and provides the vital connection to Sheremetyevo airport. Developing retail space in Russia during the turbulent 1990s was often a slightly shady operation, and the Russian press has accused former Khimki mayor Vladimir Strelchenko of taking bribes. In 2004, the opening ceremony for the MEGA Mall in Khimki was disrupted, and the head of IKEA Russia, Lennart Dahlgren, whose store anchors the mall, has claimed
that the city government has been soliciting bribes from the company. Strelchenko was also mayor during the high-profile scandal surrounding the construction of a new Moscow − St. Petersburg highway. Khimki residents actively protested against the project, which involved cutting down a swath of the Khimki forest. In 2010, a tent camp was pitched in the forest, providing a flash point for tensions between local protestors, construction workers
and security personnel. The conflict reached its height when, after yet another attack on the tent camp, anarchists of the Antifa movement attacked the Khimki government building with smoke grenades and stones. Khimki is also a less-than-safe location for journalists. In 2006, two editors of the Grazhdansky Forum newspaper were beaten severely; the newspaper was later closed. The editor-in-chief of the local newspaper Grazhdanskoye Soglasie, renowned
for its pro-environmental publications, also survived several attacks. The most publicized of these incidents, however, was the beating of the editor-in-chief of Khimkinskaya Pravda, Mikhail Beketov, who also opposed the destruction of the Khimki forest. He was permanently disabled by his attack. The fight for the Khimki forest is what brought Evgeniya Chirikova to the political stage. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Society Young Russians with HIV are helping themselves and each other fight for a great life
Russians talk about life with HIV SPECIAL TO RN
Alina, a strikingly beautiful woman and mother of an 11-year-old daughter, lives in Yekaterinburg, the largest city in the mountainous region that straddles Europe and Asia. She has an obvious limp from a congenital birth defect. Alina traveled the 1,750 miles to Moscow this summer because she desperately needs a hip replacement, which doctors in Russia had so far refused to perform. Alina has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In the past two years, she has had seven hospitals turn her down. Some refused to operate for what they called medical reasons, while at least one doctor told her directly that the
A recent poll showed that 76 percent of Russians with HIV felt shame and guilt. fer against the stigma she has endured. She found out she was HIV positive 11 years ago when she was pregnant with her daughter. The doctors called her a prostitute, she said. They said she was “reprehensible.” “The doctors humiliated me,
saying, ‘Why did you give birth?’ I began to draw into myself, and then hit the sauce. I was drinking, drinking, drinking, feeling like I was already an alcoholic,” she recalled.
After the despair, a new resolve A recent poll by the independent, Moscow-based Levada Center, conducted in cooperation with the United Nations, showed that 76 percent of Russians with HIV felt shame and guilt. Seventy-eight percent are afraid of discrimination and condemnation from others. Alina said her husband helped lift her out of the despair of depression. “When he found out, he didn’t turn his back on me. ‘I love you, it doesn’t matter to me,’ he says, to this day,” she said. But, in the end, she said, she pulled herself out of the depths: “I’m strong. I just like my appearance, and when you drink,
President Barack Obama hopes to visit Russia next year – of course as president of the United States – Ambassador to the Russian Federation Michael McFaul said this month. McFaul was in Vladivostok at the APEC Summit when he spoke to Russian radio. McFaul said Obama wanted to attend the APEC Summit, but could not because it coincided with the Democratic Party Convention. McFaul also shared the good news that he believed the Jackson-Vanik amendment may be repealed this month, and that the administration wants to upgrade bilateral trade as swiftly as possible.
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VLADIMIR RUVINSKY
hospital would not deal with HIV-positive patients. But recently, the medical treatment and rehabilitation center of the Russian Ministry of Health in Moscow agreed to perform the replacement. “I’m shocked,” she said, laughing with relief. Alina is no stranger to discrimination, and laughter seems to work for her as a buf-
Obama may visit Russia
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Russians who have tested positive speak of discrimination and compassion, while a new law may deplete services.
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Russia turned toward Asia in Vladivostok In a gesture of hope, activists form a red ribbon made from paper tulips as they take part in a celebration of activism on International Volunteers’ Day in the city of Rostov-on-Don.
that’s the end. I thought to myself, better to be beautiful for a while longer.” Alina said she is unsure how she contracted the virus. “I’ve tried all sorts of drugs. But I have never shot up [using someone else’s needle]. It’s unlikely that it was from a syringe. I suspected one dude, but we lost touch then. I don’t know.” Alina speaks candidly, but asked us not to give her last name, for fear that someone will read about this in her hometown where it is already hard for her to find work.
“The more you know, the easier it is to live.” In contrast to Alina, 39-year-old Muscovite Alexander Savitsky does not hide his status – anymore. “When I found out in 2000 that I was HIV positive, I decided that I’ll live another half year and that’s it,” he recalled. He now has a wife, who is also infected, and two children – both healthy and free of the HIV virus. He also has a job that he loves – he trains psychologists to work with people who are HIV positive. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
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A closed city opened up
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Mayoral elections in the Moscow suburb of Khimki have every chance of becoming the biggest political event of this fall. Once a closed city devoted to science, in the past 10 years Khimki has found itself at the center of many high-profile political dramas. Today representatives of every major political force in the country are vying to lead what was once a marginal city. At least ten people are planning to run in the election, most of whom have already registered as candidates. Evgeniya Chirikova, the charismatic leader of the environmental movement to preserve the Khimki forest, has registered as a candidate and is a favorite in current polls. She is supported by her associate, well-known opposition figure Alexey Navalny. Her primary competitor will be Oleg Mitvol, the former head of the Russian Federal Service for Environmental Oversight, best known for the “dacha wars” against illegal cottage settlements.
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BUSINESS IN BRIEF
Infrastructure A blue-sky forecast for some significant regional airports with private ownership
Regional airports take off Investors hope to create a hub system in the Russian regions with enough traffic – but not without government support.
IN FIGURES
75%
NADEZHDA MERESHKO EXPERT MAGAZINE
of Russia’s passenger air traffic passes through Moscow’s three international airports.
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Trading Mercedes for homemade ZIL
1 flight a year per person on average in Russia; 2-3 for Europe and 4 flights in the U.S.
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President Putin has been traveling in a Mercedes-Benz SGuard Pullman throughout his tenure, but that may change. Moscow car manufacturer ZIL recently completed production of a prototype limousine designed for the country’s top officials. The Russian carmaker hopes to replace foreign-made sedans in government motorcades. ZIL provided luxury limousines to top officials during Soviet times. tation. This is the first step toward the creation of a hub network with a decreased dependence on the Moscow Air Cluster. Airport holdings began developing in 2007. About 200 out of Russia’s 300 operating airports are of no interest to private investors due to their low passenger traffic. Only several dozen of Russia’s airports are considered to be good investments, since they have passenger traffic of at least 500,000 people a year, or the potential to reach that level. Analysts are confident that the government will coordinate plans for runway upgrades more closely with those of private investors in airport development. “The government doesn’t want to invest in a high-level runway with poor airport infrastructure. To ensure that the whole range
Russian airports by passenger traffic
of work is done, it gives the priority to the projects backed by private investors,” said Evgeny Chudnovsky, director general of the Koltsovo Airport. Private investment has resulted in significant development of Russia’s airports. “Passenger traffic at the airports in the three groups has grown by 1.5 times
in three years. In Europe, having an annual 1-3 percent growth in traffic instead of a decrease is considered to be an achievement,” said Sergei Likharev, who was until recently the director general of Basel Aero. Analysts also predict that privatization and transfer of air-
ports to the ownership of private investors will be complete in three to five years. Their new owners can be both airport holdings and individual private companies. At the same time, many airport owners consider these assets to be an opportunity to enhance their status and prestige, rather than a business.
They do not understand how to develop it, and they don’t want to lose it. Obervers say that this trend is common among airports. “One of the biggest problems in airports today is the lack of qualified investors and management who must have a conceptually new view of airports’ operations,” said Evgeny Chudnovsky. “There should be completely different terminals and machinery, made to meet the new standards. Absolutely everything has to be renewed. It is a difficult task. That is why right now consolidation in the industry to enhance the speed and quality of the revolution is the right way to go.” Originally published in Expert magazine
APEC Russian billionaire with global transportation aspirations uses CEO summit to connect with business leaders
Magomedov, an ambassador to the international business community, is poised to become a leader in the shipping industry.
HIS STORY
Ziyavudin Magomedov Ziyavudin Magomedov was born in 1968 in Makhachkala, Dagestan. In 1993 he graduated from the Economics Faculty of Moscow State University. Since 2000, Magomedov was chairman of the board of directors of Summa Capital, which became famous in 2010 after acquiring a 50.1% stake in Russia’s Novorossiysk port (one of the country’s busiest).
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Magomedov represents Russia in an advisory role at APEC.
gistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications, oil and gas. The company has 10,000 employees in more than 40 regions of Russia and abroad, and has been making headlines in the wake of several bids for high-profile assets in the transport and logistics sectors. Business analysts also stress that Magomedov’s Summa Group is poised to benefit from the biggest wave of planned privatizations since the 1990s. This year, the Moscow-based billionaire is chairing the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council (ABAC), a body that advises Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) officials on the concerns of the business sector. “ABAC is a full-fledged international organization in which countries are represented by businesspeople rather than ambassadors,” Magomedov said. “Decisions are based on consensus, and the only way to get things done is to offer something that is good for everyone. It’s difficult, but this is how soft
power works, and it is important for Russia to continue because after being the host country for APEC, we are taking up leadership in BRICS, G20 and G8.” At the recent APEC Summit in Vladivostok Russia helped to secure an agreement on cutting tariff across the board of 56 types of “green goods.” This initiative was first proposed by ABAC members to politicians. The business advisory council lacks the power to make decisions for APEC governments
of course. But it helps to set the regional agenda. Several ABAC members told Russia Beyond The Headlines that they were positive about Russia’s growing influence in the organization. “The Russian influence in ABAC was very positive this year, and overall the meeting went just great,lots of interesting ideas discussed” – said ABAC alternate member, Chinese DHgate company CEO Diane Wang. Technology transfer is a tough issue because of diverse views on it from developed and developing countries, but with the help of many developing nations (such as Philippines and Indonesia), Russia managed to get a proposal included in the letter to leaders that the council prepares for APEC chiefs before every summit. The idea behind it is to create a system under which patents can be easily transferred between nations. Now after the endorsement of this plan from the business community it is up to political leaders to make it reality. Magomedov hopes to see Russia become an integral part of Asia’s dynamic economy, especially as many of the region’s
Moscow hotels among world’s priciest Moscow hotels are the most expensive in the world, with an average room rate running at $410 in August, according to British agency Hogg Robinson Group. Moscow has topped the Hogg Robinson Group’s “cities with the most expensive hotels’ list for eight years running. This year, Russia was followed by Lagos and Geneva.
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A port to withstand the storm Ziyavudin Magomedov stands out in a crowd, even in a room of Russian business leaders. The native of Makhachkala, Dagestan, is earning a reputation as an international ambassador for Russia’s business interests just as his own private company emerges as a significant global business. No stranger to ambition, he also aims to develop Russia’s transport infrastructure between Europe and Asia – through capacity and service. Two years ago, Magomedov was a less known figure. But with revenues of more than $10 billion, his Moscow-based Summa Group is garnering lots of attention. Even jaded business journalists privately comment on the 42-year-old chairman’s openness and “global thinking.” The magnate founded Summa Group, a private holding with investments in port lo-
Having been active in the country since 1998, Third Millennium-Russia, one of the oldest American investment funds in Russia, is calling it quits. The fund’s founder and CEO, John Connor, said he believes that American investors are losing confidence in emerging market investments. Analysts say the problem is only aggravated by the Russian market’s lack of clear-cut ground rules for foreign investors. There are about 20 foreign traditional funds active in Russia today.
regional airports have chances to become full-fledged hub airports.
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Large Russian investment companies have been actively buying regional airports, hoping that the future of Russian air travel lies in an increase in connecting flights. Should the regional air transportation system receive sufficient state funding, Moscow airport hubs will face new competition. Today Russia already boasts three large airport holdings that control the regional airports with the highest passenger traffic. They are the airport division of Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova; Basel Aero, part of Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element; and Novaport – a subsidiary of Roman Trotsenko’s AEON Corporation. Together these holdings control 15 regional airports, some of which are expected to become full-fledged hub airports. Four of these are: Koltsovo in Yekaterinburg, which is controlled by Renova; Tolmachevo in Novosibirsk (owned by Novaport); the Krasnodar airport (owned by Basel Aero); and Samara’s Kurumoch Airport, which was taken over by Renova early this summer. The prospects of these airports stem not only from their influential private owners, but also from their treatment by the government – which owns all runways. The government is likely to invest in the restoration of runways at airports that have large private investors. Other airports rely completely on financing from federal and regional governments. Today the transport infrastructure that connects Russia’s regions is tied to the Moscow Air Cluster (MAC), which is inefficient not only for the consumer, but indirectly to the economy as a whole. If a traveler needs to go from Kazan to Samara, which are 180 miles apart, he or she will have to travel via Moscow, which is over 600 miles away. Upgrading the key regional airports in the future will make it possible to use state grants to encourage airline carriers to increase the number of connecting flights to neighboring cities and to develop transport connection between regional centers, bypassing Moscow. This year the government allocated 1 billion rubles ($31 million) for financing of interregional air transpor-
Third Millenium fund quits Russia
SEPTEMBER 27-29, 2012 NIZHNY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA
businesses are eager to use Russian transit routes, instead of facing the congestion of major sea lanes. “[We can] play a greater role in global trade. It takes 28 days for a container to reach Moscow from Vladivostok; [for] 13 of them, it just stays idle at customs. Let’s compare [that] to Singapore, where customs formalities take no more than 24 hours,” Magomedov stressed. Most of all, Russia’s business ambassador said he hopes that other Russian businessmen will get involved with the region. The National Business Center for APEC was established with Summa’s assistance, and aims to raise awareness and interest in Russia about Asia. “This model worked in other countries, why shouldn’t it work in Russia?” Magomedov asked. Americans will continue to hear more about Summa Group as the company acts on its bold business development plans. This summer, Summa purchased 70 percent of transportation group FESCO. Through FESCO, Summa now owns a 22 percent stake in Transcontainer, and Summa will take part in that privatization.
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On the Road Again – Russian Style Fifty years after Jack Kerouac wrote the book, young Russians are taking it to heart
The focus of the international summit is “Doing Business in Russia: Nizhny Novgorod.” Both networking forums and exhibitions will examine investment opportunities in Russia. ibs-nn.ru
8TH RUSSIA & CIS HOTEL INVESTMENT CONFERENCE OCTOBER 15-17, 2012 MOSCOW, RUSSIA
RHIC will bring together one of the largest such gatherings in Russia and the CIS with more than 450 hotel investors, operators and developers. › russia-cisconference.com
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The conference explores the multifaceted Russian Internet. Runet’s renowned gurus will be among the participants as well as representaives from Russian and foreign ITcompanies. › www.2012.russianinternetweek.ru
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Politics & Society
Russians talk about everyday life with HIV Twelve years ago, when Savitsky was 27 years old, it seemed unlikely, if not impossible, that he could have a full life. At that time, he lived in northern Russia, not far from Nizhnevartovsk in West Siberia, where he had a job working in the oil and gas fields. Like many in his hardscrabble town, he contracted HIV through drugs. His mother took him to Moscow to a non-profit, privately run treatment center. Savitsky said that his response to the diagnosis may have saved his life. He could have died from an overdose like some of his friends. Instead, he started to think about how to live out the time he had, knowing his life might be short. The first thing that helped Savitsky was group psychotherapy and support through the “Imena” foundation, where activists offered information on how to stay healthy, including utilizing the drug protocols that suppress the virus. “When I started going to group sessions, I saw a lot of people like me,” he recalled. He discovered that the drug combinations, which were becoming more widely available, often control the virus. The protocol involves no less that three different drugs taken together so the body does not become immune to any one drug. But patients must be educated in their own treatment, and the drugs must be easily available. At first, Savitsky suffered from deep depression much like Alina, but he also turned his attitude around: “My logic was simple: the more I know about this, the easier it will be for me to live.” He realized his body had to be strong to fight the
Since 2001, doctors have changed their attitude toward the people who contract HIV. that since 2001, doctors have changed their attitude toward the disease and people who contract it. They said that AIDS centers have appeared, offering medical, psychological and social help. In Moscow, it is no longer necessary to make an appointment with a specialist three months in advance and stand in line for hours. Doctors, trained in the disease, do not insult their patients. But according to Savitsky, there are only a handful of these centers across the country: “A lot depends on the local authorities; there are regions, where help is at a very high level, which is due to the fact that there is competent leadership there.”
NGOs on the frontlines Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with foreign funding have been at the forefront of helping people with HIV/ AIDS. A new federal law hampers the ability of Russian NGOs
to apply for foreign funding. Although the law was written to address political NGOs, each organization feels the restrictions. It is highly unlikely the government will step in to fill the void, according to advocates. So while treatment has improved in recent years, the funds are now rapidly drying up. Alina and Alexander Savitsky have learned to live well with HIV. But they worry about young people contracting the virus today, and what kind of services they may find. From 2004 to 2006, Russian non-profit organizations received three large five-year grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Preventive measures were being carried out with NGOs in many Russian regions. “This was the sole bridge between people with HIV on the street and social-medical centers,” said Pavel Aksenov, director of the ESVERO fund, which educates high-risk groups such as drug users and sex workers with ways to prevent HIV/AIDS. The Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia, in the wake of the fight over foreign funding of Russian NGOs, no longer allows other countries to finance Russian NGOs. Russian funding has not increased. HIV and tuberculosis programs have since collapsed. “The government has not proposed any return of adequate funding or programs,” said Sergei Smirnov, the director of Community of People Living with HIV. In 2011, 62,000 new patients appeared, five percent more than the previous year. There are 665,000 Russians registered with HIV/AIDS. Advocates say the actual number is much higher. It has been 25 years since
After learning about his status, Savitsky studied psychology to work with HIV positive clients.
VLADIMIR RUVINSKY (2)
disease. “I changed my attitude toward life, toward myself, and toward the people around me.” At first, he did not tell anyone he had HIV. “I have children; one of my daughters was born before I got HIV, the other after. I’m not afraid for myself, but the potential stigma toward them worries me,” he explained. Savitsky became more forthcoming about his diagnosis when, after finishing his degree in psychology, he started to work in rehabilitation. Savitsky and Alina both say
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
the first reported case of HIV in Russia, but there is no national strategy to fight the virus, according to advocates. “I found my own way,” said Savitsky. “You can’t expect someone else to save you when you’re drowning, you have to learn to save yourself,” he said. Alina, however, said she believes in people’s compassion. Volunteers helped her find the hospital that agreed to operate on her hip. “Before I felt like an outcast, but now [I feel] like a normal person,” she said. “They are going to do the operation. Life goes on.”
Civil society Advocates say the law undermines human rights and social work
Activists express concerns over NGO law Hundreds of Russian civil society groups cannot accept foreign grants; some will focus on Russian funding. ANNA NEMTSOVA
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A crowd of activists gathered for a picnic in a Moscow park to pay tribute to their murdered colleague, Natalya Estemirova, once one of Russia’s most fearless and hard-working human rights defenders. Three years ago, Estemirova was abducted outside of her home in Chechnya, driven to the border with neighboring Ingushetia, and killed. Colleagues believe Estemirova was murdered because of her work defending victims of human rights violations in the North Caucasus. Many fear the new law passed this summer could halt human rights monitoring in Russia. The law requires any non-governmental organization (NGO) that receives foreign funding and “intends to participate in political activity” to re-register as an entity “carrying out the functions of a foreign agent.” Any NGO that fails to meet the law’s requirement could be banned. Activists say the effort to label them foreign agents is intended to demonize some groups as espionage fronts. Hundreds of Russian civil society organizations receive foreign grants, and some depend on such funding to survive. Yelena Denisenko is a human rights defender working for Memorial human rights center in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where 824 people were killed in Russia’s little known conflict in the past year. Denisenko said the new law undermined civil society, especially in a place of heightened tension like Makhachkala, where
A mourner holds a photo of Natalya Estemirova, once one of Russia’s human rights defenders.
The NGO law was the last law passed in the Russian Duma before recess and was adopted swiftly.
mothers and wives of Muslims who have disappeared come to her office day and night. “I see my role in helping people find justice, in building the bridge between the suffering ones and authorities, so desperate victims
do not run to the woods to join the insurgency,” Denisenko said. The law could also adversely affect NGOs serving people with disabilities, those who have HIV, and legal reformers. Duma deputy Robert Shle-
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Robert Shlegel
Sergei Mitrokhin
Ekaterina Chistyakova
UNITED RUSSIA PARTY MEMBER AND DUMA DEPUTY
LIBERAL YABLOKO PARTY LEADER
DIRECTOR OF THE GIFT OF LIFE CHARITY FOUNDATION
"
The state will never fund organizations that combat corruption, campaign for human rights and the environment; foreign funds were the only source of financing. This law will practically stop these activities today.”
"
"
It is more against groups like Golos [election monitoring organization]; those NGOs who promote humane values and not involved in real politics should not worry – the law is a live and flexible material.”
3
Charities are already strictly controlled by the state. Everyone can monitor all the money receipts on our website, as well as every expenditure in excel files and there are articles explaining and justifying the spending.”
IN FIGURES
665,000 Russians are registered with HIV/AIDS today. Advocates say the actual number is much higher.
23,000 new cases of HIV were tracked officially during the first 5 months of 2012. The number is growing every year.
Roszdrav rehabilitation center agreed to treat Alina.
gel, a supporter of the new law, said it is directed against organizations funded by the U.S. government, such as electionmonitoring groups. “It is more against groups like Golos; those NGOs who promote humane values and not involved in real politics should not worry – the law is a live and flexible material,” Shlegel said. Some organizations have decided to try to focus on Russian funding. One of the oldest Russian NGOs, the “Union of the Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers,” defends the rights of everyday soldiers drafted into the Russian military. The founder, Valentina Melnikova, said her group is fighting for its existence and is afraid of losing the office it has rented for 24 years. “We ran out of grants, we barely survive on two small European grants; all our attempts to apply for Russian Public Chamber grants failed. No one in Russia will give us money,” she said. In two decades, Soldiers Mothers regional organizations provided legal help to thousands of soldiers and officers in the Russian army. The group’s activists are patriotic, she added, and refused to register as “foreign agents.” Marina Pisklakova-Parker is a sociologist who runs an organization, the National Center for the Prevention of Violence (ANNA,) that supports and defends the victims of domestic violence and lobbies for new legislation. For the first three years, Pisklakova-Parker’s “ANNA” NGO lived on a shoe-string budget. Yet it provides help to around 60 victims of domestic violence a month. However the group’s efforts to lobby for a law against domestic violence in Russia have failed. The group’s fight for this legislation makes them more vulnerable under the new law. The assistance of international charities and grants has allowed “ANNA” to build awareness and now help 700 victims a month in a country where every third woman suffers from domestic violence. “I am concerned about the new law that is threatening to despoil our group’s reputation in the public eye,” Pisklakova-Parker said.
The light in the forest CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Political obstacle course Chirikova announced her candidacy from a wooden stage in the Khimki forest where she was meeting activists from her group, Environmental Defense of the Moscow Region. She attempted to run for mayor in 2009, when she was an unknown. Alexei Navalny wrote about Chirikova: “Without any political party or patronage, she has managed to form a truly popular environmental movement, proven to be an efficient political figure and organizer by pushing the Khimki forest agenda on the whole country, and succeeded in displacement of the former mayor.” Other opposition activists have also expressed their support of Chirikova, among them Just Russia party Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov. “Chirikova is not just an environmentalist, she has grown to a federal-level political figure,” Gudkov said. At the same time, many people have questioned Chirikova’s
ability to make the transition from an environmentalist to mayor. Chirikova’s campaign is also affected by the political trends in other cities where famous opposition bloggers and activists have failed to engage the public in the way that experienced politicians and managers can. “The elections in Krasnoyarsk and Omsk have shown that voters choose on the basis of business, and not ideological qualities of candidates,” said Mikhail Remizov, president of the National Strategy Institute. Chirikova’s earlier run for mayor of Khimki ended in defeat – in the 2009 mayoral elections, she took only 15 percent of the vote, coming in third. One of Chirikova’s trump cards, however, is that her drive to protect the forest united the population of Khimki. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough for Chirikova to triumph over the more experienced manager Oleg Mitvol, who has already stated that Khimki has some “much more pressing matters than the environment.”
THEIR STORIES
Top contenders EVGENIYA CHIRIKOVA (35, MARRIED, TWO DAUGHTERS)
OLEG MITVOL (45, MARRIED, ONE DAUGHTER)
Grassroots activist, leader of the Environmental Defense of the Moscow Region and the Movement for Protection of the Khimki Forest. She garnered attention with deomnstrations she led during construction of the new Moscow − St. Petersburg highway. An active member of the opposition movement For Fair Elections, she has been repeatedly detained by the police for organization and participation in unauthorized meetings and protests.
Chairman of the central board of the environmental political party Green Alliance-Popular Party, former prefect of the Northern Administrative District of Moscow and former head of the Federal Agency for Oversight of Environmental Resources. Mitvol’s politics have been a frequent topic in the Russian press and journalists have implied that although he now paints himself as a member of the opposition, he actually approves of the current policy.
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GIVE PUTIN, AND RUSSIANS, A BREAK
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his past summer has been a dispiriting one for U.S.-Russian relations, and the prospects arising from the presidential campaign now underway are even less encouraging. One of the many misconceptions that Americans had about Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union was that it would embrace Western democracy and soon become something like, say, France. We were wrong in our prediction. Russia has always been on her own trajectory, just as every nation fundamentally is. Why do we think Russia ought to resemble the United States? One would like to trace it back to what Alexis de Tocqueville said in “Democracy in America.” “Each of [these nations] seems to be marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the world,” but one doubts that is the source. So why is it that we Americans are so agitated by shortcomings we observe in Russia? During the Cold War, it was perhaps understandable, but now? It is embarrassing to note the frequency with which speakers on Russian affairs here in Washington still, more than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet empire, make that sim-
ple slip of the tongue and refer to “Soviets,” when clearly “Russians” would be more appropriate. When a presidential candidate declares that Russia is the “number one foe” of the United States, that is more than a lapsus linguae; it is part of a larger, and regrettable, pattern. Among my own cohort of U.S. diplomats, I detect a difference in attitude between those of us who served in the old, extinct, Soviet Union and then in the Russian Federation, and those who served in the Soviet Union but then went off to Eastern Europe or to various of the “newly independent states,” many of which, of course, harbored serious antiRussian grudges. Georgia is a case in point. (Disclosure: I served in the U.S.S.R. and Communist Czechoslovakia, but then also in the Czech Republic, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Armenia). We who had the experience of working in Russia when hopes were high and Bill and Boris were the world’s power couple have a clearer sense of Russian realities than those who have viewed it either from afar or through the distorted lenses of near neighbors. Then there is the simple question of having some elementary sympathy for Russia and Russians, which many “experts” on Russia seem so obviously to lack. In my own case, as U.S. Consul General in St. Petersburg 1994 to 1997, I knew and had
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Innovative Director Dmitry Krymov Dear Mr. Grynszpan, As an eighty-one year old first generation American born child of Soviet immigrants from the Ukraine, I read your article on Dmitry Krymov with great interest. Since I attended Yiddish theatre and films at the Douglas Park Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, with my grandmother in the 1930’s, I was intrigued with the fact that Mr. Krymov’s father was Anatoly Efros. Therefore, I was wondering if Mr. Krymov is related to the famous Jewish actress, Mirelle Efros, of that period?
Thank you. And thank you and “Russia Now” for the article.
a solid respect for the first deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, one Vladimir Putin. He regularly attended events at our house, although my main contact was his boss, a great Russian democrat, Anatoliy Sobchak. True,
fighter. He helped us out on one occasion when some young American investors got into difficulties with the Russian mob. Characteristically, the first thing Putin asked for when I called him was a copy of the legal agreement governing the joint venture. He might as well have been a lawyer, given his cautious approach. No one with experience both in the old Soviet Union and in today’s Russian Federation could reasonably confuse the two. I am stunned when I hear commentators referring to “Putin’s” Russia as an “autocracy.” The Russian word, “samoderzhaviye” is rightly reserved for the role once played by the Romanov emperors. Russia may not come up to the democratic standards of Scandinavia, but the degree of central control is exaggerated. We may have overstated as well the degree to which the Soviet Union, at least in the last two decades of its existence, was controlled by the Kremlin. Freedom of travel, and even of emigration, has changed everything in Russia, and yet, sadly, we have just gotten around to the idea of repealing the outdated JacksonVanik amendment. Contrary to what one would conclude from reading our mainstream media, there does exist an unprecedented degree of freedom of speech in Russia today, by historical standards, although it is true that it has
Americans still confuse “Russia” and “Russians” with the “Soviet Union” and “Soviets.” Vladimir Putin had a past in foreign intelligence, but, as Henry Kissinger, who served for a time as co-chairman of the Kissinger-Sobchak Commission, is reputed to have said on being introduced to him, “all the best people got their start in foreign intelligence.” My personal impressions of Putin, which were sought – but largely rejected – by some in the Administration when, in 1999, he surprisingly was named prime minister, were that 1) his main frame of reference is a legal one; 2) he both keeps his word and expects others to do so; 3) he puts great store in the facts and is little swayed by rhetoric, including most especially of the democratic populist sort that accompanied various “color” revolutions in the 1990s and 2000s. The Putin we knew in St. Petersburg was primarily a crime
been greater in the press than in the broadcast media, and that self-censorship does occur. The horrified Western reaction to the trial of the “Pussy Riot” punk rockers has largely ignored the fact that they performed their ditty on the altar of the main cathedral of Moscow, Christ the Savior, not on some “stage,” as one account put it. This was offensive to many Russian Orthodox believers, and would be offensive to many American churchgoers if it happened in their places of worship. With our strict tradition of separation of Church and State, we Americans often have a tin ear for religious nuance. At a recent Brookings event a Russian noted that Russia, “as a Christian nation,” was bound to care about Syria. The tittering of the highly educated audience was notable. For Americans, everything that happens in Russia, be it the murder of a journalist or a case of corruption, is Putin’s fault. The ridiculousness of this is obvious to anyone who takes time to think about it. It’s as if the Trayvon Martin case was the fault of the governor of Florida. In the most celebrated case, that of the tragic death of Sergei Magnitsky in detention, there is no evidence that Putin had anything to do with it. Now, of course, the U.S. Congress is replacing the Jackson-Vanik amendment with the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, just to show it has not lost its vigilance in championing Russian rights. Even though the law has been given, in the Senate version, universal applicability, the fact that it is named for Magnitsky must rankle Russians mightily. Russians know their country isn’t perfect. Few think that perfection will arrive in the form of grandstanding by the U.S. Congress. In the case of President Putin, probably because of his KGB past, our media seem also to ignore his sponsorship of several threatened animal species, his sustained high ratings in reputable Russian polls, due in part to his popularity with women and pensioners, and the degree to which the progressive “reforms” pressed by Medvedev were nearly identical to ideas Putin himself has advocated. Medvedev, whom I also knew personally in St. Petersburg, is a Putin loyalist; no one ought ever to have thought otherwise during the period of the “tandem.” As for Putin’s KGB past, I would simply remind readers that, as some Russians say, “the KGB was our Harvard.” I can say that, having gone to Yale. I guess one always needs to have an enemy. Read the full article at rbth.ru/18207
Ambassador John Evans served as consul general in 1994-1997.
Phyllis Feld
Due to reader interest, Russia Now is exploring American Yiddish Theater for an upcoming issue. Moishe Rosenfeld’s “The Golden Land” will be revived in New York at the National Yiddish Theatre. Rosenfeld, a Yiddish theater pioneer, was born in 1862 in Stare Boksze in Russian Poland. The editors
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THE THIRD ANGLE
THE FALLOUT OF PUSSY RIOT Konstantin von Eggert SPECIAL TO RN
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ore than a month after the Moscow court handed down a two-year prison sentence to three members of the Pussy Riot punk group, the full impact of the trial is still emerging. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina will remain in prison until 2014 – if they are not released earlier on some kind of parole. Such a long sentence can wreak havoc on family life; Nadezhda and Maria each have small children who will most likely suffer enormously during this time. It all started as a provocative but harmless performance – albeit offensive to many – in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the
The trial split Russian society, damaged reputation of the Russian Orthodox Church. Savior. They soon became media superstars and icons for the Russian opposition. But the trial also split Russian society, damaged the reputation of the Russian Orthodox Church and put the Kremlin in the hotseat of international scorn. Firstly, the court proceedings in Moscow resembled a show trial with a predetermined outcome. To most people it was a demonstration of the state’s power to punish opposition activists at will. Many Pussy Riot defenders think that what they did was not a particularly good or clever thing to do. But they inflicted no property damage or bodily harm. Moreover, the cathedral’s security guards made no big effort to apprehend them. Disliking Russia’s president and chanting “Holy Virgin, chase Putin away!,” even in the eyes of those who thought Pussy Riot’s action was silly and offensive, is hardly worth two years in jail. While the Kremlin may think that it struck terror in the hearts of opposition activists, what it did was create new martyrs for the protesters’ cause and revealed Russia’s judicial system for what it is – no more than an extension of executive authority. The Kremlin blew a minor incident out of all proportion, bringing along unwel-
come international scrutiny of Russia’s human rights record. Secondly, the Pussy Riot trial dealt a blow to the Russian Orthodox Church. In more than twenty years of post-Soviet Russian history, it has never felt such heat, and overt criticism, from the Russian public. The Church failed to disassociate itself from the state authorities and show forgiveness to Pussy Riot, as many expected it to do. The fact that the Church’s representatives seemed to ignore the quintessentially political aspect of the punks’ performance, made the public even angrier. When the Church asked for clemency, after the trial, it was too late. The Pussy Riot case created the context for the Kremlin to test the Orthodox hierarchy’s loyalty. The hierarchy passed the test with flying colors – at the expense of losing support of Russia’s intelligentsia and tightly tying its own future to that of President Putin. This may appear to be a good bet in the short run. However Russian politics look increasingly volatile and unpredictable and the Orthodox Church seems to be oblivious of the growing discontent that slowly changes the society’s attitude to Putin and his rule. Yet the trial also put the Russian opposition in a difficult situation. At a crucial moment when it needs to work hard to form a nationwide network of supporters and participate in regional elections, it was saddled with a controversial image. The politically astute populations of Moscow and Saint Petersburg can differentiate between Pussy Riot support and wider opposition goals. However in provincial Russia, the Kremlin will have an easier time convincing the voters that the protest movement is made up of radicals and freaks. Finally, society itself is clearly split. The minority that wants political change is small but vocal. The majority (also referred to as the Putin majority) prefers the status quo, is politically passive and lacks initiative. This divide will only deepen in the coming years. Read the full article at rbth.ru/18021
Konstantin von Eggert is a commentator and host for Kommersant FM, Russia’s first 24-hour news radio station. He was a diplomatic correspondent for Russian daily Izvestia and later served as the editor-in-chief of the BBC Russian Service Moscow Bureau.
A VIEW FROM THE HEARTLAND: RUSSIA AND THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Thomas Hanson SPECIAL TO RN
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his is the year of elections in many parts of the world, not least in Russia and the United States. Will these two contests end up having a negative impact on U.S. relations with our former Cold War adversary? For the general public, including here in the Midwest, the answer increasingly appears to be “yes.” U.S. media proclaim that “Vladimir Putin is back,” as if he had not been guiding Russia even during the Medvedev presidency, and that negative shifts in Russian policy can therefore be expected. Meanwhile, the Republican candidate in the November election has singled out Moscow as America’s top geopolitical adversary. Beneath the media and campaign hype, Russia remains as enigmatic as ever for most Americans. The Russian economic presence here in Minnesota, for example, remains modest twenty years after the demise of the U.S.S.R. Like many states, Minnesota is making a big push on exports, but the focus is on countries other than Russia. Minnesota is home to nearly 40,000 Russian-speaking immigrants. Many of them emigrated from Russia in the wake of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment – which continues to re-
NIYAZ KARIM
John Evans
MOST READ Russia, and its officials, still searching for an identity rbth.ru/17555
Exposure to the Russia of today is minimal in heartland cities like Minneapolis. strict trade with Russia even though the emigration it aimed for has come to pass. These welleducated citizens, Russia’s loss, have contributed significantly in fields such as engineering and medical technology. Meanwhile, the Museum of Russian
Art, founded in Minneapolis in 2002, organizes well-attended exhibits devoted primarily to art of the 19th and 20th centuries. But beyond this, exposure to the Russia of today is minimal. Few Russians come to Minnesota to study, especially compared with numbers from China. By the mid-1990s, the University of Minnesota had terminated its summer language program in St. Petersburg. In January this year, Minnesota received a visit by administrators from the nine regional universities reorganized under Dmitri Medvedev’s educational reform,
a hopeful sign that academic exchanges may rebound. What impact, then, might the U.S. election have on policy toward Russia? President Barack Obama has reset relations, leading to progress on arms control and greater Russian cooperation on Afghanistan. But Moscow’s support for the Assad regime in Syria and a recent crackdown on nongovernmental organizations at home have provoked further criticism of the Putin presidency. Meanwhile, Republicans accuse Obama of having downplayed human rights abuses in Russia and of failing to support countries in what Russia terms its “near abroad.” When the Republican candidate declares Russia to be “without question our number one geopolitical foe,” people are left wondering what policy changes may be in the offing. In the presidential campaign, both parties hail U.S. global leadership, and any public deviation from this stance invites castigation as “declinism.” Yet, polls show growing popular support for domestic priorities, for “nation building at home.” This trend is all the more evident in a city like Minneapolis where two bridges have collapsed in recent years and winter potholes lurk in the streets, prompting concern about crumbling infrastructure and insufficient public investment. Public tolerance for
costly foreign and military spending may cease to be a given, with consequences for our relations with the outside world, including Russia. If the next administration opts to push harder against Russia, particularly on issues such as further NATO expansion or missile defense, tensions are likely to increase. Germany also vetoed the U.S. plan to speed up NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine in 2008; revisiting the question could strain the alliance anew. The American “pivot” toward Asia risks awakening fears of encirclement in China on the eve of a major leadership transition there. Might China become more open to Russian entreaties to cooperate against U.S. policies, as appears to be happening on Syria, if both countries conclude that pressure is increasing? Foreign policy has played a minor role in presidential elections, but this may be changing here in the Midwest and elsewhere in the U.S, as voters become sensitive to the difficult tradeoffs between domestic needs and America’s global aspirations. Read the full article at rbth.ru/18209
Thomas Hanson is University of Minnesota Diplomat-in-Residence and Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights board member.
Culture
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Tourism Dreams of my Russian summers, from magical circuses to cosmonauts
Discovering fairy-tale Moscow SPECIAL TO RN
A city built on an inhuman scale, with towering skyscrapers and gridlocked traffic, Moscow may not at first appear to be a childfriendly destination. The first day in town with a stroller, for instance, can be a bewildering experience – How does one cross the 10-lane street to get to the cat theater on the other side? Over time, underground passageways reveal themselves. Expat parents and their children become intoxicated with the fairy tale nature of the place, and they enjoy the pleasures of outdor ice skating on Red Square, attending Bolshoi matinees, strolling through waterside Gorky Park or peering into the Vostok craft that catapulted Yuri Gagarin into space. Thirteen-year-old New Yorker, Arden Dressner Levy, who lived in Moscow for four years, lists the circus among her Moscow highlights, along with “the ballet, ice skating in Gorky Park and cross country skiing, blinis and hot chocolate.” Russian hot chocolate is the ultimate Proustian memory for the expat child – a melted chocolate bar in a cup, a dream come true. But it is the Russian circus that fuels the most magnificent daydreams. Moscow’s oldest circus is on Tsvetnoi Boulevard, just a twenty minute walk north of the Kremlin. Albert Salomonsky, a bareback rider-turned-businessman, built it in 1880 and framed his first ever ruble of profit to
Moscow has several acclaimed and deeply quirky animal theaters: Think “Cats,” but real. dancing poodles and aerial gymnasts, the “White Birds.” Last year’s spectacle included snakes and crocodiles, horseback dancers and acrobats, along with the perennial clowns. The newer “Bolshoi (Great) Circus,” near Moscow State University, also continues to attract huge audiences with its mixture of animal acts and feats of human bravery. The 1971 building, the largest permanent circus in the world, is high enough to accommodate flying trapezes and wide enough to host parading elephants. Dressner Levy said her favorite act is “when they fill the pool at the Bolshoi Moskovsky circus and do water ballet.” Below the big top, are subterranean levels plunging half as deep again, containing six interchangeable arenas, suitable for horse-riding, optical illusions, ice skating, interactive events, electronic lighting spectacles and
Kids love quirky animal theaters Moscow has several internationally acclaimed and deeply quirky animal theaters, including one where all the performers are cats, or the Durov Animal Theatre, with its famously eccentric “mouse railway” founded in 1912 by clown and animal trainer Vladimir Durov. Children of all ages are riveted by the parade of mice on the miniature train set. The city is full of entertainments designed to brighten the long Muscovite winters. The puppet shows at the Obraztsov theatre are famous for their elaborate costumes and the Bolshoi ballet’s annual “Nutcracker” sells out every Christmas. Children with particular passions, like dinosaurs or space, will find world-class museums in Moscow. The Central Museum of the Armed Forces allows kids to climb all over the tanks and rocket launchers. Some of the more impressive elements of Moscow’s biggest attractions, like the Egyptian gallery in the Pushkin Arts’ Museum or the Cinderella-style coaches in the Kremlin Armory, appeal to kids too. But sometimes parents need a tiny bite-sized museum like the Museum of Valenki (Russian felt boots) near Paveletskaya railway station. It’s only one room, but the guide speaks English and kids can see the huge woolly shape that boils down into durable footwear before trying on sauna hats in the factory shop next door.
The years of the clown
Yuri Nikulin was by far the best circus clown in Moscow, but he was much more. For Russians, he was Buster Keaton, Mickey Rooney, and Jim Carrey, all rolled into one, and his career spanned the entire second half of the 20th century. He started performing in 1944 while still on active duty in World War II. Nikulin subsequently acted in dozens of movies while carrying the city’s most illustrious circus on his shoulders. His partnership with director Leonid Gaidai is among the most significant in the history of Russian film.
Other days, bigger is definitely better. The All-Russia Exhibition Center, known as VDNKh, was a 1930s agricultural show, full of golden fountains and ornate pavilions. The surviving wonderland is the home of the Cosmonautics and Ice Age museums, the monorail, a butterfly house and kiosks full of lava lamps and energy balls.
An elephant manages to balance deftly at the Great Circus. ITAR-TASS
LORI/LEGION MEDIA
PHOEBE TAPLIN
e v e n aquatic shows with marine animals.
LORI/LEGION MEDIA
put on the wall of the box office for luck. The circus operated throughout the devastation of World War II. Clown Yuri Nikulin joined the circus after the war and worked there for fifty years. Since Nikulin’s death in 1997, his son Maxim has run the show, now known as the “Nikulin circus.” A statue of his father stands on the pavement outside and several bronze clowns unicycle around a fountain across the leafy boulevard. The most recent show boasts bears, monkeys,
Great circuses, dozens of quirky museums and huge green spaces make Moscow a surprise hit with young visitors.
See slideshow at rbth.ru/18243
A young girl stares in wonder at a space suit at the Cosmonaut Museum.
EXPAT FILES
Circus Performers recall their Soviet past and seek a new life in the United States
The shows close but Russian stars stay behind Russia’s top circus performers are attracted to the glitz, the sun, and the jobs of the Las Vegas Strip. But then what? GALINA MASTEROVA
IGOR TABAKOV
SPECIAL TO RN
Vladimir Mialovski spent most of his childhood and youth performing in a red ring with his parents. He loves talking about his past, growing up on trains, in dressing rooms and in schools where he was “the circus kid” who spent his entire education changing schools every two months, the amount of time his parents, both jugglers, spent performing in one city. He wasn’t even five years old when he was already standing in front of huge audiences. He had learned the skills, like most circus children, for a showbiz life that he knew would one day be his. He preferred the trapeze over juggling, however, and thus chose one of the more dangerous paths. “Circus in Russia was [first] class. We were stars,” he said. By the time he made his way to the former Soviet Union’s famous circus in downtown Moscow in 1992 and signed up for Canada’s famed Cirque du Soleil headed on tour to Las Vegas, Mialovski said with a laugh that he was ready for retirement. “It was a way of life,” Mialovski says, recalling his younger days. “We weren’t rich, we lived in basic hotels next door to the circuses, but we had a lot of fun, and we got to see the entire country.” Like many Russian performers, Mialovski never went home after a fateful Las Vegas tour, deciding instead to try his luck in the United States. Cirque du So-
A Russian circus performer prepares for a show.
The Soviet Big Top, one of a kind The Russian Big Top is truly singular. During Soviet times, the government designed and built gigantic – and permanent--circus arenas in 70 cities, creating a circus monopoly in the Soviet Union. Circus performers were often fond of saying that they were proud of their nation’s accomplishment and significance to the world when it came to the circus. The circus plan was more than an extraordinarily expensive endeavor that involved thousands
of performers, administrators, choreographers, trainers, costume designers: It was a symbol of just how important the circus was to an empire that highly valued the performing arts and particularly those that catered to children. The circus was known as the people’s performance, filled with acts that appeared to be simple yet were extremely complex. The ostentatious buildings were the showcase of a nationalized, and politicized, circus effort.
leil and other circuses offered more money than Russinas made at home. Even when contracts were no longer renewed, many stayed in Las Vegas and made another career. In Mialovski’s case, he chose tae kwon do. Over the past two decades, Las Vegas has attracted some of Russia’s best circus talent. Some, still the best in the business as performers or coaches, try to get an “extraordinary ability” visa, one way to gain permanent residency. It’s not an easy road for the clowns and the trapeze artists who stayed in the desert after the show left town. A recent PBS report by journalism students examined how obscure legislation helps some Russian performers acquire residency through the Department of Homeland Security. For most of the world, as Mialovski explained, a circus is known as a show on the road. In fact, of all the performing arts, from opera to ballet, theater and even symphony orchestras, it’s the circus that has stood out for being a traveling performance, one that moves from city to city under a giant tent. The traveling nature of it all makes the art form unique as does the fact that it comes with trained animals and death defying tricks that sometimes are fatal. Still, ask a Russian performer and they’ll tell you that in the world of the circus, whether East or West, it’s still about the families that pass down the traditions from generation to generation. Then there are those that find themselves literally swept away, even if it is a cliche to “run away with the circus.” Vadim Bolotsky, a Ukrainian gymnast who graduated from the Kiev Institute of Circus Performing Arts, was that kind of performer. He worked alongside Vladimir Mialovksi in Canada’s Cirque du Soleil, and performed in the same act. He doesn’t come from a circus family, but he likes to recall his years as a performer executing the very high level of tricks the Soviets were known for and that frequently landed them lucrative contracts in western circuses when the Soviet Union collapsed.
“It was a great act,” he said. “The death drop was my favorite. It’s when I hung upside down from a bar attached to the ceiling by nothing but my ankles. I would let go of my feet and drop head first, speeding down like a bullet for about 80 feet until I hit the net.” Bolotsky became the signature Red Bird character for three more years after his work as a trapeze artist ended. “To the audience perhaps it looks like fun,” he said. “And it was a fascinating challenge. The bird is always moving; it’s very dynamic acrobatics, and of a 90-minute show, I was moving 40 minutes, without stopping, crouched down....It was very hard on my body. I would ice my knees in these 13-gallon kitchen trash buckets full of ice between the shows, take five ibuprofens — whatever it took for the pain. But as they say, ‘The show must go on.’ “
THEIR OWN WORDS
Jan Jones FORMER MAYOR OF LAS VEGAS, NOW SENIOR VP HARRAH’S HOTELS & CASINOS
"
When you look at the circus, it’s the performers who have made Las Vegas. It’s not the hotels; it’s not the grandeur; it’s everything they embody about Las Vegas...It’s about the talent that it takes to create these shows we’re famous for.”
Kim Palchikoff FORMER RBTH BLOGGER AND DIRECTOR OF PROJECT TSIRK: UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA
"
The immigration of Russian performers... is a story of East meets West. In Vegas, as in other places, circus is about profit. Period. Back in the Motherland, it’s about art. What is the performing art called the circus and why are Russians obsessed with it?”
HRH AND THE PUFFY RIOT Jennifer Eremeeva SPECIAL TO RN
T
he couple that surfs together stays together, and that is why I make sure that HRH (my handsome Russian husband) and I start each day with some quality surfing time. Two cups of coffee, two iPads, and two completely separate news streams. While HRH scrolls through RBK and Rambler, I log on to the Huffington Post for some Real News. “Holy Crabby Patties!” I splutter, sitting up suddenly. HRH, with a practiced and deft maneuver reaches over to remove my coffee mug and prevent major flooding. “What’s wrong now?” he asks. “The Ukrainian government is going to ban Sponge Bob from TV because they say he’s a threat to traditional family values.” “Our Sponge Bob?” asks HRH in confusion, “the one with the square pants? What’s wrong with him?” Our daughter Velvet has long since graduated to Gossip Girl, but not so long ago, each school day began with breakfast accompanied by “multiki” or cartoons, including Sponge Bob. Poor old HRH, he really does live in a bubble. “Dar-ling,” I say gently, “Sponge Bob is a major gay icon.” HRH takes a long strengthening sip of my coffee. “The yellow guy who lives under the sea?” he says evenly. “Yes, with his buddy the pink…get it pink…starfish and his driving instructor Mrs. Puff?? Duh….” “And you let Velvet and me watch it?” “Well, but she was incapable of waking up without it,” I argue, “and anyway, I don’t
think it was a deliberate attempt to create some insidious subtext...” HRH switches on the television and surfs until he alights on an episode of the classic Soviet multik, “Nu, pogodi!” (“Hey, Wait Up!”). “Now that, Petrovna,” he says, pointing to the anti hero Volk (wolf), puffing on a paparossi, luring innocent Zayets (hare) into another complicated situation, “is a cartoon. Straightforward message, funny situations – perfect. Our multiki are really the epitome of multiki.” Yet our favorite wolf and hare are also in the news right now; a new law in Russia will limit--through time slots or editing--the vices children can be exposed to. Apparently, “Volk” just has too many bad habits, and this news is also somewhat vexing to HRH. One of the many secrets to a happy, cross-cultural marriage is to leave volumes unsaid. So I don’t make the obvious observation that “Nu Pogodi!” owes more than a little to Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. I refrain from any mention of the Soviet Union’s “Vinnie Pukh.” And I steer the conversation away from the real third rail: A comparison the Soviet version of “Jungle Book” called “The Adventures of Mowgli” which, can I just say, takes a lot of liberties with Kipling’s storyline. That way lies divorce. Russians refer to “Our Mowgli” in the same tone they do “Our Kuril Islands.” Another thing I’ve learned: I no longer challenge HRH to the perennial “Who Makes a Better Garfield Voiceover: Bill Murray or Oleg Tabakov” duel. I lose. Jennifer Eremeeva is a a freelance writer and longtime resident of Moscow. She is the curator of the culinary blog, www.moscovore. com, and the humor blog www. russialite.com.
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Education American students travel to Russia as part of American University’s Initiative for Russian Culture
Dostoevsky comes alive RUSSIA NOW
On a beautiful summer evening, ten American students from Washington, D.C. – eight from American University (AU) and two from Georgetown – animatedly discuss Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” over grilled meat and Georgian cheese bread in a Moscow restaurant. The talk is led by Russian history professor, Anton Fedyashin of American University, during his “Dostoevsky’s Russia” trip in July. As part of AU’s Initiative for Russian Culture (IRC), Fedyashin brought the students to Moscow and St. Petersburg to visit the places where the groundbreaking master Fyodor Dostoevsky lived and worked and to walk the streets that his characters inhabited. Over dinner, the group discussed the characters of “Crime and Punishment”; Christianity and the crisis of religion in the 19th century; and the connections between Dostoevsky’s life and his characters. “Visiting the Dostoevsky apartment-museum in Moscow, where he spent his first 16 years, gives us a better understanding of life in Russia during his time, and the general everyday life, which you usually miss taking a city tour,” said AU student Thomas Simpson. AU student Sarah Adler said that for her, the Dostoevsky tour was especially interesting, “because I’m studying the same period in American history, so I could see similarities and differences.” The students who traveled to Moscow are at different points in their studies. Some are undergraduates, while several of them are already at work on postgraduate degrees in Russian history, literature or Slavic studies. For several of them, it’s their first time in Russia. “Everyone wanted to study Dostoevsky on a new and more profound level,” Fedyashin said. While in St. Petersburg, the students explored the neighborhood in which Dostoevsky set his epic. The hot weather added to the ambience, since the novel’s plot unfolds during a heat
“Walking late at night, it’s not hard to imagine you might brush shoulders with Raskolnikov.” Building blocks for the U.S.-Russia relationship More Russians travel to the United States for educational purposes than the other way around, and educators and Russia watchers are pushing to see this change. The study trip is a new project for American University sponsored by the new Initiative for Russian Culture. The IRC began in September 2011 when philanthropist Susan Lehrman, alongside College of Arts and Sciences dean Peter Starr and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, examined the need for young people in both the United States and Russia to build a stronger foundation for the future of the U.S.-Russia relationship. The IRC was launched with a reception at the Library of Congress and film screening of Karen Shakhnazarov’s “We Are Jazzmen”. The IRC has since sponsored regular film screenings of Soviet classics at the Embassy of the Russian Federation and hosted a symposium on overcoming Cold War stereotypes on the American University’s campus with Russian and American diplomats and academics. Fedyashin said: “Susan Lehrman’s generosity has allowed us to arrange to bus students from all the Washington Metropolitan Consortium to come visit our events.” The IRC has also created in-
American students unwind in front of Dostoevsky’s apartment and museum.
novative programming and classes for students interested in Russian studies at AU, such as “The Cold War and the Spy Novel,” “Russian Politics and Film,” and “Dostoevsky’s Russia,” at a time when many U.S. universities were forced to cut back on Russian studies, Fedyashin said. Fedyashin hopes to continue study trips next summer after the success of this trip. Next up is a tour of the historic sights significant to Leo Tolstoy, which will build on Fedyashin’s course “Tolstoy vs. Napoleon: Russia and the West” offered this fall to coincide with the bicentennial of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812. Next year, with the help of Susan Lehrman, the IRC plans to broaden the program even further with concert and theater performances. “Before I went on the trip, my only knowledge of Russia was based on pictures, stories, and of course, stereotypes,” said Vanessa Robertson, “I had a more sinister idea about everything. Seeing Moscow and St. Petersburg in real life helped break down many false perceptions.”
INTERVIEW SUSAN LEHRMAN
Connecting Russian and American cultures RBTH correspondent Artem Zagorodnov spoke to Susan Lehrman during her recent trip to Moscow. The philanthropist was honored with a medal of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2012. You have worked with many countries on a host of philanthropic projects. Why did you decide to work so closely with Russia? When I was chairing the National Opera in Washington, D.C., my interest in music blossomed and I fell in love with Russia’s contribution. I realized how much Russian influence there is in America, and some of it stirred memories from my childhood – “Peter and the Wolf,” “The Nutcracker,” and
various Russian fairy tales. Being from a musical family (my father was a violinist and sister – a concert pianist), I was also exposed to a lot of great Russian music of the 20th century (like Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich) at an early age. If you look back in history, many Americans have a connection to Russia. I chose American University for that initiative because there was a good reaction to what I was trying to do as a philanthropist. I hear you made your first trip to Russia last year. What kind of impact did it have on you personally? I was amazed by people’s kindness toward newcomers, generosity and hospitality. This con-
cerns practically everyone: from ladies working in shops who are willing to help a non-native speaker to the people who are constantly giving me flowers, chocolates and other gifts. I even now feel embarrassed that some Russians visiting the United States for the first time could have a relatively unwelcoming experience. I’m also impressed by the level of cultural education many Russians have. Russia is really a fabulous tourist destination once you get past the visa process. I was also surprised to learn about how huge a sacrifice and how great a contribution the Russian people made in World War II. That information is not widely known or understood in the U.S.
RUSSELL HIRSHON
ELENA BOBROVA
wave in the midst of Petersburg’s famous White Nights. “That novel, more than any of his others, is tied to a very specific place,” said Fedyashin. “You can still walk the streets according to Dostoevsky’s descriptions and retrace the steps that Raskolnikov actually took.” “Modern St. Petersburg and Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg seem to be, in my imagination, linked very closely together,” Georgetown student Tom Miller recalled. “Walking late at night, it’s not hard to imagine you might brush shoulders with Raskolnikov himself and hear his fevered mutterings.”
PRESS PHOTO
More Russians travel to the United States for educational purposes than the other way around, and educators are pushing to see this change.
How can a cultural project affect the relationship between Russia and the United States? A solid base for positive relations comes from culture. Culture is what lasts. Political leaders and agendas change, but culture stays with us as a legacy forever. It’s difficult to judge the long-term effect the initiative will have, but after only one year, three students with no previous background have developed an interest in Russia. Prepared by Artem Zagorodnov
History Mark Schneider, a historical interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, played a convincing Napoleon at the Battle of Borodino reenactment
For the bicentennial of 1812, about 2,000 history buffs participated in the bloodiest of Napoleon’s battles.
THE NUMBERS
JOY NEUMEYER
250.000
200.000
soldiers fought in the Battle of Borodino in 1812. It was a brutal and bloody battle, with an astonishing 84,000 casualties from both sides.
spectators watched the reenactment this year, which also featured 3,000 participants and more than 300 horses.
“There’s music playing in the background, lots of cannons, lots of pyrotechnics, things blowing up. It’s quite epic.” The Battle of Borodino took place on Sept. 7, 1812. The bloodiest day of the Napoleonic Wars, it involved 250,000 people, over a quarter of whom would perish. Though Napoleon’s Grand Armee actually made some small advances, the
battle proved to be the French campaign’s swan song: Never again would Napoleon go on the offensive on Russian soil. For the bicentennial, the annual reenactment drew around 3,000 participants from Russia and abroad. When he isn’t being Napoleon, Schneider is a historical interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg. He stands 5 feet, 6 inch-
SPECIAL TO RN
On Sept. 2, Napoleon Bonaparte mounted his horse at the Battle of Borodino — just as he did 200 years earlier, when this field outside Moscow was the turning point of the French invasion of Russia. Only this time, Napoleon was an American. Mark Schneider, 44, has portrayed the swaggering Frenchman at Austerlitz, Erfurt, Waterloo and other reenactments. But nothing compares to Borodino, where he previously appeared in 2007. “The battle itself is like no other reenactment I’ve experienced before in its scale and intensity,” he said.
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A Napoleon from Virginia led the Borodino battle
Mark Schneider from Virginia received a much better reception than the real Napoleon in Russia.
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es tall, just like the Emperor. He shares the same deep-set eyes, prominent nose and compact build. He even speaks the same Corsican-accented French. He became interested in Napoleon as a child, thanks in part to his French mother. After he served in the military, his friend Ron Roberts asked him to join his French cavalry reenactment unit, the Seventh Hussars. Observing that Schneider “looked kind of like Napoleon,” Roberts suggested he try playing him. “The next thing I knew, I was Napoleon,” he said. Schneider has also appeared in History Channel specials, including “Was Napoleon Murdered?” (Schneider’s verdict: no; he died of stomach cancer). Schneider became involved with Borodino through organizer Alexander Valkovich, who played Tsar Alexander I to his Napoleon at a reenactment in Austria. “He’s remarkably similar to the great general, from Napoleon’s distinctive abrupt gestures and powerful stride to his manner of riding,” Valkovich said. “Just like the Emperor, he immediately sets the horse to a gallop.” To shape his portrayal, Schneider draws on biographies such as Vincent Cronin’s “Napoleon
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Bonaparte,” as well as memoirs by marshals, valets and family members. “[Napoleon] was very decisive, very intense at times,” Schneider said. “Especially in a battle situation, there was no waffling.” At Borodino, however, Napoleon was not in his prime; he’d put on weight, and had lost some of his former vigor. “All that needs to be reflected,” Schneider said. This year, Schneider participated in a round of official ceremonies honoring the French casualties before stepping to the sidelines for the battle itself, a tightly choreographed event requiring several days of rehearsal. A steady drizzle only contributed to the atmosphere. “Because of the rain the air was heavy, and with all the smoke from the cannons and muskets, there were moments when you truly felt like you were on a Napoleonic battlefield,” he said. But the real highlight was seeing friends like Valkovitch from the reenactment circuit. “We’re really all part of a smaller community of enthusiasts of the Napoleonic period,” he said. Schneider gets a considerably warmer reception in Russia than his predecessor, who retreated in December 1812.
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