New discovery may speed clean-up of nuclear disasters by Russia Beyond

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Thursday, August 27, 2015

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Unveiling Vladivostok

Fatal attraction

A city that was closed in Soviet times is opening itself up to tourists

Accidents associated with selfies are on the rise

LORI/LEGION MEDIA

Distributed with The Age. Other distribution partners include: The International New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, Le Figaro, El Pais, Mainichi Shimbun. See the full list at page 8.

New discovery may speed clean-up of nuclear disasters A MOSCOW RESEARCH TEAM CLAIMS TO HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW WAY TO DECONTAMINATE RADIOACTIVE POLLUTION

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Far East

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ELEANOR PRAY'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH VLADIVOSTOK travel.rbth.com/1981

Tourism The emerging capital of Russia's Far East has a lot more to offer visitors than sea views and new bridges

Vladivostok: harbour city reveals its fascinating underbelly VASILY AVCHENKO SPECIAL TO RBTH

The Russian government says it wants to turn Vladivostok into“a centre of international cooperation in the Asia Pacific”,and its efforts to date seem to be working: the far-eastern city hosted the APEC summit in 2012, following a major overhaul of the city’s infrastructure, and next month it will host the Russia’s East Economic Summit. Most tourist brochures and guides to Vladivostok showcase the city’s port and sea views, its new bridges and its picturesque embankments. But Vladivostok has far more of interest to tourists than nice harbour views.

Military history The port city has a long history as a military hub and is today the home of Russia’s Pacific Fleet and other key military units.Vestiges of its military history are scattered throughout the city. Numerous tunnels, which were used as bunkers and for connecting buildings, remain under the city, dating from tsarist and Soviet times.Tours of Vladivostok’s tunnels are conducted by local “diggers” – a

term which in Russian refers to people who, usually illegally, explore underground tunnels and infrastructure. On Russky Island, to the south of the city and connected by a bridge, there are ruins from old barracks and remnants of Soviet warships, which can be seen rusting on the island’s beaches.

Heritage buildings By Russian standards,Vladivostok – a city that was founded a little over 150 years ago – isn’t considered to have many historical sites. However, the city does have a few interesting architectural attractions. There are, for example, two unusual Stalinist Empire-style buildings on Aleutskaya Street, which are locally known as the Grey Horse (for no known reason). In one of them,Vladivostok’s most famous poet, Gennady Lysenko, took his own life in 1978. Inner-city Vladivostok can be a fascinating place to walk. Its inimitable back alleys, particularly those in the Millionka district, once known for its rookeries, brothels and opium parlours, are atmospheric and suggestive of another era.

The city's underbelly Away from the city centre, in outer-lying districts such as Dalkhimprom, Zmeyinka, Tikhaya and Churkin, the city

From Sydney or Melbourne, the most direct flights to Vladivostok are with Korean Air via Seoul. Siberia Airlines also has regular flights from Hong Kong.

YURI SMITYUK / TASS

Times have changed for Vladivostok, a city closed to foreigners during Soviet times because it was the main naval base of the Pacific Fleet.

GETTING THERE

The city's Golden Horn Bridge, which was built for the APEC Summit, celebrated its third birthday this month.

has housing developments known as gostinkas. These grey, gloomy rectangular buildings, with tiny flats in them, are home to the city's poor and disenfranchised, drug-users, students and transient and illegal visitors. These neighbourhoods can be dangerous, and yet they have captured the imagination of writers and artists. For ex-

One kruschevka is a well-known monument to the city's gangster culture of the 1990s ample, gostinkas inspired the art-house director Nikolay Khomeriki to shoot his film Tale in the Darkness in Vladivostok. The city is also seeing the gentrification of some pockets of these neighbourhoods, notably Churkin. On the southern coast of Golden Horn bay, it boasts a new opera house. As well as gostinkas,Vladi-

vostok, like every other Russian city, has its share of khrushchevkas – five-storey buildings with small flats dating from the early 1960s. One khrushchevka, on Sakhalinskaya Street, is a well-known monument to the city’s gangster culture of the 1990s. Twenty years ago, one of the apartment block’s corners was blown up in an attempt on the life of a local mafia leader. It has now been restored with panels of mismatching colour. Not far from Sakhalinskaya lies the Maritime Cemetery, which serves as the resting place of victims of mafia shootouts from the 1990s.The graves of criminal leaders stand out because of their gigantic size.

Russia's most famous car market Vladivostok’s Green Corner Car Market doesn’t usually make it into official tourist guides for the city but the market, which trades in used Japanese cars, is famous within Russia – so famous, in fact, that

FIRST-HAND VIEW

A former intimidating Soviet outpost has transformed itself into a tourist destination with a warm welcome Ajay Kamalakaran JOURNALIST

ust a few years ago, a visit to Vladivostok gave foreigners a glimpse of some unpleasant legacies of the Soviet Union. My last trip there was eight years ago, and I remember that as soon as domestic flights landed in the far-eastern outpost, a police officer boarded the plane and checked everyone's pass-

ports before letting them disembark. Local police also scrutinised the documents of all passengers flying out of the city to make sure they had registered with internal immigration authorities if they had stayed for longer than three days. Residents of the city used to mock these irritating and intimidating practices, saying that they were just following laws to the letter. However, when I took a flight from Hong Kong to Vladivostok recently I real-

ised things had changed. When I asked on board for a migration card – something all foreign visitors have to fill in when entering Russia – the Russian airline crew member told me she had no idea what I was talking about. I braced myself for a long wait at the airport, filling in the card and then waiting in a long line for passport control – something I wasn't happy about when my flight was landing at 12:40am. But when I arrived, I saw that the airport had a new automat-

ed printing system in place for migration cards. Later I found out this had been set up in time for the 2012 APEC Summit. Passport control made record time when they took just three minutes and I even scored a smile on the face of the immigration officer I dealt with. I spotted my suitcase almost as soon as I walked out of immigration, when previously there had been long waits for luggage. The customs officials were also polite and, dare I say, friendly.

people from Siberia and other Russian regions have been coming to this market to buy cheap cars for the past 20 years. Trade in imported vehicles is not just a strong local industry, it is a way of life in Vladivostok, despite red-tape barriers put up by the federal government. The market is spread across several sоpkas (small mountains or hills) on the outskirts of the city. It is packed with cars and small cafes. It also has a reputation as a spot to buy contraband Japanese whisky, brandy and cigarettes. Green Corner also includes numerous garage compounds. These simply constructed single-car garage shells are to the men ofVladivostok what sheds are to men elsewhere. They are venues for mostly men-only social gatherings and barbecues, and sometimes they are even used for repairing cars.

Cheap eats The city’s close proximity to

Asian countries is reflected in its cuisine. As an alternative to Vladivostok’s many restaurants, where prices are as high as in Moscow, eating out at a chifanka (from the Chinese chi fan,“to eat”) is an excellent option. Vladivostok’s chifankas offer good-quality Chinese food – albeit adapted to Russian tastes – at very low prices. While chifankas can be found throughout the city, they are especially common around the Chinese market at Sportivnaya. Vladivostok also has excellent street food, the most famous option being Korean pyan-se (steamed buns filled with meat and cabbage). Aerial images of this rapidly changing city in Russia's beautiful Far East. asia.rbth.com/ multimedia/327251

While I was at the airport, dedicated prepaid taxi officI also noticed that local offi- es inside the terminal. Altogether my airport excials were speaking good English to international vis- perience was hassle free and itors, and I later discovered totally different to how it had that street signs in the city been in the past. When I started looking centre were also in English – another post-APEC devel- around the city itself, I was more than a little surprised opment. A major problem with by its transformation: all the Vladivostok's airport in the heritage and pre-Civil War past had been the local taxi buildings in the city centre have been tastefully restored mafia. The city's main airport is and the city's green spaces in a nearby town called are beautiful and well mainArtem, an hour from the city tained.Vladivostok now looks centre. I remember that pre- and feels like viously the airport had no a European buses after 6pm and that the city rather taxi drivers who waited out- than a dilapside would ask ridiculous idated Soviet prices, milking weary travel- outpost. lers for whatever they could get. Now, though, there are asia.rbth.com/47807

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KURIL ISLANDS MAY GET SPECIAL ECONOMIC STATUS asia.rbth.com/48289

Trade Vladivostok faces a continuing struggle to catch up to bigger rivals

Port’s new free status may not deliver much

YURI SMITYUK / TASS

The far eastern city of Vladivostok will become a free port again in October – a status it hasn't had since tsarist times.

On the eve of Vladivostok becoming a free port, economic development expert Vladislav Inozemtsev discusses the port's prospects for growth. VLADISLAV INOZEMTSEV SPECIAL TO RBTH

In the early 20th century, Vladivostok was the largest port in its region, but now its significance is minimal. In 2014, it processed only 15.3 million tonnes of cargo, compared to the 390 million tonnes at the Chinese port of Dalian, 330 million tonnes at Busan, Korea, and almost 230 million tonnes at Nagoya, Japan. Due to a sharp decline in Russia’s foreign trade, the gap will be even greater this year. In an ocean economy era, when the share of maritime transport in international trade turnover amounts to 67-68 per cent and when more than 60 per cent of global gross domestic product is produced in territories separated from the sea by less than 160 kilometres, this gap requires action. However, several factors are preventing Vladivostok’s port from increasing its throughput.

Red tape and weak local economies On the one hand, Russia still has an extremely slow bureaucracy – one that is renowned for being obfuscatory and unfriendly to business. The activities of Russian Customs, regulatory and permitting authorities, law enforcement agencies and the tax office create an institutional environment in Russia which is basically less appeal-

ing than the environments in the Republic of Korea, China and other south-east Asian countries. In addition, the total GDP of the Russian Far East and Siberia is $US265-280 billion, less than the GDP of any country in south-east Asia except Laos, Cambodia and Brunei. If the economy of eastern Russia is weak, what can an entry point offer? Not much – hence the current status of the Primorye Territory, of which Vladivostok is the administrative centre.

IN NUMBERS

15.3m tonnes In 2014, Vladivostok processed 15.3 million tonnes of cargo, compared to China's Dalian port, which processed 390 million.

160km More than 60 per cent of global GDP is produced in territories which are not further than 160 kilometres from the sea.

The port's shortcomings Vladivostok is not an ideal location for a free port because it has a major naval base and other military installations, which use many of the city’s harbours. Another shortcoming is that there are few large stretches of free space in the city for the creation of industrial parks. Vladivostok is also more than 100 kilometres away from the Chinese border. These three factors make it difficult for the city to compete with free zones in neighbouring Asian countries. Looking at a map, it is easy to see the strategic importance of Russia’s Primorye Territory – and also the fact that it cuts off a huge area of northern China from the sea. (This includes three provinces – Heilongjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia – which have a combined population of 90 million people and a GDP of $US750 billion.) Goods produced here should be delivered to the ports of Dalian and Yingkou to be loaded on ships at 1100

100m tonnes Given the size of the economy of northern China, a new port in Russia's far east could process up to 100 million tonnes.

to 2300 kilometres away from the places where they were produced, to be sent both abroad and to the ports of southern China. Ideally, the port should be established at a minimum distance (20 to 25 kilometres) from the Chinese border and connect with the territory of modern China by highway and railway – infrastructure that could also be given extraterritorial status. An area of about 200-250 square kilometres could be set aside around the port, surrounded by a wall, with customs and border checkpoints set up, as has been done, for example, in Shenzhen, the Chinese province adjacent to Hong Kong.

Servicing northern China Given the scale of the econ-

omy of northern China, a new port could easily start processing 80-100 million tonnes a year as soon as in five or six years’ time. And according to experts at the Far Eastern Federal University, growth at Vladivostk’s port could increase Primorye’s GDP by 30-35 per cent above current levels, if growth levels at other ports, such as Dubai, are anything to go by. The experience of rapid industrial development in China has shown that socalled greenfield projects – projects not developed in the course of “modernisation” of long-obsolete facilities, but set up from scratch – continue to prove to be the most successful. The most recent example of this is the development of the project of“informational metropolis” in Qianhai near Shenzhen. Russia has long dreamt of becoming a leader in logistics, serving cargo flows between Asia and Europe. But as long as there is the Suez and as long as business leaders care about the price and quality of transport on Russian railways, why does Russia not try to cash in on the far shorter and more lucrative transshipment routes? Dr Vladislav Inozemtsev is Director of the Centre for Post-Industrial Studies. Read about Russia's Territories of Accelerated Development in its Far East. asia.rbth.com/ multimedia/346961

Regional highlight s: • Enjoy the heritage town of Kostroma and learn about its mythical past • Journey to Yakutia ’s frozen heart and see ancient mammot hs • Visit Paris, Berlin an d Leipzig... and other Russian villag es

: int of ifferent po ital City sights d a m o fr cow gh the cap • See Mos tram throu rt on the a e k ta – view Soviet a ur eyes on • Feast yo etro inter trip to Moscow m out of a w t s o m e th etersburg • Get apital St P c rn e h rt o the n

Natural w • Discov onders: er five u nbe watchin g the su atable locatio • See th ns for n set ov e ho er L Siberia’s t sands and ta ake Baikal iga of expans • Visit t he mos ive northern d t specta e in Russ cular sk sert ia i resorts

: packages Tours and five of the • Discover urs in quirkiest to Moscow r best winte • Get the s e g a k pac weekend sia s u R to asia.rbth.com/travel

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FIRECHAT APP UPGRADES WITH NEW VERSION asia.rbth.com/48127

ENVIRONMENT NEW TECHNOLOGY A PHYSICS RESEARCH GROUP FROM THE PRESTIGIOUS RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES CLAIMS IT HAS DISCOVERED A NEW TECHNOLOGY WHICH QUICKLY DECONTAMINATES RADIOACTIVE WATER

DISCOVERY MAY SPEED NUCLEAR CLEAN-UP SVETLANA ARKHANGELSKAYA SPECIAL TO RBTH

A research group led by Georgy Shafeyev from the Russian Academy of Sciences’s Prokhorov General Physics Institute has announced that it has discovered a new way to rapidly decontaminate certain types of nuclear waste. The group says that certain radioactive elements can be quickly converted into neutral substances if placed in particular chemical solutions and exposed to laser light. The discovery, the group says, was accidental and happened during nanoparticle experiments this year. In the experiments, radioactive substances appeared to be literally knocked out of metal when placed in certain aqueous solutions, which prompted the researchers to go on to experiment with a va r i e t y o f m e t a l s a n d solutions. When Shafeyev and his

colleagues put gold in a solution of radioactive Thorium 232, for example, they found that the Thorium stopped emitting radiation. The same result was achieved with Uranium-238. Caesium-137, a major pollutant from the nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan, is a radioactive isotope produced by nuclear fission. This powerful radioactive pollutant spreads easily, is highly soluble and normally has a half-life of around 30 years. However, when the experiment was done with Caesium-137, the dangerous isotope was turned into neutral barium in just one hour, according to the research group. “Neither we, nor nuclear scientists, are yet able to provide a scientific explanation of this phenomenon,” said Shafeyev, who is head of the Academy of Sciences’ Laboratory of Macrokinetics of Nonequilibrium Processes. “Most likely, by placing the solution in these conditions, we’ve been able to change the environment of the nuclei of the atoms – the state of the outer shells of electrons.” To enable this process,

tory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR. The researchers who made the discovery, however, are already looking at specific applications for their findings. They have said it is unlikely that it could be used for ground contamination, in places like Chernobyl, because the penetrating power of lasers in soil is measured in micrometers. But when dealing with radiation-contaminated water, it could be useful. “In other words, in Fukushima, where Tritium and Caesium continue to pour out of the [plant’s decontamination] pool even today, this kind of development could solve a lot of problems,” Shafeyev said.

Shafeyev said, the solution had to contain a refractory metal, such as gold, silver or titanium. “The rate of decay of a substance depends on the chemical environment – the outer electrons of its atoms,”he explained. “We are changing their electron configuration because the nanoparticles are able to locally enhance the laser electromagnetic field.” Shafeyev’s team is waiting for the results to be tested by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) – another Moscow research centre. For the experiment, JINR scientists will use a sensitive gamma-ray spectrometer based on ultra-pure germanium to watch the process in real time. The experiment will be done with Caesium-137. Some are sceptical about the claims of the research group and are doubtful that the JINR experiments will work. “We need to see this process with our own eyes, and then look for an explanation,” said Sarkis Karamyan, a senior researcher at the Labora-

Health effects of radiation Initial effects and Acute Radiation Syndrome: • Skin burns and changes; • Nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain; • Blood changes, including drop in white cells, reduction in platelets; • Fatigue, dizziness, headache, shock; • Death. Longer-term effects: • In the year or two following exposure elevated risk of leukaemia and thyroid cancer; • A decade after exposure, elevated risk of many other cancers, including lung, skin, breast and stomach cancers. Pre-natal effects: • Risk of foetal brain damage; • Elevated risk of physical deformities; • Increased risk of childhood cancers, particularly leukaemia.

GETTY IMAGES

Some radioactive substances may be decontaminated in less than an hour, according to "accidental" findings of an experiment by a research team in Moscow.

The researchers hope that the process can be used to decontaminate water at Fukushima.

MILESTONES IN NUCLEAR ARMS RACE

In 1942, the Manhattan Project, a research and development initiative that produced the world's first nuclear weapons, began. The project was led by the US, with the support of the UK and Canada.

In July 1945, US scientists conducted the first nuclear weapons test in the desert in New Mexico. The explosion, known as the Trinity test, is sometimes described as the beginning of the atomic age.

Also in 1942 the world’s first nuclear reactor was built under a football field at the University of Chicago. It is thought that this was a cover for the development of technology for nuclear bombs.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosions and their aftermath killed at least 129,000 people, most of whom were civilians.

As part of the nuclear arms race, between 1945 and 1992 the US conducted an estimated 1054 nuclear tests. Most of them took place at the Nevada Test Site in the Marshall Islands and off Kiribati Island in the Pacific.

Between 1949 and 1990, the USSR conducted 715 nuclear tests using 969 devices. Most of them took place in Semipalatinsk, in Kazakhstan and Novaya Zemlya, in northern Russia.

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SCIENTISTS FIND A WAY TO REPAIR DAMAGED DNA asia.rbth.com/48061

RUSSIA-RELATED EVENTS THIS AUG-SEPT

Foods that help detox radiation • Almonds • Walnuts • Beans • Lentils • Oats • Pumpkin • Seaweed (kelp and laminaria) • Black and green tea • Garlic • Onions • Apples • Lemons • Parsley • Beetroot • Ginger • Avocado • Leafy greens, especially kale • Broccoli • Coconut oil Source: meditationexpert.com

JUL 31 – NOV 8 NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA

This exhibition of masterpieces from Russia's most renowned museum features more than 500 works from the Hermitage in St Petersburg. It includes paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez, Titian and Van Dyck. › ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/masterpieces-from-the-hermitage/

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France's Canopus nuclear test, conducted in 1968 on the Fangataufa atoll in the South Pacific

MASTERPIECES FROM THE HERMITAGE: THE LEGACY OF CATHERINE THE GREAT

claimed Bolshoi Theatre soloist Gediminas Taranda. › russianballet.com.au/

MIGHTY IMPERIAL RUSSIA CONCERT BY BENJAMIN NORTHEY AND GUY NOBLE SEP 6 THE QPAC CONCERT HALL, BRISBANE

Guy Noble will host musician and conductor Benjamin Northey, as part of the series Music on Sundays, in a concert which looks at why music from Russia has such power and universal appeal. Works by Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov will be performed.

'FROM HEART TO HEART' SYDNEY CHARITY CONCERTS

› qso.com.au/music-sundays-2015/ mighty-imperial-russia

AUG 21, RUSSIAN NIGHTS, 140 BONDI ROAD, BONDI, NSW; AND SEPT 6, THE RUSSIAN CLUB, 5-7 ALBERT ROAD, STRATHFIELD, NSW.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE – RUSSIAN ART, ARCHITECTURE AND CULTURE LECTURE

Charity concerts are being held to raise money for civilians affected by the civil war in southeastern Ukraine. The concerts will include local community musical and dance groups and the venues will display an exhibition of children's artwork on the theme "Peace in Ukraine".

Art historian Callum Reid will give a lecture on the cultural history of Russia – Russian art, literature and architecture – against the opulent backdrop of the the Masterpieces from the Hermitage exhibition.

› trybooking.com/ISVI

SEP 13 NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA

› ngv.vic.gov.au

THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL BALLET'S SWAN LAKE AND SLEEPING BEAUTY TOUR SEP 18 – DEC 12

Zones with the most contamination Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Ukraine)

The world's most radiationcontaminated sites are in Japan, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. RBTH looks at the impact of the nuclear disasters in these countries. DARIA STRELAVINA RBTH

Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant (Japan) The 2011 disaster at the Fukushima 1 Daini Nuclear Power Plant is considered the largest nuclear-energy disaster since Chernobyl. It is also the only disaster after Chernobyl to be rated at Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). The accident resulted from a power failure caused by flooding from a tsunami which hit north-eastern Japan on March 11. Without power, the plant’s cooling equipment did not work and within hours, explosions in four of the plant's reactors allowed large quantities of radioactive material to escape into the atmosphere. According to Greenpeace, the radiation released is estimated to be between 10 and 40 per cent of the quantity released by the Chernobyl disaster. Most of the fallout ended up in the ocean, which caused the largest radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean to date. Greenpeace says about one-fifth of the radioactive release is es-

Fukushima showed us that "nuclear safety" is a myth.

timated to have fallen onto the land, and that some affected land areas will remain heavily contaminated for many decades. The Fukushima disaster showed the world how vulnerable nuclear power plants are to natural and man-made disasters. It has since also shown how difficult it is for governments to manage large nuclear disasters and afford the enormous costs involved in dealing with them and in relocating and compensating people affected. More than 150,000 people had to leave their homes near Fukushima, and many evacuees say they have not been properly compensated. The full environmental and human health impacts of Fukushima, however, are not yet known.

The Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine is thought to be the worst nuclear accident in history, in terms of cost and casualties. In 1986, two explosions destroyed a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.The reactor core burned for 10 days, releasing large volumes of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The most heavily contaminated zone around the plant, which includes 76 towns and villages, is still considered very unsafe. The impact of this disaster was also far reaching. Contaminants from Chernobyl fell onto large tracts of land across Europe. According to Greenpeace, an area twice the size of France was contaminated by Caesium-137 – a dangerous isotope which will stay in the environment for generations. Hundreds of thousands of residents, clean-up workers and military personnel were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. A Greenpeace report from 2006 said that the accident may have caused 250,000 cancer cases (including nearly 100,000 fatal cancers). Some estimates are higher than this. As well, the reactor at Chernobyl is decaying and will require costly ongoing remediation works to keep it safe.

Semey (Kazakhstan) More than 456 nuclear tests were carried out between 1949 and 1989 in a zone on the Kazakh steppe called the Polygon, near a town called Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk) in northern Kazakhstan (formerly the Kazakh-SSR). The zone saw the highest number of nuclear explosions of any place on Earth. The tests there were conducted by the Soviet government without regard for the health of the area’s 200,000 residents, who were not told about them. Today in Semey many residents are ill, one in every 20 babies is born with deformities, cancer rates are elevated and life expectancies are lower than the national average. The town became an important voice and symbol in the anti-nuclear movement in the Soviet Union. And in the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, plutonium from weapons production near Semey was left with inadequate security and was vulnerable to theft. It was not until 2012 that this dangerous waste was finally securely stored, thanks to the efforts of a secret joint mission between Kazakh, Russian and American nuclear scientists and engineers – a mission which had taken them 17 years and cost $US150 million.

THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN BALLET'S SWAN LAKE TOUR SEP 3 - OCT 31

Forty dancers from Russia's top ballet schools, from Moscow and Perm, will be performing Swan Lake in the Imperial Russian Ballet Company's tour of Australia this spring. The ballet company was started by the ac-

The Russian National Ballet will be touring Australia this spring with Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, performing in both Sydney and Melbourne and in other regional centres. › russiannationalballettheatre.com.au/ index.htm

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Society

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RUSSIANS TURN TO THEIR SLAVIC ROOTS asia.rbth.com/47921

Public safety A new information campaign aims to raise awareness about the risks associated with smartphone photos

Warning on selfies' fatal attraction INSTAGRAM.COM/K177OK/

The health and safety risks associated with taking selfies have become a concern for Russia's Interior Ministry, which this summer launched a campaign alerting the public to the dangers.

Smartphones on the rise – and so are accidents

IGOR ROZIN RBTH

Russia’s Interior Ministry issued a leaflet in July titled Safe Selfies, after a number of accidents in which young people died or were seriously injured while trying to take pictures of themselves on smartphones. The Ministry also published a report on its website which said the Safe Selfie campaign was primarily targeted at young people. “We have tried to illustrate, using icons, the most dangerous scenarios for taking selfies,” the report said. “We want to warn people against taking undue risks for memorable shots.” The two-page leaflet says

that the risks associated with selfies are that a person can be distracted, not look around, not perceive dangers around them or lose their balance. The leaflet also spells out that health and safety considerations should be given more priority than getting likes on social media. “Take selfies only after making sure that you are in a safe place and your life is not in danger,” it says. It also recommends against taking selfies on railway tracks, on water, with animals, on rooftops, on top of train carriages, while holding weapons or while driving.

Each tip is accompanied with an icon in the form of a prohibition sign and caption. With a retro look and feel, the brochure on the new phe-

driving can make your trip much shorter.” According to the Interior Ministry, since the beginning of this year, more than 100

More than 100 people have been injured and 10 have died in Russia while trying to take selfies

A 21-year-old woman died after accidentally shooting herself while posing for a selfie with a gun

nomenon looks reminiscent of Soviet-era public information posters. The leaflet’s slogans include: “A selfie on the road – and you’ll have no time to click,” and: “A selfie while

people have been injured and an estimated 10 have died in Russia while trying to take selfies. For instance, on May 21 a teenager in the Moscow region was hospitalised having

suffered a head injury and electrocution after he fell and grabbed some power lines while trying to take a selfie from the top of some concrete blocks he had climbed. On the same day in Moscow, a 21-year-old woman died after accidentally shooting herself while posing for a selfie with a gun. And on the evening of July 4, another young woman died after she fell from a 10-metre-high bridge in Moscow while posing for a selfie. It is hoped that the campaign will make people more aware of the dangers of what might seem to them just an innocuous pastime.

According to Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs, the country has seen at least 10 deaths and 100 injuries occur this year when people were trying to take selfies. As rates of smartphone ownership soar worldwide, accidents associated with their use are also increasing. ABC News reported in July that new research from the UK revealed that one in five young Britons take selfies while driving. The research showed that young men were more likely than young women (one in eight versus one in 20) to snap selfies when behind the wheel. The research reported the men as saying that they were more likely to take driving-selfies when they were bored.

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NABOKOV VS HEMINGWAY asia.rbth.com/47439

Literature Conflict and psychological unrest plagued the most significant romantic relationships of Russia's darkest novelist

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Polina Suslova

Maria Isaeva

Dostoevsky met the young Appolinaria (Polina) Suslova in 1861, at one of his public readings. He was in his early 40s and was 20 years older than the young aspiring writer. Suslova was attractive and alluring, and shared his literary taste and passionate nature. Although he was still married to Isaeva, Dostoevsky began a secret affair with Suslova. She soon tired of the arrangement, took other lovers and eventually left him, causing him much distress. She returned two years later, although by that time she was more confident and savvy. After Isaeva died, Dostoevsky proposed to Suslova but she refused him. Suslova was perhaps the woman who hurt Dostoevsky most. According to Slonim: “He winced when saying her name… and he always depicted her in his novels. Until his death he remembered her caress and slaps in the face. He was devoted to this seductive, cruel, unfaithful and tragic love.” Suslova’s impact on Dostoevsky can be felt in all of his novels. We can see her traits in the sacrificial Dunya in Crime and Punishment (1866), in the desperate and passionate Nastassya Filippovna in The Idiot (1869), and in the proud and nervous Liza from Demons (1872). As well, Polina, the protagonist in The Gambler (1866), was undoubtedly based on Suslova.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, who spent four years in a prison camp, was Russia’s only 19thcentury writer to be sentenced to hard labour. Not long after his release in 1854, while still in exile in Siberia, the sick and exhausted novelist, then in his early 30s, met the writer Maria Isaeva. His relationship with Isaeva was complicated from the outset. When they met, she was married and had a son. Dostoevsky waited until her husband died, and then he publicly offered Isaeva his hand. But despite his patience, their relationship remained difficult after she became a widow. Isaeva would taunt the writer in letters, telling him of her intention to marry one or other wealthy official. While Dostoevsky and Isaeva did ultimately marry, they never settled into a harmonious marriage. The two appeared to be connected by common suffering, rather than fondness for one another. Russian scholar Mark Slonim wrote in his book The Three Loves of Dostoevsky (1953): “[He] loved her for all the feelings she excited in him – for everything that he gave her, for everything that was connected with her and for all the pains from her.” Dostoevsky himself wrote that the marriage was an unhappy one, as attached as he and Isaeva were to each other. The character of Natasha, in

FROM PERSONAL ARCHIVES

VICTORIA DREY

his novel The Insulted and Humiliated (1861) – a woman who was prone to tormenting her lovers – was based on Isaeva. The couple spent most of their married life living apart, and Isaeva died in 1864.

Fyodor Dostoevsky's life mirrored his novels: it was tense and full of psychological unrest. His romantic relationships were likewise, intense and troubled.

Dostoevsky's love life was as tormented as his novels

The three loves: (from top) Maria Isaeva, Polina Suslova and Anna Snitkina, with a young Fyodor Dostoevsky. FINE ART IMAGES/VOSTOCK PHOTO

FACTS ABOUT DOSTOEVSKY

Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1868) and The Brothers Karamazov (1879-1880) are included on The Guardian’s list of the top 100 novels of all time, nominated by writers from around the world.

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St Petersburg has celebrated Dostoevsky Day annually since 2010.

This month, a board game based on Crime and Punishment, his most famous work, will be on sale in St Petersburg.

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Anna Snitkina Anna Snitkina, who was 25 years Dostoevsky’s junior, was his stenographer during his work on The Gambler. The process of completing the novel engrossed both of them so much that it seems they could not imagine life without each other. They married in 1867. This novel was where Dostoevsky’s three great loves intersected: Suslova formed the basis for its protagonist, it was written as his first wife Isaeva passed away and stenographed by his future wife. At the start, it seemed as though Dostoevsky saw this marriage in practical terms, and he was very much in need of stability and support. However, love grew between the couple over time. The pair’s extended “hon-

eymoon” abroad, which ended up lasting four years, allowed them to escape Russia’s oppressive atmosphere and enjoy more vibrant environments, like they found in Baden Baden. The time away began well, with the birth of their daughter Sonya a year after their marriage.Tragedy soon struck, however, and Sonya died when she was just three months old. The pair went on to have three more children, another of whom also died in childhood. The two were married for 14 years until Dostoevsky’s death in 1881. During this time Snitkina experienced a great deal of anguish as a result of Dostoevsky’s difficult character and habits, namely his jealousy and anxiety, his gambling addiction

and terrible debts and his bouts of abusive behaviour towards her. Despite his shortcomings, she remained stoically committed to him and did not remarry after his death, even though she was left a widow at only 35. Snitkina did not attempt to change Dostoevsky, which perhaps made this relationship the most harmonious and tender in the writer’s turbulent life. Read about the role and legacy of the wives of some of Russia's greatest writers. asia.rbth.com/33367

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Tennis Rising teenage stars are already attracting attention, and have ambitions to match their outstanding talents

Trio set their sights on Sharapova's crown Russia's rising young female tennis players may soon challenge the superstar Maria Sharapova for the much sought-after title of the queen of Russian tennis. ALEXEY MOSKO RBTH

“I like to win, but no victory can compare to my first,” Zhuk said in an interview with PROSport magazine.“It was at a tournament in Tver. I had lost the first set, won the second and was leading in the third, but then probably relaxed too much and didn’t even notice how my lead of 5:3 turned into a 6:5 lead for my opponent. “I'll never forget the final game. It had everything: shouts, tears, falls. When someone asks me why I need tennis, I always remember those emotions. “Also, thanks to tennis,”she added,“I can travel the world. I’d get bored staying in one place. The quiet life isn’t for me.”

While the International Tennis Competition for Juniors has fiinished for this year, these three young talents from Russia are set to play at the Junior Cham-

2. Anna Blinkova Sixteen-year-old Anna Blinkova, who met Sofya Zhuk in the all-Russian 2015 Junior Wimbledon final, has remained in the shadow of her compatriot. Blinkova, a native of Pavlovsky Posad near Moscow, had already won eight ITF Junior tournaments by the Wimbledon quarter finals, where she played one of the most spectacular matches of the tournament, defeating American Tornado Alicia Black 12-10 in the third set. After the tournament, in an interview with Sport Express, Blinkova said that her loss in the final was due to the fact that she had never played on important courts like

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pionships in next year's Australian Open, to be held at Melbourne Park in January. Tickets for the highly popular first “Grand Slam” event are already on sale.

Wimbledon:“It was a new experience for me: the roars in the stands, all that space. I just couldn’t feel the length when hitting the ball… and I just lost to Sofya in speed.” Unlike Zhuk, who lives in Belgium, Blinkova trains in Moscow, on the courts of the Russian State University of Physical Education. Anna says her idol is Serena Williams. Her short-term plans include participating in the US Open Junior championship. Perhaps she will be luckier at Flushing Meadows, since the hard court is her preferred surface.

3. Anastasia Potapova The list of achievements this 14-year-old has acquired at

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Perhaps no talented Russian female tennis player can avoid being compared to Maria Sharapova, though in the case of Sofya Zhuk, the parallels are uncanny. In winning the Junior Championships at Wimbledon in 2015, 15-year-old Zhuk attracted the attention of commentators not only with her athleticism and double-handed backhand but also because she looks a lot like Shaparova. Zhuk also proved herself at a young age, winning her first junior tournament at only nine. When she was 10 she was admitted to the tennis academy founded by Belgian player Justine Henin. She then won contracts with IMG, Reebok and Wilson and also the prestigious American Eddie Herr Championship. At 13 Zhuk began appearing in adult WTA tournaments and was included in the world top 1000. Sharapova won her first Grand Slam tournament at 17, becoming the first Russian in history to win at Wimbledon. Zhuk still has time to catch up to her compatriot’s achievements, especially since she started playing tennis later than Sharapova, beginning at six, having spent the previous two years doing artistic gymnastics.

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1. Sofya Zhuk

her age would impress any tennis fan. The ambitious young athlete from the Volga city of Saratov has already won the Eddie Herr International and the Orange Bowl in the under-14 category, as well as one of the most competitive junior tournaments, the Les Petits, in the French city of Tarbes. Potapova is 54th in the ITF Junior rankings. The fact that in the top 100 there is no other girl born in 2001 only highlights her potential. Unusually confident for her age, Potapova is being called the next Shaparova by the Russian media, and she clearly doesn’t mind this comparison.“I like the way she plays, her style, manner, behaviour.

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The attacking style, fast tennis – this is my tennis,” she said in an interview with championat.com. Potapova, who trains at the Alexander Ostrovsky Tennis Academy in Khimki near Moscow, is at her best on clay. However, her coach Irina Doronina thinks that she will develop in a different direction. “Even though Nastya [the shortened form of Anastasia] dreams of winning Roland Garros, the hard court is more suitable for her game,” Doronina told Sport Express. “The paradox is that up till now Nastya has won most of the important titles on clay, but at the children’s and junior level this is not an indicator.”

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