2013 08 dt all by Russia Beyond

Politics & Society

The Romanovs

Moscow goes to the polls

A dynasty of distinction

Will Alexei Navalny end up as Mayor, or land himself a jail sentence?

RBTH explores the modern-day legacy of Russia’s imperial past

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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

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Flying the flag: gay rights supporters grab a photo opportunity with the rainbow banner REUTERS

A GAY DEBATE OF OLYMPIC SCALE I

n all the years of preparations for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, it is probably fair to say that gay rights never once appeared as a concern for planners in Russia. Now, just a few months before the opening ceremony, it has become potentially the biggest challenge they face. A wave of international criticism has washed over Russia since the State Duma unanimously passed a law in June that banned distribution of “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors by Russian citizens, foreigners in Russia and media organisations. Quickly labelled an “anti-gay law”, it has left the Sochi Olympics in the middle of a “cultural Cold War” between Russia and the West over the human rights of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) communities. Activists and celebrities in the West have called for a boycott, certain prominent Russians have defended the law and anxious international officials have sought “clarification” of its implications for athletes and visitors to the Games. Yelena Isinbayeva, the world champion pole vaulter and Russia’s most famous athlete, recently defended the law to journalists, saying Russians were “traditional people, men live with women”. Isinbayeva, who will be honorary“mayor”of Sochi’s athletes’ village, backtracked a day later after being vilified in the press, claiming she had been “misunderstood”. The comedian and actor Stephen Fry compared

Calls for a Sochi boycott have been rebuffed by the international community. By Yaroslava Kiryuhina and Paul Carroll the treatment of gays in Russia to Nazi Germany’s persecution of the Jews in an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, and was subsequently joined by fellow actor Rupert Everett in calling for a boycott of Sochi. Mr Fry and and Mr Cameron met informally to discuss the issue at a London pub in an encounter quickly dubbed the “gay rights pub summit” by the British media. But for all the sound and fury, it seems that, for the moment at least, the Sochi organisers can rest easily. Mr Cameron has made clear that he opposes a boycott; so has President Barack Obama, amid rising calls for action in the United States. However, arguably the most influential voice raised against a ban was that of Lord Coe, who as chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic games received many international plaudits for the unqualified success of London 2012. He insisted during a visit to this month’s World Athletics Championships in Moscow that sporting boycotts never achieved their goals, saying: “The only thing they do is damage the ambition of athletes and the rights of young competitors who often

The most influential voice raised against a Sochi ban was that of Lord Coe

spend over half their lives devoted to that moment.” Indeed, back in the summer of 1980 (as Sebastian Coe), he defied a western boycott over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to win Olympic gold in the 1,500 metres in Moscow. The International Olympic Committee has released a statement saying that it would “work to ensure” there was no discrimination against LGBT participants at the Games. Russian ministers are adamant that the law will remain in force during the Olympics, but insist equally that neither gay competitors nor spectators have anything to fear from it. These assurances, however, underline how differently the two sides view the whole question of homosexuality. Russian ministerial voices have compared it to alcoholism and drug abuse in seeking to justify the law in terms of protecting minors. Alexander Zhukov, head of Russia’s National Olympic Committee, tried to allay the fears of participating athletes by stressing that the law would only be used to defend against “propaganda”, saying: “If a person does not put across his views in the presence of children, no measures against him can be taken.

People of non-traditional sexual orientations can take part in the competitions and all other events at the Games unhindered, without any fear for their safety whatsoever.” While attitudes towards the LGBT community have shifted radically in the West in recent years, Russia remains a highly conservative society, and the law reflects majority opinion in a country where gay pride marches have been routinely banned by local authorities for years. The latest polls from the All-Russian Public Opinion Centre (VTSIOM) found 88pc of respondents supported the law and 54pc believed that homosexuality should be criminalised. However, given that 84pc of respondents opposed “gay propaganda” even though 94pc had never encountered it, it seems that ignorance as much as prejudice informs the view of many ordinary Russians. Same-sex sexual relations were decriminalised in Russia in 1993 when the country’s“anti-sodomy law” (which dated back to 1934) was revoked. Homosexuality was removed from Russia’s official code of mental illnesses in 1999. But the rainbow flag, symbol of the gay movement in the West, is still viewed with suspicion in Russia. The law prohibits “the spreading of information” which aims to: (1) create non-traditional sexual attitudes among children; (2) make non-traditional CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Politics & Society P2_Tuesday, August 27, 2013_www.rbth.ru

Battle for Moscow: mayoral contest becomes a clash of political cultures Election race Kremlin ally faces convicted opposition leader Navalny after date switch rules out Prokhorov

NEWS IN BRIEF

Growth and jobs on the menu at G20 table THE QUOTES

It’s not enough to be a good speaker to make a good mayor. Sobyanin personifies stability, he’s no demagogue, he’s working to have utilities repaired and new roads built. OLGA KRYSHTANOVSKAYA SOCIOLOGIST

YULIA PONOMAREVA RBTH

A political contest for control of Europe’s largest city has become a straight fight between the Kremlin-backed mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, and the opposition activist Alexei Navalny. The election for Mayor of Moscow on September 8 will be the first for 10 years: elections were scrapped in 2004 in favour of presidential selection. The vote was restored last year as a concession to the tens of thousands of anti-government protesters who took to the streets of Moscow and other cities to demand fair elections after complaints of vote-rigging in the parliamentary election of 2011. Mr Sobyanin was appointed mayor in 2010 in place of his long-serving predecessor Yuri Luzhkov, who was sacked by the then President Dmitry Medvedev. He replaced most of Mr Luzhkov’s old guard in the City Hall with a team set on modernising Moscow by revamping its transport infrastructure and improving its public spaces, something it has actively sought to do during his mayoralty. Mr Navalny, 37, represents another generation of political campaigner, and has risen to prominence largely through internet activism and his leading role in the anti-government street protests. The next contest for the mayoralty of the city of 15 million had been scheduled for 2015, at the end of the incumbent’s five-year term. But Mr Sobyanin, former governor of Tyumen, Russia’s richest oil-producing province, and ex-chief of staff to President Putin, surprised many by announcing in June that he would seek early re-election to “boost [his] legitimacy among Muscovites”.This was a reversal of his view in February, when Mr Sobyanin, 55, declared:“Our polls show that 70-80pc of Muscovites don’t want early elections.”

The next G20 Summit will be held on September 5-6 in St Petersburg, and will concentrate on improving economic stability. Russia’s objective during its presidency of the G20 has been to concentrate the efforts of members in boosting sustainable, longterm economic growth and job creation. One of the central themes of the programme is reform of tax systems. Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said that regulatory authorities have developed solutions that seek to prevent new financial crises. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said: “We hope that countries at the G20 Summit in St Petersburg will accept unilateral and bilateral duties to fulfill the new rules.”

Alexei is a courageous guy. He's got drive, he's a genuine fighter, and I like that in him. He is a fantastic, if you like, cleaner, corruption fighter, but as a creator he is weak. MIKHAIL PROKHOROV HEAD OF THE CIVIC PLATFORM PARTY

Navalny’s sentence looks less like punishment than an attempt to isolate him from society and the electoral process. ALEXEI KUDRIN FORMER FINANCE MINISTER

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Ban on UK foods may end Russia’s 27-year ban on imports from the UK of products made from cows, sheep and goats might soon be lifted, according to the veterinary surveillance service Rosselkhoznadzor. This possibility was mentioned during negotiations between the Rosselkhoznadzor deputy chief, Yevgeny Nepoklonov, and the UK chief veterinary officer Nigel Gibbens. According to Mr Nepoklonov, experts at Rosselkhoznadzor

reacted positively to information presented by their British counterparts on a control and traceability system for the safety of meat byproducts. This will make it possible to lift the ban in the near future. Russia imposed the ban in response to the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, in the UK. A ban on meat supplies from Britain was lifted last November after 26 years.

Knock-out blow

Exposing corruption The most recent survey by pollsters Synovate Comcon found that of the 58pc of respondents who intended to vote, more than 63pc would back Mr Sobyanin, who represents the ruling United Russia party, followed by Mr Navalny with 20pc. Support for the other four candidates was in single figures. A second round between the top two candidates will be held if neither gets more than 50pc of the vote. Mr Navalny became famous as an internet blogger exposing corruption in Russia’s biggest state-owned companies. In 2010, he built a network of lawyers, financed through crowdfunding, to search for shady contracts in the government procurement system and blow the

New Pussy Riot appeal PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO(2)

The early poll meant his strongest potential rival, the billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, who came second to Mr Putin in Moscow in the 2012 presidential election, could not stand. A law took effect in June banning elected officials from holding accounts and business assets abroad. Mr Prokhorov had planned to return foreign assets to Russia by 2014, so that he could run for the city council as a launch pad for the mayor’s office, but said that he could not do so in time to qualify for the election. “The government could have had only one solid reason to call a snap election – both the Kremlin and Sobyanin feel a bit too wary about the future,” said Lilia Shevtsova, a senior political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Centre. “The government can’t rule out facing growing discontent among Muscovites in the near future as Russia is entering a period of recession, making a rise in protest sentiment inevitable.”

Head-to-head: Mr Sobyanin, left, and Mr Navalny are contesting a poll brought forward from 2015

whistle on corrupt officials. He claims that his foundation’s investigations have resulted in the cancellation of government contracts worth 59 billion roubles (£1.14bn). However, Mr Navalny himself has been the target of five criminal investigations in the past 18 months, which have been viewed as politically motivated by some observers. In July, he was found guilty of embezzling 16 million roubles (£310,000) from a state-owned logging company in Kirov, where he had acted as adviser to the regional governor in 2009, and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction in a highly controversial trial prompted thousands of supporters to take to the streets near the Kremlin in Moscow in protest. To widespread surprise, just 24 hours after pressing for his imprisonment, prosecutors returned to court to argue that Mr Navalny should be freed while he appealed against his conviction. His release made it possible for him to run in the mayoral election.

Gaining recognition “It was Sobyanin that plucked Navalny from jail,” said Igor Bunin, president of the Moscow-based Centre for Political Technologies.

“Sobyanin needs to show that these elections are transparent and competitive to legitimise his win. To this end, he let a top Russian blogger run.” Usually persona non grata on state television, the main source of news for 87pc of Russians, Mr Navalny is using every opportunity to spread his message – that putting an end to corruption will save the budget hundreds of millions of roubles that would be used for the benefit of Muscovites. At televised candidate debates, in which Mr Sobyanin has refused to take part, Mr Navalny spoke of pervasive government corruption. Mr Navalny has raised a total of 49 million roubles (£950,000) in donations for his campaign and has 14,000 volunteers who distribute leaflets and newspapers around Moscow. Every day, Mr Navalny holds up to five openair meetings with voters near metro stations in different districts of the city. What began as a campaign to legitimise Mr Sobyanin as mayor has gradually legitimised Mr Navalny as the incumbent’s main opponent. One key question is whether Mr Navalny will be jailed after the election, which might have the effect of turning him into a political prisoner in many people’s eyes.

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After 2005, the Kremlin sought to assemble a pantheon of symbols of Russian greatness. In it were placed medieval military commander Alexander Nevsky; Stalin; Lenin; cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin; the most popular Russian saint, Seraphim of Sarov; and Second World War hero Marshal Zhukov. Nicholas II was also in this pantheon. The attempt to give a more cohesive, patriotic account of the past turned out to be more successful than during the Yeltsin era. But reaching this point was costly. In the second half of the decade there were many TV discussions on the greatness of Stalin and his generals. Nicholas II – as the last emperor, as the symbol of a special understanding of Russian power – does not now stand out from other Russian rulers as a controversial figure, despite the tragic circumstances of his demise. Discussion in Russia’s media focuses more on the victory in the Second World War and the role Stalin played in it than the economic progress made during Nicholas’s reign. Russia remains deeply divided over the consequences of the overthrow of the tsar. For 70 years, Nicholas and the idea of monarchy was seen in terms of class hatred. The Soviet collapse brought a resurgence of feeling for tradition among more conservative social groups, but little demand for restoration. Public appreciation of Nicholas may continue to increase over time, but the reign of the last monarch marks a definite break in Russia’s history.

THE POLL

How has the overthrow of the monarchy affected Russia’s progress?

SOURCE:RBTH.RU

History written in blood: the killers hailed as Soviet heroes YAN SHENKMAN RBTH

The men who led the murder of the last tsar in 1918 were proud of their role in Russia’s history. The memoirs of Yakov Yurovsky and Mikhail Medvedev-Kudrin describe in great detail the night when Nicholas II and his family were killed. Both held important jobs in the Soviet Union until their deaths. Yurovsky was superintendent of Ipatyev House in Sverdlovsk, where the royal family was held by the Soviet regime. He headed the firing squad and claimed personally to have fired the shot that killed the Tsar. A jeweller by profession, he was determined to find the Tsar’s diamonds and partly succeeded; after the bodies of the Tsarinas were searched, about eight kilograms of jewellery were discovered sewn into their clothes. Yurovksy later served as chairman of the Urals Regional Emergency Committee (forerunner of the Soviet NKVD) and as head of the gold directorate at the State Reserve. He died in the Kremlin hospital, which was reserved for top government officials. Some who took part in the murders stayed lifelong friends and often dined together. Yurovsky arrived at one party in triumphant mood. He had just received a book published in the West, which said he killed Nicholas. Medvedev-Kudrin toured provincial universities in the Thirties, regaling students with his account of killing the Tsar. At meetings with law students at Moscow State University, he told how he and his fellow Bolsheviks saved ammunition by using bayonets to finish off their class enemies. In the late Fifties he was awarded a pension of 4,500 roubles, a vast sum. MedvedevKudrin’s memoir of the murder of the royal family, addressed to the then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, was never published. In it, Medvedev insisted he deserved the credit for murdering the Tsar. He was buried with military honours at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery. He left the Browning pistol that was used to shoot Nicholas II to Khrushchev. Another member of the firing squad, Isai Radzinsky, recorded his memoirs on tape. He recalled the morning after the execution when the killers decided to retrieve the bodies of the Romanovs from a mine near Yekaterinburg where they had temporarily been hidden. Radzinsky said: “One man went into the water with ropes and dragged the bodies from the

Yakov Yurovsky, the jeweller who said his shot killed the tsar, was put in charge of Soviet gold stocks

Mikhail MedvedevKudrin lectured at universities on the killing of Nicholas II

water. The first body to be dragged out was that of Nicholas,” he said.“The water was so cold that the faces of the bodies turned redcheeked, as if they were still alive… The lorry got stuck in the mud, we barely got it out… And then a thought came to us, and we acted upon it… We decided this was the perfect place… so we dug up that mud, poured sulphuric acid on the bodies… defaced them… We buried only some of the bodies in the pit, the others we burned… We burned Nicholas’s body, that I remember well.” In the early Eighties,Yuri Andropov, then head of the KGB, liked to listen to the testimonies of the Tsar’s killers. It is rumoured that the recordings are still in the archives of Russia’s security services.

The Romanovs www.rbth.ru_Tuesday, August 27, 2013_P5

Diplomacy King George V appoints his cousin the Tsar a field marshal to shore up faltering alliance against Germany

Royal ties that kept Russia in the fight NIKOLAI GORSHKOV

ALEXEI VLADYKIN(2)

Shooting the past: the rehabilitation of a royal family in 200 pictures In focus The Tsar’s Cross, a book by the Yekaterinburg photographer Alexei Vladykin, represents two decades’ work documenting the restoration of the Romanov dynasty’s public reputation

PROFILE

Alexei Vladykin

ILYA KROL RBTH

As a child, Alexei Vladykin would walk to school in his native Yekaterinburg past Ipatyev House, the place where the royal family was executed, without even knowing it. The building had been demolished in 1977 at the suggestion of KGB chief Yuri Andropov, a move approved unanimously by the ruling Soviet Politburo. “I have no recollection of it being pulled down,” says Vladykin.“But I remember vividly years later, as a photojournalist, I travelled to the editorial office past an unkempt abandoned lot. And that at some point, a wooden cross was erected on the spot.” The cross was put up by a local man, Anatoly Gomzikov. Vladykin recalls: “There were even plans among some officials and businessmen to build a casino on Voznesenskaya Gorka (Ascension Hill). Gomzikov was one of those who helped thwart those plans. He was a strong believer in God, an elderly man who had had his ups and downs in life, but had never lost his dignity – unlike those who broke down the wooden cross just a few days later.” A metal cross was erected in its place, and a year later, in 1992, residents and clergymen gathered to lay the first stone of the Church on the Blood at the site. “I was taking pictures knowing that they would never be published; they were sure to be rejected by editors on ideological grounds,” says Vladykin.“But the events certainly had historical value, so I felt obligated to document them and then just shelved the negatives for the next 20 years.” The cathedral was consecrated on June 16, 2003.“The most emotionally charged photos I made were of Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya,”Vladykin says of the

PROFESSION: PHOTOJOURNALIST AGE: 48 ACTIVE CAREER: 1980S-PRESENT

The procession of people stretched for several streets. People held flowers, icons and whispered: ‘Forgive us’

ceremony.“They vividly convey the emphatic pain many people feel about the tragic death of the royal family.” Vladykin also photographed the head of the team that investigated the authenticity of the remains of the royal family, Vladimir Solovyov. They first met in 1996, when the photographer asked whether the remains were really those of the Romanovs. “He answered that there could be no doubt about it. I asked then if I could take a few pictures. I remember him taking me to the laboratory where several glass sarcophagi stood. He took me to the one that was open at the time and said it contained the remains of Grand Duchess Anastasia.” Two years later, Vladykin watched as Yekaterinburg bade farewell to the royal family.“The fragments of their bodies were put in short coffins,” he says.“Two of them – the Emperor’s and the Empress’s – were covered with state flags. The procession of people stretched for several streets. “People held flowers, icons and postcards with the Romanovs on them and whispered: ‘Forgive us.’” The remains of Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia were moved to St Petersburg and reinterred in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The burial sites of Tsarevich Alexei and Duchess Maria were not discovered until 2007 in the Porosenkov Log village near Yekaterinburg. Although investigators have no doubts that the remains belong to Nicholas’s children, the body fragments are still kept in the Russian State Archive. “I met Solovyov recently again and gave him a copy of my album. I asked him when the line would finally be drawn under the tragic story,” Vladykin says.“I can remember his abrupt words: ‘I will not rest until I bury them all.’ I’d like to think this is how it is going to be.” For now, however, the line has been drawn under Vladykin’s work. His album has been published – something he could not have dreamt of under the Communist regime and even in the Nineties. “The album features some 200 photos on 176 pages, broken down into 10 chapters, each of them representing a major milestone event in my own life,” the photographer explains. “I was 27 when I took the pictures of the cross in the deserted lot, and the photos for the last chapter of the book were made two years before my 50th birthday.”

History man: images from Vladykin’s book show Anatoly Gomzikov and the cross he erected where the Romanovs were killed, main picture; the consecration of the Church on the Blood; and a 2002 meeting in Kiev to remember the Tsar’s family

The second year of the Great War proved testing for the British-Russian alliance and for relations between the two royal dynasties. The Russians suffered one setback after another throughout 1915, culminating in the “great retreat” from Poland. The patriotic frenzy of 1914 gave way to gloom and despair among the Russian public. Allegations of treason filled the air. The commander-in-chief of the Russian forces, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevich, was seen as too eager to help Britain and France by engaging the Germans on the Eastern front, at great cost in Russian lives. He was removed from his post after the loss of Poland and Tsar Nicholas II took over as commander-in-chief. This set alarm bells ringing in Paris and London. The French feared Russia would sue for peace and the British Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener expected Germany to divert armies from the Eastern front for a possible invasion of Britain. Something had to be done to prop up Russian commitment to the Allied cause. It was ironic that Russia’s enemy was under the supreme command of British field marshals: the German Kaiser and the AustroHungarian Emperor. King Edward VII bestowed the top British military rank on them in 1901 and 1903. It may have caused consternation in St Petersburg that Nicholas was passed over, despite being Edward’s nephew. Kaiser Wilhelm II was also the King’s nephew but an unloved one and his appointment as a field marshal had been a goodwill gesture that flopped. It was down to Nicholas’s cousin, King George V, to correct his father’s mistake. In December 1915, he appointed the Tsar a field marshal of the British Army amid much publicity. The appointment was announced in The London Gazette on January 1, 1916 (below) and a flurry of congratulations from Britain followed. Lord Kitchener, also a field marshal, arranged the publicity. He asked the chief British field marshal Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Queen Victoria's third son), to send a message of congratulations to the Tsar on behalf of all British field marshals. On December 31 1915, the Duke sent a

cable declaring: “We are proud to welcome among our number the head of the gallant Russian Army, our comrades in this great war.” To ensure that the Tsar understood the significance of his appointment, Kitchener sent his own cable, assuring Nicholas that “the valiant deeds of the heroic Russian Army, under the command of their illustrious chief, are watched by their comrades here with deepest interest and warmest admiration, and we beg to offer YIM (Your Imperial Majesty) our sincerest wishes for brilliant successes in the coming year.” Kitchener sent his cable in “clear” unscrambled form, apparently to annoy the Germans who were certain to intercept it.

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Family business: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, right, and his cousin Prince George, Duke of York and the future George V. The photograph was taken at the end of the 19th century

They must have been aware of frictions between Britain and Russia over the war effort. Kitchener’s cable to the Tsar was a message to Germany that the Allies were as united as ever. Whatever the German high command thought, the appointment achieved its immediate objective. In a telegram to Kitchener, Nicholas wrote of “the great honour bestowed upon me by His Majesty the King. I deeply appreciate the high appointment to be a field marshal and send my innermost wishes to our British comrades for glorious success in the coming year.” No field marshal would be complete without his baton. On January 4, the War Office wrote to Garrard & Co, asking it to “proceed with the manufacture of a field marshal’s baton for the Emperor of Russia. It should be inscribed, with accordance of the usual practice, ‘From His Majesty George V, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to Field Marshal HIM Emperor of Russia KG 1916.’”Garrard & Co responded next day that work had begun on a baton and delivered it on January 14 with a velvet case and a bill for £55. The big question was how to deliver the baton to the Tsar. General Sir Arthur Paget eventually took it by sea to the Russian port of Archangelsk, then travelled by land to Petrograd (the German-sounding St Petersburg had been renamed as a patriotic gesture). The baton was presented to the Tsar on March 1, 1916 with “all due ceremony”,wrote Major-General Sir John Hanbury-Williams, adding that “the Emperor gave a lunch for the mission and drank to the health of our King”. The Tsar was keen to meet Kitchener to resolve munitions shortages and poor liaison between the Allies. Kitchener wanted to see what was stopping Russia from procuring more guns and shells and improving its transport and communications. On June 5, 1916, he set sail for Archangelsk aboard HMS Hampshire. Tragically, the cruiser struck a mine laid by a German submarine and sank west of the Orkneys. Kitchener and most of the crew drowned or died of exposure. His body was never found. When the Tsar heard the news, he declared: “How I wish I hadn’t felt obliged to encourage him to come, but it is the fortune of war.”

A British regiment honours its lost leader Nicholas II received several honours from the British monarchy, the highest of which was Knight of the Garter. Queen Victoria invested him into the Order in 1893 before he became Emperor of Russia. In 1894, he was appointed colonel-in-chief of the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), now known as the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. His portrait in full dress uniform by Valentin Serov is displayed in the Regiment’s Museum at Edinburgh Castle. His Scots Greys tunic and bearskin hat are on show at Tsarskoe Selo near St Petersburg. The regiment still remembers its former colonelin-chief: its cap badge is always worn on a black

facing in mourning for him. The commanding officer and a regimental party were present at the burial of the Emperor’s remains in St Petersburg in 1998. The Imperial Russian Anthem is played in his memory at regimental dinners when the band is present, alongside God Save the Queen and God Bless the Prince of Wales. The regimental military band’s bass drummer still wears the distinctive white bearskin given to it by Nicholas on becoming colonel-in-chief. In May 1908, the Tsar met King Edward VII at sea off Revel (now Tallinn) and accepted the King’s appointment of as honorary admiral of the fleet of the British Navy.

Comment & Analysis P6_Tuesday, August 27, 2013_www.rbth.ru

NO POWER, NO THREAT – SO WHY SUCH AN IRRITATION TO THE WEST?

ART OF DIPLOMACY

Russia’s G20 presidency: decision time in St Petersburg

Richard Sakwa INTERNATIONAL ANALYST

Despite President Vladimir Putin’s attempts from the very first days of his leadership to “normalise’”relations between Russia and the West, relations remain fundamentally abnormal. Putin’s definition of normality was straightforward: that Russia would no longer be treated as a special case but as just another sovereign and independent country. To this end, at the first opportunity, he paid off the bulk of sovereign debt and ended various dependencies that had built up in the 1990s, for example on the IMF. At the same time, he accelerated the integration dynamics that had languished in the Yeltsin years. This included intensified relations with the European Union and, after 9/11, the attempt to create a partnership of equals with the United States. However, it soon became clear that this“normalisation”strategy would not work. Russia was unable to become just another great power. The political demands placed on the country are high, in part because Russia itself accepted these demands as part of the process of becoming a nation state in 1991, and in part because of its self-identification as a European state and a core member of the international community of nations. The systemic and identity contradictions that remain unresolved in Russia mean that“abnormal”features will remain in Russia’s relations with the western world for the foreseeable future. The language of boycotts and threats by western powers and activists only exacerbate the contradictions of the Russian polity rather than helping resolve them. Russia’s acceptance into the transatlantic community was problematic from the very beginning, hence President BorisYeltsin’s talk of a “cold peace”as early as December 1994. One of the features of this cold peace syndrome is the absurd language of resets and pauses. No normal countries would talk to each other in these terms, and it is humiliating for all parties to have degenerated to the point that they do so now. Such language is a measure of how far there is to go until normal relations can be established. It is time for a more mature relationship to be established on both sides. For the West, despite much talk about Russia’s relative marginality and insignificance, a strong relationship with Russia is essential for strategic, economic and simple diplomatic reasons. Although plenty of American senators and civil society activists seek to drag themselves from obscurity by bashing Russia – and there is always political mileage to be made out of that activity - that sort of politics is sterile and dangerous. The tragedy of recent years is that the EU has not been able to develop a distinctive voice of its own as one of the fundamental representatives of the European nations and as a mediator in transforming the transatlantic community. While Europe does have a voice of its

Alexander Yakovenko AMBASSADOR

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" Moscow can intervene in a positive manner to help resolve the impasses of the West’s own making

own, its failure to challenge the mistakes of the dominant power in the western hegemony over a whole set of issues, including the war in Iraq, has undermined its credibility as a normative power in its entirety. Of course, this allows Russia to rise to the occasion, and instead of reinforcing the marginality that its opponents wish to impose on the country, Russia can intervene in a positive manner to help resolve some of the impasses of the West’s own making. Supine subservience of the British type to American hegemony helps no one. It is the duty of a friend to point out the errors of one’s friends. Thus, Russia can reposition itself from a perceived trouble-maker to problem-solver. Both Barack Obama and Putin understand that there is no fundamental ideological divide between Russia and the West, hence talk of a new Cold War is misplaced. Yet tensions do exist that foster the atmosphere of the cold peace. From Syria to Snowden, there is no end of issues where Russia has its own views. Even though a whistle-blower is naturally not to Putin’s taste, Russia was right on normative grounds to offer him asylum, if only for a year.

Equally, Russia’s analysis of the Syrian crisis from the very beginning has been more accurate than that of the western powers. The fundamental question is whether these are normal differences of view or whether they indicate an incompatibility of strategic interests. There is little evidence of the latter. Even the West’s blunt attempts to foster the geopolitical disintegration of Eurasian space cannot be taken as a reflection of a fundamental conflict. That is simply what the western imperial powers have always done, and will continue to do until the West itself can move to a genuine “post-modern”form of international politics. The dressing up of traditional imperial ambitions in the garb of the advance of democratic governance convinces very few. The main source of Russia’s influence today is to act as a moderating force in international politics. The West has got itself into quite a few pickles and Russia can act as the broker to alleviate some of these conflicts and contradictions of western policy. Richard Sakwa is professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent

Debunking stereotypes about Russians is mission impossible

Konstantin Pinayev BLOGGER

As a middle-class Muscovite in the UK, I find it difficult to escape the notion that I’m on a mission: to prove I’m not an oligarch, hitman or benefit scrounger.

Immigration can be fun UK immigration has always been a fun topic for expat Russians living in London (I have been one for the past seven years). Every time Russians meet each other here, they inevitably end up talking about visas, passports and other papers and documents that the native population (ie, Queen Boadicea’s compatriots) doesn’t have to worry about. You can probably imagine that the current Coalition Government hasn’t exactly made our lives easier, either. Recent measures designed to limit immigration to “tens of thousands” rather than “hundreds of thousands” mean that it became virtually impossible for non-EU residents to come to live in the UK (some of my British friends are surprised that Russia is not a member of the EU, by the way). The policy creates a long-term problem by closing the door to a highly skilled workforce from abroad. Previously, the only way to get into the UK from outside the EU was to have the right qualifications, education, experience and salary level. This was the system that brought all those people who helped Britain to become an international hub for creative industries, banking and IT.

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You must prove to your British friends that you do not have an oil company back in the Motherland

Another category of migrants that has fallen victim to the new rules is Russians with UK university degrees, who previously had the opportunity to work in Britain for a year after graduation. This was a year to shine and prove to potential employers that they were worth the visa hassles it took to hire them. Now these talented people go straight back home after they receive their world-class UK qualifications. Surely they have some space left for the superbright, you say? They have. There’s a quota of 1,000 visas for the “exceptionally talented”. But how many of these visas were issued last year? The answer is: 37. I guess those people must feel really exceptional. There’s another interesting side effect of this immigration policy: Russians here live in a never-ending identity crisis. Middle-class people the world over are prone to this, but somehow it’s worse for Russians. Due to the aforementioned visa and immigration rules, you literally have to be a middle-class Russian to live here. And yet (due to some unfortunate media stereotypes), Russians living in the UK are almost always assumed to be not middle class, but one of two categories. One is a more-money-than-sense oligarch who has a model wife (plus girlfriends), private jets and billions of skeletons in numerous walk-in closets. The other one is a good old-fashioned Daily Mail migrant: an unskilled, uncultured mythical creature who somehow manages to pull off the impossible – to steal British jobs and claim benefits at the same time. So for the first five years you are in the UK, you feel like you are Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. You must prove to your British friends that you do not have an oil company back in the Motherland; that you are not planning to sue your former boss

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Cruel-but-true comedy Last year, I went to the opening of the Russian Film Festival in Piccadilly. The organisers picked a film by Boris Khlebnikov, Till Night Do Us Part, a brilliant comedy set in a Moscow restaurant. All the dialogue and characters in the film were based on real people and conversations overheard by a journalist. To me it looked like a cruel, but fairly true representation of the Moscow zeitgeist. But in a discussion that followed the film, opinions among the Russians were split down the middle. Half of them (still on the mission) were furious, because they had invited their British friends to show the cultured life of Russians in London, and what they got instead was a film that reinforced all the newspaper stereotypes: Russian women choosing between love and money, the creative class completely out of their depth, mafia types ordering hits, hungover party people and other assorted fauna. And the other half? We must have just given up on the mission. The reality for most of us Muscovite Londoners is that we just learn how to live with these ghosts. When we turn on the telly and yet another Russian billionaire has just bought yet another Premier League football club, or a London newspaper… well, you just shrug, and remember that you need to buy some nappies. Konstantin Pinayev works as a market research executive in London. He writes regularly in the popular blog, Notes of an Emigrant

John A D LoGuindince on the Russian vodka boycott Boycotts only hurt those who have nothing to do with the issue. The tax revenue raised by the Russian government from vodka exports is tuppence compared to the money they get from natural gas and minerals and countless other resources and goods. All they are doing is hurting the little guy and the stand these activists are making will fall on deaf ears.

(ex-comrade!) for billions of pounds for providing a mafia krysha, or artificial company set up to launder ill-gotten gains (yes, unfortunately, all my British friends are now familiar with this term from the Nineties); or that gunmen are not after you.

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Vlad Wardell on Russia-US relations If the ‘reset' is over, I find it very sad and scary. Russia and America are not just Putin and Obama. Is humanity doomed to repeat the same errors of judgment and system that inevitably lead to war? Are we that talentless and/or stupid that we cannot find a way to live as good brothers? Something is very wrong here.

Eric Engle on political behaviour Almost all westerners try to hold impoverished countries to the exact same standards as rich ones; that's not just unfair, it is also unrealistic. Thankfully, Russia is becoming wealthier. Russia can provide the closer understanding of the way out of poverty and lawlessness and dictatorship. It is not ‘either Russia or Europe’ it is ‘both Russia and Europe’.

rom the start, Russia proposed focusing its G20 presidency agenda on two main tasks: achieving balanced growth and job creation. Throughout our presidency, G20 experts have been assessing key global risks for sustainable growth and have developed policy actions to mitigate these challenges. To this end, at the G20 Summit on September 5-6, 2013, the St Petersburg Action Plan for Growth and Jobs is to be approved by the leaders. An updated report on the imbalances in the G20 economies, as well as a review of the progress on previous G20 commitments, will also be discussed. Decisive steps have already been taken by the G20 to strengthen global growth. But global economic recovery is still fragile, and large downside risks remain. Russia has identified stimulating economic growth and job creation as primary objectives of the G20 Summit. In addition, it is important to send the right co-ordinated signals to the markets. We should continue our dialogue regarding a future exit from non-conventional monetary and credit policies, assess their spillover impact on other countries and, possibly, create some hedging instruments for emergencies. Employment and job creation, including for vulnerable groups, are other key items of the growth agenda. Russia hosted the Joint G20 Finance and Labour Ministers’ Meeting on July 19 – the first time in G20 history that such a high-level meeting in such a format had been convened. The subsequent communiqué reflected the commitments on implementing integrated labour market policies, including employment policies and promoting job creation through investment. On the financial track, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting was held on July 19-20. Our partners, including Australia as the next G20 president, supported further work on Russia’s priority theme: financing for investment. Among the issues discussed were monetary policy challenges, medium-term budget consolidation strategies, the role of small and medium enterprises, further reform of the international financial architecture and the problems of taxation. I would also like to stress that the Outreach Strategy is an important part of Russia’s G20 presidency. It aims to win support from different outreach groups, which have all contributed to G20 policy-makers’ discussions. In May, I hosted at our Embassy in London the meeting of the Business 20 Organising Committee, comprising the chairmen of the G20 countries entrepreneurs’ associations. Later in June, the Business 20 Summit entitled “В20-G20 Partnership for Economic Growth and Employment” was held as part of the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum. The concluding event of the Civil Track of Russia’s G20 presidency was the Civil 20 Summit, held earlier in June in Moscow. Russia is the first presiding country to organise the civil society consultations process in this format and at this level. The Civil 20 recommendations are expected to be reflected in the G20 Summit agenda and Leaders’ Statement. I would not expect the G20 Summit to resolve overnight all the challenges that the global economy faces. From my perspective, however, the continued co-ordination of national macro-economic policies is worth the effort. In this regard, I am confident that G20 leaders in St Petersburg will rise to the task of promoting further economic prosperity and job creation, and strengthen the path towards a strong, sustainable and balanced growth. AlexanderYakovenko is Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He was previously Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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Culture www.rbth.ru_Tuesday, August 27, 2013_P7

Follow in the footsteps of Lewis Carroll

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Room with a view: the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral fascinated the writer in Moscow; inset, Carroll

Petrovka (1) is one of the oldaest streets in Moscow. The Bolshoi theatre is here, as well as the luxury department store TsUM. A few steps away is Teatralny Proyezd (2) where the Metropol is located – the most prestigious hotel and restaurant of Soviet times. The Kremlin (3) is 15 minutes’ walk from Petrovka – and the souvenir stands on Okhotny Ryad (4). It takes another 10 minutes to get from Okhotny Ryad to the former aristocrats’ mansions on Voznesensky Pereulok (5). It's a short taxi ride to Novodevichy Convent (6) and to Universitetskaya Ploshad (7) for its panoramic view over the city.

A wonderland of giants and surprises Travelogue Fervently describing the author’s big adventure in Moscow and St Petersburg, Lewis Carroll’s Russian Journal remains a fascinating guide for the modern traveller ALENA TVERITINA RBTH

The only time the author Lewis Carroll travelled outside the British Isles was when he took a trip to Russia – and threw himself into an adventure as impetuously as Alice did when venturing down the rabbit hole. The role of the White Rabbit was played by Carroll’s friend and colleague Henry Liddon. On July 4, 1867, Liddon suggested to Carroll that they visit Russia, and, just one week later, they set off. Some researchers have suggested that this is where Carroll got the idea for Through the Looking-Glass. Even if he did not, one thing is clear: the country made a big impression on the writer, who recounted his experiences in his Russian Journal. First it was St Petersburg, the“city of giants” with its wide streets (“even the secondary streets are wider than any in London”); then Moscow, where he spent two weeks; and Nizhny Novgorod, where he and Liddon dashed to the fair, naively hoping to get there and back in a day. Carroll spent his time in Russia with the palpable enthusiasm of someone making a new discovery, excitedly transcribing long words, such as zashchishchaiushchikhsya, into his notebook, haggling enthusiastically with cab drivers and writing vivid descriptions of Orthodox churches. Those in Moscow he thought “outwardly resembled cactuses with sprouts in various colours”,seeing their domes as “curved mirrors” in which “pictures of the city’s life are reflected”. The English writer also busied himself with meeting Orthodox clergy, sampling the black bread eaten by the monks (“undoubtedly edible, but not appetising”), rattling over

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