Russia Now #11 WP

A product by RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES Distributed with

ITAR-TASS

Politics & Society

Reflections

Strange Allies Unite for March in Moscow

Norton Dodge: Art Collector, Philanthropist and Russophile

P.03

P.05

This pull-out is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia) and did not involve the news or editorial departments of The Washington Post

PRESS SERVICE

www.rbth.ru

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

NEWS IN BRIEF

Soccer What could a great soccer team do for the Caucasus?

A Kick Where It Helps NASA

Cabin Fever is 520 Days in a Simulator

A high-flying soccer player with a $30-million price tag brings pleasure and a kick of hope to Dagestan’s capital city.

A 520-day experiment simulating a flight to Mars and back, which involved Chinese, French, Italian and Russian astronauts, ended successfully outside Moscow earlier this month. The crew remained isolated for 17 months, breathing artificial air, rarely bathing and eating mostly freeze-dried food inside the space.

“We’ll have to wait many years before mankind can land on Mars,” concluded French participant Romain Charles. “But...this planet is now much closer to Earth than it seemed before.”

Also this month, another unmanned Russian probe failed to reach Mars’ moon and is expected to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

GALINA MASTEROVA SPECIAL TO RN

Read more at www.rbth.ru/13750

Middle Class Walloped by Crisis, Study Finds A recent report from the Zircon Research Group found that the share of Russians identifying themselves as middle class decreased last year, dropping from 54 percent to 47 percent as of March 1. Russia’s economic woes were exacerbated by the Kremlin’s decision to hike social taxes at the start of this year, which cut into personal incomes. In February, survey respondents said the minimum amount of money needed to have a “normal” life was 24,000 rubles ($800) per month.

Read the full article at www.rbth.ru/13746

IMAGO/LEGION MEDIA

Tarlan Bakhishev, 14, has waited six hours with his friends to get a ticket to see his local soccer team, Anzhi Makhachkala. The teenagers are bubbling with excitement as they watch a training session. Somewhere out on the pitch is a Cameroonian who just put Makhachkala, the Dagestani capital, on the European football map.

In one corner of the stadium, a few dozen fans perform their evening salah, the Muslim prayer, and thousands more anticipate the arrival of their latest star — striker Samuel Eto’o, formerly of Inter Milan.

Eto’o has signed with a club that one year ago couldn’t attract top Russian talent, let alone the world’s best players. But this two-time European Cup champion joined the Russian football club this fall on a three-year contract for a reported $30 million a year in wages.

It’s nothing unusual for a lowly club to go from nowhere to attracting the best in European soccer in an instant. Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich transformed English club Chelsea after buying them in 2003. Manchester City is basking in the cash of the Abhu Dhabi United Group — and their recent thrashing of crosstown rival Manchester United.

Anzhi, it turns out, is more than a club with a stack of cash.

The club is in Makhachkala, which is in Russia’s Northern Caucasus. The region is the site of an intense and long-running conflict between authorities and Islamic extremists, which has seen almost daily attacks. On the day Eto’o walked out onto the home ground for the first time, five people died in a series of attacks.

That was hardly an extraor-

dinary day for the republic. Hundreds of policeman are killed each year in the republic of 2.6 million people.

That is why the players and their families are not living in the city, instead flying down for each game from Moscow. Yet Eto’o has dismissed any security concerns.

“Plenty of people will be looking out for my security, and if I took this decision it’s because I don’t consider that my life or that of my family are in any danger,” he wrote on his Web site.

“I’ll travel there on the day of the match or the eve of the match and then I’ll go back to Moscow.”

After he was presented to fans, Eto’o — a smooth media operator who is adept at saying very little — avoided questions about the dangers of Dagestan.

However, a few days before the opening press conference in September, the entire hockey club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was killed when a Yak-42 crashed.

Eto’o led a moment of silence for those who had died.

Journalists who were flown down in a Yak-42 asked Eto’o at the time if he was worried about traveling to games in Russia.

“When we sit in a plane, I always give my life up to God. It

doesn’t matter whether it is a Cameroonian, Spanish or Italian airline,” he said.

Club general director German Chistyakov insisted the city was safe, but did admit that he had a different image of the republic before he first arrived. “I thought that there is practically a war going on here, that tracer bullets fly and you have to crawl when you move about,” he told Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

The money for Eto’o and the other players all comes from one man, Suleiman Kerimov, a Dagestani, and one of the more reclusive oligarchs even though he has been a Duma minister

and currently sits in the Russian upper house. “Kerimov doesn’t give interviews, he speaks to Dagestani people through the football club,” said Enver Kisriyev, head of the Caucasus section at an academic think tank in Moscow.

Forbes magazine estimated that Kerimov is worth nearly $8 billion made through clever investments in the 1990s.

He now owns one of the country’s biggest gold producers, but has managed to remain out of the limelight except for when he crashed his Ferrari Enzo into a tree in Nice in 2006.

Samuel Eto’o, who recently joied the Russian team in the North Caucasus, has just been nominated African Player of the Year.

U.S.-Russian Business Council Hopes For WTO The U.S.-Russia Business Council welcomed this month’s announcement that the working group on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva had reached a final agreement on the terms of accession after 18 years of negotiations that were at times aggressive but also frequently stalled. “We are elated that Russia’s accession is in its final stage and look forward to reviewing the details of this historic agreement,” said U.S.R.B.C. President Edward Verona. Observers agree that joining the organization will enhance business ties between the United States and Russia. (For Konstantin von Eggert’s opinion, “Slouching Toward WTO,” please see page 4.)

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

ONLY AT RBTH.RU AP

Photography Chronicling lives in the midst of upheaval and devastation

Photographer Walks the Revolution Road Fearless and fiercely talented, Russian photographer Yuri Kozyrev recently swept two international awards for his coverage of the Arab Spring.

ANNA NEMTSOVA

In December 2010, the Russian photographer Yuri Kozyrev arrived in Yemen and found the country on the brink of collapse.

He landed in Sana’a, the capital, without a “fixer,” the locals that reporters use as assistants and interpreters. Wandering the streets, unable to understand the language, Kozyrev said he worked “on the constant verge of failure.”

He was a strange and suspicious-looking tourist. Yet his images — groups of gloomy men chewing khat at dusk, veiled women swimming and a sad

KIRILL LAGUTKO

SPECIAL TO RN

“The profession is about your opportunity to allow people to have a voice,” Kozyrev said.

man carrying a giant fish on his shoulders — foreshadow the arrival of civil war that soon followed in Yemen.

The following February, Kozyrev’s editors at TIME Magazine, where he is a contract photographer, told the photojournalist to move quickly to Cairo to document demonstrations on Tahrir Square. By March, he had been in Libya for nearly two months following the rebels who eventually toppled Moammar Gadhafi.

Kozyrev has become one of the most faithful chroniclers of the turmoil in the Middle East. His reportage, later published in a book, “The Arab Spring - On Revolution Road,” captured the ferment of the last year in Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya.

This October, Kozyrev swept the awards at this year’s presti-

gious Bayeux Calvados Awards, including the War Photographer and Public Choice awards at a ceremony in Bayeux, France.

This September, the Russian photographer was presented with the prestigious Visa d’or News award at the annual Visa pour l’image photography festival in Perpignan, France. There are several exhibits of Kozyrev’s work this season in Europe, including upcoming shows in Croatia, France and Britain. Another new catalog, documenting the Iraq war, will be published next year.

“Awards and gallery shows mean nothing,” Kozyrev said in a recent interview in Moscow.

“The profession is about your opportunity to allow people to have a voice. You take a photo, you name the person, you document the historic events of our time. Everybody can be a pho-

tographer these days, but ‘I am on Tahrir Square’ is a different story from the story about the people of Egypt on Tahrir Square, which requires much more responsibility.”

Roaming the world non-stop, Kozyrev is well-known as a an intuitive witness to human stories and events. Just days before the Arab Spring, he was shooting a story about people escaping big cities of Russia to live in Siberian settlements. His everlit cigarette, big lively eyes, tactful and sensitive stories — told over cups of tea — traveled from home to home, leaving memories with the friends he makes on his trips. It is this sensitivity, as well as pure skill, that come through in his work. It is work that also puts him in almost constant danger.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

U.S. Court Decision Jeopardizes Adoption Treaty RBTH.RU/13773 AFP/EASTNEWS

Tango Dances its Way Into Russia RBTH.RU/13765

02

Economy

RUSSIA NOW

MOST READ Russia’s Middle Class Walloped by Crisis rbth.ru/13746

SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA WWW.RBTH.RU

BUSINESS IN BRIEF

Business The country’s only private factory designs and produces its own rifles

Lone Private Gun Maker Targets Locals ANATOLY MEDETSKY THE MOSCOW TIMES

Busy deluging the world with Kalashnikov rifles, Russia left its market open to Western brands. as she handled and caressed the rifles at the forum.

With the capacity to produce 6,000 rifles a year, the enterprise is not a titan of the industry where — according to Aaron Karp, a consultant of the Swiss-based Small Arms Survey — annual output of 50,000 is common. But it’s a refreshing attempt by entrepreneurs to fill a niche that has always been

HIS STORY

PRESS SERVICE

An avid shooter, Alexei Sorokin skipped this year’s ultimate competition for rifle fans in North Lawrence, Ohio.

His two custom-made firearms, crafted by an American gunsmith and stored by his American coach, didn’t get a chance to fire at the Super Shoot in May. Keeping him in Russia, however, was the same powerful passion — Sorokin was putting the finishing touches on the country’s only private factory that designs and produces its own brand of hunting, sporting and sniper rifles.

Sales of Orsis firearms began in August.

“We haven’t had breakthroughs like this since the Kalashnikov assault rifle,” said Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade, enthusiastic about the new weapon’s prospects.

Busy deluging the world with Kalashnikovs, the country left its own market bare to an onslaught of Western brands that sought to please more sophisticated customers looking for hunting, sporting or counterterrorist firearms.

The idea, Sorokin said, was to compete with imports from Austria, Britain, Finland and Germany by offering “higher quality at a reasonable price.”

He quit his job as an executive at an engineering company and began looking for investors.

“By virtue of my contacts in the firearms community, I came to know a person who cared about this subject,” Sorokin said in an interview. “He brought together a group of investors.”

Sorokin called the person during the interview, to ask permission to disclose his identity — and the answer was no. One of the investors — Mikhail Abyzov, chairman of the RuCom holding company —

firmly and indisputably in state hands.

The investors coughed up $30 million to arrange for a building in eastern Moscow, buy Western equipment, design the rifles and train the staff, Sorokin said. He hired recent graduates from the Special Engineering Department at Moscow’s Nikolai Bauman State Technical University to work as designers.

Working over the drawing table, the designers kept in mind Sorokin’s admiration of the bolt system created by U.S.based Remington Arms Company and his annoyance with the large amount of small parts — “as many as inside an alarm clock” — in firearms from Austria’s Steyr Mannlicher, he said.

“These rifles are created from my notion of what a firearm must be,” Sorokin said. “Reliability is in simplicity.

“To make a high-precision design that is simple is a good goal for a gunsmith, and it’s exciting in and of itself.”

The established Russian manufacturers have been too hesitant to move beyond Soviet

NATIONALITY: RUSSIAN AGE: 41

Alexei Sorokin first took up professional shooting in 1983.

He was known for sweeping the prize categories at various shooting competitions during his stint in the armed forces, and ultimately, he qualified for

the highest Soviet ranking of athletes, “master of sport,” six years later. He gave up sport shooting in 1992, but remained influential enough to still hold the title of president of the Russian National Federation of Precision Shooting.

Sorokin quit his job as an executive at an engineering company and began looking for investors. He succeeded in finding funders and soon founded the first private gun manufacturer in 2009, and this summer was putting the finishing touches on the country’s only private factory that designs and produces its own brand of hunting, sporting and sniper rifles.

The idea, Sorokin said, was to compete with imports from Austria, Britain, Finland and Germany by offering “higher quality at a reasonable price.”

technology, said Vadim Kozyulin, director of the conventional weapons program at PIR Center, a think tank.

Sorokin declines to name specific companies he sees as his competitors in the hunting and sports shooting markets, saying only that they operate in the same and more expensive price segment. That would mean such manufacturers as Steyr Mannlicher, Finland’s Sako, U.S.based Remington and Germany’s Blaser Jagdwaffen.

One of the least expensive of Germany’s Blaser rifles, the R93, sells for 107,800 rubles ($3,560) at Kolchuga, an authorized Moscow dealer of many Western brands.

Promtekhnologii, as Sorokin’s company is called, charges 84,000 ($2,700) rubles for its least expensive model, simply named Orsis Hunter.

Several Russian state-owned companies also make ri- fles for civilian use — such as Saiga, a lookalike of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, from the Kalashnikov manufacturer Izhmash — but they target the lower-end market. Irina Suslova, director of the Artemida gun store in Moscow, said here, too, Russia was quickly losing out to rifles made in Turkey.

“This comes at a very good time,” she said about the new Russian rifle maker. “If we don’t start doing something now, we will lose the whole market to foreign manufacturers.”

The civilian market, at best, consumes 60,000 rifles annually, with sales worth from $80 million to $100 million, Sorokin said.

In the defense and security realm, the Orsis T-5000 model can replace weapons that are now in use by special forces, Sorokin said. The company is in contact with the Defense

Arkady Dvorkovich, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s top economic adviser, offered the European Union a $10 billion contribution to the region’s bailout package.

Experts and pundits questioned Russia’s motives for the deal.

Some said the offer showed Russia’s comprehension of the interconnected global economy as well as good faith in the European Union. Others criticized the move as a token gesture ($10 billion would barely cover the next payment to Greece) from a country that has also suffered in the global economic crisis.

The Russian government has spent much of its reserve cash in recent years shoring up its own economy and may need to do so again, should oil prices fall. So, even if the E.U. should accept Moscow’s offer, it would likely be a one-time deal.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

Alexei Sorokin

Disney Channel Enters Russia

CEO OF PROMTEKHNOLOGII COMPANY, PRODUCER OF ORSIS RIFLES

"

These rifles are created from my notion of what a firearm must be. Our design is laconic. Reliability is in simplicity. To make a high-precision design that is simple is a good goal for a gunsmith, and it’s exciting in and of itself.”

RIA NOVOSTI

came to light when the company showed off the rifles at the Sochi Investment Forum in September.

On a tour of the exhibition, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fiddled with one of the rifles for a while as he listened to Abyzov’s commentary. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has come to see the factory in Moscow. More exciting to the general public was the presence of former spy Anna Chapman

Besides the notorious Kalashnikov, Russia’s gun market is flooded with firearm imports from Austria, Britain, Finland and Germany.

Russia Offers Bailout Assist

Anna Chapman at the stand of Orsis rifles at the 10th Sochi Investment Forum.

Ministry about potential contracts, he said.

Military and security snipers employ the Russian-made Dragunov rifle as well as guns made by Sako, Steyr Mannlicher or Britain’s Accuracy International, Korotchenko said.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said he couldn’t comment when reached by phone. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the armed forces General Staff, said in September that the army would train more snipers and look to substitute the Dragunov rifle with a more up-to-date precision firearm.

At 160,000 rubles ($5,135) a piece, the Orsis option is quite expensive, but still has a chance, Kozyulin said. Military expert Anatoly Tsyganok said test-firing showed Orsis to be

in the same league as its foreign-made rivals.

The company posted a conspicuous note on its web site in February that the current backlog could cause customers to wait as long as eight months to one year for their orders.

Small enterprises like Promtekhnologii appear around the world at times, although the global gun market mostly remains the domain of old favorites, said Karp of the Small Arms Survey.

Wearing a safety jacket during the interview, Sorokin looked as if he had been momentarily plucked from the middle of the bustle of the day’s business at the factory near the Ploshchad Ilicha metro station.

“The old industry had lost its way,” he said. “This created a window of opportunity.”

Paying My Mortgage is My Future ANDREY MOLODYKH, FILIPP CHAPKOVSKY RUSSKIY REPORTER

The Frolovs received their loan through Vladimir’s work. If he is fired or quits, past interest is due immediately.

Just 20 years ago, most Russians owned their apartments, even if it was the size of a postage stamp, and had no mortgage, a legacy of communism. Their money was kept under the mattress.

Today, there is a middle class with new potential, and bigger burdens. They have more opportunities for ownership and they are beginning to experience the pressures that large debts bring — a pressure that has reached a boiling point in the United Moscow States.

Vladimir Frolov, 28, and his wife Nastya, 22, are both natives of villages located near Tomsk, and they have a young son, Sergei.

Vladimir’s starting salary at the Tomsk ElectromeOther major Russian cities chanical Plant was roughly $400 a month, which St. Petersburg was not much, even for Tomsk. But in addition to the salary, the company ofSOURCE: ROSSTAT, GERMAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN RUSSIA fered the promising young en-

The average monthly wage in...

$2,000

$1,000

$1,350

gineer a company loan with no interest for 25 years, which he used to purchase a one-bedroom apartment in a building on the river. But there is a catch-22: If Vladimir is fired or quits, his interest would be due immediately, which is typically in the double digits in Russia.

Vladimir is literally bound to the company for 25 years, and his family’s future seems predetermined.

Vladimir, however, said he finds the conditions fair: “It makes sense from the perspective of my employer. Otherwise, lots of people would try to get their hands on inexpensive loans through the company.

Maybe we are dependent. But that’s a small price to pay for our own apartment.”

After paying the mortgage each month, the Frolovs have roughly $670 to spend. Vladimir is the sole earner, because Nastya has started classes for a second degree and also takes care of Sergei. Food costs are somewhere around $200 a month.

“Everything else has to be split between child, clothes, culture and everything else,” Vladimir said.

He does not sound overly confident when it comes to his future. The Tomsk Electrome-

Which Financial Services do You Use?

SOURCE: ZIRCON FINANCIAL GROUP

chanical Plant makes, among other things, giant turbines that siphon smoke from subways.

Six of these turbines are currently in use in the Moscow Metro.

“Theoretically, the contracts in the plant could be reduced or disappear at any time. If the higher-ups start making some kind of rubbish, then there are immediate consequences for our working conditions and our wages,” Vladimir said.

To have any sense of security, Vladimir thinks he needs at least $1,300 a month, but to receive higher wages, pro-

ductivity must increase, which in turn can only happen if the equipment in Vladimir’s plant is modernized. “If there was a switch to industry produced by locals, that would be half the battle.”

Vladimir wants to help the plant produce innovative, Russian products. If the plant is successful, it will help Vladimir achieve his other dreams — a house and two more children.

Nastya hopes for a second child, but she is more pragmatic about the realities. The government may be pushing its on-

KOMMERSANT

Is Russia’s capital a dangerous place to live? Are hotels all that expensive?

FOURTH BAKU INTERNATIONAL C.I.S. BANKING CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 30 – DECEMBER 3 BAKU, AZERBAIJAN

› http://www.confer.fbc-cis.ru

going campaign to raise the birthrate, but there is no infrastructure to support more children. Many preschool buildings from the Soviet era have been leased as office space, and strict regulations for registering childcare facilities prevent the creation of private kindergartens.

When Sergei is finally in preschool, Nastya would like to get a job in social services. She would like to earn $650 a month, but would settle for $490.

Nastya dreams of a vacation in Sevastopol, where she has relatives. She said she would like to travel more outside of Russia to a place like Egypt.

What would happen if Vladimir had an accident at the plant? Would the loan be payable? “We do not have to worry about that,” he said. “If something happened, the insurance company would pay my loan.

To be perfectly honest, I am incredibly lucky. Millions of Russians are probably jealous of me.”

Fact or Fiction: The Many Myths of Moscow

GLOBAL RUSSIA BUSINESS CALENDAR

The theme of this year’s conference will be “Financial markets in the C.I.S.: Stable development in the face of global uncertainty.” The Investment Angel awards will also be presented at this year’s event.

Finance Today, more middle-class Russians rethink their futures according to the size of their mortgage

Economically, Russia’s new middle class is both freer and more burdened — privileged and squeezed — than their parents.

The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay United Television Holding $300 million for a 49 percent stake in Russia’s 7TV channel. Disney had been attempting to purchase part of a Russian channel since 2008.

The company launched a cable channel in Russia last year, but cable does not have the reach of broadcast TV. The new deal will give Disney access to 75 percent of viewers in Russia’s 54 biggest cities.

“We expect a family channel combining the best Disney programming with original Russian TV shows will be of great interest to the audience,” said Alisher Usmanov of United Television in a statement.

Read full article at www.rbth.ru/13755

FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE: DOING BUSINESS WITH RUSSIA DECEMBER 5 WASHINGTON, DC

Conference presentations on energy and natural resources, high technology, mergers and acquisitions, economic development and public support for investments. Russian officials, members of Russian Trade Mission, executives from U.S. corporations and representatives of the Departments of Commerce and State will be in attendance. › http://www.eurasiacenter.org

THIRD INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF NUCLEAR INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS “ATOMEX-2011” DECEMBER 6-8 MOSCOW, RUSSIA

The Forum will frame an international exhibition and conference. The Forum program includes a walkdown of displays by representatives of customers, technical specialists and designers of major organizations. › http://www.atomeks.ru/en

Originally published in Russkiy Reporter

FIND MORE IN THE GLOBAL CALENDAR

at www.rbth.ru

UE

ISS T X E N

December 14

RUSSIA NOW

MOST READ The Refusenik Regiment rbth.ru/13704

SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA WWW.RBTH.RU

major conflict in the former Soviet Union, including two Chechen wars. He documented the fall of the Taliban 10 years ago, and then lived in Baghdad for nearly eight years before moving back to Moscow in 2009.

Journalists who covered the second Chechen war remember Yusup Magomadov, a 13-year-old boy heavily wounded in a bombardment of his home village of Novy-Sharoi.

Both of Yusup’s legs had to be amputated. Yuri Kozyrev, along with a Dutch writer, Wierd Duk, brought the boy and his mother to Moscow for treatment.

Photographs published in a Dutch magazine helped raise money for prostheses. “It was the first and only time I saw tears in Yuri’s eyes, when he was photographing Chechens saying goodbye to Yusup,” Duk said. “They were afraid that Russians would kill the boy.”

A freelance Danish photographer, Mari Bastashevski, described Kozyrev’s work ethic during their reporting together in the Libyan desert last spring: “He’s under fire until 9 p.m. and then editing until midnight. And it is like that every day.”

The prize-winning photographer is also now mentoring younger photographers.

Among his students are Maria Morina, Olga Kravets and Oksana Yushko, who are working together on a documentary project called “Nine Cities,” which returns to a forgotten Chechnya. Kravets said: “Apart from being a great photographer, he has a great eye for the work of others.”

Kozyrev is known as a photojournalist willing to cover the front lines. His photos have appeared in a number of publications, including Newsweek Magazine, Russia Beyond the Headlines. Covering the antigovernment protests in Arab countries for TIME Magazine was among his most dangerous assignments. In Libya, he was shot at and police beat him.

He was detained in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

He has lost colleagues, including his friends Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington, two photographers killed in April while on assignment in Misrata, Libya. One might wonder why the 48-year-old would want to go on risking his life.

The chief photo editor of the Moscow-based Russian Reporter magazine, Andrei Polikanov, is a longtime friend. He said that it is Kozyrev’s “unconditional, fantastic self-sacrifice and faithfulness to journalism” that keeps him motivated to cover conflicts, and keeps him walking on the Revolution Road.

Kozyrev Walks the Revolution Road

YURY KOZYREV/NOOR

See slideshow at www.rbth.ru/13572

A Libyan rebel fighter stands on the barrel of a destroyed tank. Ajdabiyah, Libya, March 23, 2011.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Kozyrev’s colleague at the NOOR photo agency, Stanley Greene, said, “Yuri has raised the bar on the reporting of conflicts; he made all of us rethink how we cover stories. He is a poetic war photographer. His images are full of lyrics and poetry that I had not seen before. … Yuri could become one of the greatest war photographers.”

Portrait of the Photographer as a Young Man Kozyrev’s photographs have depth and a surprising sense of composition, especially considering the conditions he works under. His first teacher, Valiko Arutyunov, was a member of an underground community of photographers in the Soviet Union described in Vasily Aksyonov’s novel, “Say Cheese,” about Soviet dissidents.

Arutyunov mentored Kozyrev.

Then, Kozyrev was chronicling

HIS STORY

Yury Kozyrev was born in 1963 in Moscow. Has graduated from the school of journalism at Moscow State University.

In 1986, he began his career as a news photographer, eventually specializing in war coverage and conflicts in the former Soviet Union. In a recent interview on Russian television, Kozyrev said, “At a certain moment in my life I switched over to news. And that was a break-

through for me. It’s a unique feeling when you are there when history is happening.”

He covered both Chechen wars, then Afghanistan and Iraq. Kozyrev lived in Baghdad between 2003 and 2009, were he worked as a contract photographer for TIME Magazine. He has traveled all over Iraq, photographing the many prisms of the conflict.

Since the beginning of 2011, he has been following the Arab Spring, traveling in Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

Yuri Kozyrev has received numerous honors, including several World Press Photo Awards.

“He’s under fire until 9 p.m. and then editing until midnight...every day,” Bastashevski said.

people in small apartments and portraying the creative hum of dissident life in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. “That was a happy time, when my wife, Regina, a talented designer, and I enjoyed our life in the bubble

NATIONALITY: RUSSIAN AGE: 48 STUDIED: JOURNALISM

Politics & Society

of wonderful underground artists,” Kozyrev recalled.

But after the Soviet Union collapsed, Kozyrev moved away from his circle and started photographing a succession of postSoviet conflicts in Armenia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Georgia.

Since then, he has not stopped moving from conflict to conflict. At that time, he said, he was lucky to meet another mentor, Yevgeny Khaldey, a former Red Army photographer who was famous for his iconic image of a Russian soldier raising a Soviet flag above the Reichstag in Berlin, signifying the defeat of Nazi Germany.

“Khaldey gave me the most important knowledge about our profession,” Kozyrev said. “No university can teach you the importance of returning to the same places again and again and documenting the history — to me, that is why we are doing this.”

Kozyrev has been a photojournalist now for more than 20 years. He has covered every

Nationalism Moscow marches

Strange Allies March Together in Moscow What does it say about the social fabric when opposition members join the nationalists’ march?

VLADIMIR RUVINSKY RUSSIA NOW

The annual Russia March has for some time been a fringe event and a rallying point for the disenfranchised, the alienated and the perverse — skinheads in black masks, Orthodox fundamentalists with icons and neo-Nazis carrying the flag of the SS Division Totenkopf.

This motley crew marched through a distant corner of Moscow earlier this month chanting anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic, anti-Chechen and anti-American slogans, amid other sundry prejudices.

“Give Russia back to the Russians” was a typical slogan as 7,000 protesters, marched in Moscow.

And this year, they were joined by — of all people — a few liberal democrats.

While most Russian liberals remain revolted by the Russia March, Alexey Navalny, a prominent opponent of the Kremlin, decided to join in. He explained his participation to some bewildered supporters as an attempt to make common cause with nationalists to broaden the coalition of those disillusioned with the Kremlin’s monopoly on power.

“I am certain that more or less any large nationalist organization, if allowed to develop legally, would have leaders that would ultimately evolve to be no more radical than any rightwing European politicians,” Navalny said. He said the “Russia March talks about existing problems, and all historical allusions to Nazi Germany are irrelevant in Russia.”

A Kick Where it Helps He was seriously injured and needed months of recovery. His passenger, Russian TV host Tina Kandelaki, was luckier but still suffered burns.

Judging by the reception for Eto’o, the club can do no wrong in Dagestan. Close to 8,000 packed into the stadium just to

see a training session, and more than a dozen children ran onto the playing field to try to reach and touch Eto’o. At one point, a local Cameroonian student, who is studying medicine in Makhachkala, also ran out and dove to kiss Eto’o’s feet.

Dagestan is one of the poorest republics in Russia with at least 40 percent unemploy-

ment. Club officials and Kisriyev said that Kerimov’s aim is to give young people another way out, away from the route to extremism. As part of the project, the club will set up seven different football centers for youths in Dagestan, bring in quality football trainers and build a new stadium.

“People are laughing, being

Anzhi's big acquisitions: expensive but promising Balázs Dzsudzsák

Mbark Boussoufa

Jucilei da Silva

NATIONALITY: HUNGARIAN

NATIONALITY: DUTCH

NATIONALITY: BRAZILIAN

AGE: 24

AGE: 27

AGE: 23

POSITION: MIDFIELDER

POSITION: MIDFIELDER

POSITION: MIDFIELDER

One of Hungary’s most talented players, Dzsudzsak had a great career at PSV Eindhoven, so his decision to sign for Anzhi came as a surprise even to the executives of the Dutch club. Dzsudzsak could have moved to any top league.

According to various sources, PSV got between $12 million to $19 million for the player's transfer. Dzsudzsak is currently undergoing treatment — so far he has played few matches in Russia because of an injury.

Boussoufa played for Ajax and Chelsea and was several times named the best Belgian player. He almost signed for Terek Grozny, but the Chechen club failed to meet his salary demands. According to unofficial sources, Anzhi paid Anderlecht about $13 million for the Moroccan national team player and pays Boussoufa $3.3 mlllion a year. Boussoufa has become one of Anzhi’s core players and has already scored four goals in the Russian Premier League.

The 23-year-old midfielder played more than 100 matches for the Corinthians and even made it to the Brazilian national team.

Anzhi paid about $13 million for him, according to estimates. Russian experts charge in the press that the player is worth only half of this. But the Brazilian player is still young, and, if things go well, Anzhi will be able to sell him to a European club at a significant premium.

ironic [about the project], but you have to understand the social aspect,” Kisriyev said. “I’m not saying it is a panacea and that it will get rid of Dagestan’s many problems, but it will create some kind of positive movement.”

Kerimov tried to take control of the club for at least three years, Kisriyev said, but it was only possible when a new and proactive Dagestan president, Magomedsalam Magomedov, came in.

Relations between the club and the president remain close — support of a high ranking official helps soothe the problems in an often dysfunctional republic.

“You just need to ring him,” said Chistyakov about Magomedov. “Even if it is not such a serious question like the selling of water at the stadium. He always listens and tried to help when [activists] and the police do not understand each other.”

Few took the club seriously at first, even after they bought Roberto Carlos, the former Brazilan international who won the World Cup in 2002, in August.

He’s 38 and the assumption was that he wanted one last pay day.

But the arrival of Eto’o has changed all that.

A few other liberals echoed that sentiment. “We trust in moderate nationalists,” said Vladimir Milov, the leader of the Democratic Choice party. Along with Navalny, Milov and some other opposition figures such as Eugene Roizman and Boris Nadezhdin of the Right Cause said they want to collaborate with nationalists to “solve the real problems in Russia.”

The liberal flirtation with nationalism is extraordinary, but it is a measure of the stasis in Russian politics at a moment when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the former president, is about to become president again, succeeding his protégé who will replace him as prime minister.

“Give Russia back to the Russians” was a typical slogan as 7,000 protesters, some carrying Czarist-era flags, marched through a bleak suburb of Moscow under the watchful eye of columns of police. And the march, normally dominated by young people, had a noticeable complement of the middleaged.

The SOVA Centre for Information and Analysis, which specializes in monitoring xenophobia in Russia, reported that the participants shouted slogans inciting ethnic hatred, which is a punishable offense.

Navalny explained his participation as a reaction to “power and usurpation.”

Navalny’s participation in the rally has divided his former allies. Ludmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, said that that Navalny should be prosecuted for violating the constitution. Evgenia Albats, editor in chief of New Times, an opposition magazine, said Navalny “may be the first real politician in post-Soviet Russia who practices real, not speculative, politics and deals with real people.”

Read full article rbth.ru/13732

See slideshow at www.rbth.ru/13703

MIKHAIL MORDASOV

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

03

“There has never been anything like this in Russian football.”

He is in the prime of his career, and his arrival could attract other great players. The club sacked its Russian manager and has been linked to the world’s top coaches, such as Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid, and top players.

“There has never been anything like this in Russian football,” said Bogdanov, the football editor at daily newspaper Sport Express. “Anything is possible if the investors are patient and invest in infrastructure.”

The club, which is in 8th

IN FIGURES

$30 million place, entered its winter break on Nov. 6, before the second part of the season, which will see them fighting to win a place in European competition.

“It would be great to sign Christiano Ronaldo,” Carlos told Spanish television, referring to the Real Madrid striker

a year is the estimated salary of Samuel Eto’o in the Anzhi club.

The three-year contract was signed this fall.

and one of the best-paid players in the world. Carlos said that he had been trying to persuade other stars to join him at Anzhi. “Our aim is to get Anzhi on the same level as Real [Madrid] and Barcelona.”

04

Opinion

MOST READ Russia’s Potential Accession to the WTO Creates Incentives

RUSSIA NOW

RUSSIAN COMPASS SWINGS EAST Fyodor Lukyanov GAZETA.RU

SERGEY ELKIN

E

veryone is trying to guess how Russia’s foreign policy might change after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin takes over as president.

Most expect Putin’s Russia to resume its anti-Western policy. In this respect, it is symbolic that Putin’s first visit in his new capacity as president-in-waiting was to China, and that, in his first keynote article, he offered to create a Eurasian Union of exSoviet nations.

The question of how the “Western” and “Eastern” combine in Putin’s vision is much more subtle and complex in nature.

In the eyes of many observers, “Putin-2” (of the second term, from 2004-2008) completely overshadowed “Putin1” (of the first term, 2000-2004) with his strongly pro-Western agenda: from close cooperation and prospects for European integration to concessions to the United States (the closure of military bases in Cuba and Vietnam, position on Central Asia) and advances to Tokyo on settling the Kuril Islands dispute.

The result, however, was disappointing. Who should be held responsible for those failures is a question open to debate. In retrospect, one can hardly blame Putin for not trying to bring Russia into the Western orbit during his first term. The disappointing result helped rebrand Putin-2 as the author of the anti-American speech in Munich.

It is not the U.S. and Japan that should be chosen as models, but rather Australia and Canada.

The foreign policy message of Putin’s second term was: “So you don’t want to treat us like equals? Then I’ll make you …”

And he did.

What was the role of the east — especially China — in Russia’s foreign policy of the 2000s?

The early Putin, despite his multi-faceted approach, was largely pro-Western — in the sense that Moscow’s foreign policy was focused on ties with the United States and Europe.

rbth.ru/13717

SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA WWW.RBTH.RU

At the same time, Russia was also building ties with Asia, especially China and India, creating regional structures of varying cohesion, from the Shanghai Co-operation Organization to the BRIC alliance.

Moscow was making it clear to the United States (in terms of military and political activities) and Europe (in terms of energy) that it had alternatives.

On certain subjects, the West listened carefully and expressed concern; on others, it would simply brush Moscow’s claims aside.

There is still a tendency to see Russia’s Asian policy as a means for putting pressure on Europe. Yet this has become irrelevant for one simple reason: whatever Moscow’s relations with the United States and Eu-

rope, China is now Russia’s major neighbor, wielding a strong influence and likely to wield an even stronger one.

Putin is not one of those who is fascinated by China, and he is fully aware of the risks inherent in the rapid and very impressive growth of the Asian neighbor. But he also understands that Russia will have to seek ways for peaceful and friendly coexistence with Beijing; there is not another growth and development engine in Asia that could rival China. And, of course, if Russia wants to upgrade its Far East region, it can hardly do so without China.

Lofty phrases about modernization and technological alliance with China — a new topic apparently inspired by Putin’s visit — mean, in practical terms,

institutionalization of the existing model: Russian raw materials in exchange for Chinese products.

Instead of dreaming about Silicon Valleys, Russia should go ahead with real modernization, focusing on efficient use of raw materials and market diversification, in terms of both geography and product range.

In other words, it is not the United States and Japan that should be chosen as models, but rather Australia and Canada — as highly developed nations whose growth is based on plentiful natural resources. In this sense, China is vital, with its steadily growing consumption and significant surplus of cash.

Putin has made no secret about his view of hydrocarbons as Russia’s main resource and guarantor of political weight throughout the 21st century.

However, in contrast with Europe, where Russia has been pursuing a pipeline diplomacy and policy, it is only just beginning to feel its way in Asia.

One such overture is Moscow’s recent proposal that Pyongyang becomes Russia’s main partner in constructing a trans-Korean gas pipeline, in exchange for a rethink on the nuclear program and a peaceful settlement. Yet Russia’s ability to promote its goals in this way is rather limited: whereas in Europe, Moscow has a solid footing, it is only just beginning to gain political weight in Asia. But there is no other way.

Putin’s visit to China, in his new capacity as future president, turns a new page. His next term’s agenda will be dominated by efforts to develop a model of peaceful coexistence with Beijing — one that should work for decades to come.

Fyodor Lukyanov is chief editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine.

Originally published on

SAVING THE RESET FROM ATTACK THE MOSCOW TIMES

T

he U.S. presidential election is still a year away, but the fight for the White House is in full swing.

In this fight, anything goes, and the Republicans are determined to take away every chance President Barack Obama has of winning. Obama has performed better in international affairs than in the economy, and the reset in relations with Russia is among the brightest feathers in his cap.

Many Republicans believe that the reset has to be compromised at all costs, even if the United States’ own interests suffer as a consequence.

One would think that U.S. Rep.

John Boehner (R-OH), speaker of the House of Representatives, has little time to waste. Congress is fiercely debating the impending dramatic budget cuts, attempts to reduce unemployment and lessen the national debt, which is nearing $15 trillion. The Occupy Wall Street protest movement is on the rise, and several cities have already experienced clashes with the police.

Nonetheless, Boehner dropped his pressing agenda and went to the Heritage Foundation last week to announce that the reset is a total failure for the United States and benefits Russia alone.

I suspect that Boehner’s appearance was due in part to the exceedingly active Georgian lobby, who could be found among the audience. The theme of Russian

THE POLLS

2.5 Years After the Reset ATTITUDES TOWARD THE UNITED STATES HAVE GRADUALLY — IF ONLY SLIGHTLY — IMPROVED SINCE PRESIDENTS DMITRY MEDVEDEV AND BARACK OBAMA DECLARED A RESET TO RELATIONS IN EARLY 2009.

SOURCE: WCIOM

Fifty-five percent of those polled held an overall positive view of the United States, up from 46 percent in 2009, but down from 59 percent last year. Those more likely to hold favorable impressions of the United States included residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg (Russia’s two largest cities), young and middle-aged people and the well educated.

LETTERS FROM READERS, GUEST COLUMNS AND CARTOONS LABELED “COMMENTS,” “VIEWPOINT” OR APPEARING ON THE “OPINION” AND “REFLECTIONS” PAGES OF THIS SUPPLEMENT ARE SELECTED TO REPRESENT A BROAD RANGE OF VIEWS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THOSE OF THE EDITORS OF RUSSIA NOW OR ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO US@RBTH.RU THIS PULL-OUT IS PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA (RUSSIA) AND DID NOT INVOLVE THE NEWS OR EDITORIAL DEPARTMENTS OF THE WASHINGTON POST WEB ADDRESS HTTP://RBTH.RU E-MAIL US@RBTH.RU TEL. +7 (495) 775 3114 FAX +7 (495) 988 9213 ADDRESS 24 PRAVDY STR., BLDG. 4, FLOOR 12, MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 125 993.

EVGENY ABOV EDITOR & PUBLISHER ARTEM ZAGORODNOV EXECUTIVE EDITOR ELENA BOBROVA ASSISTANT EDITOR NORA FITZGERALD GUEST EDITOR (U.S.A.) TARA SHLIMOWITZ PRODUCTION COORDINATOR OLGA GUITCHOUNTS REPRESENTATIVE (U.S.A.) ANDREI ZAITSEV HEAD OF PHOTO DEPT MILLA DOMOGATSKAYA HEAD OF PRE-PRINT DEPT IRINA PAVLOVA LAYOUT E-PAPER VERSION OF THIS SUPPLEMENT IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.RBTH.RU. VSEVOLOD PULYA ONLINE EDITOR LARA MCCOY EDITOR, ENGLISH-LANGUAGE WEBSITE TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SUPPLEMENT CONTACT JULIA GOLIKOVA, ADVERTISING & PR DIRECTOR, AT GOLIKOVA@RG.RU OR BRIDGET RIGATO AT RIGATOB@WASHPOST.COM. © COPYRIGHT 2011, ZAO ‘ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA’. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALEXANDER GORBENKO CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD. PAVEL NIGOITSA GENERAL DIRECTOR VLADISLAV FRONIN CHIEF EDITOR ANY COPYING, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS PUBLICATION, OTHER THAN FOR PERSONAL USE, WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA IS PROHIBITED. TO OBTAIN PERMISSION TO REPRINT OR COPY AN ARTICLE OR PHOTO, PLEASE PHONE +7 (495) 775 3114 OR E-MAIL US@RBTH.RU WITH YOUR REQUEST. RUSSIA NOW IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS AND PHOTOS.

aggression against Georgia was expressed not just in Boehner’s speech but in others as well.

The leitmotif of all the speeches at Heritage was that the reset is doing harm both to the economy and to U.S. security, and therefore should be discontinued.

Every U.S. company trading with Russia — and there are hundreds, including top companies in the Forbes 500 list — believe precisely the opposite — that the reset should be continued. They also strongly support Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization and advocate the repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which they believe would be in their corporate interests and in the interests of the country as a whole.

As for security, the fact that Russia provides transport corridors for the delivery of military and other supplies to the troops of the United States and NATO along the northern route to Afghanistan makes the reset indispensable.

It is a known fact that taking those supplies along the southern route via the territory of socalled U.S. ally Pakistan has frequently ended in transport convoys blown up and even occasionally casualties among U.S. servicemen. It is hardly a secret that, although the strikes were delivered by the Taliban, they acted with direct support from Pakistani secret services.

Michael McFaul, nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Russia, said in no uncertain terms

at a Senate hearing on Oct. 12 that the reset was based strictly on those positions that benefit the United States and that the Obama administration had never given away gifts to Russia.

So who is more concerned about U.S. interests — supporters or opponents of the reset?

Opinion is divided even in the Republican party itself. Reset bashing has come up against some resistance not only from leading Russia experts but from some Republicans. Let’s hope these voices of support are represented in Congress so that the reset can continue to improve our relationship.

Edward Lozansky is president of the American University in Moscow.

SLOUCHING TOWARD WTO Konstantin von Eggert SPECIAL TO RN

T

he 18-year marathon seems to be over. Barring some extraordinary, last-minute scandal, the World Trade Organization (WTO) will accept Russia as a member in December. Last-minute imbroglios are not uncommon, however, when it comes to getting into the WTO. Accession has looked good before. The most recent stumbling block was Georgia, which was the last WTO member to object to Moscow joining the free trade alliance. The former Soviet republic insisted on some form of Georgia-sanctioned customs controls on the borders between Russia and Abkhazia, as well as Russia and South Ossetia. The two regions unequivocally broke away from Geor-

Barack Obama and the E.U. leaders believe that WTO membership will open up Russia. gia in August 2008 as a result of the Georgian-Russian war.

Since then, Moscow has recognized them as sovereign states, while most of the world considers them to be parts of the Georgian state.

President Barack Obama and the European Union leaders believe that WTO membership will ultimately open Russia up to the world and ease difficulties that American and European businesses are experiencing there.

So the E.U. leaned heavily on the Georgian government, essentially forcing the country to accept a Swiss-brokered compromise. There will be some notional customs system in place on the Russian-Abkhaz and Russian-South Ossetian frontiers, which no one believes to be anything but a fig leaf covering the recognition of Russia’s protectorate over the two breakaway republics.

So is it a political victory for the Kremlin? Yes. Is it enthusiastic about the WTO membership? Probably not. It would have been a disaster for Russia’s reputation if the country refused to join after nearly two decades of tough negotiations. And it would have left the country badly isolated from the world marketplace.

However, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, almost sure to be president again, has long been suspicious of the WTO membership, because it limits the Kremlin’s total control of the Russian economy. Now the Kremlin can write its own rules

THE ORPHAN FACTORY Boris Altshuler SPECIAL TO RN

I

n Russia, there is a widespread trend of separating children from parents, much more so than in other countries. The rights of troubled parents are signed away with relative ease. Their children are known as social orphans.

There are fewer children today than there were 10 years ago because of a shrinking population generally. In 1998, there were 22 million high school graduates in the country; in 2010, there were 12.8 million, a drop of 42 percent in 12 years.

Yet there are more than 100,000 new orphans in Russia every year (more than 300 a day). About one quarter of these children are swelling the populations of orphanages, while the rest are being placed in the care of close relatives.

In 2009, the permanent population of child-care institutions was more than 300,000.

Almost 100,000 of them had no parents, while the rest had been voluntarily “surrendered” by their parents to the state because the children had health problems or because the family was poor or dysfunctional.

The list of family problems in-

DMITRY DIVIN

Edward Lozansky

THE THIRD ANGLE

In Russia, children with special needs are not allowed to study together with other children.

The orphan factories exist because of the appalling state of social services.

cludes drug addiction and alcoholism but is topped by poverty, which in Russia affects children above all.

The underlying cause of this “orphan factory” is the appalling state of the social services available to a family in distress.

Hundreds of thousands of families with disabled children have the worst of it: Nobody helps them, and there is no support.

Rather, officials press them to put their child in a state-run boarding school.

Russia traditionally has gigantic boarding schools with hundreds of children. Russians reg-

ularly read shocking reports about children’s rights violations in these closed warehouses. Significant legislative efforts and other initiatives based on the best Russian and world practices have been put forward many times and received support at the top political level in the country. Somehow, this help has not yet reached our children.

Yet the billions of budget dollars annually funneled into supporting children’s boarding schools make this orphan factory system incredibly stable.

Another problem is segregation in the educational realm.

Children with special educational needs (for reasons of poor health, poor knowledge of Russian) cannot cope with the basic curriculum, cannot study together with other children and are likely to be transferred to special (correctional) classes and boarding schools.

The final link in this chain of educational isolation is children’s homes for mentally handicapped children (DDIs), which are not educational institutions at all. The widespread practice is over-diagnosis of mental disability, which “buries alive” many children, who are simply excluded from the life.

Some cases have been reported of children with official-

for foreign investors and re-write them when needed. The accession would introduce an independent framework of rules, regulations and dispute resolution schemes, which are difficult if not outright impossible to change or bypass. This will weaken the government’s firm hold on the economy. Putin is in no rush as he prepares to assume presidency once again.

That is the reason for prolonged transitional periods for some of the Russian industries, allowing them to lower tariffs and open up the market for competition over the next 5-10 years. This is especially relevant for the energy industry, as Gazprom will be allowed to continue selling gas on the domestic market at reduced prices — one of the key elements of keeping social stability (and voting patterns) in favor of Putin’s team.

Russia is joining the WTO under fairly lenient terms, and this may disappoint some potential investors.

However, looking ahead a decade or so, Brussels and Washington may be right about the long-term benefits for foreign investors in Russia, who from now on will have more ammunition to defend their positions once they have a stake in Russia. Also, many of the Russian companies abroad found it difficult to invest in Europe and America because of protectionist hurdles. Now they can appeal to the WTO rules. Although, I think, that with state

It is to the Russian government’s credit that it has chosen a path beyond nativism. behemoths like Gazprom, a lot of suspicion would still linger as to their real intentions. But, funny as it may seem, Russian businesses will also be able to take their own government to task — for example, if it tries to dictate their choice of foreign partners.

It will be a long and messy story, no doubt, but it is to the Russian government’s credit that having spent so much time and effort trying to keep Russia aloof and separate from the rest of the world, on WTO it has chosen to tread a different path beyond its nativist instincts.

Konstantin von Eggert is a commentator and host for radio Kommersant FM, Russia’s first 24-hour news station. He was a diplomatic correspondent for Izvestia and later BBC Russian Service Moscow Bureau editor-inchief. He was also once vice president of ExxonMobil Russia.

ly hopeless diagnoses being taken out of DDIs by families.

After some time and with encouragement, they were perfectly able to study in an ordinary school with ordinary children.

In January 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved the national education initiative “Our New School,” which puts an end to the above-mentioned traditional segregation in education.

For more than a year now, the nation has been discussing the new draft law called “On Education,” which is designed to implement the presidential initiative. The legislative process reached a stalemate, however, because educational conservatives have been vocal against it.

The measures to solve these problems are obvious and should be a priority: The country desperately needs social housing and food assistance for the poor involving the production of staple food items. Social services in Russia must be oriented toward helping families with children at their place of residence, if possible, without taking the child away from the parents. Yet so far, all attempts to implement the sobadly needed reforms inevitably run up against a wall of corruption and monopoly.

Boris Altshuler is the chairman of the board of the regional NGO Right of the Child and a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

MOST READ From Punk Rocker to Holy Fool

Reflections

RUSSIA NOW

rbth.ru/13725

SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA WWW.RBTH.RU

READ RUSSIA

LIGHTS FROM THE UNDERGROUND F

or five decades, Norton Dodge collected Russia’s unofficial artists, creating the largest collection of Russian Noncomformist art. At the height of the Cold War, beginning in 1955, Dodge visited the Soviet Union frequently as

an economist studying women in the labor force. But his focus shifted, and he spent much of his time with artists, often at apartment exhibitions.

He also started buying art and smuggling the works out. He found he was quite good at it,

rolling them up inside posters and rugs. Dodge died on Nov. 5 at the age of 84. Many of the more than 20,000 works by 1,000 artists Dodge purchased and smuggled out are accessible to the public, because he and his wife, Nancy Dodge, do-

nated the entire collection to Rutgers University. The art from 1956-1986 — from the time of Khruschchev’s Thaw to Gorbachev’s Glasnost — are cataloged as part of the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers. The university now has a program to

RN HAS LAUNCHED THE COLUMN READ RUSSIA, WHICH FEATURES AUTHORS AND NOVELS TO BE PRESENTED AT BOOKEXPO AMERICA IN NEW YORK CITY JUNE 4-7, 2012, WHERE RUSSIA WILL BE THE GUEST OF HONOR.

study unofficial art of the Soviet Union because of this treasure. Some of it was easy to get out of the U.S.S.R. At times, the Ministry of Culture was only too happy to stamp the art, now worth six to seven figures, as “worthless.”

ABSURDISTAN, PELEVIN-STYLE Phoebe Taplin SPECIAL TO RN

THE NORTON I KNEW Mark Kelner SPECIAL TO RN

I

NIYAZ KARIM

t was dumb luck that he lived just south of Washington, about an hour’s drive from where I lived, depending on traffic. In 2001, I began to write him letters. No response. I became annoyed, and he got more letters. No response. By 2004, I realized that he didn’t open his own mail. I then called and got the most peculiar answering machine recording of his voice: “You’ve reached Norton and Nancy Dodge, please leave a message. If you’re asking for money or selling something, please use the mail.”

Beeeeep. I immediately knew that we were meant to be friends.

“Professor Dodge, my name is …” No response. No call back.

By 2005, it was time to get creative.

Having a mom who worked in the press helped. A colleague at Voice of America assigned a TV crew to film a segment about Norton at his home, Cremona Farm. I volunteered to be an unnecessary, unpaid “production assistant” for the day. We arrived in a van, and armed with a tripod, I popped out, and spoke in rapid-fire succession…

“Professor Dodge, my name is Mark Kelner and I’ve been writing you these letters and leaving you these messages and I work in a gallery and I’m doing this museum show in D.C. and the work is right up your alley and would you come?”

“I’d be happy to,” he replied, in a typical gesture of generosity and earnestness, unusually uncommon for busy people, to say nothing of living legends. I had read his books. Been to see

Above all, Norton was as much of an artist as those he collected. Collecting was his creative act. his namesake collection at the Zimmerli Art Museum on many occasions. So, yes, I modestly stalked him, but with the best of intentions. The result was the genesis of a deep friendship, despite a 47-year age difference, that lasted until the final days of his life.

If he had a doctor’s appointment downtown, we’d meet up for lunch following it. If I had an opening, he’d be there,

dressed in his signature colorful tie. I’d visit the farm often and do research in the library.

That he happened to be famous quickly became an afterthought.

I started collecting baseball cards at seven. As a kid, he collected rocks and bottle caps. We met concerning fine art, but our relationship was much more about asking questions and answering them with more questions. And we could keep it up for hours.

If Norton would call, I’d know to budget at least an hour to answer as he could easily go off on tangents, all the while forgetting why he called in the first place. If he left a voicemail, it was usually four minutes long and he’d be cut off mid-sen-

tence by default. My questions soon became more personal.

He was deeply emotional when talking about art and meeting artists, savvy in his praise, always learning. He taught me forever to be a student. He was generous beyond bounds in support of all artists, under the most impossible of circumstances. Above all, Norton was as much of an artist as those he collected.

Collecting was his creative act.

While others would see the enormity of his collection, he would concern himself with the gaps — in geography, dates and media. It was never-ending, and for me, it became infectious. In him, I found a mentor and a

best friend. It was the most natural thing to discover paintings in or out of his collection and get his take on them, which usually would blow my mind. Often times, I’d keep him posted as to who’s doing what these days, or update him on current events in the world of Russian art.

Most exciting to me was the crossover effect of artists he collected from the 1960s to the 1980s, artists who are now considered staples of international contemporary art — Erik Bulatov and Oleg Vassiliev, among other names. Most exciting to him were the recent acquisitions of some obscure Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani artists no one’s ever heard of but are now a part of the broader and ever-expanding Dodge Collection.

A few days before he passed, I had called with good news.

“Norton, you won’t believe what happened! I’ve been asked to give a talk about Russian art at St. Mary’s College. I met a guy at some art party.

He had a beagle. I liked his beagle. So we got to talking. He teaches a class. Knew about you and the collection. Said he got interested in art after seeing some of your pieces there. He was deeply moved I knew what he was talking about.”

Norton got the point way before I ever made one, having been a Trustee there since 1968 and lecturing for years until 1988, his endowments still support academic excellence in both students and faculty.

“You need to grow out a walrus-style mustache, as I had one, so as to continue the tradition,” he said.

Norton embraced humor with grace. He abhorred sports.

Was the ultimate backseat driver. And was the easiest person to love—fully, unconditionally and, like him, wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve.

Mark Kelner is a Washington, D.C.-based art dealer and collector of Russian art.

TITLE: THE HALL OF THE SINGING CARYATIDS AUTHOR: VICTOR PELEVIN PUBLISHER: NEW DIRECTIONS

I

n this surreal story by the Russian master of postmodern science fiction, Victor Pelevin, young Lena is employed to stand naked for hours at a time and sing — when they are not indulging the excessive fantasies of oligarchs. She and her fellow “caryatids” are decorative pillars in an elite underground nightclub. The girls are injected with a classified serum, ‘Mantis-B,’ which enables them to stand totally still for up to two days. Lena’s encounters with a giant, telepathic praying mantis, while under the influence of the serum, radically alter her perspective on the outside world, revealing an alternative universe of wordless clarity.

In true postmodern style, Pelevin intersperses these druginduced episodes with other voices. There are the pseudopretentious extracts from Counterculture magazine that Lena reads in the minibus back to Moscow. She also meets concept artists, girls dressed as mermaids, important clients in bathrobes, guards in suits, and the sinister, ironic-slogan-toting Uncle Pete.

Pelevin has been perplexing and delighting readers with his unique brand of polyphonic scifi comedy for more than two decades now. His first novel, Omon Ra, published in 1992, portrays a protagonist attempt-

THE LANDSCAPE OF MEMORY Nora FitzGerald SPECIAL TO RN

R

Brief History of the Underground Artist

COURTESY OF TMORA

ussian artist Oleg Vassiliev gives memory a voice. Often he begins with a personal memory — of his family, a home, a road, even a field.

Then he recreates the vision, one that echoes all the more as he experiments with light and space.

Vassiliev, who was born in Moscow in 1931, represents a generation of Russian artists who rejected the narrowly defined, state-sponsored Socialist Realism of the U.S.S.R. and created their own work, underground.

“Although his painting and drawings start with the specific and the personal, Vassiliev is able to turn those events and images into something universal,” said Natalia Kolodzei, head of the Kolodzei Art Foundation, which has offered longtime support for Russian artists in an era of great upheaval and has amassed a collection of 7,000 works.

Kolodzei said that Vassiliev invites “the viewer to explore the landscape of memory.”

Some of his works appear political as well as personal. In 1980, Vassiliev created an emblematic cover for Ogonyk magazine that also became a well-known painting. The work portrays a speaker at a Politburo meeting, but Vassiliev ob-

Vassiliev, born in Moscow in 1931, wrote, “The river of time carries me further and further.”

scures the face with a colorsuffused intersection of light beams. The effect is startling, and somehow beautiful. But it also evokes the Stalinist-era exorcism of politicians from photographs. They were erased once they fell out of favor, were imprisoned or purged. Ogonyk was shown in the “Russia!” exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in 2005.

A retrospective of Vassiliev’s body of work is currently un-

The Russian Noncomformists, as they are called, lived secret artistic lives in their tiny apartments. Occasionally, they had underground shows. Even more rare were visits by foreigners — like the eminent and fearless collector Norton Dodge. Formal exhibitions were mostly out of the question.

The young Vassiliev did manage to show his work at the Bluebird Café in Moscow in 1968, the same café where his contemporaries Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid honed their ironic yet passionate parodies of Socialist Realism, creating a genre that grew up and became known as Sots Art. Vassiliev attended art school in Moscow. Like his friend Ilya Kabakov, he put food on the table with his work as a chil-

dren’s book illustrator. Only when he immigrated did he make his living as an artist. In recent years, he has sold works for as high as a million dollars at auction.

Dozens of artists went into voluntary exile in the 1970s and 1980s, but not all of them fared as well as Vassiliev. There was a heady time when interest in Russia was high, but the passion, for many, also waned.

Many of the artists experienced a shock of culture, language and identity.

In the book, “Oleg Vassiliev: Memory Speaks,” Natalia Kolodzei wrote that “after he moved to the United States, Vassiliev found that his urge to capture what was close and important to him became stronger, the further he was from his friends and memories.”

Vassiliev kept creating, and weathered the crises of identity and vision while others did not. He also stayed true to his rather distinct vision. “The river of time carries me further and further,” he wrote, “and vivid moments immersed in golden light remain on the banks.”

The past is never dead, as William Faulkner said (and Vassiliev painted). Thanks to art, memory survives. Only history will tell how much artists like Vassiliev contributed to the opening and collapse of the system that repressed them.

Nora FitzGerald was the Moscow correspondent for ARTnews and is a guest editor for RN.

ing to escape the Soviet nightmare by becoming a cosmonaut, only to find himself part of a farcical, mock-heroic moon landing during which he drives his lunar bike along a derelict underground tunnel.

While the political landscape may seem to have altered seismically around him, Pelevin has had no trouble shifting his satirical focus from the absurdities of the communist regime to the iniquitous consumerism of post-Soviet Russia. Pelevin’s most recent book, Pineapple Water for a Beautiful Lady, has just been short-listed for the Nose literary prize.

There are interesting parallels between the different worlds of Pelevin’s novels: both Omon and Lena are victims of the systems they live under, duped by the authorities and kept, literally and metaphorically, in the dark. The building of a secret entertainment complex for the top politicians and businessmen living in Rublyovka, Moscow’s most prestigious village, echoes the real-life construction of Stalin’s wartime bunker, where a whole sports’ stadium was constructed above ground to distract attention. Pelevin’s fantastical nightclub is built a thousand feet underground to double as “a bomb shelter for the national elite in case of war or terrorist attacks.”

A hired “ideologist” tells the assembled sex workers that “enemies” are trying to brainwash them with a sense of economic injustice by printing photographs of oligarchs like Abramovich and Prokhorov and describing their freakish whims.

A brilliant, miniature gem, this novella introduces the absurdist Pelevin perfectly.

EXPAT FILES

THE KITCHEN DEBATE Jennifer Eremeeva SPECIAL TO RN

derway at The Museum of Russian Art (TMORA) in Minneapolis. The museum is a rare space in the center of America devoted to Russian art; the show features new Vassiliev pieces, including recent etchings, as well as those created during the height of the Cold War. “Many of the works for this exhibition are being shown in the United States for the first time, and more than a few are being exhibited for the first time anywhere,” said Kolodzei, who is also lending works for the show.

05

H

RH (my “Handsome Russian Husband”) and I go through a quaint ritual each Sunday night in Moscow: I cook something nice, and we settle down to watch Vesti Nedelyia, Channel 2’s weekly news round-up program. To my way of thinking, there isn’t a lot of news in it, unless you count a national costume festival cum reindeer race in the Republic of Komi as news, which I don’t, and if pressed, neither does HRH. If you had to rely on this crowd for real news, you’d be in big trouble.

I get most of my news via podcasts, which I download and listen to while I’m cooking.

“I feel we should move our money,” I said to HRH during a commercial break, as we tucked into a stir-fry, assembled during a love fest between Rachel Maddow and Michael Moore, which had brought me up to speed on the Occupy Wall Street developments.

“Move it where?” asked HRH, who associates moving money with armored vehicles and a couple of dropouts from the Russian army with buzz cuts and ear pieces.

“It’s an Occupy Wall Street thing,” I explained, “yesterday, they encouraged everyone to move their money from big banks to smaller local savings and banks or credit unions. I think we should do it.”

“Why would we want to do that?” asked HRH. “We are VIP clients at our bank. I don’t want to move.”

“We need to stand in solidarity with the 99 percent,” I explained patiently. “The ones who aren’t VIP clients at their bank.”

“Why?” asked HRH, “I like

being the 1 percent. Don’t you?”

“Dar-ling,” I said patiently, “the 99 percent are the good guys. It’s the Wall Street fat cats who are the bad guys. The protesters are trying to introduce a financial transaction tax to level the playing field.”

“Fantastic,” said HRH, raised in the best Marxist-Leninist tradition. “We had that political system — Communism. Didn’t work out too well. You can’t think a financial transaction tax is a good idea.”

“What do I look like to you — the short stop of the Citigroup softball team?” I retorted. “It’s a teeny tiny tax — like 1 percent of 1 cent on every dollar for these gazillion dollar transactions: Mergers & Acquisitions and stuff like that.”

“And where would the money go?” asked HRH. He had me there. Rachel and Michael were for it, as was Obama, so it must be a good thing.

“It’s…well, it’s designed to ultimately benefit the global…you know, poor,” I argued meekly.

“Listen, Bill Gates and the Pope are in favor of it.”

“Bill Gates can afford it,” said HRH, “and I thought you said the Pope was a male chauvinist.”

Vesti Nedelya resumed in the nick of time, with an update on Boris Berezovsky’s attempt to sue Russia’s richest oligarch, Roman Abramovich, for $5 billion over some oil shares. HRH grimaced, feeling as many Russians do that this is too much dirty laundry hanging on Britain’s clothesline.

“How does this transaction tax work again?” he asked.

Jennifer Eremeeva is a a freelance writer and longtime resident of Moscow. She is the curator of the culinary blog, www.moscovore. com, and the humor blog www.russialite.com.

06

Feature

RUSSIA NOW

MOST READ Lights on at the Bolshoi! rbth.ru/13675

SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA WWW.RBTH.RU

Travel A magnificent European city opens expansively onto the ancient Baltic Sea

Inside St. Petersburg’s Soul Peter the Great wanted foreigners arriving on cargo and passenger ships from all over the world to be struck immediately by the city’s grandeur and beauty, which is why the waterfront is the city’s magnificent face. It is the most romantic waterfront on the Baltic Sea. Taking a boat out at twilight, the sense of sea-meetssky openness is so powerful and in such contrast to the yellow lights of the cityscape. It evokes a sense of wonder.

Often referred to as “Venice of the north,” St. Petersburg consists of a network of canals surrounding 101 islands.

“A ride along the rivers and canals is a must for every visitor to St. Petersburg,” said Yana Khrustovskaya, head of a local travel agency. “Our tourists are amazed by the harmonious view of the city from the water.”

At night, the interplay of light and shadow emphasizes St. Petersburg’s impressive architecture. If you take a boat to the middle of the Neva River at about 2 a.m., you can watch the world-famous sight of the drawbridges being raised to allow the passage of the huge liners that cruise here every summer night.

Bookworm’s Day Dream Fyodor Dostoyevsky is inseparably linked with St. Petersburg.

In fact, the city celebrated his 190th annivesary this month.

Literary scholars say that St. Petersburg figures in about twothirds of Dostoyevsky’s writing — both as the setting and also as a protagonist. The homes of his characters and places associated with the writer’s life can be found on maps and many travel firms offer Dostoyevsky-themed tours.

“The writer lived here for 28 years and moved apartments 20 times, which is why so many addresses are linked to his name,” said Valery Fridman, director of the Mir travel agency.

Palkin: A Taste of the Old City First opened in 1785, Palkin restaurant’s patrons included Dostoyevsky, Leskov, Chekhov, Mendeleyev and Tchaikovsky. Gourmets can enjoy food that was served to the imperial court, with dishes such as stewed rabbit in sour cream and crayfish tails with avacado and caviar, plus a choice of 120 wines from France, Italy and Chile. Since its 2002 restoration by the Hermitage museum, the restaurant boasts shining chandeliers, frescoes on the walls and snow-white tablecloths.

Live music and regular cultural events are all part of the experience.

“This is not our first evening at Palkin’s ... we simply want a repeat of the experience we usually enjoy here,” said Russian director and screenwriter Valery Todorovsky.

One can find the drama and history of the city through the eyes of Dostoyevsky alone. hanged. After he became acquainted with revolutionaries and joined their secret society, he was arrested on a tip-off, incarcerated in the Peter and Paul Fortress and sentenced to death along with other members. On Dec. 22, 1849, he was brought, along with 20 other convicts, to Semyonovsky Platz, which was the place of public executions.

“I have told tourists this story countless times, and each time it sends a chill down my spine,” said Elena Yakovchenko, a guide with the Mir travel agency.

“Three pillars were put up on the square and the conspirators were to be hanged. While waiting his turn, a messenger arrived with a new sentence: death by hanging was commuted to four years’ hard labor.”

After serving his term, Dostoyevsky lived in Moscow for a while before returning to St. Petersburg and settling on Stolyarny Pereulok, where he wrote his most famous novel, Crime and Punishment.

PRESS SERVICE

SPECIAL TO RN

A view of the Palace Square: St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad, is called the “Venice of the North.”

on the quay of the Fontanka river, opposite the Circus, you overlook a junction where, in the evening, the winding projections of the car headlights undulate and interweave with the river boat lights, a synchronized dance that qualifies as a hypnotic performance.

Near Mokhovaya Street, the landscape is quite different. On the horizon, the illuminated cupolas of the great cathedrals — Kazan, Saint Isaac’s, Our Savior on Spilled Blood — as well as the spire of The Admiralty are all aligned, the cathedrals like golden balls set along the tops of the roofs.

Dmitri, a guide, said that his favorite area panorama of the city can be viewed from above the historic heart: Nevsky prospect, the Fontanka river, the Griboedov canal, Sennaya Square, Vasilievsky Island and, above all, the Petrogradskaya area, which has infinite potential and offers hours of roaming without touching the ground.

Romance From Up High A tour of St. Petersburg’s rooftops offers magnificent views of the landscape and the monuments.

At least four roofs can be reached on a three-hour excursion in the historic heart of the city; tourists get a different perspective from each one.

From the six-storey building

Historic Hotel at City’s Heart St. Petersburg’s Europe Hotel, close to the famous Nevsky Prospekt, is steeped in historical atmosphere and aristocratic charm.

ALEXANDRA KHAZINA RUSSIA NOW

Since the 19th century, foreign celebrities, acclaimed artists, bankers and merchants stayed at the Europe Hotel in the heart of St. Petersburg.

The building at the intersection of Mikhailovskaya and Italyanskaya Streets is a landmark in itself. In the early 19th century, there were two guest houses — the Rogov house and the Klee house. The hotel and inn were co-owned with the French merchant Coulon and bore the French name “La Russie.” After a devastating fire, the hotel was bought and rebuilt by the Swiss

PRESS SERVICE

JULIA PETROVA, PAULINE NARYCHKINA AND MARINA GARINA

The Dostoyevsky tour begins at his memorial apartment on Kuznechny Pereulok, where he worked on his last novel, The Brothers Karamazov.

Mikhailovsky Castle once housed the engineering school where Dostoyevsky was enrolled in 1838. The castle itself was built at the behest of Emperor Paul, son of Catherine the Great, as a shelter where conspirators could not get at him. Ironically, he was murdered at the castle in 1801.

Semyonovsky Platz is where Dostoyevsky was almost

FOCUSPICTURES

Russia’s Northern Capital celebrated legendary writer Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 190th anniversary on November 11.

architect Ludwig Fontana and opened in 1875 under the name Hotel Europa.

The hotel overlooks the city’s best known architectural ensemble: Ploshchad Iskusstv (Arts Square). Within 20 minutes’ walk of the hotel is the glorious Winter Palace, the longtime home of the State Her-

mitage Museum, an internationally renowned venue with more artifacts than you can see in a lifetime. (But worth trying for its Rembrandts, Caravaggios and Da Vincis.) Many other landmarks are within easy walking distance: The Church of Savior on Spilled Blood, where Emperor Alexander II

was assassinated, and the Kazan Cathedral built to commemorate the victory over Napoleon.

The hotel is quiet, but in the midst of the bustling cultural center: The people you meet on Mikhailovskaya Street are either hurrying to a play, an opera or concert at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the Musical Comedy Theatre or the Shostakovich State Philharmonic. Nearby, one can also find a contemporary exhibition at the Russian Museum, or simply stroll in the gardens. It is customary to have a drink at the legendary Stray Dog café, the haunt of early 20th-century intellectuals after the Revolution: a glittering if doomed crowd of Acmeists, Symbolists and artists, including Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelshtam and Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Culture Valery Gergiev emerged in the early 1990s as a charismatic leader rising above chaos

Russian conductor Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Theater Orchestra have been agressively exporting littleknown music and the best musicians.

AYANO HODOUCHI SPECIAL TO RN

Valery Gergiev and the Marriinsky Theatre have come a long way since they brought Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky to the United States for the first time in 1992. For the past two decades, Gergiev has been aggressively exporting Russian music and musicians to the West. Gergiev and his orchestra recently completed a three-week tour of North America, performing 18 concerts across the continent.

Gergiev emerged in the early ‘90s after the fall of the Soviet Union as a charismatic and energetic leader among the chaos.

In the 1990s, state support

for the arts dwindled and theaters floundered, losing some of their best talent as those who could, left the country to make a living. Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre had been protected under the Soviet regime. The country’s best talents were ushered towards Moscow. The Bolshoi was powerless to stop the exodus once the regime fell.

Drained of both cash and talent, the once-famed Bolshoi took a backseat to the Mariinsky Theatre under Gergiev.

Gergiev wanted to turn the Mariinsky into an internationally renowned brand, and he started by releasing a few recordings with Philips — Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet in 1991 and an opera, Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina, the next year. Several more opera recordings followed, all of them unfamiliar in the West.

It was as much a renaissance of forgotten Russian operas as a renaissance of the Mariinsky

REUTERS/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Gergiev Vision for Mariinsky Overshadows Bolshoi Opening

Rumors that Gergiev could direct the Bolshoi persist.

Since 1992, the company and Gergiev have been aggressively exporting music.

Theatre itself. Rimsky-Korsakov’s jewels such as “Sadko” and “The Maid of Pskov” showcased the traditional genre, while Gergiev pushed the envelope with daring productions of obscure Prokofiev operas such as “The Fiery Angel” and “The Gam-

Discover a whole new world

Find out the frequencies in your area

http://english.ruvr.ru

Don't miss our "Photo of the day" on Facebook!

www.facebook.com/russianow

be i r c s Sub

bler.” The company’s tours abroad were met with rave reviews.

Aspiring singers headed to St. Petersburg rather than to Moscow, which was losing its position. Some of the biggest names in the business today came out

Catch the vibes of Moscow Moscow will keep you partying all night long and, if you’re up to it, several days in a row...

to our weekly newsletter www.rbth.ru/subscribe

of the Mariinsky. Olga Borodina, while still a student, was recruited to sing Khovanschina’s leading female role Marta, and Anna Netrebko also got her start there.

The Bolshoi made tentative efforts to follow the Mariinsky’s path, but met with little success. A disastrous production of “The Gambler” forced the newly appointed music director to resign the day after its premier in 2001 — starting a notoriously revolving door. This season, a daring Bolshoi staging of the fairytale “Ruslan and Lyudmilla” provoked the audience into shouts of “Shame!” and “Out of the Bolshoi!” from the audience.

However, both theaters now face the same challenge — the restored Bolshoi has added 1,750 seats to Moscow, and Mariinsky Theatre’s second stage is expected to add a similar number.

So far, Gergiev does not seem overly concerned. “I’m not worried about the future of classical music,” he said. “Some people are ready to hear the power of music. We don’t have to worry about 6 billion people not being madly in love with classical music. Maybe there are just 100 million [who love it]. We just have to do it well.”

www.rbth.ru/blogs

“Both the Mariinsky and Bolshoi operate as if they are repertoire theaters, and that’s pretty hard to do nowadays,” American music critic George Loomis pointed out. Most opera companies today collect guest artists. “The Bolshoi is doing Rosenklavier soon, and I don’t think that’s an opera they have singers for.”

The direction of the newly resplendent Bolshoi is still unclear. The theater’s schedule for the next three months indicate that for now they are rotating the few productions that they have.

Rumors that Gergiev could or should take over the Bolshoi persist. Loomis remarked that the idea of Gergiev eventually wresting both theaters under his control “in a kind of reuniting of the old imperial theaters” never seems to go away.

But the master is already stretched: The Gergiev who aroused North America to a frenzy of admiration is not the Gergiev that Russian audiences groan about because he is late for his own performance or the orchestra is under-rehearsed. He may be called a superconductor, but he is not superman.

Read more at www.rbth.ru/13790

CONTACT US

For editorial inquiries, please, contact us@rbth.ru For partnership or advertising contact sales@rbth.ru ph. +7 (495) 7753114