RBTH Australia issue (March 2014) by Russia Beyond

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Russia-Oz trade special

Celebrating March 8 in modern-day society

Including an exclusive interview with Andrew Robb, Minister for Trade

P 2-3

Extreme travel The country’s wildest tourist attractions P 12-13

A special supplement produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the contents.

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Women’s Day

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ALL EYES ON UKRAINE

ON MARCH 1, THE RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT AUTHORISED PUTIN TO DEPLOY RUSSIAN TROOPS IN THE CRIMEA IF NECESSARY – AN ACTION THAT HAS PROVOKED INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY AND CENSURE

P 10 AFP/EASTNEWS

ALL INFORMATION CORRECT AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. READ MORE ABOUT THE SITUATION IN UKRAINE AT RBTH.COM

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MARCH 8'S IRONY OF FATE WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS IN RUSSIA SHOW HOW MUCH THE DAY HAS CHANGED SINCE ITS INCEPTION

THE MEANING OF WOMEN’S DAY IN RUSSIA TODAY On March 8, men can be seen on the streets of Russia, laden with bunches of flowers such as bright tulips and yellow mimosas, with boxes of chocolates in hand. YAROSLAVA KIRYUKHINA SPECIAL TO RBTH

These gifts are for the women in their lives: wives, girlfriends, mothers, daughters and colleagues. And the Russian authorities support the day and the idea that women’s importance is worth celebrating, so the entire country has the day off. But what does this holiday represent? How do Russian women feel about it? And how did it end up being celebrated this way?

The history of Women’s Day in Russia

culture started portraying women less as strong and hard-working comrades and equals and more as housewives and mothers. A push for a return to pre-Revolution gender roles seemed under way, and women’s child-bearing capacities became an object of focus – undoubtedly because of the huge loss of life Russia suffered in World War II. In 1944, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued an order boosting state support

for pregnant women, single mothers and mothers of many children. It even introduced the title “mother-heroine” (a woman who had many children). Also on this day, mothers who had lost sons in the Great War were presented by children with sweets in teacups – perhaps something like Mother’s Day. In the early ’60s, men started buying flowers on March 8 for their loved ones, and the day started to resemble its contemporary incarnation.

In 1966, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev declared the day a public holiday – a symbolic gesture reflecting more concerted efforts by authorities to stamp out any lingering political meaning that might be left over from the day’s ideological origins. The 1977 Soviet Constitution (which amended the Constitution of 1936) defined women’s role in society as “toiler, mother and citizen”. It stipulated that men and women had equal rights, and

that women had equal access to education, employment, promotions, remuneration and participation in social, cultural, and political activity. It also introduced special measures to help women balance work and motherhood. In the ’70 and ’80s, magazines played off Soviet women against their“immoral”Western counterparts; broadly speaking, the Soviet housewife and inexhaustible toiler was glorified, while the Western feminist was demonised.

Gift-giving supersedes the pursuit of equal rights The political and historical associations that International Women’s Day (IWD) usually conjures faded in Russia long ago. GLEB FEDOROV RBTH

They faded to such a degree, in fact, that for more than half a century, March 8 in Russia has been a day when women are given flowers and other gifts by the men in their life – not unlike Valentine’s Day.

The gift-giving tradition of Russian Women’s Day is so entrenched and considered so important that the Levada Centre (one of Russia’s biggest and most reliable independent pollsters) has been conducting surveys on March 8 gift-giving trends and preferences since 1997. The conclusion is that on IWD, Russian women want to be given gifts, and nearly half prefer to receive flowers. Some 54 per cent of the men who took part in a 2012

After 1913, International Women’s Day (IWD) started being observed in Russia, inspired by European and American socialists who had been agitating for women’s suffrage.Taking to the streets, in parades and demonstrations, Russian women demanded the right to vote and advocated for equal pay and state support for mothers. After the October Revolution, Lenin made IWD an of-

ficial Soviet holiday, encouraging women to stand side by side with men, waving the hammer and sickle symbols of the new society (as can be seen in Vera Mukhina’s monument, The Worker and the Collective Farm Woman in Moscow). Also on March 8, the Soviet Government would report on the implementation of any policies relating specifically to women. However, soon after World War II, Soviet popular

survey said they would give the women in their lives flowers on March 8, and 45 per cent of the women polled said they would be “very happy” to receive them. Little has changed since the late ’90s, it seems, when the same figures stood at 41 and 37 per cent respectively. The second most-popular giftcategory today is cosmetics and perfume, followed by chocolates, jewellery and being taken out to a restaurant or the theatre.

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holiday, considering it to be a Western legacy. It has not tried to eradicate it, however, as it actively has with Valentine’s Day and Halloween. “I do not need flowers or other gifts for being a woman,” says Svetlana, a mother of three, the wife of a deacon, and a fierce opponent of Women’s Day. “God Almighty has made me look the way I do. Why should I receive presents for this and have a high opinion of myself? “It’s a feminist holiday that has nothing in common with Russian traditions of women being domestic goddesses, caring mothers and loving wives, not career-driven selfish females.”

IWD founder Clara Zetkin a presence right up to present German Marxist theorist Clara Zetkin's involvement in the USSR led to her making an indelible impact in Russia. GLEB FEDOROV RBTH

There are streets, colleges and hospitals across the former Soviet Union that bear the name of Clara Zetkin, the women’s-rights activist and socialist politician who organised the first International Women’s Day in 1911. Zetkin’s first link to Russia was her husband, a Russian émigré revolutionary named Osip Zetkin. In 1881, socialist parties were outlawed in Germany, forcing Clara and Osip to flee. The ban was lifted in 1890, just a year after Osip had died of tuberculosis. Zetkin returned to Germany, where, in 1919, she was a founder of the German Communist Party. Zetkin first visited the USSR in 1920, when she met Lenin and his wife. But in Germany she was extremely active as a member of parliament and as an editor of several socialist and women’s rights publications. When Hitler’s party became the largest in the Reichstag in 1932, Zetkin opened the first parliamentary session by making an impassioned speech about the dangers of Nazism. Shortly after, all leftist parties were banned and Zetkin fled to the USSR. She died there soon after, in 1933, age 75, in Arkhangelskoye – a country estate outside of Moscow. More than 600,000 attended her funeral, and her ashes rest within the Kremlin Wall in Red Square. Russians know Zetkin for her role in establishing IWD – a day which has largely lost any political significance it once had in Russia.

Reinforcing gender conformity

QUOTE

Diana Bruk NEW YORK-BASED JOURNALIST WITH RUSSIAN ROOTS

The iconic Soviet female, portrayed with a sickle in one hand and a spoon in the other was minimalistic and productive but not glamorous. With the fall of the USSR, Russian women welcomed a return to more traditional gender roles and felt the urge to overcompensate for years of subjugated femininity.

After the 1917 Revolution, women were given the vote and encouraged to join the workforce, but they were still expected to do all the traditional domestic and childrearing duties as well – an overwhelming load, which is well expressed by the Russian idiom, ‘I’m both a horse and a bull, I’m both a woman and a man’. It echoes the complaints I heard from my mother and her friends when they used to wearily grumble.

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Maria added that, in her view, Russian Women’s Day helps only certain industries, namely those that sell flowers, perfume and chocolate. Her view is backed up by statistics. Last year, the Moscow Trade Department reported that wholesale prices for flowers increased by 50 to 60 per cent ahead of the holiday, whereas the MAR Consult Company last year forecast that Moscow men collectively would spend half a billion US dollars on gifts for the women in their lives on March 8. But seven of every 10 Russian women say they really enjoy this holiday because, for them, it marks the beginning of spring and encourages their significant others to express their love and admiration towards them. “I’m used to doing the chores around the house and working like crazy, so I really look forward to a day when I can relax and have the housework done by my boyfriend,”says 22-year-old Natalya, who works long hours to pay for her education. Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church, which is almost always in line with the Kremlin, does not accept this

But there are those who prefer to hide their dissatisfaction with the way March 8 is celebrated, especially after the adoption of the national law banning propaganda promoting non-traditional sexual relations to minors. Irina, a transsexual who publicly lives as a woman but identifies as a man and dreams of gender reassignment surgery, gets annoyed ahead of March 8 at the prospect of being bombarded with chocolates and compliments from male colleagues at the bank where she works. “It’s unbearable, but I know that I can’t show them how I really feel about this socalled holiday – which I personally find discriminatory – because I might be fired. I don’t want to be pampered by males. But, if I’m honest, I myself give my girlfriend flowers on Women’s Day, so it seems that I also follow these unwritten rules.” Irina loathes March 8 because she believes it reinforces strict traditional gender roles and makes a scapegoat of anyone who sits outside them.

Men’s Day (Defender of the Fatherland Day) Just two weeks before Women’s Day, on February 23, Russian males, from baby boys to retirees, receive a chorus of congratulations on the occasion of the so-called Defender of the Fatherland Day. Officially, as the name suggests, this day should celebrate those (male or female) who serve, or have served, in Russia’s Armed Forces, but unofficially, it is Men’s Day – a holiday when Russian women shower the men in their lives with gifts and attention. Ironically, until 1918, IWD was celebrated in Russia on this date (February 23), due to the Julian Calendar still being in use.

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Some Russian women are cynical about the way Women’s Day is celebrated today and say they would like to be shown gratitude year-round, not just on one day of the year. Others complain that, despite the fact that the day was once associated with forwarding women’s rights, today it does nothing to help them be treated as equals, in the business world or in government. Thirty-year-old businesswoman Maria says getting a deluge of greeting cards and SMS texts one day a year does not make her life any easier. “During negotiations with male colleagues, I’m not perceived as an equal, but as a woman, with all the weak spots that are attributed to the fairer sex,” she complained. (Some of these are, apparently, being emotionally unbalanced, being a victim of PMT, and generally being prone to acts of folly.) Women in Russia do have particularly low representation in government, and are also under-represented in corporate management roles in medium to large companies.)

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Contemporary attitudes

RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Clara Zetkin (left) with Rosa Luxemburg (right).

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Business

MOST READ Russian rouble reaches five-year low rbth.com/34329

NEWS IN BRIEF

Trade Business between the two countries fell overall last year, but there are areas for potential growth

Oz trade with Russia drops

Norilsk Nickel sells Australian gold mines

RBTH takes an in-depth look at Russian-Oz trade, and interviews Australia’s Minister for Trade, prior to him cancelling his visit to Russia because of events in Ukraine. GLEB FEDOROV RBTH

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Questions & Answers

Andrew Robb on trade with Russia Did you see any positive trends in trade between Australia and Russia in 2013? The World Bank expects the Russian economy to grow by 3.1 per cent in 2014. According to Business Monitor International, Russian per capita consumer spending is also predicted to increase. This, of course, presents opportunities for Australian firms in Russia.There is now $AUD4.5 billion worth of Russian investment in Australia and I hope that will grow when Russian companies consider the strength of the Australia economy: our strong regulatory environment and the commercial opportunities available. How do you plan to deal with the ban Russia has imposed on Australian beef? Russia is an important and growing market for Australian beef, and one of the largest beef importers in the world. Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), in partnership with the Australian industry, has a range of marketing activities in Russia to help consumers differentiate Austral-

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ian products from our competitors’ and position Australia as a “clean and green”high-quality red meat supplier. MLA operates a trade representative office, based in Moscow, to co-ordinate our marketing efforts. In addition, seminars have been held to educate the Russian food-service industry and selected retail segments about the quality of Australian red meat and our food safety systems. In your opinion, is it safe to do business in Russia these days? A range of Australian companies are successfully operating in Russia, in the mining and resources sector, as well as in services, like agribusiness, education and food and consumer goods – which is a good sign. We’re keen to enhance the trade and investment relationship [between Australia and Russia] and raising awareness about prospective opportunities in our respective markets is critical. The Australian Trade Commission has had long-standing representation in the Russian Federation, with offices

in both Moscow andVladivostok. Austrade works closely with our colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as with other government agencies and industry bodies, to assist Australian companies enter and build their businesses in Russia. Russia-Australia trade is very limited. What obstacles, apart from distance, do you think account for this? Total trade, including services, between Australia and Russia for 2012-13 was approximately $AUD1.8 billion which, given the size of our economies, can certainly be expanded. There is, however, significant scope for growth. Australia, like Russia, has a strong mining and resources sector. Both countries also have significant agribusiness sectors. It’s important that we look to build on our respective strengths and identify areas of co-operation, where we can share expertise and technologies and where there is demand from our respective markets. Strengthening the links between financial and professional service-providers in Australia and Russia will not only expand business in these sectors, but will also underpin commercial activity in other sectors.

TELLING YOU THEIR SUCCESS STORIES

Export trade to Australia down in 2013 Official figures revealed that overall trade between Russia and Australia shrank by 13.3 per cent last year compared with 2012, and Russian exports to Australia fell by 31 per cent and Australian imports to Russia declined by 11.2 per cent. According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service, exports to Australia are worth $US68.3 million, less than a tenth of the $US737.5 million Australian imports are valued at. The exports themselves, however, remained largely unchanged, with some exceptions. Fertiliser remained Russia’s biggest export in 2013 ($US28.8 million), followed by copper sulphate ($US14.6 million) and wood panels ($U3.8 million). Petrochemicals were the fourth category in 2012 ($US12.5 million, or 13 per cent of total exports) but in 2013 shrank to 1 per cent, while tea exports rose to $US3.5 million in value. Australia’s top exports to Russia included: aluminium oxide and uranium ore ($US259.3 million), beef products ($US160.7 million), pedigree cattle stock ($US78.7 million) and mining machinery ($US75.5 million).

Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, one of the largest global manufacturers of non-ferrous metals, is selling the two gold mines in Western Australia that it bought in 2011. The company plans to sell its North Eastern Goldfields Operations (NEGO) to Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd for $US35.2 million. The contract, which is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2014, will require Saracen to undertake environmental restoration of the lands. Saracen is planning to resume gold production within 18 months of the closure of the deal.

Russia-Australia talks may be cancelled

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The Russian-Australian inter-governmental commission was due to convene on March 12. At the time of printing, no announcements had been made that the session would be cancelled. However, uncertainty surrounds the meeting, since the Minister for Trade, Andrew Robb, has announced he will not be going to Russia because of the controversy around the Crimea.

Offal imports restricted by food watchdog The Russian agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, has restricted Australian offal imports over the use of the steroid trenbolone in animal breeding. Australian ambassador Paul Myler and Rosselkhoznadzor representatives also discussed a possible ban on beef imports, but no decision has been taken. Under Customs Union rules, steroids may not be used in meat intended for export to member nations.

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Society

MOST READ Stolichnaya pledges donation to Russian LGBT community rbth.com/34125

Polls reveal a country taking an optimistic outlook on life According to opinion polls, family is what matters most to Russians. They are optimistic about the future and they value good friends and honesty. ANASTASIYA MALTSEVA

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Russians value famiy and honesty, but are increasingly mistrusting of the US and Europe.

FACTS ABOUT INTERESTS AND VALUES

Pre-Olypmics, only 62 per cent of Russians said they planned to watch the Games, with 30 per cent interested in the figure-skating, 25 per cent the biathlon and 23 per cent ice hockey.

Three-quarters are convinced of the“need to be cautious in relationships with others”,while 60 per cent are prepared to trust only those close to them. The remainder think they must always be

Surveys show only 17 per cent of Russians polled were interested in their pension funds (these were primarily affluent people, aged 3544, living in medium to large towns).

vigilant among their acquaintances. Russians are also not forgiving of those with criminal records: 61 per cent are opposed to allowing people who have been in prison stand for

Russian society has been said to comprise four segments: the Moscow and St Petersburg segment, large industrial cities, rural Russia and the Caucasus – a clan-based culture.

public office (and women and the elderly are more categorical about this: at 65 per cent and 68 per cent respectively). Russians also do not feel all that safe, with 63 per cent doubting that their authori-

ties can protect them from acts of terrorism (and of that figure, 44 per cent are convinced there is no way to escape terrorism). Residents in Moscow and St Petersburg, however, feel safer than in other parts of Russia. When it comes to foreign policy, the Levada Centre found Russians have become more negative about the US and the European Union. Those who perceive the US as“bad”rose from 23 per cent in 2011 to 37 per cent last year. And the figure went from 14 per cent to 29 per cent in regard to the European Union. Closer neighbours, however, are viewed more positively, and 64 per cent of those polled would like Russia to restore diplomatic relations with Georgia. The Dean of Sociology at Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics, Aleksandr Chepurenko, noted that a stark“values gap”can be seen between Russians born after the collapse of the USSR and the older generation. “Young people have grown up in a values vacuum when there has been no political ideology of the kind to which the state is now returning,” he said. “The young, unlike the older generation, are not nostalgic for the old Soviet machinery of the state. “Young people are not interested in what was good or bad about it. They live in the present and have a good grasp of information technologies.” The three above-mentioned poll centres are independent non-government organisations, founded between the late ’80s early ’90s.

NEWS IN BRIEF Pupil charged after shooting double fatality The 10th-grade high school student who shot dead his geography teacher and a policeman at school No 263, Moscow, last month has been charged with homicide, attempted murder and hostage-taking. The accused will undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is fit to stand trial. Preliminary findings suggest he had an emotional breakdown. Such shootings are rare in Russia perhaps because of strict restrictions on weapon ownership. The accused had allegedly used his father’s registered hunting rifles. The father helped police arrest his son, entering the classroom where the shootings took place to talk to him.

New work-visa regulations

Public opinion Russians started the new year in optimistic mood as most expect good things of 2014

On the flip side, Russians believe they must be vigilant and cautious in relations with others. They are also convinced that no-one can protect them from acts of terrorism and they are increasingly wary about the US and Europe. Polls by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM) reveal that the greatest desire of 93 per cent of those polled was to create a happy “social unit”, while 91 per cent wanted good friends and 90 per cent wanted “to be honest”. Sixty-five per cent of those polled celebrated the new year in an optimistic mood and 56 per cent were hopeful that everything would work out well for the country in 2014. Only a third of respondents expected to face problems this year. Year after year, the number of optimists in Russia seems to exceed the number of pessimists. While optimistic, according to figures from the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), Russians are also fairly distrusting. Only one-fifth say they trust most people.

Simplified regulations about the employment of foreign students in Russia came into effect on January 1, 2014. In accordance with amendments to the bill On the Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation, foreigners with student visas can now obtain work permits without filling out special forms. However, they cannot work outside the region that issued their permit.

Education Overseas candidates must study Russian before they can take university entrance exams

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By the end of 2014, the Russian Education and Science Ministry is due to adopt a new list of requirements for foreigners who want to get a higher education in Russia. Now international applicants will have to spend a year learning Russian, mathematics and the key subjects in their chosen fields in order to qualify to sit entrance exams for the universities of their choice. Foreign applicants will be divided into groups: the humanities, the natural sciences, medicine and biology, engineering and economics. Each of these groups will

In Russia, 2.5 per cent of tertiary students are foreign.

topic in their specialist field. “At the moment, there are no clear requirements with regard to knowledge of Russian and, as a result, very basic ones are applied,”vice-chancellor of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Viktor Grishin explained. At the end of the Russian

literature course (which forms part of the Russian-language course), an applicant will have to demonstrate knowledge of the Russian literature of the 18 and 19th centuries, as well as of the biographies of Russian writers: Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and

Chekhov. They will have to be able to describe the literary styles of various authors and be able to speak about their works and characters (two to three works by each author). In mathematics, foreign applicants will not only have to learn how to make simple calculations but be able to prove various theorems in Russian and work out basic formulae, as well as to study the basics of mathematical analysis. There are about 250,000 foreign students from some 150 countries studying in Russia today. More than 40,000 of them receive higher education free of charge, with tuition fees paid by the Russian Government. The largest number of foreign students come from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Exam schedule now in unison

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DARYA LYUBINSKAYA

comprise three mandatory and one specialist subject. In addition, foreign applicants will need to study generalknowledge subjects, such as Russian, mathematics or computer science. The list of subjects set will depend on the discipline the applicant will be specialising in. At the end of the foundation program, applicants will have to pass exams in their mandatory subjects and achieve a pass in optional ones. The Russian language course comprises basic knowledge of phonetics, syntax and punctuation. At the end of it, an applicant must have a vocabulary of at least 2,300 words, adequate aural comprehension (a speed of 200–240 words per minute) and be able to read at a speed of 80–100 words per minute. Furthermore, they will have to be able to write an essay or produce a summary of a

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Foreign students facing new language rules Students will now need to complete a program comprising Russian language and literature, as well as mathematics, before taking university entrance exams.

Starting this year, the Unified State Exam, which is taken by all Russian high school students upon graduation, will be different for each of Russia’s eight time zones. Different versions of the test will be developed in order to prevent students in Vladivostok from relaying information about the test to students in Moscow.

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Sochi 2014

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MOST READ Behind the scenes at the closing ceremony rbth.com/34501

2014 PARALYMPICS HOSTING THE WINTER GAMES MAY CHANGE RUSSIAN ATTITUDES ABOUT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES FOR THE BETTER

HOST NATION ANTICIPATES A LEGACY OF SUCCESS Russia will host its first Paralympic Winter games to date, from March 7 to 16. The event is due to attract 1,350 athletes and teams from 47 countries. OLEG BOYKO RUSSIA DIRECT

Over the past decade, Russia’s Paralympic teams have made strong progress, gaining top positions in team events since 2006. Russia’s Paralympic success story is only a recent phenomenon, however. The Paralympic movement is relatively new to Russia, beginning only 18 years ago, with the creation of the Russian Paralympic Committee. (In contrast, in Western countries, efforts have been made to involve people with disabilities in sport since the ’50s.) Pa r a ly m p i c s p o rt i n Russia was in its infancy in the ’90s, at which time it lacked infrastructure and financial support. Programs had to be set up quickly to prepare coaches and experts in adaptive physical culture; training bases for a range of disciplines needed to be established and new equipment purchased. These efforts helped Russian Paralympians break through into the international arena in a short space of time, and soon the world began to talk about the“phenomenon” of the success of Russian Paralympians.

From roots to records Russian athletes first took part in the Paralympics in 1988, riding on the wave of

the USSR’s perestroika. At that time, only visually impaired athletes were competing. These athletes won gold medals in track and field and the Soviet team finished 12th overall. More recently, Russia has consistently won medals in winter team events. But at the London Paralympic Games, in 2012, Russian Paralympians had their best performance in summer sport to date, both in terms of the number of medals won and the team’s table position. The team won 102 medals (36 gold, 38 silver and 28 bronze) in individual and team sports; 14 world records were set, in swimming and athletics. The number of Russian Paralympics has also risen sharply in recent years. The summer team in London had 182 members, compared with the 60 who represented Russia in Atlanta in 1996. In terms of winter sports, only 26 Russian athletes competed in the Paralympics in Salt Lake City in 2002, while the country’s sporting delegation in Sochi will be 162-strong, including 64 athletes. And for the first time, the Russian team will participate in all events.

People power These impressive results and the rapid expansion of parasports in Russia have come about first because of the motivation of the athletes themselves. For Russian athletes with disabilities, participation, and victory, in the Paralympics are seen as a spring-

Russian Paralympians gave their best performance to date at the 2012 London Paralympics

countries are due to participate in the Sochi Paralympic Games, gathering together 1,350 athletes.

board to a fuller life and better recognition in wider society. Development of disability sport in Russia has also been driven by a co-operative team effort by the Ministry of Sport and Russia’s national Paralympic Committee, whose tasks extend beyond developing and supporting Paralympic sport in Russia. The committee is also involved in organising assistance for kids with disabilities, promoting the ideals of the international Paralympic movement, training sports professionals to work with people with disabilities and creating jobs in this sector. The success of the Russian Paralympic movement is also underpinned by the joint sup-

sets of medals in five sporting categories will be awarded; para-snowboarding will make its debut.

Paralympians ready to shine Sochi's Paralympic Winter Program will set Games records. Over nine days of competition, 72 sets of medals will be awarded across five sporting categories (compared with the 64 medals up for grabs at the Vancouver Games in 2010). And para-snowboarding will make its debut as a Paralympic discipline. Russia's main rivals are expected to be Germany, Canada and the US. The Paralympic movement in Russia is relatively young compared with most Western countries; nevertheless, Russian Paralympians are expected to be up there with the best.

athletes will be on the Russian team, which will make it Russia's biggest Paralympic team to date.

port p po o of government and business. ne n e The Chinese Paralympic pi p i team, the undisputed leader in the summer Games, le e iss financed by the Chinese government, while their US go g o counterparts, for example, are c o private-sector funded. pr p r In Russia, the corporate world plays an important role in promoting Paralympic sport. Businesses particularly support promoting events to honour Paralympians, raising public awareness about their sporting prowess and nurturing a sense of recognition and respect in Russian society at large. The Parasport foundation, together with the Paralympic Committee, holds the Return to Life annual national awards ceremony to celebrate the contributions of athletes,

coaches and doctors who have been involved in the development of Paralympic sport in Russia.

MARCH 7 Opening Ceremony

million is the number of people in Russia known to have a disability (or 9 per cent of the population).

The Paralympic effect History has shown that hosting the Paralympic Games has led to improved perceptions about people with disabilities in the host country. Among the best examples is China, where in the five years after the 2008 Paralympics, Beijing made considerable new efforts to integrate people with disabilities into the community. It is hoped that Russia’s hosting of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games will help change stereotypical attitudes toward people with disabilities in Russia. According to statistics from Russia’s Min-

MARCH 16 Closing Ceremony

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Sochi 2014

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INTERVIEW SIR PHILIP CRAVEN

How competition for all can help to change attitudes

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Paralympic sport in Russia was in its infancy in the '90s, lacking infrastructure

Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, talks about the impact of the Games on people with disabilities in general.

Are you planning on incorporatingnewdisciplinesintotheWinter Paralympic Games? In the coming years, we must increase the scale of these games through the inclusion of new sports. It’s for this reason that, for the first time, skiing competitions on parasnowboards will take place in Sochi. Today, the Paralympic Summer Games include 22 sporting disciplines, in which 4,300 athletes take part. In comparison, the Winter Games have five sports and 750 athletes. We want to reduce this gap. Already, in 2018, in Pyeongchang, parasnowboarding will become an independent sport, so the number of sports will increase to six.

istry of Labour and Social Protection, Russia has 13 million citizens with disabilities, which is equivalent to 9 per cent of the population. The US has 56.7 million people with disabilities (equivalent to 19 per cent of the total population) and Great Britain eight million (18 per cent); China’s official data reports it has 83 million disabled people (or 6.3 per cent). In 2012, Russia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and is implementing a program called the Accessible Environment program. Russia is facing considerable challenges in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities because of inadequate social infrastructure and the lack of a unified

approach and unified standards for access. This affects people with disabilities’ capacity to access employment, for example, and only 20 per cent of Russians with disabilities are employed, according to the Ministry of Labour.

ALPINE SKIING March 8,9,10,11,13,14,15,16

Employment challenges The employment of people with disabilities is a social problem faced by many countries. In 2012, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, only 17.8 per cent of people with disabilities were employed, compared with 63.9 per cent of people without a disability. In the UK, according to the Papworth Trust charity, in March 2013 the employment rate among people with disabilities in the UK was 49 per cent,

BIATHLON March 8,11,14

PARALYMPIC GOLD

MEDALS: THREE AGE: 27

MEDALS: FOUR AGE: 30

Nerve damage at birth caused the partial paralysis of one of Anna Milenina's arms. With this kind of injury, her doctors told her not to play any sport. But Milenina was from an athletic family, and she was keen to take up sport from as young as six. At 14, she was selected for the national Paralympic team, and at 19 took part in her first Games, in Turin. Milenina, who competes in cross-country skiing and biathlon, is also a triple silver medallist.

Irek Zaripov was the leading individual Russian athlete at the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver, winning four gold medals and one silver in skiing and the biathlon. Zaripov will defend his titles in Sochi before retiring from competitive sport. “I hope my farewell will be positive," he said. "I plan to start a political career. But now, of course, all my thoughts are on my performance at the Paralympics.” Zaripov is confident, successful and strong.

compared with 81.8 per cent for people without. In Russia, there are undoubtedly sociocultural barriers between people with disabilities and broader society. People with disabilities face objective barriers to access, participation and integration in many areas of society. It is hoped that the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi will nudge Russia further towards improving opportunities for people with disabilities. Oleg Boyko is president of the Finstar Financial Group. In 1996, he suffered a spinal injury and today also heads the Commission for Development of the Paralympic Movement in Russia under the Russian Paralympic Committee.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING March 10,11,12,15,16

The Olympics attracts more interest than the Paralympics. What can be done to promote interest in the Paralympics? First of all, we should not forget that the first Paralympic Games were held in 1960 and the firstWinter Paralympic Games 16 years later. The Vancouver games were very successful, but we need to make the Games in Sochi even better. The Paralympic Games in London were the best in history, but in Rio we must make them even better. It’s important to keep the interest of fans between games. What about the coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi? It’s expected that the Sochi Games will be broadcast more than the previous Games. More than 1.6 billion

Hosting the Paralympic Games is likely to lead to greater awareness in Russia of disability issues and better recognition of Russian Paralympians' already strong record of success.

ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY March 15

was the position on the final medal table of the Soviet Paralympic team at its first Games, in 1988.

Irek Zaripov

AFP/EASTNEWS

years ago the Paralympic movement began in Russia with the creation of the Russian Paralympic Committee.

Anna Milenina

WHEELCHAIR CURLING March 15

viewers watched the Paralympic Games in Vancouver 2010. As for Sochi, we have a deal with local broadcasters to increase the number of hours of broadcasts. A major breakthrough occurred in the US, where NBC and NBC Sports will provide more than 66 hours of coverage – much more than ever before. Have you been satisfied with the preparations for Sochi’s Paralympic Games? If we talk about the preparedness of the sports facilities and infrastructure in Sochi, I believe that the organisers are to be congratulated for the work that’s been done to create a barrier-free environment in the city. However, this work should not be restricted to where the competitions are to be carried out. There also needs to be focus on ticket sales for Paralympic competitions. Russians should not miss this event. They simply shouldn’t miss the opportunity to cheer on visually impaired skiers, for example, coming down the mountain at up to 100km per hour. What,inyouropinion,willbethe most important aspect for the legacyoftheParalympicGames in Sochi 2014? The most important legacy is likely to be a change in attitudes of Russian society towards people with disabilities. It’s important that people with disabilities can participate in public life. Previous Games have shown that sports achievements of Paralympic athletes have helped with these things [in the hosting countries]. Nikolai Dolgopolov, Rossiyskaya Gazeta

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Sochi 2014

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GAMES RESULTS DESPITE CONCERNS THAT THE FACILITIES WOULD NOT BE READY, PLUS FEARS OVER SECURITY, THE WINTER OLYMPICS WERE STAGED FAR MORE SUCCESSFULLY THAN MANY DOUBTERS HAD EXPECTED

OLYMPICS' HOST SETS THE GOLD STANDARD ON AND OFF THE PISTE JAMES ELLINGWORTH SPECIAL TO RBTH

The hosting of the Games was a resounding success, defying earlier predictions that the Sochi Olympics could dissolve into a fiasco. “We all have enjoyed exceptional conditions in these Olympic Winter Games,” IOC president Thomas Bach said at closing ceremony. “Our Russian hosts had promised excellent sports venues, outstanding Olympic villages and an impeccable organisation. Tonight we can say Russia delivered all what it had promised.” Four years ago in Vancouver, Russian sport seemed broken. The Soviet-style production line of champions, for decades so reliable, had ground to a halt and the country finished a lowly 11th in the medal table, a place behind the largely snow-free Netherlands. All that changed in Sochi. Russia stormed to

the top of the medal table, leaving traditional winter sports titans such as Norway and Canada in its wake. There was a new generation of champions, led by figure skating’s ice princesses Julia Lipnitskaia, 15, and Adelina Sotnikova, 17. There were new Russians, with naturalised South Korean speedskater Viktor Ahn winning

Five gold medals were won by Russian-born athletes who had moved to other countries. three medals and US-born snowboarder Vic Wild taking two back to his apartment in Moscow. There were also, touchingly, veteran Russian athletes such as bobsled gold medallist Alexander Zubkov, 39, who leapt from also-rans to champions, their potential finally unlocked by extra funding and support. Success didn’t come easily for Russia, which at the halfway point of the Games looked to be headed for failure, with just two gold med-

als, while the Olympics themselves were flooded with mocking #sochiproblems tweets. Then the jeering subsided and gold medals began to pour in, meaning the host nation finished with 13 – six of them in sports where Russia had never won gold before. The total of 33 medals of all colours outscored every Russian and Soviet Winter Olympic team in history. Meanwhile, the expensively built sports facilities in the Olympic Park and up in the Caucasus mountains saw plenty of action, not just from the Russian athletes. Britain matched its best-ever Winter Olympics performance from 90 years before with one gold medal for Lizzy Yarnold in the skeleton, plus one silver and two bronze medals, including the first British medal in a snow sport, won by snowboard slopestyler Jenny Jones. Norwegian biathlon star Ole Einar Bjoerndalen became the most decorated athlete in Winter Olympics history as his gold medals in the sprint and mixed relay took him to a career medal tally of 13. Alpine skiing was one of

Final standings in the medal table

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

Amid the lavish arenas and bombastic ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics, it was always going to take something special for Russia’s athletes to grab the spotlight.

the few events where the Russian presence was negligible, but that took nothing away from the passion of the crowd at Rosa Khutor. They were rewarded with a unique event in Olympic history as two athletes – Slovenia’s Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland – were awarded gold in the same event after clocking exactly the same time in the women’s downhill. The men’s ice hockey gold medal game is the most hyped event of any Winter Olympics, especially so in Russia. With that in mind, Russia’s meek quarter-final exit to Finland was something of a scandal,

sparking angry commentary in the Russian media. However, the crowd at the Bolshoy Ice Dome remained passionate, roaring Canada on to retain its title with a 3-0 win in the final against Sweden. That followed a Canada-US semi-final that was low-scoring at 1-0 but one of the most technically brilliant games in history, played at a furiously fast pace for the full 60 minutes, with the crowd right behind the Canadians. So, after Sochi, what does the future hold for Russian sport? If Sochi is any guide, things could get even better at the next Winter Olympics, in Pyeongchang, South Korea,

in 2018. One little-remarkedupon feature of the Sochi Olympics was the five gold medals won by Russian-born athletes who had switched allegiances to other countries. They were athletes who had left in the chaotic days before Sochi won the right to host the Games, when funding and support for athletes was patchy. Fast-forward four years and that generation of athletes will have largely moved on, replaced by youngsters who have grown up with the support of the past few years, a trend that can boost Russia’s performances on the snow and ice of Pyeongchang.

Keep your finger on the Sochi pulse even after the Closing Ceremony with our special section!

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FIRST-HAND

Australian impressions

The expensively built sports facilities saw plenty of action, not just from the Russian athletes

Heath Spence BOBSLEIGH

ochi was amazing. I was there a year ago and can’t believe how much has changed. The mountains are unlike anything we have in Australia, and I would look out my balcony window every day and have to pinch myself. It was amazing; the facilities and warm-up areas there are so spectacular. There’s nothing like it in the world. I had my own space and plenty of room that was quiet so I could study the track notes and sleep. There were great Aussie staff and Russian volunteers everywhere, to help and provide answers. As for security, I was scanned in and out more times than I can remember. It meant when leaving for the venues, I had to add a little extra time. But it became the norm to go through the security checkpoints. And I definitely felt safe. Russian people are friendly. But being confined to the village and competition venues didn’t give me much of a chance to really get a feel for Russian culture.

REUTERS

Britteny Cox

Retrospective A flashback to the host city in the late ’90s

Waiting to emerge from hibernation MIKHAIL MORDASOV DPA/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

GO sochi2014.rbth.ru to learn more about Paralympics!

Back in the day when police fines equalled the amount of cash on your person and drinking Nescafe was about as cosmopolitan as it got in Russia, I went to Sochi. KATHERINE TERS RBTH

It was 1999: a year after Russia’s worst post-Soviet economic crisis, when whole industry sectors collapsed and inflation catapulted, robbing people of their lifesavings and leaving many without jobs. Sochi’s sanatoriums, built early last century, when this rural town was being developed as a health resort, had a Mediterranean feel to them. I remember Sochi’s wide boulevards, its grand Stalinera buildings, and its being dotted with palm trees and block-like Krushchevite

hotels. But in mid-summer, many were half-empty. A hotelier told me the town was dying, and that Russians with money preferred Bulgaria or Croatia for seaside holidays. But Sochi was alive at night, with packed Georgian restaurants and dancing on its beachside corso, where badly recorded Russian pop blared from portable radios. Having been electrocuted one too many times by dodgy light-fittings at my home-stay accommodation, I headed to Adler – a town 30 kilometres south, near the border with Georgia. From Adler, with US dollars in my shoe linings, I boarded a bus to Krasnaya Polyana (a three-hour trip inland). En route I didn’t much care for the alpine scenery. The high speed at which we were taking this unsealed, single-lane road, which

curled alongside vertigoinducing drops, kept me with eyes firmly down, alternately praying and saying “om”. (Incidentally, this road was redeveloped for the Olympics, and a railway added, at the controversial price-tag of about $US9 billion.) Krasnaya Polyana – the town that hosted the Olympics’ Alpine and Nordic events – was nice, although I struggled to find a live person. I did notice a ski resort, a deserted Radisson and a heap of empty B&Bs, and figured this wasn’t a summer destination, so pressed on. A short distance down the road, along the unpronounceable Mzymta River, I hit the end of the road and the tiny village of Estosadok – which was little more than a few food stalls and a rickety chairlift. With an izbushka camp offering traditional wooden huts for $US1 a night, I decided to linger a while in this quiet gateway to the profoundly beautiful Caucasus Mountains.

MOGULS

was staying in the Mountain Cluster, so I didn't get to spend much time down in the city of Sochi itself. But my family stayed there, and they said that the waterfront was beautiful and that people were very welcoming (although they did find the taxi system difficult to manage.) The mountains near Sochi

are absolutely breathtaking. I get to see a lot of mountains and mountain ranges as a winter sport athlete, and these are undoubtedly the most spectacular that I have ever seen. They are huge and they looked amazing at sunset as the sky turned a rich purple – which also happened to be a theme colour for the Games. The Village was also really cool. It was very different from Vancouver because it was a more alpine-style village. Some of its highlights included a post office where we could get our faces printed on stamps and posted directly home.

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MOST READ What integration with the EU means for Putin rbth.com/33833

Crimea Senators vote to authorise deployment of troops – if necessary – until the situation improves

Parliament supports Russian intervention

The Russian Parliament considers the recently elected government in Kiev to be illegitimate.

Last Saturday, the Russian Parliament voted to allow the use of Russian forces in the Crimea until the sociopolitical situation in Ukraine returns to normal. IGOR ROZIN RBTH

At the time of going to press, however, no troops had been sent. The Parliament’s decision does not mean that troops necessarily will be used, Interfax reported on March 1, citing a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. Deputy Foreign Minister

Grigory Karasin explained: “[The] decision to grant Russian President Vladimir Putin’s request for the use of Russian armed forces until the socio-political situation in Ukraine normalises means that the President now has a free hand in the event that

the situation deteriorates.” Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko said that Russians’ lives in Crimea were under threat, and that is why Russia cannot remain indifferent. During a discussion that preceded the voting in the Federation Council, deputy speaker Yury Vorobyev said that US President Barack Obama’s statement that Moscow “would pay dearly for its policy” in relation to Ukraine“had crossed the red line and insulted the Russian people”. Senators also instructed the Federation Council’s international committee to prepare an appeal for recalling the Russian ambassador from the US. Earlier on Saturday, the lower house of the Russian parliament (the State Duma) appealed to Putin, urging him to take measures to stabilise the situation in the Crimea and to use all available capabilities to protect the Crimean population from lawlessness and violence. According to the head of the State Duma Committee on Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots, Leonid Slutsky, Russia may deploy a limited contingent of its troops in the Crimea to ensure the safety of its Black Sea Fleet bases and the Rus-

STATEMENT

The reasons behind Russia's decision Vladimir Morozov RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLICS OF FIJI, VANUATU AND NAURU

he so-called government in Kiev consists of right-wing extremists and was established in violation of the Agreement of February 21 between the Ukrainian PresidentViktorYanukovych and the Opposition. This agreement was aimed at the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis through democratic elections, following due constitutional process, and was certified by the ministers of foreign affairs of Germany, France and Poland.

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It is obvious that the new authorities are controlled by the ultra-nationalists, and that they are disregarding constitutional processes and therefore pose a real threat to the future, not only of our Russian compatriots in Ukraine, but to many Ukrainians who don’t support their aggressive political agenda. Of grave concern are the following measures taken by the government in Kiev: (1) the cancellation of the Law on the Foundations of the State Language Policy, which

will likely lead to discrimination against Russianspeakers in Ukraine; (2) recent restrictions on the freedom of mass-media; (3) bans on the activities of a number of political parties; and (4) attempts to pass legislation which aims to criminalise Russian citizenship for those who already have Ukrainian citizenship. In this situation, Russia retains its right to protect the interests of the Russianspeaking population and other Ukrainians who may become hostage to the provocative and criminal actions of a relatively small group of Ukrainian radicals, who are

THIS SPECIAL REPORT IS PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA (RUSSIA), WHICH TAKES SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS. INTERNET ADDRESS WWW.RBTH.COM EMAIL EDITORAU@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 KONSTANTIN FETS MANAGING EDITOR GLEB FEDOROV EDITOR KATHERINE TERS GUEST EDITOR (AUSTRALIA) CLEMSON TEXT & DESIGN PRODUCTION EDITORS (AUSTRALIA) ANDREY SHIMARSKIY ART DIRECTOR ANDREY ZAITSEV HEAD OF PHOTO DEPT MILLA DOMOGATSKAYA HEAD OF PRE-PRINT DEPT MARIA OSHEPKOVA LAYOUT E-PAPER VERSION OF THIS SUPPLEMENT IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.RBTH.COM

aspiring to represent the Ukrainian population as a whole, without any moral or legal justification to do so. The Russian government, and Russians in general, are very worried about the developments in Ukraine, so our President appealed to the Federation Council of the Russian Federation to authorise the use of Russian troops in the Ukraine. But the consent of the Federation Council does not automatically mean the use of force. The aim is to consolidate all available means to stabilise the situation. Furthermore, this decision was taken upon the request

sian population in the region, in order to counter possible acts of provocation on behalf of the “unconstitutional regime in Kiev”. Earlier, Crimean Prime Minister Serhy Aksyonov appealed to Putin “to assist in ensuring peace and tranquillity on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea”. In an interview with RBTH, chairman of the presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, Fyodor Lukyanov, said the decision of the Upper House of Russian parliament (the Federation Council) was necessary. “Russia considers the authorities in Kiev to be illegitimate and proceeds from the premise that they have no right to dictate anything to it or to the population of Crimea,” he said. Lukyanov stressed that the Federation Council’s decision was in effect a reply to Obama’s warning.“Because during the discussion, the parliamentarians mentioned Obama’s warning, it meant that the conflict automatically moved to an international level,” he said. Lukyanov went on to add that Russia would now face, in the very least, strong condemnation from the international community and accusations of pursuing an aggressive policy and that its image would suffer.

of the local Crimean authorities requesting assistance to restore normal life and ensure stability in the peninsula – something that has been dramatically deteriorating under the new government in Kiev. The city of Sevastopol has been host to Russia’s Black Sea Naval base since an Agreement was signed in Kharkov, on April 21, 2010. It can’t be denied that Russians constitute the majority of the Crimean population; they also share Russian history, values and political perspectives. The Crimeans cannot be deprived of the right to determine their own destiny in the face of the clear and present threat to their lives caused by the irresponsible actions of the acting Ukrainian government.

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SUPPLEMENT CONTACT SALES@RBTH.RU © COPYRIGHT 2014, FSFI 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 ANY OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS PUBLICATION, OTHER THAN FOR PERSONAL USE, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED. TO OBTAIN PERMISSION TO REPRINT OR COPY AN ARTICLE OR PHOTO, PLEASE PHONE +7 (495) 775 3114, OR EMAIL EDITORAU@RBTH.RU WITH YOUR REQUEST. RBTH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS AND PHOTOS.

‘Nobody is going to occupy Ukraine’ Russian military experts say rumours of a possible large-scale invasion are highly exaggerated. KONSTANTIN NOVIKOV, ANATOLY KARAVAYEV GAZETA.RU

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer says that if Russia sends troops to Ukraine it will result in serious losses for Russia. “Compared to the situation in Ukraine, the Chechen war would look like a picnic,” he said. He is convinced that in the event of a military campaign, the West will introduce economic sanctions against Russia. The head of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Ruslan Pukhov, believes that Ukrainian troops are unable to put up armed resistance to the Russian army and are unlikely to do so. Editor in chief of the National Defense magazine Igor Korotchenko believes that the Ukrainian army and lawenforcement agencies do not have to follow the orders of the new Ukrainian authorities to engage in clashes with Russian troops. He said the Federation Council’s decision to authorise the use of troops does not mean a military invasion of Ukraine. He said:“Nobody is going to occupy Ukraine. Clearly, in this case we are talking about a peacekeeping operation in order to prevent a full-blown civil war.” Korotchenko called for caution when dealing with media reports of Russian military units, other than those belonging to the Black Sea Fleet, which is reportedly already present in Ukraine. “An information war is being waged against Russia and all reports like these should be treated with caution. The fact remains that Putin has been granted a lawful right to send troops to Ukraine. Let’s wait for some official steps from the Defence Ministry. As regards a possible military operation, I think it will be only in Crimea, although I do not rule out broader involvement, either.”

COMMENTS AND LETTERS FROM READERS, GUEST COLUMNS AND CARTOONS LABELLED “COMMENTS”,“VIEWPOINT” OR APPEARING ON THE “OPINION” AND “COMMENT & ANALYSIS” PAGES OF THIS SUPPLEMENT ARE SELECTED TO REPRESENT A BROAD RANGE OF VIEWS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THOSE OF THE EDITORS OF RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES OR ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO EDITORAU@RBTH.RU

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 NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, UNITED STATES • LE FIGARO, FRANCE • SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, GERMANY • EL PAÍS, SPAIN • LA REPUBBLICA, ITALY • LE SOIR, BELGIUM • GEOPOLITICA, SERBIA • ELEFTHEROS TYPOS, GREECE • THE ECONOMIC TIMES, INDIA • MAINICHI SHIMBUN, JAPAN • GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA • THE NATION, THAILAND • LA NACION, ARGENTINA • FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL • EL OBSERVADOR, URUGUAY • JOONGANG ILBO, SOUTH KOREA • THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, THE AGE, AUSTRALIA • GULF NEWS, AL KHALEEJ, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. MORE DETAILS AT RBTH.COM/ABOUT

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MOST READ Mars or bust: Two ordinary Russians prepare for the ultimate trip rbth.com/33769

Connected RBTH reviews Russia’s first smartphone and finds potential that may soon be realised

Putting YotaPhone to the test

NEWS IN BRIEF Nobel hope for space station

RBTH's Tech & Science Editor spent a week using the newly released Russian-designed dual-screen smartphone. And here is her mixed, but optimistic, assessment. YEKATERINA TURYSHEVA PRESS PHOTO

RBTH

In late January this year, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Al Gore nominated the designers of the International Space Station (the ISS) for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. The ISS is a co-operative project involving 15 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, the US, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan and Russia.

New 'Russian Silicon Valley' REUTERS

KEY YOTAPHONE SPECS

Screen success for new model PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

In theory, any information shown on the main LCD display can be moved to the secondary e-ink display, simply by sliding two fingers down the screen. The problem is, you can’t do anything with the resulting static image. In that sense, this battery-saving feature doesn’t add much when you need to switch to the LCD display so often. However, both displays on the second-generation YotaPhone will be fully touchscreen, improving control and adding functionality.

The YotaPhone runs Android Jelly Bean OS and a powered dual core 1.7 GHz Krait CPU.

1 2 3

The main display is a capacitive touchscreen, It's a 4.3-inch 720x1280 LCD with 16.7M colours.

PRESS PHOTO

Barely three weeks after the official launch of the YotaPhone,Yota Devices had sold more than 10,000 phones online and had stopped taking online orders from Europe because it couldn’t keep up with demand. The phone was released in Russia for sale in shops in the last week of 2013. But is YotaPhone worth queuing for? It has certainly received international attention and had positive reviews in the tech media, but after a week of use, I concluded that while the phone embodies some great ideas, it hasn’t realised its full potential (yet). But, withYota Devices revealing details of its second-generation YotaPhone at last month’s Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, that potential may be realised sooner than expected. The YotaPhone is the first smartphone designed totally in Russia. Before that, there were only Russian brands localising cheap Chinese smartphones. The stand-out feature of this phone is its two screens: the main screen is on the front, and looks much like a normal smartphone; the second screen on the back is an always-on, e-ink display, which doesn’t drain the battery life. The e-paper screen is used for some specific apps, particularly e-readers, while the main screen is for the majority of smartphone apps. In terms of its screen resolution, processor, memory and battery,YotaPhone just about keeps up with the competition in its price range, which is 400 to 500 euros. But specifications aside, let’s not forget that the main function of any smartphone is to make voice calls and send texts. In that sense, YotaPhone performs well: it doesn’t lose its signal and its speaker is loud and clear. All missed calls and text messages are displayed on the “electronic paper” e-ink display on the back of the phone. Keeping a YotaPhone in your pocket is not really an option with dimensions of 134mm by 67mm by 10mm, it’s simply too large for that. When I first used theYotaPhone camera, I couldn't work out why the camera lens was at the bottom of the phone. This position makes for awkward snapping, and I took a fair few snaps of my own fingers before I adjusted to it. Even the most graphic in-

The back display is a 4.3-inch 360x640 EPD, 16 greyscale, with a capacitive touch-zone below the electronic paper display. The radio supports LTE 800/1800/2600 MHz, UMTS 900/1800/2100 MHz, GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz networks.

It has two cameras: the main one is on the rear and is a 13-megapixel auto-focus, with an LED flash. On the front, there is an additional 1-megapixel camera for Skype and video calls.

Currently, the back screen allows for the use of: an e-reader, maps, an accelerometer, a compass, a gyroscope, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, FM radio, micro-SIM and Put2Back apps.

The second screen on the back is always on, but it's an e-ink display, so it doesn't drain the battery.

tensive applications move fast on theYotaPhone, with no noticeable lags. Playing games on the device’s 4.3 inch LCD display feels comfortable, and the display itself is very responsive. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the touchsensitive strips on either side of the phone. The strips are meant to replace buttons, but getting used to them wasn't easy for me. I had an amusing time getting my colleagues to guess where the SIM card goes, but the designers’ decision to put the SIM slot under the power button doesn’t seem like such a good idea. The power/SIM slot assembly feels flimsy, and the user risks damaging the device if they’re not careful around these input slots. The main display can’t be woken up without the power button, and without the main display, the secondary one is effectively useless.

TheYotaPhone has no other removable parts: the battery can’t be removed and there isn't a microSD card slot. Still, it has 32GB of memory, which should be plenty for most users. The battery itself is quite large (1800 mAh), but the

I didn't rate reading on the YotaPhone. The 4.3-inch e-ink screen is simply too small. phone doesn’t seem to last long, even with just moderate use. I didn't rate reading on the YotaPhone.The 4.3-inch e-ink screen is too small, even compared with the cheapest and smallest dedicated reading devices. PDF files and other documents designed for the A4 format are simply unreadable.

The back screen does show maps clearly and the missed call and text notifications are also clearly displayed. The always-on e-ink display can also serve as a great back-up in low-battery emergencies. On the whole, the YotaPhone has a way to go. Some people will find it too bulky or not fast enough; others will want a longer-lasting battery, or see no real use for the second screen. And it’s certainly true that for 499 euros, it’s possible to find a higher-specced device. The firstYotaPhone is proof that the dual-screen handset concept can work. And while the first generation may have some design limitations, many of these have already been improved in the second generation. While YotaPhone is currently a small player, in time, it may prove to be a popular addition, or even a serious competitor, to other smartphone options.

Yuri Trutnev, presidential envoy to the Far East Federal District, suggested setting up a “Russian Silicon Valley”on Russky Island, in Vladivostok. According to Trutnev, this should be a centre where “talented minds congregate” and“cutting-edge scientific methods are used to create high-tech products”.A new campus of the Far Eastern Federal University, the largest in Russia’s Far East, was built on the island for the 2012 APEC summit.

Yandex releases ﬁrmware to rival Google Internet company Yandex, also known as“the Russian Google”, has announced its own firmware called Yandex.Kit for the Android operating system. The firmware completely replaces all Google services, including Google Play, which is replaced withYandex.Store. The new Android version will be available in Russia in the summer of 2014 for the Huawei Honor 3Yandex and Explay Flame smartphones. Internet giant Yandex is the leader in the Russian online advertising market with a 61.7 per cent share of the market. Yandex boasts 55.5 million visitors each month.

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Travel

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MOST READ The top seven places to enjoy a real Russian Winter travel.rbth.ru/destination/baikal

EMERGING FROM A DARK HISTORY

Magadan's residential areas and port, which is open year-round, are surrounded by stunning wilderness areas.

BURDENED BY THE GULAG ASSOCIATIONS OF ITS PAST, MAGADAN IS REFERRED TO IN FOLK SONGS AS A SOMETHING AKIN TO THE END OF THE EARTH – BUT FOR THE INTREPID TOURIST, IT'S WORTH THE JOURNEY

THE CITY AT THE END OF 'THE ROAD OF BONES' Eight time-zones from Moscow, Magadan is on the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. Despite its remoteness and infamy, it has much to offer tourists. LEVI BRIDGES

A fisherman by the Sea of Okhotsk, where flounder, herring and cod are commercially fished.

Housing in an older residential area of Magadan – a city with a population of almost 100,000.

ALAMY/LEGION MEDIA

Magadan is a bustling city with museums and hotels near a dramatic coast of rocky bluffs interspersed with beaches. Bear, moose and Siberian bighorn sheep live in the pristine mountains and wilderness just beyond the city.Visitors can fish, hike and ski in the wild expanses outside of Magadan. But despite the surrounding tranquillity, this distant city still suffers an image problem because of its history. During the purges of the Stalin era, Magadan was the entry to the Kolyma – a geographical area rich with gold and mineral deposits, which became the centre of the Gulag, or labour camp, system. Prisoners were often shipped across Russia by train to Vladivostok, on the Sea of Japan, then crammed into ships that travelled north up the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk to the gold mines outside Magadan. Many didn’t even survive the journey to Kolyma. But those who made it endured long winters, malnourishment and hard labour – primarily in mines. At the peak of their production, the Kolyma mines are estimated to have produced nearly half the world’s gold each year – and more than a million people are estimated to have died in labour camps in the Kolyma area alone. The only road into Magadan is the M56 Federal Highway, also known as“the Road of Bones”for the thousands of prisoners who died during its construction. The nearest city of any relative size is Yakutsk, one of the world’s coldest cities, located 2200 kilometres north-west and inland from Magadan. Today Magadan is a peaceful port town, with much to offer tourists willing to travel the distance to get there. It’s a worthwhile destination for adventure-seekers and Russophiles interested in Russia’s farthest-flung cities.

SPECIAL TO RBTH

Magadan kids wrap up warm in a city where winter lasts around seven months of the year.

Getting there

Where to stay

Aeroflot and S7 have flights connecting Magadan to most Russian cities. Round trips from Moscow and Vladivostok cost from $US400 to $US700. From Beijing or Seoul, tickets range from $US900 to $US1200.

The modern VM Centralnaya Hotel (www. hotelvm.ru) has a pool, restaurant and rooms costing between 4000 and 8000 roubles ($US130 to $US260). DVS-Tour specialises in organising trips to Magadan and the Kolyma region.

Worth seeing first and foremost is the city’s Mask of Sorrow monument. Constructed in memory of those who died in the Kolyma area, it’s an impressive concrete face that rises from a hilltop above the city, almost reminiscent of an Aztec ruin. For eco-tourists, Magadan sits on crescent-shaped Nagaev Bay, at the base of a peninsula that has many opportunities for exploring and fishing, and even the city’s beach has some undeveloped stretches. The Magadan Regional History Museum has exhibits about the region’s flora and fauna, indigenous peoples and fine art. And the Magadan State Music and Drama Theatre, which began as a Soviet project during the Gulag era, is today a popular performance venue. Magadan’s new cathedral shows off an impressive collection of onion domes that are perhaps the most beautiful in all of Russia’s Far East. Tourists typically come to Magadan to fish, see Gulag history, or for R&R at the end of an overland trip on the Road of Bones. Fishing is one of the principal industries in Magadan and it’s easy to organise a tour to cast a rod in the ocean, or

fly-fish for salmon and char in theYama or Ola Rivers. Excellent fishing also awaits in the numerous mountain lakes of the northern Far East. Fishing tours vary from short daytrips to camping expeditions by rivers that may last a week or longer. Several bird species, including tufted and horned puffins, are also found around Magadan, especially on the coast. Many bird-watching and nature tours start and end in Magadan, and in winter, several companies run ski-trips to the local mountains and tundra areas inland. For those interested in seeing the former Gulags, the Dneprovsky camp is over a half-day’s trip from the city, along the Road of Bones. Prisoners worked in a tin mine at Dneprovsky, and visitors can still see watchtowers and some of the camp’s original buildings there. Another former camp that can be visited is the Butugychag Gulag – a former uranium mine. Each year a handful of motorcyclists doing round-theworld trips arrive in Magadan from the Road of Bones. Winter is the best time to attempt the road; in summer, the permafrost melts and the dirt road becomes a dangerous quagmire.

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Travel

MOST READ Ten places you would never believe were in Russia travel.rbth.ru/destination/fareast

Explore:

ULAR C A T C E P S TOP 12 ISIT V O T S N O REAS RUSSIA

Extreme travel options for adventure-minded travellers to Russia

Six top attractions for the free-spirited There’s more to Russia than borscht and ballet, and here are some of the off-thebeaten-track destinations available to those looking to sample the great outdoors. LEVI BRIDGES SPECIAL TO RBTH

1. Cycle over Baikal Siberia’s Lake Baikal is the world’s largest, deepest, and oldest lake. Baikal is a nice spot to sit on a beach in summer, but true adventurers visit in wintertime. In 2010, an American-Venezuelan team completed the first winter circumnavigation of Baikal on bicycles, riding around the lake in 36 days. Strong winds keep Baikal free of snow, creating ideal conditions for winter cycling on bikes with studded tyres. Irkutsk-based Baikal Adventure leads four-day winter bike trips up Baikal’s western coast, with camping stops along the way. Cyclists can also rent bikes from Jack Sheremetoff, owner of the Baikaler hostel in Irkutsk. Jack embarks on a winter cycling tour on Baikal every March and invites travellers to join him for free, provided they bring their own equipment. For more details email info@baikaler.com.

2. Trek in Altai Sandwiched between Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan, the Altai Republic is a region where snow-capped peaks

give way to canyons, deep river valleys and pristine blue lakes. The republic is an incredibly beautiful and unspoilt area, and an excellent place to trek in summer (and a possible side-trip if you’re doing the Trans-Siberian Railroad). The region around Mount Belukha, Siberia’s tallest mountain at 4506 metres high, is famous for its remote waterfalls and glaciers. Mount Belukha is surrounded by wilderness and its trails are poorly marked, so it’s advisable to trek with a guide. Astravel Ecotours offers a 12day tour ($US1700) up the mountain and through the surrounding countryside.

3. Visit the North Pole Moscow and St Petersburg might be cold, but they have nothing on Franz Josef Land – a distant Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Franz Josef Land was once the embarkation point for North Pole explorers and where many of those brave souls met their end. Today, it’s a stopover point for Russian ships travelling to the North Pole. Most ships bound for the North Pole leave from Murmansk – the world’s largest Arctic city and one of the best places in Russia to view the Northern Lights. Quark Expeditions leads a 14-day tour ($US25000) on an icebreaker from Murmansk to the North Pole. Along the way, it’s possible see polar bears

and Arctic birds, go hiking on Franz Josef Land and ride in a hot-air balloon above the North Pole. Tours need to be booked well in advance.

4. Stay with indigenous reindeer herders TheYamal Peninsula juts into the Arctic Ocean, where the Ob River meets the sea. Each summer the native Nenets – nomadic reindeer herders – travel with groups of up to 10,000 reindeer to grazing grounds in the north of the Yamal Peninsula. During this migration, Nenets live in chums – funnel-shaped tents made from reindeer hide that resemble the teepees of Native Americans. Briton-turned-Muscovite Edward Adrian-Vallance leads tours on theYamal Peninsula and has long-standing relationships with Nenets people there. He brings travellers to live with Nenets families, giving them the chance to see how they move their camps and reindeer. Tours average $US5000 and include travel to the Yamal Peninsula by train from Moscow. Go to www. yamalpeninsulatravel.com for more information.

5. Tackle the M56 Often included in the world’s top 10 most dangerous roads, Russia’s “Road of Bones” got its name because of the Gulag prisoners who died in its construction.

It begins in Yakutsk, in Russia’s Far East, and meanders for 2200 kilometres through taiga forest to the city of Magadan. Actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman failed to conquer the road in their 2004 round-the-world motorbike expedition because of rushing rivers blocking their path. Truck-drivers use the road in winter, when the permafrost solidifies and the rivers freeze. DVS-Tour in Magadan can organise trips for tourists and can help ship vehicles or motorbikes. In Yakutsk, Nord Stream runs a tour on the M56 for $US3500 to $US4000.

6. Climb Mount Elbrus Southern Russia’s Mount Elbrus (at 5642 metres) is Europe’s tallest peak and is a prized destination for climbers. The mountain is a couple of hundred kilometres east of Sochi and the Black Sea, in t h e e t h n o - re p u b l i c o f Kabardino-Balkaria, just north of Russia’s border with Georgia. A week before the 2014 Winter Games began, footage was released (from last October, when the weather allowed the ascent) of the Olympic torch being carried to the mountain’s summit. LenAlpTours offers a nineday tour ($US1000) that includes acclimatising ascents on nearby peaks, and which culminate with a climb to Elbrus’ summit.

ULD O W U O Y 10 PLACES IEVE WERE L NEVER BE IN RUSSIA

TY U A E B G N I T THE HAUN THERN R OF THE NO ND A WONDERL

m o re a n d e ve n tions with a in t s e d l t r a ve t h .co m t r ave l . r b

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Culture

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INTERVIEW RUSSIAN ROCK GROUP BI-2

How Australia helped make duo a hit ONE OF RUSSIA’S MOST FAMOUS ROCK BANDS SPENT THEIR FORMATIVE YEARS IN MELBOURNE, WHERE THEY RECORDED THEIR FIRST ALBUM. THE DUO TALKED TO RBTH ABOUT THE EARLY YEARS

CURRICULUM VITAE

Shura Bi-2 NAME: ALEXANDER UMAN AGE: 44 MARITAL STATUS: MARRIED

Shura was born in 1970 in the city of Babruysk, Belarus. Even though Shura's real name is Alexander Uman, even his passport reads “Shura Bi-2”. He has two children.

Leva Bi-2 NAME: IGOR BORTNIK AGE: 41 MARITAL STATUS: MARRIED

Leva was born in 1972, in Minsk, Belarus, where he met Leva in 1985. There they formed the band Brothers in Arms, which they renamed The Shore of Truth, which later became Bi-2. They moved to Israel together in 1991, where Leva stayed until 1998.

ITAR-TASS

Shura (left) and Leva (right) returned to Russia in 1999, after spending a decade in Israel and Australia. Despite their absence, they became one of Russia's biggest rock bands.

appear in 20 more films and they recorded eight albums. The duo say that Australia had an important influence in helping them make com-

mercially successful music. In the late ’90s they were strikingly better in quality terms than other bands already on the Russian market. This was due to Australian sound-recording quality and the fact Western influences helped this group to be at the forefront of a new genre in Russia, which was somewhere between rock and pop. The following excerpt is part of an interview by RBTH’s cultural editor Yan Shenkman (first published in Medved magazine): Leva: There’s nothing rosy about emigration. We were leaving for a desert [Australia] not knowing what awaited us. Shura: I was 21 at the time. Leva: And I was 19.We were very young. But grown-up [emigrés], who had worked as doctors, musicians and engineers back in Russia, had it even harder than us. Did you really work washing dishes when you first arrived in Australia? Shura: How else do you think we earned the money to record? I washed dishes and worked as a kitchen hand; Leva painted walls. This is how we saved up for our first album And The Ship Sails On [which was released by Sony in 2000].

VADIM BELAKHOV

A little-known fact about Bi-2 – one of Russia’s most famous rock bands – is that its members, Shura and Leva, spent years living in Australia before they hit the music charts on home territory in Russia’s chaotic late ’90s. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the then-young musicians moved from Belarus to Israel. Then, in 1993, Shura moved to Melbourne, and Leva followed, although not until 1998. Over 1998 and 1999, the two recorded an album called And The Ship Sails On. It wasn’t released in Russia in full, but a few tracks made their way back home and were played on Russia’s top rock stations, including Nashe Radio and Radio Maximum; and it was the popularity of these tracks which drew them back to Russia. In 1999, the two went to Moscow, planning to stay no more than two months – but it was two years before they next returned to Melbourne. After their single No One Writes to the Colonel made the soundtrack of the blockbuster cult film Brat 2, they were suddenly famous. Since then, the pair have won 12 music awards, including the World Music Award in 2001, for higher sales than any other music group in Russia. Their tracks went on to

We have no regrets, though. For example, it was in Australia that we really learned what sound recording was about. I arrived there ahead of Leva, and played with a succession of different cover bands and a Gothic band called Chiron. Then, just two weeks after Leva arrived from Israel, I took him to our studio. This was his first time in a professional studio, and he was immediately asked to do a guitar solo. Of course, he was overwhelmed. Is recording in Australia really so different from Russia? Shura: It’s somewhat similar to how they do it now, but it had nothing in common with how it was done [in Russia] in the ’90s. Back then, there wasn’t a single Russian studio that would have come close to the standards of Australian sound recording. We’ve now got a large and pretty decent studio in Moscow and we record everything there. But we still do our mixing in Australia or the UK.

We have an Australian sound engineer (Adam) who does a lot of mixing. Following Western conventions, vocals are usually set at the same level as instrumentals – like, at the same level of the bass drum. I keep asking Adam to make our vocals louder, but he reckons they’re already too loud. But it’s important for Russian audiences to hear the lyrics. So we squabble our way through each new album. I speak better English than Leva, so Adam’s not afraid of me; he is afraid of Leva. Leva will say something to me in Russian, and Adam will ask me to interpret, and I’ll go: “He’s not happy with your work because we can’t hear the vocals. If you don’t bring them up, he’ll bring some friends round to your place and have a man-to-man chat …” Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. Adam told us we were one of the most successful bands he’d ever worked with.

You’ve lived in Russia for 13 years now. Do you ever miss Australia? Leva: We go there regularly because it’s where our music is mixed. We usually fly over in early January, right after NewYear’s and stay a couple of months, while Russia’s having its hardest winter months. Australia is warm and comfortable, and we have a lot of friends there. It’s also a really safe place, with virtually zero crime. You didn’t have any success breaking through in Australia? Shura: It was just impossible to do. Nobody wanted us in Australia, certainly not with Russian lyrics. In around 1996, I launched a project there: Shura Bi-2 and Co. We took a collection of Russian Silver Age poetry by the writers [Innokenty] Annensky, [Anna] Akhmatova, [Osip] Mandelshtam etc, and wrote a couple of blues tunes to their poems. We spent two years gigging in Melbourne clubs ... usually on Wednesday nights. Our posters would read:“A band from the USSR, Shura Bi-2 blah-blah. $5.”Patrons would say:“OK, I’ll pay five bucks to listen to a Soviet band. They seem to be playing Western music, and are doing it well, but I can’t understand what they’re singing about.”

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History

MOST READ Play the game: The roots of Russia’s love of sport rbth.com/34453

Royal family's sporting life gives glimpse of healthy competition From chess and billiards to cycling and tennis, the Russian imperial family had a genuine passion for sport and games, going as far back as Ivan the Terrible.

PRESS PHOTO

Games played by the Russian tsars

ed chess boards from abroad, so his son could learn the game in his youth. And later it was Peter who really introduced sport as a means of entertainment and exercise into the Russian royal family.

Gorodki, Stalin's preferred pastime

Peter had been familiar with the European way of life since his youth, when he frequented Moscow’s German Quarter. In German taverns, Peter learned to play the game of drucktafel – a hybrid of pool and bowling. Later, when he was in the Netherlands, he received a billiards table as a gift from the Dutch king. Peter installed the table in his waiting room to keep his guests busy – and, following the Tsar’s example, many noblemen started playing billiards. In 1718, a Tsar’s decree established billiards as a compulsory game for the nobility’s evening parties (meanwhile, playing cards was banned). Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth, who ruled Russia for 20 years, was very concerned about her appearance, so to stay younglooking, she practised rowing and went horse-riding. The next empress, Catherine the Great, also engaged in horse-riding to some extent, but it was her grandson, Nicholas I, who grew up to be a true athlete.

On the evening of the last day of his life, Ivan sat in bed for a game of chess with one of his boyars. dom seen by the public. The tsars and empresses did, however, have a real passion for competition, fitness and joy in the various games and sports of their choice.

Ivan the Terrible’s last chess game Before Peter the Great, having an athletic physique stature wasn’t considered a virtue in Russia. In the 17th century, every nobleman, including the tsar, was ideally a little overweight – evidence of his material abundance and wealth. Probably the only contemporary game that medieval Russian sovereigns played was chess, which was a favourite of the first Russian Tsar, Ivan the Terrible. An English diplomat, Jerome Horsey, witnessed Ivan’s last chess game. On the evening of the last day of his life, Ivan sat in bed for a game of chess with one of his boyars. Before the game started, the Tsar himself managed to set up all his pieces on the board, except for the king, which Ivan couldn’t place on the board, and needed help. Minutes later, Ivan fainted and died. Chess was also popular among the first Romanovs. Tsar Alexis, the father of Peter the Great, ordered numerous beautifully craft-

The cycling tsars Emperor Nicholas I, who was 6ft 2in tall and exceptionally strong, used to take part in chivalrous competitions modelled on medieval knight tournaments. During these, Nicholas wore armour so heavy that, on one occasion, his nose started bleeding because of high blood pressure and the overall tension. Nicholas understood the importance of sport for the young, so he organised gymnastics areas for his children on the seashore of his estate at Peterhof, near St Petersburg. Nicholas’s elder son, the next emperor Alexander II, was the first of the royals to take up cycling, and he got his first bicycle in Paris in 1867. For a 50-year-old tsar this was a mere toy, but his teenage sons, princes Sergey and Pavel, developed a real

Billiards, skittles and gorodki (a Russian version of bowling) were the games Joseph Stalin enjoyed, according to his daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva. Stalin’s country house even had its own gorodki court. As Eugene Katzman, an artist who visited him there, recalled: “Stalin was the best at gorodki. When he aimed, his face became particularly energetic and expressive, as if he was

arguing at a party congress, crushing not pins or skittles, but Trotskyites, Mensheviks ... and other enemies.” Stalin often played gorodki with guests, showing his skills and passion for the game. He was pleased when he won, but if he didn't, he would light his pipe and puff on it contemplatively.

passion for cycling. They even rode their bikes in winter … albeit in the halls of the Winter Palace. Their bikes had solid rubber tyres and made a lot of noise,but nobody could reproach them while they were having fun. By the end of the century, almost every member of the royal family owned a bicycle, and

dismissed him, saying: “Europe can wait while the Russian tsar fishes!” Russia’s last emperor, Nicholas II, was the most avid sportsman of all the tsars. He took up cycling at an early age and had many bicycles. But Nicholas’s great passion was for tennis. He got his first taste of it during his visits to England in the 1890s, and he soon began playing almost every day. Five tennis courts were set up at different royal estates, and the tsar’s favourite game soon became widely popular among the nobility. During the last years of the Russian Empire, Nicholas continued playing tennis and cycling – maybe it helped him put up with the enormous pressure of those times. His last bill to a bicycle repairer was written on May 10, 1917; and his last tennis game was during the same month – even after his resignation Nicholas, no longer an emperor, remained a keen sportsman.

Alexander II was the first of the royals to take up cycling, and he got his first bicycle in Paris in 1867. long fitness rides became a common royal pastime. Emperor Alexander III owned a bike, too, but, because of his giant stature and bulkiness, he preferred a more meditative, static kind of sport – fishing. Once, when he was fishing at his country estate, Foreign Minister Girs approached him for a meeting on European affairs, but Alexander

How to play gorodki? rbth.ru/26091

PRESS PHOTO

Peter's passion for pool

What can be said about a country whose leader is a master in judo. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s public image is one of a strong and competitive individual, and his sport of choice complements this image. But for Russian tsars, public image was far less important, since they were so sel-

RBTH

PRESS PHOTO

GEORGY MANAEV

Billiards during the reign of Peter the Great (1); Nicholas II cycling (2); and Ivan the Terrible's last chess game (3).

RUSSIAN STORIES

KROPOTKIN: FROM NOBILITY TO THE FATHER OF RUSSIAN ANARCHISM

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Sport

MOST READ No Hollywood ending for Russian Olympic Hockey rbth.com/34355

Grand prix Motor sport fans are looking forward to the start of the 2014 formula one championship

Kvyat revs up for new F1 season

A snapshot of Sochi’s track on the Black Sea coast

ALEXANDER ERASTOV SPECIAL TO RBTH

The 16th Grand Prix in the new Formula One Championship will be held in Russia’s Olympic city of Sochi from October 10 to 12. The track, designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, is near some of the Winter Olympics facilities on the Black Sea coast. On March 16, at the first F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne (running 13-16 March), the Russian driver Daniil Kvyat, 19, will replace Australian Daniel Ricciardo, 24, for the Toro Rosso team. Ricciardo is moving to Red Bull, where his fellow driver will be Sebastian Vettel, who performed for Toro Rosso in the 2007-08 season. And JeanEricVergne, 23, will stay with Toro Rosso. Kvyat was born in 1994, in the Russian city of Ufa, in the southern Urals. Like many other professional racers, Kvyat started out in cart racing:“When I first came to this sport, I couldn’t drive but I taught myself. It’s difficult to describe the feeling I had

NATALIA MIKHAYLENKO

from the speed of it back then,” he said. Kvyat had his first-ever race in the winter of 2005, in Sochi, and won. But his career in Russia was not progressing in the way he wanted, so he and his family moved to Italy seven years ago. “Our Red Bull youth team was based near Rome,”Kvyat explained. “Flying between Moscow and Rome all the time was inconvenient,” he said.“Besides, there’s no mo-

tor-racing base in Russia. Italy, in contrast, is home to cart racing and is a true mecca of motor sports. I knew if I really wanted to become a professional racer, I had to move to Italy.” The move boosted Kvyat’s career. He had his first full Formula Renault 2.0 season in 2011 and won several races. In 2012, he won the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS season and was named the driver of the year by the Russian Automobile Federation.

Last year, Kvyat took part in six races in the Formula Three European Championship, bagging one grand prix and making it to the podium five times. That Kvyat was going to replace Ricciardo was obvious from last autumn. On January 31, he took part in the testing of Toro Rosso’s new cars in Jerez, driving nine laps and coming 10 out of 11. Kvyat speaks English, Spanish, and Italian fluently. Most of the Toro Rosso team

IMAGO/LEGION MEDIA

Ufa-born Daniil Kvyat (left) will be Russia’s second formula one driver ever.

The 16th Grand Prix in the new Formula One Championship is due to be held in Russia’s Olympic city of Sochi from October 10 to 12.

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are Italian, so he’s not going to have any communication problems. “The basic qualities from which he can progress are in place,” said Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost. “Daniil can be sure that we will use all our training experience to give him the best possible start to his formula one career.” Tost continued: “At Toro Rosso we like the ‘adventures’ with young drivers! We’ve already worked with Daniil a couple of times. It started with the young drivers test at Silverstone, where he managed good lap times, then we had an aero test in Vairano with him last week where he did 350 kilometres. “Daniil is a very talented driver. This is evident both from his results in the junior series and from his carting performance.” Oksana Kosachenko, who used to be the manager of former F1 driverVitaly Petrov, believes Daniil Kvyat will soon start feeling at home in F1. “Of course Kvyat will have some difficult times at first,” Kosachenko says. “He is a young driver with limited F1 experience, and he will have to compete against real pros. More than half the F1 drivers have been at it for years. Besides, the team is changing and migrating to new engines. But Daniil is unusually talented and industrious. He's totally focused.” Russia has had only one F1 driver so far. Vitaly Petrov spent three seasons in the championship, two with Lotus-Renault (2010-11 and 2011-12) and one with Caterham (2012-2013). His best result was a third place in Australia in 2011. The Marussia-Cosworth team, with Russian roots, made its F1 debut in 2012. One of the team’s managers is Nikolay Fomenko – a wellknown singer and musician in Russia. Despite its massive Russian fan base, MarussiaCosworth has been one of the worst performers, roughly on a par with Caterham-Renault. Its best result to date has been a 12th place.

NEWS IN BRIEF St Petersburg a Games chance The Governor of St Petersburg, Georgy Poltavchenko, has announced that the city is considering making a bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. “The city has much of the infrastructure required for hosting the Games,”he said, “so expenditures wouldn’t be very high.” Poltavchenko noted that it was in St Petersburg that the Russian Olympic Committee was founded in 1911, and the city’s athletes had won 136 Olympic medals.

Capello to stay longer in Russia PHOTOSHOT/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Italy’s Fabio Capello, who has been coaching the Russian national football team since July 2012, has had his contract extended until 2018. Capello (above) will be paid €9 million a year. This year, under Capello's leadership, the Russian national team qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil for the first time since 2002, Russia will host the World Cup in 2018.

Samara gets set for 2018 ﬁnals Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has said that of all the sports facilities being built for the 2018 World Cup, the stadium in Samara will be completed first. The 2018 World Cup is due to take place in 12 venues across 11 different cities, including Sochi. In September the 2018 World Cup will get its official logo.

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