AUTUMN 2016
www.Moscowexpatlife.ru • Brexit - Varied Reactions From Moscow • How To Become An Individual Entrepreneur! • Interview with Irish Ambassador McDaid
Austrians in Moscow
• Language Exchange Meetings • World Cup Update • What Long-term Brit Expats Feel About Their Embassy • Nikita On Road Signs
Autumn 2016
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News
4-5. Community Announcements 6-7. The Queen’s Birthday Party. Rev. Clive Fairclough 8-9. Rotary Club Moscow International (RCMI). Mathias Bruck 10-11. List of IWC Charities. IWC
Community
Culture
38. Russian Classics to Read This Autumn. Kemal Nicholson 47. Ravshina. Nodira Sadiova
Travel
40-41. Grateful To The Dead. Korea Revisited. Sylvain Cheze
Features
42-43. Autumn Scenery. Alexa Shearer
Education 44-43. EIS
Austrian Community
48. Austria. Kim Waddoup 49. Paul Bruck 50-51. The Austrian Ambassador 50-51. Paul Bruck 52-53. Gert Hebemstreit 54-55. Mathias Bruck 56-57. Christian Gabriel 58-59. Stefan Luer 60-62. The Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme Cycle Race 2016
AUTUMN 2016
12-13. Social Movers (Chris Helmbrecht, Maria Ushakova, Don Craig) 14. Dispatched from Central Asia. Nigel Cox 15-17. Long Term British Expats Scathe Their Embassy. John Harrison 18-19. Black Looks Good On Any Colour – Paintings by Helen Womack 20-21. Nikita on Parking in Moscow 22-23. YPO in Russia 24. Wedding between Jeff Kershaw and Nadya Anaevskaya 26-27. A Young Person’s Guide to Language Exchange Meetings. Adrienne Ebert 28-29. A Midsummer’s Night Dream in Moscow. Michael Gibson 30-31. The England vs. Russia Match in Marseille. Luc Jones 32-33. Flag Dobra Cup. Richard Peers 34-35. Kazan, a World Cup 2018 City. Luc Jones 36-37. World Cup 2018 – coming to a city near you! Luc Jones
Business
63. Pierre Celeste (New Italian Trade Agency Director) 64-65. Statistical Arbitrage explained. Nodira Sadikova 66-67. Are We There Yet? (Chris Weafer) 69. Minimizing Expenses. Chet Bowling 70-71. How to be an individual entrepreneur. David Maltby 72-73. Interview with the Irish Ambassador
Brexit - Opinion
74-76. To Be or Not To Be In? Simon Green 78-79. A Bremainer’s Perspective. Luke Conner 80-81. UK, EU: What the Brexit does it mean? Ross Hunter
MGFC
82-83. Café Michel. Kim Waddoup 84. Holding on to that feeling. Anna Jackson-Stevens
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Editor’s letter
M
y experiences in Russia since the late 1980s have led me to thinking that culture in Russia is extremely important. I am not talking about ‘High Art’ although that is part of it, I am talking about the mind-set, the way that people do things, relate to each other, view the world. The popularity of western culture based on the individual in the last decades of the Soviet Union paved the way for the introduction of western capitalism in my opinion. However, (and this is where I am not so sure) the rise of a more regulated form of capitalism and political control in Russia is possible because of the resurgence of a more collectivist, Russian way of seeing the world. Attempts to encourage the re-emergence of Russia on the world stage and the appearance of Russia as a credible nation state can be said to really be about re-establishing Russian identity on an individual, collective and national stage. This is what happens when you have a bunch of people who speak their own language and possess their own history and culture. We perhaps got so used to Russia being a basket case of nostalgia for the past, a country which didn’t know what it was, that most people other than longterm expats still don’t really accept Russia or Russians. This has all led me to believe that culture and identity are the most important underlying forces in Russia. It is possible to see similar forces at work in the rest of the world. Figuring out who ‘we’ are, and do we want to play with them today seems to be the order of the day. The implications of Brexit are too far reaching for me at least, to comprehend, however we seem to witnessing the return of the nation state in Europe. This could be because of possible misuse of structures set up to prevent further wars in Europe after the Second World War. It could also be because culture is being used to highlight differences rather than accentuate similarities by goal oriented politicians, or a mixture of both. What is happening in Europe and in the States to a certain extent seems to make Russia a comparatively stable place at the moment. It’s the West’s turn to have an identity crisis. Naturally enough this issue is preoccupied with Brexit, which at the time split the British community is two well defined camps. Fights did not break out between expats in Moscow’s expat hangouts, but they could have, easily. All of our Brexit articles are under the rubric ‘Opinion.’ An article in this issue is dedicated to disengagement of the long term British community with the British embassy. Such a sorry state of affairs is not so much the fault of the diplomatic staff in Moscow as the uncanny ability of Russian ‘experts’ in London to consistently get it wrong about Russia. I have been told by my publisher that the Tower has Wi-Fi, and the location is superb. I do hope I get some visitors. This issue we concentrate on Austria, that small yet influential country in the very heart of Europe. Luc Jones gives us the lowdown on the World Cup 2018, which is coming up fast, and Chis Weafer gives us his usual sober look at the economy, and there’s much more in this issue. Enjoy.
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Colophon Publisher:
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Contributors: Kim Waddoup Rev. Clive Fairclough Dominica Harrison Mathias Bruck The IWC Charities Group Chris Helmbrecht Maria Ushakova Don Craig Nigel Cox Helen Womack Nikita Adrienne Ebert Michael Gibson Luc Jones Simon Green Luke Conner Sylvain Cheze Alexa Shearer David Maltby Nodira Sadikova Kemal Nicholson Chris Weafer Chet Bowling Ross Hunter
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Announcements Flying Banana Theatre Company
Flying banana theatre co. are pleased to announce a full programme of children’s shows this autumn, including the marvelous ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ and the ever popular ‘Gruffalo!’ Please contact www.flyingbananas.ru or info@ flyingbananas.ru for box office details. STOP PRESS – MACBETH, St. Andrew’s Church. 01/10/2016!
FREE ROCK’N’ROLL JIVE DANCE CLASSES AND SOCIAL DANCING IN MOSCOW !
Beginners’ classes on Saturdays, held in English and Russian at the Esse Jazz Café. These are followed by social dancing, including live rock’n’roll bands. Not essential to come with a partner. For more information contact Richard at richardhume.hume@gmail.com or phone +7 903 558 71 35 Co-op Jive - www.coopjive.co.uk
VISA-FREE World Cup Russia will implement a visa-free regime for ticket holders during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, according to a report in RBTH The State Duma has adopted a law allowing visa free travel during the World Cup tournament, as well as 10 days before and after. The bill must be approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Putin, both of which are seen as formalities.
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JEANTET Opens Office in Moscow Jeantet opens an office in Moscow and continues its expansion into Eastern Europe. This opening is a continuation of those of the Budapest and Kiev offices in October 2015. David Lasfargue joins Jeantet as a Partner to run this new office. He has been responsible since 2001 for the Russian offices of Gide where he advised many international investors, from France in particular, during their establishment and operations in Russia and in the CIS.
English Language Evenings Meetings held at the Chekhov Library, Pushkin Square September 16th. James Hogan. “We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.” William Ralph Inge, 1860 – 1954 September 30th. Steve Foreman ‘The Psychology of Stand Up Comedy’ October 14th. David Wansbrough ‘The Getting of Wisdom’ October 28th. Lucio Giuliodori ‘Surrealism’ November 11th. Martin Cooke
His Poetry November 25th. Ambassador of Austria, Dr Brix ‘Habsburg Lessons for Europe’ December 9th. David Lowder December 16th. Guy Eames Green Building (r) evolution in Russia - An Englishman’s contribution to a greener Russia Among the PURPOSES of ELE is the providing of an intelligentintellectual evening in Moscow in English, the presentation of a wide variety of topics and speakers, and the promotion of more personal contacts between the speakers and Russians in Moscow. See: www.elemoscow.net for further details
International Women’s Club of Moscow Announcement Avoid the long queues at the September 21st 2016 Meet & Greet, you can already renew your membership for the next IWC season! The membership fee for 2016/2017 is 4,000 RUB. You can find more information and the membership form on our website (www.iwcmoscow.ru), or just come and talk to us. Coffee Mornings from 10:00 to 12:00 at Le Pain Quotidien (Bolshaya Sadovaya Ulitsa 2/46) on the 4th and 14th of June, the 12th of July, the 9th of August, the 3rd and 13th of September. Renewal sessions (no snacks or drinks provided by the Club) on the 7th and 14th of September from 18:00 to 20:00 at Scandinavia restaurant (Palashevskiy Malyy per. 7) and the 17th of September at LPQ from 12:00 to 14:00 (Bolshaya Sadovaya Ulitsa 2/46). Looking forward to see you. Membership and Newcomers Team iwcmembership@gmail.com”
Announcements English International School EIS
Understanding Russian Culture URC’s goal is to understand, and help others to understand and appreciate Russian Culture. http://uruc.weebly.com/ October 7th -- Anna Kochareva Mussorgsky - internal migration Rakhmaninov and Stravinsky - the outsiders Schostakovich and Shnittke - from the inside out November 4th – To Be Announced December 2nd – John Harrison The Effect of Russian Culture on expatriates in Russia
St Andrew’s Church English International School, West campus is welcoming their new Principal - Nicola Kelly Hemingway, “I am delighted to work alongside our dedicated team of staff to help achieve our vision that every child at our school feels safe, happy and challenged in their learning.” Ms Hemingway recently commented on her appointment.
Nastenka Charity
Come and enjoy St Andrew’s Church traditional Summer Fete on Saturday 17 Sept 1200-1600 . This year we are offering, in addition to our amazing selection of traditional stalls, refreshments and entertainment in our new Queen’s garden, BBQ and cream teas along with Scottish Country dancing, face-painting, sword fights and music by Belcanto Chamber ensemble. Before the fete opens Flying Bananas will be performing the children’s show, the Gruffalo starting at 1100. Tickets available in advance, for this performance, either from St Andrew’s church,5/8 Voznesensky per or go to www.standrewsmoscow.org and click on events tab.
Events coming up to which all are warmly invited: 13 November Craft Fair under support of AWO 11 December Dushevny Bazar http://d-bazar.ru/event/2016-2/ www.nastenka.ru
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News Photographs supplied by Intermark
By The Reverend Clive Fairclough
Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday
O
ur unique celebrations centred around the themes of Her Majesty the Queen as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Head of State and Head of the world wide community Commonwealth. The commonwealth nations have close connections with the Anglican tradition. Centred around this theme of developing community, St. Andrew’s Church and Centre is keenly aware that the Christian life is about deepening relationships. We want our lives to reflect our common goal to grow in and through Jesus Christ in our relationships with God, ourselves, each other and creation. The opening of the Queen’s Garden
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embodies our relationship with creation. The series of events started on Thursday 9 June with a fabulous Gala Concert featuring Judith Weir CBE, the Master of the Queen’s music, and some of her recent compositions in the beautiful setting of the church. It was a great privilege to have her among us just for a day. Throughout the weekend, we enjoyed an exhibition of art based on the theme of the Queen which had the colour, vibrancy, variety and vitality provided by students from The English International School Moscow (EIS), The British International School Moscow (BIS) and International School Moscow (ISM). On Friday we celebrated the Quean as head of state by a unique
showing of ‘The Audience,’ starring Helen Mirren. This film breaks the contract of silence and imagines a series of pivotal meetings between Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. It was a sell out and sponsored by Cool Connections who set up a cinema in the church for two days. On Sat 11June, St. Andrew’s welcomed Her Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador His Excellency, Dr Laurie Bristow and guests from many commonwealth embassies in oscow to witness the formal opening of our new Queen Elizabeth II’s Garden. It was heralded by the embassies in Moscow Pipe Band and a display of Scottish country dancing. Our guests enjoyed a true English tea party of scones, cream and jam,
News cucumber sandwiches, chocolate brownies and traditional fruit cake. The formal opening was followed by a huge street party celebrating our international heritage by enjoying many diverse national dishes and refreshments to share with friends from many of our Commonwealth nations. We partied all afternoon
and evening with jugglers, balloon blowers, magicians, the Moscow Pipe Band playing ‘Queen’ and all the fun of a real street party. It concluded by a streaming, from Horse Guards Parade in London, of ‘Trooping the colour’ on a massive screen. It was as if our street party was actually in London with everybody else.
Ninetieth birthday in style at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, 9-12 June
On Sunday, we celebrated sung Matins (Book of Common Prayer service of worship) which included the Russian premiere of Judith Weir’s anthem: ‘I love all beauteous things.’ It echoed what was also happening in St. Paul’s Cathedral where this piece was performed for the first time on Friday in the presence of her Majesty. We also streamed our service live over ‘Periscope’ which attracted nearly a thousand viewers. That is a record attendance for St Andrew’s! This unique event would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors who were Intermark Relocation, our overall sponsor for the street party, Marriott Courtyard Hotel for co-ordinating the tea, Peter Justesen who provided liquid refreshments, Cool Connections who screened the Trooping of the Colour, Moscow expat Life for promoting the event, Ahmad Tea for providing tea at the screening of the Audience, and Perekrestok for sponsoring the Moscow Pipe Band and finally Savills who gave us strong support by hosting a private Gala Concert in the British Ambassador’s residence.
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News
Rotary Club Moscow International (RCMI) Mathias Bruck
I
n 2015 RCMI organized its first fundraising event for RestartU (see below) at the Residence of the Ambassador of Denmark to Russia – H.E. Thomas Winkler, which allowed them to help 5 children with disabilities by purchasing them unique tailor-made equipment – specialized walkers and wheelchairs. On June 22nd 2016, a follow-up charity event was organized by RCMI for the project RestartU, managed together with Professor Natalya Belova and the Centre for Congenital Disorders, which is dedicated to children suffering from rare genetic diseases, in particular those with ‘crystal bones.’ Under the patronage of its President Erik Koebe, with the excellent support of H.E. Dr. Emil Brix, Ambassador of Austria in the Russian Federation, and his
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wife Mrs. Elisabeth Brix the reception took place in the Residence of the Ambassador on a beautiful summer evening in Moscow. Under the theme ‘Ball of Perfumes,’ dedicated to the spirit of the Austrian art de vivre offering wine degustation and exhibiting the perfect harmony between perfumes, music, dance and tastes, artists from the Bolshoi Theatre and musicians from the Kremlin Orchestra gave life to those tunes. The milestone set in 2015 was doubled, enabling even more children to benefit from RCMI’s assistance and thereby changing their lives and their family’s lifestyle – allowing them to move, to be educated, to be socially active and, most importantly, to realize their dreams.
News
For example, Jennet Bazarov – a wonderful young girl now leads an amazing lifestyle. She attends the School of Journalism, is a volunteer in charities, paints professionally, sings and teaches ‘lessons of kindness’ in schools across the Moscow region. RCMI would like to dedicate particular gratitude to H.E. Dr. Emil Brix and his wife Mrs. Elisabeth Brix for their extraordinary kindness in opening their doors for this charitable event and assistance in supporting the efforts. About RCMI: Starting its activity from 2001, Rotary Club Moscow International united 40 members from more than 15 different countries. The scope and focus of its philanthropic projects are highly respected in business and diplomatic circles, involving cooperation with
Ambassadors of European states and their spouses. Together with the Ambassador to Russia of such countries as Austria, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, France, Switzerland, RCMI for 15 years has organized more than 45 fundraising events and collected more than $600,000 for 10 different charitable projects dedicated to helping children. As of today, RCMI has 3 leading permanent projects: The International Russian Rotary Children Music Competition, the Home for Deaf and Blind Children in Sergev Posad, and RestartU, managed together with Professor Natalya Belova and the Centre of Congenital Disorders. RestartU is dedicated to children suffering from rare genetic diseases, in particular the disease of ‘crystal bones.’
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News
IWC
CHARITY PROJECTS ( 2 0 1 6 - 2 0 1 7 )
Т
he IWC Charity Group is an integral and vital part of the IWC. The Group mainly focuses on charities that are supporting children. In many cases intervention can be lifechanging – for the child, for the family and beyond. We support: children in poor or unstable families, children in orphanages or other institutions, children with medical needs. A third of our funds go to the elderly and destitute (pensioners, homeless etc). Our aim is to support the charities in a well monitored way, therefore we not only give the donation in exchange of receipts of purchase but we also monitor the charities via monthly on-site visits. We are also audited by a third party auditor on a yearly basis!
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News
PROJECT NAME
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Children in care Mother Teresa’s Home for Orphans IWC provides funds for art and craft supplies for children with developmental and physical disabilities. Salesian Fathers’ Foster Home Around 40 ‘social orphans’ living with foster mothers in a safe and caring environment. IWC helps with food and household expenses. The Promise/Obeshchanie (Riazan Provision of portage sessions to 3 disabled children at Yelatma orphanage to develop skills such as province) sitting, walking, talking and feeding themselves. Children in families Tourmaline Social Rehabilitation A day-center for 42 mentally and physically disabled children and adults who receive education, social Center therapy and learn crafts. IWC provides warm lunch and drinks. Metis Food Bags Charity Fund “Metis” is helping children from mixed families whose fathers left to their motherland and do not support their families. IWC provides the children with food support. Rehabilitation Center Aurora A center for women who have come out of prison to help them reintegrate into society and reunite with their families. IWC provides funds for computer classes. Food for Needy Students The catholic center provides lunches on Sundays and food bags for very poor foreign students from Africa and South America. IWC provides funds for some of the lunches. Big Change Educational Center for The center provides education, mentoring and life-skill coaching for orphans who are about to start an Russian Orphans independent life out of orphanages. IWC provides funds to pay for three mentors. Neznaika Shelter IWC provides the shelter with funds for food for migrant families (mostly women and children) without Moscow residency and/or living in crisis situations. Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy Bi-monthly approximately 140 food bags are provided for single parent families and large families with Children Hunger Assistance Program low income. Children in medical need Speransky Children’s Hospital IWC provides funds for the sheeting used in the treatment of burns to prevent hypertrophic burn scars Thermal Plastic Sheeting and contractures. Speransky Children’s Hospital – Special creams, ointments for burn victim children for better healing Medical Materials Speransky Children’s Hospital Puppet shows are provided for children in the Burns Unit as part of the play therapy program Theatre Project which has proved to be a vital part of the recovery process for children suffering from trauma (two performances per month) Operation Hope Provides shunts for the treatment of premature babies with hydrocephalus. IWC sponsors 100 operations. Elderly and destitute Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy Handing out food bags every second week to pensioners and poor families. Food Bags Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy Free medical clinic for refugees, migrants and the homeless. IWC helps with subsidies for prescription Medical Advice Center medicines are provided for patients who otherwise would not be able to afford them. Desnitsa Mira IWC provides funds for monthly food bags for 36 needy pensioners. Church of Birth of Mother of God IWC provides funding for food for five men with no income who are restoring the church. (Yaroslavl) Night Bus IWC supports the distribution of food and toiletries for up to 200 homeless once a week. Italian Food Bags Italian nuns supporting 70 homeless, elderly people and 10 very poor families with basic clothing, food and medicine. St. Egidio – Dom na Nagornoy Rehabilitation program for homeless women. The aim is to reintegrate them to society. Your support is highly appreciated by all the supported charities! Should you have any questions, please contact us at: iwccharities@gmail.com
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Community Maria Ushakova
This fall is my last season in Russia, I am leaving to Paris for work, starting on the 1st of January 2017. It’s time to say my goodbyes. Endings provoke anxiety in me, I
Don Craig
Well folks I got to tell you this has been one of the most enjoyable summers that I have ever experienced in my 23 years here in Moscow. That being said it did have a big effect on
Chris Helmbrecht
In terms of the nightlife, this summer was the worst since I started doing parties in Moscow 10 years ago. It’s not only that the crisis seems to have finally hit the middle class and people had to make a simple choice: will I stay in Moscow and
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am not very good at them. Well, I will be very brief. So, yes, Trump will win the presidential election in America. By the way, the politics of the future are synonymous to the politics of show-business. There is a place for both as in the entertainment industry! Major events this season: 14th of October, a public talk on problem solving and decision making at the British
Embassy, (free for all to attend), 15-16th of October, a group therapy workshop run by Illi Adato from the UK. On the 21st of October, Bolshoi Opera singers and Luka Latanzzio will perform at Arbat 13 Karaoke Jazz Cafe. On the 27th of October, Good Food Club amazing dinner at Burov&Sova exclusive Russian restaurant, Kim rules, as usual.
5th of November, it’s my birthday party and a concert of the Armenian diva Di Dikovski (free bottles of wines as gifts to every guest). That’s all from me, folks. I ask my enemies to forgive me and my friends not to forget me. It’s high time for me to go! Keep in touch, yours faithfully, Saint Mary de Louvre:) maushakova@ gmail.com
the Bars and Restaurants here that didn’t have a patio readily available for their clients, some places kept treading water but a few took a big hit. Krisha Mira still amazes me as I walk by weekend morning as the crowds continue to party through the morning and the embankment is flooded with people. Kraft beer places seem to be the rage so I can’t really say that anyone is better than the other, but if you have a favourite
drop me a line (dcraig@ list.ru) and I will check it out and if the hype is valid I will add it to my next issue’s write up. The New Hudson Bar labelled ‘H2’ has recently opened so it is definitely worth checking out. ‘Chicago Prime’ is still a great place to meet up with friends and to make some new ones especially popular during their Happy Hour from 5pm-8pm. ‘Imagine Café’ continues to bring us great nightly
entertainment with some of the best bands Moscow has to offer and Jim ‘N’ Jack’s remains to be a favourite of the younger Expat set. Papa’s Bar & Grill still remains the king of Friday nights, though their week nights are still popular and from what I hear soon to be rebooted with some fresh ideas so stay tuned. Until next time take care and enjoy! Follow me in twitter at @DonCraig777 & runaway777 on Instagram
slurp expensive cocktails or spend my money on a vacation (most likely in Russia). On top of all that, most Russian tourist resorts have become significantly more expensive. Some up to 30%. Long story in short: Moscow’s clubs and bars were pretty empty during the past 3 months, apart from the ‘street life’ in the Patriarchy Prudy area, which was shut down in the beginning of August by some rich guys living there, who were bothered by the noise. Many venues are frequently
harassed by various inspectors and the narcotics police. There are various explanations in the scene. Some are saying that a large club owner wants to create a monopoly and destroy competition. Others are saying that a new man in the city administration has to show results. Others think that some clubs and bars were not able to pay their usual bribe money anymore and are therefore being put under pressure. We are now moving into the last quarter and typically this is the best of the year. Somehow, I
have the feeling that the downturn will continue and we will see a lot of venues closing. As for Russian guests who spend their money on an expensive vacations, they won’t be coming back to Moscow with full pockets and continue to spend it on cocktails. This is not rocket science. So what is good these days? I would rather opt for smaller bars, since they feel full and alive. Anyway Moscow’s nightlife seems to be fragmenting further these days. Some old venues, like Simachev’s
Community Bar or Mendeleev Bar are experiencing a comeback. Simachev’s features a trendy and fashionable crowd. Expect anything from disco to a techy house. Mendeleev Bar hosts the cooler rich and famous. All in black clothes, enjoying some underground ‘click-clack’ techno and tech-house. Heineken bar is run by the Pirumov sisters, who are among the coolest DJs in town. It featuring an excellent music (disco, funk & soul) and a cool open minded crowd. There are also new venues, like the formerly private secret bar: Suzuran. It has freestyle hip-hop or (live) classic music on Wednesdays, live Jazz and acoustic music on Thursdays, a Berlin styled tech-house on Friday and underground tech(no) on Saturdays. In Suzuran’s the theme is: Drink your sins and its chef mixologist Alexey Komarov, will make your customized cocktail, if you tell him what your biggest sin is. Suzuran is probably the friendliest place in Moscow and you’ll immediately feel at home. But, first you will need to find it and that poses somewhat of a challenge, since it’s one of Moscow’s best kept secrets. Berlin Bar, around the corner of the Mayakovskaya Square, will open in October and is a small boutique bar, featuring a very minimal design, created by an award winning
interior designer from ...Berlin, of course. The bar is covered with sidewalk blocks from Berlin’s streets and even the lamps are street lamps from Moscow’s German partner city. Of course the music program will reflect what is hip in Berlin’s clubs and bars. This will definitely be one of the hottest and coolest spots in town, visited by the fashionable and beautiful. Speaking of boutique bars. I haven’t talked about Noor Bar for a long time. This also has a very well styled bar and its mixologists belong to the best in town. Their music program is trendy and every night they have DJs playing there. As for the club scene, there isn’t really anything new. So-Ho Rooms has been running the same entertainment program for 9 years and are still halfway successful with that in the millionaire circles. Artel Bessonnitsa covers Techno and Techhouse. Also in the ‘rich & beautiful’ segment. They have a really nice dance show, but also nothing really has changed, since the place opened almost 3 years ago. Yes, I am yawning while I write this. If you want it a bit classier, a nice mix of club and bar, featuring a Russian adoption of an Ibiza styled music, then Duran Bar is your place. Krysha Mira has the hardest door in town and is the best after-hour venue. Unfortunately,
it has been a target of the inspectors, and often closed for various reasons. The best underground club ‘Konstruktor’ has to deal with the same problem. The current hot spot for after-hours is Gazgolder. The old venue also just made a comeback and features the city’s coolest hip hop during normal nights and techhouse during the afterhours. So, we’ll wait for better times and enjoy a fabulous drink and some good tunes in one of our (small) favorite bars. Here is my rundown of favorite places. Just google the ‘name’ + Moscow and you’ll find lots of information about any of them. If I didn’t mention your favorite
hangout, I am either not a fan of it (or the people who run it), or I simply don’t know about it, yet. Write to me. I am always happy to get a tip. Posh & Glam So-Ho Rooms, Artel Bessonnitsa, Duran Bar Bars Suzuran, Mendeleev Bar, Berlin Bar, Noor Bar, Simachevs. Party Bar (pop music & mashups) Jagger, Gipsy, Rolling Stone Bar Down & Dirty (expect girls from the suburbs and drunken guys) Coyote Ugly, Kamchatka, Crazy Daisy Afterhour Krysha Mira, Gazgolder, Mendeleev Bar, Garage, Mix Club
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Community
Nigel Cox
Central Asian Dispatches
М
usical Kirghiz president simultaneously announces constitutional referendum and the release of his first music album. President Almazbek Atambayev leader of the beautiful Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, famous for its rugged, mountainous landscape, has announced two unusual moves for a Central Asian president. One, that he is calling for a referendum that will reduce presidential powers and two, that after retirement, he will go into the music industry by releasing an album of ten songs. The songs are acoustic ballads about the difficult times he has seen in his country. Some will be in Russian and some in Kirgiz, the two main languages spoken in the remote country. Atambayev has repeatedly said he will not pursue another political position after his term runs out in 2017, according to Newsweek Europe. He made his dramatic announcement in Cholpan Ata a small resort situated next to Lake Issik-Kul, the second highest and also second largest saline lake in the world. Expo 17 City of the Future Rises in Kazakhstan Expo City 2017, designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), is fast rising among the already glittering, ultra modern capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. The Expo’s theme is
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alternative energy and therefore energy for the futuristic city will come from solar panels and wind turbines controlled by a smart grid. Despite being a country with huge oil and gas reserves Kazakhstan is proudly looking to the future and using Expo 17 as an example of what can be achieved when the World takes the necessary steps to seriously start implementing alternative energy technology. Ninety-four countries have officially stated they will take part in the Expo which is being held in Central Asia for the first time. Tickets can be bought on-line and 5,000 were sold in the first 20 days of sales. Terror Descends on Kazakhstan Kazakhstan was recently subjected to two terror attacks, although thankfully not on the scale seen in other parts of the World. The circumstances surrounding the ‘terror attacks’ in the Kazakh cities of Aktobe and Almaty still remain unclear. The first attack took place in the Northern city of Aktobe. A large group of gun wielding men disembarked from a coach and attacked a local hunting shop killing a sales clerk and a security guard. Shortly after, a gun fight between the attackers and the security forces ensued. In Almaty what appears to be a lone gunman attacked a police station with an automatic rifle killing 3 policemen. Horrific pictures of the slain officers lying in the streets were quickly circulating on the internet. A code red
terror alert was put in force and the citizens were told to stay inside of their homes and offices. In all, four people were killed: the three policemen and a woman who was known to the attacker. Ominously later in the evening a huge black cloud descended on the city which unleashed one of the worst downpours the city has ever seen. Yet, it wasn’t enough to wash away all the blood of the slain or the tears of their families. The country’s Special Forces conducted a broad ranging anti-terror operation in Almaty later in July but no word on any other suspects was offered. An anti-terrorist drill was also carried out in Astana on August 5th. Following the attacks, Kazakhstan authorities have boosted security across the country – especially in areas such as airports and train stations. Obviously, safety and security are uppermost in the minds of the organizers of Expo-2017 in Astana. The authorities reported that the gunman was an Islamist terrorist apparently working alone. Kazakhstan is a multiethnic, secular country with a huge number of different ethnicities residing on its territory. Of these the Kazakhs comprise the majority with ethnic Russians being the next largest group. Other groups include, Germans, Koreans, Chechens, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Kirghiz and many more. Despite this until now religious extremism and interethnic violence has been almost nonexistent.
Community
Long Term British Expats John Harrison
Scathe Their Embassy
I
n an admission of its yawning skills gap, the British government announced in July that ‘it is trying to lure the City’s top talent to its Brexit team to build a 300-strong army of trade experts by the end of the year’ (The Times 17.7.16). Officials are turning to law firms and consultancies such as Linklaters and McKinsey for talent to handle the complex task of leaving the EU and inking new deals. So with Brexit coming up, possibly within three years, we Brits may have to get out there out there and hunt for business. Wait a minute! Expatriates business people who have been living in Russia for a long time have had to survive in somewhat hostile conditions. Hunters, they basically know what sectors to target, how to do things here, when to change tack and when to seek shelter. They know this from hands on experience in Russia, and their knowledge is now almost intuitive. Looking at this situation logically, from a commercial point of view, one would think that these people would be the first people that the government should go to for help for advice, help, contacts to hunt for business in Russia. Be this as it may, hundreds of expatriate business people, and not only business people who have been here for decades in some cases, complain actively that their knowledge in this very specific market is being ignored by their embassy in Moscow. Most of them have no idea who the present ambassador is, who the last two were, or even what the British embassy does in Russia. Relations between the British embassy and the long-term expatriate community are that bad. The feeling amongst British long term expatriates is that the support shown to British business is not nearly enough. Meanwhile, the RBCC is looking for a new Director. It is possible to speculate about reasons for that, however the RBCC is a commercial organisation. If you pay your membership fees, you are in. The embassy is another question. The impression has been created, and maybe an incorrect impression, we don’t know, that the embassy chooses what sort of expat to work with according to a policy set in London for reasons that we do not understand. What we do know for certain, however, is the reality — that in the uncertain financial times Britain is now entering (created mostly by ourselves); our country will depend on the wits, knowledge and contacts of people
like long term expatriates like never before. And yet, if long term expats are to be believed, they are being coldshouldered. The community is more than the St. Andrews Church and Centre and the international schools, although these institutions are vital. As the editor of a magazine dedicated to expatriates in Moscow, I asked British ‘old timers’ if they feel their embassy is doing a good job, should they be invited to events, and suggestions of how to improve the effectivity of the embassy. Are these qualitative interviews representative of the whole? The answer is, yes. The result was a book full of material. Here are just a few responses, representative of the general sentiment.
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Community Is the embassy doing its job?
Nick Rees:
“I can’t speak for all British expats, of course, but the majority who have had any need to deal with them commercially seem to be bemused by the lack of support, advice or general help of any description. It should be the embassy’s duty to help British firms in Russia know about each other, network with each other and work with each other, but the barriers put up and lack of effort from embassy staff borders on incompetence. “In my personal opinion (and based on years of experience), if you’re not as big as a company like BP, you should manage your expectations carefully and expect nothing much more than lip-service and broken promises. “It’s [the embassy] very much considered, by many, to be just a political embassy now, which means it sees the British expats and British businesses as more of a nuisance or irritant than anything else. They’ve totally outsourced the visa section, so that’s out of their hands (mainly), which means they only have to control the consular and commercial departments. I’ve found the consular section quite helpful in emergencies, to be honest,
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although it often seems a case of having to tell them what you need instead of the opposite. I do get frustrated that, despite having lived in Moscow for 20+ years, despite having the same personal email address for 16+ years, despite working for or running the Russian offices of a few British companies and despite ‘registering’ with the embassy numerous times, the embassy has yet to officially invite me to any commercial or public events. It seems that you’re only important if you make the effort to get to know ‘the right people’ within the embassy, which surely isn’t the way it should be.”
significant expatriate and resident British community. There is no recognition of the need to support commercial enterprise, or the community side of life for these people. It cannot just be about diplomacy, which let’s face it, has been lacking in for many years as the engagement between our government and that of Russia has been frankly woeful. There has been no attempt to engage the significant expertise and understanding of the Russia market that this community has.”
Richard Peers:
Robert Knights:
“I see the Embassy as frankly an expensive exercise in .... basically nothing... a building with lots of expensive expats who rotate in and out so quickly that relationships are not possible (maybe that’s the point) to build. I have never seen anything of any value emerge from the old building or the new building in 23 years, at all. The function as a representative of Her Majesty’s Government is understood by those inside of the building, but to those of us outside of the building there is little or no attempt to communicate, support or sponsor the activities of the
‘The functions of British embassies around the world differ in each country depending on their remit from London. In Moscow the British embassy is more focused on diplomatic and political affairs than business and economic issues.”
John Kopiski:
Chris Manuel:
“Remind me... what was their Job again?? If it is purely political then I cannot answer this, but from a business perspective I would say an indefatigable NO! There are some very experienced businessmen in Russia who have been here a very long time and I have not heard recently of any being approached by the Commercial Dept. to help British Businesses enter the market, as used to happen frequently in the past. “I receive the DTI export update and it often shocks me to see these so called Russia experts, based in the UK, give erroneous advice to British Companies. IMHO it is time for the Commercial section to get off their proverbial behinds and go and meet the British Businessmen in Moscow. Firstly, the Consul and his/ her attaches would benefit from getting some first-hand experience and secondly they would understand the depth of the help available so that when British Businesses visit Russia, or make inquiries, then they could be directed to those who have seen it, done it and bought the T-shirt!” Should long-term expats be invited to events?
John Kopiski: “I think that they believe so and are carrying out their mandate”
“I think that at least once a year, better twice there should be an English
Community tea party and all registered Brits invited... no Russians. A pure Brit event”
Nick Rees: “From a commercial perspective, I think it’s a vital opportunity for British firms to help each other in a foreign land. I don’t just mean giving each other valuable business but sharing experiences, sharing knowledge and actually helping a fellow Brit. If that turns out to be profitable for one of both parties then that’s a bonus... “From a personal perspective, they should understand how proud we are to be British and how much we would love to be proud of our embassy. One recent public event (organised by the embassy) was attended by more nonBritish than British whilst the more well-known and respected British expats weren’t even invited. The embassy should be actively looking to encourage these people to attend as it’s these people who offer the knowledge and support that others so often need, especially in tougher times like now.”
Richard Peers: “Yes. When one is an expatriate and therefore away from home, the British embassy is a vital hub for business, social and cultural events. Being invited to regular events helps not only to bind together the British community, but improve networking.”
Chris Manuel: “In my opinion yes, as it gives the Embassy staff the opportunity of finding out
what is happening at the grass roots level. …I doubt if many Embassy staff have a clue what is really happening or what the real opinions of Russians are, let alone the expats.”
Simon Green:
“The core changes needed are communication between them and us, which, apart from an eclectic few who are on ‘the list;’ no one can get on. I asked a year ago to get on this list and received a reply which said they couldn’t put me on ‘for health and safety reason’ in that the numbers would be too great! I nearly sent it off to Richard Littlejohn of The Daily Mail who would have loved it! The impression they give is that they are unapproachable, so if I got into any difficulties I wouldn’t have a clue where to start unlike other embassies here in Moscow.” What changes would you like to see to make the British embassy more effective?
David Maltby:
“I would like to see a team created of Embassy and local expats who would be charged with being the social committee for the Brits here. It could be funded (small money for the FO) and could interact through other British organisations. I would also like to see the Embassy proactively working with local British entrepreneurs to encourage business development. The commercial section is also a mystery and I’ve no idea if they plan to work with the local community. Referring us to UKTI is frankly just slope-shouldering the responsibility.”
Richard Peers: “After the EU referendum, the Department for International Trade has been established. Embassies around the world will then play a greater role in promoting British business in the country where they are based. In addition to the regular functions already performed, all British embassies should focus more on business and the community: They should host regular business events for British individuals and companies, house a greater amount of British Trade specialists, sector specific per country depending on the market potential, host monthly social events, arrange cultural days with local authorities, run outreach projects
with local organisations/ charities.”
Simon Green: “I would like to see some of us (a mixture of people from different walks of life) invited to the embassy on a regular basis, say once a quarter, to discuss day to day issues. The embassy staff forget that we are the eyes and ears for the embassy as we have our feet firmly planted on the ground, unlike the embassy staff who are cocooned in their own little world and frankly haven’t the first idea about life on the street so to speak.”
John Kopiski: “They should try to make more contact, via RBCC and BBC (BBC seems no longer to be functioning, editor), they can obtain a lot of contacts but seem not to wish to do this?”
Nick Rees: “From a commercial perspective, it’s means a complete overhaul of the way that British businesses are served and a far more pro-active approach taken. …I’m not holding my breath as I simply don’t think there’s an appetite for improvement and it’s been like that since the hugely respected Tony Brenton was Ambassador. Maybe they should look at what the German and French embassies do to encourage their companies and individuals to work and live closer together as they get it right.”
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Community The paintings of Helen Womack
Black Looks
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Community
Good on Any Colour
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ainting used to be one of the periodic hobbies that relieved my stress when I worked as a correspondent in Moscow. When I left last summer, I took my 18-year-old cat Blackjack with me on the flight to my new home in Hungary. Sadly, he died in Budapest earlier this year. After I buried his ashes, I was left with his urn and didn’t know what to do with it. Use it as a vase? Smash it in my distress? Suddenly, I realised it would make a great container for my paint brushes and I started painting again, after a break of about five years. Out of the urn came a series of 26 paintings of Jack’s life that I called ‘Black Looks Good on Any Colour.’They will be shown in an exhibition in Budapest this autumn. Having finished the pictorial tribute to Jack, I was eager for more subjects and invited Facebook friends to send me their photos so I could paint their portraits. I now have a queue of people waiting for me to mirror them with humour and love. For me, painting is another form of reporting. In the 1990s, I had a popular column in The Moscow Times about the lives of ordinary Russians, called ‘Faces and Voices’. As they say, ‘a picture is worth 1,000 words’ and now I am just doing the faces, without any comment. This leaves the viewer free to come to his or her own conclusions. My paintings often have a main subject and a secondary figure or object that hints at their particular passion in life. Sometimes I catch a good likeness and sometimes this evades me but the picture is nevertheless interesting. For example, when I tried to paint my Hungarian friend Zoltan, he came out looking Chinese. I nearly threw the work away until I noticed there was a shiny gold lucky cat on the shelf behind him. I brought this out as a feature and entitled the portrait ‘Chinese Zoltan’. He was thrilled. Some people are more or less the same, inside and out. Others project an image for the outside world but are rather different on the inside. Integrated personalities are easier for me to paint while with more conflicted people, there’s a danger I will catch their hidden side and perhaps offend them. I have to be careful. In the case of Australian artist David Wansbrough, who is well known and loved in Russia, I tried my best to make him old and ugly, with wrinkles and eye bags. The result was that I shaved 30 years off his age. He commented: ‘Quick!
M.Arbat
Tell Dorian Gray that Ms. Womack can take the image from the attic and restore former innocence.’ So beware, then, if you ask me to make you ‘young and pretty.’ British-born Helen Womack worked as a correspondent in Moscow from 1985-2015. She is the author of The Ice Walk: Surviving the Soviet Break-up and the New Russia (Melrose Books, UK, 2013)
knowledge is power!
M.1905
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+7495777106
Enrollment for fall trimester is still open!
+74957771069 www.ptitcref.com
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Community
Russian Parking
by Nikita
(www.by-Nikita.com)
H
ave you ever heard a typical Russian dialogue of this kind? Interlocutor A asks questions to interlocutor B who replies. A. “Where do you live?” B. “Far.” A. “Do you live in a house?” B. “Hard to say.” A. “Why is it difficult to say?” B. “I cannot explain.” A. “What do you do in Moscow?” B. “I live here.” A. “Do you work?” B. “Sometimes.” A. “Where do you go on holiday?” B. “I do not know.” A. “Do you take some time off from time to time?” B. “It’s a difficult question.” A. “Do I ask too many questions?” B. “Yes, indeed, I am a bit tired.” Russian confidentiality is probably inherited from the old Soviet regime,
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where people were wary of each other and thus remained discreet about their private lives. As a result, interpersonal communications are often vague and this is something people give up on quickly. On the other hand, in Russia there are a few road signs which exceed in exactitude, in detailed information, again due to the Soviet legacy of rules and procedures, but also, and especially, as a modern trend. This is at risk of becoming too precise and obsessive like the ‘look right’ and ‘look left’ directions painted on the asphalt in London; warning pedestrians crossing the roads, but this is not the case in Russia where the pictograms of the parking signs that demonstrate how to park your car are just hilarious. When it is possible to park along the pavement, the pictogram will show a car parallel to the kerb. If the allowed parking space is on the right hand side of the road, the graphic
Community
will show the right side of the car next to the kerb, whereas if it is authorized to park on the left side, the left side of the vehicle will be close to the kerb. To indicate those times and places where you have to park your car in a
herringbone pattern, there is a pictogram that shows a car perpendicular to the kerb. If parking on the pavement is allowed then the vehicle will be represented up on the sidewalk. Where else? And that’s not all. There is also a sign that
shows the car with both front wheels on the kerb, as if it was about to turn over. These road signs practically regulate common practices, a way à la russe to becoming a global city. So authorities also added the pictogram of a car halfway up on the kerb, but this time with the rear wheels on the sidewalk! And why not also have (while the authorities are at it) an ideogram of
a pair of glasses placed on a sign, between a pedestrian crossing sign and a bump one, sign for people with reduced vision, which, however, shrewdly anticipates the classic excuse addressed to the policeman: “I am sorry, I did not see it” by people with normal vision. The moral is: A great variety of rules can be imposed, but the Russians like all of us, still have the freedom to answer the question “Where did you park the car?” with, “I don’t know.”
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Community
What is
YPO? Interview with Johnny Manglani, Chairman of the YPO Gold Moscow Chapter and the President, CEO of Uomo Group on education & networking for entrepreneurs. We are 24,000 strong members and as an economy we would be the 3rd largest economy globally with chapters from many countries & states. Being a member of YPO is the best calling card & prestigious, there is however a big barrier to qualify for being a member.
Johnny briefly, what is YPO? YPO International is the premiere organization for members from around the world, it’s a non profit, focused
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How long has YPO been running in Russia? YPO Russia was founded by Ruben Vardanian in 2001 with about 10 members, he was later on
succeeded by Dmitry Agarunov, the modern YPO as it is today was relaunched by Dinesh Shahani of Sprandi in 2007 and since than it has gone from strength to strength. Who are your members, Russians?, foreigners?, what kind of businesses are represented, how many people are in YPO now? YPO is an exclusive Top Gun organization, this means our members are either owners / founders of business or CEO’s of
Community companies. Members are from varied industries & businesses, today we are almost 70 members from Moscow & St Petersburg. Have you experienced a downturn since 2014? Not really, we are very selective of who we let in and once you are in than you stay as you get lots of value by being a member.
How does being a YPO in Russia work? What advantages apart from networking does membership bring? Networking, Forums, Education, International Connections, Family Involvement, etc...are some of the many benefits of being YPO members Can you help members hook up with YPO’s in other countries?
& not on quantity. We are happy to grow at about 20% per year meaning 15 new members is plenty. How do people join YPO? Usually new members join YPO by recommendations. There are several conditions to join us – business scope, number of employees, willingness to participate actively in YPO life and to involve your family.
Hannes Chopra: YPO member, CEO of Sberbank Insurance How long have you been working in Moscow? What is your position and for which company? The first time I came to Russia in 1992 was as a student. I went on the Trans-Siberian train to Irkutsk. Since 1998 I have been visiting Russia for business. And since 2004 I live and work here permanently. I am now the CEO of Sberbank Insurance, an insurance start-up which I built up in the last 2 years. We are a 100% subsidiary of Sberbank, the largest Russian and Eastern European bank. How long have you been a member of YPO?
YPO seems to be based on sharing experiences. How does that work in Russia? Is Russia a naturally ‘sharing’ country, or are there barriers which need to be overcome? Members network between themselves and also are part of forums within the chapter, your forum friends act as your private board of directors and you share a lot of confidences with each other. Sharing experiences include business, adventures & family.
We are present in more than 120 countries & so yes of course, in any given week of the year there are 2 YPO events happening that are open to members. How do you see YPO developing in the future in Russia? As mentioned we are very selective & have strong rules, for example members are not supposed to solicit business or share confidential information. One has to qualify financially & has to lead an organization that qualifies as a member, our focus is on quality.
I am a member since 2010. YPO Russia under the leadership of Vadim Beliakov is expanding and adding many new dimensions to its value proposition. So it’s an excellent time to join! What benefits do you gain from membership? YPO has changed my life and my attitude towards life and leadership. YPO is a commitment, it’s not a club. It’s a promise to engage yourself, to reflect, to share, to never stop learning, to build and develop unique, emotionally intimate relationships. The more you engage, the more you get out.
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Community Jeff Kershaw and Nadya Anaevskaya August 27, 2016 Jeff is a partner in Shopping Centres International Ltd.
W
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hen Jeff came to Russia with IKEA, his plan was to make life better for the many people as IKEA promises in its mission statement. It turns out that Russia paid him back in spades! Nadya is an award winning artist, a great mom and the girl of his dreams.
Community
Adrienne Ebert
A Young Person’s Guide to Moscow Language Exchange Meetings
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et’s say that you’re a young person who has just moved to Moscow with an imperfect grasp of the language. You have come with no connections, and need to build a social circle from scratch. Apart from the universal standards of networks of coworkers or the strangers in the bar scene, where – and how – are you supposed to meet new people? Maybe these just aren’t working for you. Or, even if you’ve found success with the usual methods, perhaps you just want to broaden your social horizons. A year ago, this was my dilemma. I work for a small company and hence had a small pool of potential companions, and although I enjoy drinking I’m put off by the meet market energy of conventional bars and clubs. I tend to gravitate to places full of night owls, creatives, and eccentrics who have enough of a refined taste in alternative culture for me to trust that they’ll get where I’m coming from. I like to believe that there’s a stronger probability of sharing common interests and sensibilities and perspectives on life with whomever I meet. It’s a comforting thought. However, the venues through which I had found myself making friends everywhere else in the world didn’t seem to be working. Obviously, the language barrier was the central issue, but there were also other variables that I struggled to isolate; Moscow is a big city – if, as a local, you meet a new person, you’ve probably met ten other new people that same night and won’t realistically keep in touch with them all. Plus, I can be kind of shy without a personal introduction. I was finding it difficult to start conversations at the type of nightclubs I was attracted to – smaller, underground venues where people come to experience the ambiance with friends, not focus their energy on making new ones. After about five months of isolation, I was desperate for human connection, so I put aside my elitist reservations and tapped into resources that I had long known was there but had never seriously explored; enter the ‘language exchange meeting.’
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Moscow is the home to at least half a dozen regular, well-attended language exchange meetings held at anti-cafés, cafés, bars, and public parks; as advertised over Couchsurfing, Facebook, or simply through word-of-mouth. Essentially, people just show up and talk, with little to no formal structure beyond that. For non-native speakers, the primary appeal is conversational practice in a foreign language but these are decidedly social communities, not study groups. The largest of these groups attracts about fifty regular attendees with about twice as many visitors, but the demographics are similar across the board. The crowd is mostly young people – university students and people in the beginning of their careers, living on a budget yet well-educated and well-traveled, unmarried, and of a fairly equal gender ratio. The ceiling of social comfort would probably start grazing hairs by the time you’re in your mid-thirties. Although nominally language ‘exchange’ meetings, the vast majority of attendees are Russians who come to practice their English with each other or with the handful of foreigners present. Many of the foreigners have (like myself) come to Moscow to work as teachers, but in the summer months an influx of travelers makes the crowd more broadly international. These are communities to come back to again and again, both as a way of meeting new people and as something that you know will consistently be there if you feel like going out. There’s some overlap in attendance at these language exchange meetings so if you show up at more than one, you are usually guaranteed a familiar face in addition to a familiar language. At larger meetings, there are pockets of people – both native speakers and otherwise – conversing in popular romance languages such as French, Spanish, or Italian, although as in the world at large, English is the default lingua franca. Moreover, the attendees are usually at a level where they can comfortably maintain conversation in English without defaulting back to Russian whenever they’re not
Community speaking directly to a foreigner. Although I would never be so anglocentric as to expect this as a matter of courtesy, as a native speaker, it feels like an incredible release to be in an environment where I do not have to strain to communicate; where I can express my thoughts without the cognitive strain of having to greatly simplify my language and know that I will be understood. And that is comforting to know.
Some of the language exchanges: Moscow Language Exchange (sometimes referred to as ‘LEM’): Sundays from 18:00-23:30, although most of the action has died down by 20:00. During the summer, meets in Gorky Park on sunny days; Papa’s Zoo if there’s rain. During fall-spring, meets on the 2nd floor of the Hard Rock Café on Ll. Arbat. One of the largest of such groups in Moscow; up to 300 attendees per night. Moscow Free Languages Club: Saturdays 15:00-23:00. During the summer, meets in Gorky Park. During fall-spring, meets at a hard-to-find anti-café at Красносельский тупик д.5. Anti-café charges a flat 300 roubles entrance for the night, and serves coffee, tea, and wine. Also offers games and, on occasion, more structured lessons or conversations around a certain topic. Weekly Meeting, organized by Moscow CouchSurfing: Tuesdays 19:00-23:00. Meets at Gogol Café, Столешников пер, 11 Usually a smaller crowd than weekend events. 10% discount for drinks if you are with the CouchSurfing group. English House Monday, Wednesdays and Friday evenings 8:00-10:30 Meets at Starbucks, 1-я ТверскаяЯмская ул., 21 A more structured conversation club, with games and activities. Free for native English speakers; 300 roubles for others.
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Community
Sun, 19th June 2016 – The Queens Garden, St. Andrews, Moscow.
A Midsummer The Flying Banana Theatre Company
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he magic started when a derelict yard, forgotten at the back of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, was transformed into an enchanted city garden, right at the centre of Moscow, and barely ten minutes walk from The Kremlin. This reflective and beautiful space, complete with a lush green lawn, was created this year and named in honour of Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of her 90th, Birthday. The garden is designed on split levels with the aim of encouraging theatre and other forms of performance - it is at the service of all, secular and religious alike. Anglican churches have always been multi-functional places at the heart of their local communities, and over the centuries the Anglicans have opened their doors to music,
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theatre, community events and even cattle markets. This year is the 400th anniversary of the Great Bard, so what could be more befitting than to christen ‘The Queens Garden’ with two outdoor performances of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Blessed with perfect weather, the much loved Flying Banana Children’s Theatre Company brought the magical ‘Queens Garden’ to life with all the enchantment of forest fairies, enamoured asses, knavish spells and love-lost ladies. During the course of one Sunday afternoon, two performances were staged to packed out audiences. People were standing along the walls of the church, among the buttresses and any other available nook and cranny. The atmosphere was just perfect and utterly electrifying.
Night’s By Michael Gibson
Dream
Community This production of Midsummer Night’s Dream was adapted by theatre director Martin Cooke, from the popular Victorian children’s book, “Lambs Tales from Shakespeare” by Charles and Mary Lamb. These are fun, lively and very accessible stories of the great Shakespeare plays and are perfectly suited to the young and non-native English speakers. Martin has cleverly worked with the Lambs tales to create a performance that appeals at different levels
to different people, regardless of their knowledge of the play or complex Shakespearean language. Martin wonderfully captured the fun and delight of Midsummer Night’s Dream and wove it perfectly into the English country garden surrounds of the church garden. The love and attention to detail flowed from the soul of this production, evident in the sets, the costumes and a series of fabulously flamboyant hats. A specially commissioned
Please contact Martin: flyingbananamoscow@gmail.com Clive: chaplain@standrewsmoscow.org for further details. score by Alexey Steblev with contemporary beats by Sergei Taff, atmospherically set off Martin’s narration and beautifully evokes the feeling of mystical forests as well as the exploits of the four young lovers. To compliment these fairy-frolickings, and lovers’ pangs, specially choreographed sword fights, by the VIVAT Action Theatre Company, provide some authentic swashbuckling action. Shakespeare in the open could not be complete without champagne. St. Andrew’s, named
after Scotland’s patron saint, is most fortunate to have a Scottish orientated neighbour, The Scottish Whiskey Bar, right next door on Brusov Street. They stepped up to the occasion, adding the final bubbly touch to a sparkling afternoon. Midsummer Night’s Dream finishes with Puck promising a Fairy blessing on all in The Dukes palace, ‘not a mouse shall disturb this hallow’d house.’ St. Andrew’s Church is blessed to have such a special garden and this Flying
Banana Theatre production was a joyful and auspicious beginning to years of thespian garden delights in The Queens Garden. The upcoming programme of accessible Shakespeare productions including Macbeth and a Winter’s Tale, at St. Andrews is very exciting and will bring together world class musicians and great storytellers in a unique and awe inspiring environment. Our next shows at the Church are on September the 3rd and 17th and October the 1st.
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Sport I was there - England v
Russia in Marseille,
EURO2016
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erhaps naively, I was quite looking forward to spending a couple of weeks in France for Euro 2016; Brits like to joke that France is a great country; it’s just a shame that there are so many French people living there. I guess that I should tread carefully as I do have French roots (the ‘Luc’ is a something of a giveaway), albeit distant. I also speak French fluently, granted with a heavy Quebecois accent, thanks to mum hailing from Montreal. Following England is a thankless task, and I should know – this would be my fourth straight tournament, having been to South Africa, Ukraine & most recently Brazil. The trips themselves were great, it was the football that was the disappointing part. Admittedly when you follow Plymouth Argyle as your club team, your expectations are automatically set pretty low but then again, there’s the old expression that watching your club team play is a hobby but following England is a passion. England and Marseille have history. Back in 1998 when France hosted the World Cup, England’s opening game was against Tunisia (which resulted in a comfortable 2-0 win I should add) but the result was marred by fighting between England fans and local youths, largely of north African origin. While the English
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Luc Jones Football Association (The FA, as it’s better known) has done much to clean up its act, some things never change – more on that a little later. Early stories didn’t exactly make encouraging reading; several nights before the England v Russia match there were ugly scenes, as three-way battles ensued between England fans, local, Arab youths and the French Police in Marseille’s old port where the city’s bars and restaurants are situated. The result was predictable; carnage after the French Police waded in, spraying tear gas indiscriminately and batoncharging anyone who hadn’t been able to run away in time. On who is to blame for the violence, it’s far from being a black and white issue. What many England fans consider to be normal or acceptable behaviour - like hanging flags of St. George in the town square, taking their shirts off, signing loud, patriotic songs, drinking outside and chucking beer in the air, is considered very provocative by other nations’ police and fans. The English see it as loutish, yet largely harmless as back in the UK, the Police generally know how to deal with it whereas for the French Police, it’s aggressive and
needs to be clamped down on in the only way they know. The day of the game, being a Saturday saw a new influx of supporters from both sides, but the England fans seemed to far outnumber the Russians in and around the pubs by the harbour. It was a warm, pleasant, sunny day and the pre-match atmosphere was being enjoyed by all throughout the afternoon over numerous beers. Nobody was prepared for what was to come next; groups of Russian fans dressed in black began attacking England fans sitting in bars, sending everyone fleeing for safety. Obviously the local Police were nowhere to be seen as they had turned up en masse in riot gear, complete with meat wagons, encircling the mosh pit where the largest and rowdiest group of English supporters had congregated, ready for action. Once again, out came the pepper spray and baton charges which they’d all been waiting for. We were having lunch two streets back yet the gas came wafting in our direction, giving a whole new meaning to peppersteak! We ate up, and made our way in the direction of the stadium, taking in a few bars en route, incident-free. The Stade Velodrome is an impressive venue and used to holding high-profile sporting events. Rather surprising, given the recent terrorist attacks in Paris was that there was only a single security check to enter the stadium, and even this was cursory. In contrast, at the last World Cup in Brazil, you couldn’t get within half a mile of the ground unless you had a valid ticket. Despite having left ourselves with what we considered to be ample time, we found our seats just as the national anthems were being sung.
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The game itself began as many openers do in the group stages, cautiously. With the scores nil nil at half time, England began to take control and eventually grabbed the lead with a stunning free kick from Dier. However, as is often the case, despite copious chances they were unable to kill off the game and Berezutsky gave Russia a share of the spoils in the 92nd minute, which they scarcely deserved. The key incident however came in the stand behind the goal where the majority of the Russian supporters were seated. A minute before the end of play, what sounded like a bomb blast was in fact a signal for several hundred Russian hooligans to let off flares and storm the section containing England supporters and attack anyone in sight. Curiously there seemed to be no Police in sight, and the very few stewards in the ground were caught completely off guard, with fans fleeing over barriers for safety. As things go, what happens outside of any stadium is considered a matter for the Police, whereas any incidents inside are handled by UEFA, who quickly laid the blame on a small number of Russian thugs. For this had been a savage attack on innocent people that had been meticulously planned and executed with military-style precision, even leading to some reports that it had had official blessing. Whilst I believe that this is highly unlikely, there were countless posts on Russian social media sites boasting that this had been years in the making and that groups like such as ‘The Butchers of Oryol’ had sent their best fighters. It was claimed that England fans were specifically targeted
because they are viewed by some in Russia ‘top dog hooligans’. The irony here is that whilst some Russian hooligans idolise the English firms from the ‘70s and ‘80s, those involved back then are almost certainly in nursing homes by now, if not pushing up the daisies. Vladimir Putin even made a joke at the thought of a small number of Russians successfully attacking a large group of English supporters; how could this be possible? Well, England fans nowadays are a different breed; they go to enjoy themselves, to drink beer, sing and watch football, not to fight. England’s next two matches, versus Wales in Lens and Slovakia in St. Etienne passed off without incident; fans drinking and mingling together as it should be, both before and after the game. Hardly surprisingly, the Russian media pinned the blame squarely on the English fans. It’s interesting to note that when English fans have behaved badly in the past, either at home or abroad, they are heavily criticized in the British press, with senior figures in the government pressing for bans, fines and swift action to be taken. The fact that Russian fans have a general habit of stealing opposing fans’ flags (both in Russia AND abroad, & hanging them upside down was also very conveniently overlooked by the authorities. In fact the attacks were seen as a source of pride by many Russians at all levels. Russian MP Igor Lebedev was the first to make a name for himself; even encouraging the Russian hooligans to continue fighting. Whilst this might not have been reflective of all other officials in the country, there are regrettably
many like him, who see it as displaying ‘patriotism’ to the motherland. Just like alcoholism, the first major step is admitting that you have a problem; only then can you begin to do something about it. Britain realised that it had a very serious problem decades ago, and has taken countless steps to address these issues, such as by issuing banning orders and confiscating passports from anyone found guilty of any football-related offenses committed either at home or abroad. British Police work closely with their counterparts abroad, initially to prevent trouble from starting but also to ensure that any perpetrators are swiftly dealt with. Although it was only a tiny minority amongst the 12,000 or so Russians that followed their team in Marseille that evening who were involved, they have done their country’s image no favours. Many England fans I spoke to were now extremely wary of coming to Russia for the 2018 World Cup, stating that they know that they will be vulnerable to attacks. My hope is that in the coming months before the tournament, Russia will do its best to ensure visitors that they will indeed be safe and their stay will be an enjoyable one. But then again, Russia isn’t exactly renowned for positive PR campaigns. There were similar scares before EURO2012 in Ukraine which fortunately passed off smoothly, so I remain positive, at least for now. However, one suspects that very few outside of Russia’s borders shed any tears when the Russia team were eliminated after the final nail in the coffin was 3-0 defeat at the hands of Wales having already lost 2-0 against Slovakia.
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Sport
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Flag
Dobra
Cup Richard Peers
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aturday 4th June 2016 saw the inaugural Flag Dobra Cup take place to coincide with the conclusion of the 2016 Art Football Tournament. The charity tournament, organised and hosted by British Football School, saw teams representing 5 different countries compete in a round-robin format set over two age divisions. The event began with an opening ceremony in which all 8 teams were introduced and their national anthems played. With over 300 spectators watching on, this was an incredible experience for the young players to feel part of such a prestigious and international event. As the players took to the pitch, the sense of excitement all around was exciting. Of course nerves
must have been felt too, but the tournament comprised of teams of confident and well drilled players who were keen to demonstrate their abilities and compete to be the first champions of the Flag Dobra Cup. In Division 1 (ages 10-11) teams were representing the United Kingdom, Russia, France and India. All four teams showed fantastic passion, sportsmanship and teamwork throughout the tournament. Great football was played, and the spectators were treated to match after match of fast-flowing action and goals galore. In the end, however, it was France who took the glory of the first place finish after a fiercely contested match with Russia. Division 2 (ages 8-9) saw two teams representing the United Kingdom joined by teams
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from Russia and India. Again, it was a competitive and tough division, with all four teams impressing with their confidence on the pitch despite their young ages. With each match being watched by the remaining 6 teams and all spectators, these young players excelled in what could have been an intimidating environment. As the final match drew to a close it was the United Kingdom who were deservingly crowned champions of Division 2. After the matches the winners of the two divisions were welcomed by thousands of fans onto the Torpedo Moscow pitch at half time match between Russia and Romania and the players received a gifts as a memento from the occasion. For many of these young footballers it truly was the experience of a lifetime! Director of British Football School Richard Peers said: “British Football School feel honoured to have been asked to host such a fantastic event. It was small but thrilling tournament, and it was great to see so many young, passionate footballers from all over the world taking part. We are proud to have been asked to host this worthy event and look forward to continuing to support Flag Dobra into the future. Flag Dobra is a Russian charity which raises money for critically ill children in remote regions of Russia and for the training of volunteers who visit orphanages across Russia to provide social rehabilitation work. Their website is www.flagdobra.ru British Football School run weekly English language football trainings for girls and boys aged 2-14 across Moscow. Delivered by qualified British coaches, their website is www.britishfootballschool.com
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World Cup 2018
World Cup 2018 Cities:
Kazan – Russia’s cooking and melting pot! Luc Jones
O
ver the years, many cities have tried to capture the prize of being Russia’s third city, after Moscow & St Petersburg – not purely in population (there are around a dozen ‘millionik’ cities) but in terms of image, grandeur and significance. In Soviet times it was Novosibirsk and its scientific neighbor Akademgorodok which came closest and the 1990s saw Nizhny Novgorod appear on the scene with Boris Nemtsov as its forwardlooking governor. The noughties saw Yekaterinburg battle it out with Rostov-on-Don, leaving smaller Sochi not far behind but in recent
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years it has been Kazan which firmly entrenched itself; in fact in 2009 the Russian Patent Office even granted Kazan the right to brand itself as the ‘Third Capital of Russia’. I first visited Kazan back in January 2003, and it differed little from most other semi-progressive provincial towns, other than some of the signs were in the Tatar language as well as Russian. Granted it was the middle of winter and not much was going on, but you could have been almost anywhere from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. The place was functional but there were few indications of what was to come. Fast-forward just over a decade and Kazan has transformed itself from
being ‘just another city’ to one that stands out as heading in the right direction. For starters, Kazan excels at hosting events, particularly in sports, with its football (that’s ‘soccer’ for the Septics) team Rubin Kazan regularly entertaining Europe’s elite in the Champions and Europa Leagues. The downtown part of the city has enjoyed an almost complete makeover in recent years, successfully managing to blend some of the old, new and Tatar heritage into a vibrant centre. The figures speak for themselves; in 2015 Kazan was visited by over 2 million tourists, which was a 20% increase on the previous year.
World Cup 2018 Getting there: Kazan is a 1 hour & 20 minute flight from Moscow and there are several flights per day from all three main airports (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo & Vnukovo); there are also regular flights to most other Russian cities in the European side of the country, plus some to CIS and international destinations. Expect to pay around RUR6,000 – RUR10,000 for a return ticket between Moscow & Kazan. The overnight train is a convenient alternative (10-14 hours) but won’t save you much cash unless you opt for platskart (dormitory class – think Schindler’s list).
Getting around:
Visitors tend to kick off sightseeing trips with a walk around Kazan’s UNESCO-listed Kremlin, which was built 5 centuries ago at the behest of Ivan the Terrible. The spacious grounds include numerous old buildings, the most famous (& probably the most beautiful) is the light blue & while Qolsharif mosque, pictures of which adorn almost everything even vaguely connecting Kazan. Not far behind is the Annunciation Cathedral, built in the 1560s and is behind the residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan – a rather more modern structure! You can climb up the Kremlin walls for great views of the Volga river, and on the other side is ‘kazan’ the cooking pot monument which has become a tourist attraction in itself. Although nobody can be completely sure of the origin of the name ‘Kazan’, the most accepted version is that it is derived from the Tatar word ‘Qazan’ which means ‘boiler’ or ‘cauldron’. Walk across the bridge and pay R50 to climb to the top of ‘Kazan’ (the cash desk is at the top – stairs only; the lift is reserved for wedding parties, and
there are no toilets!) for an amazing panoramic view of the Kremlin. Once back on the more happening side of town, stroll down Kazan’s Arbat equivalent, called Ul. Bauman which is almost as long as its Moscow counterpart and just as lively. Everything you need, from restaurants, bars, souvenir shops and cafes are on this pedestrianised street; you’ll know when you reach the end as it’s a main road with a lake on the other side. If you’re not yet done, head to the right hand side for the old town, containing houses and mosques from central centuries ago, with office blocks on the other side of the water. Summed up, Kazan is definitely one of the best suited cities to host World Cup matches in 2018, and is certainly looking forward to doing so. And if you fancy lingering a little longer, easy day trips can be organised to the hill fortress of Bolgar, which Tatars consider to be their spiritual capital (2 hours each way by car) and to the settlement of Sviyazhsk (2 hours by boat, or 45 minutes by car). Both are well worth the journey.
There is an Aeroexpress between the airport and the city centre but since cabs into town only cost around RUR500, unless you are feeling particularly eco-friendly, there is little point, particularly if there is more than one of you. Most places of interest are within walking distance but taxis are cheap and plentiful; RUR200 should be the max for short hops. Kazan also has a metro although it is of limited use to the casual visitor.
Staying there: For location, you can’t beat the Marriott, which is a stone’s throw away from the Kremlin and the roof terrace is a meeting point in itself, with great views. It’s not as expensive as you might think, particularly on weekends when occupancy is low. However, there are plenty of other options to suit all budgets.
Speaking there: Tatarstan’s population is virtually split 50/50, between Russians and Tatars, and they seem to get along just fine. Everyone speaks Russian, and most Tatars speak at least some of their own language, even if the Russians don’t! In touristy areas, signage is in three languages (Russian, Tatar & English), although don’t expect to get by without at least some knowledge of Russian.
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World Cup 2018
World Cup 2018 coming to a city near you! So it’s a bit like the Baseball World Series, then?
Luc Jones So, what’s the big deal? Just the small matter of the greatest, most prestigious football tournament in the world taking place in Russia for a whole month, from mid-June to mid-July 2018.
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Erm no. Whereas the Baseball World Series is a bunch of American club teams plus one from Canada (there used to be two) facing off every year, the Football World Cup will represent 32 countries from all over the world. It is held only once every four years and has been going since the inaugural tournament in Uruguay back in 1930, although it didn’t take place in 1942 or 1946 due to the Second World War. This will be the 21st tournament and the first one ever to be awarded to an ‘Eastern Block’ country.
OK, you’ve sold me. So how do I get a ticket for the finals in Russia? There are two main ways: Either buy them directly via the FIFA, (football’s governing body) website: www.fifa.com , or via your home country’s Football Association (FA) who themselves will have different rules as to which fans can purchase which tickets, in which quantities and for which matches. Will my country be taking part? If you are Russian, then yes. As hosts, Russia are the only country guaranteed to be in the finals; even the current winners, Germany need
World Cup 2018 to qualify. In fact the qualifying rounds are getting underway as we speak and everything should be decided by the autumn of 2017, so keep your eyes open. I’m not Russian. Will I get to see my country play? Yes, if you can get tickets via your home country’s FA, although this may involve you having to join their club and/or having attended a number of qualifying games to be certain, although much depends on demand. The catch is that if you buy tickets now via FIFA, you won’t know who you’ll be seeing play until the draw for the finals is made in December 2017, or in which city. Hold on, are you telling me that the matches won’t all take place in Moscow and St Petersburg? Correct. Games will be taking place in 11 stadia across 10 Russian cities. As well as Moscow (which is the only location with two venues) & St. Petersburg, you could be lucky enough to visit Kaliningrad, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd or Yekaterinburg. Look on the bright side; at least they’re all in the European part of Russia – well nearly! I heard a rumour that Russians will get to buy tickets at a fraction of the price of foreigners? You heard right. This is all part of FIFA’s strategy of getting more local people into the game. It was the same with Brazil and South Africa, incidentally and this is a FIFA ruling; nothing to do with Russia. So can I get a Russian friend to buy me cheap tickets? Sure, although bear in mind that in past tournaments, names and passport numbers were printed on tickets to prevent them being resold at a profit. However, I never heard
of anyone being denied entry or even being asked to show any ID to gain entry so presumably as long as you keep your mouth shut or utter the occasional “nu blyaaah” when passing through the turnstiles, you should be fine. Surely awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia was controversial? You could say that, although nothing compared to Qatar winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup (the results were declared simultaneously). Admittedly the decision was made back in 2010 when Vladimir Putin personally made a speech (in English) and international relations were somewhat stronger. Yet issues remain, such as racism in the domestic game, and accusations that the authorities aren’t doing enough to tackle it. Some senior, international figures have even called for Russia to be stripped of the World Cup due to the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s involvement in the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine. There are also allegations of corruption, that the World Cup was effectively bought. So, on that subject, how on earth did Russia manage to win the right to host the World Cup in 2018? FIFA have made it clear that nowadays it’s all about legacy & spreading the game; Russia (or the Soviet Union) has never before hosted either a World Cup or a European Championship. This will be the largest sporting festival since the Olympic Games back in 1980 although that particular event was overshadowed by an international boycott from 65 countries. One of the biggest points in Russia favour is that visa requirements will be waived for all ticket-holding supporters, regardless of their country of origin. This is something that no western country would allow.
Could it be taken away from Russia? In theory yes, and there are always contingency plans in place but in practice this is highly unlikely, as FIFA won’t want to set a precedent which would open up a huge can or worms. FIFA executives have been visiting Russia to ensure that everything is moving ahead according to plan and have so far declared that they are happy with the current level of progress. Given the nasty scenes in Marseille at the recent EURO 2016 tournament, will visiting fans be safe if they travel to Russia? This is impossible to predict with any certainty but my guess is yes. The Russian authorities know that they will be on show here so they will want everything to go smoothly, and to show that they are in control. Remember in the build-up to the EURO2012 tournament in Ukraine, there was immense speculation in the English media that Ukrainian hooligans were planning to attack England fans, and in particular were targeting anyone with coloured skin. In the end it turned out to be pure hype; everything was well organized and there was no trouble. If there’s one thing Russian doesn’t suffer from a shortage of, is Police and there are likely to be plenty of English-speaking volunteers in each host city just as there were in Sochi for the Winter Olympics. Can you explain the offside rule? Sorry, we’ve run out of space – just watch a few games and you’ll get the hang of it. Pleaseeeeeeee! Football’s a fairly simply game; after 90 minutes, the team with the most goals wins the match. If it’s a draw, an additional 30 minutes is played and if the scores are still level, then Germany win on penalties!
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Culture
Russian Classics to Read this autumn
Kemal Nicholson
A
utumn is here, and although that means a bit of a more hectic schedule after the summer holidays, hopefully the majority of us can still find some time for leisure. Moscow certainly has no shortage of leisurely activities to offer, but from my own experience, there is nothing quite as tranquil, refreshing, and educational, as a good book in one’s spare time. There is a wide selection of Russian literature to choose from, particularly from Classic Russian literature. A good classic only gets better with time, so if you’re seeking a good book to read this summer, here are 5 classic works that will leave you with a deeper appreciation of Russian Literature. Master & Margarita When reading this well-known masterpiece by Michael Bulgakov, one can figuratively draw back the curtain into the Stalin
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era-Soviet set period into which this thrilling novel was woven. The book was written in 1940, but was not published in Moscow until 1966. Its underlying theme of artistic expression and freedom has cemented its place as a literary success. Anna Karenina One of the most vivid pictures ever painted in words from the literary master Leo Tolstoy, will leave the reader enthralled
and captivated. The book also touches on the core questions of human desire and happiness. These questions are likely to have the reader questioning his/ her own conscience and motives while reading. This book is an absolute ‘must read.’ The Brothers Karamazov When Fyodor Dostoevsky gifted his last novel to the world, perhaps he did not
and for admirers of his work provide some insight into the younger Pushkin, who in time would grow into a literary giant. The Cherry Orchard The last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, it has been described as a know that it would be his greatest. Set in 19th century Russia, the book explores spirituality, morality and humanity. Historically, it was a period of modernization in Russia and the writer skillfully incorporated this period and the uncertainty that this change was bringing about to deliver a mesmerizing tale that will captivate the reader. Ruslan & Ludmila The book represents the first major work of renowned Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. It was released in 1820 when Pushkin was quite young
tragi-comedy, and provides some understanding into the decline of the Russian Aristocracy, and the rise of the working class. It is a fictional work of art within a very true historical context. The aforementioned books no means represent the entirety of Russian classic literature available for book lovers this autumn; they are merely meant to serve as a guide. After reading these, any reader will be sure to dig for more. Copies of the books are available in every language. Make this autumn a reading season, and when you’re choosing a book, be sure to consider one of the Russian classics.
Radisson Resort & Residences Zavidovo 2, 4 Tverskoy boulevard, Varaksino Village, Tver Region, Russia 171266 T: +7 (495) 58-77-000, F: +7 (48242) 78-0-54 info.zavidovo@radisson.ru radisson.com/ru/hotel-zavidovo radissonblu.com/ru/residences-zavidovo
Travel
Autumn and Winter Adventures in Zavidovo
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o the summer has come to an end but this fortunately does not mean we can forget about short breaks and holidays especially when there is a place just 100 km away from Moscow that gives you a resort feeling all year round. Discover the perfect mix of pristine nature and upscale lodging at the Radisson Resort & Residences Zavidovo, a well-placed hotel within a 1,250-square-kilometer nature reserve. Described by UNESCO as one of the most environmentally sound destinations in the world, the area draws visitors who seek respite from the bustle of the city. From the hotel, enjoy what Zavidovo has to offer — water sports, a PGA golf course, tennis, football, horseback riding, hunting, hiking and more. As a yearround resort, the hotel also keeps you active in autumn and winter with golf, basketball, climbing, winter windsurfing, snowboarding, jibbing etc. After a day spent outdoors, unwind in one of 239 chic rooms and 200 apartments, each with top-notch amenities like free Wi-Fi. Leave the bustle of the city behind for the sparkling lakes and lush forests of Zavidovo. Explore the countryside on horseback, or spend a day fishing or yachting on one of the resort’s lakes and rivers. Practice your swing at the nearby Zavidovo Golf Club, Russia’s only PGA course, or indulge in spa treatments without leaving the comfort of the hotel. Holding a barbecue is always a great way to bring together your colleagues, family and friends. Breathe in the tempting aroma rising from the grill, and admire beautiful scenery as you socialize or plan your next journey.
Culture, nature and history converge in this resort at the Zavidovo Nature Reserve, an unspoiled national park. From deep forests to monumental architecture, the Tver region of Russia is an ancient tribute to the history of the country. Travel to the Palace of the Empress and the home of the famed 19th-century composer Tchaikovsky. Explore the diverse cultures, archaeology, monuments and nature reserves that are scattered throughout Tver. The winter season is getting closer and this means we will soon start thinking about Christmas and New Year’s Eve as well as the winter holidays. At Radisson Resort & Residences Zavidovo, dreams will come true for one night with one of the most beloved fairytales of all time, with all its characters, objects and costumes. Inspired by the famous story by Lewis Carroll, the hotel is creating a setting of great emotional and aesthetic impact. The New Year’s Eve Wonderland party will be populated with all the characters of Alice in Wonderland, from the Mad Hatter to Alice, the White Rabbit and the Queen of Hearts. Under the hotel’s ceiling, an illustrated book will come to life, amid mirrors, clocks and chessboards, stilts, magicians and jugglers allowing adults and children to plunge into a thrilling fantasy world. Ready to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in the magic and surreal atmosphere of Alice in Wonderland? Book your winter stay in Zavidovo and enjoy the show full of magic and surprises.
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Travel
Grateful to the Dead
Sylvain Cheze
H
e’s much smaller than I thought he would be. The preserved remains of Kim Jong-il lie in a glass case on a bed of red flowers. We’re instructed to approach the platform and bow, which we do. It’s National Day in North Korea, which commemorates the founding of the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” on 9 September 1948, and we’re being taken to view the two Kims, who lie preserved in North Korea’s holiest shrine, the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun. Built in 1976 as the official residence of Kim il-Sung, it was turned into a mausoleum upon his death in 1994. His son, Kim Jong-il, joined him there in 2011. The tourists are gathered in the reception hall at the palace. Men are required to wear a collared shirt and long trousers, preferably a tie as well. Some arrive in suits. Women must also be formally attired, in dresses. A Nordic tour group walks in, looking like they’ve dressed in a charity store, with dyed-red hairdos, tattoos, earrings. The locals arrive in their number ones:
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dark suits or military uniforms for men and traditional bright floral dresses for women. As we gather, there’s a commotion as an old soldier draped in medals and held up by a younger soldier arrives and is given free way into the building. Entry to the mausoleum is through an underpass. You must leave your cameras and phones at the cloakroom, the guides inform us. We’re steered through a metal detector followed by a manual pat-down. We pass over a bed of rolling brushes to clean the dust off shoes and step onto a moving walkway like those in airports. However, no walking is allowed and we glide in silent formation for about 20 minutes. There are photographs of the Leaders along the walls; looking at things, with arms pointing, in factories, in schools, on farms, with visiting dignitaries, military personnel. Inside the mausoleum itself, officials in dark suits stand along the walls. There are painted statues of the Kims at the end of the long reception hall, and the men in suits direct us to line up abreast, walk forward to a line marked on the floor, stop and bow. There’s an air of deep solemnity about the place. The foreigners adopt an obedient and somewhat bemused
manner, like a group of 12-year-olds being seated at a grown-ups’ dinner. This is one of those places in the DPRK when one needs to abandon personal perspective and try to see things from the other side. Including the obligatory bow to the Kims. Having come this far, no one gives it much thought, or at least they don’t express it in words. There’s no sense of being captured by or beholden to the bizarre fable created by the Kim dynasty. Rather, the overriding emotion is incredulity at what has been created and how it is sustained. As we get nearer to the figures, they appear much larger, about twice the size of an ordinary human. The statues are impressive, beautifully sculpted and skillfully illuminated against a mural depicting Mount Paektu, North Korea’s mystical mountain. We stop and bow. A man in a suit approaches. Move to the right now, he says. The tour continues up an elevator and through a short passage lined with blowers (“32 in total”, we’re told), like those used to remove dust in bakeries. The Eternal Leader, Kim il-Sung, lies in a grey uniform in a glass crystal case. The lights reflect off the carpet and walls, creating a dim red aura, and my eyes take a moment to adjust.
Travel Kim, though, is well lit and stands out in surprisingly decent and seemingly natural colour. He looks as if he might get up at any moment and come to greet us. Is it really him or another clever sculpture, I wonder. I’m again impressed by the perfection of the lighting; it’s subtly, tastefully done. There are beds of Kim’s eponymous flower, a hybrid orchid named Kimilsungia, surrounding the glass case. Visitors have to approach the exhibit four abreast and bow. Then move to the left and bow. No bowing to the back of the head. Bow again on the right. No lingering afterwards. The only sound is the hum of the air conditioners, which is interrupted by the sudden arrival through a side door of the old soldier we’d seen at reception, his medals clinking like the tags on a guide dog. Next stop is Kim Jong-il’s chamber. The Nordic tour group is leaving as we enter and the red light augments and silhouettes their spiky hair and piercings, making them look like the cast of the Rocky Horror Show coming off stage. Kim Junior also looks in robustly good health. Gone is his frizzy bouffant hairstyle; gone are the blotchy marks on his face. Instead, he looks like a 40-something fitness enthusiast, skin sparkling, hair combed back like Kevin
Spacey. He’s embedded in his flower, (yes!) the Kimjongilia, a red begonia. Again, we bow by the rules, to the feet, left side, right side. We’re shuttled on to rooms containing the Kims’ relics and shown their train carriages, the black Mercedes cars (modest by modern standards), illuminated maps of where each of them travelled (seldom out of Asia and, for the younger Kim, almost never by air). Kim Jong-il’s yacht and golf cart are installed in the mausoleum. He died in his railway carriage, apparently, and his final workplace has been preserved; the chair askance as he left it (and us). His trademark beige parka coat is there, along with his furry hat, the big puffy gloves and the oversized sunglasses. “The people begged him not to go to work that day; he was exhausted from working on an important plan to supply fish to Pyongyang,” we’re informed. The document is open at the last page he looked at. Next to it is the item everyone remembers: his computer, a MacBook Pro. It’s the thought that counts. We continue to rooms filled with awards and decorations from places like Libya, Bulgaria, Venezuela and Romania. There’s a “Wish for Peace” award from Japan alongside a decoration for “Victory over Japan”. There are
honorary chieftainships from Nigeria and the “Freedom of the City” award from Kampala. The displays go on and on, the equivalent of a dictator’s fridge magnet collection. Always with us. We exit as we entered, on the moving walkways. The visit has been managed in a characteristically Asian manner: subtly, tastefully and respectfully. The visitors assemble for photographs on specially tiered benches in the palace’s front gardens. No one says much. There’s a sense of exhilaration, like after the first jump off the high board at the swimming pool. The locals seem genuinely elated and deeply respectful for the opportunity to visit the mausoleum. Again, as throughout the trip, there’s no way to say what they might really be thinking. This is the only system they know and everyone understands the rules and their place in it. We get back on our bus and head up the hill to another round of synchronized bowing at our next stop, the Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery. On the way across the city, we pass the Tower of Immortality inscribed in gold lettering. “The inscription says that the Great Leader Comrade Kim il-Sung will always be with us,” the guide informs us. No doubt about that.
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Feature
Indian
Summer By Alexa Shearer
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– Бабье Лето
or the traveler, tourist, or expat who has ever spent any time at all in Moscow, it is understood that weather is never just weather. Seasons here are ominous, and world changing, and to understand them is to hold the oracle; they are the deciding factor of one’s moods, fashion choices, downtime activities, and even routes to work. I have always said that native Muscovites hold certain instincts that others lack. They bring their umbrella as they walk out the door when they feel that it will rain—and they are always right, and they are always prepared. They seem to somehow get the memo on the exact day that it is okay to start wearing a шуба (fur-coat), and the exact moment that it is acceptable to wear open-toed shoes again. They all decide on the same slushy afternoon that it is time to re-open the Dacha season, and somehow, something deep-down inside of them, in the midst of autumn, reminds them that Бабье Лето (Indian Summer) will soon arrive. Indian Summer is a period of warm and dry weather, and it comes to visit Moscow every year without fail. Sometime between mid-September and the beginning of October arrives the perfect combination of autumnal change and welcoming warmth. Aspects of all seasons are delicately intertwined, transporting you to a new world, around which revolves all the perks of fall with none of the consequence. The air is forgiving during Indian Summer; the brisk bite in her wind has been postponed if only for one or two merciful weeks.
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Observing your surroundings, all signs point to autumn—this clarification is brought on by the way the skies look, the crunchy to soggy ratio of the leaves you are stomping on, the smells. Brisk air, crisp breezes, and leaves not quite yellow, red or brown begin to plummet to their pre-mature death, their young corpses lying on the sidewalks. You go out of your way to step on the extra-crunchy ones. With childlike strides you wade your boots through the piles and piles with deliberate force to create that beautiful rustling sound. Swish. Swush. Swoosh. Funny how death brings so much cheerfulness. I have always thought that the whole death/life/ rebirth aspect of the seasons in Moscow is especially beautiful during this certain phase of fall. The Indian Summer phenomenon depicts all the stages at one time; different parts of a whole life. It is birth and death, and bad days and good days; it is new beginnings, and mistakes; it is traditions and promises, and those who let you down. This is the cycle that brings those extra crunchy leaves to your path. Everything including your intuition tells you the season is autumn, however, as they say, “Умом Россию не понять”—“Russia cannot be understood with the mind alone”—and after five minutes outside you will be stripped of your common sense while Moscow’s Indian Summer friend scoffs at your long sleeves saying, “Didn’t you know? Fall is on hold; it has decided to take a little break.”
Feature
You frown back at her, perplexed; yet suddenly you comply. During this week you realize your body has forgotten that it knows how to feel cold. Your neck— out of nowhere—feels independent again without a scarf by its side, and your fingers forget that gloves will soon be their new best friends. The sun that so recently started burrowing away comes back out! Indian Summer-sun shines through the trees quickly yet softly, playing a game of peek-aboo behind each individual leaf. Autumn truly has been interrupted by this strange, purgatory season-ette. Just as you put away your summer clothes, hopes, and saunters in the park, you can essentially bring them back out again.
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It is in this very moment that everything pauses. Time stops like the long click of a snapshot, as young photographers impatiently wait for colors on the Polaroid to appear. It embodies the paradox of contentment and yet longing for the past. Just as young friends want nothing but to enjoy and remember this very moment, they also wish to move backwards, already distracted, smiling at their goofy faces looking back at them on the sticky film. Moscow too, cannot make up her mind between this moment and the next; this season or the last. She is ready for the next season; in fact fall has already begun and matured, yet it halts—for she is unsure—nostalgically clinging to the warmth of the past. Abrupt revival creates the hybrid that is Indian Summer. And today it has arrived. The leaves stop falling. The brisk winds turn toward another direction, and in these few ‘Indian’ days, the sun shines. Our noses do not turn red and we can hang our coats back up. For these few days, the seasons stop. It is a short time where we can wear a turtleneck or a tank top…we aren’t restricted by temperature or seasonal guidelines. We have an opportunity to start over, to begin again…before the seasons catch up to us. Before it all starts changing too fast. This is our chance to take a moment to catch our breath, before we begin seeing it again.
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We speak English
Art
Nodira Sadikova
Ravshaniya
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or the young and ambitious photographer named Ravshaniya, there are no ugly people. In every character she will find something unique. After completing a 5-year education at the Institute of Arts in the direction of the ‘Cinema, TV and Radio producing’ she has understood that photography is her pure mission and whole life. She benefitted from a tremendous professional background in the city of love, in Paris, and fell in love with that amazing place forever. Such an opportunity gave her a pair of wings with a wide wing span which she uses to create photographs, trusting in her own perception and principles. At the present time, she is a self-employed and a most wanted top-notch photographer in Moscow. Ravshaniya never attends professional courses or training campaigns, where most other professionals fill their empty brain
cells with theoretical and practical skills in photography. She widens her inner horizons of contemplation in her own way. Ravshaniya is against stereotyped thinking and she always chooses complex ways to reach the highest proximity of professionalism. Basically, she works in the direction of ‘levitation’ and masterfully creates brilliant images. Levitation (from Latin Levitas’s ‘lightness’) is a mental or physical phenomenon in which a subject without visible support floats in space (i.e., levitates) without touching the surface of a solid or liquid. Such an application of this genre begun with Philippe Halsman with his Photo in 1984 called as ‘Dali Atomikus.’ With digital photography and Photoshop, the life of photographers has become much easier. However Ravshaniya creates pictures in the genre of levitation in a skillful manner, and one picture takes 6-7 hours per day
and the processing takes 20-25 days. It is important to note that one of the essential tools in her case is a game with daylight. With the help of light, she can present a person from different angles, to emphasize important elements in an undistorted, natural and simple way. Ravshaniya prefers natural beauty, yet she also skillfully creates a masterpiece by applying bright makeup on a material. She creates pure art and transparent pieces, revealing the natural and unfounded elements of the human inherent in nature. One of the significant peculiarities of her work is creating a picture with an unfinished motive. She adds a variety of irreconcilable details, where the audience stops for a long pause by searching some logical ending of the shots. Each piece of a masterpiece has its own life and each time, the viewer receives new emotions and tensions. All of her works can be found at her official website: http://www. ravshaniya.com and social Facebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/ ravshaniya.
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Austrian Community
Kim Waddoup
Austria
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ften confused with its antipodean near namesake, Austria is located at the heart of Europe, at a crossroads that have led to both its rise and also to its demise. When you mention Austria, the stereotypes picture Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johan Straus with his waltzes and the ubiquitous Sound of Music. However, there are many household names that you had probable not associated with Austria! Austria is a proud nation of 8.4 million people! Undoubtedly the heydays were with the creation of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, in 1867, which spanned most of Europe from the mountainous Tyrol, northern Italy and east to the fertile plains of Ukraine to the Transylvanian mountains including 11 major ethno-language groups. Decimated by the first and
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subsequently by the second world war, Austria became relatively small. However, with the rise of the Iron Curtain, Austria found itself in a rather unique position of having borders to 4 European countries, and 3 borders to Eastern Europe. Whilst we all know that there were major political divisions with the former Soviet Union, there still remained considerable trade and much of this was conducted through Austria. It also became the centre of the European/Soviet Union spy trade immortalised in the Third Man movie with its wonderful Harry Lime theme tune. Quietly Austria recovered and its economy grew to be a major player in European politics and business. As relationships with the Soviet Union relaxed it was many of the Austrian businesses that saw opportunity (the author included)
in Russia and it is surprising to find how many Austrian companies have had offices in Moscow, long before their other European/International counterparts. In fact, it was Austrian Airlines who were one of the first ‘western’ airlines allowed to fly into the Soviet Union. There are a surprising number of substantial Austrian companies operating today in Russia together with a thriving community. As a ‘quasi’ Austrian, having spent more than 20 years living there I was also one of the early brigade of Austrians travelling regularly to Russia in the early 1990’s. I have been honoured to have been able to maintain my connections and we felt that a feature article on Austria was long overdue. Moscow expat Life was honoured to be welcomed into this community and the subsequent interviews make most interesting reading! Enjoy.
Austrian Community DI Paul Bruck MBA Managing Director Bruck Consult Austria (owner) Managing Director Most Management Russia (owner) Shareholder of Most Service and Balashova Bruck & Partners (main shareholder) President of Austrian Economic Forum Member of the board of the Association of European Businesses
How long have you been here? I first came here in 1987, when I was working with Dow Chemicals. This was during the time of Gorbachev, of Perestroika. My job was to work on agricultural field trials to show western technology. We managed an experimental farm in the then Kalininsky Oblast (now Tver), called ‘Путь к коммунизму’ (Road to Communism). We divided fields into two, one half used traditional soviet methods and the other used new technology; and yields rose threefold in the half that used our technology. I got that job because, among other things, I learned Russian in school, in the Theresianum, the only Austrian school, where Russian is taught obligatory, so one of the few with at least some Russian skills. In 1990 I switched over to IT and worked for an Italian company that was the first to introduce barcodes into the Russian market. This was one of the very first joint ventures in Russia, and living in Russia was quite an experience then. I remember somebody telling me, that either you love or you hate Russia. From 1992 I was based in Vienna where my family was, and used to commute here every month or so, just for a couple of days. In 2006, I left that business and started my own consultancy business, out of Vienna. My first project was with Russia, my second project also with Russia, and my third project was with Russia. I got the message quite clearly that I should be in Russia. The business grew and we realized that it was not enough to offer only consultancy, we went into partnership with a legal company, and then we expanded into accountancy, outsourcing and management, as well as legal. Who are your clients? They are mostly companies from German speaking countries, typical SME companies, startups as well as established ones. How are things now? Not so bad. All through the crisis, which is slowly coming to an end, we managed to keep afloat because our management and accounting business is quite stable. We slowly grow. Even during the peak of the crisis, we were
still founding new companies for clients. Our clients come from different branches. Companies investing in Russia see a long-term perspective. It is not so much the sanctions it is more an economic crisis, which we are in. There were many large projects which started before the crisis; I am talking about huge investments made into Russia. The mentality of the people who run those companies, is that the present crisis is only temporary, something that had a beginning and will have an end. And new statistics show that Russia is still one of the leading investments markets in Europe. What do you think of living in Russia? I made a strategic decision to move here. And I have not regretted it. My wife commutes between Vienna and Moscow and loves it here, and my second son finished his studies in Moscow and Marseille, and now works here for a large bank. How well do you know Russia? I have always travelled a lot and now mainly because of my bicycle project with Red Bull I have travelled through Russia extensively. I made the route from Moscow to Vladivostok already five times. And the more often I travel through this enormous country the more I love it and especially its people. Does anything upset you? Present politics! And people talking about Russia, who have never been here. Russians, who believe that anywhere in the world it is better than here. You also run the Austrian Economic Forum? Yes, this forum is a business-orientated club for Austrians and for friends of Austria. We meet once a month, in a comfortable environment, and the emphasis is on networking. We have German, Austrian and Russian members, and this is a really useful focus for the Austrian business community. To find out more about the Austrian Economic Forum, contact: www.austrianeconomicforum.ru
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Austrian Community Dr. Brix His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador
How long have you been in Russia Mr. Ambassador? For about one and a half years, I came in January last year, directly from London. Is this your first posting in Russia? It is my first posting in Russia. I have a history in negotiations with Russians in various fields especially in the field of cultural policy. I have been posted to Poland, which was quite helpful in understanding what is going on here. How do you get on with the Russians you come across, as people, and what is it like to work with Russians in an official manner? The first impression you get from the Russians is that they are very hospitable, that they are emotional, and also trustworthy. What I hear from our business community is that if you have an agreement with a Russian, you can trust him. Russians don’t break their word. I’m not talking about what happens in bureaucracy, at other levels, but on a personal level. We respect this because this works in Austria in a similar way. What is your PhD in? I am a historian. Does that help you in your diplomatic career? Certainly. My field of interest is European politics of the 19th and early 20th century. So I am looking at the period of decline of empires in Europe. I used my field of research when I was in London, and I can use it here again. How close are Austria and Russia historically speaking? They are very closely linked, from both sides. One of the strong points that we can see here in Russia is the feeling that there has always been a historical dimension to world affairs, and this relates back
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at least to the Congress of Vienna. This Congress is seen as a very positive step in geopolitics because it meant that peace can be negotiated successfully between the great powers, and that necessary conditions can be reached across the world for a global order which is sustainable. To look at the contemporary world, do you think that Brexit will have an effect on the way that Austria relates to Russia? I think the whole of Europe will be affected by this. What is interesting to me is that the Russian reaction to the decision was quite restrained, which I would say, reflects the pragmatic nature of Russian foreign policy, from the President downward. I think that Russia realises that there is potential for negative economic and political consequences. We share this view, and from my point of view I was happy to see the way the Russians reacted to Brexit. The Austrian community is not large, but you punch way above your weight. How is that? You may say that this is part of our imperial, Habsburg legacy. It is manifest in a heightened awareness of external relations, and the feeling that Austria has always been dependant more than other countries on what is happening internationally. Austria’s geography has to be considered, the change of its political system, the change of its size to a more medium-sized country after the First World War. The second point is that Austrians feel they share a common understanding of what life is all about with central and eastern Europe countries. This is one of the reasons that Austrian business lost no time after the end of communism to invest strongly in the new democracies in central and eastern Europe, including Russia. Our economy is strongly export-orientated. We produce far more than we can sell in Austria, we need to export. Because of the fact that we concentrate on countries that on a cultural level, we feel that we understand, there is a tradition that if we have come here, we stay. In
Austrian Community spite of waves of changes, there is a tendency to commit oneself for a longer time. How many Austrians are there here? We don’t have official figures because there is no obligation that Austrians inform the embassy that they are staying here, but as far as I know, there are about 1,000 people in Moscow. Is there a kind of trend, as to what industries Austrians are involved with here in Moscow? Generally speaking, Austrians’ activities here follow on from our own economy at home. We are strong on new technologies and innovative products. We are also strong in ecological investments, innovative products, in pharmaceuticals, but also in infrastructure projects for railways, for security systems, and a whole range of activities that new technologies impact. And of course you are only two hours away by plane? There are both Russian and Austrian business people who regularly commute between Moscow and Vienna. What is your prognosis of what is going to happen over the next few years? Well, Russia is a stable society. Does that include the political system? At the moment the political system seems to be very stable. At the same time, as we know, this is a country with a tradition of revolutions. Austria and Russia is an interesting comparison because in Austria we have never had a real revolution. We tried once, in the middle of the 19th century, but this was crushed, and then there was a period of reform after which we changed from being a monarchy to a republic. But real revolutions are not something Austria does. Maybe Russia is entering into a period where there is a chance for evolutionary processes for reform. What is certainly worrying is the social situation of the average and poor Russian. I think the government is very wise to do what they are doing, trying to make sure that the social system is working even in challenging economic times. And part of this is to have good relations with other trading partners. The European Union is Russia’s biggest trading partner. So I think in the long run, there will be some sort of acceptance on both sides that it is in all of our interests to have good trading relations. There were times when in western Europe we thought we could export all sorts of ideas to other parts of the world. But the way to achieve this, is by convincing people by example.
Do you feel that Austrians here are carrying the flag, like they are ambassadors? We try to put all of our money on dialogue, on talking to each other. We feel that talking to each other and dialogue is more successful than confrontation. I think that this is appreciated in Russia, and I think that this is also being more and more appreciated in other countries of the European Union. Does your family like living here? I am here with my wife. She’s a committed teacher and teaches English and history, but does not work here, as being the wife of an ambassador is a very very busy job in itself. She is wonderful at that, and she is also interested in the culture of this country, she enjoys it here tremendously. We are very lucky to be able to live here in this embassy, that belongs to the Republic of Austria. This incredible building, which was constructed in the early 20th century, provides space for everything that we need, from the holding of small meetings, to balls and chamber concerts, and people do like to come and visit. This is very good because I think that the last thing an ambassador should do is to stay only within the limits of the diplomatic community, he should go out and try to meet as many Russians as possible, and invest in direct contacts. I am a firm believer in trying to explain to people using modern social media what we are doing, and why we are doing what we do. Having all these people to people contacts, especially if political relations are difficult, is all the more important. Do you try to showcase Austrian culture so that Russians can understand your country through culture? I worked for almost ten years as political director for international cultural relations in Austria. So working with culture is very close to my heart because it is simply the best way to bring countries and peoples together. But I have to admit that culture can also be a divisive factor. It is the way that you deal with it. I am against showcasing, and much more into giving people the opportunities to interact, as people have different cultural backgrounds and ideas of culture. My feeling is that if you want to be successful in negotiations or cultural relations, you have to put yourself under the skin of your interlocutor, you have to completely understand what your partner feels, how he perceives what is important to him, and to work on this. For doing so we have to understand our own national cultural identity, and this is important for Austrians because of all the changes we have experienced. Most of us speak German, we are a little bit Balkan, a little bit western European and we call ourselves a Central European nation. With such a creative pluralistic background we have to be clear of who we are before we start promoting our culture.
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Austrian Community Gert Hebenstreit CFO, Raiffeisenbank, Moscow
Mr Hebenstreit, how long have you been living in Moscow? For five years now. I had a little knowledge about the city before I arrived, as I was here in 2006/7 for almost a year, in a different role, with a different company. But at that time I was flying in and out every weekend. So you don’t really experience the city like that. Before moving here in 2011, I was pretty – you could say – concerned about the city, in the sense of the traffic, what life was going to be like, actually living here, especially how it was all going to work out for the family. We moved here from Bulgaria where I was working for another bank for several years, and we had a national park just next door to where we were living. So we were apprehensive about moving from a beautiful place in Sofia to Moscow. But luckily to say, I have been proven wrong over the last 5 years. I really like living here and I have to say that my family does too. Does that mean you have adapted or does that mean that you genuinely like it? I think both, because you have to accept some things wherever you go. I would say that the city has developed tremendously over the past few years, you can see the developments, the changing infrastructure, the parks. We really utilise park facilities as we do not travel out of Moscow often. Yes, we have adapted, but the city is big and it is offering a lot. Infrastructure has vastly improved over the last few years. One thing that I don’t see so many references to, is the restaurant scene here. I am still puzzled by the quality, the variety, that is being offered. I find it amazing. People can’t believe it when they come here. You can hardly go wrong with Moscow restaurants; the standards are very high. So did you put your children in school here? Yes, they go to an international school. How has that been working out? It is working out very nicely, I am very happy about
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the school. I grew up in a different school environment. We had formal classroom teaching, but my children, especially for the first few years, were taught at a large table like this one, shared by six children. They enjoy going there. My youngest child, who is going to pre-school, asked one Saturday morning: is there school today? No, today there is no school, I answered. She was very sad about that. So they like going there and this is a big asset. And your wife, does she not get bored? When she arrived here, she was finishing her PhD. She has now completed it, and is teaching at a university here in Moscow. She is also very much engaged with the IWC, and is the IWC’s is co-chair for charities. She is much more engaged with what is happening locally than I am, to be honest. Does all of this mean that you are looking at Russia long term? We have already been here for 5 years, and we hope to stay here for a few more years. It also depends quite frankly on the work front — what other opportunities come up. The decision is not always mine to take. Usually we are on three year contracts, but I would like to stay on here. Is there a gap in perception and reality when we talk about Russia? From the work perspective, we are doing very well in Russia, despite the let’s say, not easy times from an economic perspective. I see this of course when I go back to Austria and talk with friends and colleagues who don’t know Russia, despite the fact that there has been no iron curtain now for 25 years. Yet still there is a complete disbelief in how much this country has developed, and you can only change this view when people visit. When they come over they are amazed, they are surprised, they can hardly believe what they see, and this works two ways. I would like to say that it would be great if the European Union could make it easier for Russians to get visas, because visiting is the only way to get to know each other, to understand each other.
Austrian Community It’s strange that in this high-tech world we still need to go and visit somewhere and spend time there. We do get a lot of news and information; we are overwhelmed by it all. The question is — what are we really taking in. We filter out maybe 90%, and this can never replace the physical presence of an individual in a different environment. When you see Moscow, the lights in the city, the embankment with people dancing down there, you see the energy, it’s always a pleasure to bring friends and guests there, to show how well developed it is.
AUTUMN INTERNATIONAL
EXHIBITIONS IN RUSSIA
You say the bank is doing well here, but is that just because it is a huge bank? Are you really able to say that the bank will survive the present situation? Yes definitely, and not only because you wouldn’t expect me to say anything else! But because we have an extremely solid foundation, and we are amongst the most highly performing banks on this market. Also because over the past year we have done a lot to improve our efficiency, we have become a lot more streamline as an organisation, we have changed a lot. When I came here, and wanted to change things, people asked me why? Why do you want to change things when it is working? I said: just because it is working doesn’t mean it is right. The economy as it was in previous years allowed you to work not looking after your costs very much, it was just booming and prospering. Luckily we started early enough and were able to look after the change in the external environment when it came. On the business side we always focussed on the quality of our clients, on good partnerships, and we are very careful with risk. Does Raiffeisen allow you to work locally in regard to forming policy? Raiffeisen always allowed local policies to be created. Of course there is a framework, there are targets, but the management here is free to be able to develop the business within these. Nobody likes to just be an executor, you want to bring in your own ideas and have the possibility to create something. This makes a big difference. Corporations act differently, however the culture at Raiffeisen has always been like that. But you have to deliver, if you don’t deliver then you have a problem, but that’s fair enough. How do you find the people you need, and how do you train them? I don’t want to say anything just to please Russians but in fact there are lots of smart Russians. There are a lot of well educated people who you can recruit. We always had a little bit of an advantage because we were viewed as a foreign company, and we have a very open culture. If you look around here, we have a very open plan office, of course you have to search for the right people, you want to form your team with whom you are able to collaborate, I think the collaboration among the team is extremely important. We handle all that locally.
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Austrian Community Mathias Bruck
What is your story, how did you get to be in Moscow? I went to school in Austria, to a school that teaches Russian as an obligatory subject. This was because after the Second World War, as part of the peace treaty signed in 1945, the Soviet Union insisted that one school teaches Russian on an obligatory basis in Austria. Because the Soviet army was based in my school, they chose the school that I was to go to. Your father chose the school for you? My father and his brothers went to that school. My grandparents chose the school because it had better conditions for boarding school pupils at that time. Then my father and my two uncles went there, and my brother and me followed. We had three years of Russian at school, and when it came to deciding where to go to university, I decided that I wanted to do something different, and not go to France, to the UK, to stay in Vienna like my friends did. Then the opportunity came up to study economics in Russia at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.. It was a gamble, but the programme at the university, at the faculty called ‘The International Business School’, offered a four-year double degree programme, fully taught in English, with the first two years here in Russia, then a year abroad, then at other universities around the world. A double degree means a double bachelor, so a degree both from the Russian university and from a foreign university. So I went to Marseille for a year, the course was also in English, then I had a half year obligatory internship, which I could do anywhere in the world, and I did it at a subsidiary of Sberbank in Russia, in Vienna. I had a trilingual working day there, working in Russian, German and English. It was whilst working there that I realised that I would like to develop into corporate banking because I really liked how you can interact with clients doing that, from different industries, different countries of origin. Then I went back to Russia for these last six months, at university, wrote my thesis and took all of my final exams, and graduated in 2015. During that time, during my last semester, I had already decided that I want to stay in Russia because I fell in love with this country, with Moscow. I fell in love with the people. I made real friends here, something that hadn’t happened in
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France even though I spoke French fluently at the time. I worked in Vienna for 6 months, it was incredibly comfortable, working in the city centre, 5 minutes’ walk from home, but nothing exciting ever happened there. There is this saying which kind of reflects Vienna as it really is. ‘If the world ends, go to Vienna because everything happens five years later there.’ Is communicating with expats one of the things you do now? Since November last year I have been working for Raiffeisen, for the department that works with large international corporate clients. The second side of my work is business development, in the field of prime acquisition and reinforcing Raiffeisen’s presence in the international community. I work with the Chambers of Commerces here, with AEB etc., I help coordinate events and speakers at conferences and generally assist the bank in this field. Why does a young man like yourself choose Russia? what with all the negative press about Russia, many would say the worst thing you could do is go to work for a bank in Russia! I would say that the preconceived ideas that people have about Russia are very wrong. What about the Russian economy? Russia is an economy with 150 million inhabitants. I thought it was 143 million? Including Crimea. A market of 150 million people doesn’t just disappear. So I see potential here, a lot of potential. The Russian economy is way under-developed. There is also this big misperception of big international companies coming to Russia, they usually plan local production mainly for the local market, which includes the CIS countries. But as the CEO of Volkswagen said recently at an AEB conference, this is a complete misunderstanding of the situation, because they should, especially now, with the devaluation of the rouble, use the advantage of the Russian market, start localisation,
Austrian Community and start exporting from Russia globally. They should use the Special Economic Zones which are constantly growing and opening up all over Russia. He said that the main competitors for Volkswagen here are not other international brands, but Volkswagen India and Mexico because they produce cheaper and sell globally. So I see unlimited potential. The banking sphere is messy because it was one of the few sectors of the economy that was over-saturated, with more than 700 banks, but the Central Bank is doing everything to clean up this mess.
the fault of both sides, both sides have handed it poorly diplomatically, but there is always a way back. This is the biggest market on Europe’s doorstep. You see already, if you look at statistics published by the German Chamber of Commerce now, investment volume of German companies in 2016 was the highest since 2009.
So Russia could become a production centre for the whole world?
These are not the mega projects that they used to be. The current investors are medium sized investors, coming with five, twenty, thirty million Euro-projects, not tens of billions of Euros. Thus is increasing constantly, and it is what is needed, because the major projects are here already. Russia doesn’t need any more of them. Russia for example, needs to fill in the missing local supply chain for cars for Volkswagen cars, for example.
Yes It could get worse! It could, but I think I understand Russia quite well. I can work with Russians. There is a specific Russian mentality, they are incredible people, they are warm people, friendly people, helpful, and I get along with them very well. I don’t see why other Europeans couldn’t or shouldn’t. Do you have the feeling that we are getting to the bottom of this separation of Europe? I hope so. I have no idea why we have let ourselves be pushed into a situation like this. Of course it is
Despite the sanctions?
So the crisis has been useful in some ways? For some companies it has been good but the agricultural producers in Europe have been seriously affected. Europe has been moving from crisis to crisis. From Cyprus to Greece, to Ukraine to Brexit, the Euro crisis, so many crises. Because there have been so many crises, Europe doesn’t have the energy to solve the problem with Russia.
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Austrian Community Christian Gabriel General Manager, M + W Group
How did you come to be living in Moscow? In 2000 I started university in Austria and chose a course which focussed on Eastern Europe. I remember at the time when Austria became a member of the European Union, they told us that the future is not in the West, the future is in East Europe. I studied international business relations with a focus in eastern Europe. I was offered the choice between studying a number of languages: Hungarian, Rumanian, Polish, Czech, Croatian, Romanian, and Russian. The choice for me was not so difficult; I didn’t want to study anything too close. Russia was so far away in my understanding then, so I thought, OK, that makes sense. In 2002 I attended a Russian summer school in Kharkov, then in Sevastapol, and in 2003 I came to Moscow on work practice for one term, and worked in the Austrian Trade Council. Moscow was a huge shock for me. I do not come from the capital in Austria. When you enter a city like Moscow with its multi-million population, it was completely shocking. I liked the work here, it was interesting, dynamic and varied, and my free time was interesting as well, at that time, I went out during the week very often. I returned to Austria and finished university, I got my first job, which was in politics, then I decided to do a management training programme, and then suddenly, in 2007 I was offered a job to work for an Austrian construction company in Russia, to lead their Russian entity in Moscow. I had never worked in construction, but the good times that I had had previously in Russia left me with no choice but to gratefully take up the offer. I arrived, there were 56 employees, which I had to lead; I was 27 at the time. Somehow, we succeeded. We doubled our staff over a few years, increased business drastically, it was profitable and the business ran very well. In 2013 I wanted to go back to Austria, not because I had to but because I felt that I should. But repatriation turned out to be more difficult than I thought. My business experience was based in Russia, so after a year I
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understood, OK maybe this is not such a good idea. So I decided to stay a bit longer in Russia, but felt I should change my job, join a bigger company, a more structured company, with more responsibility, and where I could use my Russian experience. So I joined M+W High Tech projects as General Manager. Do you have a partner here? Actually I now have a Russian fiancÊe, we are getting married at the end of August, and we are getting married in Austria. I have found a wonderful Russian soul. I also want to say that since I have met her, I have dived into Russian culture. I want to say that it is bright, big, shiny, it’s fascinating. It is bigger than I thought it was. You talked about difficulties of repatriation, but the longer you stay here, the more difficult it is going to be to leave? I understand that, and I also understand that I have already spent 20% of my life in Russia. Russian will always have a certain influence in my life. It makes no sense to go back home and put it away like a backpack. But I also know that I will not be a pensioner in Russia. I also do not want my kids to grow up here, I would rather they go to school in Austria. You know about construction and engineering, and you know about Russia. You also know about politics, which is unusual. Are we coming, in your opinion, to the end of this terrible period of hostilities? That is a good question. I thought at the beginning of the year that the sanctions will be lifted at least partly. However, the European Union has now confirmed that sanctions will be in place until the end of January 2017. So probably the sanctions will be in place for some time. If you have to import anything, you are in a bad position due to devaluation of Rouble.
Austrian Community Our company is doing well at the moment thanks to the sanctions. Micro-electronics, pharmaceuticals and other industries in Russia are experiencing a kind of production boom in Russia under the importsubstitution programme. People joke about the import-substitution programme, perhaps they shouldn’t? It is really happening; this is not a joke. One of the programmes that has already been launched before the sanctions is ‘Pharma 2020.’ Russia wants to produce 20% of imported pharmaceutical products locally. The Russian State is supporting FDI into this area. Western companies bring the knowledge and technology and the goods are produced here. They want to produce microchips, robots, a lot of investment is going into the space industry, into the energy sector, into the nuclear industry, so I cannot complain about business. So there is hope? Europe will suffer because of the sanctions. They are suffering now, because they are not exporting, and when Russia produces its own products they will continue to suffer. Basically the sanctions are helping Russia to grow up, to become more adult, on the fasttrack. Europe will probably always have the lead in new technology, but it may lose a major export market for good. The sanctions are also helping Russia to diversify from an oil-based economy.
don’t think about the next level, about what comes after Industry 4.0, they don’t care. Even Pepsi Cola is now using this slogan ‘here and now’ to advertise here. What is amazing is that Russians were the first nation to go to space. Space is almost Russian invented. How can they manage that when they cannot manage to standardise the production of cars, like Germans can? For me, Russians are good tactical, not strategic thinkers. The Russians are catching up, but not in all sectors. They can catch up to a certain point, then technology jumps further. Could it be because the soviet space industry, for example, was a State controlled industries, which could afford long term thinking? I think that out of 142 million people, there are a number of people who think long term. There are Nobel prize winners from Russia, but in this big country you need to fight to survive. I think this is the answer for me. You don’t have the freedom to develop your capabilities, of course intellectuals who get some sort of state sponsorship do have this opportunity, but the average Russian has to fight on a daily basis, and he or she doesn’t have the possibility to think long term.
So the expats that remain have to be really good and offer unique knowledge/experience? I have seen that a lot of expats have left Russia over the past two years. A lot of companies have withdrawn their expats, and there are less foreigners running foreign companies than locals. I’m not sure if this is a long-term movement, I think expats will come back after a while. The only people who have remained are people who are very experienced and more dedicated to the country. Why aren’t the Russian creating new technology themselves? In my humble opinion after 9 years in Russia, I think that Russians are more short-termed focussed. If you have an interview with an employee and you ask him where he sees himself in 5 years, you will often see a question mark in his or her eyes. If I ask someone about how long they plan to stay in the company, if he is honest he says one or two years. There are exceptions of course, but this is the norm. People are much more short-term orientated, they
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Austrian Community Stefan Kuehr General Manager, Radisson Royal Moscow
How long have you been working at the Radisson Royal? For two years and four months now in the position of General Manager. I am in charge of all the commercial aspects as well as operational departments, ensuring 100% guest satisfaction and a good return on investment. Before this you were working in East Europe, is that right? Yes, I have worked for almost 12 years in this part of the world. I started my career within the Carlson Rezidor Hotel group 11 years ago in St. Petersburg, after that I had an assignment to open a hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan where I used to live for two years. After that I moved for three years to Baku, Azerbaijan, before coming back to St. Petersburg taking on an assignment within the group and since 2014 I am here in Moscow. Despite being a passionate hotelier my strongest assets are the broad market experience and of course my language skills, which are extremely important to succeed. I like the challenges that the present economic situation presents, because it just makes you stronger as a professional, and with all the challenges you have, with all the setbacks you have, you are much more eager and as well pushed to look for new opportunities, which also drives the business further. So Kazakhstan and other places where you were, are all within the previous territory of the Soviet Union. Do you think that the mind-sets of people in all of these people is similar? Even though they were part of former Soviet Union, each country is different. In Azerbaijan, for example, they have a much more Middle Eastern way of doing business, than in Russia. In Kazakhstan you can clearly feel the Chinese influence, because it is close to China, especially in Almaty. There are similarities, at least the people who are over 30 I would say, they do all speak Russian, but the legislations and customs are different, you have to adjust. So there are more different things than similarities? I would rather tend to say YES.
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What is it like working with the people you work with, here in the capital of the Russian Federation? Talking about hospitality, the people became very skilled, we do have extremely good professionals, and they are all locals. Many years ago, most executive managers in hotels were foreigners, except for the heads of specialized divisions like head of security, technical director. But in most of the hotels you still had a lot of expats. Today the situation has changed and I am very proud to say that, for example in my hotel we are only two expats now, all other positions are held by super professional local people, who are exceeding the company’s expectations by a long way! I doubt that we would be a better hotel by having replaced those locals by expats. It doesn’t depend where you are from, what is important that you perform and that you are able to work in hospitality or not. And most important is if you are a host or not, because that’s what we do, serving and hosting people, from all over the world. Of course to have a multinational team is great for the company’s culture and having some expatriate team members reflects the image of an International hotel group better. So it’s also very much a marketing tool. Is business doing OK, or not, because of this crisis? There are some International consulting companies which are handing out statistic on a regular basis and one of those reports, published by JLL, said that the Moscow and St. Petersburg hotel markets are booming, especially in the upper-upscale and luxury segment. Is that report accurate? Yes, we do benchmark and measure ourselves with a so called ‘RevPAR’ (revenue per available room) and this index shows a growth by app. 15% YTD vs. 2015 for Moscow. So you have come out of the crisis? No we haven’t come out of the crisis, we just face a new reality. We like to speak about a great top-line
Austrian Community
development, however bottom-line results remain challenging. As an organisation we had to make certain adjustments to our cost structure. We haven’t just cut costs; no we started to optimise meaning we became more efficient. The minimum target set out is to maintain profit levels seen before the crisis hit. Even if keeping the profit margin damages your business irreparably? We are in the right business segment and we are doing the right things, also we have been very strong before. Investors are very important in any business. It is important to know what their vision of the business is and to clearly understand their expectations. We are very privileged because our investors are extremely passionate about the business. They are willing to continue investing even in tough times. You feel much stronger as an organisation when you know that the business owner stands behind what you are doing. How has your client base changed over the years? There has been a dramatic change in business mix, because I do remember my times in St. Petersburg 10 years ago and more tourists came from other parts of the world then today. Chinese were a minority group, nowadays they make up about 70% of the tourists. Over the past two years, the biggest growth in clients is from Asia. At the same time, we can see over the years a slight drop in clients from the US and from Europe. This is not always connected to sanctions, and to the political environment, it is to do with the fact that China is growing, people are getting wealthier, more people have the opportunity to travel. At the Radisson Royal we have an increased number of Russian guests, so domestic travel will definitely play an important role in the future. We also see a tremendous growth in the use of our hotels inside Russia by Russians. By people, for example, who are looking for weekend escapes. A trip to Europe, because of the rouble devaluation, has become much more expensive than it was two or three years ago.
So Russia is still growth market? Many companies said — let’s keep away from Russia, and they moved out or minimised their operations here. We as a company still believe in Russia. It is an emerging market and only 1% of all hotels are internationally branded here. In the UK over 60% of UK hotels are branded. The 59% gap between 1% and 60% is the potential growth. We are the largest international hotel group in Russia, we have good relations with our investors, so why wouldn’t we continue? The Q2 financial report of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, our management company, still lists Russia as one of the growth drivers for the company’s success and my personal business outlook is very positive. You are now settled in Moscow? It depends always what you expectations are. What were your expectations? I knew all about this place before I moved here, I knew that Moscow is a vibrant, but very hectic city. Everybody is always extremely busy and you also can see that it’s a money driven place. People come here to earn money to build a better life. I have travelled around other parts of Russia and I would not imagine myself living anywhere else but here. I am very privileged. Don’t you get tired of the constraint stress and rush? I could take more. I am used to work; I am here every day for at least twelve hours. For me this is not a problem. I love it. The life/work balance I have today works well for me and my family. For other people it might not be the right thing. My oldest daughter goes to school; my little one soon to kindergarten and my wife enjoys all the advantages Moscow has to offer. Even though I can’t image myself retiring here, when you are energetic and young it’s a great place to live and work.
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Austrian Community
RED BULL TRANS-SIBERIAN EXTREME 2016
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Austrian Community
9,287 km, 14 stages, 24 days – these are the key facts of the world’s longest cycle race – the Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme. On this second 28-day extreme cycling marathon, international athletes cycled along the route of the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway. Each stage varied between 320km to 1,400km each. The routes have been slightly modified from last year because of changing road conditions. The team cycled through through Nizhniy Novgorod, Kazan, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Svobodny and Khabarovsk.
This is the longest bicycle race in the world, longer even that the Race Across America or the Tour de France, and starts a new chapter in the history of ultra-stage bicycle races. This redefines the meaning of the word ‘extreme.’ The race started early in the morning in Moscow on the 5th of July and ended in a triumphant celebration in Vladivostok on the 28th of July. An experienced support team providing medical, physio and mechanical services, as well as food, made sure that bikers reach their ultimate results with professional and high-quality care.
Last year four solo cyclists from Austria, Belgium, UK and Russia, and three duo teams from Germany, Italy and Russia, completed the premiere of the longest ultra-stage race in the world. The 2015 solo winner Kristof Allegaert from Belgium completed 15 stages in 318 hours and 57 minutes with an average speed of 28.6kph (17.7mph) and the Russian duo team, Olympic gold medalist Mikhail Ignatiev and scratch race world champion Ivan Kovalev, won the duo category in 282 hours and 16 minutes at an average speed of 32.6kph (20.2mph).
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Austrian Community
This year, six solo riders started the race in Moscow. Alexei Shchebelin (Russia), Andreas Fuchs and Eduard Fuchs (Austria), Pascal Pich (France), Marcelo Florentino Soares (Brazil) and Pwinn Rujikietkhomjron (Thailand). But three of them pulled out of the competition by the end of the fifth stage for different reasons. The three remaining cyclists, Shchebelin, Eduard Fuchs and Florentino Soares, all withdrew at the 12th stage because of the adverse weather conditions. The 12th stage covers a whopping 1,372km, starting
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in Chita and finishing in the Russian Far East. Unlike last year, when two riders managed to complete the whole race, there was no outright winner this time out. But local hero Shchebelin did finish first in the time sheets. Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme has already drawn the attention of a large number of cyclists from all over the world. Anyone who feels they have what it takes to overcome almost 10,000km on a bike can apply to participate. The race will accept only 20 cyclists in 2017, all chosen and evaluated by the race organisers. Registration is ongoing for both solo and duo categories.
Business
Pier Paolo Celeste Director, Moscow Office, Coordinator Russian Federation, Byelorussia and Armenia The Italian Trade Agency has a new Director, Pier Paolo Celeste. Here is what he told MeL about the general Italian-Russian trade situation and his experiences so far working here (editor). What is the situation regarding Italian-Russian trade? Russia has reduced its imports of products from all over the World: the latest figures (May 2016) indicate a fall of 11% compared to the same period of 2015. Considering the Italian situation visà-vis that of the other first ten countries trading with Russia, we managed to soften the decrease in the import of Italian product (-6.4%). By way of comparison, China suffered a -9% drop, Germany -7.5%, the USA -31%, Turkey -56%, Japan -19%, and Korea -15%. However the situation is to be taken seriously because in the last 18 months, Italy lost two places in the trade partner ranking with Russia. Today our country is the 6th supplier and the 6th client of Russian Federation. In financial terms, the total loss of our bilateral trade is significant: close to 50% (€6.6 bln in May)! The economic crisis combined with the sanctions made us lose terrain in two primary sectors: Machinery (-22.1%) and Furnishings & Building materials (-22.9%). Nevertheless, a close examination of the Russian macro sectors imports from Italy reveals a consolidated positive trend in several important categories: Fashion & Accessories (9.4%), Food & Beverage (15.4%), Transportation vehicles (41.6%), Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (14.1%). In financial terms, however, the total loss of our bilateral trade is significant: close to 50% (6.6 Bln. Euros in May)!
When is the economic situation likely to improve in your opinion? I strongly hope that the sanctions will be lifted by the beginning of next year. The current situation is not only due to them, nevertheless their relaxation will bring an overhaul breath of optimism in the business environment that will trigger an energetic bounce in trade. Even though it is unlikely that we will see the price levels of the past in the close future, the situation will significantly improve if commodity prices continue their upward trend, leading to a recovery in consumption and investment. After the -3.7% GDP fall in 2015, the slight increase of the past months has allowed the manufacturing sector to stay at the same level of 2015 and some leading indicators are adjusting their trend to reasonably forecast a change of a mere -0.8% in this year’s GDP. If this growth gears up, the global economic environment will receive a boost in the medium term that, bolstered by the stabilization of the banking system, will help investments and encourage much needed legislative changes. What do you think of Moscow and working with Russians? I must say that every single day in Moscow brings me a new and surprising experience. During the day, the city is thriving with urbanistic and cultural projects in a continuous process that never seems to end. In the evening, the shades of Moscow’s red sunsets astonish me, leading the way to nights of lights sparkling with a thousand colors enchantingly reflected in the dark waters of the Moskva. I
enjoy living in Moscow more than I had ever imagined, despite the traffic. Century-old ties link Russia and Italy in a way that can be strongly sensed in the relations between our people: a close collaboration with Russians is both beneficial and strategic for Italians. Someone even said that Russians and Italians share the same sentiments and the same habits. Every day more and more people seek the support of our Agency to establish or consolidate their businesses with Italy. The constantly increasing numbers show the growth of a new entrepreneurial fervor, this brings a new emerging class of men and women willing to do business with our country in almost every activity and every sector. We witness great enthusiasm, sometimes devoid of knowledge of the basic rules. Precisely this makes our role crucial to transform such will and resolution into concrete and sustainable projects by facilitating contacts, deepen business relationships, and skillfully providing professional assistance to wisely identify the right partner and celebrate ‘corporate weddings’ that may last forever. On a more personal view, working with my Russian colleagues is a pleasure: they are precise, professional, highly educated, dedicated, enthusiastic and fun, an aspect never to be ignored. Each member of my staff represents the crème de la crème of Russian and Italian qualities combined. I am proud to say that our work and the initiatives masterminded and implemented in each of our offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk, is effective and productive and the work that lies ahead of us in the short and medium term, will be critical in building the future of Italian-Russian economic relationships.
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Business
Nodira Sadikova
G
Is Market Neutral Investment strategy is attractive for volatile markets?
lobal stock markets surged in July in a dramatic post-Brexit rally that was also fueled by hopes of expansionary monetary policies. U.S. stock indices reached consecutive all-time highs. European stocks also advanced more than 3.5% during the month, with the London FTSE 100 Index reaching fresh one-year highs. Even in Japan, one of the world’s most volatile markets, stocks surged nearly 7% following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s convincing upper house election victory, which set the stage for new rounds of economic stimulus. The result is a tug of war over the markets. Fidelity executive vice president of retirement income and investment strategies, John Sweeney says, “Nothing causes investors to question their strategy and worry about their money like dramatic moves in the markets.” He also notes that: “A natural reaction to that fear might be to reduce or eliminate any exposure to stocks, thinking it will stem further losses and calm your fears, but that may not make sense in the long run.” However, periods when volatility exceeds inconceivable borders, may be the best times for investors and traders.
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If you remember the best five-year return in the U.S. stock market began in May 1932 – in the midst of Great Depression. The next best five-year period began in July 1982 amid an economy in the midst of one of the worst recessions in the post-war period, featuring double-digit levels of unemployment and interest rates.
Table 1: U.S. stock market returns represented by total return of S&P 500® Index. Sources: Ibbotson, Factset, FMRCo, Asset Allocation Research Team as of March 31, 2015. Source: Fidelity Investment Group, 2015
Accordingly, it may not be advisable to leave the market when it is highly volatile. It may be better to choose the right investment tools and reap the benefits. Sweeney
Business considers that: “market volatility should be a reminder for you to review your investments regularly and make sure you have an investment strategy with exposure to different areas of the markets – U.S., small and large caps, international stocks, investment grade bonds – to help match the overall risk in your portfolio to your personal goals.” Let’s look at one of the market neutral investment strategies called Statistical Arbitrage. How does it work? Market neutral investment strategies have roots dating from 1949, when Alfred Winslow Jones operated the first hedge fund holding both long and short positions in securities. Over the past 60 years, the popularity of this approach has risen dramatically to where today it is estimated that investors have committed approximately $40 billion to market neutral strategies. The concept behind market neutral strategies seeks to create a portfolio that is insulated from the ups and downs of the market and can deliver positive returns regardless of market direction. Market neutral portfolios hold long and short positions. In their most traditional form, these positions are dollar neutral such that the value of the long positions is offset equally by the value of the short positions. Due to the offsetting long and short positions in the portfolio, market neutral portfolios historically have lower volatility than the overall equity market. Market neutral equity strategies seek to deliver returns in excess of Treasury Bills. George Soros, the highest earning Hedge Fund Manager, recommends investing in one of those market neutral strategies called as Statistical Arbitrage (Stat Arb) as this strategy shows absolute returns focused on generating consistent positive yield on shares. Similar strategies are successfully used by the world’s leading hedge funds to generate stable returns while reducing volatility in portfolios. Every investment company has its own unique approach and the management system, where they show different profits per annum. GL Asset Management originally established in Switzerland as Blumfeldt & Sons, has been considered the Hedge Fund Manager of the Month in Europe, and has mostly concentrated on Stat Arb. Siegfried Spitzer, Portfolio Manager of Equity trading and Stat Arb, stated that trading exclusively on US exchanges in liquid stocks with market capitalization of over $3bn, the price is exploited by imbalances with the help of using mathematical models and rigorous risk management system. On average the strategy seeks to generate 12% annual return with 2% volatility, thus enabling stable appreciation of investment, while minimizing market risk. Investors face long odds in trying to time the ups and downs of the market, and hedge fund managers increase their allocations to stocks ahead of downturns and decrease their exposure just prior to market rallies. Rather than focusing on the turbulence, wondering if you need to do something now, or what the market will do tomorrow, it makes more sense to focus on developing and maintaining a sound investing plan. A good plan will help you ride out the peaks and valleys of the market, and may help you achieve your financial goals.
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Business
Are We There Yet? Chris Weafer
I
t is just over two years since Russia was whacked with sectoral sanctions and the start of a steep oil price collapse. That double-whammy hit soon pushed the rouble into free fall and the economy into recession. Ignoring the chaotic and unreliable 1990s, this is the country’s longest period of economic decline and the longest period without a clear path to a return to strong growth in sight. Against that backdrop this is a good time to look at the main issues which affect our lives as expats in Russia, to look forward through the coming winter and ask the question ‘will life be better or worse next spring?’ Most people will again have experienced a polarized view of Russia while travelling in the summer; in Moscow the view of politicians and many other observers is that the country is now past the worst and recovery is coming, albeit more slowly than was the case in 2009. That contrasts with the view widely held by western commentators which is that the current recovery trend is unsustainable and Russia is simply in the eye of a nasty storm which will return with destructive force. Which view is right? Let’s put that to one side for a moment. Instead it is fair to say that for the majority of those who have a firmly held positive or negative view of Russia’s future do so because of an ingrained bias rather than a conclusive analysis of the facts. There are simply far too many variables, which will impact the country over the next two years, to be that certain. To express a very clear view, either way, of where the economy and the country will be in the autumn of 2018 requires the deployment of a combination of guesstimates to be made today. For business and individuals the best course, as always in such situations, is to plan for different scenarios and to stay flexible; to be aware of what lies behind the headlines and the numbers and neither be blindly optimistic nor pessimistic. Pragmatic is a safer stance today and will very likely remain so over the next two years. More immediately, what should we pay attention to through the coming winter as a possible guide to the years ahead? Near the top of all expats concerns is the rouble exchange rate and where it is heading. For those paid
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in roubles the concerns are clear, especially if one has foreign currency obligations, while even those in the relatively more comfortable position of being paid in a foreign currency are affected. One example is that the exchange rate has a direct impact on the cost of living in Russia. Another is that the assessment of where the rouble exchange rate may trade in the years ahead is one of the key considerations for foreign companies deciding on whether to increase manufacturing and services in Russia. That has very clear implications for jobs and expat remuneration. As to where the rouble may trade over the winter and over the next two years? That depends on the oil price and also on whether the Central Bank (CBR) sticks to a policy of maintaining a competitive currency. The former is out of Moscow’s control. It has made clear that, despite the talk of a coordinated production freeze with some OPEC countries (which cannot happen so long as Iran and Saudi Arabia are at loggerheads), Russia will not be part of a price control mechanism. It is a case of pump at maximum and leave the price to others. In this case the ‘others’ include US shale producers and the various countries dealing with variable production due to acts of war or economic and technical constraints. Most likely the oil price will stay in the $45 to $55 p/bbl range and that implies a rouble-dollar exchange rate not straying too far off the mid-60s. Medium to longer term the oil price should recover, as supply-demand equilibrium is reached in mid-2017 (barring any extreme disruptions or peace in Libya) and then we will see if the government’s promise of maintaining a competitive rouble, i.e. no higher than high 50s against the dollar, is current opportunism or a real commitment. The second variable is sanctions. Nobody expects Crimea sanctions to be eased, probably ever, while the oil and technology sanctions are more of an inconvenience than serious over the medium term. The focus is entirely on financial sector sanctions. These have been the most damaging for the economy because of the voluntary actions by many western companies and financial institutions to place a near total block on all Russia risk. US sanctions against Iran and the billion
Business
dollar fines against big EU banks have created a legacy of fear of any financial sanctions disproportionately larger than the actual sanctions. But here also the view of what happens and when is quite different in many EU capitals than in Washington. The extension of EU sanctions by only six months and the open opposition to indefinitely continuing sanctions by many senior politicians across Europe does offer a reason for optimism that we may see the start of the socalled staged reduction from next February. That will be positive and should help reduce some of the voluntary restrictions also. But there is no evidence that the U.S. Administration is close to considering such a move. That of course may change relatively quickly under the new Administration and will depend not only on whether there is a Republican or Democrat in the White House but also whether the staunchly anti-Russia Republican Party retains control of Congress. More variables. Then there is the effect of domestic confidence. For the past twelve months, consumer confidence has been near record lows and coming into the summer there was no evidence of any improvement. In practical terms that can be seen in the still declining retail sales and demand for consumer and household services. Recent surveys show that while support for the President and Prime Minister remains high, people are not buying the optimism about a return to strong growth. Confidence about the direction of the country and the economy has been sliding for months. There should be some pickup in consumer activity in 2017 as the economy returns to modest growth of approximately 1.5% (Macro-Advisory estimate) and as the government cranks up the positives ahead of the March 2018 presidential election. But, as I have written in previous articles, a return to job-creating and confidence boosting growth is still some way off and will only happen with greater effectiveness from government. Planning for what will be a tight-balancing act in the pre-election campaign is undoubtedly one of the several
reasons for the senior administration and government agency personnel changes seen in recent months. What it boils down to is that there is every reason to be hopeful that the economy will be relatively stable, even returning to modest growth, over the winter. The eye of the storm pessimists will be disappointed. But that is still a long way from delivering the scenario favoured by the optimists. That is still a long slog away.
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Business
Chet Bowling
“Minimize expenses instead of transferring to clients”
Sponsored Article
To a business in the process of optimizing expenses, it is important to lose neither personnel nor clients along the way. I will try to explain how a professional service firm should proceed in this situation. Because for them, the optimal use of resources serves as the foundation of their business-model. Make processes cheaper For such firms, one of the basic techniques used to reduce expenses without harming the quality of services is to open a Shared Service Center (SSC) in regions with cheaper costs. In Russia, a country with inexpensive software developers, accountants and other specialists, there are dozens of the Shared Services Centers set up by local and foreign companies, not necessarily specialized in outsourcing. SSC in Russia pays for itself within 3-5 years on average and requires serious initial investment. It is better to evaluate the practicability of this solution with the help of local consultants who have successfully launched such service centers and have a specialization relative to your needs (accounting functions, marketing, IT etc.) They will clarify where it is more profitable to place a SSC, the amount of people and resources needed for it to function effectively, and consider Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI). Use outsourcing Using a provider does not always yield direct savings, but always provides uninterrupted service and stable quality. Even at Alinga, a provider itself, some internal functions are outsourced to professionals - IT, payroll and legal services.
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Arm yourself with technology Alinga extensively uses specialized software products to streamline and standardize business-processes. We automated all crucial activities: all accounting procedures for servicing clients, preparation of quarterly IFRS management accounts for customers’ head offices, planning of our specialists’ work schedules. Process automation requires serious preliminary preparation. Manage cost Monitor the cost of company resources with the help of internal controls, budgeting, management accounting and reporting, time sheets by all employees and monthly monitoring of achievement of objectives. Thanks to the regular analysis of collected data, you avoid overspending, simplify personnel planning and improve the workflow of the company. Here is an example. By using special software for tracking employees time, we define the time needed and required level of qualification for each project. Therefore, we know the precise cost of every project. Based on this we can objectively assess the profitability of a project and generate invoices in a timely manner. If there is an increase in time to fulfill any type of standard operation, then it is an occasion to
find and address the causes of this increase. In addition, if the process is ‘failing’ on the client’s end, then we offer them an automation solution, which makes outsourcing cheaper as a result. Allow employees to feel free Offer employees a flexible schedule and to work in a homeoffice mode. We do not do this for direct economy, but for the growth of work productivity and employee loyalty. All other things being equal, keeping employees is much cheaper than replacing them. Transform internal expertise into new services Consider other ways in which you can be useful to current and future clients. Have you found and solution to a relevant business issue? Do share your experience! For example, Alinga assists companies in increasing the effectiveness of their accounting departments and creates “turnkey” processing centers - starting from the assessment of the feasibility of its opening, to eventually handing it over to the client. Every organization has valuable internal practices that are utilized to solve their own problems. To offer these solutions to the market is much easier, than creating a completely new service.
Culture
Moscow Ta k e s O v e r T h e E d i n b u r g h F e s t i v a l
F
or over two years, the Moscow Comedy Bar has been putting on stand-up comedy shows in English every week in various venues around the city of Moscow. Sometimes, whether bar managers and audiences wanted us to or not. In August 2016 it was time for us to test our chops at the Mecca of comedy – the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, part of the Edinburgh festival – the biggest comedy and arts festival in the world. So off we went to take part in what surely is a rite of passage for any comic performing in English this side of the Atlantic. Armed with five thousand flyers and our big ’please-like-me’ smiles, some of the best and brightest from our modest Moscow scene flew over to see if we could fill a 50-seater room at the back of a sports bar and extract joyous laughter from this sophisticated audience reared on Billy Connolly, Arnamno Lanucci and Frankie Boyle. Flyering, promoting and getting bums on seats, to say the least, was competitive, with 400 Free Fringe
shows a day to choose from; not to mention tickets being sold for dozens of established household-name acts all around the city including Bill Burr, Al Murray and Paul Merton. For any performer, doing a show or sometimes two, every day for a sustained period is, of course, an invaluable opportunity to learn about oneself as - hell or high water (or hangover) a show must be put on and with any luck, done better than the show before. Refining one’s material in what was essentially an intensive performance workshop was a thrill and a privilege although all emotions tended to be intensified: more nerves and uncertainty but also the rush of a new joke landing or the reward of sending another audience away satisfied, having justified them kindly taking a chance on us. I guess we were all experienced enough to feel comfortable enough on stage but it was the bits either side of being on stage that could often feel overwhelming. And for the Russian lads, it was a chance to acquaint themselves with a breakfast incorporating haggis,
black pudding, square sausage and brown sauce. “No wonder Mel Gibson always looks so angry” one commented. For me, one of the standout impressions I left with was probably the feeling that we were part of an ancient tradition of entertainers, like the travelling troupes you sometimes see in western films or other costume dramas – entertaining the huddled crowds with magic and potions. After your Free Fringe show it’s perfectly acceptable and expected that the performer waits by the door with a vessel of some sort so that the crowd can drop in whatever cash they felt the show was worth. Like many before us we were singing for our supper by flinging out punch-lines. It turned out our potions worked. Perhaps unexpectedly. But that’s fine. Surprise is a key ingredient of comedy. Roll on next August. The Moscow Expats Podcast is available on ITunes, soundcloud. com/belkovsky and stitcher.com. The open mic show starts at 7pm on Fridays, Novy Arbat 21 at Stand Up Club#1.
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Business How to become an ‘Individual Entrepreneur’ David Maltby
T
- индивидуальным предпринимателем
hese days, there are many foreigners here in Moscow who are self-employed, intentionally or not. You may be one, or planning to be one. Either way, your options are limited if you want to stay in Russia legally. If you are here on a work visa, your visa is dependent on your employment. If you change your job your employer has to give you a new visa. However, if you decide to start out on your own – what do you do? Starting a limited company (an OOO) is always an option but there is a simpler alternative. One solution is to become a registered Individual Entrepreneur – if you have the intention to carry on a business in Russia without forming a legal entity as a sole proprietor. Essentially, the process of registering as индивидуальный предприниматель is: • Proving your part or full-time residence in the Russian Federation. I covered obtaining this in the previous two articles • Defining the scope of your business • Preparing the set of required registration documents • Filing the required documents at the tax registration office • Receiving the incorporation documents • Opening a bank account And away you go. Individual Entrepreneurs in Russia pay 6% tax on gross revenues, or 15% on net. One big negative for many people is that you are liable for your obligations to the extent of the property that you own. If you are not a home-owner, though, this should
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not present you with any issues. Also, if your business is not going to put your property at risk, you might consider this an acceptable risk to take. As always in these articles, I write from the point of view of my own experience, not as an expert or specialist in the subject. 1. Proof of part or full-time residence in the Russian Federation. The document confirming the address of residence of foreign citizens and stateless persons in the Russian Federation may be: • An identification document that contains information about your registered residential address in the Russian Federation. Usually the stamped pages in your passport. • A residence permit in Russia (for foreign citizens and stateless persons, if they reside in the territory of the Russian Federation); your РВП or ВнЖ, which of course are also in your passport. • Certificate of refugee status (for recognized refugees). • A temporary residence permission (for foreign citizens and stateless persons who do not have an identity document). 2. Criminal Record requirements and business definition. For some business activities in Russia, a document confirming ‘absence of conviction’ is required. This will be the criminal record document from your home country. For Brits, and perhaps others,
this is a serious pain. As with all foreign legal documents, the criminal record document has to be apostilled and then translated and notarised. Not everyone will need this though. Basically if you will be working with children, you need it. A list of all included activities has been published by the Government. Outside of these restricted activities, you will not need to get your criminal document. You only need to then define your business scope in a very simple way within predefined categories. 3. Preparing the required documents for registration. You should prepare a set of documents to be submitted to the registering authority, including: • A copy of the document certifying your identity as a foreign citizen or stateless person. For most expats, that’s the passport, of course. • A copy of the document confirming your right for part or full-time residence in the Russian Federation. • The original or a copy of the document confirming the address of your residence in the Russian Federation. • Documentation certifying the payment of state taxes. • The document which determines the presence or absence of a conviction, if that applies to you. • Simultaneously with filing the package of documents for state registration, you may apply to move to a simplified tax system (form 26.2-1).
Business • The application form for state registration (form R21001). Witnessing the signature of the applicant by a notary is not required if the applicant submits the documents directly (in person), with their passport. If your Russian is passable, you can probably do this yourself. In other cases, the signature of the applicant on the application needs to be certified by a notary. Cost – the state duty for the state registration of a person as an individual entrepreneur is 800 RUR. Details concerning the payment of the state duty are on the Federal Tax Service web site. Documents. • Submitted copies of documents must be certified by a notary, unless you submit personally. If you submit in person, you just certify the documents yourself. These will be returned to you when the registration authority issues notice of the documents receipt. • Each document containing more than one sheet should be attached and numbered. • Number of sheets should be proved by the signature of the applicant or the notary on the back of last sheet on a signature space. • Application and the appendices need to be typed or written in black ink. Documents are completed in (and issued) in Russian only. 4. Filing the required documents to the register office. You need to file a prepared set of documents to the registration tax authority at your place of residence in the Russian Federation. You can file the required documents by the following ways: • Paper filing by hand in the registration office (personally
or through your authorised representative); • Paper filing by post; • E-filing via the Internet – although I’ve found this to be unreliable in the past. Within no more than 5 working days from the receipt of the documents the registering authority should examine the documents submitted and let you know the outcome. Hopefully it’s good and you move on to the next stage. 5. Receiving the incorporation documents. If all goes well, on the day appointed by registering authority you will receive; • State Registration Certificate of a person as an individual entrepreneur. • The Tax Certificate (full name is the Certificate on registration in tax authority). • Extract from the Common State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs. You can also have them sent to your registered office address if you have one. Once you have these, off you go – you’re in business, without forming a legal entity. You can choose whether or not to have a seal (or stamp). 6. Finances. With a certificate of registration and company seal, you are entitled to open an account in any bank at your choice. Within seven days from the date of a bank account opening you must notify your tax authority with this information. The account should be encoded as an IE account. The tax situation for mere mortals, not taxation accountants, is quite complex for the uninitiated. I’m no tax specialist, so at this point I would tell you that the simplified tax system is 6% and the ordinary tax system is 15%. You need to check the category you want or fall into, particularly if
you employ people. Deeper detail than this, you need some specialist support, or you need to study the FTS (Federal Tax Service) web site. So that is the process and the technicalities, but there are some other points to mention about Individual Entrepreneur status. One is particularly interesting for property owners. Once you have IE status, you can apply for a license to rent out your property. For a one-off annual fee around 35,000 Roubles, (depending on your floor area) you can collect rent and not pay any tax. Obviously your decision is going to be based on your tax liability on your income against the fee for the license. It’s a particularly attractive option for those with highrental income properties. Another point is the filing of your accounts. These days, this can be done on line, via web sites specialising in this service. One such provider is “Мое Дело” (My Business). Personally I have found this site and its Customer Service staff really helpful. Simply by keying in your revenue for the quarter, your accounts are compiled and tax automatically calculated. You can then pay your tax through your bank. That process will depend on your bank, of course, but my understanding is that most allow you to create a template with the relevant tax account and references. NB! It’s important to realise that your registration as an Individual Entrepreneur is dependent on your residency status. If you change it or allow that to lapse, amongst other horrors that will befall you is removal of your Independent Entrepreneur status. So if you decide to become an Individual Entrepreneur, good luck, and I hope it all goes well. If nothing else, you will join the 6 percenters and be able to look forward to your Russian pension when the time comes. You definitely won’t be retiring on it though.
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Diplomatic
Irish Ambassador
McDaid
Mr. Ambassador, what are then main differences you notice about Moscow between when you last served here, in the 1980s? It has been a long time since my last posting here, and I have since worked in Bagdad, Brussels, New York and then Washington, and I have gone back home to Dublin between postings. Memories of the city back in the 1980’s are of a grey city, not lit up at nights with neon lights or, in some places, not even street lights. None of the effort which is made now to highlight the beauty of the buildings was evident then. The other big difference is traffic, which seems to be very bad here. In my days, fewer people had personal cars and any foreign cars were driven only by foreigners; there were a lot of lorries, but the streets were nothing like as congested as they are now. I am somewhat surprised when I hear that the traffic problems now are a lot less than what they were a few years ago. When I was preparing to come back here again and was looking at what I needed, one of my colleagues who had served here in the interim period said: “you don’t know where you are going.” Moscow has become a consumer society. That’s the big difference I suppose. Moscow has very much become a consumer society. In those days we used to import quite a lot of our essentials from Copenhagen or Helsinki. There was a special diplomatic store for diplomats, but the range of goods you could buy was quite small; now however, there is wide availability of products. Also, the streets here, for pedestrians, were actually quite dangerous, some cars drove through pedestrian crossings, whereas they seem to be a lot safer now. But in general, the way that the city looks is quite different.
In my experience, the winters have been getting milder and milder, and also later and later. What about the people, how has Russians’ attitudes to foreigners changed? I’m not sure, I think that there is a book published recently ‘Why Don’t Russians Smile.’ This is all about people’s perceptions of Russians not always being
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correct. I personally always found Russians to be very helpful and friendly. There is an initial stage where you have to break the ice. I find that there is a lot of similarities between the Irish people and Russians. I think also there is a very strong sense of family and a pride in their culture that we also have in Ireland. On my return, I think and this is based on early impressions, that there is a greater openness. Partly because now there is a greater interaction between Russians and people from other countries and much more familiarity with foreigners. Of course, equally important is that more and more Russians travel abroad on holiday or on business trips, or on other forms of cultural exchanges. All of that is extremely important, and we [in the embassy] try to promote cultural and people to people contacts as much as possible. I remember, that in the Soviet era, most foreigners came here on Intourist trips. They would be ferried around on busses and trains, taken to their hotels, and the interaction wasn’t very great or sometimes didn’t exist. You would get chaperoned to museums where there might be a guide book in English or, if you were lucky, an audio book might have been available. Otherwise, you would have to find your way around on individual tours, a daunting prospect without a good command of Russian. What’s it like being a diplomat here now in comparison with the late 1980s when you were here last? My first job here as a very young diplomat was my first posting. In those days we had a very small embassy. Now the embassy is a much larger operation including a visa office and three Irish state agencies. In addition, we didn’t establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union until 1973, so I came at an early stage, when we were still in the process of building political, economic and cultural links. Those linkages have developed quite rapidly since then. The Irish community is much larger than during the Soviet era. The Irish community, then, was limited predominantly to a small number of students who were attending Russian language courses after which
Diplomatic some people who have been here for a lengthy period tell me that it is important to stay the course. Some of our citizens are well established in Russia. Russia is now home for them. That is quite a different profile from those who were here previously. We encourage people to register at the embassy, but not everyone does, so the figures we have are only approximate. Ireland has always been a popular place for Russians to go to, because of its rich culture. Is travel to Ireland by Russians still going on, or has that also suffered because of the economic and political situation? they returned home. There was no real resident Irish community. It was only after I left, during the perestroika period that the community began to grow, and more and more people came. I think the community peaked in the 1990s when there were about 3,000 Irish here. Irish citizens were involved in many different areas of life, business operations, teaching, self-employed etc. Some got married and settled down here; that is much different to my first term here. Numbers have now fallen, they are probably about 350 Irish in Moscow. It is a small community, but very active. To give you an idea of the changes that I am talking about our St. Patrick’s Day events were generally held in a single reception room in the embassy, where we would have a small group of people attending (less than a dozen in 1981). In contrast, this year, I hosted a reception on the 17th of March, and over 500 people were present. We are very lucky to have St. Patrick’s Day as a national holiday, as we have a whole ‘Irish Week’ of celebrations around it. Now we have a parade, a week of Irish events; a music festival, a film festival and cultural events, and also events in St. Petersburg. One of the other events held during that week is the charity Emerald Ball which is organized by the Irish Business Club, headed by Avril Conroy, a long standing resident of Moscow. This year over 375 people attended and raised 8 million roubles for charity. We are very grateful to the Moscow city government for their assistance in organising these events and we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the City’s support. One of the first events which I attended following my arrival here here, was the Moscow Feis – which is the Irish term for an Irish dancing competition. 700 contestants from all over Russia participated and adjudicators travelled from Ireland to judge the competition. Irish dancing is very popular here. So also is traditional music and we host music events here in the embassy throughout the year.
It still goes on, and it’s one of the things we try to push as much as we can. We hold a number of tourism events, promoting both educational tourism and more general tourism. In 2014, before the crisis began, our visa office here were handling about 17,500 visas a year. In fact this was our largest visa office in the world. That has of course been impacted by the depreciation of the rouble. The most recent figures show about a 15% drop in figures. Another issue which impacts is the absence of all year round direct flights between Russia and Ireland; S7 has direct flights to Dublin over the summer months. Nevertheless, Ireland is an attractive location for Russian holiday makers and offers a quite unique experience for visitors which appeals to Russians. I find it interesting that the knowledge about Irish culture here is huge, I was aware of this to some extent in the Soviet era, that people knew about Yeats and Joyce, but the knowledge base seems to have expanded tremendously. There are Russian academics who have spent most of their lives looking at Joyce for example. We try to a lot of work with the various libraries and universities here as well, to foster greater understanding of our two cultures.
Do you think that the number of Irish expats has bottomed out? The general impression I get is that the current situation is quite challenging, economically and professionally but
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Brexit - Opinion
TOTO Simon Green
BE OR NOT
T
hat was the question put to the British public on June 23 this year, and on the eve of the election day, the Remainers were some 8 points ahead of the Brexit camp, making the result a foregone conclusion that we would be staying in Europe. However, this didn’t take into account the 20% who hadn’t declared their hand, so the Brexiters still had some hope to cling on to. In all my life I have never witnessed such emotions being whipped up about an election or referendum in the UK. Governments have come and gone in my lifetime, and if the wrong result came in, you merely shrugged your shoulders, cursed a bit in the local pub, then stole yourself for 5 more years of whichever government had won. Here in Moscow it was harder to find Remain supporters than Brexit supporters, and the ones that were here were rather aggressive in their approach. I myself was ambushed in a well known expat bar by one such supporter and subjected to one way rhetoric, complete with fist thumping on table till another friend sat down and brought a merciful end to my
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BE?
torment! Another teacher friend stated on Facebook: ‘democracy sucks’ after the result came in, which accentuated just how divided the nation had become. On the morning of June 24, the headlines screamed at us the shockingly axiomatic news that Brexit had won by just over a million votes with a 52%-48% majority. If ever there was a result to put a cat among the pigeons, this was it: the tabloids had a field day with even the broadsheets joining in the fray. First casualty was our Prime Minister, David Cameron, who had no choice but to fall on his sword; the Remain camp demanded a recount and held demonstrations as well as being ultra aggressive to any known Brexit supporters in their area. The fact is no one had truly anticipated this result and there was no plan in place to accommodate this extremely unlikely event taking place. As if the press hadn’t had enough material to feast on, there followed an ugly battle for the PM’s successor, which even by Westminster’s notoriously tawdry standards, had the participants fighting like rats in a sack. One such participant, Michael Gove,
had stabbed Boris Johnson in the back in an act of such treachery, plunging such depths, that even Shakespeare would have had difficulty in conjuring up such a fiendish plot. I was at once reminded of that oft-quoted line of Sir Walter Scott’s play, ‘Marmion’ - ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.’ Theresa May managed to keep her head above the murky waters of unadulterated vitriol flying around, and emerged to become the new Prime Minister, and then proceeded to provide even more cannon fodder to the tabloids with her inaugural Cabinet shaping up. One by one people traipsed into number 10 Downing street, and there was the memorable picture of Boris Johnson, assuming the worst, walking nonchalantly to the front door with his hands in his pocket, only to emerge a few minutes later as the new Foreign Secretary, waving happily to the waiting crowds. Next we saw Michael Gove walking confidently to the door, expecting the world, despite his appalling treachery, which was ably assisted by his conniving and Machiavellian wife, but was summarily
Brexit - Opinion fired along with George Osborne, and was forced to leave by the back door with his tail between his legs in a delicious twist of fate – oh what a fall from grace! The pound plummeted, the EU had emergency meetings and slowly all involved were able to get their breath back after this merry-go-round and palaver had subsided. It’s true to say that no one quite realized on the Brexit side that when they were voting to leave, they were in fact voting for a new Prime Minister. I met up with two people on each side to discuss the fall-out and impact it would have on business in Europe as well as gauge their own personal opinions. Meet Svetlana Malkarova, Remain supporter, PR guru extraordinaire and CEO of Media Consulting PR agency. Her agency promotes Russian culture and tourism abroad, has been established 6 years, and works alongside Worldcom PR Group who are based in LA and boast many of the top 100 most eclectic PR companies in the world today in their stable. Svetlana herself has 18 years in the PR industry, and Media Consulting adopt the Worldcom adage of of trust, friendship and professionalism while propagating globalization as their predominantly driving force in their bid to unite all people from different cultures. Svetlana’s company works with some government organizations (indeed she can often be found at the geopolitical forums in St. Petersburg), FMCG companies, financial institutions and pharmaceutical companies to name but a few industries. So what about Brexit I ask her? She admits to being a strong Remain supporter and is sad to see Britain go it alone, believing a collective and united EU is a much stronger operation. She went on to say I firmly believe in unification to assist globalization, but individuality helps preserve a country’s identification. This prompted an ironic smile from my side as this is exactly what Britain wanted to do, in my opinion, in their Brexit vote; she then mentions that no one country should dominate (more smiles from me as I instantly think of Germany!), but instead be in a position to cooperate.
She does however concede that in the current EU migrant crisis, no one had predicted such a stampede, better checks should have been made, and rules should have been in place allowing the migrants to acclimatize and become better employees for the future. The main problem, she feels, is that the EU has been reactive in lieu of proactive – a point she says is amply demonstrated when her clients ask her what her proactive plan is in the event of any forthcoming crisis. In synopsis, she suggests a three-point plan: firstly people should cooperate and learn to work together; secondly, with the economic process in this integrated world, we should be able to depend on each other in this one market; and finally: problems in the EU raised their ugly head because leaders who were meant to be making responsible decisions, didn’t have an assimilated process in place for them. Next up I met Luc Jones, Commercial Director of Antal International, a highly successful recruitment company that needs no introduction among the business fraternity here in Moscow. Luc is a larger than life, ebullient person who is not backward in coming forward, and was more than happy to dispel a few pearls of wisdom as to why we should leave the EU. He said: “whilst I can see the plusses and minuses of both Remain and Brexit, (seemingly unlike the majority of the UK population) the recent referendum certainly brought out the best and worst in a lot of people on both sides. Remaining in the EU may well sound like the safe option, but in the long run is a road to nowhere fast. Europe has the lowest growth of any continent except Antarctica and as things stand has no chance of improving. Most of the southern European countries are either bankrupt or close to being so, and are simply being kept afloat by ‘richer’ economies, namely Germany and to some extent France.” He went on to say: “the current EU structure is rotten to the core and in dire need of reform, yet the Brussels elite, who live in a bubble and ride the gravy train, are in complete denial. They love everything about the EU
and why wouldn’t they when the mug taxpayer is funding the very lifestyle they subscribe to, so why would they want to change anything? The idea that we are ‘better in’ as we can influence things is completely naive. We’ve never been able to instigate any change when we were in, as the EU couldn’t care less what Britain thinks – all they want is our money!” The fact that there is no apparent strategy after Brexit is piss-poor. Granted even Farage and Johnson themselves never thought it would happen (nor did the bookies and most of the nation for that matter), but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have had some sort of contingency plan in place. I’m confident that the UK economy will not only recover but will gain in strength, although this won’t happen overnight; global markets don’t like shocks. The Brexit vote was as much about the situation in the UK as it was about Europe. Large swathes of the population feel utterly alienated by mainstream politics, hence the rise of UKIP. Most major politicians (both past and present) urged the population to remain, so this was in effect two fingers up at them, saying “f**k you, don’t tell us what to think or do!” Outside of the Westminster bubble, immigration IS an issue for many people in the UK, yet unless you are permanently ‘celebrating diversity,’ and all the benefits that come with it, then you are automatically labled a racist, bigot or ‘Little Englander’, in my opinion. The perception is that immigration is completely out of control and the UK is a free-for-all. MP’s haven’t had their wages driven down by millions of (admittedly hard-working) immigrants who are prepared to toil for less, as it’s a whole lot more than they could ever hope to earn back home. And that’s even before the pressure on schools and the NHS by so many new arrivals having landed on our doorstep so quickly. The bitterness from the Remainers is at first glance laughable, but in fact extremely condescending -- ‘oh the working classes didn’t understand what they
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Brexit - Opinion were voting against, so the result shouldn’t count;’ although such thoughts sum up the loony left. Democracy is great until it delivers the ‘wrong’ result, in which case we should have a re-run until it’s the right one- you lost, so move on! I can’t help feeling it should never have come to this, and in a way I wish it hadn’t. Had the EU done what it was set up to do, i.e., be a free trading body rather than building a political European superstate, we probably wouldn’t be where we are today. For me, one of the biggest ironies is that the lefty liberals who were baying for British MP’s blood during the recent expenses scandal in the UK, and who believe that MP’s are overpaid, see no problem whatsoever with 10,000+ unelected bureaucrats in Brussels earning more than the British PM. As the old saying goes: ‘if socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists!’ I reckon Brexit is only going to have a negligible effect on British-Russo relations, if at all; in fact a weaker sterling should make life easier for UK exporters to Russia. I next met Amalia Saftoiu, a legal consultant for Laurence Simons, and a Romanian Remain supporter who has travelled extensively for work in such places as: the USA, Dubai, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Norway and now Russia. She originally studied in Bucharest and has two masters degrees from Oslo and Paris universities; in fact she met her husband when in Norway (he’s Norwegian) and they now have two children – a five year old girl who already speaks Romanian, Norwegian, English, Russian and French ( a true polyglot in the making!), and the younger son is progressing well in the same languages. Amalia says: we like to think of our family as truly international one, which has a global view on the world around us. Romania has been part of the EU since 2007, but the UK maintained visa restrictions for us for a further 7 years until 2014. Where possible I avoided the UK as I couldn’t be bothered with the visa arrangements or to contribute
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financially or otherwise to a country who went to some extent to make Romanians to feel unwelcome. Many of my fellow white collar workers felt similarly to me and went to other countries in the EU to ply their trade, and this may go a long way to explaining why today the UK attracts the less desirable element of Romanian society. Amalia goes on to say: some of the things I didn’t like about the Brexit situation are as follows:1) The Leavers’ arguments had no factual backing, were sensationalist, with catchy phrases as well as playing on people’s fear of terrorists and ‘immigrants stealing our jobs’ etc. 2) Farage and Johnson stated it’s 2016 and our children deserve to see a better politician and Britain. 3) It brought a big division to the whole country. 4) It validated a hateful message, a dangerous doctrine and instigated racism which never ends well. 5) It was an expensive way for the UK to show Europe they were serious about making real changes. 6) Puts Britain in a situation where they have one of the least desired currencies, and they now face years of business uncertainty while negotiations with the EU take place. Another staunch Brexit supporter is Robert Knights, a Moscow veteran with 23 years in, a Russian wife and child, and someone who holds dear the values of living in England during yesteryear – the good old days, he enthuses, with a twinkle in his eye. He reiterates the 1970’s which I can easily identify with as we both grew up in a similar era with the IRA dropping bombs on us ‘willy nilly’ as well as the infamous 3 day working weeks and endless power cuts. Robert is the Country Manager for a Polish recruitment company called ‘Work Service’, having started life many moons ago in the car industry around Coventry, where joining a trade union was ‘de rigeur’ if you were offered gainful employment. Asking him about Brexit he feels that in or out of the EU we’ll still share intelligence with Interpol as well as trading with the EU
countries as reciprocal business is still needed by both parties. He maintains it’s difficult nowadays to find a piece of real England that we all know and love. So what about Schengen? He thinks it should be completely restructured and that no decent, law-abiding citizen would ever have a problem with passport I/D. He would like to see trade discussions with Russia kickstarted again, this time without Brussels saying ‘yea’ or ‘nay.’ In summary Robert feels that Brexit offers:1) Ability to sign agreements without Brussels intervening. 2) Tough border controls will enable the UK to reduce immigration to a sustainable level. 3) The bureaucratic and Neanderthal self-serving EU members are completely dictatorial in their self-aggrandizing ‘omni-culture’ attitutude. The Remainers pilloried the Brexit supporters in a relentless and aggressive manner, he says – all we said was ‘no thank you!’ So there you have it from various people with a couple of common denominators highly prevalent. Firstly the EU should be completely restructured and then the likes of the EU President, Jean Claude ‘Drunker’ Juncker should be put out to pasture. At 77 years old he’s had more than enough sauce from the EU gravy train (literally and metaphorically), and represents everything negative about the EU. Secondly, Angela ‘Mutti’ Merkel’s open door immigration policy has been nothing short of disastrous, and only her previous popularity has kept her position thus far intact. Hiltaire Belloc, an early 20th century satirist and sometime President of the Oxford student union, stated and was recently quoted in relation to Angel Merkel’s position in power: ‘Always keep a hold of nurse, for fear of finding something worse’ – paradoxically ‘the nurse’ who has been responsible for so much of Europe’s immigration problems of late, may soon find herself in dire need of some of that prescribed medicine if she’s to survive!
Brexit - Opinion
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uring the U.K.’s referendum on whether to leave the European Union, I found myself becoming an increasingly committed member of the “Bremain” camp, a group also now affectionately referred to as the “Remoaners”. I understand that the EU is an inherently flawed institution. I agree that the U.K. might not ultimately need the EU in order to prosper. I comprehend (although I don’t necessarily agree with) voter concern about migration
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and a loss of sovereignty. And I certainly don’t think that David Cameron’s newly proposed deal with the EU was a viable solution to any of these problems. It wasn’t, and in fact it really just ended up irritating both sides of the campaign. So why then oppose Brexit? The overriding reason for my opposition was that there wasn’t, and still isn’t, any clear concept of what Brexit was supposed to mean. The Great British public was never even presented with a basic road map of how the exit process
would be managed. Admittedly, this was because the government was pushing for a “remain” vote. However, it is also fair to say that the Brexit campaigners themselves did very little to set out a cohesive plan as to how their dream objective would be achieved in practice. Consequently, we are now left in the position where a majority of voters has voted for something, but where nobody seems to be quite sure what that something actually is, or how the process of disentanglement will pan out.
Brexit - Opinion There are various options available to the U.K. when the time comes to exercise its right to leave the EU under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The first option has to be out and out Brexit, and, to my knowledge, is what most of the voters voting “leave” actually wanted. This would entail the U.K. completely disengaging from the EU political process and repealing those laws that are deemed distasteful to a true British palate. Freedom of movement and labour within the U.K. would be completely off the agenda for EU countries. Her Majesty’s government would then negotiate a separate bilateral free trade deal with the bloc. Most sane commentators, including those of a Brexit persuasion, will realise that this is completely unworkable in the real world. Firstly, any free trade deal the U.K. agrees with the EU, will need the approval of all 27 remaining members. Each of these other nations will come to the table with their own separate conditions. For instance, most countries have already indicated that they will make ongoing British access to the single market conditional upon freedom of movement for their citizens in the U.K. France and Denmark also want to assure rights for their fishermen in U.K. waters, whilst Spain has said that it will try to strike a deal for joint sovereignty of Gibraltar, and Malta is keen to maintain access rights for its students to British Universities. This is merely the start of it. Keeping everybody happy, will be by no means easy. This leads to what are known as the soft Brexit alternatives: for example, negotiation of an EU deal similar to that which Norway has. This solution allows market access and many of the benefits of the EU, whilst not requiring the UK to be a member. Instead, it would be a member of the European Economic Area. This solution, along with the Swiss model (Switzerland is not a member of the EEA, but has its own separately negotiated deal), is a far cry from the true Brexit, which the majority of the voting public
were asking for. Both models still require payments to be made to the EU in return for access to the single market. Both systems would leave the U.K. unrepresented in the EU itself, but would still require the UK to follow EU regulation. Crucially, both options would guarantee free movement of people, services, capital and goods. That Boris Johnson seems to favour this soft Brexit cop-out, seems highly hypocritical and indicative of the fact that the Brexiteers knowingly offered more than they could ever have hoped to deliver. Lack of procedural clarity was not my only concern with Brexit. There was compelling and (now it would appear) accurate advice about a resultant short to medium term economic fall-out. At the time of writing, the pound buys a meagre US$ 1.30 and EUR 1.15. This represents a significant devaluation since sterling’s strongest moments during the night of the referendum, before the “leave” result began to become clear. In fact, at its peak, in the early hours of 24 June, the pound/dollar rate was above 1.48, and the sterling/Euro rate above 1.30. This roughly represents a 13 per cent. devaluation of the pound, taking a starting valuation that had already been devalued significantly by the uncertainty surrounding the referendum debate itself. Let’s also not forget that the pound was already running way off its long term high as a result of the huge damage caused by the financial crisis of 2008. The Brexiteers argue that this will aid the U.K.’s export efforts and is a blip that will be rectified. But hardly any analysts are forecasting a recovery in the pound’s prospects any time soon, and the British government has an extremely poor record in improving export figures to anything like where they really need to be. There are other economic headwinds. At the time of writing, inflation has started to spike. This is exacerbated by the weakness in sterling, which makes imports in everything from oil to tobacco,
more expensive. Reliable industry purchasing surveys are already pointing to contraction, from previously positive territory. Further, foreign banks in the City of London are already preparing contingency plans to move their European headquarters if they cannot secure EU passporting rights via the UK. None of this is the scaremongering or hyperbole of so-called “Project Fear”. It is real and documented. Perhaps the greatest irony of Brexit is that, rather than reducing bureaucracy, at least for a few years (and maybe more), it very much looks like there will be a significant increase. We even have a new government department (the Department for Exiting the EU) to manage this process for us. Then there are the constitutional claims, which are to be heard by the Supreme Court. My view is that these are doomed to failure. They are, however, along with the huge amounts of ministerial and governmental time which need to be allocated to Brexit, a completely unnecessary burden. In summary then, a significant amount of economic damage has already been done. Further, in all likelihood, any Brexit solution will not be a true Brexit solution at all, but instead a soft-option that will try to appease both the leave and the remain camps, but will end up disappointing both of them, resulting in some form of quasi-EU membership, but with no ability for the UK to shape EU regulation. This unfortunate ensemble, leaves me wondering why Brexit is at all appealing. To me it looks more like an economic, political and constitutional mess for the U.K. And what is worse, it is completely self-inflicted at a time when things were going along quite nicely. Notwithstanding all of the above, this is time for the U.K. government to get moving to try to achieve the best possible Brexit outcome, and it is no time to try to reset the referendum result. (Sources: Bloomberg; The Telegraph; The Economist)
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Brexit - Opinion
UK, EU:
What the Brexit does it mean?
By Ross Hunter, with additional reporting by William Shakespeare 1. THE PRESENT On 23 June, the UK voted, in a rare Referendum, to leave the EU. Few expected this result; nobody planned for its consequences. Since then, we have changed Prime Minister, seen most of the Cabinet/ Politburo sacked, watched the Labour party implode, and about our future, learned … nothing. In short, An unholy mess. How did it get to this? The roots of the crisis go back 70 years, or a thousand. 2. DISTANT HISTORY Britain has always had an equivocal relationship with Continental Europe. Foreign policy was based on isolation, thanks to the sea, backed by a strong navy, and a desire to get involved only with the negative goal of stopping any Continental power becoming too powerful. Since the 100 Years War ended (Calais 1588), England/UK has fought (away games!) with any ally against any ascendant power, including C.17th Spain, Napoleonic France, expansionist Prussia/Germany. Divide and rule. Diplomacy is the continuation of war by other means. The British national anthem (A&M Hymn 293), has an unsung but revealing second verse: “O Lord our God Arise / Scatter our enemies, / and make them fall. / Confound their politics, / Frustrate their knavish tricks…”
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Seen from Moscow, the current British-EU crisis may seem strange, illogical. Much of it is, but with a longer perspective, it is possible to glean meaning in the chaos. Across the Channel, the partition of the Holy Roman Empire in the late C.9th created an enduring problem. Simplifying ever so slightly, the western Empire was divided to create what became France and Germany with the third son, Lothar, getting the narrow strip between. The ‘Lotharingian axis’ - The Low Countries, The Rhine, Alsace, Switzerland, northern Italy - has been squeezed between the better defined nations on either side. Further, C.19th industrialisation revealed that the vital coal and iron ore deposits underlie this same strip. Control over them was essential for expanding empires, as the war graves from 1870 to 1918 to 1945 along the Rhine Valley bear witness. 3. THE RECENT PAST After four catastrophic wars in 130 years, the visionaries looking over the ruins in 1945 were determined to end this waste. Euratom, ECSC and ‘BeNeLux’ led to the Treaty of Rome in 1957: France and Germany tied together to make war impossible, with their neighbours eagerly joining in. No war since: a success so total we have come to take it for granted. Further, the post-war economic miracle created prosperous and closely linked set of open democracies. A day’s drive from Calais to Italy meant seven border controls; six currencies.
Along Lotharingia, open borders and a single currency make simple sense. At the EU’s founding, Perfidious Albion was not trusted, and the feeling was mutual. Staying aloof, the UK tried to set up a low-level rival, EFTA. By joining late (1973) and by being only ever a half-hearted member, UK missed the chance to mould the club in its own image. British politics are a similarly equivocal mess. The Labour Party (social democrat to Marxist) has never reconciled its dialectical contradictions: to fight a capitalist club; to unite with fellow socialist international workers; to enjoy free trade to boost industry; to spread The Word … and have tied themselves in knots. The Conservatives (centre right and further) have always been riven by the idea of Europe: split between Anglo-Saxon ‘Atlanticists’, clinging to the mythical USA ‘special relationship’; traditional Empire nostalgists, whose old school atlases still glow with swathes of reassuring pink (and cricket); and modernisers, who have noticed that the British Isles* are (3000 – 22) miles closer to Europe, in distance, trade, culture and political mores, with shared assumptions of society, the state’s responsibilities, football and even Eurovision. This split is irreconcilable, and has cost the careers of most Conservative leaders.
Brexit - Opinion *Note from a Geography teacher: the islands offshore Europe, including Ireland, are ‘The British Isles.’ The largest of these, logically, is ‘Great Britain’: the largest patch of land. There is no other meaning, no imperial memory, no pretention to superiority… except in the minds of all those who hide behind the fig-flag of national pride. Apart from during an hour on Sunday mornings, the Conservatives’ idea of a God-figure is of course Winston Churchill. Can he help position his party? Like his biographers, Churchill wrote profusely and contradicted himself frequently. Whatever you seek you can find: ‘If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea;’ but also ‘We must build a kind of United States of Europe.’ If the world’s oldest and most successful political party rips itself to pieces, it will be over its triple schizophrenia: America – Empire – Europe. The Russian eagle has only two heads, facing Europe and Siberia. This is the essential, existential, problem that made then PM Cameron make his greatest political miscalculation: to try and shut up his Eurosceptic, Euro-septic, right wing, he made an election promise of a referendum. Direct democracy? Power to the People? Not a bit of it. A naked calculation that he could win, and unify his party: overconfidence and complacency his downfall. 4. NEXT: ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow?’ The EU didn’t take the threat seriously, and offered insultingly minimal concessions. Behind their braggadocio, the EU is angry but fearful of the disease spreading.
Campaigning revealed a nasty, selfish, xenophobic, racist streak in some voters. The white, urban working class, suffering from globalisation and sinking incomes, blamed the EU for it and tipped the vote to Out. Few politicians emerged with much credit (Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon a notable exception), looking a combination of lazy, out of touch, dishonest, complacent or rabid. Having staked everything on Remain, The PM resigned. Henry IV: ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’ The Labour party are in open civil war, and could split. This may benefit UKIP, or the Liberal Democrats, but guarantees a decade of oblivion for Labour. The Conservatives’ epic backstabbing led to resignations of Leave campaigners and the abrasive UKIP leader Nigel Farage. The Conservatives acted swiftly to choose a new leader, and thus PM: Home Secretary (Minister of the Interior) Theresa May. Her first act was to exile or sack all the plotters. Mrs May as Lady Macbeth ‘Stand not upon the order of your going, but go!,’ or seeing blood on her eyecatching shoes ‘Out! Out, damn spot.’ At the time of writing, UK has a new and untested government. The poisoned chalice of exit negotiations has been dumped on the leading Brexiteers: Mr Boris Hamlet Johnson ‘To Be In or Not to Be In’, and Mr Davis and Dr Fox, sharing the role and mindset of Malvoleo: ‘Be not afraid of Greatness…’ Skulking unheeded in the wings are Mr Farage ‘Something is rotten in the state of … everywhere except my pub’, Mr Brutus ‘Et Tu’ Gove, stab and be stabbed. All’s Well that End’s Well? Not in our Midsummer Night’s Dreams.
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MGFC
Kim Waddoup
Café Restaurant Michel The ratings from our MGFC members were:
Food Suitability: Quality/Suitability of the drinks: The service standards: The general rating of the meal:
J
une saw the dauntless members of the Moscow Good Food Club making their way to one of Moscow’s truly independent restaurants, Café Restaurant Michel located on Krasnaya Presnaya. With is authentic French décor beckoning, the Moscow Good Food Club made their way to the specially reserved tables on the first floor. Café Michel is truly based on a Parisian style and often missed in Moscow is the exterior decoration. Next time you are stuck in traffic on Krasnaya Presnaya, just look at the detail of the external decoration. We were welcomed with a light and refreshing Tribaut Brut
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8.5 8.5 6.5 7.5
Rose Champagne that perfectly accompanied the canapés of Salmon Profiteroles, Goat Cheese Profiteroles and a Macaroon with foie gras and mushrooms. Once comfortably seated the impeccable staff introduced our first course of Scallops in fennel sauce, which was excellently paired with a M de Minuty Chateau Minuty from Provence. As is tradition of the Moscow Good Food Club, even by the end of the first course the conversation flowed with new friendships being forged and old acquaintances being strengthened – maybe the excellent wine helps! The next dish was a highly creative fresh tomato gazpacho
served with an intriguing mustard ice cream. There was slight confusion with the wine pairing but still an interesting combination. An interesting difference with the menu this evening was a first and a second main course. The first main course was a Surmullet Bohemian style and it was explained that Café Michel was serving a French style summer menu with an emphasis on fish. The Surmullet was succulent and excellent and admirably paired with a Pouilly Fume AOC Mademoiselle de T. This was followed by our Second Main course, Zander with tomato fondu with sweet potato puree accompanied by a Chablis
MGFC
AOC from Laroche. Whilst the Pouilly Fume had been excellently paired with the Surmullet, the Chalis somehow did not work so well. However it could be noticed that all plates were cleaned and glasses emptied! The Chef had excelled with his creativity and creativity but he had saved the best for last! A ‘Deconstructed Summer Dessert’ sounds somewhat obtuse or obscure, however as the name implies, the entire dessert is deconstructed into virtually its component forms and then displayed on the plate. The effect was wonderful and the taste amazing, receiving rapturous
reviews from our members. This was accompanied by a Sancerre Compte Lafont Grand Cuvee which could have been sweeter! As is customary, a spokesperson from each table was called on to provide the critique gathered from each table. These Critiques are always a form of positive criticism with most restaurants really appreciating the feed-back. This evening was no exception with a general positive mood signalling an excellent meal. As is customary and to provoke spirited conversation during the meal, our members were asked to comment on a question. ‘The centre of Moscow is one big
building site at the moment. Urban re-construction is changing the face of the city. Please name areas or streets that have been improved.’ Our members mentioned many favourites including Gorky Park and Sokolniky but others included Krimskiy Val, Nikolskaya, Pyatnitskaya, Ordinka, Museon and Pokrovka. All mentioned that they were eagerly awaiting the completion of Tvserkaya. And so ended another great episode of the Moscow Good Food Club. Our grateful thanks to the management and staff of Café Michel for an excellent evening!
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LIfestyle
Holding on to that holiday feeling! A few of my favourite ways in Moscow
J
udging by the traffic this summer, one might be forgiven for thinking that Muscovites didn’t venture far for their holidays. Social media posts however, suggest otherwise and I’ve been enjoying feedback from Santorini to St. Tropez, Mykonos to Montenegro and Puglia to Phuket. It could be the road works are misleading: on some days walking in the city has been akin to an assault course and when pedestrians aren’t tiptoeing through dusty rubble, they’re ducking jets sprayed with some force from convoys of vehicles apparently cooling the tarmac and preventing it from cracking. I wonder why I haven’t seen a similar solution in other hot climates? Drivers will have faced even greater challenges as pavements widen, leaving narrower roads, and authorities try to keep up with the demand for parking spaces, which at the rising cost will be keeping many cars away. Early signs are that Moscow will be more aesthetically pleasing for the changes so once the veils of tarpaulin are lifted and metal barriers removed, there should be every reason to celebrate coming home to a new look capital, which allows inhabitants to ease more gently into school / work. When I travel I like to bring back food, wine and aromas in order to prolong the vacation sensation, and keep me energised, motivated and calm. There’s a limit to how long one can ration perishables but candles and room sprays linger, keeping memories of salty sea air, orange blossom and vanilla ice cream alive. And then there are things to do, places to go, experiences to be had in Moscow, which by association take
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us on an imaginary journey. Here are a few of my tips for fantasy travel: If yours was a tropical break, look no further than Lanna Kamilina for spa treatments to whisk you away to sandy shores. Lanna’s own sunny disposition penetrates through her team and radiates for her guests. The salon interior c/o her designer-decorator husband Victor, enhances the dreamy mood. I’d have myself smothered all over in oils and creams by St Barth and later in the season, I might top up my tan with an application of Soleil Noir. We’re spoilt for choice for variety of food in Moscow restaurants and even more so since sanctions have kept chefs on their creative toes. Two of my trusty favourites for a taste of the French & Italian Riviera come from legendary personalities in the community whose eponymous eateries reflect the best of the their country’s home cooking. Keep an eye out for mussels on the seasonal menu at Le Bistrot Le Provos, ideally washed down with something pink and Provençale. Battered sardines and cheeky olives are the perfect accompaniment to an aperitivo at Bontempi, where with the river view adds to la dolce vita.
I have a special affinity with Greece and Thessaloniki in particular where urban and maritime lives combine to create the best of both worlds. So you’ll imagine my delight on discovering that Alfa Estate wines have been launched with a local supplier in Russia. From now on my luggage will be considerably lighter minus hefty supplies of Malagouzia. Welcome home! By Anna Jackson-Stevens PR specialist
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www. angel-taxi.com +7 (495) 956 0 800 +7 (926) 435 8294 +79-ANGEL-TAXI
Elan Languages Quality professional translations
Tel: +7 (495) 627 57 34 info@elanlanguages.ru www.elanlanguages.ru
Residential Development Projects Investment Opportunities in the Tula Region
Please contact David Morley Tel: +7 925 367 9241
Contact Anastasia on +7 916 697 2289 to advertise here!
Moscow’s Bars, Clubs, Cafés and Restaurants OSTERIA DELLA PIAZZA BIANCA
SCANDINAVIA 7 Maliy Palanshevskiy Per. M. Pushkinskaya Cuisine: European, Skandinavian, $$
Moscow Good Food
Club
“Comfortable, calm restaurant with high quality cuisine offering many Scandinavian specialities”
REAL FOOD RESTAURANT Crowne Plaza Hotel/WTC Krasnopresenskaya Nab 12.
Moscow Good Food
Club
Full a la Carte menu incorporating healthy dishes made from organic ingredients. Open kitchen and excellent food & wine
Moscow Good Food
Club
True Italian cuisine from Executive Chef Giuseppe Todisco
Good Food
Club
Typical Italian traditions for food and hospitality. Food care is the most important aspect, with freshness and simplicity as the main characteristics. Feel and breath Italian culture and true Italian cuisine.
17 Tverskaya St M. Pushkinskaya Cuisine: Scandinavian, Moscow Good Food European, $$$ Club +7 495 629 4165 www.nightflight.ru
“Superb food at sensible prices prepared by excellent chefs with friendly, efficient service”
Moscow Good Food
Club
Moscow’s most popular steakhouse & bar. Top steaks, efficient service and large wine list
KATIE O SHEA’S STEAKHOUSE & BAR Groholsky Per 25, Bldg 5 M. Prospekt Mira Cuisine: Irish, $$ Genuine Irish pub with great beer, food and atmosphere
Krizhizanovskovo 20/30 M. Profsoyuznaya Cuisine: Indian, $ www.aromass.ru +7 499 125 6276
Moscow Good Food
Club
“The most authentic and best Indian food in Moscow. Delivery service also available”
TORRO GRILL Multiple M. Taganskaya Cuisine: European, $$$ Some of the best steaks in Moscow. Great service, great drinks and great prices
Moscow Good Food
Club
Comfortable and classy restaurant with creative dished from the Finnish chef.
Muzey, Kosmodimianskaya nab. 52/7 (next to Swisshotel)Moscow Good Food M. Paveletskaya Club Cuisine: Italian, European, Pan-Asian, $$ Extremely comfortable Italian restaurant serving high quality creative & traditional Italian cuisine, personally cooked by Chef Marco Lachetta
WINE RELIGION
AROMASS INDIAN RESTAURANT
STEAKHOUSE & BAR Strastnoy Blvd. 8a M. Tverskaya Cuisine: American, $$
22, Tverskaya M. Tverskaya Cuisine: European, Russian, $$$$
Tverskoy bulvar 26, bldg 2 M. Pushkinskaya. Cuisine Scandinavian, International $$$$
MUZEY RESTAURANT
NIGHT FLIGHT
“Casual but elegant restaurant offering an entertaining gastronomic experience”
CHICAGO PRIME:
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Moscow
CHEKHONTE
ITALIANETS 13, Samotechnaya Ul, m. Trubnaya, Cuisine Italian, English menu price $$$
Lesnaya street 5a M. Belarusskaya Cuisine: Italian $$$$
ORANGE TREE RESTAURANT
Michurinsky Pr.16 M. Universitet Cuisine: European Bistro $$$
Moscow Good Food
Club
New style of European bistro with creative food and a large wine selection.
CAFE RUSSE Ritz Carlton, Tverskaya St 3, M. Okhotny Ryad, Cuisine: Euopean $$$
Moscow Good Food
Club
Casual dining in an elegant atmosphere, top chefs and extensive wine list
STARLITE DINER 8a, Strasnow Bulevard M. Pushkinskaya Cuisine: American, $$ Moscow’s original diners still serving our favourite food
Community Services Business Clubs/ Organisations
The Association of European Business (AEB) CEO: Dr. Frank Schauff Web site: www.aebrus.ru
AEB is an active community of about 630 members, providing a network for sharing opinion and experience. The AEB is an advocate of its members’ opinions, generated in 40 industrial and crosssectorial committees, sub- committees and working groups.
The Danish Business Club has both corporate and private members, almost all of whom are based in or doing business in Moscow. About 80% of our subscribing members are Danish.
EXHIBITIONS IN RUSSIA
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ITA Italian Trade Agency Director: Mr Celeste Web site: www.italtrade.com/rossija
rseas e v O w Mosco operty Pr nt Show tme & Inves
ITA-Italian Trade Agency is the Italian government agency that supports the globalization of Italian companies. ITA has 65 offices all over the world. ITA has been operating in the Russian Federation since 1966, with a network of offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk.
11o-v1em2ber 2016 N
al nation r e t n I Moscowperty Show Pro
French-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFR) General Director: Pavel Chinsky Web site: http://www.ccifr.ru The Danish Business Club in Moscow Chairman: Kasper Ditlevsen Daytime job: Commercial Director – Uhrenholt Russia & CIS Web site:www.dbcmoscow.camp9.org
AUTUMN PROPERTY
The French-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is aimed at developing economic cooperation between Russia and France. We organise a large variety of different events for our members to meet each other, such as sector committees, business presentations, B2B meetings, cultural events.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to visit the leading property shows by aiGroup and meet directly the largest overseas developers and real estate agencies offering properties from all over the world! • • • •
Venue comfortably located in Moscow center Free online registration 100 companies + 50 destinations +
Professional exhibitions in Russia since 2003
www.aigroup.ru
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Community Services Business Clubs/Organisations
Polish Business Club President: Alexander Janeczek CCIR (Camera di Commercio Italo-Russa) Director: Marisa Florio Web site: www.ccir.it/ccir/
The Polish Business Club was created 15 years ago to develop contacts between Polish and Russian companies, and to provide business support; such as help in renting an apartment, how to get medical help and advice on where to go in your free time. The Club’s main mission is business development in Russia.
British Business Club President: Don Scott Web site: www.britishclub.ru
Russia continues to offer massive opportunities to British businesses, but it takes stamina to see them through. The BBC offers a small sanctuary of Britain to help in these times.
We organise and attend a lot of trade exhibitions each year and help all of our members establish themselves in Russia.
Canadian Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA) President: Lou Naumovski, National Chairman, Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association, Vice President and General Director Moscow Office, Kinross Gold Corporation Co-President: Nathan A. Hunt, Founder, Chairman, CERBA Moscow, Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association Web site: www.cerbanet.org Moscow Chapter Contacts: alex@cerbanet.org; radmila@cerbanet.org Phone: 7 (495) 7621240 Italian Business Club (ITAM) President: Giovanni Stornante
The Irish Business Club Chairperson: Avril Conway Web site: www.moscowirishclub.ru
The members of the Irish Business Club are a mix of both Russian and Irish professional people and private individuals. It takes some time to understand the Russian culture and to make friends. We try and help in these respects as much as we can.
We organise social and professional events for the Italian community. We bring Italians together, help their integration when they move to the big city, facilitate the exchange of ideas, experience and opportunities between the Italian and other business communities.
The Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association has a network of seven chapters located in Moscow, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary Vancouver and Almaty, and a membership base of over 200 corporations and individuals in a wide range of sectors. As an association, CERBA provides an extensive network of contacts with frequent networking events, informative seminars on pertinent topics in the Eurasian market for Canadian companies, an annual National Conference, a quarterly printed Newsletter, committees of the Canada-Russia Business Council (CRBC), access to annual trade missions, as well as market intelligence, advocacy on government policy, and active, Canada-focused sector committees.
www.cerbanet.org
Wirtschaftsclubrussland e.V: We are a business club for bilateral and multilateral business connections between the EU and Russia and Central Eastern Europe. Being part of the social entrepreneurship “Closing the distance” our network reaches from Europe to China. Our Mission: We connect people and cultures – building bridges
Wirtschaftsclub Russland CEO: Dr Karin von Bismark Web site: www.wirtschaftsclubrussland.org
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Dialog opens Markets Our Values Respect Responsibility Trust Open with us new chances and markets around 70 theme events every year. Meet us and become a member www.wirtschaftsclubrussland.org.
Community Services Women’s Clubs/Associations The Swedish Women’s Educational Association (SWEA)
International Women’s Club of Moscow (IWC)
SWEA is an international organisation, with 7,500 members in 34 countries all over the world. The fact that the 90-member strong Moscow chapter fits into a large international organisation, has many advantages. The main purpose of the SWEA in Moscow is to act as a network for members, to support Swedish culture and Swedish languages. The majority of SWEA’s 90 members in Russia are accompanying spouses, even though the trend is that more and more women come here by themselves for career reasons working for Swedish companies.
The American Women’s Organisation
The International Women’s Club of Moscow is a not-for-profit organisation which exists to promote friendship and cooperation between women and men of all nationalities. Explore our website to find out more about our events, how to join, and the charities we support.
Since 1993 the American Women’s Organization of Moscow, has provided support to expatriate women, and/or spouses, of all North American countries including the United States, Canada and Mexico. The aim of the organization is to provide social and cultural opportunities during your tenure here in Moscow. The members are very friendly, open and always willing to share their experiences. General meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month and commence at 11:00 a.m. Newcomers are always welcomed and encouraged to attend any of our meetings. If you would like additional information on the American Women’s Organization of Moscow, please contact us at awomoscow@gmail.com.
President: Victoria Šeligo, the wife of The Ambassador of Slovenia. Web Site: www.iwcmoscow.ru
The American Women’s Organisation President: Judy Peacock
The German’s Women’s Group This is a new German-speaking group which organises meetings for German and Austrian women. Meetings are held every second Wednesday. The group supports newcomers and those who have been here longer.
Founder: Monika Michaely Email: info@ deutschegruppemoskau.com
Since 1993 the American Women’s Organization of Moscow, has provided support to expatriate women, and/or spouses, of all North American countries including the United States, Canada and Mexico. The aim of the organization is to provide social and cultural opportunities during their stay here in Moscow. The members are very friendly, open and always willing to share their experiences. General meetings are usually held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 11:00 a.m. Newcomers are always welcomed and encouraged to attend any of our meetings. If you would like additional information on the American Women’s Organization of Moscow, please contact us at awomoscow@gmail.com
De Tulpen
Presidents: Olya Kalmykova and Desiree Dekker Web Site: www.nlclubmoskou.nl
President: Cecilia Oskarsson Web Site: www.moskva.swea.org
The Main goal of the Tulips is to provide a social platform for the Dutch speaking ladies in Moscow, do things of interest together and have fun! When you are abroad, one’s own culture becomes so much more important. If anybody wants to connect with us, please find us on the Dutch Cub web site. If people want to go and visit museums, they can do that one their own. But if they want to speak their mother tongue with other people here in Moscow, then here we are.
The British Women’s Club (BWC) BWC was set up in 2000. When British women arrive here they may need help and support from each other to understand basic things like where to shop for food, information about schools and to get to know other Brits. Mainly it is a help group, because it can be quite a shock settling here if you don’t speak Chairwoman: Russian. Women generally introduce Fariba Zoulfaghari themselves before they move to Web Site: Moscow. And we let the ladies know www.bwcmoscow.org.uk on what is going on in the city.
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Essential Information Getting to Moscow’s Airports
The Aeroexpress train departs from the left hand side of Paveltskaya station. Single journey tickets come as flimsy paper receipts with bar codes in them. Don’t lose your ticket as you need it to get out of the station at the airport. Return tickets come as plastic cards. Tickets cost from 320 roubles. The journey takes 40-50 minutes, and they run reliably and regularly, every half an hour from 06:00-24:00. On the way home, this is a convenient way to beat the taxi mobs, however there is only the taxi if you arrive during the night. Leaving your car in the longstay car park costs 600-700 roubles a day depending on the season, although information on the airport’s site is not clear on this score.
Vnukova Airport
http://www.vnukovo.ru/eng/ 8 (495) 937-55-55 Getting there:
M
oscow is served by three major airports: Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo. You can get a taxi (fares range between 1,200 and 2,300 roubles, and generally, the service is good. The operators speak English, but the drivers may not. A taxi back can also be booked, and this saves a lot of hassle and possible agro when dealing with the taxi drivers at arrivals. All 3 airports are now served by ‘Aeroexpress’ shuttle trains. The service is good but not 24 hours a day. The three airports are: Sheremetyevo Airport http://www.svo.aero/en/ +7 495 578 6565 + 8 800 100 6565 + 7 495 956 4666 for flight information Sheremetyevo has become much more accessible thanks to the opening of the Aeroexpress from Byelorusskaya Station. Aeroexpress costs 320 roubles and they leave every half an from 05:30-00:30. Long term parking costs 250 roubles a day according to the airport web site. If you are getting a taxi or driving your own car there during the day it is advisable to leave a minimum of two hours to get there from the centre.
Domodedovo Airport
http://www.domodedovo.ru +7 495 720 6666 for flight information Getting there:
1. By airport bus from Yugo Zapadnaya Metro. You need bus 611, 611с or 611ф, (611f) (express). You need to listen carefully to the pre-recorded stop announcements. Your stop is Airport Vnukovo. Busses run every 10 minutes or so the journey to the airport takes about 30 minutes. You can also get a ‘marshrutka’, (mini-van taxi service) route 45 which will take you to the airport faster. Fare is 100 roubles plus 10 roubles for each piece of extra luggage. 2. From Metro Oktyabrskaya (the Circle Line) (subway) Route 705m ‘marshrutka’ runs between Metro Oktyabrskaya (Circle Line) and the Vnukovo airport. They take 35-40 minutes, although Moscow traffic is Moscow traffic, so at peak time leave at least an hour. Fare is 130 roubles plus another RUB 10 for every extra item of baggage. 3. By Aeroexpress Train From Metro Kievskaya (Metro) (exit to Kievsky Train Station). Once out on the Train Station forecourt, go round the corner of the Station terminal building and a few yards down on your left-hand side you will see the entrance portico of the Vnukovo Aeroexpress Terminal. Tickets cost 320 roubles for standard fare, and can be bought on line, if you read Russian. The journey takes 40 minutes.
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Essential Information Emergency Phone Numbers Fire fighters 01 Police 02 Ambulance 03 Emergency Gas Service 04 Intercity phone calls 07 Information 09 Time (automatic clock) 100 Emergency rescue service 937-9911
Pharmacies (Apteki)
+7 495 937 6477
American Medical Centers
What to do if you lose your passport
International SOS (The Moscow Clinic, 24 hour service to its clients)
(24 hours service) +7 495 933 7700
European Medical Center (French, British and American experts) +7 (495) 933 66 55 International crisis Line Tel: +7 926 1133373 This is a free English-speaking telephone counseling service for expatriates in distress. Available 08:00-23:00 daily. In case you ever have to call the fire fighters, the police, or an ambulance, make sure that all family members can correctly pronounce your complete address in Russian. Post a piece of paper with your full address details and phone numbers in Russian and translation into your native language on the wall next to your phone. Also make sure that your children know how to reach you or another adult you trust in case they get lost or have an emergency. Note that in Russia there is difference between the police (militsiya) and the traffic police (GIBDD, formerly GAI). The police are not responsible
EXHIBITIONS IN RUSSIA
for regulating traffic or handling car accidents, and the traffic police do not handle criminal offences that are unrelated to traffic.
Finding a pharmacy in Moscow is definitely not a problem. In fact, quite a number of them are open 24/7. The prices vary from one pharmacy to another, but the difference is not very significant.
Medical help
AUTUMN INTERNATIONAL
Your first step should be to contact the nearest consular department for your country of origin. You will also have to go to a police station in order to obtain an official form confirming the loss or theft of your travel documents. We recommend, however, that you contact your embassy or consulate first, as they may be able to help non-Russian speakers with the necessary paperwork. In the case of a child’s lost passport, both parents must appear with the child. Once you have a new passport, take it, along with your plane ticket (if you do not have a return ticket, you will have to buy one before you are issued a new visa) and the police form to the company that issued your visa support documents. If you have a copy of your lost visa, you should also provide it. If the agency refuses to help you (although it is their legal obligation to do so), then your consulate should tell you what to do.
Important:
For ease of processing we recommend that the police report states that your documents were lost, not stolen.
14ct-o1b5er 2016 O MoscowShow ion t a c u d E & ember t p e S 30 ober 2016 1 Oct
Moscoww o Medsh
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to visit the leading international shows by aiGroup and meet directly with overseas clinics, medical tourism providers and educational agencies, language centers, universities and schools from all over the world! • Venue comfortably located in Moscow center • Free online registration • 60 companies + • 25 destinations +
Professional exhibitions in Russia since 2003
www.aigroup.ru
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Charity List of Charities Below is an incomplete list of Charities operating in Moscow which foreigners are known to be involved with. If you wish to list a charity in future issues, please write to: editor@moscowexpatlife.ru
Kidsave Contact: Alexander Mzhelsky, +7 985 970 9019, a.mzhelsky@kidsave.org Kidsave® is a non-profit organization working in Russia since 1999. Our programs create strong and lasting connections between children and adults, with the goal of giving orphans and young people graduating from institutions opportunities to develop the skills necessary for a successful future. ________________________
Downside Up Contact: Elena Lubovina, Tel. +7 499 367 1000, +7 499 165 5536, lubovina@downsideup.org About 2,500 children with Down syndrome are born in Russia annually. In 85% of such births, parents give their children up to maternity homes, often following doctors’ advice. The abandoned children are sent to state institutions with no chance of ever leaving them. But there is an alternative! The children can live in their families and join early
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intervention and education programmes. Children with Down syndrome, no matter how different, have a vast learning potential. Downside Up invites you to help make life better for people with Down syndrome ________________________
Kitezh Contact: Katya Gurkina, +7 916 975 1603, kitezhcentre@ yandex.ru, www.kitezh.org/ en/index.php Kitezh is a network of therapeutic communities that give children from orphanages loving foster families. The aim is to create a developing environment for the education and care of orphans and children in crisis. The first Kitezh village is in Kaluga Region, 300 km south west of Moscow, and the second village, Kitezh-Orion, is located 60 km in the same direction. ________________________
Musical Experimental Theatre ‘Open Art’ Contact: info@metopenart. com, www.metopenart.com
Open Art was created in September 2001 for people with learning disabilities. Open Art is based on a unique combination of different art forms and directions: • Music • Dramatic art • Choreography • Art Design • Poetry • Dramatic improvisation • Ethnic art The Musical Experimental Theatre Open Art is open for participants from Moscow and Moscow region. Open Art has developed methods which are being used in rehabilitation centres and institutions for people with learning disabilities. Open Art also organizes courses and seminars for specialists in Moscow. ________________________
and educational support for both physically and mentally disabled children in Russia. The larger goal is to support changes in society and legislation in order to create social and medical support programs, which would allow parents to raise their children at home rather than living in institutions. ________________________
Diema’s Dream
Vera Hospice Charity Fund
Contact: +7 495 942 4003, sa5557@yandex.ru, sergey@ddfund.ru Diema’s Dream was established in 1998 to provide financial, medical,
Contact: Maria Bakhtina bakhtina@hospicefund. ru, Ilya Kaukin kaukin@ hospicefund.ru Tel +7-965-372-57-72 website: www.hospicefund.ru
Moscow Animals Contact: info@ moscowanimals.org, www.moscowanimals.org Moscow Animals – devoted to the welfare of homeless animals. To adopt a dog or cat or if you would like to help local animal shelters by making a donation or volunteering your time, please visit the Moscow Animal Website or email. ________________________
Charity List of Charities Since 2006, Vera Hospice Charity Fund is the only nonprofit organization in Russia supporting palliative and hospice care for children, adults and elderly. ‘Vera’ fundraises to assist hospices in Moscow and other regions of the country. By 2015 the total number of hospices under the care of ‘Vera’ has reached 40. The foundation also provides direct aid to over 300 terminally ill children and their families and finances the work of in-home care units for them. Other programs include social and educational support programs for hospice employees, hospice care awareness, and volunteer fostering activities. ________________________
legislature and provide full financial and activity reports. ______________________
United Way Contact: + 7 (495) 780 9718, info@unitedway.ru
Contact: +7 (495) 500 40 42, www.nastavniki.org/ru
The Fund supports charities offering programs aimed to meet the social needs of the following sections of society: • children at risk • disabled (children and adults) • refugees and homeless • elderly people Our mission is to foster responsible philanthropy in Russia by supporting local charity programs aimed at solving the most critical problems. The Fund is a permanent source of financing for efficient charitable organizations. Charities receiving funding have to demonstrate financial transparency to the highest possible degree. In turn, we guarantee to the donors full adherence by the foundation to Russian
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Russia is a part of Big Brothers Big Sisters International, one of the most efficient mentoring programs for children. In Moscow BBBS helps children living in institutional care (orphanages) and disadvantaged children. A volunteer becomes a Big Brother or a Big Sister to a child, visits him or her once a week for at least one year. Studies show that children who have a mentor have higher self-esteem, are more stable emotionally, have better motivation to study and show more initiative. Currently there are 162 matches in Moscow. Please keep in mind that you need a good knowledge
MPC Social Services Web Site: www.mpcss.org MPC Social Services is one of the longest serving charitable organizations in Moscow. It is a registered Russian charitable organization and an established 501(c)3 non-profit in the United States that addresses poverty and hunger, and provides medical care and education for Moscow’s poor, including women, children, families, pensioners, economic migrants, and refugees. ________________________
Big Brothers Big Sisters
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Charity List of Charities
of Russian to become a Big Brother or Big Sister because the children don’t speak English very well. ________________________
Nastenka Contact: +7 (495) 980-5377, +7 (495) 585-41-01, www.nastenka.ru The charitable foundation helping children with cancer ‘Nastenka’ was founded in 2002. The main objective of the foundation isto increase the quality of diagnostics and treatment of children with oncological diseases, as well as to revive the tradition of charity in Russia. For 11 years, the foundation has helped thousands of sick children and purchased large number of expensive modern medical equipment for a hospital: two ventilators, an x-ray machine, a dialysis machine, blood separator and much more. ________________________
To Russia With Love
homes, are likely to harm children and leave them ill prepared for life in the outside world. Ideally, all of these institutions should be phased out as soon as possible by means of extended family support, fostering, the provision of small family units, and lastly, adoption. However due to the number of children in State care in Russia, our immediate goal is to secure for each child, a long term stable solution whilst working side by side with the local administration. To Russia With Love is privileged to be allowed act as a guardian to many children without parents, who live in these very institutions. We work to build children’s self confidence, assist them to reach their full potential to become strong adults, successful parents, thus breaking the cycle of abandonment and in turn go forward as role models in society. ________________________
Contact: www. torussiawithlove.ie
To Children With Love
The very best of institutions, orphanages, large childrens
To Children with Love’ or ‘Детям с Любовью’ was
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www.tochildrenwithlove.ru/en
founded in 2009 to focus on fundraising in Russia, in the belief that the best and the most sustainable initiatives should and can emerge locally. With a board composed of Moscowbased trustees, a celebrity patron and a growing base of corporate sponsors, the charity has, since 2009, worked hard to establish itself as a unique entity in the world of Russian children’s charities. ________________________
BIG Change Charity Contact: http://bigchange.ru/ en/about/. Or call Big Change at +7 - (499) 317-44-44 BIG Change Charity is a Moscow charity that provides individualized education and training in life skills to teens and young adults who have lived for years in orphanages. Big Change helps their students: - prepare for vocational school or university - choose a vocation and find a job - broaden horizons, interests, relationships - become productive members of society
- live full and independent lives. ________________________
Children’s Hospital Fund at Speransky Pediatric Hospital № 9. Contact: +7 499 256 64 44 (office); +7 916 117 3215 (mobile). www.childhospital.ru The Children’s Hospital Fund was founded in 2001 to support Russia’s Biggest Pediatric Burns Center at Speransky Hospital, Moscow. The fund provides medical equipment and materials for skin grafting and prevention of burn scarring. This NGO is running a pioneering psycho-social program, vital in cases of changed appearance or bereavement. The fund is supported by well-known businesses, banks and charitable organizations, including Moscow expat women’s organizations. The European Burns Association recognizes the achievements of the fund. The fund needs sponsors’ help to continue its charitable programs!
Essential Information Paying for your mobile telephone at a terminal
There are many different makes and models of pay machines which handle mobile phone payments in use in Moscow, however most of them work in the same way.
Step 1.
Identify the service you need: The first ‘home’ screen will ask you what kind of services you want. The Russian words: ‘ ОПЛАТА УСЛУГ’ (payment for services) are what you want.
Step 2.
Identify the service you want: You will be presented by an array of services which indicate the various services which the company operating the terminal has signed up for. Fortunately, to keep things simple, the logos for the most popular mobile telephone companies are displayed on the top row.
Step 3.
Having identified your mobile telephone ‘operator’ by its logo, you will then be asked to key in your telephone number. Having done this, you hit the button which says ‘ВПЕРЕД’ (NEXT). On most terminals this is coloured orange, but make sure you don’t inadvertently press any other buttons which may download various entertainment programmes onto your phone.
Step 4.
Pay. You insert notes into the machine and the amount you have paid comes up on screen minus commission. You then hit the button: ОПЛАТИТЬ (PAY).
That’s it! 95
Essential Information What do the numbers on the red number plates mean? They are Russian Diplomatic codes signifying countries. All vehicles registered with foreign embassies have to use them. 001 - Great Britain 002 - Germany 003 - Canada 004 - USA 005 - Japan 006 - Spain 007 - France 008 - Belgium 009 - Greece 010 - Denmark 011 - Italy 012 - Luxembourg 013 - Netherlands 014 - Norway 015 - Turkey 016 - Australia 017 - Austria 018 - Algeria 019 - Egypt 020 - Rwanda* 021 - Argentina 022 - Afghanistan 023 - Myanmar (the former Burma) 024 - Bolivia 025 - Brazil 026 - Burundi 027 - Ghana 028 - Bangladesh 029 - Guinea 030 - Zambia 031 - Peru 032 - India 033 - Indonesia 034 - Jordan 035 - Iraq 036 - Iran 037 - Ireland 038 - Iceland 039 - Cambodia (the former Kampuchea) 040 - Kenya 041 - Cyprus 042 - Congo 043 - Costa Rica 044 - Kuwait 045 - Laos 047 - Lebanon
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048 - Libya 049 - Mali 050 - Morocco 051 - Mexico 052 - Nepal 053 - Nigeria 054 - Venezuela 055 - New Zealand 056 - Pakistan 057 - Burkina Faso* 058 - Senegal* 059 - formerly Syria. Now code 133 is used. 060 - Somalia 061 - Sudan 062 - Sierra Leone 063 - Thailand 064 - Tanzania 065 - Tunisia 066 - Uganda 067 - Uruguay 068 - Philippines 069 - Finland 070 - Sri Lanka 071 - Chad 072 - Switzerland 073 - Sweden 074 - Ecuador 075 - Ethiopia 076 - Angola 077 - Democratic Republic of Congo (the former Republic Zaire) 078 - Colombia 079 - Cameroon 080 - Guinea-Bissau 081 - Portugal 082 - Bulgaria 083 - Hungary 084 - Vietnam 086 - Poland 087 - Korean People’s Democratic Republic (North Korea) 088 - Cuba 089 - Mongolia 090 - China 091 - Romania
092 - formerly Czechoslovakia (nowadays Czech Republic (148) and Slovakia (149)) 093 - Serbia 094 - Benin 095 - Gabon 096 - Guyana* 097 - Mauritania 098 - Madagascar* 099 - Malaysia 100 - Niger* 101 - Singapore 102 - Togo* 103 - Central African Republic (code 106 used earlier) 104 - Jamaica* 105 - Yemen 106 - formerly Central African Republic. Now code 103 is used. 107 - Palestine 108 - Nicaragua 109 - Mozambique 110 - Equatorial Guinea 111 - Sovereign Military Order of Malta (earlier code 111 belonged to Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon)) 112 - Malta 113 - Cape Verde 115 - Zimbabwe 116 - United Arab Emirates 117 - Côte d’Ivoire* 118 - Namibia 119 - formerly Republic of South Africa. Now code 137 is used. 120 - Oman 121 - Qatar 122 - formerly Arab League. Now code 503 is used 123 - formerly Liechtenstein 124 - South Korea 125 - Chile 126 - Panama (earlier code 126 belonged to UNESCO; see code 512)
127 - Israel 128 - FYR Macedonia (earlier code 128 belonged to EU) 129 - Albania 130 - formerly international organizations 131 - Holy See (Vatican) 132 - Lithuania 133 - Syria (code 059 used earlier) 134 - Estonia 135 - Latvia 136 - Bahrain 137 - Republic of South Africa (code 119 used earlier) 138 - Armenia 139 - formerly Georgia. Now code 158 is used. 140 - Saudi Arabia 141 - Slovenia 142 - Uzbekistan 143 - Kyrgyzstan 144 - Croatia 145 - Azerbaijan 146 - Ukraine 147 - Moldova 148 - Czech Republic 149 - Slovakia 150 - Belarus 151 - Tajikistan 152 - Turkmenistan 153 - Kazakhstan 154 - Guatemala 155 - Bosnia and Herzegovina 156 - Eritrea 157 - Paraguay* 158 - Georgia (code 139 used earlier) 159 - Brunei-Darussalam 160 - Gambia 161 - Vietnam 162 - Mauritius 163 - Dominican Republic 164 - Montenegro 165 - South Ossetia 166 - Abkhazia 167 - Djibouti