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NEWS IN BRIEF

International Greenpeace faces off with Russia over an attempt by its activists to board an oil platform

Activists’ Arctic Stunt Sparks Legal Showdown

More Small Steps Toward a Solution for Syria Russia and the United States continue to move toward an agreement on how to deal with the crisis in Syria. “We have a common understanding of what needs to be done and how,” said Russian PresidentVladimir Putin after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Oct. 8. Leaders from both countries hope to set a date soon for the long-awaited Geneva II conference on the future of Syria.

ITAR-TASS

N.G.O.s to be Subjected to Additional Scrutiny

The Russian State Duma has passed a bill in the first reading expanding grounds for unscheduled inspections of nongovernmental organizations , or N.G.O.s. According to the bill’s accompanying description, the law will expand the list of grounds for unscheduled inspections of N.G.O.s by representatives of the Ministry of Justice. N.G.O.s in Russia have been under fire since a law limiting their funding was passed in 2012. Read more about challenges facing Russia’s N.G.O.s at rbth.ru/ngo_law

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While 30 people from 16 countries — including American captain Peter Henry Willcox — sit in pretrial detention in Murmansk, lawyers for the Russian and Dutch governments are facing off at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany. At issue in both cases is whether or not the crew and guests aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise are pirates. On Sept. 18, two environmental activists sailing aboard the

thorities to the Investigative Committee’s actions and to the Netherlands’ legal steps has been mixed. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the environmentalists were not pirates, although they did break international law. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev condemned the actions, saying“concerns about the environment cannot justify illegal acts, however high the motives of the people taking part in various actions.” Moscow stands firm in its claims against the activists. “Over the past year and a half, the Russian side has repeatedly demanded that the Netherlands, as the flag state of the Arctic Sunrise, put an end to the illegal acts by this ship. Unfortunately, this has not been done, so we have far

more questions for the Dutch side than they might have for us,”Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov said in an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti. He also called the activists’ actions “a provocation.” Rig operator Gazpromneft agreed with the government’s position. “The law enforcement agencies should take into account that Greenpeace’s actions might not only have entailed a breach of industrial and environmental safety, but also have seriously jeopardized the lives of people working underwater at the time,” said Gazpromneft C.E.O. Alexander Dyukov. Meanwhile, protests in support of the activists have taken place in at least 45 countries.

All 30 people onboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise were charged with piracy after two Greenpeace activists attempted to board the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora Sea.

Aviation Mexican airline Interjet debuts commercial flights on Russian manufacturer’s flagship plane

Superjet Takes On North America Purchases by Mexico’s low-cost carrier make Sukhoi the first Russian passenger plane manufacturer to operate in the North American market. AMAIA ALDAMIZ, ARTEM ZAGORODNOV SPECIAL TO RBTH

PRESS PHOTO

Early on Sept. 18, Russian aviation passed an important milestone: the first two Sukhoi Superjets — the only civilian plane developed since the fall of the Soviet Union — completed their debut flights between Mexico City and the central Mexican cities of

Soon Sukhoi Superjets will be flying to several Latin American countries as well as the United States.

Torreon and Aguascalientes. With these flights, Interjet, Mexico’s second largest carrier, became the first North American airline in history to operate a Russian passenger plane. The planes are scheduled to fly to other Latin American countries as well as the United States. Interjet, which controls 25 percent of the domestic market and 15 percent of international traffic among Mexican airlines, hopes the 20 Superjets set to be delivered over the next two years (with an option for 10 more) will bring another 3 million passengers to the airline annually. “The Sukhoi Superjet’s performance will be watched very closely by manufacturers, specialists and the entire aviation industry because it is the first Russian plane to receive an EASA [European Aviation Safety Agency] safety certificate and come to the

North American market, which is dominated by other manufacturers,” said Jose Luis Garza, managing director of Interjet.

Co-owners of the Dve Palochki (Two Chopsticks) St. Petersburg-based chain of Japanese restaurants, Mikhail Tevelev and Eugene Kadomsky, are planning to open a food hub in New York City. A food hub is a combination of several restaurants with different concepts, all located in the same building. No Russian restaurateur has ever undertaken such a venture abroad. According to the representative of the Ginza Project, about $10 million will be invested in the project. Rent for around 27,000 square feet in Manhattan will cost another $5 million.

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The U.S. and Russia assess their post-reset relationship

One man’s vison Sukhoi’s dreams of entering the North American market are being realized thanks to one man: Miguel Aleman. The 46-year-old Interjet C.E.O. became the first international entrepreneur to take a chance on Sukhoi’s foray into civilian aircraft. Aleman stunned the global aviation community by choosing the firm’s yet-to-bebuilt Superjet over options from Bombardier and Embraer in 2011. Sukhoi has been known for decades as a maker of top-notch military aircraft exported worldwide, but the Superjet was its first attempt to make a competitive civilian aircraft. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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TATYANA LISINA

ship attempted to climb onto the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora Sea. The platform, which is owned by Gazpromneft, the oilproducing branch of Russian energy giant Gazprom, is the first commercial offshore oil platform in the Arctic. The Russian Coast Guard intervened, took control of the ship, and sailed it to the northern Russian port of Murmansk, where all onboard were taken into custody. By Oct. 3, they were charged with piracy committed by an organized group — a crime that carries a possible penalty of 15 years in jail. Because the Arctic Sunrise was registered in the Netherlands, the Dutch filed a complaint in the Hamburg court on Oct. 4, saying Russia wrongfully seized the ship. The reaction of the Russian au-

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Courts in Murmansk and Hamburg continue to debate the fate of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise crew, while global protests call for Russia to release the activists.

Restaurateurs Take on New York with Two Chopsticks

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Politics

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Public opinion New study shows most Russians aren’t interested in participating in the political process

VIEWPOINT

Apathetic Russians Show Little Interest in Politics

Beware the Pirates of the Arctic Ocean Chris Fleming SPECIAL TO RBTH

n Sept. 18, Greenpeace activists in the Pechora Sea approached the offshore Arctic oil platform, the Prirazlomnaya. Two activists then attempted to scale the rig. Alerted, the Russian coast guard rammed the rafts that surrounded the Greenpeace vessel, the Arctic Sunrise, firing warning shots over the boat and shooting the activists with water cannons. The following day, the coast guard returned by helicopter, boarded the Greenpeace ship, detained the remaining 28 activists and towed the boat to Murmansk. By Oct. 3, all of the crew had been charged with piracy. Much of the international discussion about the incident so

With no real history of a competitive political party system in Russia, many Russians say they aren’t interested in following current politics in their country.

DARYA LYUBINSKAYA SPECIAL TO RBTH

Much of the international debate has revolved around the applicability of the charge of piracy.

ITAR-TASS

Nearly two-thirds of Russians say they “don’t like politics,” or are simply indifferent to the political situation in the country and have no plans to follow political developments, according to a recent survey by the Levada Center polling agency assessing the attitudes of Russians towards politics. The survey showed 34 percent of those asked selected the response“I don’t like politics.”Another 29 percent replied that they were uninterested in following the country’s political developments. Levada Center sociologist Oleg Saveylev said many Russians have more pressing concerns than the country’s political situation. “With the exception of those in some of the main cities, people are just trying to survive. They are therefore more concerned with issues of poverty, the soaring cost of utilities and food, and low wages. When people are fed and clothed better and they have everything that they need, this is when they start to think about politics and democratic values.” He added that history is also partially to blame, since Russians have never experienced a competitive political sytem and don’t understand how it could benefit them.“We have simply never had these traditions before,”Savelyev said.“In as much as in both Russia and in the Soviet Union, political parties were all but absent.” Stepan Lvov, the head of the Department of Sociopolitical Research at the Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), suggested that a lack of faith in the future of the country is also responsible. Lvov said that today Russians are generally apathetic, but that“this growing apathy influences the attitude towards politics more than in any other field.” Leontiy Bryzgalov, a senior research fellow at the Sociological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said those who are interested in politics share a number of characteristics. They typi-

The lack of historical precedent in Russia for political activism influences how Russians today feel about the political process.

How Russians feel about politics and political involvement

cally are members of the urban middle class with higher levels of education and income. Even though this group is not considered exceptionally well off, their standard of living is higher than that of rural Russians, and this has actually contributed to the overall lack of interest in politics, according to Bryzgalov. “Many people have begun to feel that politics is a game for the

rich, and that ordinary people should expect nothing from it,” Bryzgalov said. “Also that politics bears no relation to their own interests and problems.” People were more interested in politics in the 1990s, Bryzgalov said. “Since then, people have felt alienated from their leaders,”said Bryzgalov. “They think that all political issues are resolved by a

small group and this does not depend on popular opinion, their vote, or whichever party they voted for at all. This is the very reason why everything linked to politics is perceived of interest only to those who are directly engaged in political life.” At the same time, experts hold out hope that this current apathy towards politics is temporary. “The current attitude to poli-

tics [of the respondents] is influenced by immediate events taking place at that particular point in time when we carried out the survey,”Lvov said, adding that it would only take one radical act to galvanize the population. “Someone could receive word of something outrageous taking place that does not sit well with their understanding of morality or public order.” Bryzgalov said that the interest in politics among the urban middle class only began to increase after the 2011 State Duma elections, and that this trend still had the potential to spread throughout the overall population. “I would say that interest in politics began to rise following the [protests]on Bolotnaya square. It was then that society began to get heated. Apart from that, a new generation has come through who want to speak out, and they are not very interested in hibernating,” Bryzgalov said. “The desire for change is growing among the population little by little, as well as a desire to have some influence on something.”

Politics Door-to-door canvassing and online fundraising find their way into Russian campaigning

Navalny Tries New Tactics for a New Era By incorporating traditional American campaign techniques, Alexei Navalny’s mayoral campaign may have changed Russia’s political scene.

IN FIGURES

15,000 volunteers joined the Navalny campaign, helping to raise awareness of the candidate from 69 percent in July to 81 percent by the end of August.

ELIZAVETA LEVITSKAYA RBTH

250,000 Navalny campaign posters were hard to miss in Moscow.

REUTERS

Although opposition candidate Alexei Navalny did not win the election for Moscow mayor on Sept. 8, the tactics embraced by his upstart candidacy marked a change in the way campaigns in Russia are conducted. While online fundraising and door-to-door canvassing are common tactics in the United States, they were basically unheard of in Russia until now. Navalny was not covered by state television channels, but he was able to turn his campaign’s significant social media presence into offline activism. During the last two months of the campaign, Navalny managed to raise $3.09 million in donations from Russian citizens and recruit more than 15,000 volunteers.

An online survey by Russian magazine Slon named the Navalny Cubes given to volunteers the most memorable part of the Moscow mayoral campaign. These cubes, available to volunteers at campaign headquarters, were covered with stickers describing the main beliefs of

Read online:

the candidate. The campaign’s Web site provided instructions on how to set up the cube as well as campaign tips. Those who wanted to take a more passive role in the campaign could put Navalny stickers on their cars or bags and tune into regular campaign meetings on-

people from across the political spectrum turned out on election day to monitor polling places, partially as a result of a call to action from the Navalny campaign.

line, which were broadcast live from the campaign office. Regular meetings with voters, volunteers and journalists also helped shape Navalny’s image as a different kind of politician. The Navalny campaign did not limit itself to encouraging people to vote for its candidate. The cam-

American sports in Russia new column every Thursday!

paign also urged citizens to act as observers on election day, harking back to 2011 when Navalny rose to prominence during protests against election violations. Partially as a result of this call to action, the number of observers at the election was unprecedented. On election day, polling places across Russia were monitored by more than 250,000 people from all political parties. Ilya Klishin, political journalist for Slon, said that with its new tactics and its impressive results, the Navalny campaign has raised the bar for Russian elections.“Navalny and his staff did an excellent job of mobilizing their electorate for this election. Now they have a new challenge — to win the support of the majority before elections to the Duma.” The next elections for Russia’s national legislative body will be held in Fall 2014. Read the full story at rbth.ru/30539

far has revolved around legal issues. Much of it has focused on interpretations of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea — about the applicability of the charge of piracy and of the legality (or otherwise) of the Russian coast guard’s boarding and seizure of the Greenpeace vessel. Many, obviously, have contested the validity of the piracy charges. Whatever their legal or moral status, these actions are not without precedent. In February, a U.S. Court of Appeal upheld a conviction of piracy against anti-whaling activists, although it must be said the tactics of these activists were substantially different from that employed by those on the Arctic Sunrise. And there have been more heavy-handed defenses against environmentalist activism, including the sinking of Green-

Even Vladimir Putin has said of the activists that it was “completely obvious that they are not pirates.” peace’s Rainbow Warrior by the French intelligence agency in 1985. But if there has been disagreement about the legal or ethical facts here — or their interpretation — there should be less debate about the incident in terms of public perception. The sight of unarmed activists held at gunpoint and then charged with an offense that carries a possible 15-year prison sentence, might have the effect of drawing attention to what many believe to be an issue of crucial public concern. Outside Russia, there has been an uncharacteristic outpouring of support for the activists, with protests being held in 45 countries. Even Russian President Vladimir Putin said of the protesters that it was “completely obvious that they are not pirates.” It may not have been the intent of the Greenpeace activist, but there is ample precedent to suggest that the arrest of unarmed civil disobedients who have galvanized the public’s attention rarely works in the interests of the arresting powers. Whether that turns out to be the case here remains uncertain. Chris Fleming is a senior lecturer in Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney.

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Society

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Crime A hunger strike has called attention to conditions in Russia’s low-security prison camps for women

MARINA OBRAZKOVA RBTH

The hunger strike of imprisoned Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, which lasted from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, has made life for women behind bars a hot topic in the Russian press, just as Piper Kerman’s memoir “Orange is the New Black” did in the American media. Despite some cultural differences — Russian female inmates are often employed in handiwork and are required to wear headscarves — many aspects of life in a Russian prison camp would ring true for readers of Kerman’s book. At a prison camp in the Ivanovo Region in central Russia, three huge German shepherds bark at prisoners lining up behind a tall

Only a third of Russian prisons offer inmates the opportunity to work, and prison camps compete for government tenders. In addition to sewing, other forms of prison employment include weaving, crocheting and painting nesting dolls. iron fence.The fence separates the barracks where the women sleep from the sewing workshop. A guard barks at the women to open their bags before entering the facility. The plastic bags hold a change of shoes and the women’s sewing shop uniforms. Another guard examines each prisoner and her bag. The women go through this procedure twice every day — when they go to work, and when they leave. “This is to ensure they do not take anything out of the sewing shop,”said the guard, who declined to be identified.“Women are more violent than men; they could carry something into their room and then attack a cellmate.” All the women at the Ivanovo camp work in the sewing shop. They are allowed to use scissors while working in the shop, which is one of the reasons the prisoners must be checked so thoroughly on their way to work and at the end of the shift. Only a third of Russian prisons offer inmates the opportunity to work, and prison camps compete for government tenders, according to Maria Kannabikh, president of the nonprofit Interregional Charitable Foundation for the Aid of Prisoners. Tolokonnikova claims that in-

mates in her sewing shop at a prison camp in the Republic of Mordovia are forced to work 16 to 17 hours a day for pennies, and this may be true given the reputation of Mordovia’s prisons as some of the harshest in Russia. But Kannabikh said that it is more common for prisoners to work 10 to 11 hours a day. “Of course, Nadezhda is correct about this part, that the penitentiary system should be improved, to become more humane,” Kannabikh said.“But I have talked to [prisoners] — they get approximately 7,000 rubles ($220), about the amount that is paid to [non-inmate] canteen workers.” In addition to sewing, other forms of prison employment include weaving, crocheting and painting the Russian nesting dolls known as matryoshki. Despite the concerns of the prison authorities, attacks on cellmates at the Ivanovo camp are rare. Other concerns are more pressing. In the barracks, dirty rags hang from the walls, dripping dry, while in the long hallway, buckets of laundry left to soak leak on the floor, which then squeaks as a guard walks by. “What have you laid out there?” the guard shouts.“I’ll give you a lock up for that kind of mess.” One inmate jumps off her bed and rushes into the hallway, quickly pulling the wash down. Another empties a bucket into a sink and rinses it out.

All prisoners in the Ivanovo prison camp work in the sewing shop. They are searched both upon entering the shop and at the end of the shift.

Blue is the new black The calf-length blue skirts, shapeless jackets and broad white headscarves that are the uniform of prisoners at Ivanovo are a different look for Alina, 20, a self-described “restless party girl”whose headscarf barely covers her blonde dreadlocks. “I never dreamed of finding myself here; it really is like a bad dream,” Alina said. “It is cold in the dorms, but the worst thing here is that the girls create their own cliques, and you’d better be ready to stand up for yourself.” Before she went to prison, Alina was a student, studying chemistry. She was a regular at discos and sold drugs at the clubs on the side. She is serving three years for distribution of narcotics. “I lived with a lot of stress and tension for the first six months,” Alina said. “But now I am more or less able to express myself.”

Halfway home There is a limited system of halfway houses for prisoners nervous about re-entering society or at risk of reoffending. Alexander Yegorov manages the oldest of these centers, which is located in St. Petersburg. He said that his center has stopped working with female prisoners. “They practically do not need

IN FIGURES

57,200 women are serving sentences in Russia’s prisons. There are nearly 700,000 people imprisoned in Russia overall.

487 people are behind bars for every 100,000 people in Russia, according to a report from the Council of Europe. In the U.S., the number is 716.

PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Life for women in Russia’s prisons is dreary, but activists say conditions may not be as bad as portrayed by Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.

ITAR-TASS

Doing Time, One Day at a Time

5.4 is the average sentence of a female prisoner in Russia, the highest average in Europe. One-third of prisoners are serving time for drug crimes.

our assistance,” Egorov said. “They make up only about 5 percent of released prisoners and very rarely reoffend.” At a conference on prisoner rehabilitation last year Egorov noted that the programs available to help prisoners reintegrate into society are very limited. Of the 200 prisoners his facility processes every year, only between 10 to 12 are receiving housing and pa-

pers that will allow them to work. In addition to state-run facilities, private nonprofits and religious organizations also run halfway houses for former prisoners. Yuri Kalinin, head of the Federal Penitentiary Service, also speaking at the conference, agreed that new laws on the rehabilitation of prisoners were needed along with more facilities to help released prisoners transition. “It

Climate change This summer’s severe floods in Russia may only be the beginning

Opening the Flood Gates in the Far East With the floodwaters finally receding from the RussianChinese border, climate scientists warn that the region should prepare for more of the same.

Read the full story at rbth.ru/30783

VSEVOLOD LAZUTIN

The severe flooding that wreaked havoc in the Amur Region and Khabarovsk Territory of Russia’s Far East this summer won’t be the last for the region, experts warn. Meteorological data show that the floods resulted from a combination of warm, saturated air over China and low air temperatures in the Republic of Sakha. This created a low pressure area along the Russian-Chinese border, resulting in the heavy rains that caused the region’s large rivers — the Amur, the Zeya, the Bureya, the Sungari and the Ussuri — to overflow. Roman Vilfand, head of the Russian Hydrometeorological Center, blames climate change for the weather pattern. The mean annual temperature of the air over Russia has increased by 2 degrees since the 1990s, he said. As early as 2005, the long-term climate change forecast for Russia published by the Federal Ser-

SERGEY SAVOSTIANOV / RG

SPECIAL TO RBTH

In Komsomolsk-On-Amur, rivers became streets during the summer.

Washed out In July and August, heavy rains caused several major rivers along the Russian-Chinese border to overflow. The flooding, which experts called the worst in 120 years, displaced more than 20,000 people and caused an estimated $1 billion in damage. “We have never experienced a catastrophe on this scale before,” President Vladimir Putin said after visiting the area.

vice for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Environment indicated that the country should expect a sharp increase in the occurrences of natural disasters.The study predicted in particular that eastern Siberia and the RussianChinese border area could expect increased flooding. Scientist Alexander Minin, a senior researcher with the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology, said climate change is exacerbated by local factors such as deforestation and reclamation of natural water reservoirs.

“In some areas of Siberia and the Far East, plant growth cycles have been offset by several weeks, and bird migration cycles have also changed,”Minin said.“In the Arctic tundra, some plant species have found themselves on the brink of extinction due to overall warming.” Boris Voronov, director of the Water and Environmental Problems Institute of Russia’s Academy of Sciences, noted the role human activity plays in the changes. “Global warming and human economic activity are having a tremendous impact on the environment,” Voronov said.“This includes the building of hydropower plants and wildfires.” Climate change evokes complicated feelings in Russia. The rising temperatures mean increased economic opportunities, even as the changes have negative consequences for wildlife. “According to some reports, the ice-cover area of the Arctic Ocean is shrinking,”Minin said.“This is opening new opportunities for the use of the Northern Sea Route. On the other hand, the trend poses a threat to the population of Arctic bears.” Warming is particularly dangerous to the indigenous peoples of the Russian north, where changes in the composition of local flora and fauna may put an end to their traditional way of life. The abundant precipitation has already led to an increase in E.coli contamination of springs used as potable water in remote areas of the far north.

is necessary to carry out more extensive preventive work and elsewhere to create a similar rehabilitation centers,” Kalinin said, noting that such centers provide psychological, moral and social support to persons who have served their sentences and help them find housing and work. Kalinin said that in regions that have such centers, recidivism rates are considerably lower.

There are approximately 57,200 female prisoners in Russia out of an overall population of 142.5 million, according to the Interregional Charitable Foundation for the Aid of Prisoners. For comparision, statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show that there are 113,000 women incarcerated in the United States out of a total population of 316.6 million.

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PRESS PHOTO

Subcultures The Russian incarnation of the hipster draws on Western influences, but is its own creation

Dandyism and commuting by bike are trends popular with young hipsters in Moscow (left). Russian hipsters have also been known to embrace a kitschy, tongue-in-cheek look different from other 20-somethings.

As part of the first post-Soviet generation, Russian hipsters grew up with capitalism and embrace it, unlike thier Western hipster counterparts. CHRIS FLEMING SPECIAL TO RBTH

Who are the Russian hipsters?

In the 1950s, Russia’s “stilyagi” were obsessed with fashion and music, especially jazz.

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

American commentator David Brooks argued in 2000 that in the United States, at least, it had become very difficult to distinguish between members of the counterculture and members of the establishment. Where the bohemians used to have dreadlocks and go to artsy cafes and the establishment wore gray suits and went to church, at the start of the 21st century, bankers and hackers alike were known to have tattoos and quote Jack Kerouac. Ideology, if it still existed at all, no longer wore uniforms. The change that Brooks identified took place at the same time as the re-emergence of the hipster. In the U.S., the hipster of the 1990s took the form of a person who exerts enormous effort to combine almost every countercultural movement of the 20th century into a single style — sometimes into a single outfit. The hipster has stolen Sylvia Plath’s cardigan, is crowned with a Beatles mop-top and parades a 1970s cop-show moustache beneath Bob Dylan’s Wayfarers. Or the hipster appears in a knitted sweater and a Palestinian keffiyeh taking“selfies”on his or her iPhone, smoking Gitanes and stuffing a biography of Che into a kitschy, gender-neutral Sesame Street handbag. In Russia, the term“stilyagi”is often used interchangeably with hipster. The word was used in the Soviet era, particularly in the

1950s, to describe — often in derogatory terms — a youth subculture obsessed with fashion and music, particularly jazz. Half a century later, is the Russian hipster a copy or only a cousin of the Western incarnation? Russian hipsters are undoubtedly half-turned toward 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 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. 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, on the other hand, are a segment of Russia’s first post-Soviet generation: They have grown up with capitalism and have not inherited the esoteric regimes of brand differentiation so dear to their Western counterparts. Yuri Saprykin, former editorial director at Russia’s über-cool Afisha entertainment magazine and Web site, said 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. But Russian hipsters quickly became associated with the young people taking part in anti-establishment political rallies.

Hipsters Master the Careful Art of Looking Carefree

Segments of the Russian media argued that this participation was not, in fact, political commitment at work, but the decadent actions of impulsive fashionistas for no other reason than the idea that 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. One area where Western hipsters have nothing on their Russian counterparts is irony. Absurdist humor first appeared on the scene in post-Soviet Russian politics in 2004, when artist Artyom Loskutov held the country’s first Monstration, a public rally with deliberately nonsensical slogans in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. By 2013, 15 cities across the former Soviet Union had hosted Monstrations. These events are meant to be apolitical, said Loskutov, who added that the purpose is to bring together people averse to meaningless political clichés. According to sociologists, the carnival spirit and absurdist

humor of the events are recognized as an implicit means of resisting the state’s deadly serious propaganda. Said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, an expert on Russian elites at the Sociology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “This is how young intelligent people defend themselves from the leaden pomp produced by the authorities.” But often the authorities fail to get the joke. The St. Petersburg authorities banned an application for a large public pillowfight in 2012 and a snowball fight in 2013. In August, the Moscow city government refused to approve a rally for members of the Russian Pastafarian Church to honor the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Sociologist Lev Gudkov said that the government is just appealing to its main constituency — poorly educated public sector employees and the working classes — who are largely unresponsive to irony. “The Russian government always had problems with its sense of humor,” Gudkov said. With reporting from RIA Novosti.

Where to Get a Grip on Hip Moscow's hipsters congregate around multipurpose spaces that include clubs, converted factory buildings and the recently renovated Gorky Park. IRINA KUROPATKINA SPECIAL TO RBTH

Fans of the 1983 film “Gorky Park” might find it hard to believe that the drab city park depicted in the movie with rickety amusement rides and a patronage of spies is today one of Moscow’s hippest places to hang out. After a major, 2011 renovation, the park is now one of the city’s most popular recreation zones, particularly for young people. Hip attractions in this carefully 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-skating rink in winter, and miles of bike tracks and running trails winding through the park’s newly landscaped grounds. Gorky Park is also a venue for

outdoor concerts and markets, and features a contemporary art space called the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. Garage’s Web site describes it as “an independent platform for new thinking,”whose exhibits reflect on “developments in Russian and international culture.”

Gorky Park is a venue for outdoor concerts and markets, and has a new contemporary art space called Garage. Just across the Moscow River from Gorky Park is another venue that has been attracting the city’s young, creative crowds: the Strelka Institute of Media, Architecture and Design, whose goals, according to its Web site, are “generating knowledge, producing new ideas and making them come true.” Strelka hosts free public lectures on subjects such as architecture, design and sustainable

design, and in warmer weather, 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. Rodnya, another popular nightclub, has increasingly been positioning itself as a multipurpose creative space. By day it operates as a gallery, showroom and lecture hall, and by night, it is a livemusic venue and sometimes movie theatre. Rodnya is part of ARTPlay, which is a bit like a start-up incubator for companies and organizations working in the creative sphere. Within its various converted red-brick factory buildings, there are design studios, architectural companies, small private galleries and large temporary exhibition spaces.

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Business

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Airlines Agreement between Transaero and Virgin America will offer new deals on routes between Moscow and 10 U.S. cities

Transaero Adds New Routes to U.S. MIKHAIL VOLKOV RBTH

Russian airline Transaero has signed an interline agreement with Virgin America to expand the company’s flight offerings in the United States. The deal gives passengers originating in Moscow the opportunity to travel to an additional 10 U.S. destinations after connections via New York or Los Angeles. Passengers will be able to buy tickets on both airlines at special prices between Moscow and Boston, Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Orlando, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington D.C. “This agreement with Virgin America is an important step in expanding Transaero’s global route network,” said Transaero First Deputy General Director Dmitry Stolyarov. “I hope our passengers will enjoy the wide variety of destinations now available and the competitive ticket prices.” Adam Green,Virgin America’s director of network planning, said the agreement will offer Virgin America’s vast network of flights within the U.S. to Transaero’s passengers. “We’re eager to welcome them aboard our airline,” he said. Economy-class roundtrip tickets on Transaero between major U.S. cities and Russia start around $660 (taxes and fees included) during the low season and $900 during the high season. Business class fares start at $1,800, and tickets in Transaero’s special Imperial class begin at $3,350. Tickets are available on Transaero’s Web site and Facebook page. Amid frosty political relations, trade ties between the U.S. and Russia have been developing dynamically over the last decade.

REASONS TO KNOW TRANSAERO

Transaero has an awardwinning corporate responsibility program. The program, called Back to the Future, focuses on three major areas: air transport, rehabilitation and volunteering. The airline works with Russian charities to assist in the treatment and rehabilitation of children with cancer.

Transaero was the first Russian carrier to offer in-flight Internet. By the end of this year, the airline will have 30 aircraft in its fleet equipped with online broadband. Within the next two years, these services will be available on nearly all aircraft in the fleet.

Transaero is also the first Russian airline to place orders for the Airbus 380, the world’s largest airliner with a capacity of 525 passengers. These new planes should help the airline continue to increase its passenger traffic, which rose by 22 percent last year.

PRESS PHOTO

Increased demand from domestic travelers has encouraged one of Russia’s major airlines to look for new ways to expand its offerings globally.

Transaero, Russia’s second-largest airline, was voted the world’s most improved airline by Skytrax this year. Transaero currently offers nonstop flights to Moscow from Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Learn about Transaero’s Flight of Hope for cancer patients at rbth.ru/29875

“Two-way trade increased from $9.3 billion in 2002, when Russia first became a market economy, to $40 billion a decade later, a 14 percent compound annual growth rate,”said Dan Russell, president of the U.S.-Russia Business Council. “During the same period, U.S. trade with the rest of the world grew at less than half that pace.” These figures have been backed up by the growing number of airlines offering direct flights between the two countries. The increased number of flights are a positive thing for American restaurateur Sean McKenna. “I have traveled for several

years to Moscow each month for business,” McKenna said. “I always applaud more competition. It makes all of us better. And as regards the airline industry and the Transaero partnership, I hope this will result in better overall competitive service and lower pricing.” Transaero currently offers nonstop flights from New York and Miami to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and from Los Angeles to Moscow’s Domodedovo airport. The airline offers an additional nonstop flight to Domodedovo from Houston via a code-sharing agreement with Singapore Airlines. Under a current code-sharing

agreement with Virgin Atlantic, Transaero passengers can fly to Moscow from San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and Orlando with a connection in London. According to Transaero’s Stolyarov, the additional flights are a result of increased demand among Russian travelers. “Annual passenger volume in Russia increased by 15.5 percent in 2012,”he said.“It’s with an eye toward increasing volumes amid a favorable domestic economic situation and burgeoning tourism that we are entering the partnership with the United States. Moscow is not only Russia’s cultural and business capital, but also a critical hub with hundreds

of international and domestic connections.” With a fleet of 100 planes servicing 190 destinations, Transaero — voted “World’s Most Improved Airline”at Skytrax’s 2013 World Airline Awards — is Russia’s second-largest airline and largest privately owned carrier by passenger traffic. The airline carried more than 10 million passengers in 2012. “Our growth in passenger volume was 22 percent last year,”said Stolyarov. The company is also Russia’s only airline to make the Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Center’s list of top 30 safest carriers globally, coming in at number 16.

Regions Local leaders hope tourists and investors will see potential in Russia’s Black Sea coast after February 2014

The government has invested $50 billion into Russia’s southern regions in the hope that next year’s Winter Games are a catalyst for lasting change. ARTEM ZAGORODNOV RBTH

As Russia wraps up construction for the most expensive Olympic Games in history — with a price tag of $50 billion — local officials in and around Sochi are making plans to take advantage of the improved infrastructure in the region after the games end. Over the past several years, new railways, highways, stadiums, ho-

tels, ice rinks, residential districts and an airport have been constructed to turn the previously quiet resort areas in the south of Krasnodar Territory into worldclass sporting venues. Organizers of this year’s Sochi International Economic Forum, which took place at the end of September, worked hard to create an agenda that would remind visitors of Sochi’s long-term tourism potential. The program included Formula One racing, a farmers’market, local wine and brandy tasting, and, most notably for some, a Scorpions concert.

Zoran Vucinic, the president of Coca-Cola’s Russia, Belarus and Ukraine unit, attended the forum and said he felt positive about the future of the region post Olympics. “When you bring such big events to a country, they leave a legacy that includes infrastructure, optimism, jobs and sometimes even new industries like sports marketing. I think there are a lot of misperceptions about Russia, so I think [such] events will lure people here to see the truth, and the truth always wins.” Krasnodar Territory Economic Development Minister Igor Galas said he thinks “investors are at-

Superjet Takes Off CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

By choosing to commit to 20 Superjets on top of Interjet’s existing fleet of 39 Airbus 320s, Aleman has effectively tied the fate of one of Mexico’s largest carriers to the success of the Superjet project. “My father had the honor to meet Yuri Gagarin after his historic flight, and they stayed friends after that,” Aleman told Russian business daily R.B.C.“Not many people know that the Russians built the world’s first supersonic plane, but then sold the rights to France and England after financial problems. Then they built the world’s largest plane, the An-224. When my father learned that a Russian manufacturer was developing a new commercial aircraft, he became very interested.”

Low-cost, low-maintenance? The first Sukhoi Superjet was transferred to Interjet at Paris’ Le Bourget Air Show in June, after which the plane underwent the

mandatory flight testing before commercial flights began. All eyes were on the Mexican carrier after Sukhoi’s first commercial partners — Armenian national airline Armavia and Russia’s Aeroflot — both ended up returning planes due to high maintenance costs. In March 2012, all seven Superjet planes in operation globally were grounded to have defective landing gear repaired. But Aleman calls the Superjet “the best plane we’ve had.” “Compared to the Embraer, [the Superjet] is lighter and more technologically advanced,” Aleman said.“It’s half as expensive to operate as its competitors and consumes 10 percent less fuel. It’s also easy to fix.” While final assembly of the Superjet is done in Russia, many of its parts come from all over the world. Boeing has been Sukhoi’s chief consultant on the project, while Italy’s Alenia owns 51 percent of the joint venture Superjet International, which sells the planes and offers support services. Enough of the Superjet’s com-

MIKHAIL MORDASOV

Planning for Economic Success in Sochi After the 2014 Olympics Sochi hopes for an economic boost from the upcoming Olympics.

tracted by accomplishments, not promises. “Sochi is now our brand for pulling them in,” he said. Local leaders hope Sochi will pull in tourists interested in the broader region, which includes the North Caucasus republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan. “What happens after the Olympics is very important for the Cau-

casus,”said Ramazan Abdulatipov, the president of Dagestan.“We are a tt r a c t i n g i nve s t m e n t s : Vnesheconombank and Nafta Moscow have already invested [more than $300 million] into glass manufacturing. [At the forum] we presented a joint textile project with Turkish investors that will create over 5,000 jobs in Dagestan.”

Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the president of the Republic of Ingushetia, said he is hoping to build up the reputation of his republic as a tourism destination. “Investments to our region have been increasing at a pace of 100 to 200 percent annually. This is a sign of growing stability.We’ve already surpassed the number of tourists we had in Soviet times and are approaching 100,000 annually. Ingushetia has over 2,000 ancient monuments, including the oldest Orthodox Church in the country — more than any other Russian region.” But Olympic objects are only the tip of the iceberg, according to Galas.“We spent colossal sums on housing and other social projects, so that Sochi will have a completely different standard of living after the games. But you just can’t imagine a country like Russia without flights into space and big sporting events like the Olympics.” Read the full story at rbth.ru/30423

RBTH for iPad® For each Gazprom, there is a new startup. IN FIGURES

Superjets are set to be delivered to Interjet over the next two years with an option for 10 more. The planes will dramatically increase the airline’s capacity.

For each metropolis, there is an off-the-beaten-track village.

For each bottle of vodka, there is a glass of kvas.

percent of Mexico’s domestic market and 15 percent of the country’s international traffic is controlled by Interjet.

ponents come from Europe that its purchasers (including Interjet) qualify for loans from European Union export banks. American companies produce the electrical system, running gear, wheels and brakes. “At the end of next year we’ll launch [Superjet] flights from the Yucatán peninsula to Miami and to other international destination in Central America,”Aleman said.

For each of you, there is a Russia of your choice.

Opinion

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STUCK BETWEEN REGULATION AND THE FREE MARKET Chris Weafer SPECIAL TO RBTH

ussia no longer has the command economy of the Soviet era, but has not yet evolved into the open and entrepreneurial style that is typical of a developed nation. State policies still form an important backdrop to economic activity, determine the course of industrial development and directly impact company profitability. For some strategic industrial sectors, the state is the key determinant of how these sectors will grow and how profitable they will be for investors and businesses. In almost every country there are industries that are highly regulated because they are deemed critical to the well-being of the economy. Power and gas utilities in Russia are in this category, and the state exclusively determines the tariff rates and competition issues. This year, as one of the key priorities is to cut annual inflation to below 5 percent, the government is holding back tariff increases for both electricity and gas. This directly impacts profitability, investment return and capex (capital expenditure) plans in the sector. The state has also determined a list of industries that it deems strategic for the future development of the economy — industries it wants to protect from external competition and to support financially and politically. The auto sector in 2009 is a prime example of how these policies work. At that time, the state helped create several joint ventures between domestic and foreign manufacturers, provided direct financial aid to those joint ventures and indirectly helped boost end-consumer demand via subsidies and cheap credit. The auto sector has been booming ever since, and Russia now boasts the second-largest vehicle market in Europe. Similar direct and indirect state support is currently being made available or planned for the agriculture, food manufacturing, pharmaceutical, shipbuilding and technology sectors. The state also has a strong indirect role in industries dominated by state-owned or controlled enterprises. Oil production, transport, fixed-line telecoms and financial services are in that category. Here, the big state companies call the shots in terms of pricing and operational conditions. In turn, the state, via

IORSH

THE REVIVAL OF BIG DIPLOMACY Fyodor Lukyanov ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA

he world hasn’t faced diplomatic tasks on the scale of the Syrian crisis since the 1990s, when the Cold War world order was crumbling. Although there have been many geopolitical crises in the intervening 20-plus years, the outcomes were largely predetermined by the balance of power and the overall geopolitical situation. Diplomacy was limited to haggling about details rather than engaging in open-ended disputes. The Syrian crisis is different. It closes a chapter in the history of diplomacy. More than a year ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:“The way the Syrian crisis is resolved will largely determine the model for the international community’s response to internal conflicts in the future.” The essence of the model that has been in the making since the end of the cold war was that diplomatic negotiations no longer determined the outcome of conflicts. Rather, they depended on a political decision about who’s right and who’s wrong, with the party determined to be the right one getting all the help — up to and including an armed intervention. Some examples of this are the formerYugoslavia and Libya.

This approach, which seemed natural in the early 1990s, became increasingly more difficult to implement and caused more and more misgivings, if not for any other reason than because the end results weren’t meeting expectations. In the case of Syria, calls for business as usual — intervening

United States morally and materially, only a few were prepared to send troops to stand side by side with U.S. forces. And really this is not surprising. Even the U.S. commander in chief seemed to be making statements as if somebody was holding a gun to his head. In contrast, the Russian solu-

Diplomacy is in vogue again — diplomacy that is done by professionals sincerely looking for a way out of an impasse.

Whenever actual diplomatic skills and a readiness to act are needed, Russia and the U.S. still have no peers.

and punishing the autocrat while establishing order — were heard from the very beginning. Especially since the United Nation Security Council’s authorization of an intervention in Libya was still fresh in the minds of the diplomatic community. However, nothing was working. There were almost no volunteers to shoulder the risk of an intervention; the most the external powers were ready to do was fight a war by proxy, ideally by supporting one internal faction or another. And even when U.S. President Barack Obama issued a call to punish the Syrian regime, the response was lukewarm.While some were still willing to support the

tion to the problem provoked a more positive reaction precisely because it promised a solution to the dilemma — how to avoid a war nobody really wanted while not losing face. Suddenly diplomacy was in vogue again — diplomacy that at its core is done by professionals sincerely looking for a way out of an impasse. The coming years will be an epoch of diplomatic revival. Many have pondered a multipolar world — some with hope, some with concern. And here it is, for all intents and purposes.The U.S. has realized that it can’t rule the world all on its own. In addition, the American public has grown weary of its role as a global po-

THE POLLS

liceman and is no longer keen on international expansion. More and more players vying for influence are emerging, but their aspirations are not always underpinned by actual abilities or skills needed to exert that influence. Whatever the case, the time of simple solutions is over. And there’s nothing that can be imposed on any country any more. No one player has the required leverage — something the situation in the Middle East has clearly demonstrated. It’s kind of symbolic that Moscow and Washington are at the origin of this new phase once again, even though the bipolar world order is long behind us. Whenever actual diplomatic skills combined with a readiness to enforce agreements are needed, Russia and the U.S. still have no peers. Europe, divided and bogged down in its own problems, lingers in the deep periphery. China still prefers to watch from the sidelines. Rising stars such as India or Brazil simply have no idea where to start — they don’t have any experience in real, big-time international politics. The regional heavyweights from Saudi Arabia to Turkey to Iran are essentially fighting in the conflict, so high diplomacy is the last thing on their minds. So, once again, everything is revolving around the Kremlin– White House axis. One caveat though: This time around, Russia and the U.S. won’t be able to decide everything on behalf of others. Multipolarity is sort of a game in which a certain amount of disobedience has to be expected. Fyodor Lukyanov is a political scientist and the editor in chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.

board control or a regulatory framework, sets the main operating goals and parameters for the companies that it controls. Any other company entering these industries, more often than not, must adapt to the conditions set down by the state-controlled enterprises or, as has been the case in the energy sector, seek a close working relationship with the dominant state enterprise. Indirectly, the state also has a huge role to play in setting the growth conditions across the broader economy. To some extent this is no different from that seen in most major economies, as governments regularly set targets for inflation and other fiscal and monetary goals. The government itself has a direct influence via its budget spending and tax policies while independent state agencies, such as the Central Bank, aim to deliver on state monetary policies via its role in setting interest rates and in currency management. This is how governments work across the world.

In almost every country there are industries that are highly regulated because they are critical to the economy. In emerging economies, there is no doubt that there is a closer relationship between the government and the independent agencies such as the Central Bank. The government gives tighter guidelines and more obvious guidance than is usual in developed economies. This is normal, as developing economies need more policy intervention. In Russia today, we see that the main priority of the government is to maintain both fiscal and monetary stability. That means the currency is being closely managed and interest rates remain high as inflation is slowly pushed down. For businesses, that means a relatively stable but low-growth environment and a high cost of borrowing. Next year the government is expected to relax its tight monetary stance and instead push for lower interest rates. But it will be the government’s choice as to when that change takes place. Chris Weafer is founder and senior partner at Macro Advisory, a consultancy for foreign investors in Russia.

INSIGHT IN AN INSTANT

Russians on Greenpeace

Dig Deeper into U.S.-Russia Relations

KIRILL RUDENKO

THE ARREST OF THE 30 PEOPLE ON BOARD THE GREENPEACE SHIP ARCTIC SUNRISE LED TO PROTESTS IN NEARLY 50 COUNTRIES, AND AN EXPLOSION OF ONLINE PETITIONS AND EDITORIALS IN SUPPORT OF THE PROTESTORS, JOURNALISTS AND ACCOMPANYING CREW. RUSSIANS, HOWEVER, FEEL DIFFERENTLY.

Ekaterina Zabrovskaya Editor-in-chief

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EXCLUSIVELY AT RUSSIA-DIRECT.ORG Can Exceptionalism Be a Foreign Policy Tool? Both Russia and the United States have made claims about their exceptionalism and why it makes them indispensible nations on the international stage. But is this posturing good for foreign policy? Experts from both countries debate the issue.

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actions by environmental activitsts. However, another question asked at the same time found that more than a third of those asked were hearing about the issue for the first time. The poll was conducted among 1,600 people in 42 of Russia’s 83 regions.

The New Great Game in Central Asia Russia Direct’s monthly analytical memo for October presents three scenarios for integration in Central Asia. Traditionally part of Russia’s sphere of influence, China is today becoming a bigger player in this crucial region. Is there room left for the United States? Memos are available free to subscribers.

ITAR-TASS

A poll taken by the All-Russia Public Opinion Center (VTsIOM) on Sept. 28–29 found that twothirds of respondents felt that the Russian authorities’ response to the action of the Greepeace activists was appropriate. A similar number agreed that Russia should stop

The United States–Russia relationship has an impact that reaches far beyond the borders of those countries. In June, Russia Beyond the Headlines launched Russia Direct, a project whose mission is to improve U.S.– Russian relations on the interpersonal, inter-agency and intergovernmental levels. The Russia Direct team in Moscow works with experts worldwide to bring readers critical analysis that explains not only what is happening, but also why. The articles and opinion pieces available at russiadirect.org provide the kind of nuanced understanding required by those with involvement and interest in U.S. and Russian relations and foreign policy. The project also offers monthly and quarterly reports that provide readers with insights into topics that drive the agenda for decisionmakers from both nations. In the long term, we hope that Russia Direct will serve as a platform for experts and senior decision-makers from both countries to discuss, debate and understand the issues that affect relations between the U.S. and Russia. Subscribe now at russia-direct.org/subscribe

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Opera The Met presents three Russian works

What Do You Mean There Isn’t a Russian Madonna? Vasily Shumov SPECIAL TO RBTH

t the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, Russia was represented by 22-year-old Dina Garipova, who finished fifth with her song “What If.” Garipova rose to fame as the winner of the Russian TV singing contest “Golos” (The Voice), which is similar to “American Idol.”Given that comparison, you might say that Garipova is the Russian Kelly Clarkson, but traditionally it has been difficult to compare Russian pop stars to their Western counterparts. In Stalin’s day, most female singers showed up on stage dressed like the stereotypical librarian, in a long, plain-colored dress and showing no skin. Before World War II, most female pop artists in the Soviet Union sang traditional Russian folk songs or 19th century ballads. After World War II, there was a demand for singers performing patriotic songs about the war. Klavdia Shulzhenko (19061984) was the most famous singer of this era. She had a soulful voice that soothed the pain of Soviet citizens struggling through the postwar years. After Stalin’s death, a kind of liberalization began under Nikita Khrushchev. A new type of female singer came on the scene singing catchy, silly songs. Helena Velikanova (1922-1998) had a mega-hit with her song “Landishy.” During this time there were also a few famous singers from Eastern European countries. Edita Piekha was one of these. Born in Paris to Polish parents, she came to the Soviet Union to study at Leningrad State University and started singing in a student band. She had a good voice, but the most unusual thing about Piekha was her accent. Before Piekha became famous, people with foreign accents were portrayed as spies or villains in Soviet mass media.

ropolitan Opera, the Festival d’Aix en Provence and the Opéra National de Lyon, “The Nose” immerses observers in the radicalism of the musical language of young Shostakovich, who was 22 at the time he composed the work. At times, Shostakovich ended up making his libretto much deeper and more complicated than the original story by Nikolai Gogol. In the current production, Brazilian baritone and actor Paulo Szot stars as the protagonist, Kovalyov, who wanders St. Petersburg in search of his missing body part.

XENIA GRUBSTEIN SPECIAL TO RBTH

For the second year in a row, soprano Anna Netrebko opened the Metropolitan Opera season, but this year Netrebko’s Russian roots were more significant. She was singing the role of Tatiana in Peter Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin”under the baton of conductor Valery Gergiev. The opera was just the first of three Russian works the Met will perform this season. “Onegin,”which runs until Dec. 12, was followed by “The Nose,” by Dmitri Shostakovich, being performed this month, and Alexander Borodin’s “Prince Igor,” which will open in February. Met General Manager Peter Gelb said the inclusion of three Russian operas in one season was not unusual, but the choices were still noteworthy. “We are always trying to come up with a variety of what we can offer to our audience,” Gelb said. “Onegin” is undoubtedly the best known of the three works, and has been performed at the Met multiple times since its premiere in 1920, most recently in 2006. This production marks Netrebko’s first time in the leading female role. Russian classical music critic Ekaterina Biryukova said Netrebko is only now ready for the part. “Before, Netrebko’s voice didn’t fit this part, but after giving birth [to her son, Tiago, in 2008] her voice acquired more depth, so now she can be a Tatiana.”

A production fit for a prince “Prince Igor” will be performed at the Met for the first time in nearly 100 years. It was last staged there in 1917. Biryukova said that the choice of the piece

“We are always trying to come up with a variety of what we can offer our audience,” said Peter Gelb.

“The Nose” knows “The Nose” is returning to the Met stage for the first time since its premiere in 2010. Gelb said the success of that production, which was staged by South African artist William Kentridge and incorporated video, factored in the decision to bring it back. “‘The Nose’ was unusually well received for such an avant garde opera,” Gelb said. “It is an extremely gripping production with a great cast and fantastic music by Shostakovich.” “The approach to video is very modernist, and overall I would call“The Nose”very stylish. I enjoyed the set design aesthetic a lot,” said Angelica Blotkevich, a patron and fan of the work. A co-production of the Met-

PRESS PHOTO (3)

“Prince Igor” by Alexander Borodin will be performed at the Met for the first time in nearly 100 years. was directly related to the decision to hire director and set designer Dmitri Tcherniakov to direct a piece at the Met this year. “I think “Prince Igor” was chosen because a Russian director is supposed to make his debut at a place like The Met with Russian music,” Biryukova said. Gelb confirmed Biryakova’s hunch.“It is worth noticing that Dmitri, in collaboration with the conductor Gianandrea Noseda, reconstructed the structure of the original opera to make the dramatic arch stronger,” he said. “Tcherniakov’s view of Prince Igor’s story is as a timeless psychological journey. The famous Polovtsian Dances for him are more of an intense visual hallucination for which we had to make 12,000 puppets!” There may have been no grand plan behind the Met’s Russian season, but singers are happy about the selection of operas. “I like the fact that this year the Met has three Russian operas and one Czech, ‘Rusalka,’ by Dvorak,”said Mariusz Kwiencien.“There are so many fantas-

1) Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role of Prince Igor. 2) Anna Netrebko as Tatiana and Mariusz Kwiencien as Onegin. 3) In The Nose, a loose body part wanders St. Petersburg.

tic composers; why only stage Italian operas?” Lyric soprano Katie Kat, who participated in a Met focus group aimed at attracting younger audiences, said the choices should help broaden the Met’s audience base.“One of the things they took to heart was the group’s demand for [rarely] performed and more modern works,”Kat said.“It’s not just that The Met is doing three Russian operas this season; they are branching away from the standard repertoire of French, German, Italian — with Russian and Czech.” For opera fans outside of New York, all three operas will be available through the Met Live in HD program both in the United States and abroad.

It was the Russian-ness of opening night that drew the ire of many fans, who gathered both inside and outside the Met theater to protest against Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law. Activists wanted the Met to dedicate opening night to gay rights in Russia, and while the Met declined, General Manager Peter Gelb did write a piece for Bloomberg news expressing support for the L.G.B.T. community. The op-ed was reprinted and included in the opening night program.

Bolshoi Opens New Season With three new ballets and two new stagings of operas, Russia’s premiere theater hopes to refocus attention on the skill of its artists rather than behind-the-scenes scandals. GRAHAM OSBORNE

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The scandal damaged the theater’s reputation both in Russia and abroad. After the attack, British choreographer Wayne McGregor, citing Filin’s absence, postponed his production of “The Rite of Spring,” which was scheduled to open in March in celebration of the work’s 100th anniversary. In June, Tsiskaridze was fired, following reports of a power struggle with general director Anatoly Iksanov. Just weeks later, the Ministry of Culture shocked ballet circles by removing Iksanov himself, who

had served 13 years at the helm of the theater. New general director Vladimir Urin is a widely respected administrator who is expected to bring a steadying hand to the Bolshoi. It was Urin’s initiative for Filin to attend opening night. He has said that Filin will be welcomed back to the company, but he has also urged caution. “He is psychologically ready to return to work and I would love to have him back, but his medical treatment continues,” Urin said. Filin, who remains upbeat, told

During the era of stagnation under Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet culture cycled through a couple of generations of pop singers. In the early years, singers who looked like housewives, such as Maya Kristalinskaya (1932-1985), were popular. Later, Alla Pugacheva, whose style was closer to those of Western pop stars of the time, began to get air time. After Mikhail Gorbachev initiated perestroika, underground pop bands moved into the mainstream. Then the collapse of the Soviet Union brought a more Western-style model into Russian

Traditionally, it has been difficult to compare Russian pop stars to their Western counterparts. pop. It became harder for singers to break into the business without the right connections. This was the era of Valeria, who was married to showbiz heavyweight Alexander Shulgin. At the time, huge billboards in Moscow proclaimed:“Valeria — the singer everybody was waiting for!” Today Russian pop, like pop elsewhere in the world, is affected by viral Internet trends and producer-created bands. One example is the groupVia Gra, which was created on a TV show and has cycled through at least 13 singers. One former Via Gra girl, Vera Brezhneva, has been able to build a successful solo career. When she auditioned forVia Gra, the group’s producer criticized her last name, which sounded like a type of dumpling. He suggested she change her name to Brezhneva because she was from the same town as the former Soviet leader. In 2007, she was named the sexiest woman in Russia by the men’s magazine Maxim. Read the full article and see music videos at rbth.ru/30275

BIBLIOPHILE

Taking a stand for gay rights

Theater Artistic director Sergei Filin returns nine months after an acid attack ruined his sight

The Bolshoi Theater kicked off its 238th season with a a production of Peter Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Queen of Spades” on Sept 18. But the buzz at the theater that night was not about the performance; rather, the focus of the event was Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi’s artistic director, who was returning to the theater for the first time since an acid attack on Jan. 17. Since the incident nine months ago, Filin has undergone 22 eye surgeries and tissue transplants at a clinic in Aachen, Germany. Dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko confessed in March to hiring two hitmen to attack Filin, and the case is still making its way through the Russian courts. But in the aftermath of Dmitrichenko’s arrest, 300 dancers and staff, led by popular dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze, signed a petition claiming Dmitrichenko had been forced by police to slander himself.

THE SOUND OF RUSSIA

A Dandy, a Bureaucrat and a Prince Take the Stage The Metropolitan Opera’s decision to feature three diverse Russian works this season was praised by singers, but has attracted controversy.

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Russian TV channel Rossiya 1 that his appearance at the opening night of the Bolshoi ballet’s London tour was“a huge boost.”Filin added that“the doctors are doing all they can. My right eye still sees nothing, and my left eye is working at about 10 percent.” The Bolshoi’s 238th season will feature premieres of three new ballets:“Marco Spada”by Pierre Lacotte; “Lady of the Camellias” by John Neumeier; and“The Taming of the Shrew”by Jean-Christophe Maillot. The Bolshoi will also debut new stagings of two operas: Verdi’s “Don Carlo” and Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte.” Bolshoi spokeswoman Katerina Novikova hopes the new season will demonstrate that the company is putting the past year behind it. “The scandals of the last year have damaged the image of the company a lot, because it’s difficult to understand how such cruelty can happen in the magical world of dance,” Novikova 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.”

A Writer Finally Untangled From His Idioms Phoebe Taplin SPECIAL TO RBTH

TITLE: THE ENCHANTED WANDERER AUTHOR: NIKOLAI LESKOV PUBLISHER: VINTAGE CLASSICS

ikolai Leskov is one of those great names in Russian literature that has somehow been lost in translation. He was Chekhov’s favorite author, and Maxim Gorky described him as the equal of Gogol, Turgenev and Tolstoy. But most foreigners, if they know his name at all, usually hear of him because Shostakovich based an opera on one of Leskov’s short stories, “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.” His idiomatic language has scared some of the best translators. Until now. A new collection of short stories and novellas, translated by award-winning, husbandand-wife team Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is set to rectify Leskov’s neglected classic status. The volume opens with“Lady Macbeth”(1864), one of Leskov’s earlier works, a tale of provincial lust and murder. From the bored merchant’s wife, romping with a servant by the samovar under moonlit apple blossoms, to a chilling denouement near the“dark, gape-jawed waves” of the leaden Volga, the story showcases Leskov’s masterful evocation of place and restless passion. The title story,“The Enchanted Wanderer,” is a picaresque novella about serf-born Ivan Flyagin, a connoisseur of horses, who recounts his many near-death experiences. He works as coachman, soldier, actor or nanny —“Russians can manage anything,”said the man

who gives him this job — meeting alcoholic aristocrats with supernatural powers, yurt-dwelling Tatar horse-traders, feckless princes and burning-eyed Gypsy girls. The settings include gothic stretches of forest described as “swampy, unlovely, wild”, as well as haunting descriptions of the glittering salt marshes near the Caspian Sea with their occasional bushes of“meadowsweet, wild peach or broom,”where“mist falls as dew at sunrise.” The storyteller weeps with loneliness. Boredom and violence are recurrent themes; periods of frustration and wanderlust alternate with whippings, flaying, a live burial and crippling barbaric practices involving horsehair being sewn under the skin. The 17 stories in this volume are presented in chronological order, ending with “A Robbery,” another colorful slice of provincial life, written in 1887 and replete with fighting geese, matchmakers, horse-drawn sleighs and Jamaican rum. Several stories take place in Leskov’s native region, around the provincial town of Orel in southwest Russia. “Lefty” tells the story of a crosseyed, left-handed gunsmith from Tula. Other tales rampage through Moscow, St. Petersburg and even Vienna. Born in 1831 in a Russian village, Leskov had little formal education, but was a great traveler and a prolific journalist. His work has gone in and out of favor, but his commitment to portraying real life was crucially influential on writers such as Chekhov and Isaac Babel. Pevear’s lucid introduction charts the author’s many rediscoveries by 19th-century artists, Soviet critics or modernist philosophers, and quotes a late interview with Leskov: “I love literature as a means … to express what I hold to be true and good.”

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MOST READ Discover Russia’s Switzerland rbth.ru/28005

Food Some of the world’s most expensive honey is collected by hand from the wild bees of Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan

On the Hunt for Liquid Gold In the foothills of the southern Ural Mountains, wild honey collectors practice a kind of beekeeping passed down from generation to generation. SONYA BEKINA

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A forest ranger inspects honey collected in the Shulgan Tash Nature Reserve (left). Wild honey has a different appearance than that collected from hives of domesticated bees.

“This year has been bad, dry, and pests are abundant,” said Mikhail Kosarev, the director of the Shulgan Tash Nature Reserve. “We had to feed some of the colonies to help them through. To this end, we placed a tank of sugar syrup outside or inside the nest.” The gatherers also sometimes encourage bees toward certain locations for nesting. “There was a whole separate tradition linked to it,” Kosarev said.“First, a man would choose an old tree that had been around for 150 years or so and was thick and strong, cut its top off and put up a tamga — a sign to show that the tree was taken. Then they would wait for 50 or 70 years, and the man’s grandson would come and make a hollow. After that, they would wait a few more years for the hollow to dry up.” This culture is almost totally extinct now, and today wild honey gatherers either encourage bees to use old hollows or place manmade hollows in logs. In the 85 square miles of the Shulgan Tash protected area, there are some 400 hollows. Bees, however, nest only

Bashkortostan: Not just honey The Republic of Bashkortostan is sometimes known as Russia’s Switzerland because of its mountains and lakes, but the region is just beginning to develop its tourism infrastructure. Bashkortostan, also known as Bashkiria after its native Bashkir people, produces more oil than any other Russian region. Today, however, locals are working to free their economy from the oil industry and promoting the area as a tourism destination is high on the agenda. With great hiking and fishing, as well as attractions like Paleolithic cave drawings, the republic just needs better infrastructure — and publicity — to attract tourists.

EMMANUEL GRYNSZPAN

Urban beekeeping may be all the rage, but for the wild honey harvesters of Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan, contemporary hive boxes will never replace a hole in a hollow tree. The skill of gathering honey produced by wild bees is passed down from father to son in this region of the southern Ural Mountains. When the Shulgan Tash Nature Reserve was established in Bashkortostan in 1958 to protect the rare Burzyan bee, it had the unexpected effect of also protecting the ancient profession of the wild honey gatherers, who practice their trade in traditional beekeepers outfits, but with the added necessity of a lot of rope. It may seem cliché, But Ramzan, a wild honey collector who followd his father into the profession, said that indeed wild honey collectors are always on the lookout for bears. Bears lead collectors to honey, but they are also a threat to the bee colony. “The fact is, once a bear finds a hollow with a wild bee nest, it will not stop until it gets the honey,” Ramzan said.“We set up traps. We certainly feel bad about it, but what if we have to choose between one bear and a whole bee colony? It is a known fact that bears destroy the hives entirely, and every single bee dies.” The honey collectors are in some ways also beekepeers. They know if a given year has been a good one for the bees and how much honey they must leave behind in the hollows to make sure the bee colony can make it through the winter. And like their domestic counterparts, these wild beekeepers sometimes provide the bees with extra food.

in roughly half of them. The space between nests protects the bees from diseases as well as from honey poachers. Ramzan described honey theives as a worse threat to a bee colony than bears. According to him, poachers will scrape out every last drop of

Read the full chapter on honey bees at rbth.ru/26889

honey, leaving none for the colony itself. Theives have also cut down trees to get to hollows.

The taste of freedom The ultimate goal of all this trouble is the honey harvest. Unlike domesticated bees, which fill hon-

eycombs built into frames several times a year in a kind of production line, wild bees choose their nesting sites themselves and build their honeycombs from whatever is available. Building the combs takes time, and therefore so does the production of the honey. Wild honey should be collected only once a year, in September, when the bees begin to cap the honey in preparation for the winter. Although wild honey takes more time to produce, it is packed with enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and even hormones, which have health benefits. Wild honey is also richer than domestic honey in bee bread and wax. When harvesting time comes, the honey collectors are especially busy. In one harvesting day, the gatherers can collect between 30 to 50 pounds of honey. And it’s worth their trouble. Wild honey is significantly more expensive than the domestic variety. It has an exceptionally long shelf life, and its price increases with the remoteness of its origin. Today honey collected in the Shulgan

Tash Nature Reserve costs $30 per pound in the shops at the reserve itself and in the nearby town of Starosubkhangulovo. In Moscow, more than 900 miles away, prices sting just like the wild bees, ranging from $70 to $110 per pound.

Getting to the source This year, Kosarev and his team opened the Shulgan Tash nature Reserve for “honey tours.” Visitors can come to the forest, watch the wild beekeepers go about their jobs, and even filter and bottle the honey themselves. A pound of honey from the tour costs about $35, but the price includes transportation to the reserve, a guide and a traditional camp meal cooked in a cauldron. More importantly, it is a chance to see an ancient trade in action — a trade that has helped many generations of local people survive. It’s no coincidence that in folk tales from Bashkortostan, the fool is invariably the man who has a lot of cattle but few honey hollows.

DISCOVER RUSSIA TOGETHER

This month in RBTH for Kids, learn about one of Russian children’s favorite sweet treats — honey! Check out the story just above to find out how Russians in the Republic of Bashkiria harvest honey from wild bees.

Twi c ove e a ye r hon Russ ar, be e i tas ey ma a com keepe te a e to rke rs f t pro n duc d buy , wher Mosc rom a ll ow e ts. hon ey people for a and hon can ey

Fill in the blanks to find a tasty way to combine honey and apples

Apples яблоки (ya-blo-ki) Butter масло (mass-la) Cinnamon корица (kor-it-sa) Honey мёд (myohd) Oats овсянка (ov-syan-ka) Walnuts грецкие орехи (grets-kee oh-reh-kee) Raisins изюм (ee-zyum)

Learn Russian! Honey - мёд (myod) Bee - пчела (p-ch-el-a) Beekeeper – пчеловод (p-che-lo-vod) Honey jar – банка (bahn-ka) Spoon – ложка (loh-zh-ka) Hat – шляпа (shl-ya-pah)

Two o from f the mos t pop acac ia u migh t wan and buc lar types kwhe the n of ho t to t at ry ectar n of pu some m flowers. ey are ma T ade f mpki rom his mont de n pla bees h nts! who , you fed o n

filling e now ees from r a s r epe ese b ic beeke if es. Th erican ussian be ussia’s Pac They m A e R . R m h e n o s it o S w ea s hives y Territory et bee dis cold! their k g s y reall ly to rimor the P re less like when it’s e a id t s s t a ou co lso fly can a

1. Порежь яблоки пополам, потом каждую половину на 4-5 кусочков. Cut ________________ in halves, then cut each half into 4-5 strips. 2. Раздави грецкие орехи, но не слишком мелко. Добавь овсянку, изюм, масло и мед. Crush ____________, but not too fine. Add _________________, ___________,____________ and ___________ 3. Выложи яблоки на противень, положи овсянку и орехи внутрь. Put _____________ on a baking dish, put the ____________________________ and _______________________inside. 4. Запекай 15-20 минут на 125 F. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 125 F.

Want to hear more interesting Russian music? We have a cool podcast called Balalike it! Hear both traditional and modern Russian music at rbth.ru/multimedia/audio

ITAR-TASS

Can you find your way through the maze to the bee?

You’ve probably heard the music of Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), our person of the month for October. One of his most famous pieces is “Flight of the Bumblebee,”and it has been used in many TV shows and movies for kids. Rimsky-Korsakov traveled to NewYork in 1863, when he served in the Russian navy, and rumor has it that he was inspired to write “Flight of the Bumblebee” by the buzzing wind he heard in New York harbor.

Person of the Month

HAVE AN IDEA FOR RBTH FOR KIDS? WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A KID IN RUSSIA? WRITE TO US AT US@RBTH.RU!

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

Maze

proof honey a lit0 types 6 te n s a ta th ll a more they flad il There are ussian bees and m a very R s y a b h y d e e c n du ho nt. Light tronger. tle differe arker honey is s d e vor whil