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Wednesday, September 18, 2013 there is an opposition leader.

there is a tropical Moscow summer.

there is a Russia of your choice. REUTERS

LOOK WHO'S HERE! IMPERIAL BALLET IS TOURING 24 AUSTRALIAN CITIES

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MOST READ Putin appoints new minister for flood-stricken Far East http://rbth.asia/48763

PUBLIC OPINION

PICTURES AND NUMBERS

Is Moscow losing its appeal?

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With a population nearing the 12 million mark, Moscow is the most populous city in Europe.

Only 15 per cent of Russians think that Moscow is an attractive city to live in, according to a recent survey by the state-run Russia Public Opinion Research Center. And even fewer (11 per cent) would like to live in the country's “cultural capital”, St Petersburg. The majority of respondents (65 per cent) said they would prefer to live in smaller towns because the country’s capital had become too crowded. Moscow has a population of almost 12 million residents. Moscow still seems to be attractive place to live for foreigners, however, even though it is ranked the world’s second-most expensive city for expatriates. About 1 million foreign residents are officially registered with migration authorities in Moscow and 1.5 million in surrounding areas, according to the Federal Migration Service, although it is estimated the actual number of foreign residents could be twice that.

RUSSIA'S LOCAL ELECTIONS OPPOSITION CANDIDATES STIR UP POLLS Several opposition leaders entered Russia's political stage in local elections on September 8. Liberal campaigner Yevgeny Roizman won the mayoral election in Yekaterinburg and Alexey Navalny, the anti-corruption blogger convicted of embezzlement in July, came second in Moscow's mayoral race.

27.2 51.3 per cent of the Moscow vote gave opposition leader Alexey Navalny second place. Navalny, however, has demanded a recount, saying the results were rigged.

ARMS

Trials of new nuclear submarines halted

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BIENNALE

Australian art on show

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Six Australian artists will exhibit their work at Moscow’s Biennale of Contemporary Art, running from September 20 to October 20. The artists, husband-andwife team Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan and Richard Bell from Queensland, Jumaadi Jumaadi and Simryn Gill from New South Wales and Gosia Wlodarczak from Victoria, have all received visual arts grants from the Australia Council for the Arts.

Gosia Wlodarczak's work.

Moscow’s Biennale will feature works by 72 artists from 40 countries, many of them exhibiting in Russia for the first time. Its main theme, chosen by curator Catherine de Zegher, who also curated the Australian Pavilion at this year’sVenice Biennale and co-directed last year’s Sydney Biennale, is “More Light”. De Zegher told the Art Newspaper that“one or two” artists had intended to pull out of the Bienniale because they opposed Russia’s new national anti-gay propaganda law. However, she said she had persuaded them to reconsider.

after 2018, Borei-class submarines will become the basis of Russia’s naval strategic nuclear forces. The causes of the failed launch will be investigated by a special commission. The Bulava’s track record has been hit and miss. Including this failed launch, eight of 19 Bulava test launches have been officially declared unsuccessful.

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bat readiness and not to fail when it really matters. “As for failed tests, they do happen, as we see in the US too: the GBI interceptor missile has been undergoing tests for 20 years and every other launch fails to hit its target.” Litovkin does say, however, that there is likely to be delays in the timetable of bringing the new submarines into service. It is expected that

An Australian in Russia. New blog by Errol Chopping RBTH.ASIA/AUSTRALIAN_IN_RUSSIA

MINING

Uranium buy Russia's nuclear corporation Rosatom will buy out the owner of the Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia, Uranium One, after Rosatom's offer was accept e d by t h e C a n a d i a n company's shareholders. The deal will be completed in the September quarter. A Rosatom subsidiary already owns 49 per cent of Uranium One and, once the deal is completed, it will become the mine's sole owner.

ITAR-TASS

carry the Bulava, would be put on hold. These submarines had previously been expected to come into service in the Russian Navy by the end of this year. The editor of the Independent Military Review, Viktor Litovkin, believes that this month’s failed launch will not seriously affect the construction of new Borei-class submarines. The Russian Navy has plans to have eight of them by 2018. “It is unfortunate, but it’s not the end of the world,” Litovkin said. “The most important thing is for the submarines and for the missile to be in full com-

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu has put on hold trials of two nuclear submarines following the unsuccessful launch at the beginning of this month of a Bulava – a submarinelaunched ballistic missile (SLBM) developed for the Russian Navy and deployed in 2013 on the new Borei class of ballistic missile nuclear submarines in Russia. The Bulava carries up to 10 warheads with a range of more than 8000 kilometres. Shoygu announced that state trials of the Borei-class Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh submarines, which were designed to

per cent of the vote allowed Kremlin-backed Sergey Sobyanin to narrowly win a second term in office. He called the polls the fairest and most open in Moscow's history.

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MOST READ Debate about NGOs being foreign agents continues http://rbth.co.uk/29623

Russia's new legislation on NGOs is attacked as 'crazy law' as organisations appeal against fines

'Foreign agents' weeded out The Western media have described amendments to Russia's laws on nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) as amounting to a “witch-hunt”. YAROSLAVA KIRYUKHINA RBTH

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A series of amendments to laws governing NGOs in Russia were passed by the State Duma last November. The amended laws included On Public Associations, 1995; On Non-commercial Organisations, 1996; and On Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, 2002). These amendments required that any foreign-funded NGOs engaged in political activity in Russia must register as “foreign agents” with Russia’s Justice Ministry. Failing to do so could result in fines of up to $16,000 for organisations and $11,000 for individuals, and up to two years imprisonment for NGO staff. In theory, the law was not supposed to affect NGOs working in the areas of religion, science, culture, art or social work. Instead, it was directed at foreign organisations which were seeking to influence public opinion and government decision-making. NGOs who meet the criteria for a“foreign agent”must also disclose on any material they distribute that they are “foreign agents”. They also need to periodically inform the authorities of their activities and finances. The Russian government says the amended laws are modelled on the US Foreign Agents Registration Act

Protestor with a placard reading: "Amendments to legislature on NGOs – the path to a fascist state". rbth.asia/48755

Failure to comply could also result in up to two years imprisonment for NGO staff. Golos was forced to pay around $US10,000 for failing to register as a "foreign agent".

(FARA) 1938. However, the Russian version has been criticised for its ambiguity and greater scope for application. The government has maintained that the legislation is necessary to prevent foreign “meddling”in Russian political life and to ensure transparency in regard to NGO activities in Russia. The amendments were passed by the State Duma with 374 deputies supporting them, three opposing and one abstaining. One of the authors of the bill, Deputy Alexander Si-

Attitudes towards 'foreign agents' have deteriorated

Public opinion on NGOs is divided Polls suggest that about half the Russian population support amendments to the bill which governs nongovernmental organisations. GLEB FEDOROV RBTH

ITAR-TASS

Some 14 per cent of Russians fully support and 35 per cent are generally in favour of the new amendments to the law on NGOs, which has been dubbed “the law on foreign agents”, according to a Levada Centre survey released in July. Only 20 per cent of those polled said they opposed the amendments and as many as 30 per cent were undecided. Nevertheless, public support for tighter restrictions on

NGOs does not mean that Russians are opposed to their work. Some 51 per cent said their assessment of the activities of NGOs was generally positive, and only 19 per cent gave a negative assessment. Polls suggest that the image of NGOs in Russia has de-

clined over the past year, since the law on NGOs was amended last November. A proportion of Russians think that some NGOs bring real benefits, particularly those working in charity (35 per cent), social problems (31 per cent) and human rights (20 per cent). At the same time, Russians have limited information about NGOs. Only 16 per cent were clear about what they are, 52 per cent said they had a general idea and 29 per cent knew nothing about them. "Foreign agent" is written on the wall of this Moscowbased NGO. The term "foreign agent" has Cold War associations of espionage.

dyakin from the ruling party United Russia, stressed that the amendments allow for better public scrutiny of the activities of those NGOs who qualify as “foreign agents”. “The bill doesn't ban foreign financing; it just calls for honesty,” said United Russia Deputy Irina Yarovaya – a vocal supporter of the bill. “We would say our name introducing ourselves to others; NGOs should do the same.” Human Rights Watch says Russia is using the legislation to“curtail a broad range

of work” undertaken by NGOs. “It’s a crazy law,” said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group.“It’s an attack on civil society and democracy. They want to make us look like traitors in the eyes of our own citizens.” Human-rights campaigners say that the term “political activity” is being interpreted broadly and has even come to include organisations involved in wildlife preservation and those working to counter discrimination against LGBT communities.

Earlier this year Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that 650 Russian NGOs received about $US1 billion in foreign funding in 2013 alone. Details have not been publicly released. Putin’s remarks followed a nationwide inspection of hundreds of NGOs which began in March. According to estimates, up to 2000 organisations have been checked by officials, although only about 1 per cent of them (22) were classified as “foreign agents”. Several groups, including Russian branches of Human Rights Watch and Transparency International, filed complaints, saying that the Russian State Prosecutors’ actions were illegal. These groups are now waiting for their complaints to be heard. Ironically, an environmental group working to protect cranes and storks in Siberia was one NGO that got the “foreign agent”label, despite the fact that Putin is Russia's best-known campaigner for the protection of these birds. The first organisation fined for non-compliance was Russia’s only independent election-monitoring organisation, the Golos Association, forced to pay about $US10,000. The Kostroma Centre for Civic Initiatives Support was also fined. It maintained in its appeal at the Constitutional Court that the ambiguous definition of “political activity”in the legislation’s wording had implications for citizens’ constitutional rights. The Presidential HumanRights Council has the same view – its head, Mikhail Fedotov, has tried to persuade Putin to remove the term“foreign agent” from the law. However, Putin has stayed resolute, saying the terms will remain but will be better explained.

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Red tape The State Duma has attracted criticism for the record amount of new legislation passed during the spring session

ALEKSANDR KOLESNICHENKO LOREMASER

The national anti-gay propaganda law was particularly controversial, with critics pointing out contradictions within the legislation and its – apparent – aims and the potential for human-rights abuses occurring as a result of key terms such as “propaganda” not being clearly defined. One sharp-tongued political analyst, Andrey Piontkovskiy, dubbed the State Duma “a jet printer gone berserk ... [it has been] spewing out a huge number of damaging, half-baked and simply stupid laws”, he said. An example is the Duma’s recent attempt to declare an amnesty for a large number of prisoners convicted of white-collar crimes. The initiative has been a failure. The original idea was to legislate the release of 110,000 to 120,000 entrepreneurs who had been jailed for various business crimes. However, the final version of the law was so badly constructed that only 300 prisoners will now be granted early releases. The Russian parliament consists of a lower house (the Duma), and an upper house (the Federation Council), which can veto bills adopted by the Duma. The Duma has 450 members, representing various political parties, elected using a proportional representation

system, while the Federation Council has two members from each of Russia’s 83 regions. Once a bill has been adopted by the Duma and approved by the Federation Council, it then goes to the president to be signed; the president also has the right of veto. Once a bill has been signed and published in the government daily newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, it comes into force immediately, unless it is otherwise specified in the legislation itself. Bills can be introduced for the Duma’s consideration by Duma members, Federation Council members, the president, the Cabinet, regional legislatures and Russia’s high courts, including the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the High Court of Arbitration. As of early September 2013, there were 1704 bills waiting to be heard in the Duma, and 836 of them had been introduced by Duma members, 455 by regional parliaments, 183 by Federation Council members, 181 by Cabinet, only 34 by the President and 15 by the Supreme Court and the High Court of Arbitration. During this year’s spring parliamentary session (which ran from January to July), the Duma heard a record 639 bills. Out of them, 261 were passed.That’s more laws than Russia’s second post-Soviet parliament approved in its whole term of office (from 1995 to 1999), during which a total of 223 bills were passed. Some laws approved this year include a ban on foreign same-sex couples adopting Russian children; criminal re-

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party (1). Duma deputies during a parliamentary session (2, 3).

How laws are passed in Russia

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

Russia's lower house, the State Duma, set a record this summer, having passed 261 new bills – many of which have attracted controversy and criticism.

AFP/EASTNEWS

Law-making in Russia: the tricks of the trade

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

The State Duma has become a "jetprinter gone beserk," says political analyst Andrey Piontkovskiy.

sponsibility for defiling religious sites and damaging religious texts; and a huge increase in fines for traffic violations, with the most expensive fine increasing from 50 0 0 roubles to 50,0 0 0

($US1500). As well, media outlets now risk being closed down if they publish swear words, smoking has been banned in apartment stairwells and it is now compulsory for websites to take down pirated audio and video materials. “The highlight of the spring session of the Russian Duma was an ostentatious crusade for morality in an effort to distract the public’s attention from oppressive new laws,” argued Pavel Salin, head of the Centre for Political Stud-

ies. “The government is now looking to see how the public reacts, to decide whether to risk any further crackdown measures,” he said. What are the chances of a bill being approved once it has been introduced to the Duma? That depends to a large degree on who introduced it. The majority of seats (238 out of 450 – equivalent to a little over half) are held by the ruling United Russia Party. Because deputies must vote in accordance with their party, the Duma therefore invariably approves all bills submitted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It also backs most bills from the Cabinet. And, in contrast, it rejects more than 90 per cent of bills proposed by its own members, Federation Council members and regional legislatures. Mark Urnov, a lead researcher at the Applied Political Sciences Department of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, says lawmaking has become the prerogative of the Russian Cabinet and the President’s office. “That’s where everything is decided, even before a proposed bill gets to parliament,”he said.“That’s also where all the lobbying is done in Russia.” Once a bill has been heard in parliament, it takes three separate hearings for it to be passed. The only exception is the federal budget, which requires four hearings. During the first hearing the parliament approves the overall principles of a bill. In the second, it approves or rejects any amendments. And in the third it polishes the final wording.

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Russia's regional jurisdictions are governed by highly centralised control, particularly in relation to taxes and budgets

Federal system not without tensions Australia’s federal system is relatively straightforward compared to Russia's, where as a legacy of Soviet structures there are no less than 83 regional jurisdictions.

Federal divisions within the Russian Federation

LYUDMILA NAZDRACHEVA

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

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Russia’s regional jurisdictions were formally established in The Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993; they comprise 46 oblasts (provinces), nine krais (territories), 21 republics, four autonomous okrugs (districts), two federal cities (Moscow and St Petersburg) and a Jewish autonomous oblast. Russian federal terminology is confusing – even for Russians. Russia's different federal classifications relate to history, geography and ethnicity. Oblasts are usually provinces surrounding a large city, and krais are generally located on Russia’s borders, since krai means edge. Okrugs, on the other hand, are usually established in an area because of an ethnic majority or significant minority. Each federal jurisdiction has its own legislature and governor and the power to make local by-laws. In a similar process to the State Duma, new legislation is heard three times in regional parliaments before it is passed, and then it comes into force only when it has been signed by the local governor. The sole limitation over the scope of judicial decisionmaking is that regional bylaws must not conflict with national laws. The internationally controversial anti-gay propaganda law adopted by the Russian State Duma this year actually followed a series of similar laws being adopted in Russia at regional level. St Petersburg outlawed gay propaganda in 2012, and the Ryazan Oblast had outlawed it since 2006. “Regional by-laws in Russia differ only in small details,”said Dmitry Sandakov, a political analyst and former member of the Astrakhan city legislature. “We don't have the big [legislative] variation like you see state by state in the US, for example. “Even if you go to an ethnic autonomous republic, there aren’t any local by-laws that contradict federal laws. And that’s because the only real difference between ethnic autonomous regions and other Russian regions is that they can introduce their own ethnic language as a second official language after Russian.” However, in some ethnic republics, people also live by and implement unofficial judicial systems, such as Sharia law, as is the case in parts of Chechnya. This is an un-

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (right) at a party summit in the republic of Yakutia.

easy and unresolved feature of Russian federalism. “The Russian provinces are all very different,” said Vladimir Kaganskiy of the Institute of Geography in

Russia has a distinct and dominant central point which is surrounded by a large periphery. Moscow.“This creates considerable difficulties in terms of governance. Ruling a country like this requires different strategies and methods of implementation [in different areas]. “In terms of the structure of its territory, the Russian Federation is [still] essential-

ly, an empire.” Russia has a distinct and dominant central point which is surrounded by a large periphery. A sense of centre-periphery polarisation is palpable. The finances of Russia’s regions are centrally controlled. Russia has always had donor and recipient regions, and the latter only survive because of ongoing subsidies from the national government. In 2007, 19 regions were in the“donor”category. By 2012, that number had dropped to 11, and this year to 10. It is widely thought that this shift relates to budgetary reforms in 2004 and 2005, as a result of which a larger proportion of tax revenue collected from the regions got channelled into the national budget. The reforms reduced the amount

of locally collected tax available to regional budgets from about half to a third. Now two-thirds of locally collected taxes go to Moscow. As a result, only a small number of regions are managing to stay afloat financially. They rely heavily on national subsidies and struggle to maintain infrastructure, health and social support services. Not everyone in Russia is happy with this set-up. Russia’s most economically successful regions have always been the cities of Moscow and St Petersburg, the republic of Tatarstan, the oblasts of Moscow, Leningrad, Sakhalin, Samara and Tyumen and the Nenetskiy, Khanty-Mansi and YamaloNenetskiy autonomous districts.

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MOST READ Price of Gazprom gas for China not to be linked to Henry Hub index http://rbth.asia/48731

Russian investments in Australian mining and metal production have so far been unprofitable

Metal giants pause Australian activity

REUTERS

Australia has about $US1.588 billion worth of ore and metal reserves, the third largest reserves in the world after South Africa and the Russian Federation.

Falling metal prices and the global economic slowdown have contributed to Russia's investment in Australia's mining and metals industries getting off to a slow start. EKATERINA DROBININA RBTH

However, following Australia’s federal election and new Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcement that the carbon tax will be gone in three years, this is soon likely to be a non-issue for the Russian metal giant. Abbott’s planned abolition of the carbon tax comes in the face of overwhelming evidence that carbon emissions are contributing to irreversible climate change and despite the fact that Australia has the largest CO2 emissions per capita in the world.

Russian companies in Australia

Unsuccessful takeover

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

Although Australia started to become attractive to Russian investors several years ago, economic cooperation between the two countries has recently slowed. According to official Russian statistics, in the first three months of 2013 trade turnover fell by almost 40 per cent to $US227 million, compared to the same period in 2012. In addition, supplies of crude oil (Russia’s main export to Australia) also decreased, because of a slowd o w n i n A u s t r a l i a ’s oil-refining sector. Despite recent declines, overall the Australian dollar has strengthened since 2010 relative to the US dollar, making refinery operating costs too high. At the same time, supplies of alumina (which make up 40 per cent of Australian exports to Russia) have fallen because Russia’s largest aluminium producer, UC RUSAL, is slowing down its metal production as costs have been overtaking sale values. This has largely been due to the slowdown in the global economy and the fall in metal prices. But before the 2008 financial crisis, metal prices were at a record high and Australia was one of the world's richest countries in terms of metal and ore reserves – and was therefore an important mar-

ket for Russian metal giants. According to a Citibank report, Australia’s ore and metal reserves are worth $US1.588 billion – the world's third largest reserves after South Africa and Russia. I n 2 0 0 5 , U C RU S A L (which is now traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange) became the first company to substantially invest in Australia, buying a 20 per cent stake in Queensland Alumina Limited for $US465 million. (The other 80 per cent is owned by Rio Tinto.) Norilsk Nickel, another Russian metal company and the world’s leading producer of nickel and palladium, spent $US3 billion purchasing Australian assets among them six ore and nickel mines.

Falling metal prices Since then, the global economy has gone through difficult times. Falling metal prices have made production costs too high. In March 2007, nickel prices peaked at $US50,000 per tonne (almost 3.5 times higher than current levels). According to the London Metal Exchange, a price of $US14,340 per tonne means metal companies are losing out. Norilsk Nickel says with prices of $US15,000 per tonne, mining becomes unprofitable for 45 per cent of metal companies worldwide. Airat Khalikov, from Veles Capital, an investment company based in Moscow, said: “When a company is only breaking even, it’s more profitable to keep the mine working than to suspend it.” And in 2009 the company suspended all but one of its

In 2005, Russia’s largest aluminium producer bought a 20 per cent stake in Queensland Alumina. Norilsk Nickel, in 2011, launched a mining operation at Lake Johnson in Western Australia.

mines due to a fall in metal demand. This resulted in an international decrease in industrial output. In 2011, Norilsk Nickel launched a mining operation at Lake Johnston in Western Australia. Two years later, it announced it was planning to sell its assets there because they were not proving cost-effective for nickel production. Analysts have said that the mine requires major investment to modernise and that it is unlikely to interest any purchasers. Norilsk Nickel has not found a buyer, but suspended its operations at Lake Johnson earlier this year.

Carbon-tax impacts Things aren’t looking any brighter on UC RUSAL’s side – along with falling metal prices and slowing demand, the company also had its production costs increase because of Australia's carbon tax. In an interview with the Australian media, UC RUSAL's CEO Oleg Deripaska said that the company shed around 200 jobs after the introduction of the carbon tax. “The tax is designed to shift facilities to a higher-cost energy source such as gas, where there is no long-term certainty on supply, and this could lead to local processing and jobs being moving overseas,” he said.

Falling metal prices have also badly affected another Russian company, which has been trying to expand its presence in the Australian market. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) – one of the world’s largest steel producers – announced it would buy 100 per cent of Findlers Mines, the Australian iron ore developer. However, the deal was never signed. An MMK minority shareholder filed a lawsuit saying the deal would decrease the shares’ value. The deal was blocked in court and the company decided to drop the bid. Although MMK described the unsuccessful takeover as a“lost opportunity”,the decision may well be in MMK's interests. For one, the heavily indebted Russian steel producer would have had difficulty financing the takeover (estimated at $US537 million). Some media commentators said the lawsuit could have been unofficially supported by the company itself, as a way to avoid penalties for pulling out of the deal.

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MOST READ Russian air force views unmanned fighters as the future http://rbth.ru/29375

NATO forces could face Russia's advanced long-range surface-to-air missile technology

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Russia’s S-300 missile systems are highly mobile and able to engage several targets at the same time – something considered vital when defending against largescale aircraft and missile attacks. Russian PresidentVladimir Putin told reporters at the recent G-20 summit in St Petersburg that “we’re already helping [Syria]...we’re sending arms”. According to London’s Daily Telegraph, some components of the S-300 defensive shield“are understood to have been delivered”to Syria already, although the paper says“whether Russia has supplied everything is unclear”. Russian forces have several S-300 models in service, including land-based (wheeled and tracked) and naval versions. The 48N6 model is capable of attacking an aircraft flying at a speed of up to 1800 metres per second from a maximum range of 150 kilometres, and can intercept stealth cruise missiles at altitudes of 100 metres or less from within 38 kilometres, Russian defence sources say. The missile remains permanently on standby, ready for combat throughout its service life, and does not require regular maintenance. The S-300PMU1 longrange surface-to-air system

is designed to fight off the most widely used modern aircraft, as well as cruise, ballistic, tactical and short-range attack missiles. The system has an extended engagement range of 150 kilometres for aerodynamic targets and 40 kilometres for ballistic weapons, with a wider target speed range (352800 metres per second), and is available in mobile and fixed options. The S-300PMU2 Favorit system is an upgraded version designed to protect key facilities of military and national importance from any airborne threats. It features an extended maximum engagement range of up to 200 kilometres and increased efficiency against stealth targets at low alti-

History of the S-300 system In the late '60s, the Soviet Union began developing a new 100-kilometre-range surfaceto-air system in view of the growing potential risks from air-assault weapons. This was particularly a priority after the air-launched cruise missile ALKM was introduced in the USSR around the same time that the West was working on its Patriot SAM complex. The new weapon, which came to be called the S-300, was devised to be a universal anti-aircraft and anti-missile system. Its first trials were held in the mid-'70s, and the S-300 has been the core of Russia's airdefence systems since 1975.

The S-300 Favorit system is designed to protect facilities of military and national importance from airborne threats.

tudes in complex radiointerference environments. Russian defence sources say that the S-300 Favorit has “great export potential”. It is believed to be the most universal air-defence system invented to date. The Favorit is equipped with a command-and-control centre consisting of detection radar connected to up to six surface-to-air missile complexes and may be fitted with two additional all-altitude and low-altitude radar stations. Each of the six SAM complexes that make up the sys-

FACTS ABOUT S-300

When the Soviet Union collapsed, some 3000 launchers representing various S-300 modifications were deployed across Russia. S-300 SAM systems have never been used in any actual military operations. But firing drills suggest that this air-defence system has a very high combat efficiency. In order to study the S-300, the US purchased some of its components in the '90s. The technology has also been used by South Korea, which developed its Cheolmae-2 SAM.

1 2

tem include self-propelled launchers capable of carrying a maximum of four missiles each, as well as fire control/illumination radar. Defence sources report that military tests conducted by many countries which are already employing the S-300 air defence system have shown“very high combat efficiency”. They warn that the S-300 “outclasses” its American counterpart, the MIM-104 Patriot, in “many key areas”. Various S-300 modifications are used in Russia and in several of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece (Crete), China,Vietnam,Venezuela and Algeria. Turkey reportedly has plans to acquire the S-300 for its army. The technology has also been used by South Korea, which developed its Cheolmae-2 SAM with Russian specialists.

ITAR-TASS

Russia's advanced S-300 missiles may already be in place to defend the Assad government in Syria; they could pose a serious problem for any NATO action.

ITAR-TASS

Cutting-edge S-300 missile air defence may shield Syrian regime

An overview of the S-300 models A number of S-300 variants have been in service with the Soviet and Russian air forces. The S-300PS is a self-propelled model (the “S” in the name; the P suffix stands for PVO, the acronym for Russia's air defence forces). It was introduced in 1983 as a result of lessons learned in military operations in Vietnam and the Middle East, where the success of airdefence systems depended on their mobility and ability to leave a shelled area in a timely manner. The new SAM only required five min-

utes to switch to travel mode or to be deployed at a new position. After 1991, the S-300PS was tested at a firing range and found to be highly effective against missile strikes, outperforming the US Patriot surfaceto-air system. Though appearing similar to previous models, the S-300PM (“M” for mobile) had a number of features differentiating it from other S-300 models and the Patriot system. One of the key differences was a new single-stage surface-to-air missile employed in the system.

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RUSSIAN KHIPSTERSTVO HOW COMFORTABLY DOES A MOVEMENT WHICH SUPPOSEDLY REJECTS CONFORMITY SIT IN A COUNTRY WITH LONGSTANDING CONFORMIST TRADITIONS?

CHRIS FLEMING SPECIAL TO RBTH

American journalist David Brooks argued in 2000 that, in America at least, it had become very difficult to distinguish between members of the counterculture and the socalled “establishment.” Where the bohemians used to have dreadlocks and go to arty cafes, and the establishment wore grey and went to church, at the start of the 21st century it seemed like everyone saw himself or herself as belonging to the counterculture. Bankers and software developers were just as likely to have tattoos and quote Jack Kerouac as anyone else. Ideology, if it still existed at all, no longer wore uniforms. The change that Brooks identified happened at the same time as the re-emergence of the so-called “hipster.”Although the word“hip” emerged early in the 20th century, the suffix was only added in 1940s. In the ’40s the term “hipster” applied to mostly white, middle-class kids who attached themselves to the jazz scene. The 1950s saw a transition in the hipster – or at least the meaning of that word – when it became associated with a sort of drug-fuelled nomadism, typified by writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg. And then, suddenly, nothing. The hipster was put into something like cryogenic storage, only to re-emerge in the 1990s, where it assumed an aesthetic form somewhat akin to a mix-tape. The hipster, in its most recent incarnation, parades a metonymic mish-mash of influence. He or she is the person who exerts enormous effort to combine almost every counter-cultural movement of the 20th century into a single style…sometimes into a single outfit. The hipster represents time-space compres-

sion at its most radical. He or she has stolen Sylvia Plath’s cardigan, is crowned with a Beatles mop-top and parades a ’70s cop-show moustache beneath Dylan’s Wayfarers. Alternatively, the hipster appears in your grandma’s jumper and a Palestinian keffiyeh. He or she will be taking a selfie on their iPhone, smoking Gitanes and stuffing a biography of Che into a kitsch, gender-neutral Sesame Street handbag. She will be listening to early Grizzly Bear and he will be looking like early Grizzly Adams. The hipster appears – in other words – to be somewhere between a person who has watched every television show in the past 50 years and someone who has never seen a TV set. It was bound to catch on – and it did. In Russia, the term stilyagi was used in the Soviet era, particularly in the ’50s, to describe – often in derogatory terms – a youth subculture obsessed with fashion and music, particularly jazz. Half a century later, the Russian khipster was born. Or was s/he? Is the Russian hipster a copy or only a cousin of the creature we find in the West? Or is he or she no relation except by name?

QUOTE

Dr Chris Fleming SENIOR LECTURER IN HUMANITIES AND COMMUNICATION ARTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY

She will be listening to early Grizzly Bear and he will be looking like early Grizzly Adams. The hipster appears – in other words – to be somewhere between a person who has watched every television show in the past 50 years and someone who has never seen a TV set.”

Is the Russian hipster a copy or only a cousin of that creature we find in the west?

In the late 1980s some economists and social theorists became enamoured with the term“glocalisation”– an ugly portmanteau of “globalisation”and“localisation.”What it referred to was the way in which regional cultures domesticate and change global trends. As awkward as the term is, it’s probably the right one to use here. Russian hipsters are undoubtedly half-turned towards the West, although it would be a mistake to see them simply as extensions or dupes of some Western cultural“empire”.Not yet embarrassed by the gaudiness of the big brands, the Russian hipster is far more likely to visit Starbucks than his or her Western counterpart. It is not that the Western hipster rejects consumption itself. Indeed, as part of Generation Beard, the only consumption the Western hipster male consistently rejects is the razor blade (which must sure-

ly be causing considerable angst at Gillette). It is, rather, that he or she is more sensitive about the relationship of branding to culture, especially mass culture. For the Western hipster, Starbucks is to be refused because it is the sine qua non of both “corporate capitalism” and plebeianism – the gauche neon-lit strip mall of coffee. Russian hipsters are a segment of Russia's first post-Soviet generation who have grown up with capitalism, and have not inherited the esoteric regimes of brand differentiation so dear to their Western counterparts. Presumably, this will come. Yuri Saprykin, former editorial director at Russia’s uber-cool entertainment magazine and website Afisha, says that he first came across the word“hipster”in the Russian media in 2003. At first, it pointed to a fashion style that differed little from what might be seen anywhere else in the

world. Within a couple of years, however, it also became a derogatory term. This was the case not just for elements of the press but for hipsters themselves, some of whom had become visible through participation in public demonstrations and actions in support of oppositional figures. Segments of the Russian media argued that what was at work here was not, in fact, political commitment, but the decadent actions of impulsive fashionistas, engaging in political rallies for no other reason than it was cool. More seriously, for some, hipsters were the incarnation of that dreaded figure the demshiza: people who, on their way to liberal democracy, had somehow lost their minds. But if “hipster” had come to be a term of ridicule in the minds of some Russian journalists, it had become even less acceptable in the minds of hipsters themselves.

Media have played a key role in creating the image of the Russian hipster

Hipsters – fools for cool New and print media have been key in influencing the creation and direction of the hipster movement in Russia. RBTH looks at three hipster media companies. IRINA KUROPATKINA SPECIAL TO RBTH

Afisha magazine is Russia’s hipster bible. In 2008, its then editorial director Yuri Saprykin used the term "hipster" to describe the people who attended The Afisha Picnic – an annual one-day music festival that attracts about

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

In a recent New Yorker blog, Teju Cole defines “hipster” as a person “who has an irrational hatred of hipsters”. In Russia, as elsewhere, the term points to a paradox.

RUSSIAN HIPSTERS GET A GRIP ON HIP

Afisha's Picnic music festival is a popular hipster event.

50,000 people, and which is the highlight of the hipster summer calendar in Moscow. Saprykin arguably brought the term "hipster" into the mainstream, and, five years on, Afisha leads national commentary on developments in cinema, music, literature, art and fashion in Russia. It publishes three versions fortnightly, one for Moscow, one for St Petersburg and another for the other 16 largest cities in Russia. The Afisha website, which has more than 2.7 million visitors a month, is popular because of its huge database of cultural events. Launched in 2007, the website LookAtMe.ru has also

been influential in Russia’s hipster movement. Initially it covered music, cinema and fashion, but now has shifted its focus towards modern art, science and technology, with the branding: “Experience, Future, Industry, Inspiration”. The website loooch.com is also popular with hipsters. The people behind it, Ukrainian art critic Anatoliy Ulyanov and photographer Natalya Masharova, say their mission is to enlighten, and their website says its goal is to“liberate thoughts and feelings from conservative captivity”.Looch mixes photos of eyeball tattoos with profound quotes from Hegel, Wittgenstein and Lacan.

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MOST READ Where hipsters hang out in Moscow http://rbth.ru/24707

PRESS PHOTO

bth.asia/48741

Multi-purpose inner-city venues and precincts attract the capital's hipster elites

Plenty of space in Moscow for creative young minds Moscow's hipsters congregate around multipurpose cultural spaces, creative precincts and – surprisingly – the city's newly revamped Gorky Park.

Who are Russian hipsters?

IRINA KUROPATKINA

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

SPECIAL TO RBTH

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

Gorky Park was once a drab inner-city amusement park, in Russia’s capital, littered with decrepit Soviet-era rides and rickety rollercoasters. Following major renovation works completed in 2011, the park is now one of the city’s most popular recreation zones, particularly for young people. Hip attractions in this sustainably designed and developed green space include free yoga classes, salsa dancing in warm weather, a free Wi-Fi network, public lectures, an open-air cinema, Europe’s biggest ice-rink in winter and kilometres of bike tracks winding through the park’s newly landscaped grounds. Gorky Park is also the venue for outdoor concerts and markets and has a new contemporary art space called Garage CCC. Garage CCC describes itself as“an independent platform for new thinking”. And its website says that“through an extensive program of exhibitions, research, education and publishing, Garage reflects on current developments in Russian and international culture”.

ARTplay has been described as an artistic cluster, and it has become a well-known hub for creative companies, organisations and projects in Russia's capital.

Another Moscow venue that has been attracting the city’s young creative crowds is the Strelka Institute of Media, Architecture and Design, a not-for-profit educational institution which promotes itself as a progressive and collaborative alternative to traditional tertiary educational organisations. Strelka says its aims are “generating knowledge, pro-

ducing new ideas and making them come true”. It has free public lectures in subjects such as architecture, design and sustainable design, while its courtyard regularly hosts open conferences and alternative film screenings. Another hipster hot-spot in the city is Solyanka – a nightclub which, as well as being known for attracting top music acts, has its own monthly cultural magazine, hosts lectures, has a fashion boutique and restaurant and collaborates with creative collectives in Moscow and abroad in art and music projects. (There’s nothing they can’t do.) Rodnya, another popular nightclub, has increasingly been positioning itself as a multi-purpose creative space. By day it operates as a gallery, showroom and lecture hall, and by night, it is a livemusic venue and sometimes a movie theatre. Rodnya is part of the creative precinct ARTPlay. ARTplay has been described as an artistic cluster, and has become a wellknown hub for creative companies, organisations and projects in Russia’s capital. With bookshops, cafes and bars, it is also a popular place for creatives to network and socialise. On its grounds, within various converted redbrick factory buildings, there are design studios, architectural companies, small private galleries and large temporary exhibition spaces in three big halls. The precinct regularly hosts contemporary art and video art festivals, concerts and performances.

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MOST READ Russia-US relations need a new agenda http://rbth.ru/29519

Richard Sakwa SPECIAL TO RBTH

espite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts since the very first days of his leadership to “normalise’”relations between Russia and the West, those 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 theYeltsin years. This included closer relations with the European Union and, after 9/11, an attempt to create a partnership of equals with the US. However, it soon became clear that this“normalisation” strategy simply was not working. Russia was unable to become just another great power. The political demands placed on Russia are high, in part because it accepted these demands, from 1991 onwards, as part of the process of becoming a nation-state, and in part because of its self-identification as a European state and a core member of the in-

ternational community of nations. The systemic and identity contradictions that remain unresolved in Russia mean that these “abnormal” features will remain in Russia’s relations with the Western world for the foreseeable future.The threats of boycotts by Western powers and activists only exacerbate the contradictions of the Russian polity, rather than helping solve them. Russia’s acceptance into the transatlantic community was problematic from the beginning, hence President Boris Yeltsin’s talk of a“cold peace” as early as December, 1994. One of the features of this cold peace has been absurd communication resets and pauses. Countries normally don’t talk to each other this way, and it is humiliating for all parties that the situation has deteriorated to this level. These communication dynamics are a measure of how far there is to go until normal relations are 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 diplomatic reasons. Although plenty of American senators and activists seek to drag themselves out of obscurity by Russia bashing, this sort of politics is dangerous.

ACTION NEEDED IN HIV CRISIS Ivan Varentsov SPECIAL TO RBTH

ussia’s HIV epidemic is one of its most pressing public-health problems. According to a UNAIDS report, Eastern Europe and Central Asia are the only regions in the world where HIV is spreading at an increasing rate. The highest increases are in Russia, home to 70 per cent of all HIV-positive people in the region, while Russia and the Ukraine combined account for 90 per cent. As of November, 2012, 704,000 cases of HIV infections were registered by the Federal AIDS Prevention and

Treatment Centre. And it has been estimated that the actual number of HIV-positive people in Russia may be at least twice as many. For more than a decade, the main way that the virus has been transmitted in Russia has been through intravenous drug use. This accounted for 57.6 per cent of all new infections in 2012. However, since about 2002 the epidemic has been spreading out of drug-using populations and the number of infections spread through sexual transmission have been increasing Even so, Gennadiy Onishchenko, head of the federal service on customers' rights protection and well-being surveillance (Rospotrebnadzor),

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

WHY THE RUSSIA-WEST DIVIDE?

The tragedy in recent years is that the EU has not been able to develop its own voice, as one of the fundamental representatives of the European nations and as a mediator in transforming the transatlantic community. While Europe does have its own voice, its failure to challenge the mistakes of the US over a whole set of issues, including the war in Iraq, has undermined its credibil-

ity as a normative power. Of course, this allows Russia to rise to the occasion, and instead of reinforcing the marginality that its opponents wish to impose on it, it can intervene in a positive manner to help resolve some of the impasses of the West’s own making. Supine subservience, of the British variety, to American hegemony helps no one. Thus, Russia can reposition itself from a per-

said that“the majority of HIV infection prevention measures in the most vulnerable groups that were being successfully implemented in the previous years have practically been curtailed, and preventative measures among the general population and based exclusively on encouraging a healthy lifestyle have little effect on high-risk groups.” Put simply, Russia doesn’t spend a single rouble to fund HIV-prevention programs among drug-users. Previously, such programs were financed by international organisations, most of which have now left Russia because of political trends. Today the campaigns to reduce the spread of HIV in Russia are mainly around encouraging a healthy lifestyle, and this is occurring against the backdrop of a general atmosphere of intolerance to drug-users. Meanwhile international experiences have been showing that the spread

of HIV among drug-users has been reduced due to the use of scientifically-grounded preventive programs, including needle exchanges and opioid replacement therapy (ORT). ORT is successfully used in more than 60 countries. Methadone programs are being implemented in all the CIS countries with the exception of Russia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In Russia the use of methadone for medicinal purposes is banned and there are no opioid replacement therapy options available. HIV testing in Russia is another problem. The crux of the problem is that Russia spends huge amounts on tests, but it tests indiscriminately – it doesn’t focus on vulnerable groups, such as drug-users and gay men. Ivan Varentsov is a well known expert on public health, from the Andrey Rylkov Foundation.

ceived 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 which foster an atmosphere of the cold p e a c e . Fr o m Sy r i a t o 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 beginning has been more accurate than that of the Western powers. The fundamental question is whether these are normal differences of opinion 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 Eurasia 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 few. The main source of Russia’s influence today is to act as a moderating force in international politics. The West has gotten 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 a professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent.

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MOST READ Aggressive badger attacks reported in Siberia http://rbth.ru/28161

NSW yabbies on alert to protect St Petersburg's fresh water

PHOTOXPRESS

Innovative bio-monitoring technology, involving Australian crayfish, is safeguarding water quality in St Petersburg

Yabbies have humble associations in Australia, of quiet days fishing in farm dams perhaps. But in Russia's second city they enjoy a much higher status. EDDIE TSYRLIN SPECIAL TO RBTH

PHOTOXPRESS

Vodokanal St Petersburg supplies potable water to 5 million people in Russia's second-largest city. it uses crayfish in a bio-monitoring system that checks the RIver Neva's water quality.

to water at the source, before it reaches the point of purification, and if they display stress (indicated by an increase in heartbeat) the water supply from the source is interrupted and a water sample is automatically taken for chemical and biological investigations. To measure the yabbies’ heartbeats, optical fibre connected to recording equipment is attached to their hard outer shell (or carapace). From there, the heart signal is recorded and digitised, much like a hospital ECG. Vodokanal uses Russian

ond, that female yabbies were more likely to have heartbeat fluctuations, especially during breeding time. What’s more, the crayfish need to be resilient enough to not be stressed by living close to noisy water pumps and to be calm with people constantly observing, feeding and handling them – not to mention having an optical fibre permanently sticking out of their shell. To make the yabbies feel more comfortable in these unnatural conditions, Vodokanal set up its own yabby farm where their 10-legged coworkers are bred in conditions similar to their future workplace – that is, in a noisy environment, surrounded by

native crayfish during cold weather, but they start to show signs of stress when the water temperature goes above 21C. In summer, when the water temperature rises, heatloving Aussie yabbies are enlisted to do the job. To understand how the crayfish (and their heartbeat) behave in normal healthy conditions, the animals were first monitored in clean, pollution-free water. The monitoring led to two conclusions: the first, that only male yabbies of the 3-to5-year-old age bracket were suitable for the job; the sec-

Russian researchers have taken the Aussie red claw crayfish and given it an important role: protector of St Petersburg – the second largest city in Russia, with a population of more than 5 million people. Not all cities are fortunate enough to draw their potable water from well protected dams and reservoirs, like Sydney and Melbourne. Many European cities rely heavily on multi-step water-purification processes, and this is typically the case in Russia. Even with sophisticated treatment systems, not all pathogens in the water can be eliminated or detected in time to ensure public safety. Detecting dangerous substances quickly, to prevent them from entering the water supply in the first place, can be critical in protecting the health of millions of people. Physicochemical analysis of water quality only looks at a limited set of parameters and is relatively slow, not always producing results in real time. Biological indicators can play an important role as early warning systems – similar to the old concept of taking canaries into coal mines. Vodokanal, St Petersburg’s water-supply agency, has chosen the river crayfish as its "canary” – one that can protect the population from unforeseen water contaminants or even, potentially, terrorist acts. The crayfish are exposed

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

LORI/LEGION MEDIA

Fluctuations in the heartbeat rates of crayfish are used to monitor the water for contaminants. When heartbeats increase, the water is stopped and checked.

human activity. This way, when the yabbies are placed in their work tanks, they stay calm and can maintain a steady heartbeat.

In summer, when the water temperature rises, heat-loving Aussie yabbies are enlisted to do the job. This innovative technology, developed at the Research Centre of Ecological Safety, at the Russian Academy of Science, has been successfully operating in St Petersburg and its satellite cities for almost eight years. This kind of bio-monitor-

ing is not unique, however: the behaviour of fish and snails has been analysed for similar purposes.The Russian innovation here is the capacity to judge a small animal’s stress level by measuring its heartbeat. The head of the Laboratory of Bioelectrical Methods for Ecological Monitoring, Sergei Kholodkevich, was behind the innovation. He invented and patented the method of using large and relatively long-living invertebrates to measure air and water quality. As well as yabbies, he has used giant African snails to monitor the air quality coming out of sewage-plant incinerators.

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MOST READ How to cover Russia in six bike trails http://travel.rbth.ru/69698

Adventure sees riders cross two continents in a trip that totalled almost 16,000 kilometres

'Idiot' cyclists conquer Siberia

Vladivostok's new bridge across downtown Golden Horn Bay (pictured above)

LEVI BRIDGES SPECIAL TO RBTH

For years I had dreamed about this moment and in those visions, had imagined beginning the journey on a quiet beach with cool air filling my lungs. Instead, after seven years of planning, when Ellery and I arrived at a sandy beach near Sportivnaya Harbour, Vladivostok, a pack of Russian journalists pounced on us with questions, pushing microphones in our faces as we mustered replies with chattering teeth. Through the crowd, we eased our bikes to the sea and dipped the rear tyres in the surf. In eight months time, we planned to plunge our front tyres into the Atlantic Ocean. The media snapped photos. Despite the crowd, I felt like this significant moment was still mine to enjoy – almost. “Can you put that tyre in the water again?”a photographer yelled, choking the symbolism from the event. “I want another shot.” From the mountains outside Vladivostok that day, I took one last glance back at the sea. In front of us lay a journey of roughly 16,000 kilometres, across 11 time zones and two continents. We started riding. Before starting our trip, Ellery and I had made business cards with our website that read “The Idiots", a reference to Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot — and the admission that cycling across Siberia requires a healthy dose of insanity.

But Russian people didn’t think we were idiots at all. The photographers filming us inVladivostok filed reports that were beamed into television sets from Moscow to Magadan. The next morning, it seemed that everyone in Russia knew who we were. Car-loads of well-wishing locals rolled down windows on the road, smiling and waving as they passed. “Hello, my American friends!” a car full of young Russians yelled, as they slowed to our pace. “Zdravstvuite. Hello,” I said, choking through the exhaust as we rode side by side. “Is this part of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi?” asked the driver, a young guy called Ivan. “No,” Ellery said, “just adventure.” Someone in the back thrust a pen and notebook out the window. “Can we please have your autograph?” he said. After we stopped to sign their notebook, Ivan wrote his phone number for us. “Call me if you need anything,” he said. And that’s how it went; in cities and small towns across Russia, people often offered to help, they shared meals with us and offered to take us in for the night. Wherever we went, we made new acquaintances. While cycling in Siberia, there are many things to worry about: freezing temperatures, poor roads, fearsome bears, Siberian tigers and drunk drivers. Before we left, National Geographic writer Mark Jenkins, who cycled across Russia in 1989, told us to rethink our trip. The “Westerlies”— headwinds that blow west to east in northern latitudes— would be against us, he said.

LEVI BRIDGES

Levi Bridges and friend Ellery Althaus left Vladivostok in April, 2009 with Portugal in their sights – a bicycle journey that took them across two continents.

LORI/LEGION MEDIA

ALEXANDR KHITROV

THE QUOTE

Levi Bridges

Before starting our trip, Ellery and I made business cards with our website that read “The Idiots”, a reference to Dostoevsky's The Idiot."

Before we left, Jenkins told us that the “Westerlies” – headwinds that blow west to east in northern latitudes – would be against us. Riding against the wind was one more difficulty added to an arduous expedition."

We crossed the Ural Mountains and later stopped in Islamic Tatarstan’s capital Kazan. Suddenly, mosques replaced the Orthodox churches we had become accustomed to cycling past.

In mid-September, we arrived in Moscow. Leaves had changed to crimson. Winter would soon arrive.

IN NUMBERS

15,997 11 kilometres – the distance of the trip by Levi and Ellery from Vladivostok to Portugal.

is how many time zones they passed through, as they crossed two continents.

Riding against the wind was one more difficulty added to an arduous expedition. But the biggest challenge we faced was caused by vaccines. Western Siberian ticks can carry encephalitis, which may cause paralysis. So Ellery and I got vaccinated against it in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. The vaccination temporarily weakened our immune systems, and a day’s ride from Khabarovsk, Ellery came down with food poisoning. He was so affected that he was sick for the rest of the trip. At the time of our trip, a 1295-kilometre length of the Russian Federal Highway – the main road which connects Vladivostok with Moscow – was unpaved. On a road map, the dirt road section of the Federal Highway

appeared as a sinuous red line connecting scant dots representing small towns. It curved around the northern tip of China like the handle of the Big Dipper. The dirt road was in such bad shape, it often took us 10 hours just to ride 80 kilometres. We sometimes had to hitch-hike back to nearby cities to see doctors when Ellery got sick. They prescribed treatments, but he just kept getting sick. Stubbornly, we kept going. Despite the difficulties, we encountered natural beauty and varied cultures. The dirt road section took us through the Stanovoy Khrebet Mountains. The road met pavement again outside the city of Chita, and we cycled into Buryatia. This led us through mountains peppered with

Buddhist monasteries and ended at Baikal. From Lake Baikal to Moscow, you start measuring distances in 1500-kilometre chunks, one of which separated Baikal from the city of Krasnoyarsk and another the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk andYekaterinburg, where we battled the fierce headwinds we had been warned about. On a horizontal plain west of Novosibirsk, Ellery and I pulled over to change our fourth flat tyre of the day (about the 16th flat tyre of the trip). Ellery’s stomach gurgled with another onset of sickness. In either direction, there wasn’t so much as a tree or fencepost. I bent over in the summer heat to change the flat, rubbing my 4500-kilometre-sore rear end, when a carload of excited locals pulled over to meet the adventurers they had seen on TV. I tried to distract them from my companion, who was hunched in a nearby ditch, being sick. OutsideYekaterinburg, we crossed the Ural Mountains and later stopped in Islamic Tatarstan’s capital Kazan, where mosques replaced the Orthodox churches we had become accustomed to cycling past. In mid-September, we arrived in Moscow. Leaves had changed to crimson. Winter would soon arrive. We cycled qu i ck ly, s o u t h t owa rd Ukraine. Standing at the Ukrainian border, I glanced back at Russian hills and felt triumph and nostalgia. Ellery and I had accomplished something that had seemed impossible. We had now joined a handful of others who had cycled across Russia – the largest country in the world.

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Travel

MOST READ The Russian Far East – closer than you might think http://travel.rbth.ru/28223

Avtostop your way across the Russian Federation's enormous road network GETTY IMAGES/FOTOBANK

Hitch-hiking lives on as a way to see a nation and its people

Online accounts suggest that foreigners are increasingly using hitch-hiking to explore Russia.

The Russian word for hitchhiking, avtostop, literally means "car stopping". This way of getting around has been ingrained in Russian culture since the 1960s. GEORGY MANAEV SPECIAL TO RBTH

While visa restrictions and limited travel information may put some foreign travellers off hitch-hiking in Russia, accounts are increasingly appearing online from English-speaking hitch-hikers, describing colourful trips in the Russian Federation. Hitch-hiking was introduced in the USSR in the 1960s. It is rumoured that Nikita Krushchev learned about hitch-hiking on a trip to the US in 1959, after which he decided to plant the idea in Soviet soil. In 1965, the Central Council for Tourism introduced a hitch-hiking program called “Avtostop”,which became the name for hitch-hiking in Russia. As part of the program, every traveller older than 16 was entitled to a set of avtostop tickets, which were to be filled out by drivers who gave them lifts to their destinations, while charging a

HITCH-HIKING TIPS FOR TRAVEL IN RUSSIA

nominal fee of 1 rouble per 300 miles (480 kilometres). As an incentive to drivers, they could keep the tickets and use them in a lottery to win prizes. Hitch-hiking championships were held and travellers could even buy onthe-road uniforms. The program, also active in three Soviet republics, Belorussia, Ukraine and Latvia, was canned after only two

Another club, the Moscow Avtostop School, was founded in 1994 by Valeriy Shanin. Then, in 1995 the prominent Academy of Free Travel (AFT) was started by Anton Krotov, a 37-year-old guru of Russian hitch-hiking who had been travelling since he was 14. As well as supporting members in solo trips, AFT has organised hitch-hiking expeditions through Russia and

It's rumoured that Nikita Krushchev learned about hitchhiking on a trip to the US in 1959.

Hitch-hiking championships were held and travellers could even buy onthe-road uniforms

years, but hitch-hiking continued and became the preferred way for Soviet students to get around. As Russia’s community of hitch-hikers grew, it needed an organisation to help them share information and exchange maps. So in 1978, the Leningrad League of Avtostop was formed – Russia’s first hitch-hiking club. Its founder Alexey Vorov had hitch-hiked more than 950,000 kilometres around the world.

other countries, including Iran, India, Africa and China. Russia is the only country in the world that has multiple active hitch-hiking clubs. In an interview with RBTH, Anton Krotov came up with some advice for foreigners who want to explore Russia by hitch-hiking. His first tip: take plenty of time; Russia is a vast country with huge distances and an extensive road network. Second: while federal highways are generally in good

In Russia, the international “thumb-up” sign is pretty much unknown. Instead stretch out your hand by the roadside, and drivers will know what you're doing. Be careful at night when visibility is poor. Ensure you have reflectors on your clothes.

Most of all, keep an open heart and mind. Hitchhiking is a great way to get to know everyday people in Russia. Remember that drivers are picking you up to show you hospitality, so it may be a nice gesture to offer to contribute to petrol costs.

condition, off the beaten track they can be rough, which can really slow travellers down. If you want to travel fast, it’s better to take the major routes between big cities. Krotov also recommends having a map handy and being ready to be upfront with the driver that you’re hitch-hiking and don’t have money to pay a fare. He emphasises that hitchhiking is still an exchange of sorts, though, with the driver getting company and entertainment on their route in exchange for the favour. Krotov thinks it would be difficult to hitch-hike in Russia without some knowledge of the Russian language and recommends learning some phrases or travelling with a Russian-speaking companion. Drivers will typically ask: "Kuda ti yedesh?" (where are you going?), to which you should answer: "Ya yedu avtostopom v ..." (I’m hitch-hiking to...). Krotov says that pairs are more readily picked up than than singles, and male-female pairs have more luck than male-male pairs, who may seem intimidating to some drivers.

Russia still doesn't have a good network of youth hostels, so try finding couchsurfing options or places to stay online ahead of time. And, as insurance, take a tent and sleeping bag, because things don't always go quite to plan.

Here is how to have an enjoyable, action-packed adventure

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MOST READ Ballet: the thorny path to the swans http://rbth.asia/44375

Imperial Russian Ballet Company will visit 24 cities before the end of next month, showing The Nutcracker and Bolero

Ballet troupe travels around Australia Gediminas Taranda – former Bolshoi Ballet rebel – is this month leading the Imperial Russian Ballet Company back to Australia for a 24-city tour.

THE FACTS

Show schedule

GRAHAM OSBORNE

• Canberra Sept 18,19 • Frankston Sept 20 • Melbourne Sept 21,22 • Albury Sept 23 • Launceston Sept 25 • Burnie Sept 26 • Hobart Sept 27,28 • Townsville Oct 3,4 • Mackay Oct 5 • Cairns Oct 6,7,8

• Rockhampton Oct 10 • Gold Coast Oct 12 • Caloundra Oct 13 • Ipswich Oct 14 • Maryborough Oct 15 • Brisbane Oct 16,17 • Toowoomba Oct 18 • Port Macquarie Oct 19 • Adelaide Oct 22,23 • Sydney Oct 25,26,27

Imperial Ballet soloist Elena Colesnicenko, in a performance of Don Quixote in Moscow early this year. Source: Imperial Ballet Company (Nadya Pyast).

Power struggles destabilise Russia's famous dance company

Bolshoi Ballet rocked by a year of scandals tor Anatoly Iksanov, as the Ministry of Culture moved to safeguard the image of Russia’s flagship ballet company. Dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, known for playing villains, allegedly confessed to hiring two hitmen to attack Filin, and all three men are now facing lengthy prison terms. However, 300 dancers and staff, led by popular dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze, signed a petition claiming Dmitrichenko had been forced by police to confess. Then in June, Tsiskaridze was sacked, following reports of a power struggle with Iksanov. Just weeks later, the Ministry of Culture removed Iksanov. The new director,Vladimir

Sergei Filin will return to the Bolshoi Theatre this month as the scandal-plagued Bolshoi Ballet recovers from a year of unprecedented turmoil.

GETTY IMAGES/FOTOBANK

GRAHAM OSBORNE SPECIAL TO RBTH

The troupe has 45 dancers, coming from ballet schools in Moscow, St Petersburg and Perm.

old Kaliningrad-born Taranda, as he recalled tactics used by government authorities during Soviet times to try to silence him, when his work at the Bolshoi Theatre was attracting unwanted attention. “The whole political environment at the time was abnormal and that’s what I was speaking up against,”he said. “But [at that time] it was too early for talk like that, so they started to harass me, putting me under surveillance, imposing travel restrictions, generally trying to break my spirit. “But ballet is a fight against yourself and all sorts of difficulties and challenges. “Weak people don’t stay long in the ballet, only the strongest survive. “When I started this company, I was thinking about freedom,” Taranda told the Illawarra Mercury. “Now…I have 45 people [in the company] and every day I have to think about money and costumes, everything about my art. “I understand now that I’m not free,” he laughed.

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Glasshouse, have already sold out. Taranda, who remains artistic director of the company, told RBTH that the troupe is looking forward to returning to Australia. “There are lots of ballet lovers down there and we have many warm memories, particularly from our master classes with Australian children. “We never have enough time, but on this tour I am hoping to be able to visit the underground town at Coober Pedy, in South Australia, and take a ride on the old train to Darwin,” he said. Taranda is now an honored figure in the Russian arts community, having won the Silver Cross Award in 2007 and the Diaghilev medal in 2008 for his contributions to Russian art. The former athlete also worked as a motivational coach for the Russian gymnastics team at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 and the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. “They tried to snap me like a pencil,” says the 52-year-

Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin has undergone 22 eye surgeries and tissue transplants at a clinic in Aachen, Germany, since suffering severe burns to his eyes and face in a vicious attack in Moscow in January. The assault revealed bitter infighting at the Bolshoi and led to criminal charges, sackings, walkouts, protest petitions and eventually the dismissal of the company’s longstanding general direc-

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

“If something's worth fighting for, you have to fight until the last breath,”says Gediminas Taranda, the ex-Bolshoi star soloist who left Russia's most famous ballet company in 1993 after a protracted conflict with long-time directorYuri Grigorovich over artistic direction. Soon after, Taranda and dancer Nikolai Anokhine, a soloist from Igor Moiseyev’s Folk Dance Company, cofounded the Imperial Russian Ballet Company, with the assistance of acclaimed ballet dancer Maya Plisetsakaya. “It was about freedom,” says Taranda, whose decision to leave the Bolshoi at the end of the Soviet era followed years of harassment from government authorities for his outspoken political views. The Imperial Russian Ballet Company’s A Festival of Russian Ballet is an eclectic three-act program which includes The Nutcracker, famous for Tchaikovsky’s musical score, Bolero, created by Ravel after he became entranced by the slow, regular movement of assembly lines at a factory, and a third act of highlights from several classical ballets and modern dance routines including Don Quixote, Giselle, Carmen, The Dying Swan, Le Corsaire, Gopak, Ne Me Quittes Pas and Can Can Surprise. The“greatest hits”package has divided dance critics but The Evening Standard’s Richard May hailed a recent performance in London as “an astounding and exhilarating 3-hour programme (that) brought most ballet fans to their feet”. “Perhaps the few who remained seated were simply stunned by excess,”he added. The Moscow-based company has 40 dancers from leading Russian ballet schools in Moscow, St Petersburg and Perm, as well as guests from the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres, Opera de Paris and the American Ballet Theatre. The company’s coast-tocoast Australian tour began in Mandurah, WA, on September 4 and is continuing across the country, with single shows in smaller cities, two nights at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne on September 21 and 22 and three final performances at the State Theatre in Sydney on October 25, 26 and 27. Tickets have been selling fast and some venues, including the Frankston Arts Centre and Port Macquarie’s

PRESS PHOTO

SPECIAL TO RBTH

Bitter infighting: Sergei Filin (left) and Pavel Dmitrichenko.

Urin, a widely respected administrator who is hoped will be a steadying hand at the company, said:“I’m not planning any revolutions and think that we can only solve these problems together.” Bolshoi spokeswoman Katerina Novikova told RBTH the scandals have damaged the company’s image considerably.“It’s difficult to understand how such cruelty can happen in the magical world of dance,” she said. “But the dancers have pulled together to support each other in the face of some harsh press attention and are more united than ever. “In terms of artistic quality, this remains one of the best classical companies in the world. Everybody saw it in Australia earlier this year, and again in the recent soldout season at the Royal Opera House in London.” Filin made a surprise curtain call on the rapturously received opening night in London. Urin says Filin will be welcomed back to the company but has urged caution: “He is psychologically ready to return to work and I would love to have him back but his medical treatment continues.” Filin remains upbeat, telling Russian state broadcaster Rossiya 1 that his appearance in London was a huge boost. “My right eye is blind and my left eye has about 10 per cent vision,” he said. “If my left eye continues recovering at the same pace it’s quite possible I could return to work ... at the Bolshoi Theatre in mid-September.”

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MOST READ Back to Russia: Australian Cossacks announce repatriation http://rbth.asia/48457

Young Cossack-Australian leader is working to foster links between Russia and Australia

KATHERINE TERS RBTH

And it was with some curiosity that the Russian media reported on the story: that a Cossack organisation in Australia had been officially recognised by Russia's Zabaikal Cossack Voisko (The TransBaikal Cossack Army) and was going to be leading a group of 150 Cossack-Australian families in a repatriation movement, back to their traditional lands, east of Lake Baikal. (While the word “voisko” translates literally as army, in a contemporary context, it is probably better understood as a regional clan.) While the organisation, the Zabaikal Cossack Society of Australia, has clarified that a repatriation movement isn’t their plan – and it was a misunderstanding – the outlook of the group, based in western Sydney, suggests that a revival of Russian Imperialera traditions and values is under way, not just in Russia but among some Cossack diaspora populations as well.

Led by a young ataman (or chairman), 24-year-old Simeon Boikov, the group describes itself as a cultural and historical organisation. In Cossack terminology, it’s also a recognised stanitsa (or a settlement within a voisko). While Ataman Boikov (who also goes by “Simon”) cannot claim to represent all Cossacks in Australia – and has attracted considerable controversy within Australia’s Russian community – his passion for the revival of Cossack culture is indisputable. Born in Australia and raised in Sydney, Boikov says the last member of his family to serve as a Cossack under the tsars was his greatgreat-grandfather, Petr Georgievich Tonkih, born in 1890 in Siberia. Tonkih moved to Manchuria during the Russian Civil War, where Boikov’s great-grandparents were born. They migrated to Australia in the 1960s, during China’s Cultural Revolution. Boikov cuts an unusual figure in contemporary Australia. His yearning to connect with certain pre-1917 traditions and values seems noble and touching and, at the same time, out of step. A new version of traditional Cossack culture is being created in Russia in an envi-

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It surprised Russians, earlier this year, to discover that there were Australians of Cossack descent saying they wanted to return to live in their historic homeland.

PRESS PHOTO

Australian Cossack group revisits traditions

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Simeon Boikov, in Russia, with a Zabaikal Cossack Army flag (left), and at a Cossack community celebration in Fairfield, Sydney.

ronment of growing moral conservatism, political control and nationalism – and, in that context, Boikov’s focus makes more sense.

Boikov's stanitsa has been leading a volunteer program for restoring historic Cossack graves The new stanitsa, which Boikov says includes about 150 members, has its headquarters at the Russian Sports and Social Club at Kemps Creek, Sydney. The stanitsa uses the venue for

meetings, celebrations and umm...marching practice. Boikov says the stanitsa is connected to other Transbaikal Cossack groups in Australia, including those in Victoria and Tasmania. Culture and traditions vary between voiskos because Cossacks often adopted the cultural, musical and military customs of areas they conquered, courtesy perhaps of their policy of recruiting colonised locals into their ranks. Australia’s first Cossack stanitsa was established in Sydney in 1950, by a Ural Cossack group. Since 1981, it has been led by Ataman Dmitry Rechkalov who, at 75,

told me that sadly many of his members had passed away – and are buried in Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery. Boikov's stanitsa has been leading a volunteer program for restoring historic Cossack graves at Rookwood. “Atamans and generals of the Tsarist Army are buried there,” Boikov said. “And in the process of restoring their graves, we’re learning fascinating details from older members about these people.” Cossack music is another passion of Boikov’s. “Every time Cossacks get together, they sing,” he said. His stanitsa has been making recordings of members singing tra-

ditional songs and sending them to Russia’s Ministry of Culture, which, Boikov says, is grateful, because many of these songs were lost or“perverted” under the Soviets. The Cossacks’ brand of patriotism fits well with the conservative policies and nationalist rhetoric that have come to characterise Putin’s third presidential term. “In the ’90s Russia adopted, and had forced upon it, some of the worst aspects of Western culture and morality,” Boikov said. “I’m proud that Russia is again becoming a great superpower and is reviving its traditional values.”

Cossacks lived in militaristic but democratic communities and were known for frequently being at war with their neighbours

The Cossacks both served and rebelled against the Russian tsars The Cossacks expanded Russia's territorities and protected its borders. Their neighbours were terrified of them but marvelled at their skills in battle. IVAN NIKOLAYEV RBTH

GETTY IMAGES/FOTOBANK

It was the Cossacks that discovered Siberia, protected Russia’s borders, both served the Tsars and rebelled against them. Europeans were terrified of them, while Napoleon’s marshals marvelled at their prowess in battle.

It’s hard to say exactly when the Cossacks came into existence, but during the 15th century, the term started to appear with regularity in historical texts. Escape from feudal oppression, famine, drought, disease, persecution from the Old Believers and other misfortunes forced the active and spirited people to set off in search of a better slice of the "no-man’s land" – in the literal sense of the word – along the troubled shores on the East European steppe, that is, in the lower reaches

of the Dnieper, Don, Terek, Volga and Ural rivers. It is on the banks of these rivers that self-governed Cossack communities formed, communities which frequently went to war with their neighbours. The Cossacks fought at one point or another with all of their neighbours (the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, the Crimean Khanate, Turkey and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), and when the need arose, they forged temporary alliances with erstwhile enemies.

With many trade routes under their control, the Cossacks charged a toll to anyone who wished to pass through their territories (or sometimes simply robbed travellers). But where exactly do the Cossacks come from? What is their bloodline? Researchers today tend to believe that, in addition to the obvious Russian and Eastern-Slavic elements and inter-marriage in areas they conquered, there are also Turkish and Caucasian influences; and many descendants of Cos-

sacks are dark-haired and dark-eyed. Cossacks speak, and have always spoken, in dialects of Russian that, with the exception of the occasional word, are understood by any Russian.While Cossacks have never had a particularly strong national identity as such, they do have a welldeveloped sense of class and confessional identity. The Cossacks were under constant pressure from the Tsars during the 17th and 18th centuries, who saw them as outlaws. Cossack atamans (leaders) staged numerous uprisings against Moscow, inciting thousands-strong peasant riots. Stepan Razin led a major uprising against Tsar Alexis (1670-71), which was followed by Kondraty Bulavin’s

rebellion against Peter the Great (1707-08) andYemelyan Pugachev’s uprising against Catherine the Great (1773-75). These activities angered the tsars, and in 1775, Catherine ordered the dissolution of the Sich – a bloodless operation, which involved the Cossacks being issued with an ultimatum and them agreeing to move on. They went south to the Kuban, a region around the Kuban River, on the Black Sea. A number of them moved further west to the Danube Delta, to Ottoman territory, and formed the Danubian Sich, which was loyal to the Ottoman Sultan. Others made it to Vojvodina, where they served the Habsburgs on the border of Austria and Turkey.

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MOST READ Isinbayeva under fire for comment on anti-gay law http://rbth.ru/29607

Russia's beach soccer team confident of victory

Kings of the beach look to hang on to their world cup Reigning champions Russia head into this month’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Tahiti confident of defending the title they won in 2011. ILYA TRISVYATSKIY SPECIAL TO RBTH

In 2011, the Russian national beach soccer team was given little chance by bookies against heavily favoured Brazil – the homeland of the sport. But it emerged from the final in Italy with a 12-8 victory. “At some point we just stopped being afraid of the Brazilians,” said goalkeeper Andrey Bukhlitskiy (aka Sandman). “They thought they would be able to play their sand shows for another few years, but every hegemony comes to an end, sooner or later.” Bukhlitskiy said the main strengths of the Russian squad are“teamwork, speed, being in good shape, and strong psychological training”. The Russian Beach Soccer Federation was set up only eight years ago to organise the first national cup in 2005, and the national

team was put together in 2007, immediately winning bronze at the Euro League Cup. During the early years, most Russian beach soccer players had backgrounds in traditional soccer, with the national team including famous Russian footballers Aleksandr Mostovoy, Sergey Kiryakov, Valeriy Karpin, Yuriy Nikiforov and Nikolay Pisarev. Pisarev went on to become the national team’s coach before passing the mantle to Mikhail Likhachev, whose team won gold in Italy. Unlike most of the countries where this sport is played, Russia does not have an ideal climate. Even in southern regions it is too cold to play in winter. In Moscow, the home city of the strongest domestic side Lokomotiv, the beach soccer season lasts only three months – four at best. “Russia isn’t famous for its beaches but we do love soccer, and we have many soccer players,” said Mostovoy, who gained fame in traditional soccer playing for FC Spartak Moscow and Spain’s Celta

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Volleyball link While organising the home stages of the European League, Russia's beach soccer authorities have been working closely with the beach volleyball "Grand Slam" series organisers. These events are often held one after the another at the same venue. For several years, they have used a venue not far from Moscow with removable grandstands which can hold up to 4000 spectators.

Russian victories World Cup – 2011 European League - 2009, 2011 European Cup - 2010, 2012 Intercontinental Cup - 2011-12

"There isn't much in common between this sport and traditional soccer" Aleksandr Mostovoy

de Vigo, before turning to beach soccer. “That's why I’m not surprised by the success of our national team at various international events. “The people behind Russian beach soccer made some very good decisions when the sport was just beginning and that helped it gain popularity.” After the first wave of players with a traditional soccer background, the sport is now dominated by those focused on beach soccer itself. For all the similarities, the two games are actually quite different, according to Mostovoy. “I realised quickly that there isn’t much in common between this sport and traditional soccer. Some of the ball-handling techniques are the same, but there is no dribbling, no ground moves and no long combinations,” he said. One of the most recognised players in the current Russian team is captain Ilya Leonov, a midfielder named best player at the 2011 World Cup, and captain of the Lokomotiv Moscow side.

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup kicks off today in Tahiti.

When the world champion Russian team confirmed its form with a victory in the 2013 Euro Beach Soccer League last month in Spain, Leonov was again named best player at the tournament. Most of the official games played by the Russian national team and shown on Russia's Rossiya 2 national TV network attract healthy audiences, but the national championship continues to struggle for audiences. In 2013, there were nine teams in the national competition, playing from mid-

May until mid-August in Moscow, Volgograd and Samara. They included four teams from Moscow and one each from St Petersburg, Saratov, Samara, Yaroslavl and Volgograd. The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup kicks off in Papeete, Tahiti, today. Sixteen teams will compete for the right to play in the final on September 28. Russia is drawn in Group D and will play its group matches against Japan today, Cote d’Ivoire on Friday and Paraguay on September 22.

WHAT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS MEAN TO RUSSIA

16 October

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