RBTH Thailand February issue

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This supplement is sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, which takes sole responsibility for its contents and is wholly independent of Nation Media Group. February 27 - March 5, 2015

Thursday, February 26, 2015

P12

How to enrol at some of Russia’s leading universities

Society

P10

Economic cooperation between Russia and Thailand is climbing new highs

Opinion

HOW IS IT CELEBRATED AND WHERE TO GO IN MOSCOW?

PAGES 8-9

What is the Defender of the Fatherland Day?

A FRESH VIEW TO THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA-INDIA RELATIONS

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02 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.rbth.comCurrent affairs

IN BRIEF

The launch of Russia’s fi rst Unifi ed Space System sat-ellite Tundra has been de-layed until June 2015 for technical reasons. The sat-ellite was due to enter orbit in 2013 and replace the outmoded OKO-1 sat-ellites.

Tundra is designed to detect the launch of bal-listic missiles and forms part of Russia’s missile early warning system.

Satellite launch

delayed

Russia’s arms exporter Rosoboronexport has ex-port orders whose value exceed 38 billion rubles ($603 million), Rostec cor-poration deputy general director Dmitry Shugayev told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

“In particular, Rosobo-ronexport’s military and technical cooperation stock of orders exceeds 38 billon rubles,” Shugayev said.

Speaking about the ge-ography of Russia’s mili-tary and technical coop-eration, Shugayev said that “Southeastern Asia and the Asian Pacifi c re-gion account for 55 per cent of our arms sales, Arab countries 18 per cent, Latin America 15 per cent, the CIS 7.9 per cent and Europe 2.2 per cent.”

Arms exporter

has orders

worth 38 bn

Russia back as US public enemy No 1: poll

Ambassador outlines Russian world view

Chandelier unveiled

POLITICS

LECTURE CULTURE

A new survey published by Gallup on February 16 de-clared Russia as Public Enemy No 1 of Americans. Eighteen per cent of re-spondents named Russia when asked the open-end-ed question: “What one country anywhere in the world do you consider to be the United States’ great-est enemy today?” North Korea came in second with 15 per cent, followed by China (12 per cent) and Iran (9 per cent). Three years ago, only 2 per cent of respondents named Rus-sia when asked a similar question; that number in-creased to 9 per cent in 2014 as tensions between Russia and the US rose over the crisis in Ukraine. The poll was conducted be-tween February 8-11, just before a new ceasefire agreement was brokered between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in the

On February 4, Russian Ambassador Kirill Barsky delivered a lecture at Tham-masat University on “Rus-sian foreign policy towards the East”. The event, organ-ised by the Russian Stud-ies Programme at Thamma-sat University, attracted the attention of not only the teachers and students, but also alumni of the univer-sity. Some of them made a special trip to Bangkok from Pattaya to learn “fi rst-hand” about the Russian

A 20-kilogram amber chan-delier from the Stalin era discovered in the store-rooms of the Kaliningrad Amber Factory has been unveiled to the public fol-lowing extensive restora-tion work.

The chandelier was made by a group of artists who worked at the factory in the early 1950s. The staff of the combine believes it was part of a large set of furni-ture commissioned for the office of one of the Soviet leaders. However, Zoya Ko-styashova, the Kaliningrad

Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

According to Gallup, Americans have also be-come significantly more concerned about Russia’s military power. About 49

per cent of respondents consider the Russian mili-tary a critical threat to the US, compared with 32 per cent a year ago.

Despite the increase in negative perceptions of Rus-

sia, most Americans still consider other internation-al challenges as bigger threats, including terrorism generally, ISIS specifi cally, and Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.

The Gallup poll also showed that only 24 per cent of Americans viewed Russia favourably, while 70 per cent viewed the coun-try negatively. This is the most negative Russia has been viewed in the organ-isation’s 26-year history. Russia’s favourability rat-ing has declined 10 points in each of the last two years. Only three years ago, more Americans were in-clined to see Russia posi-tively.

At the same time, the re-sults of a recent Russian survey show the feelings are mutual. According to a poll on US-Russian rela-tions published by the in-dependent Levada Center, only 13 per cent of respond-ents viewed US positively, while 81 per cent have neg-ative views. Only 4 per cent of respondents character-ised Russian-American re-lations as friendly.

Eighteen per cent of

Americans consider Russia

the greatest enemy of the

United States.

view on international rela-tions, about Russia’s par-ticipation in the economic and political life of the Asia-Pacifi c region and pri-marily about the future prospects of Russian-Thai relations. The ambassador, as in many of his previous public statements and in-terviews, once again con-fi rmed that he supports the peaceful settlement of con-fl icts and democracy, and Russia respects the right of Thailand to solve its inter-

Amber Museum’s leading researcher, doubts the ex-istence of such an order.

“I have never come across the documents for such an order,” said Kostyashova. “At that time there was nothing really being creat-ed in design, copying was typical. This chandelier is very similar to those that hung in the column hall of the House of the Unions in Moscow. Besides, amber is very fragile and demands special care. Perhaps it was made as spectacular gift for foreign guests.”

nal problems in accordance with their cultural and po-litical traditions. He also stressed that bilateral in-tergovernmental contacts and cooperation have not been interrupted, and are on the rise today.

Ambassador Kirill Barsky at

Thammasat University.

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03RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.rbth.com Politics

IN BRIEF

The United Nations Secu-rity Council unanimously backed the resolution sup-porting the Minsk deal for Ukraine on February 17, which was proposed by Russia. It said that every warring side in Ukraine should fully implement the Minsk agreements. The UN Security Council members expressed concern about the hostilities in eastern Ukraine and declared the need for observing the Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. The resolution emphasised that the Ukraine confl ict could have only a peaceful solu-tion.

UNSC backs

Minsk deal

France may consider lift-ing sanctions against Rus-sia if tensions subside in the southeast of Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to Paris Alexander Orlov told Interfax.

“Paris links the cancel-lation of sanctions with the de-escalation of ten-sions around Ukraine,” he said, adding that French businesses and citizens have also spoken in favour of lifting sanctions.

France fl exible

on sanctions

Prepared byDarya Lyubinskaya

PRESS REVIEW

NEWS ANDVIEWS FROM RUSSIAN MEDIARBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media on international events, featuring analysis of the new Minsk agreement on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

MINSK PEACE

AGREEMENTS VALUABLE

BUT FRAGILE

Vedomosti

EU IN NO HURRY TO

NORMALISE RELATIONS

WITH RUSSIA

KOMMERSANT

WILL FRANCE DELIVER

MISTRAL WARSHIPS TO

RUSSIA?

MOSKOVSKY KOMSOMOLETS

“The most valuable thing about the Minsk Agreements is that they present a sched-ule of actions, rather than a collection of disjointed meas-ures similar to the previous ones,” writes the newspaper.Citing a source close to the Russian delegation, Vedo-mosti writes that the big-gest difficulties in the talks are represented by the points concerning the elections on the territories that Kiev does not control, as well as the lifting of the Ukrainian trans-portation and financial block-ade on the rebel territories.

The Kommersant business daily summarises the infor-mal summit held in Brus-sels between leaders of the EU countries on February 12. The participants welcomed the agreement signed in Minsk, but made it clear that it was not enough to nor-malise relations with Russia. Moreover, in case the peace-ful solution fails, the EU is ready to continue strength-ening sanctions and even freeze relations with Mos-cow. Kommersant writes that the opinions of European politicians are divided.

The Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid newspaper reports on French President Francois Hollande’s announcement that the conditions for sup-plying the Mistral warships “are still not right”. Accord-ing to the French president, this will first of all depend on whether the ceasefire is fol-lowed and whether it will be-come effective. “In such a case the sanctions will gradu-ally be removed,” Hollande said. He also suggested tak-ing a best-case scenario ap-proach: the EU may cancel a series of sanctions.

SPUTNIK NEWS AGENCY

Russian Foreign Minister

Sergei Lavrov says the

world body could turn

into an arena for

propagandistic

confrontation.

‘Some states pursuing global hegemony’

UNITED NATIONS Lavrov’s warning

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned against turning the United Nations Security Council into an arena for propagan-distic confrontations and excluding it from the pro-cess of searching for solu-tions to key international problems.

“We believe that now is the time to answer the ques-tion: Do we really want to see the UN Security Coun-cil as an efficient and powerful instrument for maintaining peace and se-curity – or are we ready to let it turn into an arena for propagandistic confronta-tion, that would result in

excluding the Council from the process of searching for the key international deci-sions,” Lavrov said at the Security Council open de-bate on international peace and security.

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, “in the la-tter case it will inevitably have a negative impact on other international and re-gional forums, weakening the chances of fi nding the solutions for today’s pres-sing issues even more.

Lavrov also warned that some states are trying to achieve illusory global he-gemony by attempting to turn the United Nations Se-curity Council into an organ that rubber-stamps their decisions.

“There have been persis-tent attempts to turn the [UN] Security Council into a body that rubber-stamps the decisions of a ‘leader’, and, as this is not turning

Sergey Lavrov addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York.

peace and security,” Lavrov said.

“In pursuit of the illusion of global hegemony, a broad range of unsightly methods are being used, such as mas-sive pressure on sovereign states, attempts to impose on them decisions and stan-dards in political, economic and ideological spheres. For those who disobey, techno-logies of inspiring domes-tic disorder and operations for regime changes are ready. The open encourage-ment for the state turmoil in Ukraine is on this list,” added the Russian minis-ter.

According to the Russian foreign minister, some sta-tes are attempting “to se-cure dominance in global affairs, to lead everyone and everywhere, to use military power unilaterally to pro-

mote [one’s] own interests” – and such approaches clearly contradict the prin-ciples, upon which the Uni-ted Nations organisation is based.

Lavrov also said, that the UN Security Council must be given back its role of a leading body for the coordination of the collec-tive approaches toward maintaining peace and se-curity.

The Security Council is one of the six main organs of the United Nations. Its primary responsibilities in-clude maintaining interna-tional peace and security, developing friendly rela-tions between world coun-tries, guiding cooperation in solving international problems and promoting respect for human rights worldwide.

" It is necessary to take strong measures on restoring justice and

on getting rid of double standards in world politics, on giving back to the Security Council its role of a leading body for coordinating co-llective approaches based on respect of cultural diversity.

THE QUOTE

Sergei LavrovRUSSIAN FEDERATION FOREIGN MINISTER SINCE 2004

out this way – there are attempts to push the UN Security Council away from decision-making in the s p h e r e o f i t s m a i n competence, the maintenan-c e o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l

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ALEXEI LOSSANRBTH EDITOR FOR BUSINESS

Experts say that due to a

six-year low in oil prices,

Russia’s economy could

contract by 5 per cent in

2015. The situation differs

from the 2008-09 crisis.

Russia’s GDP could contract 5%Oil prices Economy could be severely affected because of dependence on revenue from energy

In the fi rst quarter of 2015 Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) will contract by more than one per cent. However, if the cost of oil remains at the level of $40 a barrel, Russia’s economy will shrink by 5 per cent over the course of the year, according to the Ministry of Economic Development. In the first week of 2015 alone the price of oil fell below $50 a barrel, losing more than 11 per cent of its value.

The price drop occurred after representatives from the United Arab Emirates announced that Opec does not intend to reduce pro-duction quotas. Conse-quently, on January 15, 2015 the price of a barrel of Brent fell to $47.65 during trad-ing at London’s Interna-tional Currency Exchange.

According to Alexander Prosviryakov, a fi scal and commodity consultant at PwC Russia, the magnitu-de of the Russian economy’s difficulties will directly de-pend on the dynamics of oil

prices. The principal part of Russia’s budget revenues comes from the sale of ener-gy resources with the 2015 budget based on a prelimi-nary estimate of oil prices of $100 a barrel. Alexei Ko-zlov, the chief analyst at UFS IC, believes that if oil prices remain at $50 a ba-rrel in the long term, we can expect Russia’s economy to contract by 5 per cent.

“The dynamics of Russia’s GDP is greatly dependent on oil prices, but it is not the only factor,” says Sergei Khestanov, professor of fi -nance and banking at the

Presidential Academy of National Economy and Pu-blic Administration.

“The exchange rate, fi s-cal pressure and capital fl ight also have signifi cant infl uence.” Another factor, in Khestanov’s words, is the effect of sanctions, as well as the probable lowering of Russia’s and many Russian companies’ ratings by cre-dit agencies. As a result, GDP could contract by up to 5.8 per cent in 2015. “The fall in oil prices will par-tially be compensated by the ruble’s devaluation,” adds Khestanov.

Russian experts believe that Russia experienced a similar crisis in 2008-09, when the price of oil fell from $120 to $40 a barrel. However, Russia’s economic and political situation was different back then. “Our country was not under harsh economic sanctions and also today’s market is oversaturated with oil,” says Daniil Kirikov, a partner at the vvCube Group.

According to Khestanov, the Russian economy’s de-pendence on oil grew by fo-llowing the so-called “Dutch Disease” Model,

which signifi es a greater re-liance on natural resources for economic development coupled with a decrease in other areas, such as manu-facturing.

In Alexei Kozlov’s words, the Russian economy’s de-pendence on the cost of hy-drocarbons is signifi cant. However, unlike the situa-tion of 2008-09, there are additional factors today such as pressure from sanc-tions, inflation growth, a substantial increase in geopolitical risks and dimi-nished expectations for eco-nomic recovery.

Oil price dynamic, $USD

IN BRIEF

Inflation will reach its peak in the second quar-ter of the year and then start going down, said Russia’s Central Bank chief Elvira Nabiullina.

“The Central Bank has been doing all it can to beat down infl ation which was infl uenced by objec-tive factors. Our current forecasts indicate that in-fl ation will reach its peak somewhere in the second quarter. It will then start moving down and return to more habitual and clear levels as early as the be-ginning of the next year,” she said.

Infl ation ‘to

peak in Q2’

Russia is ready to settle ac-counts with Egypt in na-tional currencies and the relevant agencies are look-ing into this option, Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin has said.

“I should note that we already use national cur-rencies for trade with a number of the CIS States, and China. This practice proves its worth; we are ready to adopt it in our relations with Egypt as well,” he said.

Ready for a

currency deal

Sourat

RakhimbabaevEXPERT

Under sanctions by the West, Russia is seeking food-stuff supplies

from Asia to fi ll the gap. Russia became interested in importing pork from Thailand after banning the imports of all meat, fi sh, poultry, fruit and veg-etables from the Europe-an Union as a result of the Ukraine confl ict. In addi-

EXPERT NOTE

Thailand cashes in on sanctions, sends top quality pork to Russia

tion, the United States has also suffered an export ban to Russia as a result of Por-cine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus. Thailand’s pork prod-ucts will replace banned pork exports from the West, which are unlikely to win back their place in the Rus-sian market even if the pre-sent ban is lifted, accord-ing to Russia’s meat products watchdog. In Oc-tober this year, Russia’s Vet-erinary and Phyto-sanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) announced approval of

pork imports from two plants in Thailand: Bang-Kla Slaughterhouse and Betagro Safety Meat Pack-ing. Prior to this announce-ment, Thailand had only ex-ported poultry to Russia.

Russia imported 619,200 metric tons of pork valued at $2.13 billion in 2013, with Denmark, Germany, Canada and Brazil as its main suppliers, according to data from Russia’s Fed-eral Customs Service.

The country purchased 79,300 metric tons of Cana-dian pork for $246.3 million and $19 million worth of pork from the US last year.

On December 16, the Trucks-Releasing-Ceremo-ny containing Frozen-Pork Export-Products to the Rus-sia Federation took place in Bang-Khla slaughterhouse in Chachoengsao province, which brought together

Peetipong Phuengbun na Ayutthaya, the Minister for Agriculture and Coopera-tives, Adirek Sripratak, president and CEO of CP Foods, Kirill Barsky, the Russian Ambassador and many other officials from Thailand and Russia.

This proves that business is not related to any polit-ical issues and that Thai-land wants to keep and im-prove trade with Russia despite sanctions and in-ternal Russian currency problems.

It was the fi rst time Thai fresh pork was exported to Russia and is a good op-portunity for both countries to increase trade for mu-tual benefi ts.

Prof Sourat Rakhimbabaev is executive director of the Thai-Russian Chamber of Commerce

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05RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.rbth.com Business

ALEXEI LOSSANRBTH EDITOR FOR BUSINESS

Russia’s consumer price

inflation hit 15 per cent in

annual terms in January on

the back of the sharp

decline in oil prices and the

collapse of the ruble.

Oil price and ruble value hurt economy

Inflation January saw the highest recorded since 1999

In January, Russia’s con-sumer price inflation amounted to a massive 15 per cent in annual terms, according to statistical data published by the Ministry for Economic Development.

According to the minis-try, prices rose by 3.9 per cent in January 2015, the highest level since February 1999, the peak of the last economic crisis in Russia.

“Usually, galloping infl a-tion means a growth in pri-ces by 10-100 per cent in annual terms, and Russia’s economy has been in such a state since late last year. The growth in prices is being driven by food infl a-tion,” said Timur Nigmatu-llin, a fi nancial analyst at the Finam investment hol-ding.

According to the Minis-try for Economic Develop-ment, the weakening of the ruble as a result of the drop

in oil prices contributed to the acceleration of infl ation. The ministry predicts that inflation will peak at 17-17.5 per cent at the end of the second quarter of 2015.

However, initially the mi-nistry proceeded from the assumption that infl ation would not exceed 14 per cent in January 2015. With the new data available, in-fl ation in January in annual terms may be even higher. According to the Ministry of Economy, in January 2015 the price of food in-creased most of all – by 3.2 per cent, while the prices for non-foods rose by 3.2 per cent and for services by 2.2 per cent.

“Such a high level of in-fl ationary pressure has not been observed in recent years. Such a hike in con-sumer prices is easily ex-plainable by the sharp de-cline in oil prices and the weakening of the Russian currency by almost half,” said Alexei Kozlov, chief analyst at UFS IC.

According to him, the si-tuation on the currency markets has gradually sta-bilised, while oil prices stand a good chance to res-

tore some of the lost posi-tions, which may have a po-sitive impact on consumer prices.

As Kozlov points out, in any case “January is tradi-tionally notorious for the high growth rate in consu-mer prices”, but this year it was “strongly affected by the weakening of the ruble”.

According to the analyst, the temptation to make far-reaching conclusions based on the results of just one month should be resisted, because the infl ation rate may decrease in the fo-llowing months.

According to the fore-casts of UFS IC, consumer price infl ation for the cu-rrent year will be about 10-12 per cent.

As Central Bank chief El-vira Nabiullina stated in an interview with Bloomberg,

following the unexpectedly strong surge in January, in-fl ation will continue to ac-celerate for some time and reach a peak in the second quarter, but then begin to decline.

According to Nabiullina, there are no new indica-tions for a rapid growth in consumer prices.

Nabiullina’s forecast is echoed by Timur Nigmatu-llin, who says the shock of the two-fold devaluation of the ruble and the ban on many food imports from the EU introduced in August

2014 will not begin to sub-side until the end of the se-cond quarter of 2015.

At the same time, various factors may lead to the growth of prices in the near future, said Gleb Zadoya, head of the Profi t Group’s analysis department. These include another drop in oil prices and further devalua-tion of the ruble in the event of the imposition of the new round of sanctions that the West is threatening to im-pose on Russia if the con-flict is not resolved in Ukraine.

According to a study by the Russian sociological or-ganisation Public Opinion Foundation, Russians are worried most of all about the situation in the eco-nomy (23 per cent), high in-fl ation and rising prices (22 per cent).

Prices rose by 3.9 per cent in January 2015, the highest level since February 1999.

15 per centIn January, Russia’s consumer price inflation amounted to a massive 15 per cent in annual terms

$780 millionThe Kremlin will pour nearly about $780 million in 2015 into creating new jobs in the fight against unemployment

45 per centProduction of cars in Russia in January 2015 fell by 45 per cent in compari-son with December 2014

NUMBERS

Such a hike in consumer prices is easily explainable by the sharp decline in oil prices and the weakening of the Russian currency by almost half

According to Nabiullina, there are no new foundations for a rapid growth in consumer prices.

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www.rbth.comArms

TATYANA RUSAKOVARBTH EDITOR FOR DEFENCE

Russia is continuing work

on a range of innovative

automated machines to

optimise the performance

of its armed forces

in the field.

The new generation of military robots

Tech Automatons with epaulettes

In November, the Russian Defence Ministry reiterat-ed its intention to develop robotic systems and use them for military purpos-es. According to the min-istry, the robots will begin actively “storming” the army in 2017-18, and by 2025 approximately 30 per cent of all military tech-nology in the Russian Armed Forces will consist of robotic hardware. How-ever, development work on many robots is virtually complete, and a number of

them are already in service, including these:

Missile guard: the Wolf-2 systemThe Wolf-2 is a “universal soldier”. It has an off-road tracked chassis; therefore going over rough terrain does not affect its speed. The machine does not have a crew - it is controlled via radio from a distance of three miles (about 5km).

Equipped with Kalash-nikov machine guns and large-calibre Utes and Kord machine guns, the Wolf can fi re while moving at a speed of 22mph in any weather and at any time of day.

A sapper: Uran-6The Uran-6 is a multifunc-tional demining system that can do the work of 20 sap-

pers. It can carry out its task from afar: The operator con-trols Uran at a safe distance of up to 0.6 miles. The ma-chine, equipped with bull-dozer blades and trawls, moves across the dangerous

terrain, searches for mines and unexploded ordnance and neutralises them on the operator’s command.

The amphibious robot: GnomThe underwater Gnom robot does not carry any weapons and has the odd

form of a video camera. The Gnom is controlled by an operator with the help of a joystick. Underwater the robot searches for and neu-tralises dangerous objects such as mines. It is equipped with an omnidirectional lo-cator and sees at a distance of 110 yards (about 100 me-tres). This feature helps the robot perform search and rescue tasks, as well as un-derwater reconnaissance missions. It weighs only 24 lbs (about 11 grams) and its dimensions permit Gnom to be carried as hand luggage. The underwater robot was tested in 2005 in the Baltic and since then has been serving in the Rus-sian Navy.

The underwater Gnom robot was tested in 2005 in the Baltic sea.

The ‘universal soldier’ Wolf-2.

The remote-controlled multirole Uran-6.

ANNA SOROKINARBTH

Russia’s iconic weapons

manufacturer Kalashnikov

Concern registered net

profits of $45 million in

2014, up 28 per cent

compared to 2013.

Kalashnikov sees first net profit in seven years

Business Arms production doubled

“Revenue was 700 million rubles higher than in 2013. As a result, Kalashnikov generated its fi rst operat-ing net profi t in seven years, amounting to 88 million ru-bles [$1.33 million),” the company representative told TASS news agency in February.

The spokesman noted that Kalashnikov had un-veiled its new 2020 develo-pment strategy in 2014, aimed at improving its per-formance indicators, ex-panding its sales geography, and a growth in revenue. The company has also de-veloped an integrated in-vestment programme up until 2017.

“The main priority is to maintain our role as the lea-ding arms supplier for the Defence Ministry and other Russian law enforcement agencies and further stren-gthen our position as a glo-

bal leader in the develop-ment and production of small arms. Investments are expected to total 5 billion rubles,” he said.

Earlier the company’s head, Alexei Krivoruchko, announced that Kalash-nikov had doubled arms production in 2014 to 120,000 units despite the imposition of Western sanc-tions. The company plans to boost production in 2015 by 20-25 per cent.

In January, the US-based Russian Weapon Company (RWC, the exclusive distri-butor of Kalashnikov pro-ducts in the United States) fi led an application to re-gister the Kalashnikov tra-demark in the US but has not yet received the right to manufacture branded products there, CNN repor-ted. According to the news channel, weapons would bear the iconic AK-47 name alongside the marking “Made in USA.”

Kalashnikov Concern is the managing company of a holding which carries out research and production of state-of-the-art munitions and arms for military, civi-lian and sports purposes.

TATYANA RUSAKOVARBTH EDITOR FOR DEFENCE

The latest assault rifle by

Kalashikov company - the

AK-12 - has apparently won

the competition over the

Degtyarev AEK-971 rifle,

with production in 2015.

Kalashnikov hits the bull’s eyeSmall arms Ratnik combat gear to be armed with AK-12 assault rifle

radio station that the mili-tary had fi nally given pre-ference to the latest Kalas-hnikov AK-12 rifl e.

“It is already decided, this will be an Izhmash AK-12 rifl e. The price and quality were attractive to us,” said Borisov.

Tests of the new combat gear were completed in De-cember 2014, but until it was unclear which rifle would accompany the out-fi t.

The two weapons propo-sed were the AK-12 and the AEK-971, a rifl e manufac-tured by the VA Degtyarev Plant in the town of Kovrov (160 miles from Moscow).

The new Ratnik (“Warri-or”) combat gear designed for use by the Russian armed forces will feature the AK-12 assault rifl e as part of its standard issue, according to Deputy De-fence Minister Yury Boris-ov.

On January 25, Borisov said in an interview with the Russian News Service

For the AK-12, which fea-tures a classical automated venting design, the desig-ners also reduced its recoil and increased its shooting accuracy, while managing to maintain low production costs.

According to statements made to the TASS news agency by Oleg Martyanov, a member of the Military-Industrial Commission, as recently as late 2014 it was planned to include both ri-fles as part of the Ratnik combat outfi t.

The AK-12 assault rifl e is scheduled to be produ-ced in the fi rst quarter of 2015.

A military man wearing the

combat uniform ‘Ratnik’.

The AEK-971 is conside-red more accurate and more sophisticated due to its beam design, which redu-ces recoil when shooting.

By 2025 30 per cent of all military technology in the Russian Army will consist of robots

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SCIENCE AND TECH

Economic crisis in Russia lowers prices for space tourism

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07RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.rbth.com Science&Tech

GALIYA IBRAGIMOVASPECIAL TO RBTH

In December 2014, the

Russian Federal Space

Agency announced that

it is considering creating

its own orbital station

and quitting the ISS.

Will Russia quit the ISS project?

Space Russia’s choice: the ISS or its own orbital station

According to Russian Fed-eral Space Agency director Oleg Ostapenko, the new space station would help increase the overview of Russian territory and the Arctic by 90 per cent and become the foundation for future lunar expeditions. However, experts believe that the station will be built only if Russia declines to extend its participation in the International Space Station project until 2024, as the US is proposing. Ear-lier it was reported that Russia had been planning to abandon the station after 2020 and redirect its re-sources to other projects. The fi nal decision about ex-tending Russia’s participa-tion in International Space Station (ISS) activity or constructing its own station will be made by May 2015.

Experts interviewed by RBTH see only a “war of words” between Russia and the U.S. regarding the buil-ding of a Russian orbital station. “Talk about the pos-

sible construction of a Rus-sian orbital station began circulating after the Ame-ricans threatened to stop space cooperation as a re-sult of the sanctions against Russia,” said Alexei Arba-tov, director of the Centre for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. Arbatov is con-vinced that “in the condi-tions of Russia’s current economic crisis, the cons-truction of its own orbital station would not be the most efficient way for the country to spend its resou-rces.”

Russia started discussing the construction of its own space station back in the

1990s. It created the Mir-2 project - its own new-ge-neration station. However, in the end Russia decided to fully concentrate on the ISS project.

Today, according to ex-perts, Russia is not interes-ted in the creation or im-plementation of a new project, but rather with using its existing power sys-tems. Igor Afanasiev, editor of “Novosti Kosmonavtiki Magazine” (Cosmonaut News) believes that Russia’s own space-station project is actually the continuation of the development of the Russian segment in space. “The new ISS modules are developed in such a way that in case of a disconnec-

tion, the Russian part of the station can function auto-nomously,” Afanasiev said. “Perhaps this is what is meant by creating Russia’s own station.”

“The Energia missile-space corporation, Russia’s leading space enterprise, built two new modules for Russia’s segment of the ISS, but was not able to send them to the station by the 2010 deadline,” explains Pavel Luzin, an expert from the Foreign Policy Agency. “It is very possible that by now the modules have been completed. Therefore, they must be used in some way.”

Russia is

deciding

whether it

should quit

the Interna-

tional Space

Station pro-

ject and

build its

own space

station or

stay. The

ISS Russian

modules

can function

indepen-

dently.

DARYA KEZINARBTH

Siberian scientists have

produced Russia’s first

sample of a strategically

important metal –

beryllium. RBTH managed

to unearth a few details.

First sample of ‘metal of the future’ produced

Metals Siberia makes first beryllium

The new beryllium produc-tion technology will allevi-ate Russia’s need to import this rare and valuable metal, according to scien-tists from Tomsk Polytech-nic University and the Si-berian Chemical Plant. In late January 2015, they jointly produced the first laboratory sample of 100 grams.

The next step for scien-tists is to produce 1-2 kilo-grams of metal beryllium. Industrial production of beryllium in Russia could start as early as 2020. In-vestments in the plant are estimated at $30 million, with expectations being that the project will be im-plemented over fi ve years.

“Our proposed technolo-gy is characterised by the closed technological cycle technique and the ability to extract not only metallic

beryllium, but also accom-panying commercial pro-ducts - synthetic calcium fl uoride and silicon oxide,” said Alexander Dyachenko, vice rector for Research and Innovation at Tomsk Polyte-chnic University.

New technology also helps to preserve other va-luable minerals such as fl uorite. “Substantial che-mical enrichment and de-siliconisation of fl uorite oc-curs in the process,” Dyachenko said. Fluorite is used in optics, chemicals, metallurgy and other indus-tries. Scientists propose using a bertrandite-phena-cite-fluorite concentrate from industrial Yermakovs-koye mine deposits as a raw material.

Beryllium is one of the world’s most precious me-tals. Defence ministries across the globe treat it as a “strategic and critical ma-terial”, as it is used in the nuclear and aerospace in-dustries. Without this ingre-dient it is impossible to create nuclear weapons, fl y an airplane, perform an x-ray or explore space. It’s called a “space age metal”.

VICTORIA ZAVYALOVARBTH EDITOR FOR SCIENCE&TECH

Alkotel company says their

latest smartphone is not a

rip-off of iPhone 6, but an

“i-style” device for those

who don’t like Apple.

Could it be an iPhone clone?

Telecom It’s popular and affordable

Russian company Alkotel has defended claims that its new TeXet iX-maxi smartphone is a rip-off of Apple’s iconic iPhone 6. The new smartphone, which bears more than a striking resemblance to the iPhone 6, went on sale in mid-Feb-ruary. The new device is much cheaper than Apple’s

popular product and costs around $179.

Alexei Ryazantsev, head of Alkotel’s GSM depart-ment, told RBTH that the company is not afraid of lawsuits. According to him, most smartphones “are sim-ilar to each other, includ-ing the hardware compo-nent”.

Admitting that the Alko-tel model has elements that are similar to the iPhone 6, Ryazantsev said that “the main purpose was to crea-te an i-style design for those who do not like iOS and the Apple policy”. However,

he was at pains to stress the differences between the TeXet iX-maxi and the iPhone 6.

“It is the third model in the series and, judging by the number of sales, it has found the target audience. As for the claims that our smartphone looks like the iPhone 6, there are quite a lot of differences as well as similarities. All Android smartphone vendors could

fi le lawsuits against each other equally successfully with the claim that their products are copycats,” Rya-zantsev said. The exterior design of the new phone is difficult to distinguish from Apple’s iPhone. For exam-ple, the Russian smartpho-ne has a 4.7-inch screen, which is the same size as the iPhone 6, but with a re-solution of only 960 x 540 pixels.


rbth.com/43047

READ IN THE RBTH SCIENCE & TECH SECTION

rbth.com/42937

SCIENCE AND TECH

Dual-screen YotaPad under development

NA

SA


www.rbth.comSpecial

EKATERINA TURYSHEVARBTH

On February 23, the

“stronger sex” in Russia

enjoys the privilege of

receiving congratulations

and gifts from the

fairer sex.

CELEBRATING DEFENDERS OF FATHERLAND

THE MALE EQUIVALENT OF INTERNATIONAL

WOMEN’S DAY IS TRADITIONALLY MARKED ON

FEB 23 WITH CAMOUFLAGE AND SHAVING CREAM

ARMY DAY

This is Defenders of the Fa-therland Day, but not only those who have served in the military are celebrated on this day. It has become in effect, the male equiva-lent of International Wom-en’s Day, which is celebrat-ed on March 8.

Although International Women’s Day was import-ed from the West, Defend-ers of the Fatherland Day is a completely Russian in-novation. Why is this holi-

day celebrated on February 23? During the Soviet era, February 23 was celebrat-ed as Red Army Day be-cause on this day in 1918 the Red Army won its fi rst victory against German forces at Pskov and Narva.

However, there is one small historic detail that must be noted here: On the evening of February 23, 1918, the German forces were 35 miles from Pskov and 105 miles from Narva and there is no evidence in either Russian or German archives that there was any fi ghting between them on that day. For 20 years, this myth persisted, but then during World War II, the idea of a day celebrating the fi rst victory of the Red

Army over German forces took on a broader signifi -cance.

From 1949 until 1990, Feb ruary 23 was officially known as the Day of the Soviet Army and Navy. Today, the date of this hol-iday remains the same – but the name has changed. In the 1990s, the day was known for some time as Russian Army Day and it was not an official holiday, but in 2002, it again became a public holiday and was given its current name: De-fenders of the Fatherland Day. Although all men, not just those who have served in the armed forces, are cel-ebrated on February 23, military themes dominate the day. Concerts of mili-

tary music are given and many people dress up in military-style clothing or uniforms.

One interesting fact to further add to the confl u-ence of February 23 and March 8 is that under the Julian calendar, which Rus-sia used until 1918 and is 13 days off the Gregorian calendar in use today, March 8 was February 23.

Like March 8, February 23 is marked by the giving

of small gifts. Although men say they prefer creative or useful gifts, the most com-mon gifts are colognes and socks. Because of this, some Russian men have given the day the unofficial name of “The All-Russian Day of Shaving Cream”. Recently some of them have tried to organise a kind of protest, stocking up on shaving cream, cologne and after-shave just before the holi-day.

VLADIMIR ERKOVICHSPECIAL TO RBTH

Most of the Russian

holidays are celebrated at

home. But Army Day has

now acquired a tradition

of office celebrations.

Holidays you can’t forgetAt the office How the men and women celebrate

Russia’s most significant holidays are celebrated at the workplace. Most often, a table will be laid with al-cohol and various snacks, and work colleagues devise entertainment for their compatriots. There are two calendar dates in this an-nual round of celebrations that cannot be missed: Febrruary 23 and March 8. On the eve of these holi-days, offices divide by gen-

der and secretly plan how to celebrate the respective days. Since February 23 comes fi rst, women raise the stakes so that men will not forget to celebrate them properly two weeks later. RBTH asked several men how February 23 is cele-brated in their offices. Here are some of the most... well ... creative answers.

Sergei, computer programmer: A couple of years ago on Feb 23, two girls appeared around lunchtime in our of-fi ce, wearing short skirts. They wheeled in a cart fi lled with the kind of food you would traditionally be

served in the army. Then we all got on a bus and “head-ed for the front” – a paint-ball range. For March 8, we got all the girls bouquets of flowers, and then sent them off to a spa.

Alexander, sales manager: Last year at the end of the work day on Feb 23, we had a celebration with beer, sau-sages, chips, crackers and pizza – guy food. Then we divided into teams and the girls gave all the guys re-ally cheap shaving cream as a present, just for a laugh. Then they gave us our real presents – everyone got a soccer ball. I don’t think an-

yone took the shaving cream home; the tubes were lying around in the office all year. On March 8, all the girls got flowers, and we made a space in the office to have some champagne.

ARMED BY RUSSIA

Navigate into Russian military history

READ RBTH ARMED BY RUSSIA

SECTION AT

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09RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.rbth.com Special

ROMAN KISELEVRBTH

Moscow, with its many

shooting ranges and nearby

airfields, is an ideal place

for the celebration of

Defender of the

Fatherland Day.

Military tour guide to Moscow Travel Even if you are not in the capital on Feb 23, use your time to visit these fascinating places

February 23 is tradition-ally observed around Rus-sia by men of all ages. The holiday, known as Defend-er of the Fatherland Day, commemorates the crea-tion of the Soviet Army. Foreigners can also join Russian men and celebrate it. Moscow, with its many shooting ranges and near-by airfields, is an ideal place for it.

Fly to the stratosphere and witness MiG-29 aerobaticsFly to the stratosphere at an altitude of 12.4 to 13.6 miles in a MiG-29 jet fi ght-er, and watch an aerobat-ics display after you de-scend to Earth.

The journey takes bet-ween three and four hours. You will get the chance to look out at the curvature of the Earth, the impossi-bly bright sun and the unusually black sky as the aircraft ascends at super-sonic speed. The fl ight in the stratosphere lasts between three and fi ve minutes be-fore the MiG-29 descends to showcase advanced ae-robatic manoeuvres to the lucky tourist.Price €15,750 ($21,000)

Tank safariThe picturesque village of Kubinka in Odintsovo Dis-trict, just 39.7 miles outside of Moscow, is home to the unique Museum of Ar-moured Vehicles.

The museum has been amassing the country’s larg-est collection of armoured vehicles (with more than 300) since 1931.

It is here that the child-hood dreams of so many men can come true, when they are given the chance to ride the legendary World War II T-34 tank.

A ride in the T-34 with a crew takes four hours, dur-ing which time you will be able to go through an ob-stacle course and even fi re a few shots from the tank’s gun.

Kubinka, Odintsovo District, Moscow RegionPrice: €1,750 ($2,340)

Cold War bunkerWalking tours around the Cold War bunker take an hour and a half. Be pre-pared to use your legs. The bunker is 196 feet below the surface, and the total area of the underground laby-rinth is around 75,000 square feet.

During the tour, you can try on a splash suit or an operator’s uniform, learn how the staff of the bunker used to live and work, and observe the unique archi-tecture of this construction. The bunker remains pro-tected against nuclear ex-plosion.11, 5th Kotelnichesky Lane, Price: €19 ($25)

Poklonnaya Hill and Victory Park

February 23 on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow tradition-ally involves jousting bat-tles, walking tours and sto-ries about the heroes of World War II. From here, visitors can watch the most scenic of the 30 firework parades that take place in difference areas of Moscow on Defender of the Father-land Day.Free of charge

Central Museum of the Air ForceHow to get there: Take the train from Yaroslavl Station to Monino Station for €2.50 ($3.3).

Take bus № 322 Moscow–Noginsk from the Iz-mailovsky Park metro sta-tion to Gagarin Air Force Academy, or take Avtoline

bus № 362 from the b u s s t a t i o n (Shchelkovskaya metro station) to the terminal.

You will need a lot of en-ergy to make it all the way around the world’s largest aviation museum. The ex-hibition halls alone are 59,000 square feet, and the outdoor exhibits cover an-other 49 acres.

The museum houses col-lections of planes, helicop-ters, arms and life-saving equipment dating all the

way back to 1909.There are numerous model aircraft around the halls, as well as unique photos and other documents. The museum is located inside a military base, so the best advice is to arrange a visit and get a pass for your vehicle before-hand.Air Force Museum, Monino, Moscow Region

A ride in the T-34 with a crew takes four hours.

Walking tours around the Cold War

bunker take an hour and a half.

Be ready for long walks.

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Russia, the USSR and Afghanistan, yesterday and today

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.rbth.comOpinion10

THAI-RUSSIAN COOPERATION IS SET FOR NEW HEIGHTS

I would like to continue our conversation from where we left off in the last issue of Russia Be-

yond The Headlines, on the subject of cooperation be-tween Russia and Thailand. Let’s talk about the trade and economic relations be-tween the two countries.

It is curious that during a drop in growth in the glob-al economy and a general fall in business activity on the markets, the volume of Russian-Thai trade is grow-ing. And is growing quite rapidly. Based on the results of 2014, it increased by 18.7 per cent. What are Moscow’s and Bangkok’s economic in-terests?

Some time ago, I was in-vited to the head office of agriholding CP Group. We discussed the situation with Adirek Sripratak, the pres-ident of CP Foods, one of the subsidiaries of the group, and his colleagues.

“Our company has taken the decision to broaden its investments in the Russian economy,” said Sipratak. “Now is the best time to in-vest in Russia and strength-en our position in the Rus-sian market,” Adirek said.

CP Foods is the largest Thai investor in the Russian agriculture sector.

Over the last 10 years it has invested more than US$300 million for the con-struction of 11 piggeries in a whole range of regions: Moscow, Kaluga, Kursk, Li-petsk and Kaliningrad. Now work is going on for the con-struction of two more pig-geries in Moscow and Nizh-ny Novgorod regions. Furthermore, the largest feed production plant in the European part of Russia has been constructed near Mos-cow, with manufacturing capacity of 240,000 tonnes a year.

But CP Foods does not in-tend to rest on its laurels. The company plans to di-versify its business, taking into account areas such as meat processing, production of meat products and retail sales. And all of this is in

Kirill

Barsky AMBASSADOR

Russia. The company’s pol-icy is not aimed at Russian customers only, but at the broader Eurasian Econom-ic Union, which was estab-lished on January 1, 2015.

At the same time, CP Foods is increasing the sup-ply of agricultural products

to the Russian market. While European Union countries, US, Norway, Canada and Australia with their ludi-crous sanctions are vainly trying to isolate Russia and Russian companies, Moscow has responded by “showing them the door”, and Asian business circles have start-ed to actively cooperate.

The food embargo against the West is a great oppor-tunity for food suppliers from Asia to win their share of our market. How can far-sighted businessmen miss such an opportunity?

CP Foods saw its chance in the new situation. In just two or three months, they

have substantially increased the export of poultry to Rus-sia.

The beginnings have been laid for a new, promising en-terprise - supplying pork. The ceremony for the fi rst delivery occurred in mid-December 2014, in the pres-ence of the Thai minister for agriculture.

In future, deliveries of large consignments of high-quality Thai pork will be regular occurrences.

Cooperation between Russia and Thailand in the field of agriculture is not limited to meat but also fi sh, seafood and tropical fruit. The biggest growth in 2014 was seen by Thai exports to Russia of rice, which more than doubled as compared to 2013.

A promising area is the purchase of natural rubber. In Russia, there are a large number of enterprises that produce automobile and aviation tyres and are in-terested in direct deliveries of rubber from Thailand.

This is also advantageous to local exporters of rubber – after all Russia is a reli-able partner and a huge market, which is extremely important given the rapid drop in prices and stagna-tion on the commodity mar-kets.

Yet another example is the largest Thai manufac-turer for complete plant

equipment for the sugar in-dustry – Sutech Engineer-ing group – which intends to built a sugar-processing plant in the Russian Far East. The suggested capac-ity of the new plant is 1,500 tonnes of processed sugar a day. As raw material sugar

cane will be used, delivered from Thailand. It is estimat-ed that the investment will amount to $200 million.

At the same time, Mos-cow has something to offer its Thai partners. In 2014, we had a record grain har-vest. It is not surprising that the wise management of CP Foods increased its import of Russian wheat to feed the needs of their businesses in Thailand and other Asian countries.

Today, Russia and Thai-land are aiming to achieve a breakthrough in bilateral cooperation, and agriculture is just one of the sectors where such cooperation is

CP Foods is the largest investor from Thailand in Russian agriculture. In the last 10 years, it has invested US$300 million for the construction of 11 piggeries

indeed benefi cial. The Rus-sian Federation’s Minister for Industry and Trade spoke about this, in partic-ular with his Thai compan-ions when he made an of-fi cial visit to Thailand on January 9. At the meeting, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha confi rmed that Thailand was interested in the full expansion of trade, investment and economic ties with Russia.

And the potential for joint work is huge. Even a hur-ried view of Russia and Thailand’s potential and the complementary nature of their economies enable one to unambiguously say that the current level and struc-ture of bilateral trade is far from daydreaming, al-though, as a whole the trade between the two countries has developed over the past few years quite successful-ly.

Several fi gures illustrate the current situation in mu-tual trade. According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, from January to November 2014, trade was valued at $3.98 billion. Thai-land has its own account-ing methods for country of origin and according to their records trade volumes comprised $4.91 billion.

But despite the account-ing methods, the trend is clear – Russia and Thailand are becoming more and more attractive to each other as trading partners. Therefore, the task of bring trade up to the $10-billion mark should by no means be considered impossible. Based on what? Only tak-ing into account agricultur-al exports from Thailand?

Let us take a look. The past year was marked by a signifi cant increase in de-liveries from Russia to Thai-land of crude oil, processed oil products and chemicals.

Even more promising are joint projects that are cur-rently under development. We are talking about such areas as energy, transporta-tion, infrastructure con-struction, information and communication technolo-gies.

For example, the Russian Railways, Uralvagonzavod

Scientifi c and Production Corporation, and KAMAZ are interested in the oppor-tunity of participating in large infrastructure projects in Thailand in various forms – from contracts for the in-stallation of ways to supply of freight rolling stock, track laying and road-building technology.

Sukhoi company is ready to sell medium-haul aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 to Thailand for the needs of local aviation companies. Russian manufacturers are seeking to enter the Thai market for modern welding equipment, medical equip-ment and medicines.

Here, it is important to make an observation. The future of our collaboration with Thailand is not only mutual shipments, but also the organisation of joint manufacturing, transfer of technology in the form of advanced technological de-vices, their commercialisa-tion and the placement on the market in other coun-tries.

This work has already begun. Based on the initia-tive of the Russian Embas-sy in Thailand, a working group has been formed with the international manufac-turing company, Amata Cor-poration, with the aim of discussing possible forms of scientifi c and technological cooperation. Contacts are being made between the Skolkovo Foundation and Thailand Science Park.

All these issues were dis-cussed during a recent meeting of the Joint Rus-sian-Thai Commission on Bilateral Cooperation. The Thai side was headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, General Tanasak Pati-mapragorn.

The next phase for coop-eration between the govern-ments of the two countries will occur in Russia during summer at the sixth meet-ing of the Joint Commission. But before that, the parties have agreed to make mu-tual visits of large business missions, exchange com-mercial offers, prepare and sign mutually beneficial contracts, to negotiate be-tween the relevant agencies of Russia and Thailand to expand the regulatory framework of trade, eco-nomic and investment co-operation.

Kirill Barsky is Ambassa-dor Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of Thailand.

A working group has been formed with Amata Corporation with the aim of discussing possible forms of scientific and technological cooperation

KONSTANTIN MALER

RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.rbth.com Opinion

11

NEED FOR A STRONG ASEAN

Though many com-plain about the vagueness of Rus-sia’s shaping Asian

policy, it is quite clear that Asean will be among the priorities. To be more spe-cific, Moscow will most likely vest its interest in a strong and independent Asean, whose integrity is currently threatened by competing maritime claims in the South China Sea.

There are only two things Russia may want from East Asia - peace and develop-ment.

With prospects of eco-nomic cooperation with the West murkier and a reces-sion probably hitting the country very soon, hedging foreign trade and invest-ment in Asia looks like a logical step. Moreover, Rus-sia will have to tap into the Asian growth powerhouse if it wants the main state-building effort of the cen-

Anton

TsvetovEXPERT

tury to be successful - a de-velopment leap for Siberia and the Far East is hardly achievable without a fi rm connection to the Asian markets.

And here’s where the kicker is. None of this will happen if East Asia slips into a full-on regional war. Leaving other hotpoints like the Senkaku islands or the Korean peninsula for another time, deterioration of the South China Sea issue alone could have im-mense repercussions for Russia.

Firstly, even a minor clash in this maritime region may cause severe disruption of sea trade routes. More than half of the world’s oil ex-ports travel through the South China Sea, supply-ing China, South Korea and Taiwan with the necessary resources for the vast pro-duction volumes. If global supply chains happen to

break at this point, the Eu-ropean economies, as well as Russia’s, may receive a crushing blow - a risk not worth taking.

Secondly, Russia’s own economic projects may be harmed (and are in fact harmed already) by inter-state disputes in the South China Sea. As Russian com-panies attempt to enter the Southeast Asian energy markets, an important part of it - offshore oil and gas extraction - is at risk be-cause of legal differences between the states.

Gazprom has already had an incident with an explo-ration block claimed both-Vietnam and China. There have been other similar

cases with Indian compa-nies, which means it a sys-temic issue that will loom over any joint offshore drill-ing project.

Finally and probably most importantly, the six-state dispute over various areas and features of the South China Sea puts the integrity of Asean at risk. And a rift in the central multilateral diplomacy in-stitution of the region may have grave consequences for regional security even without a major armed con-fl ict.

Let’s be honest - there is no such thing as Asean sol-idarity over the territorial disputes issue. Essentially, the grouping is divided into

claimants and non-claim-ants. The non-claimants - Thailand, Myanmar, Cam-bodia, Laos, Indonesia and Singapore - are not exact-ly eager to join the rest in their confrontation with China. None of them wish-es to annoy Beijing when a great deal of their external trade and investment de-pends on Beijing’s good spirits.

Without being able to consolidate, Asean will essentially remain merely a forum for discussion, but not an alternative to great power politics that will most likely unravel in the region in the years to come.

Southeast Asian states should have an alternative to China and the US in their allegiance with the likes of a more post-modern insti-tution like Asean. And that is exactly what Russia needs. When the time comes for Russian businesses to enter Southeast Asia on a full scale, Moscow should not have to be concerned with whether the ‘big guys’ approve of such coopera-tion. If there is a strong Asean, the lesser and mid-dle powers of East Asia will enjoy greater autonomy from Beijing and Washing-ton.

Anton Tsvetov is media and government relations manager at Russian Inter-national Affairs Council, a Moscow-based foreign policy think tank.

Without being able to consolidate, Asean will remain merely a forum for discussion

There are only two things Russia may want from East Asia - peace and development

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GLEB FEDOROVRBTH EDITOR FOR EDUCATION

The centre will open in

early 2015 and simplify

the admission process for

foreign students looking

to enter Russia’s leading

universities.

New centre coming up to enrol foreigners

Universities The top 15 Russian universities are launching a joint initiative to attract highly motivated students

The 15 Russian universities that make up the Global Universities Association are creating a unifi ed centre to enrol foreign applicants.

Maxim Khomyakov, the director of the centre and vice rector for internatio-nal affairs at Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg, told RBTH that the centre would open soon.

However, “it will have only a minimal impact on the group [of foreign stu-dents] in 2015”, Khomyakov said. “We can expect se-rious results by September 2016, because in most countries applicants for 2015 have already decided

where they will matricu-late in terms of both coun-try and university.”

The centre’s primary function is to help univer-sities attract highly moti-vated students to fulfill their budget quotas for fo-reigners. Quotas for foreign students – 20,000 were allo-cated to all of Russia’s uni-versities in 2015 – are cu-rrently distributed by the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Indepen-dent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and the In-ternational Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudni-chestvo). Therefore, the re-cruitment centre will not only attract students, but also enhance the appeal of the 15 universities that comprise it.

Yaroslav Kuzminov, rec-tor of the Higher School of Economics, said that not all foreign students selec-ted for the quotas are ca-

pable of mastering the cu-rriculum at the best universities. “Many of them face problems with the lan-guage or are not able to master the material,” Kuz-minov said.

“Universities need to screen them out. In order to overcome that problem, the universities themselves need to participate in re-cruiting students.”

The members of the Glo-bal Universities Association stand to benefit the most from the new centre, but

Khomyakov says the goal is to promote “the brand of Russian higher education”. Russia is not always consi-dered as an educational op-tion, and foreign students “only turn their attention to Russia at the very last minute”, he said.

The centre’s duty is to get the best applicants to go to the Rossotrudnichestvo office and apply to the uni-versities that best meet their needs. According to Khomyakov, the centre will work “along the entire spec-trum of educational fi elds at the leading Russian uni-versities. They [members of the Global Universities As-sociation] are all very di-fferent. The universities are located in different regions and offer very specifi c up-sides.”

Khomyakov says that comparing the various uni-versities shows that they can all stand out on their own merits for different reasons. “With a cleverly constructed advertising campaign, there will be no competition between them,” he said.

Some state quotas are cu-rrently allocated directly to the best universities. Howe-ver, Rossotrudnichestvo dis-tributes the lion’s share of quotas in line with “Russia’s foreign policy priorities and agreements with foreign countries,” Khomyakov said.

“For example, if Russia is going to build several nu-clear power plants in Viet-nam, then it makes sense to promote Russian physics education in that country.”

How to state

your preference

To make the quota, candi-dates should contact the nearest Rossotrudnichestvo office (Indonesia), submit the necessary documents and in-dicate the universities where they would like to matriculate in order of preference.

Top Russian

varsities

The Global Universities Asso-ciation unites 15 of Russia’s top universities, which are participating in a programme called 5-100 that aims to make Russian universities more competitive. These in-clude the Higher School of Economics, the Moscow In-stitute of Steel and Alloys, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Ural Federal University, Far Eastern Federal University, Kazan Federal University, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, St Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, St Petersburg State Univer-sity of Information Technolo-gies, Mathematics and Optics, Novosibirsk State University, Nizhny Novgorod State Uni-versity, Samara and Tomsk State universities.The centre’s primary

function is to help universities attract highly motivated students

Kirill

BarskyAMBASSADOR

Interest in learning the Russian language has always existed in Thai-land, and today this in-

terest is even stronger. The Thai Ministry of Educa-tion has now placed the Russian language on its priority list of foreign lan-guages that will be taught. The Russian Language Departments at Chula-longkorn and Thammasat universities are growing by about a hundred stu-dents annually. There is

EXPERT NOTE

More Thais interested in learning Russian language as ties deepen

even a programme in place to help recruit high-school students to study Russian, so that they have basic knowledge of the language by the time they start their studies at the university.

Today, about 200 students from Thailand are studying in Russia. For the academ-ic year 2014-15, through the Russian Embassy, 40 plac-es have been reserved for Thai students in Russian universities. In addition, 20 students were accepted by directly participating in entry competitions of var-ious universities, within the quotas set by the Russian

government. Foreign stu-dents pay tuition and re-ceive scholarship grants at the same level as Russian students, as well as being charged the same prices for rooms in hostels.

A recent poll in Thailand showed that the majority of young people in Thailand wish to become military of-fi cers, teachers and doctors. We, on our part, are inter-ested in giving students a good knowledge of the lan-guage, culture, politics, and economy of Russia, with which they can pursue de-grees in journalism, philol-ogy, and political science.

Such faculties, providing excellent education, exist in many universities in Rus-sia, and so the geography of student exchanges is wide. For example, Tham-masat University and the Nizhny Novgorod State University have developed a cooperation programme, and contacts with other universities in Russia are being developed.

The main universities that educate Thai students are the Russian People’s Friendship University, Kazan Federal University, Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg, Voronezh State University, St Peters-burg State University, as well as individual students in Krasnodar, Kursk, Pskov, Rostov-on-Don, Veliky Novgorod, and Nizhny Novgorod.

FIVE SECRET SIGHTS AT MOSCOW’S KREMLIN

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13

Tensions will only spur interest in Russian language

INTERVIEW

ALEXANDRE STROKANOV

RBTH speaks to Alexandre Strokanov, the head of the Institute of Russian Lan-guage and Culture under the Lyndon State College in the US state of Vermont, about the complexities of the Russian language, pol-itics and how it affects Rus-sian language studies.

RBTH: What do Americans

find to be most difficult in the

Russian language?

Alexandre Strokanov: There is one letter in the alphabet that they fi nd dif-fi cult to pronounce, ‘ы’. But it takes a week or two to master. Then, of course, the cases. Overall, I fi nd all this talk of how difficult the Russian language is to be an exaggeration.

RBTH: How is the atmosphere,

which is becoming increas-

ingly tense, affecting inter-

est in the Russian language?

A.S.: I think interest will grow. This is my forecast. Here, there arises a very in-teresting situation. If we compare the Cold War with the 1990s, back then there was a much higher demand

for the Russian language, there was funding from the US government. Then came the 1990s and everything fell apart.

We noticed a rise in in-terest – the very beginning of it – in the Russian lan-guage some time in the early 2000s. The more con-fi dent Russia was becom-ing, the bigger that interest grew. Now this new con-frontation will only spur more interest. Why? Because ordinary Americans do not necessarily think the same way as American politi-cians. Many people simply do not trust politicians.

ALEXEI STROGANOVSPECIAL TO RBTH

On February 5, one of

Russia’s biggest

universities, the Peoples’

Friendship University of

Russia (RUDN), marked its

55th anniversary.

Moscow varsity still values cultural exchange

Jubilee Peoples’ Friendship University turned 55 this month

RBTH spoke to the univer-sity’s rector Vladimir Fillip-ov about its origins, human-i s t p r i n c i p l e s a n d modern-day revival, as well as his personal reminiscenc-es of life as a student at the institute in the late 1960s.

In late August 1968, 17-year-old Filippov, soon to become a fi rst-year stu-dent at the Peoples’ Friend-ship University, arrived in Moscow on a late-night train from Uryupinsk, a small town in the Volgograd Region.

He reached the universi-ty dormitory close to mid-night and spent his first night in the capital treating two fellow students, one from Madagascar and the other from Cameroon, to home-made jam he had brought with him. His new friends did not speak a word of Russian. Further-more, they were believers.

“It turned out that the lady who was in charge of

laundry and bed linen had already gone home. As we were turning in, they saw that I did not have any bed linen. They then moved all the three beds together, put their two bed sheets on them and put me in the middle. That was how I spent my first night with foreign students. That was it, that was how peoples’ friendship started,” recalls Filippov, now rector of the RUDN and a former edu-cation and science minister of Russia.

Despite the official doc-trine of atheism in the for-mer USSR, the university treated foreign students’ re-ligious beliefs with unders-tanding.

“In the morning, I saw Jean-Paul, a Catholic, pra-ying in one corner, and Abdul, a Muslim, praying in another, while I, a mem-ber of the Young Commu-nist League, did not know where to look and what to do,” Filippov recalls.

He explains that then RUDN had already put into

practice its principle of bringing together students from different countries who speak different langua-ges and belong to different cultures.

In the 1960s-70s, the USSR sought to spread its infl uence to the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, by providing tra-ining and education to young people from there and supporting their fi ght for independence. Through the export of education, Moscow hoped to spread the Russian language and culture abroad. At the same time, Soviet leaders expec-ted to promote communist values too.

It was with this aim in mind that the Peoples’ Friendship University was set up on February 5, 1960. Until the early 1990s, it bore the name of the fi rst prime minister of Congo, Patrice Lumumba.

Its staff included the most renowned professors and academics, both in sciences and humanities.

Upon leaving the univer-sity, RUDN graduates went back to different parts of the world. Many of them rose to very prominent po-sitions in their home coun-tries. These includeAbbas Yusuf Saleh, the prime mi-nister of Chad until 2010; Abdramane Sylla, a minis-ter in Mali; Achieng Ongong’a, the managing di-rector of the Kenya Tourism Board, and many others.

GLEB FEDOROVRBTH EDITOR FOR EDUCATION

Starting this month, foreign

students may apply for

transfer to one of the

leading universities of

Russia – the Higher School

of Economics.

Foreign students can seek transferStudents Top Russian university HSE to open ‘single window’ for applications

To take advantage of this opportunity, the student must send a letter to the email address [email protected], including contact infor-mation, citizenship and name of university where he/she is currently enrolled, as well as the name of the current special education programme to which he/she wishes to transfer.

The letter must contain a copy of a document cer-tifying student’s identity and citizenship, document on current education and a document confi rming the fact that he/she is a student at a higher educational ins-titution.

The enrolment will be ap-proved after an academic expert evaluation. “We wel-come everyone, but all uni-versities are different, so-metimes people may not have sufficient background to study here,” says Sergey Roshchin, vice rector of HSE.

According to him, the ex-pert evaluation does not

focus on the formal speci-fi cation of the names of the courses and their quanti-ties, but on substantial cor–

respondence of the pre-viously studied material.

By the summer of 2015, the HSE promises to open a “single window” for recei-ving applications for the transfer from all students, including those from fo-

reign educational institu-tions.

The HSE offers official administrative support to foreign students and tea-chers, as well volunteer as-sistance services for foreig-ners.

HSE campuses offer more than 60 bachelor’s and over 100 master’s educational programmes. The langua-ges of learning are Russian and English.

“The educational pro-grammes offered by Rus-sian universities, in terms of quality and content, are comparable with the best on the global education market,” said Roshchin.

The HSE offers official administrative support to foreign students

BALALIKE ITcontemporary Russian music

ALL THAT FOLKRussian folk music

RUSSIAN BOOKSHELFmodern Russian l iterature

/russianow /russiabeyond

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www.rbth.comHistory14

YEVGENY SMIRNOVSPECIAL TO RBTH

The monastery of New

Jerusalem, near Moscow,

was conceived as

the Orthodox world’s

equivalent to the

Holy Land.

Russia’s Holy Land reopens its gates after renovations

Heritage A long-awaited opening

From Moscow, the pilgrim-age to Jerusalem is not far – just 40 kilometres, in fact.

Just northwest of the city lies one of Russia’s histori-cally most signifi cant Or-thodox shrines, the 17th-century monastic complex of New Jerusalem. Aban-doned for decades during Soviet rule, the monastery is now being restored and visitors are returning.

In November 2014, the monastery saw the opening of the largest museum com-plex in Moscow’s environs, the New Jerusalem Mu-seum, containing 100,000 exhibits in total, including masterpieces of religious art and some of the oldest examples of Russian por-trait painting. However, be-sides the museum, visitors should also see New Jeru-salem itself - the monastery that represents four centu-ries of Russian history.

The construction of New Jerusalem was fi rst plan-ned by patriarch Nikon in 1656. Back then, Moscow was considered the centre of the Orthodox world, the third Rome, and the New Jerusalem monastery was

supposed to support its claim to this title.

Nikon did everything possible so that the new centre of the Orthodox world would have its own Holy Land. All the villages and hills neighbouring New Jerusalem received biblical names, and the Istra River was renamed Jordan. The monastery’s principal cathedral was supposed to be built along the patterns of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. A monk was, therefore, sent to Palestine to measure and sketch the shrine. However, in 1658, just two years after beginning the construction of the monastery, Nikon quarreled with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and went into self-imposed exile to New Jerusalem. Construction restarted in 1678 and con-tinued during the reign of the new tsar, Fyodor Alexe-yevich.

Today it seems that New Jerusalem has never been static or finished: So-mething is always being built or restored here. In 2014, a belfry and bells des-troyed during the Soviet pe-riod were restored. The res-torers intend to complete the renovation of the enti-re complex by 2016, brin-ging the resurrection of the monastery to completion.

OLGA DUDNIKOVASPECIAL TO RBTH

In the 19th century Russian

emperors got the best

education from the best

teachers in the country

to be able to deal with

modern challenges.

Who taught tsars of the 19th century?

Education No expense was spared in grooming the future rulers

The Napoleonic Wars, the Decembrist uprising, the Crimean War, the abolition of serfdom, and the con-quest of Siberia and the Far East were just a few of the challenges and major developments faced by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Each event required a competent and professional reaction by the tsar – a reaction that to a large degree depend-

ed on the ruler’s education.Starting with Catherine

the Great, who reigned du-ring almost the entire se-cond half of the 18th cen-tury, training for Russia’s monarchs resembled gym-nasium and university edu-cation, but it entailed fewer basic disciplines and more special courses, especially finance, government, and law, besides military affairs.

No expense was spared on teachers and tutors, but they were not bound by rigid conditions and could conduct their work as they saw fit. When she hired Swiss general Frederique Lagarde, a person who sym-pathised with the ideas be-hind the French revolution

and instilled the views of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the future Tsar Alexander I – Catherine the Great said: “Be a Jacobin or a Repu-blican, whatever you want. I see that you are an honest person, and that is enough for me. Stay with my gran-dchildren, enjoy my full confi dence, and continue to care for them with the di-ligence that is characteris-tic of you.”

In the 19th century, the body of educators, which consisted of senior officers and officials as well as the best teachers of the time, was roughly equally divi-ded into military and civi-lian. Nikolai Beketov, one of the founders of physical

chemistry and chemical dy-namics, taught chemistry to Nicholas II. Login Kraft, a member of the St Peters-burg Academy of Sciences, taught mathematics to Ni-ch o l a s I I ’s s o n a n d daughters. One of the fi rst Russian fencing coaches Ivan Siverbrik, who orga-nised a fencing school in Russia, taught Alexander II and Nicholas I. Some tu-tors taught multiple gene-rations of tsars at once. Konstantin Pobedonostsev – a censor and one of the most infl uential people in the Russian Empire for de-cades – was tutor to Alexan-der II’s eldest son, Alexan-der III and his brother Vladimir, and Nicholas II.

Military affairs was a subject of particular impor-tance for all tsars, and it was taught in a unique and particular way to each fu-ture tsar. For example, Ni-cholas I’s military affairs course was limited to spe-cial classes on engineering and cartography. Engineer-general Karl Opperman used one of the most pro-ductive modern forms of education in his work with Nicholas I – he gave the fu-ture tsar topics for indepen-dent elaboration on a pro-ject basis, and then the two sat down together and analysed the results.

Home-schooling for fu-ture tsars throughout the entire 19th century was set apart by the high profes-sional level of tutors, as well as its diverse and often in-novative university forms (including special courses and project-based work), which not only outpaced traditional higher state education, but also paved the way for it.

Alexander II was the emperor of Russia from March 2, 1855 until his assassination in 1881.


rbth.com/42717

GEMS:

Kostroma: The home of Russia’s Snegurochka, the snow maiden

Yakutia’s frozen heart: Mammoths, chilled vodka and the lord of cold

Paris, Berlin, Leipzig and other Russian villages

CAPITALS:

Moscow by tram: See the city from a different point of view

A holiday in St Petersburg: Get the most out of winter in Russia’s cultural capital

What to see in the Metro, Moscow’s cheapest and most incredible museum

TOURS:

Five unusual Moscow tours you can’t miss

Best winter package tours to Russia

A weekend in Peterhof: All that glitters is gold

DESTINATIONS:

Five unbeatable locations to watch the sunset on Lake Baikal

Siberia’s northern desert: Hot sands, taiga and mosquitoes

Russia’s most spectacular ski resorts

1 2 3 4

4 3 2 1

travel.rbth.com

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.rbth.com Culture

15

IRINA VINOKUROVARBTH

While people of many

nationalities embrace

Orthodox Christianity, it

was the Russian Orthodox

Church that decided to

build churches in Thailand.

Catering to the faithful

Religion There are numerous churches in Thailand for Orthodox Christians

When in the second half of the 1990s, a large number of Orthodox Christians from Russia and the former Soviet Union began to ar-rive in Thailand to live there permanently, the lack of an Orthodox Church for these families became one of the most pressing concerns.

In response to their nu-merous requests, the Holy Synod of the Russian Or-thodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), at its meeting on December 28, 1999, de-cided to open the St Nicho-las Church in Bangkok. This decision also included the appointment of the fi rst rec-tor of the parish, the priest of the Diocese of Yaroslavl Oleg (Cherepanin), who later became the represen-tative of the Russian Or-thodox Church in Thailand after conversion of the pa-rish into a Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2001. This was just the beginning, which was followed by years of hard work, the overcoming of numerous legal challen-ges, and the construction of the fi rst church.

In early 2008, the Thai authorities, having reviewed the long-term activity of the Orthodox community in Thailand, recognised it as a benefi cial force, corres-ponding to the interests of the Kingdom by reinforcing ethical and moral founda-tions of society. The public foundation Orthodox Chris-tian Church in Thailand was officially registered.

Following the registra-tion, the right to open addi-tional Orthodox parishes was obtained for other re-gions, in addition to Ban-gkok. Thus the construction of new churches started.

Today, there are Orthodox churches in several provin-ces, and there is even a men’s monastery in Ratcha-buri province. Moreover, the geography of Orthodox Church parishes in Thailand continues to expand.

At the moment, there are six of them: St Nicholas Church of Bangkok, Holy Life-Giving Trinity Church on Phuket island, All Saints Church in Pattaya, Protec-tion of the Holy Virgin Church in Pattaya, Holy Dormition Monastery in Ratchaburi province, and the Holy Ascension Parish on Samui island.

In 2015, this list conti-nued to expand.

This month, there was Great Blessing of two chur-ches and the laying of the foundation stone of a new one in Thailand.

On February 8, there was the consecration of the Cathedral of the Holy Royal Martyrs in Hua Hin. This church was built in just one year and became the se-venth Orthodox temple in Thailand. On February 12, during a solemn ceremony another temple was dedi-cated – the Church of St Sergius of Radonezh on Chang island.

On February 8, there was the consecration of the Cathedral of the Holy Royal Martyrs.

MARIA FYODORISHINASPECIAL TO RBTH

Parents enrol their children

in ballet schools, hoping

their child will shine on

the stage of the Bolshoi.

No shortcut to the top for little stars

Ballet The Russian ballet tradition is one of the most influential in the world

All Russians are proud of the ballet, even those who rarely watch it. During the Soviet period, for every place in a choreographic in-stitute there were 100 peo-ple in competition. Today, ballet’s popularity still runs high. The Ilse Liepa Studio begins accepting children at the age of two and a half,

says the school’s co-found-er Maria Subbotovskaya.

“Nothing trains the body like the ballet,” says Subbo-tovskaya. “Exercises with the concertmaster teach the child to appreciate classi-cal music. All movements are beautiful and harmo-nious. They develop the body, especially its poise.”

In other countries, Rus-sian classical ballet is often associated with the leading Russian theatres, the Bol-shoi and the Mariinsky, where the dancers are mostly graduates of the

Moscow State Academy of Choreography and the Va-ganova Academy of Russian Ballet. It is practically im-possible to prepare for en-trance to such institutions because natural attributes such as flexibility, being able to rise and jump, and a good ear for music play such a leading role. Stu-dents are subject to an in-tense screening process.

“About 98 per cent of children study ballet for themselves,” says Subboto-vskaya. “Perhaps they would like to continue, but there are very few little stars. Raising such a child is tough work. Our school has been operating for eight years and in all this time only fi ve of our students en-

tered the Moscow State Academy of Choreography.”

However, world-famous Russian ballet dancers such as Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova and Rudolph Nu-reyev had average physical characteristics. That is why experienced teachers of choreography say that phy-sique is not the most im-portant thing.

“If the child has the will and a dream, that is already a lot,” Subbotovskaya says. “Methodology alone won’t yield any results. Charac-ter and discipline are fun-damental, while physical fi tness can be worked on. When we see a child with character and discipline, we talk to their parents. If they agree, we put more effort.

IN A WORLD OF CHANGE,

SOME INSIGHTS ARE TIMELESS

READ THE WORDS OF RUSSIAN WRITERS

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www.rbth.comCuisine16

DMITRY BLINOVSPECIAL TO RBTH

RBTH takes a look at the

Maslenitsa pancake

tradition and shares a

recipe for delicious

Russian Beer Pancakes

with our readers.

Penchant for pancakesFestival In 2015, the Maslenitsa spring carnival lasted from February 16-22

Russia has a special kind of festival. To start with, it is not called a festival like many other festive seasons celebrated around the world right before Lent. In-stead, Russia’s festival is called “Maslenitsa” or “Dairy Week”.

Instituted in the dim and distant past (like other self-respecting carnivals) and dedicated to the cult of fer-tility and ancestor worship, Slavic Maslenitsa survived the Christianisation of the ancient state of Rus and en-tered the Orthodox calen-dar as the last week before Lent.

The main feature of Mas-lenitsa is pancakes, which Russians make with a hun-dred different recipes: using sour dough and without yeast; rich and without eggs; from wheat, rye and buckwheat fl our.

Like their Western cous-ins — crêpes, British pan-cakes and Bulgarian pala-chinki — Russian pancakes have innumerable fi llings, both sweet and savoury. However, there is one thing the fi llings always contain, and that is melted butter and sour cream (used as a sauce in most dishes in Rus-sian cuisine, including soups). Finely crumbled hardboiled eggs are also preferable, but you can manage without them.

Beyond this, the compo-sition of the fi lling depends on the imagination of the cook — but fi sh dishes are

essential. First place goes to caviar, followed by her-ring in spicy brine, sturgeon, salmon, sterlet and, fi nally, sardines and sprats. Rus-sian brine is different from the northern European ver-sion; there is none of the dill that Russians love so much, but there is ginger and coriander seeds.

The next candidates for fillings are mushrooms, cheese and crumbly buck-wheat porridge. Some peo-ple also enjoy using boiled tongue and various cooked

meats as fillings. Dessert means more pancakes, but served with jam and honey.

This Slavic festival is marked not only by eating pancakes but also by rid-ing on troikas and parad-ing around the Maslenitsa effigy, which symbolises the harsh winter. The most charming carnival tradition of Maslenitsa is the con-quest of the snow town: One team builds a snow fortress and defends it, while the other tries to destroy it.

Fortunately, the tradition

Russia’s festival is called “Maslenitsa” or “Dairy Week.”

of fi st fi ghts ended by the time the Soviet government came to power. In the old days, the young men and youths of various districts used to gather at an agreed upon place and test their strength in a showdown. But let’s not talk about hoo-ligans, let’s stick to pan-cakes. We can credit the So-viet period not only for putting a stop to fi st fi ghts but also for a pancake rec-ipe that was nowhere to be found in cook books before the revolution.

3 1 The main featu-re of Maslenitsa is

pancakes, which are made with a hundred different recipes: using sour dough, without yeast; rich and without eggs; wheat, rye etc.

2 Russian pan-cakes have innu-

merable fillings, both sweet and savou-ry. However, there is one thing their fillings always contain, and that is melted butter and sour cream.

3 This Slavic fes-tival is marked

not only by eating pancakes but also by riding on troikas and parading around the Maslenitsa effigy, which symbolises the harsh winter.

FACTS ABOUT MASLENITSA

RECIPES

Here’s how you can get it right

“Blini s pripiokom” - pancakes with filling

Russian beer pancake recipe

3. Now let’s move to the fill-ing. Peel and slice the apples for the sweet pancakes. Slice some smoked salmon for the savoury ones.4. Before cooking, mix the dough once again. Oil the pan with butter. Pour some dough carefully, lay out the filling, and then pour some more dough. Or, as we suggested above, just lay out the filling on the pan and cover it with dough.

mixing, baking soda. The more fluid the batter, the thinner the pancakes will be.3. The pancakes must be cooked in a cast-iron frying pan: do NOT wash it; instead, warm it and wipe it with a napkin before using it.4. Traditionally, the frying pan is greased with half of a raw potato on the end of a fork. Cook the pancakes in a very small quantity of melted but-ter.5. Put the finished product into a pile and pour melted butter over them.

Dmitry

Blinov SPECIAL TO RBTH

Ingredients:

- milk - 800ml- flour - 350gm- butter - 150gm- apples - 2 pcs- eggs - 2 pcs- smoked salmon

Preparation:

1. Let’s start with the dough. Take some eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. To the yolks we add melted margarine and about 500ml of warm milk. Keep stirring as you add flour.2. To the egg whites we’ll add salt and sugar, and then beat them. Mix the two mix-tures.

Ingredients:

- 16 ounces milk and 16 ounces beer - 2 cups sifted wheat flour- 1 ½ cups of wheat flour, or ½ cup rye flour- 1-2 eggs- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter- 1 tablespoon sugar or white honey- 1 teaspoon salt and ½ tea-spoon baking soda- ½ potatoPreparation:

1. Mix the milk, slightly warmed, together with the beer. Keep stirring and add flour.2. Carefully mix the batter, adding the eggs, vegetable oil or melted butter, sugar or white honey, salt, and, just before you finish

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Discover more about the country’s cuisine and culinary traditions with:

useful tips from our authors workshops from Delicious TV and

recipes from The Soviet Diet Cookbook rbth.com/russian_kitchen

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RBTH Thailand February issue

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