Russia Now #6 WP

A product by RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES Distributed with

Sukhoi Superjet: Can it Still Fly? P. 2

Opinion

Culture

U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul’s First 100 Days in Moscow

Baryshnikov and Krymov, a Powerful Collaboration

P. 4

PRESS PHOTO

Economy

© GRIGORY SYSOYEV_RIA NOVOSTI

www.rbth.ru

P. 5

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

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Campaign Did early boasting by the administration about the reset invite Republican attacks?

NEWS IN BRIEF

Romney Keeps the Gloves Off

New Government, Old Guard?

The formation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s new cabinet was announced late last month.

While the appointments held few surprises, experts like Anders Aslund writing in the Moscow Times noted it had the most “new” faces of any government in modern Russian history – 20 of the 28 positions have new occupants. The youngest member is 29-year-old IT and Communications Minister Nikolay Nikifirov. Russian pundits are now debating whether this wave of new faces will usher in long-stalled economic reforms or if real power will remain in the hands of the old guard.

Mitt Romney stays confrontational on Russia for now, but observers say that could change if he makes it to the Oval Office.

ALEXANDER GASYUK SPECIAL TO RN

Buranovo Grannies Take 2nd Place at Eurovision

ITAR-TASS

REUTERS/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Now that Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has the GOP candidacy behind him, the former governor of Massachusetts is ready to broaden his challenge to incumbent President Barack Obama on a range of foreign affairs.

Romney set the stage by depicting Russia as America’s “number one geopolitical foe.”

Advised primarily by veterans of the Reagan administration and both Bush administrations, he is poised to step up his attacks not only on Obama’s overall approach to foreign policy but also the much-malignedby-the-right reset, GOP observers told Russia Now. Since public opinion polls show that President Barack Obama enjoys a significant advantage in public confidence when it comes to handling America’s foreign policy, it is not at all surprising that the Republican nominee’s task is to undercut this advantage.

But how come Russia (even more than China and Iran) has so far turned out to be the centerpiece of Mitt Romney’s antiObama electoral crusade on foreign policy?

Leon Aron is the director of Russian Studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and one of the Romney’s foreign policy advisers.

In an interview with Russia Now, Aron said that “Russia hit the center of electoral debates and Mitt Romney’s interests pretty unexpectedly.”

It was a mistake on the part of the Obama administration to herald the reset policy with Russia as a brilliant foreign policy accomplishment, Aron said, adding that the boasting “invited Republican attacks.”

The controversial “hot mic”

“Russia is America’s number one geopolitical foe,” GOP nominee Mitt Romney said. Foreign policy experts were bemused to see Russia at the top of the list.

conversation between then-President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama in Seoul didn’t help matters any. Obama’s request to Medvedev “for more flexibility” was a lucky moment for the GOP that sparked Romney’s confrontational rhetoric.

President of the Center for the National Interest Dimitri Simes agrees that the current U.S. administration has mistakenly “politicized Russia policy and exaggerated its successes.”

Given the sharp disagreements between the United States and Russia on Syria, which is now careening toward civil war, Republicans will harshly criticize every attempt by Obama to further emphasize any prog-

ress in bilateral relations. “Some realism regarding U.S.-Russia relations would be constructive for the White House if it wants to avoid Republican attacks,” Simes told Russia Now. But this doesn’t mean that presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, if elected, will transform his public anti-Russian statements into political practice.

“I believe that most likely Governor Romney believes in the statements he made, but that does not mean that in practice this rhetoric will be his guide for action,” Simes said.

“Many statements from the GOP candidates including those on foreign affairs surely have to be taken in the context of the

political and electoral reality in the U.S.,” Aron said.

“It is not only possible, but highly probable,” that Mitt Romney’s views on Russia will evolve if he is elected, Simes said.

American political history is rife with examples of strategic U-turns that begin the morning after the inauguration balls.

When Dwight Eisenhower ran for president, his advisers—such as the famous John Foster Dulles—spoke of Harry Truman’s “cowardly” policy of containment of the Soviet Union and called for the speedy liberation of Eastern Europe. However President Eisenhower instead started the process of normalizing relations through person-

al meetings with Nikita Khrushchev in 1955 and 1959.

President Richard Nixon was viewed as a leading anti-Communist, but it was Nixon who found the way toward detente.

Nixon made the first-ever trip by an American president to then-Communist Russia in 1972, but also opened the door to dialogue with Communist China.

No one should be too surprised that Mitt Romney, if elected, might rethink his position.

When needed for supply routes, Russia is no longer America’s “number one geopolitical foe.”

As a president, many observers believe he would take a more realistic approach to handling bilateral ties.

They still use wells to get water in the village of Buranovo. And you have to stoke the furnace if you want to keep the house warm or make dinner. When the Buranovskie Babushki (“Buranovo Grandmothers”) became Russia’s entrants to this year’s Eurovision contest, reports flocked to the tiny village where they had lived for over 70 years. And when they took second place overall, many questioned what makes them so appealing – they did show that active life and beauty don’t have to end with old age. When asked if they would like to trade their village life for Russia’s affluent capital city, they said in unison that they feel sorry for the poor Muscovites stuck in traffic jams and smog. The Buranovo Grannies are currently planning a world tour.

Read more about grannies at rbth.ru/15739

Internet Overtakes TV The monthly audience of Russia’s most popular search engine, Yandex (which IPOed on the NASDAQ last year), has overtaken that of the country’s No. 1 TV network (“Channel 1”) for the first time in history.

In April, Yandex was visited by 19.1 million people every day, while Channel 1’s daily viewership was at 18.2 million people. This figure is the latest example of Russia’s broadband boom.

Military The first joint U.S. Russian anti-terror military drills soared

Parachute Jump Outreach Russian Airborne Troops jumped from planes and learned demolition techniques with American special forces in Colorado.

COMBINED REPORTS RUSSIA NOW

of staff. This agreement also envisions reciprocal joint exercises in Russia and plans are in place to send a handful of U.S. service members to Russia next year for similar training.

“This is the first time such an event is being held,” Col. Kucherenko stressed.

According to Fort Carson spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Osterholzer, twenty-two Russian soldiers were trained with their American counterparts. Russian military members have never before trained on a U.S. base, Pentagon officials told Russia Now. “For us it is helpful to know how Russians do medical evacuation and vice-versa,” Lt. Col. Steve Osterholzer said, adding that the primary goal for joint drills is “establishing relations.”

The U.S. military is interested

ITAR-TASS

Chulpan Khamatova: Philanthropist & Nobel Nominee RBTH.RU/15804 PRESS PHOTO

ITAR-TASS

The first joint anti-terror exercises involving Russian and U.S. forces in Colorado ended cinematically with the neutralization of terrorists.

“The main trophy included important documents and a large sum of money designed to pay for terrorist activities which were removed from the chief of the terrorist cell,” said Col. Alexander Kucherenko, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense.

When American Baby Boomers think of Russian paratroopers on American soil, they may

recall the Hollywood movie “Red Dawn,” in which the American heartland is occupied by the Soviet Union, and only Patrick Swayze and his high-school friends can fight the invaders.

Instead, the reset has found its way into military exercises.

For the first time, members of the elite Russian Airborne Troops (VDV) jumped out of American planes for parachute training two weeks ago. They also took part in mountaineering and demolition techniques training at Fort Carson in Colorado.

Fort Carson is home for the 4th Infantry Division as well as other U.S. Army units including the 10th Special Forces Airborne Group.

The maneuvers in Colorado were in accordance with the December agreement between the U.S. and Russian General chiefs

ONLY AT RBTH.RU

Russian paratroopers trained at Fort Carson, Colorado in May.

in interactions with the Russians not only in terms of counterterrorism cooperation, but also to establish mutual understanding for possible participation in humanitarian relief operations.

It seems remarkable to some who lived through the Cold War that Russian Blue Berets parachute jumped with Green Be-

rets from U.S. Special forces.

Members of the winged infantry (as paratroopers are often referred to in Russia) learned how jump training is performed stateside, Army Lt. Col. Osterholzer said. “Building the spirit of a comrade-in-arms relationship” starts with joint parachute jumps, he said.

American Volunteers Help Russian Orphans RBTH.RU/15801

2

Economy

RUSSIA NOW

MOST READ The crisis helped to launch business for the whole family rbth.ru/15733

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

E-Commerce Russia’s answer to Groupon wants to diversify its product offerings before the market for daily deals is saturated BUSINESS

Start-up Success Story: The Russian Groupon Wants to Make a Deal Texan Brian Konradi is part of the team behind one of Russia’s most successful new e-commerce ventures: the local answer to Groupon.

ARTEM ZAGORODNOV, BEN ARIS SPECIAL TO RN

Drawn by his Russian roots— his great-great-grandfather was a cabinet member under Tsar Nicholas II—and armed with a law degree from Georgetown University, Brian Konradi moved from Texas to Moscow in 2005 to work for law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP. Although Konradi found his work as an American lawyer in Moscow challenging, he still nurtured a longtime dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

While working in the Moscow offices of law firm DLA Piper, Konradi became acquainted with a group of investment bankers based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. “I did a deal with them representing a Canadian client;

they had great chemistry and leadership skills. I kind of kept in touch after that,” Konradi said of the men who would become his future employers.

The Uzbeks had heard of Groupon’s success in the United States, and in May 2010, “they decided this business model was right for Russia, hopped on a plane to Moscow and opened a daily deal site within weeks,” Konradi said.

And the American wanted in on the action. Konradi joined KupiKupon in November 2011 in the triple role of general counsel for global operations, senior vice president for business development and director of the KupiPodarok division.

KupiKupon earned $400,000 in its first seven months of operation; revenues hit $40 million in 2011 and it is predicted to take in $110 million this year.

“It’s no coincidence this business took off after the crisis hit,”

said Konradi. “Whether in Chicago or Moscow, we in the daily deal business offered companies a chance to drive traffic with no out-of-pocket expenses at a time when marketing budgets were slashed.”

Russia became the biggest Internet market in Europe in November of last year, and, according to Konradi, KupiKupon is “at the forefront of converting a large base of Internet users into e-commerce users.” “Over 45 percent of our shoppers are making an Internet purchase for the first time,” he said. “We’re an engine for generating a class of e-shoppers.”

Konradi sees both opportunity and great responsibility in this position. “Any first-time Internet shopper who has a bad experience is unlikely to return for some time,” he said, explaining KupiKupon’s social role. The company prides itself on having Russia’s best customer service department. “Try calling

anytime and you’ll wait no more than four seconds,” Konradi said. “It’s cheaper for us to refund a client who was unhappy with a meal at a restaurant and retain his or her business for the future than try to attract a new customer.”

In addition to the reluctance of some Russians to make purchases online, another challenge

is Russians’ longtime distrust of credit cards. In this country of 140 million people, there are only 11 million cards in circulation.

“Payment methods are a huge barrier to doing e-commerce in Russia,” Konradi said. “Most companies here have built their business on an old-fashioned C.O.D. (cash-on-delivery) model

Russian Internet Audience and Penetration

Analysts Ask: Can the Sukhoi Superjet Still Fly? The Superjet and its Competitors

GRIGORY SANIN, KONSTANTIN UGODNIKOV, VLADIMIR KRYUCHKOV ITOGI

Since Russia’s most advanced new aircraft, the Sukhoi Superjet 100, crashed in Indonesia, experts have been asking if the accident heralds disaster for the entire Russian aviation industry.

Globally, the market for medium-range aircraft is the most competitive, and the Superjet was intended to vault Russia to the top of that segment. In the aftermath of the crash, Russian aviation experts and foreign buyers alike are reassessing Russia’s prospects.

The investigation into the disaster had hardly begun when Indonesia’s Kartika Airlines, which specializes in domestic air travel, said it might postpone indefinitely its order for 30 Sukhoi aircraft. Kartika was the first company in Southeast Asia to buy the Superjet; it placed a $951 million order in July 2010. The first deliveries were expected in September.

As of press time, hard contracts were still in place for the delivery of 168 jets to Russian and foreign air carriers and there are preliminary contracts

SOURCE: “RUSSIAN TRANSPORT” MARKET GUIDE

and agreements of intent to buy about 130 Superjets from carriers in Spain, the United States and Thailand. Aviation analysts are divided over whether these contracts will be cancelled or whether the carriers will deal with the fallout of the crash in a different way.

“You involuntarily pay atten-

tion to the possible causes of the crash that were mentioned after the accident – engine failure, faults in the navigation and control systems... This is a clear signal that they will be seeking new discounts and concessions from the supplier. This is a normal situation for the market, especially the Asian market, where

you should benefit from your business partner’s mistakes,” said Ruslan Syroedov, who specializes in lease operations.

Boris Bychkov, general director of loss adjustment consultancy Airclaims CIS, said that in the long term, the crash will not have too much of an effect on the sales. “Longer-term busi-

ness projects are little affected by such incidents,” he said.

“The crash will not become a decisive factor for the buyers to terminate contracts... Public opinion may produce an impact, though, especially if we are talking about a company enjoying state support, as political motives can interfere. But

IN BRIEF

More Russian Firms Delay Scheduled IPOs

ITAR-TASS

An additional two high-profile Russian companies have decided to postpone IPOs planned for 2012. Russia’s second-largest mobile phone operator, Megafon, has delayed its London IPO from July to September, citing instability in the Eurozone. Megafon became skittish after seeing shares of its competitor, Vimpelcom, fall 16 percent since April.

Russian social network Vkontakte has also decided to put its share offering on hold, primarily because of the poor response to the recent Facebook IPO. Megafon and Vkontakte join airport operator Domodedovo and banking giant Sberbank in delaying public offerings this year.

IFC Decides to Invest in IT Infrastructure The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has decided to invest $2.6 million in a new business-focused data storage facility in Russia. The center, which will be built by IXcellerate, will be the largest vendor-neutral data center in the country. In making the announcement, Kent Lupberger, IFC Global Head of Telecom, Media and Technology, said, “IT infrastructure is increasingly important for economic development. IXcellerate’s new datacenter will contribute to a favorable business environment in the country.”

Russian Firm Wins Iraq Contract

SOURCE: J’SON & PARTNERS

Aviation Russian plane crash in Indonesia raises questions

Experts are divided over the prospects for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 after the tragic crash in Indonesia.

RUSLAN SUKHUSHIN

KupiKupon’s management: Djasur Djumaev, Brian Konradi, Komil Ruzaev, Shavkat Khatamov and Bek Kamilov.

that carries a big risk if the client decides not to buy a product after the company has spent a lot of money delivering it. We insist all payments be made online, but we accept all forms of e-payment, including Web money. One of the leading factors driving e-commerce is Russians’ changing mindset about the safety of electronic payment methods.”

Meanwhile, a war has broken out in Russia’s e-commerce space. KupiKupon has a 20 percent market share and is doing battle with the incumbent, U.S. daily-deal giant Groupon, which entered the market after Russian businessman Yury Milner bought a 5.13 percent stake in the company for a reported $75 million in the spring of 2010.

Milner owns Mail.ru, which services about eight out of every 10 emails sent in Russia. The exclusive in-body email advertising that Groupon gets as part of this partnership has allowed the U.S. company to surge ahead in the Russian e-commerce marketplace. According to market rumors, however, this exclusive deal is due to expire in September.

“We don’t need new money to get growth, but simply to keep ahead of the competition,” said Djasur Djumaev, one of KupiKupon’s founders. “Currently, the three main players are all growing very quickly, but we are eating into an untapped market. There is a ceiling on this noncompetitive growth, and there are about two years left until it is all gone. Then the only way to grow will be to eat into each other’s market share.”

Konradi wants to beat the competition by diversifying KupiKupon’s business. In addition to Konradi’s own division, KupiPodarok, which acts as a third-party reseller of gift cards, KupiKupon has also launched platforms KupiOtpusk (“buy a vacation”) and KupiMart (consumer goods) in the last year.

Konradi said, “Our goal is to become a diversified e-commerce group of companies operating in the whole of the post– Soviet territory.”

I can’t rule out that customers might want additional discounts.”

“Airbus also had problems during trial flights,” Bychkov said. “The A320 had a crash, and there were troubles with the A380. Boeing had a fire on board a Boeing-787 during trials, before the plane was supplied to Japan. The contracts remained in place.”

Ruslan Gusarov, editor-inchief of Avia.ru thinks that Sukhoi has reason to be concerned.

“There have been crashes that effectively put an end to new projects,” Gusarov said. “Take the Tu-144 crash in Le Bourget.

The plane never regained the trust of foreign buyers. So the accident in Indonesia might tarnish the image not only of the machine, but also the entire aviation industry in the country.”

For its part, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft will be doing its best to deliver the contracted planes.

“The Sukhoi brand is famous not only for its civil aircraft, but also military products,” said Olga Kayukova, head of the United Aircraft Corporation press service. “It is backed by a 70-year reputation. As for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 brand, it has excellent prospects and will be able to find a firm footing in the market.”

Other experts see alarming symptoms in the Indonesian crash: “We placed all our bets on a single plane during the last decade, and all our hopes rest with the Superjet now,” Gusarov said. “...And [we] may be left with nothing. This policy is fraught with risks for the development of Russia’s entire civil aviation industry.”

Russian oil major Lukoil has won a tender to develop Block 10, an oil field located near the West Qurna-2 development in southern Iraq. Lukoil, which is Russia’s largest privately held oil company, will explore the field in a joint-venture with Japan’s Inpex. Lukoil’s share of the joint-venture is 60 percent.

Lukoil also recently increased its share of the West Qurna-2 development to 75 percent following the transfer of 18.75 percent from Norway’s Statoil.

Several Russian oil giants lost out on deals originally concluded with Saddam Hussein’s government before the U.S.led invasion.

GLOBAL RUSSIA BUSINESS CALENDAR ST PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM JUNE 21-23 2012 ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

A discussion of the major issues affecting the global economy, including the increasing role of emerging markets. › 2012.forumspb.com/en

4TH INTERNATIONAL “INTERRA” INNOVATION FORUM SEPTEMBER 14-15, 2012 NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA

“Interra” is one of the bestknown interregional and international events for discussing and understanding concepts and practical application of innovative development in the economy and social sphere on the territory of Russia. In 2012, the theme of the Forum will be “Innovations for life.” › interra-forum.com

Originally published in Itogi

FIND MORE IN THE GLOBAL CALENDAR

at rbth.ru

MOST READ An accomplice in Politkovskaya’s murder moves to house arrest rbth.ru/15784

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

Politics & Society VIEWPOINT

Politics Can proposed reforms and a slew of new parties change the landscape?

New Parties but No Reform

AP

Analysts do not feel a change in the air at the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament.

Political analysts do not expect voters to experience more or better choices despite protests and new political entries.

EKATERINA ZABROVSKAYA RUSSIA NOW

In late May, the Russian media reported the launch of several new political projects. First, Vasily Yakemenko, the founder of the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi announced plans to create a party eerily called “Party of Power.” Yakemenko said that both opposition activists and Putin loyalists would be welcome in the project. He implied that his party would be in competition with United Russia, whose victory in the December

parliamentary elections led to the biggest anti-government street protests seen in Russia over the last decade.

Soon after Yakemenko’s announcement, reports emerged about the political plans of Nashi itself, which intends to form its own party, “Smart Russia.”

Then, Russian billionaire and New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who has been conspicuously absent from politics since his impressive debut in the March presidential elections, signaled that he was going to return to politics, writing in his blog, “We begin to act!” Many analysts interpreted the comment as a sign that Prokhorov would finally proceed with the creation of his own party, which

he had pledged to establish after the presidential elections.

Some longtime observers, however, argue that even if realized, none of these projects would add competitiveness to the already dull political party scene in Russia.

Political analyst Dmitry Orlov said that Yakemenko is naive to think that he can receive the support of a large number of people, not to mention the opposition. Orlov points out that the Nashi founder has a wellestablished, mostly negative, image and it would be impossible to change it. For example, Yakemenko has been accused of being behind several brutal high-profile attacks on journalists in recent years, including

the near-fatal beating of Oleg Kashin. He has also been involved in a number of phone and e-mail hacking scandals.

Political analysts Boris Makarenko and Mikhail Remizov in turn argue that Yakemenko’s party project was launched by the Kremlin as a response to the growing opposition in Russia, demonstrated most recently by a new wave of street protests in May. Makarenko suggests that Yakemenko’s “Party of Power” is intended to become a typical spoiler party formed to draw votes away from the opposition. Remizov believes that the Kremlin is trying to use Yakemenko to redirect growing protest into a controlled sphere of party politics. Orlov thinks

that the Nashi party could be an attempt by the youth movement to find a new format of political activity given the changes in the political system. “Every significant political force now is trying to get its own party, its own legal roof if you want,” said Orlov.

As for Prokhorov, analysts are divided over his motivations. Remizov argued that the billionaire’s plans reveal his ties to the Kremlin. “I think that his behavior - when he first terminates his political activity when the situation seems to have stabilized and then turns it on again when protests have returned - characterizes him not just as a Kremlin project but as a project on a short leash,” Remizov said. Makarenko and Orlov, however, disagree with this point of view, arguing that Prokhorov has simply realized that he should not be putting off the creation of his party for too long.

With no serious challengers, observers said that the ruling United Russia party is unlikely to experience real reforms with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the helm.

Medvedev, who succeeded Putin as chairman of United Russia and vowed to reform the organization, has in fact no real incentives to significantly change the party. Even though United Russia won far fewer votes in the December State Duma elections than in the 2007 vote, it remains the country’s dominant party. In a speech on May 27, Medvedev called for elections through direct secret ballots and the creation of a single five-year term for party leaders at all levels. The prime minister also insisted on annual rotation. Analysts said these requests can bring only superficial change.

“The party will change its character only under political competition. United Russia will change only if there is real struggle with real political opponents for the votes of the electorate,” said Makarenko.

Orlov also said that United Russia will not significantly change its political positioning.

The analyst said that with Medvedev as its chairman, the party may become only “a little bit” more liberal.

Civil Rights Russia’s discrimination against sexual minorities reflects broader problems

Gay Rights Reflect Civil Society For Russia, more criticism on the state of human rights from both Amnesty International and the U.S. Department of State.

MARINA DARMAROS RUSSIA NOW

AP

The crackdown of the LGBT rally in Moscow has spurred debates over human rights in Russia.

al Court decides that the law goes against the Constitution, then I would be against that law.

Any legislation gives rise to criticism, it is healthy,” Lukin said.

ginning of this year, however, questions Lukin’s statements. The law prohibits “promoting sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transsexualism to minors.” Gay rights activists say the law could be used to crack down on any public demonstration of homosexuals - from art to gay pride parades.

Lukin, however, does not consider the law a violation of LGBT rights. “I do not think that the publicity of sexual preferences is acceptable. If the Constitution-

mand for the “stability promised by [Dmitry] Medvedev and [Vladimir] Putin.”

Nevertheless, the organization did not consider these protests an example of progress on human rights in Russia. According to the Amnesty International, the decision of the authorities to allow some street rallies does not excuse continued restrictions on freedom of assembly and the organization reports that many Russian peace demonstrators were detained and arrested. Like-

Civil society blossoming?

The Amnesty International report highlighted an increase in civil society movements in Russia after the parliamentary elections in December 2011, noting the importance of “civil and political freedoms” and the decrease in the population’s de-

wise, while the report also notes the increasing influence of online media and minor print media outlets which, unlike Russian television, criticize the government, it indicates that opposition journalists continue to face threats, which are very rarely fully investigated by the authorities.

Another problem reported by Amnesty International is the delay in implementation of promised reforms. According to the report, in 2011 no progress was made in the fight against corruption or in the continuation of modernization and the criminal justice system reform. The report also stated: “members of religious minorities faced persecution” and “torture remained widely reported despite superficial police reforms”, and also that “the situation in the North Caucasus remained volatile, with serious human rights abuses.”

For his part, Lukin did not find the report disheartening. “This is the recognized and complete report on the state of human rights in 190 countries. [Amnesty International] is a qualified organization and its point of view is quite objective. At least, I was satisfied to know that out of all of the countries analyzed, only 21 have the death penalty,” Lukin said.

TIMELINE

A Brief History of Gay Rights in Modern Russia PHOTOXPRESS

ITAR-TASS (3)

Approximately 40 protesters were detained May 27 during yet another attempt to protest for LGBT rights in Moscow. The detentions came just three days after the release of Amnesty International’s 2011 annual report on the state of human rights worldwide, which included harsh words for Russia. The report read in part, “freedom of assembly had been frequently violated in the context of political, environmental, social and other protests.”

The issue of gay rights was singled out for special attention.

“LGBT rights activists continued to face harassment and attacks.

Attempted pride marches and pro-LGBT rights pickets in Moscow and Saint Petersburg were banned and promptly dispersed by police,” the report stated.

The LGBT rights situation in Russia was also highlighted in the U.S. Department of State’s annual human rights report, issued on May 25. Among other criticisms, the U.S. report included the statement that, according to LGBT activists in Russia, “the majority of LGBT persons hide their orientation due to fear of losing their jobs or their homes, as well as the threat of violence.”

The official commissioner of human rights in Russia, Vladimir Lukin, believes however that there are few violations of LGBT rights in the country. “This issue is very complex. As Russia’s human rights commissioner, I must say that we receive few complaints regarding rights violations of sexual minorities,” Lukin said. A new city law in St. Petersburg approved at the be-

1993 • Homosexuality is officially decriminalized in Russia under President Boris Yeltsin, allowing gay citizens to serve in the army.

2008 • Despite a series of violent breakups of gay rights parades in Moscow, gay men are allowed to legally donate blood for the first time.

2010 • The first legal gay pride protest takes place in St. Petersburg after years of violent breakups in cities across Russia.

3

2012 • A number of Russian regions – including St. Petersburg – adopt laws prohibiting public display and “promotion” of homosexuality.

The Ministry of Slash and Burn Dmitry Babich SPECIAL TO RN

W

hile the Western press was busy counting the number of Putin and Medvedev men in the new Russian government, the Russian people view developments in the cabinet of ministers from a whole different angle.

The idea that the new minister of education, Dmitry Livanov, would cut the number of students who get a higher education at the state’s expense by 50 percent unleashed a real storm in popular press. But it went almost unnoticed by the major international news networks and by the Russian liberal press, especially by its burgeoning business media.

Saying welcome to what is now called the global news angle in Russia most often means saying goodbye to the news that indeed reflect the concerns of the populace. The global media is only interested in “reform” (in the most dramatic cases – a “regime change”), but not in the way your average person lives. In the story with the cabinet change in Russia, everyone was too busy determining the degree of liberalism of the new government and its openness to Western ideas.

Minister Livanov, a newcomer with unclear political affiliations from a global point of view, unfortunately, matches the popular Russian stereotype of top-notch economic liberalism. Twenty-two years of reform have taught an average Russian a few things: If a boss speaks about becoming more competitive, he means slashing jobs and introducing payment for previously publicly accessible services.

In short, he is talking about making your life harder and more expensive.

Was Livanov’s suggestion indeed a liberal one? From an economic point of view, yes.

Business has long been complaining about Russian education being too detached from real life and too encyclopedic, requiring too much of taxpayers’ money for something business has no use for. Where can one save the budget money? Here is the easiest way – cut the number of students studying humanities, or make them study at their own expense. After all, business certainly does not need too many young people with good taste in art. Very often, the opposite is true.

From a pragmatic point of view, Livanov probably chose the right moment for his statement as the country is in a post-electoral cycle. Now that the vote is over and President Vladimir Putin is safely returned to the Kremlin, one can safely start slashing the budget for students in colleges and universities. Interestingly, this kind of reform had long been advocated by the experts from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) - a powerful breeding ground for Russia’s economic reformers, whose representatives one can see at the same time in the government, in the Kremlin and among the people speaking at anti-Putin rallies. Livanov was in fact echoing HSE’s big wigs, when he said the reform was needed in order to raise salaries for university professors admittedly, one of the most dispossessed professional groups in Russia.

So, the new government is going to slash the budget expenses. What can be more Western in style and in essence? A similar reform had been conducted by the Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and modern Georgia is often being suggested as a model for Russia by Western and Russian academics with a penchant for radical market solutions. But somehow Saakashvili and his model for Georgia are presented in the Western media as a “success story” and as a positive example, while similar reforms in Russia are never seen as improving Putin’s credentials. In fact, when talking about

Saakashvili, “trendy” academics and journalists in Moscow and abroad present themselves as staunch liberals. But when similar liberal reforms are conducted

by Putin, they suddenly convert themselves into populist leftists.

In fact, the new government can harm Putin more than all the much publicized protests against the “fraud” during elections. Why? Because Livanov’s reform is the exact opposite of what Putin’s voters cast their votes for during the presidential election. In one of his campaign articles, Putin promised to raise the students’ monthly allowances to a minimum subsistence level. Meanwhile, Arkady Dvorkovich, the new government’s vice-premier responsible for fuel and energy issues, grabbed headlines a year ago when he suggested that university students should not be paid any allowance at all.

“The main problem of modern Russian politics is that Putin’s electorate is moderately left, and it consists of socially conservative groups”, said Boris Kagarlitsky, the director of the Moscow-based Inst it ut e for Globalization Studies. “However, this electorate continuously gets from Putin liberal, center-right governments with tight-fisted financial policies, requiring from society change at all costs.” Only a great connoisseur of Russian national psyche can explain this strange coexistence in Russia of a leftist voter and a center-right elite. For some time, this strange combination was kept going

by Putin’s long-groomed image

It was not Putin who won the last election, it was the “budget saving” likes of Livanov who lost it.

There are lots of cases in history when people required stability, not change, and could not get it. of a “strict disciplinarian” who can be tough even on oligarchs of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s type.

Part of it may come from a lack of alternative. The aging communist leader Gennady Zyuganov or the social-democratic frontman of the Just Russia party Sergei Mironov, with their unrealistic promises of a return to Soviet free-of-charge social guarantees, are not seen by the majority as serious alternatives.

It was not Putin who won the last election, it was the “budget saving” likes of Livanov who lost it. But it does not mean budget cutters lost the sympathies of Putin and Medvedev, who are both just trivial center-right politicians of an emerging market (Russia).

Putin in fact acknowledges his old ministers’ efforts. It is not a coincidence that the most unpopular ministers of the previous cabinet--social development minister Tatyana Golikova and education minister Sergei Fursenko-were both taken into Putin’s administration as advisers in their respective fields. Hence, part of the popular discontent is automatically passed on to Putin, since he is the main talking head on television, trying to explain the chronically unpopular reforms.

So, the global angle of the Western observers of Russian politics often plays an evil joke on them, since they have to fit this complicated picture into the simplified matrix of “bad conservatives against nice reformers.”

There are lots of cases in history when people required stability, not change, and could not get it. And the old issues of KGB affiliations or attitude to Soviet history do not play nearly as big a role with Russian voters as with Western observers. But the mainstream global press just does not want to know this.

Dmitry Babich is a political analyst for Voice of Russia radio. He is a regular commentator on BBC and other leading Western media outlets in Russia.

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS AND SECTIONS ABOUT RUSSIA ARE PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES, A DIVISION OF ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA (RUSSIA), IN THE FOLLOWING NEWSPAPERS: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, UNITED KINGDOM ● THE WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORK TIMES, UNITED STATES ● LE FIGARO, FRANCE ● SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, GERMANY ● EL PAÍS, SPAIN ● LA REPUBBLICA, ITALY ● LE SOIR, BELGIUM ● DUMA, BULGARIA ● GEOPOLITICA, SERBIA ● AKROPOLIS, GREECE ● ECONOMIC TIMES, INDIA ● MAINICHI SHIMBUN, JAPAN ● CHINA BUSINESS NEWS, CHINA ● SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, CHINA (HONG KONG) ● LA NACION, ARGENTINA ● FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL ● EL OBSERVADOR, URUGUAY. EMAIL INFO@RBTH.RU. MORE DETAILS AT HTTP://RBTH.RU/ABOUT

4

Opinion

MOST READ East or West - what is best?

RUSSIA NOW

rbth.ru/15779

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

AMBASSADOR MCFAUL’S 100 DAYS

DMITRY DIVIN

Michael McFaul SPECIAL TO RN

A

few weeks ago, one of my Twitter followers pointed out that 100 days have passed since my family and I arrived in Moscow. I was quite surprised by that figure - glad someone is keeping track! The tweet, however, also prompted me to reflect on what I have done during these first 100 days, and what I want to get done in the next 100 days and beyond.

The first thought I had was to keep focused on the action verb. I did not come to Russia “to be” an ambassador. Rather, I came to Russia “to do” things on behalf of President Barack Obama, his administration, and the American people. In particular, the president asked me to become his representative in the Russian Federation so that I could help continue and deepen the “reset” in relations between our two countries that he launched in 2009.

Developing new supply routes through Russia to support our soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan, who are there to combat terrorist groups and nurture a more stable and secure state of benefit to the Unit-

“I deputized all Americans living in Moscow to be citizen ambassadors for the United States.”

“Sometimes... I have tweeted thoughts that could have used more reflection and refinement.” ed States, Russia, and the world; the New START Treaty, which reduces nuclear weapons and launch vehicles to record low levels; the 123 Agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation; the creation of the Presidential Bilateral Commission, now with 20 working groups on everything from counternarcotics cooperation to collaboration on innovation and rule of law; a new visa regime facilitating travel for tourism and business between our two countries; the amended Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement; close cooperation on nuclear proliferation challenges posed by Iran and North Korea;

and working together to finalize Russia’s accession agreement to the World Trade Organization – these are but a few of the many concrete results of the “reset.”

By the beginning of Obama’s fourth year in office, this record of achievement made maintaining momentum more challenging. Resolution of these “easier” issues (though they didn’t seem easy at the time!) meant that only the harder problems remained.

Unexpected new agenda items in our bilateral relationship, such as Syria, also tested the reset. So did Russia’s electoral politics, which generated anti-American rhetoric. For some outside analysts, the transition from President Dmitry Medvedev to President Vladimir Putin also fueled doubts about continuity in our bilateral relations. When I arrived 100 days ago, all of these factors intersected to create an uncertain moment in U.S.-Russia relations.

One hundred days later, however, it is clear to me that the basic trajectory in U.S.-Russia relations is continuing, not changing. Russia and the United States continue to cooperate on Iran, North Korea, and Afghanistan. Even our approach-

es to Syria are much closer today than they were at the beginning of the year. Now that Russia’s elections are over, the hyperbolic and inaccurate attacks on my country in the press and Internet have receded, though of course sincere criticisms of our foreign and domestic policies remain. And most importantly, we have received clear signals from Russian officials that the change in presidents in Moscow will not lead to a change in policy toward the United States.

For some of our critics back in the United States, this continuity will give reason to criticize our Russia policy. And that’s healthy and an important part of the democratic process. I firmly believe that constructive criticism from thoughtful opponents has made U.S. policy toward Russia better over the last three years.

Increasing trade and investment between our two countries is one of President Obama’s highest priorities, so I have devoted special attention to meetings with leaders of the American business community here in Russia. They are doing some amazing work to provide great products and services, generate wealth, and create jobs for both Russians and Americans.

In 2011, U.S.-Russia trade reached an all-time high of $42.9 billion. That’s a great improvement over the past, but still too small a figure. In meeting with American companies, I have devoted particular attention to explaining the Obama administration’s commitment to work with the U.S. Congress to terminate the application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to Russia.

As a means of engaging more directly with the Russian people, I have opened accounts on Twitter and Facebook. In just three months, my number of Twitter followers has grown to nearly 25,000, while my number of “friends” on Facebook has climbed to 3,459, with over 500 subscribers.

These media are new for me.

Sometimes, in trying to be open and spontaneous, I have tweeted thoughts that could have used more reflection and refinement. But on the whole, I am very pleased with how much I can learn from these platforms through direct interaction with Russian citizens all over this giant country.

New communications technology has allowed me to participate virtually in all major policy meetings on Russia taking place in Washington. I am pleasantly surprised at how closely connected I still feel to my administration colleagues back home. This is a great advantage of our time that ambassadors from previous eras could not enjoy.

I also consider it a vitally important part of my job to support the American community living here in Moscow. We had a town hall meeting at Spaso House for American citizens, including students, artists, and business representatives. At that event, I deputized all Americans living in Moscow and beyond to serve as citizen ambassadors for the United States, since the daily interaction with their Russians neighbors, colleagues, and partners makes a profound and lasting impact on breaking down stereotypes and misperceptions. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed that gathering and plan to make it an annual event.

And as I try to contribute to these important bilateral and international issues, my family and I also want to continue to enjoy all that Russia has to offer.

Give me your recommendations of trips, events, or experiences that we should try to do in the next 100 days. I’ll report back 100 days from now on our adventures!

Michael McFaul is the U.S. Ambassador to Russia.

Read the full article at rbth.ru/15620

RUSSIA’S SECURITY CONCERNS Alexander Yakovenko SPECIAL TO RN

R

ecently, the British media have been describing Russia’s military-political policy as aggressive and threatening to the European countries that are planning to deploy elements of the American Ballistic Missile (ABM) defense system in their countries.

All this attests to a one-sided view of the complicated and tricky issue and misleads the British public about the Russian position on the Euro ABM. I would like to clarify the situation concerning Russia’s position on ABM and tell readers candidly what has prompted our doubts and concerns. The inseparable connection between strategic offensive and defensive weapons has for many decades been an axiom for Russia and the United States. Military experts and politicians in the two countries have assumed that an imbalance in this area was fraught with destructive consequences for international security and strategic stability.

Russia welcomed President Barack Obama’s 2009 decision to revise the plans for missile defense in Europe that would radically upset the strategic balance by giving the U.S. substantial unilateral advantages.

The decision helped to conclude

the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on April 8, 2010, which clearly states the inextricable link between strategic weapons and missile defense.

However, while formally renouncing plans to deploy ABM, the United States embarked on a new missile defense project in Europe as part of the “phased adaptive approach.” Russia finds this initiative equally worrying because it envisages the deployment of a capacity of interceptor missiles and other anti-missile facilities close to Russian borders and on waters adjacent to Russia.

Russia has never denied the possibility of risks and threats arising from missile proliferation.

The Russian initiative to create a joint European missile defense system based on a sectoral principle put forward at the RussiaNATO Council summit in Lisbon involved the formation in Europe of a common security perimeter with equal Russian participation. The NATO partners were invited to develop a concept and architecture for a Euro ABM that would be jointly controlled.

Russia was prepared to develop its proposal on the joint Euro ABM taking into account the opinion of NATO partners, but on the condition that the equality of the parties is legally enshrined. Such an approach opened up unique opportuni-

There is the risk of a rollback to the times of confrontation. But there is still time to agree. ties for Russia and NATO to build a genuinely strategic partnership based on the principles of indivisible security, mutual trust, transparency and predictability.

Unfortunately, the United States and other NATO partners did not show a serious commitment to moving in that direction.

The main stumbling block is guarantees for the non-targeting of missile defense deployed

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 7, MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 125 993.

EVGENY ABOV PUBLISHER ARTEM ZAGORODNOV EXECUTIVE EDITOR ELENA BOBROVA ASSISTANT EDITOR NORA FITZGERALD GUEST EDITOR (U.S.A.) TOMAS KASPARAITIS PROOFREADER 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.

in Europe against Russia and our strategic nuclear forces. We are being assured at all levels that the future missile defense system is not intended to weaken the Russian nuclear deterrent.

But our proposals to make these assurances legally binding are rejected out of hand. The creation of the Euro ABM is gathering pace.

We are ready to discuss the status and content of such obligations, but they must be formulated in such a way as to enable Russia to judge not on the basis of unsupported promises, but on the basis of objective military-technical criteria how the U.S. and NATO actions relate to their declarations. During the conference on missile defense, Russian experts presented comprehensive assess-

ments of these criteria. But we did not hear an articulate statement on NATO’s position.

There is the risk of a rollback to the times of confrontation and dividing lines. The formation of new security architecture in Europe will be called into question. There is still time to reach a mutual understanding.

Russia has the political will to do so. But if this is to become reality, our partners must approach the task of taking into account Russia’s legitimate security interests.

Failing that, Russia will have to act in accordance with the way events develop. Russia reserves the right to renounce further moves in the field of disarmament and arms control, although this would be a highly undesirable development.

Russia is not shutting the door on dialogue with the United States and the North Atlantic alliance on issues of missile defense or on practical cooperation in this sphere. But the road to such work lies in the creation of a clear legal framework for cooperation that would ensure that our legitimate interests are taken into account.

Alexander Yakovenko is Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom. He was previously Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

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 2012, ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALEXANDER GORBENKO CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD. PAVEL NEGOITSA 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.

THE THIRD ANGLE

RENEWING STATE SOVEREIGNTY Konstantin von Eggert SPECIAL TO RN

I

remember this day very well.

On June 12th, 1990, a document was adopted that would play a crucial role since then - though hardly anyone today ever mentions it. The “Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic” proclaimed Russia a democratic state with the principle of separation of powers at the core of its system of governance. Under the chairmanship of Boris Yeltsin, it also announced that the Russian republic intended to constitute itself as a member of the “reformed” U.S.S.R. More crucially, it established priority of the constitution and laws of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR) over the legislation of the Soviet Union.

This was a blow from which the Soviet state never recovered.

The day was established as a national holiday in 1992, when the U.S.S.R. was no more and Boris Yeltsin was the president of the independent Russian Federation. Today, it is the main state holiday, which is supposed to mark the foundation of a modern democratic Russian state. A lavish reception in the Kremlin accompanies it. However ordinary Russians remain indifferent or, in the case of the older ones, are outright hostile toward the holiday. Many still call it, semi-ironically, “Independence Day” – and usually add a bitter question: “Independence from whom?”

For the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe shedding the Communist skin meant, first and foremost of all, liberation from a foreign occupation. Even such countries as Romania and Bulgaria, which by 1989 haven’t had the Soviet garrisons on their territories, could reasonably argue that their troubles were the logical result of the 1945 Yalta agreements between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill and the loss of freedom that came with them.

Not so for the Russians. Looking back at the events of 1989 to 1991, I contemplate how much was accomplished then by relatively few people. Several hundred thousand in Moscow and Saint Petersburg (which only got its historic name in 1991), the restive Baltic peoples and some Georgian nationalists drove the Communist state into the ground. The system was already fatally weakened by economic inefficiency and undermined by external circumstances like the war in Afghanistan. Still the speed and relative peacefulness of its disintegration (at least compared to Yugoslavia’s bloodbath) was akin to a miracle. But there was a flip side to this: The Russians were unprepared for the loss of what, for better or for worse, they came to consider “their” country.

The U.S.S.R. was the world’s last great land empire to disappear. The former “colonies” never went away. They sit right across what many consider to be artificial borders. The Russians are largely indifferent to leaving the mainly Muslim Central Asia and the restive Caucasus behind. But when it comes to Ukraine and Belarus the feeling is that these are some relatives who wandered off but will eventually come back into the Russian fold.

The imperial nostalgia was exacerbated by domestic developments. After a brief period in the early 1990s when perestroika-era intellectuals played leading roles in the Yeltsin government, the Soviet-era bureacracy took over again, bring-

I asked the students if they accepted the price of collectivism to be the Gulag and lack of liberties. ing along with it an outdated view of governance, Soviet-style phobias and unbound cynicism multiplied with greed, which was now given an official sanction under the banner of capitalism.

Recently I made a presentation at a political science seminar in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, one of the most prosperous in the country.

Among a large group of 20 to 25-year olds there were quite a few who still insisted on the need “to keep the best from the Soviet legacy.” They were at a loss, when I asked them to describe what should be kept.

Some started talking about collectivism that stood in stark contrast to consumerism and individualism of the modern age.

But when I asked whether they accepted that the price of this collectivism was the Russian Civil War, the Gulag and the permanent lack of basic liberties, it gave them pause. To me it was the best proof that Russia’s political class has until now failed to redefine the national identity in a forward looking, modern way.

This has to change. The students asked me about the recent wave of pro-democracy protests in Moscow; they felt that change was needed but were in the dark about whether it is achievable. I think once again it falls on Moscow and Saint Petersburg to lead the movement for Russian renewal.

Only if (or rather, when) it succeeds, will the derided declaration be vindicated.

Konstantin von Eggert is a commentator and host for Kommersant FM, Russia’s first 24-hour news radio station. He was a diplomatic correspondent for Russian daily Izvestia and later served as the editor-in-chief of the BBC Russian Service Moscow Bureau.

THE POLLS

What New Cabinet?

OVER 1/3 OF RUSSIANS CAN’T PUT A NAME TO A SINGLE FACE IN THE NEW CABINET

SOURCE: FOM (PUBLIC OPINION FOUNDATION)

While 35 percent of Russians couldn’t name a single face in the new cabinet, the most recognizeable ministers were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Sports Minis-

ter Vitaly Mutko. All three were retaining their posts from the previous government. The most famous “new” face turned out to be Vladimir Kolokoltsev, who previously was head of Moscow’s police force.

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

Culture

RUSSIA NOW

MOST READ Total Recall: A theater catharsis for young Russian-Jewish immigrants rbth.ru/15751

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

BIBLIOPHILE

Theater Star dancer who defected from the Soviet Union works with innovative Russian theater director

Baryshnikov and Krymov, a Powerful Collaboration EMMANUEL GRYNSZPAN SPECIAL TO RN

While Baryshnikov is a star, Krymov is just beginning to garner an international reputation. fourth degree, theater is interesting in itself. It’s a little like poetry.”

The piece has already been performed in Berkeley, where critics were appreciative — the San Francisco Chronicle praised Baryshnikov’s performance. But a few also appeared baffled by the lack of turbo-charged fireworks. For Americans, “In Paris” may seem rather subtle. “Those who approach the work with modest expectations will be better able to appreciate its dreamlike pathos,” Charles McNulty wrote in The Los Angeles Times.

However he also wrote that the “wispy” play “continued to resonate inside me, not unlike the memory of past loves, long extinguished though never completely forgotten.”

Krymov’s aesthetics cross the language barrier better than

FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T Phoebe Taplin SPECIAL TO RN

TITLE: “I AM A CHECHEN” AUTHOR: GERMAN SADULAEV PUBLISHER: PAPERBACK

T PRESS PHOTO

Attending a Dmitry Krymov performance can only be described as a total art experience. It brings to mind the German word, “Gesamtkuntswerk,” a word that has no English equivalent, but describes a fusion of all art forms into one.

The Russian director experiments with painting, music, poetry, song, dance and mime, and all are brought together in a theatrical spectacle.

Krymov’s new show entitled “In Paris,” starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, is currently on tour in the United States. Misha, as Baryshnikov is known to friends and fans alike, has gracefully transitioned from a virtuosic wonder of the ballet world to a powerful physical actor.

“It’s the first time Baryshnikov will be acting in Russian,” said Krymov, as he welcomed a reporter into the huge studio he occupies at the prestigious School of Dramatic Art, his Moscow theater base. (The former dancer will act in Russian and French with English supertitles.)

He recalled his first meeting with Baryshnikov in New York.

“It was a fabulous day. Mutual friends from St. Petersburg introduced us to each other. The idea of the show was born out of this meeting. I really liked him and I think the feeling was mutual. That is how the adventure began.”

And while Baryshnikov is a star, in every sense of the word, Krymov is just beginning to garner an international reputation in elite circles. Baryshnikov has developed over the years a keen sensibility for supporting talented directors and choreographers, starting with his cuttingedge collaboration with the then-unknown Mark Morris and the White Oak project they established in 1990.

“In Paris” is based on the 1940 novella of the same name

by Ivan Bunin. The main character, played by Baryshnikov, is a Russian emigré in Paris in the 1930s who first has to deal with loneliness, then with love. Russian actress Anna Sinyakina plays

the young love he meets by chance. The show delighted European and West coast audiences; it will come to New York in August for the Lincoln Center Summer Festival. The five performances are already sold out, though there is hope that more performances may be added.

But it won’t be playing in Russia anytime soon. “Mikhail doesn’t want to come back here,” Krymov said. “He is more keyed up than I am about what is happening in Russia, but that’s the way it is, it’s his decision, it’s not up to me to judge.”

Unlike some of his colleagues, Krymov said he has never been tempted by the idea of emigration. As annoyed as he gets with his country, he quickly feels homesick when he leaves it, he said. On the eve of his American tour, Krymov was impatient to see the effect his show would have on the public across the Atlantic.

Does he fear being misunderstood? Not really. “Theater is an international language, even if you do not understand everything to the third and

Mikhail Baryshnikov (right) stars in the play “In Paris.”

most dramatic works for sure.

That is for one simple reason – words are not at the center of his shows. Words and scenery even seem to swap roles. The visual experience moves to the foreground, whereas words, when they are used, and they are used sparingly, are liberated from creating the narrative thread.

In his most recent productions, “Opus 7,” “Tararaboumba” and “Gorki 10,” the audience experiences this kind of total theater. “I appeal to the heart rather than the head.” Krymov said. He seeks to bring out strong emotions; he said he feels he has succeeded when he sees audience members laughing or crying. In Moscow, Krymov attends every performance.

Krymov’s total immersion in the theater is not surprising; he has been part of this world since his birth in 1954. His father, Anatoly Efros, was a Soviet theater director famous for his innovative interpretations of Chekhov, and his mother was a theater critic.

Krymov is currently one of the main attractions in a lively Russian theater scene. His recent show, “Gorki 10” (the last address at which Vladimir Lenin

HIS STORY

Dmitry Krymov

Dmitry Krymov is the son of Soviet theater director Anatoly Efros and theater critic Natalia Krymova. He graduated from the prestigious Moscow Art Theater School (MKhAT)

in 1976, but instead of following in his father’s footsteps and becoming an actor, Krymov opted to immerse himself in stage design and had created several sets for performances of his father in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990 he left the theater to become a painter, working in a style that has been described as neo-impressionist. His paintings have been collected by many toptier museums. It was not until 2002 that Krymov returned to the stage, when he was invited to train young artists in theater design. Krymov also began directing and was noticed

by Anatoly Vassiliev, one of the most internationally acclaimed directors.

lived) was an indescribable performance in which characters developed around the figure of Lenin.

Yet Krymov feels that he is somehow set apart. “I get the impression that all the playwrights have told each other to

write in the same way. In fact, I am not looking for plays. If I need a subject, I can find it in myself. If I need a particular author, I will go and look for him in my library… either I’ll write it myself or my actors and I can create it together.”

NATIONALITY: RUSSIAN AGE: 57 STUDIED: STAGE DESIGN

PHOTOXPRESS

For the first time, Mikhail Baryshnikov acts in Russian for one of Russia’s most innovative directors Dmitry Krymov.

here are so many things wrong with “I am a Chechen” as a novel.

There is virtually no plot and barely anyone who could really be described as a character, apart from fleeting cameos by murdered friends and childhood memories. Even the narrator is a fluctuating presence, while “mama” turns out – more often than not – to refer to the fields and woods of Chechnya itself. German Sadulaev’s fragmented meditation on war, identity and rootlessness is an uneasy mixture of fictionalized memoir and painful lament.

The style is also unreliable, veering wildly between brutal war-time horrors, purple passages of swallows and wildflowers, and historical background information. The self-conscious descriptions of the Chechen landscape are embarrassingly full of phrases like “the breast of our motherland” and overextended metaphors involving “the scarlet cow of the sun” wandering into the “blue pasture of the sky.”

Despite all these caveats, this is an important and sometimes moving book. The underreported war between Russia and Chechnya needs storytellers who are not serving “either side’s propaganda system,” both of which foster an image of “the Chechen as an enemy of Russia.”

Sadulaev was born in the Chechen village of Shali and

Personality Publisher Irina Prokhorova is the surprise sensation beyond her oligarch brother

Prokhorov’s Big Sister a Hit A cultural figure, Prokhorova provided the sense and sensibility behind her brother’s presidential campaign.

ANNA NEMTSOVA

ITAR-TASS

SPECIAL TO RN

Irina Prokhorova added heft and a resonant voice to her brother’s campaign.

President Vladimir Putin, and believes his years in power have pushed “Russian culture to the verge of crises.” In the future, she said she would measure Russia’s greatness not by the size of its military budget but by its cultural growth.

spect the individual – that is why I will never find peace in our society which totally lacks that respect,” she said with obvious emotion. “The fear of Stalin’s repressions haunted our parents till the end of their lives. That

of partying, Irina, the older sibling at 56, is a conservatively dressed family woman.

Prokhorova said she has done her best to bring up her daughter in a modest way, as an ordinary kid and not a spoiled new

The house on Arbat

“My family taught me to respect the individual – that is why I will never find peace in our society.”

“I think the deep trauma of cultural isolation inspired my decision to become a publisher.”

kind of trauma cannot be lived out in one generation; we are still haunted by the ghosts of that epoch.”

While Prokhorova’s 47-yearold brother is worth more than $13 billion and has at times scandalized Russia with his style

Russian. And the family library, stocked with well-thumbed volumes of Jack London, Ivan Turgenev, Guy de Maupassant and Anton Chekhov, is among Prokhorova’s most treasured possessions.

“To get some of these books,

Irina Prokhorova and her brother Mikhail grew up in a home of intellectuals. Irina’s eyes sparkle when she talks about the atmosphere of “joy and freedom” that permeated her parents’ home. She remembers the dance parties in their gracious apartment on the Arbat, one of the most famous, and at times poetic, streets in Moscow. (It is now often packed with shoppers and tourists.)

“My family taught me to re-

moved to Leningrad in 1989 to study law. He still works as a lawyer in St. Petersburg, but his personal connections with Chechnya make it impossible to write dispassionately. He often overtly challenges the reader in the novel itself, writing, “I know: it is disjointed, sketchy … There is no central plot. It is hard to read prose like this, right?”

In the end, the visceral nature of Sadulaev’s stream-ofconsciousness is as much strength as weakness. The reader is caught up in an emotional outpouring, which editing might have rendered distant or clinical. In his novel, he compares his own writing to “spurts of blood” or to the cluster bombs, banned by the Geneva Convention, whose flechettes embed themselves in the heart of the girl next door.

Sadulaev compares the cases of post-Vietnam suicides with the young men in Russia who have killed themselves after active service in Chechnya. “And these were the best of soldiers,” he writes. “There are others … they too have returned.” The message, ultimately, is simple: “We have to conquer evil, to rise above hatred.”

There is a fine tradition of Russian writers, including Lermontov and Pushkin, who celebrate the beauty and bravery of the Caucasus. Among recent accounts of the battle-torn region, Arkady Babchenko’s “One Soldier’s War” is the outstanding example. A glimpse of the Chechen perspective is a rarity, especially in English. Sadulaev has seen friends and family perish in a brutal conflict. He is wracked with guilt about not having been there: “I should have died.” But the friends that died will never get to write about it; “that’s why I … - the one who remains – write this book.”

EXPAT FILES

THE SWAMP PEOPLE Jennifer Eremeeva

The Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov may have failed to win the Russian presidential election earlier this year, but he did manage to help build a political profile — his sister’s.

Irina Prokhorova has managed her brother’s charitable foundation for years and directed a publishing house, the New Literary Review. However during her brother’s presidential campaign, she also emerged as a compelling and forceful advocate for liberal ideas. Prokhorova’s passion and eloquence have prompted some political observers to suggest that she run for office herself.

Opposition activists, such as Boris Nemtsov, admired her performance as her brother’s surrogate in some debates. She became famous for bringing film director Nikita Mikhalkov, a fierce debater and longtime Putin supporter, to a kind of shocked silence. Some analysts ventured that voters would prefer her to Prokhorov, since he is better known outside of Russia as the playboy of the western world who owns the New Jersey Nets.

But Prokhorova stresses that she sees her future role as a cultural figure -- not a politician.

That said, she is no admirer of

5

my parents stood in queues outside books stores for long nights,” she said.

Prokhorova received her degree from Moscow State University and her final thesis, on the fantasies of J. R. R. Tolkien, raised some eyebrows at the end of the Soviet era.

“There was scandal in the air, but I overcame my fear and sang like a nightingale about Tolkien being a pure realist writer, who in allegorical form called for the triumph of social fairness,” she recalled.

Prokhorova got her diploma, but she continued to try to open minds about what literary criticism could be acceptable in Soviet academia. “Most themes I proposed inevitably turned out to be banned,” she recalled.

Yet perestroika ushered in a new atmosphere. Prokhorova and some of her contemporaries in college became well-known critics steeped in their own history as the last Soviet generation.

“I think the deep trauma of artificial cultural isolation inspired my decision to become a publisher,” Prokhorova said.

The New Literary Review has developed into a laboratory designed to research intellectual trends. It has given birth to dozens of book series, new periodicals, and annual literature conferences. Prokhorova’s research is focused on the transformation of post-Soviet society. “Our super goal is to try and create an ‘alternative’ history,” she said.

SPECIAL TO RN

T

he news from Russia lately has hardly been encouraging, but British Petroleum pulling out of their landmark joint venture with TNK has about it more than a hint of rats deserting the sinking ship. Can we blame them? BP has had its share of global trouble in recent years, but managing an oil company with four headstrong Russian billionaires might, at times, have made cleaning up an oil spill seem like rinsing a few tea cups in comparison.

Bad news is great fodder for the anti-Putin protesters who are gearing up for another assault on the Kremlin during the long holiday weekend in June.

Since I missed May’s barricade event, “Literary Stroll,” I am anxious to go to the June event, which has been dubbed “Russia Day. Without Putin.” HRH – my “Handsome (although maybe here “Hesitant” is more appropriate) Russian Husband,” is anxious, I’m not.

“You’ll get arrested,” he warns.

“Gosh, I hope so!” I gush, picturing myself catapulted onto Katie Couric’s couch looking exactly like Nicole Kidman in “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” dusty camera bag slung over one shoulder.

“Let’s go to Potapovs’ dacha,” he suggests.

“I would seriously rather spend three nights in a Russian jail than one at the Potapovs’ dacha,” I say firmly.

“It’s dangerous,” he says, continues, “the government plans to really crack down and the fees for unlawful assembly are going up to $300,000. We can’t afford it.”

“It’s democracy in action!”

I argue. “Don’t you want to be a part of it? ” “No,” says HRH, “I don’t want to be a part of it. I just want to get out of the city for a long weekend and have some shashlik. And what’s going on is not a revolution…it’s just a PR stunt, and not a very successful one at that.”

As revolutions go, this one is a bit two-dimensional. This could be because most of the action takes place on Facebook and Twitter, with only once-amonth real time clashes between protestors and police.

Since the real time clashes aren’t covered on Russian TV and HRH refuses to acknowledge any form of social media, it’s easy to see why he might not feel a sense of urgency about the protest movement Occupy.

If I were in charge, I might have thought twice about putting socialite Xenia Sobchak in such a prominent leadership role. I might also have put a little more thought into the top heavy name of the go-to Facebook fan page: “We were at Swamp Square and We Will Be There Again,” (27,462 Likes).

Swamp, when used in a revolutionary slogan is unfortunate, as I suspect the Kremlin crowd foresaw when they moved the initial protest from “Revolution Square” to “Swamp Square” back in December. It lacks the pith and punch of “Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite,” or “All Power to the Soviets!”

Nevertheless, I’m determined not to miss “Russia Day. Without Putin.” Even though that phrase also seems awkward somehow. Sort of like TNK without BP. 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.

6

Feature

RUSSIA NOW

MOST READ The good, and bad, of being a student in Russia rbth.ru/15433

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

Exchange The FLEX program accepts a smaller percentage of interested elite students than Harvard University

PRESS PHOTO (3)

The Essence of Exchanges

Students In Russia, American students adjust to a dearth of Starbucks on campus, longer hours in general and grueling Saturday classes.

Asya Vankayeva from Elista spent the year in Denver, Colorado.

A Learning Curve, Steep and Thrilling

Teens Get a Crash Course on Life in U.S.

Serious American students find a great opportunity to delve into the Russian language and culture anytime of the year.

EKATERINA ZABROVSKAYA RUSSIA NOW

Over the last five years, an average of 1,800 American students have gone to study in Russia annually. Many name an adventurous spirit as their main reason for going. They also hope that the experience will offer them a much better understanding of the culture than any text book.

Matthew Bodner, 21, who is majoring in Political Science, Philosophy, and Russian Studies at Miami University of Ohio, said that he went to Russia this past spring because “one cannot claim to be a serious student of Russia without having spent time there, on the ground, making one’s own observations.”

Also, there is this thrill of visiting the country that was considered America’s enemy for several decades. “I think I watched too many spy movies and decided that Russia had this Cold War mysticism about it, and I was intrigued by its Soviet past,” – said Raisa Monroe-Yavneh, 20, who studied Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

American students usually choose the two biggest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, because of their intriguing history and concentration of universities. Top host universities are the Moscow State Univer-

Matthew Bodner explores Russia outside of the classroom.

sity and the Saint-Petersburg State University. The most popular Russia abroad fields of study are Russian language studies, literature, history, and politics.

Everything Is So Different American students admit that studying in Russia was surprisingly different from studying in the United States. Bodner pointed to very little crossover between departments. “I never once saw, or heard of a student from the Department of Political Science at SPBGU (the St. Petersburg State University) taking a course anywhere else,” he recalled. It was surprising that college schedules in Russia are predetermined. “They also have classes on Saturday - what would be more sacreligous to a U.S. college student than that?” Bodner said, adding that “the lack of a Starbucks on the meal plan was also difficult.”

According to Tim Boll, 22, who recently graduated from Miami University of Ohio with a degree in Russian, Eastern Eu-

ropean, and Eurasian Studies, college campuses in the United States are more modern than their Russian counterparts. “Another difference was the fact that my professors [in Russia] were always “right.” Questioning their opinion was never a smart thing to do even if you knew you were right,” Boll recalled.

In addition, as MonroeYavneh states, it was hard to get used to the length of classes. “At home, lectures generally last about an hour rather than an hour and a half. Thirty minutes may not seem like a lot, but comprehending Russian for that long can be pretty tiring. On top of that, it seems like Russians take a lot more classes per day,” she said.

However, most of the learning–cultural or linguistic–was done outside of the classroom.

“I loved the hospitality of the Russian people. I met some of the most generous people in the world there,” said Tyler Holl, a senior majoring in Linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. What he disliked, however, was “the absurd amount of traffic in St. Petersburg” and the fact that “cash is king” in Russia. “I am so used to using my credit card or cell phone to pay for everything, and having to pull out bills and coins to pay for everything drove me crazy. And if I didn’t have a small amount of change, I would get dirty looks from cashiers because they didn’t want to give their precious 100-ruble notes away,” he recalled.

For Bodner, the interaction with Russians also was the most beneficial part of his studying in Russia. He states that the widespread nature of nostalgia among Russians was a revelation for him. “I found the Soviet era to have an unsettling sort of inertia in the mentalities of many of the older Russians I met. My host mother in particular. All of the host mothers seemed to be very nostalgic,” Bodner said. Monroe-Yavneh in turn admits that in Russia, she was able to try things she could never have tried in the U.S. Apart from riding the platzkart (a typical couchette railroad car in Russia) and spending an evening at the ballet, the girl from sunny California will never forget spring in St. Petersburg. “It was amazing to watch the city come back to life after what was definitely the longest winter I’ve ever experienced,“ she recalled.

“I’ve learned how to adapt to a new culture, even if it feels uncomfortable at times.”

American students admit that studying in Russia influenced them profoundly and personally. They have survived in a different and at times baffling environment, and they feel more capable than before. “This experience helped me understand how to take care of myself in a whole range of situations,” said Munroe-Yavneh. “I’ve learned how to adapt to a new culture, even if it feels uncomfortable at times. I guess the overarching theme here is that I feel a thousand times more confident and capable than I did before studying in Russia, and I think that’ll make an impact on my life.”

VIEWPOINT

Boot Camp or the Comfort Zone?

Ayano Hodouchi SPECIAL TO RN

A

fter 11 years in Russia, I recently graduated from journalism school in the United States, an experience starkly different from my seven years in Russia as a student.

The difference is especially apparent when the former is an Ivy League school and the latter a music school. The Moscow State Conservatoire, despite its prestige and reputation, wasn’t strong on amenities. Musicians were stuffed haphazardly into a

long, low-rise dormitory behind the Moscow zoo, a building where notions about privacy, appropriate behavior, politeness (and sometimes bottles, books, and once, even an upright piano) quickly go out the window. Not able to concentrate on your studies when you have two cellists elbowing you in your room? Your problem. Rat sitting on your piano? Shoo it away. Hit on the head by overgrown mold falling from the ceiling? Tough luck.

I arrived in New York last year to go to Columbia University.

After my arduous trip from Moscow, it was a bit of an anticlimax when a friendly super

showed me my bare bones but scrupulously clean room, I sat down, plugged in my computer and was immediately on Facebook. During my years as a student in Moscow, my connection to the world had been limited to rare visits to Internet cafes.

Living in university housing in Manhattan proved a very different experience. Everything functions, roommates don’t seem partially insane, no one disturbs your studies, and despite a mice infestation earlier this year, conditions are sanitary. I remember in Moscow skinheads threw rocks in our windows and attacked foreign-

ers around April 20, Hitler’s Birthday. I was more than a little surprised to learn that at Columbia, I can ask security to escort or drive me home at all hours of the night.

In Moscow it felt like boot-camp training – we feel like survivors; tried, tested and capable.

On a more studious note, I felt more comfortable with the way we were educated in Russia – it was not difficult to ob-

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

Accelerated Russian students are about to get the education of a lifetime as they prepare for a year in these United States.

JONATHAN EARLE THE MOSCOW TIMES

The Russian high school students listened eagerly to tips on living in the United States.

Be communicative and polite, keep an open mind when encountering America’s diverse forms of worship, and volunteer in your community, like millions of Americans. “Remember: It’s not right, it’s not wrong, it’s just different,” said Natalya Sirchenko, who coordinates student exchange programs for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Skinny girls, your host parents might think you’re not eating enough, cautioned Yelena Fomenko of the American Councils for International Education, a Washington-based NGO that runs the FLEX travel-study program with funding from the U.S. State Department. Host parents also might ask you to do “man’s work” like shoveling snow, said Fomenko, herself a FLEX alumna.

Girls in the room tittered.

Twenty of the 24 teens seated in rows on the second floor of the American Center in Moscow are among 244 finalists nationwide who will spend the next school year in the United States, living with host families, attending high school and participating in community life.

tain a passing grade; however, if we wanted to work harder, the professors were more than capable and happy to lead you to greater achievements – there was no upper limit. But if you were content to just pass, no one pushed you – it was entirely your choice. I remember many a frustrated conversation my fellow classmates and I had – we complained about the sheer volume of school work we were given; so much that we couldn’t sleep four hours a night if we wanted to do everything. At times when our professors suspected that we might have gotten six hours of sleep, they slapped additional assignments on us just to keep us overworked. They rigorously put us through the motions, sometimes seemingly regardless of whether we got the abstract idea of it or not. It felt like

IN FIGURES

7600

Russians have graduated from the FLEX program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in Russia this year.

boot-camp training in both good and bad ways – in a good way, we feel like survivors; tried, tested and capable.

There’s no saying what is better, or what was more useful for me. In some ways, the stark discomfort of life in Moscow spurred me to study harder.

When there is no Internet, no pleasant cafes to frequent, no comfort food that reminds you of home or even a quiet place to think, throwing yourself into your studies becomes your only outlet of escape. In New York, I could find various methods of distraction, from beautifully manicured parks, a wellequipped gym to reasonably priced (and blessedly dill-free) sushi. A much easier life. But also very costly.

Despite students’ protests against raises, tuition at the Moscow State Conservatoire

Catch the vibes of Moscow Back to Moscow: Lessons learned living at “home”. My husband likes to say that there is no thing so permanent as that which is temporary, and yet for us it seems the reverse has been more often true.

to our weekly newsletter www.rbth.ru/subscribe

The 15- and 16-year-olds in the room are an elite sample of the first post-Soviet generation, and the experience they bring back could very well change Russia.

FLEX accepts a smaller percentage of applicants than Harvard University. But the teens from Kirov, Samara, Tolyatti and other places in south-central Russia who attended their first official meeting Thursday were too anxious and excited about the upcoming journey to revel in being among the chosen 1.2 percent.

“I’m looking forward to improving my English, growing up and discovering new parts of myself,” said Katya Shumailova, 15, whose native Kirov is 5,840 miles east of Lakeland, the midsized city in central Florida where she’ll spend her next academic year.

The lights were dimmed and the presentation began. Cynthia Ehrlich, head of academic exchanges at the U.S. Embassy, spoke first. “When I was growing up, we had drills in school where we had to get under our desks and put on

www.rbth.ru/blogs

gas masks,” she said. “We were afraid that at any moment, the Soviet Union was going to bomb us.” The parents exchange knowing smiles. “We did!” one said, eliciting chuckles. “Now we have a whole generation that are too young to remember those horrible, old days,” Ehrlich said.

Yelena Fomenko and Bo Knutson, also of the American Councils, outlined the program, showing teens how to make the most of their experience and reassuring parents that their children will be in good hands. Parents were asked to let their children “spread their wings” in the United States: Don’t visit, don’t solve their problems for them and don’t panic. One phone call every two weeks. Again and again, the students were asked to abide by the rules of their host families regarding Internet use, chores, curfews and the like.

“We didn’t have any of these opportunities growing up,” said Leonid Chesnakov, 41, a real estate developer.

The program is supposed to prepare students to make a difference in their home communities, but it can also inspire them to move to bigger cities or even abroad.

Sergei Rumyantsev, 41, a masseur from Tolyatti, shrugged at the suggestion that his daughter might eventually leave Russia. “That’s freedom for you,” he said. “What can a parent do except point them in the right direction?”

where I studied was less than $10,000 a year. The dormitory was free in my time (they have since started charging for it; inevitable in a city which now has real estate prices nearly as high as New York) and four or five hundred dollars took care of living expenses. Columbia requires a budget of nearly $70,000 for nine months of study – for tuition, miscellaneous fees such as health insurance, rent and living expenses. I’ve never earned 70 grand in a year, let alone spent it in just nine months. Maybe now I’ll study in France or Germany, where tuition is apparently just a few hundred euros a semester. But I wonder how much it will cost me to learn French or German well enough to pass the entrance exams? Seventy grand?

Maybe I’ve had enough of schooling after all.

CONTACT US

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