RussianMind #08 25 -10 September

www.RussianMind.com

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RussianMind№8 (08), 25 August - 10 September 2011, www.RussianMind.com

FAMOUS RUSSIANS BORN IN SEPTEMBER, PAGE 17

“A” is for AutumnPage 18-19

Russian Food in the UK Page 22-23

The Property Empire of Roman AbramovichPage 6-7

Ukraine – the Territory of Anti-Russian DelusionsPage 8-9

EUUK

UK ........................£2.00France ................€2.00Germany ...........€2.00Austria ...............€2.00Belgium .............€2.00Netherlands .....€2.50Italy .....................€2.50

6-7 The Property Empire of Roman Abramovich

8-9 Ukraine – the Territory of Anti-Russian Delusions

10-11 Authentic Post-Punk

12-13 Return of the Spirit: The Church in Recent Russian Films

14-15National Comparisons: Healthcare

16September in the Russian History

17Famous Russians Born in September

12-13

8-9

16

Acting Editor Olga Kudriavtseva [email protected]

Head of Editorial Board Mark Hollingsworth [email protected]

Managing Director Azamat Sultanov [email protected]

Business Development Director Alina Blinova [email protected]

Art Director Yuri Nor [email protected]

Front Page Design Elizabeth Yurieva [email protected]

Special Project Department Daria Alyukova [email protected]

IT Director Oleksii Vyshnikov [email protected]

Sub Editor Julia Gobert [email protected]

Acting Editor’s Assistant Rukhshona Shakhidi [email protected]

Distribution Olga Tsvetkova [email protected]

In print: Richard Bloss, Dmitry Babich, David Gillespie, Ekaterina Petukhova, Roman Khonsari, Anatoly Karlin, Anton Phatianov, Ewen Weatherspoon.

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Contents

4 №8(08) 25 August - 10 September 2011

New Year in September

The beginning of the new calendar year in January is usually associated with a fresh start. When the clock strikes midnight most people make their wishes, plans and expectations for the next twelve months. I have always felt differently about this “January rise of spirit”, because for me the New Year starts in September. I began perceiving September as a fresh start many years ago, at school as in most post Soviet countries, children come back from their summer holidays on the first of September. For me it was always a great day, as you meet your smiling schoolmates, congratulate each other and your teachers ahead of the new school year and then sit together to plan what the year is going to be like. At university, September also had its magic power over students as there was always intrigue about what will happen during the academic year? What subjects will be added? Are there any new faces in the class? Who will fall in love with the best guy in the group? All these questions do not leave students calm on the threshold of September.

When I moved to the UK September seemed to lose its special place in my life because here there was no more school or classes at university, what surprised me, here (in the UK) term started in October. But, you can’t hide from fate. Every year, September prepared me for new life turns. One year I met the person who turned my life upside down; another found a new job and then I got acquainted with the people who are now my best friends.

This year I feel an inspiration and energy to embody all my set plans. So on the first of September I will raise a glass of champagne to my September New Year and for all my dreams to come true!

It is interesting to know that in September many famous Russians were born. To find out who they are, turn to page 17.

Best Olga Kudriavtseva,

Acting Editor

26-27 18-19 “A” is

for Autumn

20-21 Beauty in the

Heart

22-23Russian Food

in England

24-25 On the Hills of Georgia

26-27 70th

Anniversary of WWII Russian

Arctic Convoys

28-29 10th Anniversary

of the Music Festival

“New Wave”

30- 31 Friday Outfits

22-23

28-29

Contents

5

Today Abramovich is estimated by Forbes Magazine to have a net

worth of $23.5 billion. His assets are managed through the UK company Millhouse Capital which was incorporated on 24 September 2001. The key figures in this company are Eugene Tenebaum, the Canadian financier who lives in Weybridge, Surrey, and Maria Elia an accountant at the Deloitte affiliated firm in Cyprus.

Millhouse Capital was initially based at Abbey House in Weybridge, a large two storey office building on the edge of the St. George’s Hill estate. It moved to its current location at Stanford Bridge on 23 February 2005, where it rents a 5th floor office.

The company is ultimately owned by the Cyprus registered Electus Investments Ltd.

While Millhouse manages his assets, Abramovich also buys houses in his own name. Here are the highlights of his property portfolio:

Fyning Hill

Fyning Hill was Abramovich’s original UK base. He bought the 420-acre estate for £12 million in 1999 off the Australian media magnate Kerry Packer. The property lies just outside the village of Rogate on the borders of Hampshire and West Sussex.

It was once owned by the late King Hussein of Jordon who sold the property in the 1990s after a £1 million jewellery robbery attracted press attention.

In November 2001, Abramovich applied to the district council for permission to build an extension for a breakfast room. Later he submitted plans for a bowling alley, an indoor swimming pool, a gym, a family room, a sauna, a steam room, a plant room, and a kitchen.

Today the estate includes a seven-bedroom house, two polo pitches, stables for 100 horses, a tennis court, a rifle range, a trout lake, a go-kart track, an indoor pool and Jacuzzi and a plunge pool. Abramovich reportedly ordered in 20,000 grouse and pheasants to indulge his passion for shooting, but he has now given the estate to his former wife Irina as part of their divorce settlement.

Lowndes Square

Abramovich bought two flats at 39 Lowndes Square in 2000 for £2.3 and £3 million. The properties were then renovated by the development company Octogan and became his London base, although for a time he barely used them. The authors of Abramovich: The Billionaire from Nowhere described the interior of this flat as follows:

“The interior is opulent but dull looking, with all the signs of family life well hidden, Minimalist décor, functional rather than attractive furniture, and a colour scheme made up

Mark HOLLINGSWORTH

The disclosure that an unnamed Russian

has recently paid £140 million for Park Place,

a 300-year-old country house set in 200 acres of land in Oxfordshire, has

focused attention on the huge amounts of money being paid for property

in the UK. The oligarch who

has spent the most is Roman Abramovich. He is currently merging a

series of flats in Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge into a vast townhouse at a total cost of £150

million. He is so wealthy that when he bought

a home on Chester Square, Belgravia, and decided that he did

not want neighbors, he simply purchased the

house next door as well. His former wife Irina

and their four children currently live there.

The Property Empire of Roman Abramovich

Lowndes Square in Knightsbridge, London SW1, where Roman Abramovich has his property

№8(08) 25 August - 10 September 20116

Profile

from a depressing palette of beiges and Soviet greys enlivened by the odd touch of burgundy. An entrance hall opens up onto a drawing room and dining room with windows over the square. To the rear is a sitting room, a study and a kitchen, with stainless steel equipment, black granite worktops and a glass-topped dining table. Down a flight of stairs are the bedrooms. Abramovich’s king-size bed dominates the master bedroom that opens onto a patio furnished with an array of potted bamboo plants”.

In 2003 Abramovich put his Lowndes Square flat on the market for £5 million but could not find a buyer and eventually took it off the market. Rather than disposing of the property, Abramovich decided to expand and from February 2005 he paid £2.7million for another flat there. In May 2006 he bought two more flats - one for £2.5million and the other for £3.9 million - and the following month spent £950,000 on the fourth property.

Abramovich then submitted new plans for the Lowndes Square properties. If granted permission, the new property will be the most expensive private residence in Britain. Spread across two stucco-fronted properties in Lowndes Square in London, the eight-bedroom building is expected to be worth up to £150million when completed. The plans include over five storeys above ground and three basement levels, a cinema room, an indoor pool, steam room and sauna, as well as a children's study and entertainment room. All six family bedrooms have en suite bathrooms, as do the two guest rooms. In a linked mews development behind the main building, four flats above a multi-car garage will be used as staff accommodation.

Chateau de la Croe

In 2000 Abramovich purchased the Chateau de la Croe, in the south of France. The house was built in 1927 in strict Victorian style for an English aristocrat and his family. In 1938, the Duke of

Windsor, the former King Edward VIII of Great Britain, and his wife became its owners. When she moved to the rented chateau, the Duchess spent huge sums to recreate there the conditions her husband had become accustomed to in the royal palace. The most expensive furniture, silver and porcelain were imported from England. The layout of the 12-bedroom villa was substantially altered, although the Duchess left the gold-plated, swan-shaped bathtub intact. Owners since then have refitted the villa to their taste and, at some point, the swan tub fell victim to those changing tastes.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor held sumptuous receptions at the chateau, hosting royalty and the political elite, including Winston Churchill. In time, the couple grew bored with the residence, however, and moved to Paris. In 1952, the chateau was bought by Greek shipbuilding magnate Stavros Niarkos. The purchase was handled by the local real estate agency of John Taylor, which

to this day operates with high-end properties (from €1million. They have concluded deals for €30 million).

The property was reduced to a shell in the 1980s by a house fire and was later sold to an offshore holding company and remained vacant. It went back on the market in 1998 when

Abramovich purchased the property.

Chester Square

Abramovich paid around £40 million for four linked houses on Chester Square in between 2005 and 2006. He paid £9,300,000 for one mansion on Chester Square and a house on Ebury Mews in June 2005, and in June 2006 bought the adjacent properties on Chester Square and on Ebury Mews for £10,370,000.

The property is a Grade II-listed home, once owned by the Duke of Westminster, has four bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom. It is decked out in walnut-panelled walls, acres of gold leaf and with a swimming pool and is now occupied by his former wife Irina.

Wildcat Ridge

In April 2008 Abramovich bought Wildcat Ridge, a mansion near Aspen, Colorado, from Leon Hirsch, former head of the medical firm US Surgical, for $36 million. The 14,300 sq ft house sits in 200 acres of land. It has 11 bedrooms 12 baths, mink upholstery, a wine-tasting room, media room and spa; and is perched at an elevation of 9,200 feet on Wildcat Ridge offering views for miles.

Other properties

Abramovich also owns luxury flats at the new Bridges Wharf development next to Battersea heliport; a Candy-and-Candy-designed apartment on Chelsea Square; a house in Tuscany; a hotel complex in Cyprus and a holiday homes in Montenegro and St. Barts in the Carribbean.

Another luxury house of Russian billionaire is the Chateau de la Croe located in the South of France

Roman Abramovich

7№8(08) 25 August - 10 September 2011

Ukraine – the Territory of Anti-Russian Delusions

The arrest of the former Ukrainian Prime Minister

Yulia Tymoshenko in Kiev for contempt of

court is sure to provoke a lot of talk, both in the

West and the East.

The West will most likely restart their familiar tune about the

“authoritarian trends” of the “pro-Russian” president Viktor Yanukovich. Russian press will continue to dwell upon the colourful personality of Yulia Tymoshenko, her Soviet youth inside the communist establishment and the currently hard human predicament. The remaining impartial Ukrainian media will entertain their readers with investigations on the subject of who was the person which made the Russian gas so costly for Ukraine?

Reality, however, is more contradictory and more complicated than these three

visions suggest. In order to understand the situation, one needs to shed some of the stereotypes – a thankless task in our age, when media became a subdivision of show business!

First, there was a good reason to arrest Tymoshenko. Her conduct (refusal to stand up and face the judge during the trial, constant bickering with the judge and some of the witnesses) was indeed contemptuous. Besides, testimonies of the former head of Naftogaz of Ukraine Oleg Dubina, as well as of his deputy Igor Didenko, revealed that there was at least some truth in the accusations, which made Tymoshenko responsible for the signing of the controversial contract with Russian Gazprom on January 19, 2009. “Directives of the Cabinet of Ministers” which she presented to the negotiators from Naftogaz on the day of the signing, proved to be of her own making. Just like in so many other cases, Tymoshenko exceeded her power in the heat of the moment. The result was bad for Ukraine – it still has to pay for a higher price for Russian gas than some West European countries.

Second, Tymoshenko was unmasked in court not only by witnesses traditionally considered to be Yankovich’s supporters, but also by some of the “orange” politicians from former president Yushchenko’s entourage. Former Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov

said in court that the price negotiated by Tymoshenko was exceedingly high and he was immediately verbally attacked by her for saying that. Tymoshenko’s conduct was changing depending on the attitude of the witnesses. When a testimony was good for her, she listened attentively and by her own hand gave the speaker a glass of water from her table. When the testimony was bad for her, she was indifferent, contemptuous or furious.

There was, however, one point where Tymoshenko was certainly right. When cornered by the testimonies of Dubina and Didenko who indeed exposed her real motive for signing the bad contract – the desire to defend the interests of the sponsors of her future presidential campaign of

2010 – Tymoshenko accused Yushchenko and his followers of doing the same. The testimonies of the former “gas czars” of Ukraine made it abundantly clear that Yushchenko’s 2009 claim that he “had nothing to do with these stinky gas interests” were not true. He had been connected to the controversial company Rosukrenergo, the shadowy intermediary between Gazprom and Naftogaz.

So, who is the bad pro-Russian traitor of Ukraine here, my dear Western journalists? Indeed, Tymoshenko’s total defeat and Yanukovich’s absolute victory would be bad for Russia, since it would put in question the acting contract, signed by Tymoshenko in 2009. So, Yanukovich is not the bad pro-Russian guy. Nor

Dmitry BABICH

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko


Opinion

is Tymoshenko the squeaky clean heroine of anti-Russian Maidan rallies of 2004. Nor is Yushchenko an honest Ukrainian patriot cornered by the evil populists and Moscow agents. Isn’t your world vision crumbling?

The truth is that the old simplified ideological formulas just don’t work in modern Ukraine. The Soviet communist ideology is dead for good, but an average Russian still views Ukraine as a fraternal (not just friendly) nation and is surprised

and saddened by an avalanche of anti-Russian statements and whole theories coming from Kiev and Lvov. This is not “imperialism,” it is a warm and natural human feeling, and its denunciations by Ukrainian nationalist media and Western journalists reflect THEIR OWN souls better than the soul of an average Russian.

The old Western bet on Ukrainian nationalism also proves to be short-sighted, to say the least. Racist, vengeful and hopelessly parochial, this nationalism in the vast majority of cases has nothing in common with the civilized and generous nationalism of Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Ghandi. We saw it during the ugly brawls of Ukrainian nationalists with World War II veterans in Lvov this May

and on many other occasions. We saw nationalisms’ ugly “business” side during this trial in Kiev.

Isn’t it time for the West (by which I mean the politicians of the USA, the EU and their mainstream press) to open their eyes to these nationalistic defaults and defects? Is it time to stop blaming everything on Russian “provocations?” If the West doesn’t do this, Ukraine will continue to disappoint and we shall see more nationalistic Prime Ministers who happen to be “not up to the task” and more “democratic experiments going wrong”. The truth is that the real task of these Prime Ministers was never what the West imagined them to be and the experiments envisioned by Ukrainian nationalists are rarely democratic.

Dmitry Babich is a political analyst. He contributed this story to his personal blog www.dmitrybabich.livejournal.com which runs on a weekly basis by www.russiaprofile.org

“Pro-Russian” president Viktor Yanukovich

Tymoshenko’s supporters


Authentic Post-Punk

Rostov’s group Motorama has been

talked about in Moscow for a couple of years.

Regional business trips are combined with

going to underground clubs full of beautiful

people – and the band performing is Motorama.

Often called leaders of the new musical wave producing authentic

post-punk, Motorama never follow the

trend blindly, so their monochrome sound

lacks any depression and is filled not only with reminiscences of the

past but contemporary irony as well.

How was this group born? What was the path that

led you here?M: The group was formed in 2006. There were three of us at the beginning, then after some changes to our sound there was only one vocalist left – Vlad. He decided to bring

in new people not outside musicians but his friends, so Maxim joined with his guitar, Ira – on bass and Sasha with a synthesizer. Later Roma joined us with drums and a snare.

You still live in Rostov-on-Don but you are one of

the most promising Russian

Ekaterina PETUKHOVA

The band consists of five people: Irina Marchenko (bass), Maxim Polivanov (guitar), Vladislav Parshin (vocal, guitar), Alexander Norets (piano) and Roman Belenkiy (drums)


bands. Now you are breaking a stereotype of music that is only being created in Moscow? Does it help or hinder you?M: There are lots of new bands in St. Petersburg and other cities. Difficulties arise only in extreme cases, for instance when you want to perform in «16 tonnes» if you were living in Vladivostok. It's not bad living in Rostov-on-Don, it's warm, we have cinemas and golf courses.

You have just played a concert at one of the

main musical festivals – EXIT. What was it like?M: We played under the hot sun, which was certainly not easy for our audience, with the Danube near-by. We performed a few new songs on the big stage which went down well at the festival.

In what way does an international audience

differ from a Russian one?M: People coming to the clubs and festivals differ not only between countries, but cities too. For instance, in St. Petersburg some guys manage to jump on stage and in Novi Sad they prefer to just stand and listen. As a rule there is always at least one guy who is singing with us and at least one who does not care about the performance at all.

Whose performance at the festival made the

deepest impression on you?M: Pulp performed as if they were 20 years younger, none of their old stuff or were they arrogant due to fame. We saw a very unusual performance by a Slavic group “Arkona”

- were very authentic and sincere guys.

You have been on a European tour. Where did

you like it best?M: In Amsterdam we performed in a big club with a lot of history ‘Paradiso’. In Berlin and in the Greek cities there were lots of people supporting us. Our Impressions were mixed and we tried to do something interesting every day: we took photos of fountains, bought Dijon mustard and had fun.

You sing in English. Why? Is it an environmental

story or a philological one?M: It just happened that our first songs were in English and then it was too late to change languages. However, all the Motorama members also perform in a band called “Utro” and Vlad sings in Russian with them.

Why is Russian music, except for the classics,

out of the global context and even lacks its own niche?M: There are no accurate explanations, we believe, perhaps for instance, music from Belgium or Switzerland, is not that popular either. It's just a question of certain people and their environment. Maybe we could create a modern musical story in Russia which would influence the youth, but it is difficult to forecast. Britain enjoys good music, Brazil is best at football; everyone has something to be proud of.

Who is an influence on your creative spirit?

Someone who you would like to emulate in quality of what you do?M: We look up to those bands that have nerve, this quality is not usually present amongst well-known or mainstream musicians, so they can afford to be individualistic.

How did your lives change when you

became a band?M: In fact it did not change much, we still go to work on working days and go out at weekends. The band allowed us to visit various beautiful cities – and that's a major plus.

What is "Russian mind" to you?

M: This notion is a kind of huge stereotype on being generous and achieving victory after so much suffering. It is most likely that there is no "Russian mind" at all.

Band’s album “One Moment”

11

Person

Return of the Spirit:The Church in Recent Russian Films

One of the more interesting features of Russian film in recent

years has been the opening up of history and the desire to re-evaluate the recent past. Of

course, this has been going since Gorbachev’s perestroika in the late 1980s, with films such as Evgeny Tsymbal’s Defence

Counsel Sedov (1988) and Alexander Proshkin’s The Cold

Summer of 1953 (1988) exploring the injustices of Stalinism. Since

the turn of the century other films have gone further back in time to rehabilitate the Tsarist period, such as Gleb Panfilov’s The Romanovs (2000), Vitalii

Mel’nikov’s Poor Poor Pavel (2003) and even Alexander Sokurov’s

Russian Ark (2003), which can be viewed as a celebration of the

cultural diversity that blossomed under the Romanovs.

In more recent years Russian film-makers have turned their attention to another area of Russian life neglected during

Soviet times, the Orthodox Church. Of course, Soviet film-goers were given surreptitious insights into the positive influences the Orthodox Church and the Christian religion could have on people in films such as Andrei Tarkovskii’s Andrei Rublev (1965), or in adaptations of literary classics, such as Mikhail Shveitser’s Resurrection (1960-62), which followed Lev Tolstoy’s novel closely, particularly with its long and detailed scene of an Easter church service.

What is of particular note in recent films is the exploration of the role of the Orthodox Church not in Russian society today, but back in Soviet times. Vladimir Khotinenko’s The Priest (2010) is set during the German occupation of Western Russia from Pskov to Leningrad, and shows how the Nazis and the Orthodox Church worked together to restore churches and re-establish the Orthodox service as a barrier against atheistic Communism. Although the film was positively received by Patriarch Kirill, Partriarch of All Russia since 2009, the central dilemma of collaboration with the Nazis remains unresolved. Indeed, the German soldiers in the film are not inherently evil, they are even allowed a voice, unlike in most Russian war films, and they are certainly not as menacing and ruthless as the NKVD who entered these territories once the Germans had retreated.

Pavel Lungin’s The Island (2006) also begins during the War, when a young Russian sailor is forced

to shoot his commanding officer by the Germans. He subsequently spends the rest of life in a monastery trying to expiate his sin, and most of the film is then set in the 1970s when as Father Anatolii he lives a life of great ascetic piety, castigating his fellow priests for any material self-indulgence. Father Anatolii is so morally pure that he can actually perform miracles, such as helping a crippled boy to walk, and it is this ability that brings a high-ranking Admiral to him for help. The Admiral’s daughter is beset by inner demons following the death of her husband and Father Anatolii duly

David GILLESPIE

Vladimir Khotinenko’s The Priest (2010)


Culture

Alexander Proshkin’s The Miracle (2009)

performs an exorcism, which brings her back to reality. It then transpires that the Admiral is the officer shot by Anatolii three decades previously, but he survived, another seeming miracle. Anatolii passes through various levels of piety and by the end of the film is confirmed within the most ascetic and strictest monastic rule in the Orthodox Church.

It should be added that the role of Father Anatolii is played with utmost conviction by Lungin’s long-time collaborator Petr Mamonov, and the viewer never doubts the authenticity of Father Anatolii’s life and the strength of his beliefs. It is a stunning performance, Mamonov creating the impression that he is not so much acting as actually living the part.

The inability of an atheistic state to confront or conceptualize the concept

of wonder or the possibility of a miracle is the subject of Alexander Proshkin’s The Miracle (2009), set in the Samara region in 1956 and apparently based on a real event. In the course of a party, young Tanya Skrypnikova picks up an icon of Nikolai the Miracle Worker and begins to dance with it, as if it were a young man. Then she suddenly freezes on the spot, clutching the icon and remains in that pose for days then weeks. Nobody can bring her back to consciousness, nor can anyone prise the icon from her grip. As local people become fearful and superstitious, Nikita Khrushchev pays a brief visit (a wonderful comic performance from Alexander Potapov) and resolves

the problem. The young son of a priest is found, pre-pubescent and innocent of sin, he very easily pulls the icon away and Tanya opens her eyes.

Tanya’s troubles are only just starting, however, as the local authorities are fearful of any talk of a ‘miracle’ or acts that cannot be explained rationally, in terms of atheistic materialism. She is arrested and imprisoned, beaten up and almost raped, then finally confined to a psychiatric hospital, where the film leaves her. The Soviet state thus not only reveals it cannot deal with the inexplicable, but is also ruthlessly determined to protect the façade of its own infallibility.

These recent films demonstrate that film-makers are exploring the role of faith, religion and the Orthodox Church in recent Soviet society, both as a buttress against official atheism, but also as a repository of spirituality that cannot be explained away in purely logical, materialistic terms. They also prove that one thing has not disappeared – the Russian soul, misunderstood or not understood at all by foreigners, but very much a valuable, integral part of the Russian national identity.

Pavel Lungin’s The Island (2006)


Culture

Healthcare

In this third part of my series on national

comparisons between Britain, Russia, and the US, I look at the

social institutions and infrastructure that plays

such a big role in our everyday lives. Why is

Russia’s life expectancy ten years lower than in

the US?

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) – free at the point of service – is, in my opinion, the best healthcare system of the three countries. Though waiting times were a big problem a decade ago, New Labour threw a lot of money at the NHS and nowadays waiting times are much shorter (though the system may well suffer now that the current government wants to “reform” it by cutting staff ). Those who can afford it are free to use private healthcare providers or private insurance. The UK spends 8%

of GDP on healthcare, and provides objectively better healthcare outcomes than the US system whose spend represents 16% of its GDP.

That said, the American system is better at some things: its medical technologies are the most advanced in the world and its hospitals are better equipped, and if you can pay for it – or if your insurance covers it – then you chances of surviving many forms of degenerative diseases are substantially higher than if you’re treated by the NHS. Also, the emergency service is free; even if you’re an undocumented immigrant and have a heart attack, you will be treated at the EM ward and get a triple bypass. However, if you’re suffering from a wasting disease and aren’t insured, you are screwed. Also very problematic are minor, but painful and very inconvenient problems, such as a chipped tooth. What you could fix in Russia for a $50 fee, or get for free after several weeks of waiting from the NHS, may set you back, a cool $500 in the US. Speaking of dentistry… the Brits have a reputation for very bad teeth. But this is an outdated stereotype.

In Russia, compulsory medical insurance is paid out by companies, while treatment for indigents is provided by the state. However, with spending on healthcare a meagre 4% of GDP, and many facilities in lack of repair and staffed by poorly trained specialists, treatment of chronic diseases in Russia

remains fairly primitive in comparison with the US or the UK. It is wise to pay a “gift” to the nurses to ensure that you or someone you care about gets good treatment during a hospital stay; though it’s their job, their salaries are still very low, and such things are appreciated. This also applies to doctors. Call it corruption, call it a legacy of communism, or call it social support for healthcare workers, but it’s expected – especially from richer people – and refraining from it can make your stay a more unpleasant and dangerous one.

Life expectancy in Russia is 69 years, far lower than 78 years in the US or 80 years in the UK, but it is primarily not because of poor healthcare – Ingushetia, one of Russia’s poorest regions, but a “dry” Muslim republic, has a life

expectancy of 78 years – but because of the alcohol and smoking epidemic (see below). The lowest life expectancies are in particularly run-down regions, especially those with big non-Russian (and non-Muslim!) minorities, as well as Siberia and the Far East; the highest life expectancies are in the Muslim Caucasus, the southern regions and Moscow. In the UK, life expectancy is highest in the south, especially around London and lowest in Glasgow at 73 years (not surprisingly, Glaswegians are also the most alcohol prone in the UK). In the US, the highest life expectancies are on the east coast and the west coast (including California), at around 81 years; the lowest, at 75 years, are in the South, the epicentre of America’s obesity crisis.

Anatoly KARLIN


National Comparisons

After a great deal of investment in recent years, the infant mortality rate has fallen to 7 in 1000 live births in Russia, which is the same as in the US, but higher than the UK’s 5 in 1000. To deal with the post-Soviet fertility crisis – the number of expected births per Russian woman dropped from a replacement level rate of 1.9-2.1 during the 1980's to a nadir of 1.12 in 2000 – the government implemented pro-natality measures in 2007 that gave each woman a $10,000 payment for a second child. Since then, the fertility rate rose from 1.3 children per woman in the mid-2000's, to 1.6 by 2010.

The UK’s fertility rate was 1.9 and the US fertility rate was 2.1 in 2008. Generally speaking, families of two children are the norm in both countries, while families with three or four children are also fairly common; in contrast, whilst the vast majority of Russian woman do have children, the typical family size is one or two children, with more being rare outside the Muslim

Caucasus (where the fertility rate is about 2 children per woman). There are significant regional differences in all these countries. In the US, fertility rates are lowest in the highly urban North East, followed by the West Coast and industrial Mid-West; they are highest in the South and central states; Utah, with its Mormon population, is a very high outlier. In Russia, fertility rates are higher in rural areas, and to the east of the country and amongst some traditionally Buddhist peoples of Siberia and in the Muslim south; the biggest single outlier is Chechnya.

Russia’s alcohol epidemic has no parallels outside the former Soviet Union (Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states suffer from similar problems), and is the main reason why life expectancy lags nearly a decade behind the US and the UK. According to research, something like 25% of Russian deaths, both directly and indirectly, are caused by alcohol consumption. It is not unusual for the heavy drinkers

to resort to a multi-day vodka binge with like-minded friends, called a zapoi, and then go back to work and stay dry for a few weeks or months on end; and this occurs amongst men of all ages.

This high mortality rate is especially concentrated amongst middle-aged men. However for young people,

beer is displacing vodka, lessening the disparity relative to the US and Britain in recent years; while among old people, death rates are beginning to converge with Western ones, largely because the old Russians are typically those who rarely or never binged on hard spirits in the first place.

While Britain also has something of a binge drinking problem, it does not cause major health impacts on the population as a whole because most of it happens just one night a week, amongst people in their late teens and twenties with robust constitutions.

Many rural Russians even brew their own moonshine (samogon) – a relic of Gorbachev’s failed attempts at prohibition – which can be surprisingly good and sometimes even better than the bottled stuff. It’s certainly much better than DIY booze. Once upon a time when the vodka ended, a host didn’t want to end the party / binge,

and mixed up a brew of methylated spirits with water and slices of lemon. By that point everyone was probably too drunk to notice and certainly too drunk to care. The morning after consequences were unpleasant to say the least!

Alcohol prices are very low in Russia (however, those days are coming to an end. Taxes on hard spirits are to be quadrupled through to 2015). Last time I checked, you could buy a bottle of vodka for $3 and a two litre plastic bottle of beer for less than $2. In contrast, a bottle of vodka costs $15-20 in the US and a six-pack of beer is perhaps $8. However, wine can be pretty cheap. While good stuff costs $15+, the cheapest bottles can be had for $3; while a five litre Franzia pack costs $12.

Smoking is far more popular in Russia than in the UK or the US. Only 20-25% of people smoke in the US and the UK; in fact, smokers are widely considered to be losers. In contrast, upwards of 60% of Russian men and about 30% of Russian women smoke. The share of the smoking population peaked from the early 1990's (when the Russian tobacco market was liberalized) to the mid-2000's. They have now started falling under the pressure of a state propaganda campaign against smoking (anti-smoking initiatives began in the West almost three decades ago) and rising tobacco taxes. Nonetheless, cigarettes remain very cheap. Whereas a pack costs $5-8 in the US and the UK, you could buy a pack for just $1 in Russia as late as 2008. But as with vodka, the days of cheap cigarettes are now numbered.


National Comparisons

September in the Russian HistorySeptember 6, 1991: Leningrad is renamed St. Petersburg.

Since Peter the Great forged St. Petersburg from the swamps of the Neva River in 1703, it has witnessed transformation and revolution. Nevertheless, the city survives with its original name, albeit twice changed. In 1914, it was renamed Petrograd in

response to claims that “Petersburg” was too Germanic. The Bolsheviks then changed the name to Leningrad after Lenin’s death in 1924. But on September 6, 1991, as the Soviet Union was collapsing, the city’s original name was restored.

September 21, 1993: Russian Constitutional Crisis

On September 21, 1993, Boris Yeltsin dissolved the Russian Parliament in order to curtail contention against his consolidation of power and economic initiatives. The move, contravening the then-functioning constitution, was rejected by the legislature, which then voted to impeach Yeltsin immediately. The army remained loyal to Yeltsin and besieged the representatives inside the White House. The Russian representatives appointed Alexander Rutskoy as the acting president of Russia, and he immediately denounced Yeltsin’s move as a step toward a coup d’etat. Fighting broke out in the streets, some citing it as the bloodiest fighting in Moscow since the October Revolution of 1917. “Russia needs order,” Yeltsin stated in the aftermath, while introducing his new draft of the constitution. The constitution, which consolidated sweeping executive power and disenfranchised the legislature, was passed in a referendum on December 12.

September 23, 1983: Stanislav Petrov saves the world.

When Russian Air Force Lieutenant Stanislav Petrov was on duty at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow on Friday night, September 23, he had no clue that in a few hours he would save the world. When his computer reported an intercontinental ballistic missile attack from the United States, he quite literally had seconds to make a decision. He reasoned that an actual nuclear attack by the U.S. would certainly have required hundreds of missiles to disable Soviet defenses, but the computer reported only five. Furthermore, he knew that the satellite system’s reliability had already been questioned in the past. Luckily for us, he decided not to push the red button.

September 14, 1812: Napoleon’s army enters a deserted Moscow.

Much to Napoleon’s dismay, there was no Russian delegation that rolled out the red carpet at the gates of Moscow. Instead, he was met with an empty city — devoid of people, supplies, and red carpets. As the Grande Armée (some 650,000 men) began to pillage the city, fires began to break out. In the end, over three-quarters of its buildings burned to the ground. Without proper food or shelter, the Grande Armée was forced to return home. Napoleon began his retreat in the middle of October, with the Russian winter about to set in. After a less-than-pleasant journey home, only 27,000 men remained in the now not-so-Grande Armée. Desertion, suicide, starvation, and hypothermia were the main culprits.

September 15, 1771: Plague panic causes riot on Red Square. By the spring of 1771, Moscow was in the grips of a plague epidemic. Panicked

city officials enforced quarantines, closed public baths, and ordered the destruction of contaminated private property. Moscow’s economy virtually came to a halt — no food, no clean water, no work. By September the streets were filled with torrents of angry, destitute citizens. On September 15, a crowd demanding a change in the city’s policies entered Red Square, broke into the Kremlin and destroyed the Chudov

Monastery. Following the creation of a commission to pacify the rioters, the burning of private property ceased, and citizens were provided with work and food. It was the Russian winter, however, that finally subdued the epidemic and freed the city from the grip of the riots.

September 5, 1819: Gottlieb von Bellingshausen sets sail to circumnavigate the world.

Wait, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen was he a Russian? Verily, he was an Estonian, but he

sailed under the Russian flag. And while doing so, he became the first man to set eyes on the Antarctic

mainland. In fact, he was lucky to be the first – it is said that Captain Cook came within 75 miles of the coast but

had to turn back because of ice. Von Bellingshausen’s discovery on January 27, 1820, laid the foundation for

Russian influence in Antarctica to this day.

Russia in Detail

Famous Russians born in September

Dmitry Medvedev Russian President 14 September 1965

Dmitry Medvedev is the third and current President of the Russian Federation. Widely regarded as more liberal than his predecessor Vladimir Putin, Medvedev's top agenda as President has been a wide-ranging modernization programme, aiming at modernizing Russia's economy and society, and lessening the country's reliance on oil and gas. During Medvedev's tenure, Russia emerged victorious in the 2008 South Ossetia war and recovered from the late-2000s recession. Recognising corruption as one of Russia's most severe problems, Medvedev has launched an anti-corruption campaign and initiated substantial law enforcement reform. In foreign policy, his main achievements include the signing of the New START treaty, a "reset" of the Russian – United States relations, as well as increasing Russia's cooperation with the BRICS-countries.

Mikhail Ostrogradsky Mathematician 24 September 1801 (died 1 January 1862)

Mikhail Ostrogradsky was a Ukrainian/Russian mathematician, mechanician and physicist. He is considered to be a disciple of Leonhard Euler and one of the leading mathematicians of Imperial Russia. He worked mainly in the mathematical fields of calculus of variations, integration of algebraic functions, number theory, algebra, geometry, probability theory and in the fields of mathematical physics and classical mechanics. In the latter his most important work includes researches of the motion of an elastic body and the development of methods for integration of the equations of dynamics.

Leo Tolstoy Writer 9 September 1828 (died 20 November 1910)

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna

Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

Mikhail Kutuzov Army Commander 16 September 1745 (died 28April 1813)

Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (usually shortened to Mikhail Kutuzov) was the Russian Field Marshal who defeated Napoleon's Grande Armee during France's invasion of Russia in 1812, the decisive turning point of the Napoleonic Wars.

Joseph Kobzon Singer 11 September 1937

Joseph Kobzon is a Soviet singer, known for his crooner style. Considering Kobzon's career, personality, spirit and singing style, many say that he is Russia's answer to U.S. crooner, Frank Sinatra. The parallels between the two

legends of the entertainment world are uncanny, Kobzon has been branded with the nickname "Russia's Frank Sinatra".

Irina Rodnina Figure Skater 12 September 1949

Irina Rodnina is one of the most successful figure skaters ever and the only pair skater to win 10 successive World Championships (1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals (1972, 1976, 1980). She initially competed with Alexei Ulanov and later teamed up with Alexander Zaitsev. She is the first pair skater to win the Olympic title with different partners, followed only by Artur Dmitriev.


Russia in Detail


Photo blog

"A" is for Autumn


Photo blog

The same difficulty is to follow fashion in Russia where it is +40C in summer

and -40C in winter. I was born in a city where the weather is like this, so the only persistent fashion trend is to multi-layer clothing – it just keeps you warm. Foreigners are impressed in Russia at the sight of girls wearing jeans and short jackets which hardly cover their backs. I think these characters’ photos should be used for Russian image-building. If you watch them intently and peacefully you come to the conclusion that Russia could be truly invincible. But undoubtedly, it is always more agreeable to look at the models. And this is where we excel. Models are a major export commodity, right after oil! There are more than 20,000 Russian girls in Paris who went there to start a modeling career. Their ambitions are not biased – the profession of a model was once created by Russian emigrants from aristocratic

families who fled to Europe from the Russian revolution. Prince’s daughters, their wives, royal family members showed new dresses, suits and coats to clients of the fashion houses. Russian models were incredibly popular. Chanel, for instance, used to work exclusively with her “Russian princesses”, that is what she called them. In fact knowing several foreign managers and possessing perfect manners they were ideal sales managers. But those times have long gone and Russian models are again in demand with the true boom starting at the beginning of the 2000s when the three Vs started sparkling on the runways – Volodina, Vialitsina and, of course, Vodyanova. It would be just to say that in the 1990s a set of Russian models conquered the world, in a way laying a path to Russia’s popularity in the industry but these three girls marked a new stage. They came to the industry not through competitions but right “from

the streets”, they were seen, noticed – and here they are on the runway, married to a lord or a popular band’s soloist. Tall and high-cheek boned they offer a variety of appearances, with the Russian nation having lots of mixed blood – all this has procured lots of runway contracts for Russian models, both girls and guys, and given jobs to many modeling agencies

Moscow is sweating from a 40C heatwave

and it is I confess pretty difficult to think globally and deeply about world

fashion's fate in this heat.

Ekaterina PETUKHOVA

Beauty in the Heart

20

Fashion

in Russia attracting girls blinded by the “magnificent dream” of a better life. Nobody cares that most agencies are full of deception and the glamorous side of modeling hides endless rented flats, incessant castings and money hard earned. Whatever people might say, we can be proud of them. Russian models proved Russia has young and beautiful faces, human and

not round and not wearing those crimson jackets again! Our main pride is certainly Natalia Vodyanova – a fragile mother of three wonderful children engaged in multiple charity works. Children’s playgrounds have been built all over Russia paid out of money from her charitable fund. That is it – Russian beauty. Not just looks, but also a heart.

Alexey Galetsky moved to the USA some years ago with no plans to become a model. Today this Russian guy is the face for I-D, Dazed&Confused and Interview and one of the most beloved models of photographer Ryan McGinley. We found out how his life changed. Legendary Hedi Sliman thinks that he is one of the best new faces in the business.

How did you become a model?

AG: I got scouted at night in Los Angeles while walking to the grocery store. One photographer stopped me and gave me his card to do a test shoot. After that he did a couple more shoots and decided to actually give it a try because I wasn't into this whole modeling thing before. After meeting and shooting with Ryan McGinley I decided to move to New York City. Now I am represented by DNA model management.

So, working abroad do you notice any special

treatment towards Russian models? Any prejudices or discrimination?AG: People at the casting usually are not surprised by Russian models. No discrimination at all because

most of the models come from all over the world.

What are you doing now?

AG: Now it's pretty slow in modeling. August is usually the slowest month. Not much going on. Everyone is taking a vacation and getting ready for the NY Fashion Week in September. I'm going to LA for a little vacation!

What is your most interesting project up till now?

AG: The most interesting and extreme project was going on a road trip with a bunch of people and photographer Ryan McGinley. They picked me up in San Francisco and we were riding in a bus towards New York shooting in caves and other crazy places for his project. Also there were a lot of other cool photo shoots for magazines like Interview, Dazed and Confused, I-D.


Fashion

And How Was It For You....?Russian Food In England

Continues his look at Russians

in LondonMy two friends are arriving

at London Heathrow. They have never been to England before and they have landed at Terminal One, an experience you would not wish on anyone. But I guess planes have to land somewhere, and all the other “London Airports” are nearer to Scotland than central London – apart from that small one in Canary Wharf, that feels like you are landing in someone elses back garden. Parking

my car in the “Short Stay” car park will probably cost me more than England’s national debt! But I suppose I shouldn’t complain. What are friends for if you don’t have to put yourself out every now and then? Actually that’s a good point… I digress…

So, here they are, and I can see them through the Arrivals doors. At Termnal 1, they have those sliding automatic doors that go “swish” and allow people out in ones and twos, as if in a cloud of dry ice; like they have landed from Star Trek. But my friends have not

come through yet. I can still see them in the distance. They are standing there gasping at the mountain of boxes of French Champagne, that sit there in the Arrivals Duty Free. OMG! Now I don’t want to insult the good people of Chisinau, but it is a fact of life that champagne from Moldova (which is what you get in suburban Russia) does not quite cut it! I can see my colleagues buying something with an orange label and they pay in cash.

It gets worse, after the hugs of welcome, I can see they have two enormous suitcases. I am expecting big suitcases, because no woman ever travels light, anywhere! It just doesn’t compute. But I am wrong, the cases are not for clothes. When we finally arrive at their hotel – one of the cases is full … of Russian food. Fish, stuff that I can’t pronounce; some rather strange black bread and something with Chai in the title. So we settle down, overlooking Russell Square with its ornate little green quintessentially “English” garden – and instead of sampling the high tea of English cream and chocolate cake, we settle into a little picnic of something that has come from Kazan.

You need to take a moment to reflect on all this, because frankly, I am confused.

If you believe the Media, we live in a world of shrinking national identity. Where the

Richard BLOSS

22

Blog

global currency is not the dollar, or the euro, - but the Big Mac! How many “Big Mac’s does it take to buy a VW Golf? Whole economies and studies are based around this consumer fact of life. We are all brand-aware in our Global Society, and when Londoners go out for dinner, they go to a Chinese restaurant.

Food is supposed to be the great “equality”, wherever we are in the world, we can just pop around the corner and have a pizza.

Except that this misses the point, because it is not what we eat at home that defines us – it is what we eat when we are somewhere else. It explains why the Expat Brits living in Los Angeles, have a weekly airfreight order with Harrods, for things like marmalade and baked beans! Or why I, whenever I visit Ukraine, I have my English Breakfast in the morning? They do a great one at the Irish Bar near my flat. I never do this at home, for heavens’ sake.

It is as if I am hanging on to something that I can relate to, in a world where I “should” feel at home - but am not at home.

But even this gets it wrong; because the fact is, according to Google – there are only seven recognised Russian restaurants in London. By comparison, there are 5000 Indian restaurants. Figure it out for yourself. On the one hand, Russians in London are not here to eat Russian - they are in London to enjoy London.

But they are also holding on to their national identity, meeting and eating in places where they feel at home.

Boris, the owner at the leading Russian food shop in London, Kalinka, (www.kalinkafood.co.uk) - in Queensgate, told me:

“Sure, we are a meeting point for Russian speaking people. But (he adds…) we get people from everywhere, because they like our quality, and we source from Lithuania,

Latvia, Poland, Germany, and even England”. What it comes down to is, eating Russian in London is an acquired taste. The people who eat “Russian” in London – are those people who actually want to eat Russian.

So… in conclusion, what DO Russian people in London choose to eat? Frankly, I don’t have a clue. I am no further forward than I was at the beginning of this article. But does it matter? I have decided to have yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. If you want to eat Pelmeni, that’s ok with me too…

My two friends have just called, “Is there a champagne bar anywhere close?”

XXX


On the Hills of GeorgiaMount Kazbek, seaside

Adjara, Borjomi waters and Tbilissi pleasures

- these places compose part of a widespread fondness for Georgia by Russians. For many centuries Russia and Georgia have had a love/hate relationships, but today unfortunately it seems that two the countries have settled for “a state of war”.

Three friends of mine - French, Russian, Austrian and I decided to take a trip across modern Georgia this summer and see what’s going on there. After we arrived at the capital Tbilissi, we took a cab and headed for the centre. It was only 9pm, but it was already dark in the city. The city itself is surprisingly beautiful. It is built on hills and is separated into two halves by a deep and rapidly streaming river. Each hill is topped by an ancient and magnifi cent church or castle. There are no visible scars of crazy Soviet urbanism in the centre, except for some very unusual buildings such as the Wedding Palace which is now a private property, or the former Ministry of Roads.

The most exciting feeling about Tbilissi was in seeing its desire for modernization. The new bridges; high-tech dancing fountains; a huge marble cathedral; the

presidential palace looks like the Reichstag; promenades and high-quality roads. The city is struggling hard with its lascivious oriental past to become the vibrant capital of the 21st century. It is interesting to know that the main aim of this modernization is to get rid of any Russian infl uence.

Whilst we were in the capital, we visited the Museum of Soviet Occupation, where we

saw deeply moving evidence of Stalin’s purges in the 1930s that wiped out Georgian professors; artists; politicians and intended to destroy the soul of the country that has one of the oldest national identities in the world. In 2006 Vladimir Putin complained to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that there was a lack of detail in the contents of this Museum, but Saakashvili suggested that Joseph Stalin was Georgian and there should be a Museum of Georgian Occupation in Moscow! The discussion did not go any

further.It is diffi cult to understand

Georgia, because this country is totally unpredictable and does not have any logic. Nevertheless my friends and I decided to try.

Next day after visiting Tbilissi, we took the road to Batumi as we heard that Enrique Iglesias was giving an outdoor performance there for the fi rst time. On our way, we stopped in the city of Gori, where Joseph Stalin was born. We expected to fi nd another museum dedicated to the war, but instead we ended up at Stalin’s Museum. At the entrance, an elderly woman, dressed in strict uniform, was selling poems written by Joseph Stalin during his school years. They turned out to be cute and kind (sic). Every room inside the museum seems to glorify the dictator. We found a lot of historical documents and Stalin's death mask, which was sent to Gori from the Moscow Red Square. Than

our guide led us to Stalin’s private railway carriage used by him during the war, where we could see his private rooms and even his samovar. My Austrian friend, a fashionable blonde woman, noticed that the fl oor of Stalin’s bedroom

Roman KHONSARI

A number of well-known Russian writers’ work had links with the Caucasus at some point in their lives. Alexander Pushkin wrote

heartbreaking poems about Georgia, probably

being inspired by the beauty of a local woman:

“On hills of Georgia lies the covering of night; Aragva

streams in front of me. Such sadness and such ease; my melancholy's light, My melancholy's full of thee.” Alexander

Griboedov tragically loved a Georgian princess

who died of sorrow after her beloved was murdered in Teheran.

Osip Mandelstam, despite his tortured character, ironically

found the recreation of his soul in this region.

Mikhail Lermontov was shot in a duel at the

North Caucasian city of Pyatigorsk at the age of 26.

Stalin’s Museum in Gori

Khinkali

24

CIS Travel Guid

was speckled with hollows left by his high-heels. The guide did not comment on this but gave us a smile.

We left Gori without having understood Georgia any better and missed Enrique’s concert in Batumi because of the bad roads. When we finally reached the coast that night, the impression was the same as Tbilissi: a new Las Vegas was evolving. Huge 5-star hotels; fancy restaurants; clubs on the beach; designer’s shops and even the local service to rent bikes, like the Boris bikes in London, Batumi is carefully styled by the central government.

Why is there so much investment here? Georgia is a patchwork of small republics, with their own past, their own local rulers and sometimes their own language. Both Abkhazia and Ossetia have now become independent from Tbilissi. Batumi was previously one of those more or less independent republics. Adjara, was led by the powerful Aslan Abashidze, who ruled the region with a heavy hand for 13 years, but after pressure from Saakashvili, Abashidze had to flee to Moscow in 2004 and Adjara

returned to central control. As we know, Saakashvili was not as good a tactician when it came to regaining influence over Ossetia, so the current status of both Ossetia and Abkhazia makes the political situation in Georgia even more complicated to understand. Could you imagine if English people weren’t allowed into Scotland? Or French people into Corsica?

We went away from the coast through the Batumi Botanical Gardens, which are probably one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, and decided to head to the mountains, away from the politics!

One thing we didn’t miss at any stage of our trip was Georgian food. Alexandre Dumas described Georgian cuisine in quite a harsh way: “A Georgian dinner is a meal where you basically eat anything available. Salads without dressing, chives, burnet, tarragon and radish. But the liquid part of the meal is another story”. We did not totally agree with Dumas on this point as we enjoyed the national dishes like khinkalis, sashliks and tried 300 variants

of khatchapuri. But drinking is a much more important part of the story here. As the local drink tchatcha is 70 degrees proof, our story was generally quite short!

Despite the tchatcha effect and a further stop at the Borjomi resort for a detox, we finally reached our final destination, the small town Kazbegi. Facing the breathtakingly beautiful Mount Kazbek, we walked into the tiny monastery where lonely monks were repeatedly singing the same anthems and performing an ancestral Christian rite, without any attention given to the external world. They probably ignored us as they would have done

the Turks; Persians and the Russians over the previous centuries, and they continued their singing in the same eternal, unfailing way.

During our trip to the Caucasus we experienced probably the same feelings as Pushkin and Lermontov did centuries ago. I think there are a few places in the world where our culture was born. It is Rome, Athens, the Balkans and later Paris and New-York. Nevertheless, there is no better place than the Caucasus for Europeans to feel the mix of East and West in everyday life.

Batumi Botanical Gardens

The Wedding Palace in Tbilissi

Stalin’s Museum in Gori

Mount Kazbek


70th Anniversary of WWII Russian Arctic ConvoysTo mark the 70th

anniversary of the WWII Russian Arctic Convoys, a

Highland community on the West Coast of Scotland hosted a special ceremony to honour those who battled through one of the most prolonged and bitter campaigns of the war. The event was held in the presence of HRH Prince Mi chael of Kent. Joining Prince Michael at the Memorial Service was the Consul-General of the Russian Federation, Sergey Krutikov; Deputy Chief of Mission with the Norwegian Embassy, Olav Myklebost; Lord-Lieutenant Mrs Janet Bowen; over fifteen Veterans; local residents and schoolchildren. Against strong winds and rain, local clergy and veterans led the service, supported by a lone bugler and piper – giving the

event both poignancy and tremendous warmth.

The Anglian Sovereign Coast Guard tug provided a backdrop spraying their water cannons and the Coast Guard helicopter did a flypast at the end of the service. The local 832 Squadron of the ATC ensured that the large number of visitors and vehicles were well coordinated, and everyone returned to Poolewe Village Hall for much welcomed refreshments, served by the St Maelrubhas volunteers. There, Prince Michael met and chatted to local schoolchildren, local residents, council representatives, and many representatives of the Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy and the British Legion.

Code-named “Operation Dervish”, the legendary Arctic Convoys of World War II carried

vital supplies to the northern Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel from September 1941 until December 1944. In September 1942 the convoy of merchant ships accompanied by Royal Naval protection vessels assembled at Loch Ewe in Wester Ross. This base was classified a `safer option’ as it had a deep water north facing inlet tucked away in a remote location far from the main naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. Loch Ewe continued to be used for marshalling convoys of vital supplies for the Russian allies for the duration of the war. During the campaign over 3,000 seamen perished in the Arctic waters. On a remote hillside spot overlooking the mouth of Loch Ewe a memorial has been erected to commemorate those who have lost their lives.

HRH Prince Michael of Kent salutes after laying a wreath

A veteran beside the memorial stone

Event Diary

Mr Jock Dempster lays a wreath at the stone

Lord Lieutenant Mrs Janet Bowen introduces Prince Michael to the Russian Arctic Convoy Club Chairman Mr Jock Dempster

HRH Prince Michael of Kent addresses veterans and guests during the service

Mr Jock Dempster at the memorial stone overlooking Loch Ewe

Anna Reid (8) and her sister Elizabeth (11) from Nairn are pictured after the service with Prince Michael, Mr Jock Dempster, Russian Arctic Convoy Club Chairman and Consul General of the Russian Federation, MrSergey Krutikov

Photographer: Ewen WEATHERSPOON


10th Anniversary of the

"New Wave" has already become a very signifi cant annual

international festival for young pop singers, not only from Russia and Latvia, but also from CIS and other countries. The event is held

every year in the small Latvian town of Jurmala.

In 2011 the festival of young talents celebrated its 10th anniversary. This year’s celebration was remarkable for

the gathering on stage of many famous showbiz superstars, as well as by beating all records for oligarchs’ attendance! In the VIP-areas of the concert hall "Dzintari" there could be seen more billionaires per square metre, whose total expenditure during the event exceeded the budget of Latvia.

Some VIP guests preferred to sit in the fi rst 10 rows of the stalls, others sat at the VIP tables. Long before the festival, all the VIP tickets in the stalls and at the tables were sold out. Offi cially, the table package for 6 days for 10 people cost around

$40,000. Co-owner of "RESO-Garantia" Nikolai Sarkisov did not buy tickets in advance, paid $100,000. As a result he got the best table that was the most favoured by celebrities.

This year the event was attended by Aleksandr Shenkman and his family, who sat in the fi rst row. Also there was the billionaire from Riga, Aleksandr Lavent with his daughter; Igor Malyshkov, President of the Moscow City Golf Club with his family; Aleksandr Atanesyan fi lm director, Julia Glemeyda and Maria Laskala.

Many of the oligarchs watched the concert from the VIP-boxes. Among those who regularly showed up in "Dzintari" was the co-owner of oil company "TNK-BP," Michael Friedman; one of the founders of “Wimm- Bill-Dann” David Yakobashvili; President of the investment holding Finstar Oleg Boyko; wife of the Russian aluminum king Oleg Deripaska, Polina Deripaska. Other attendees included the co -owner of "RESO-Garantia" Nikolai Sarkisov; Alexander Gafi n; Vladimir Kozhin; Patojo Shodiyev; Valentin Bukhtoyarov; Alimzhan Ibragimov, coal king Andrew Bokarev; Alexander Mashkevich; Anzori Aksentev;

Yuri Kononchuk; Alexander Abramov; General Director of

“Gorby 80” Dmitriy Feldman; Valentin Yudashkin and his wife Marina; the Russian Ambassador to Latvia Vladimir Veshnyakov; Alexander and Ida

Dostman; Rymond Elksne and many others.

Private Receptions Many of the offi cial after show

parties were held in Riga, but the main VIP and private parties were in Jurmala. The number of private events, accompanying

"New Wave" can only be compared with ones in LA, St. Tropez or Monaco.

On 28th July, one of the richest people in Latvia, Leonid Esterkin, hosted Russian Forbes magazine private reception for the "gold hundred" billionaires at his villa, on the beach of Lielupe. His villa is one of the most expensive properties in Latvia. Among the Forbes

party guests were the same faces from the VIP seats in the concert hall. Those who were not personally invited were turned back at the villa entrance.

The next day VIP guests were invited to the traditional Birthday celebration of the "New Wave" co-owner Igor Krutoy at

10th Anniversary of the Music Festival “New Wave”.

Alina BLINOVA

Half of the tables in VIP area for next year 2012 festival are already sold. Most of the small boutique hotels like Light House, Amber Spa, T&B are also fully booked for next year New Wave 2012.

Raimonds Pauls, Igor Krutoy with his wife and daughter

Emmanuil Vitorgan (Actor), Igor Malyshkov

(president of the Moscow City Golf Club)

daughter; Igor Malyshkov,

Half of

daughter; Igor Malyshkov,

Half of

Aleksandr Lavent with his daughter


Event Diary

La Riva restaurant. The evening included a performance by Russian singer Nikolay Baskov. At midnight, “Happy Birthday” was sang by the Russian celebrities such as Nikolay Baskov, Filipp Kirkorov, Ani Lorak, Sergei Lazarev, Leroux, and Lera Kudryavtseva. There was no security or “face control” at the entrance and those who wanted to say “Happy Birthday!” to Igor got the chance. As a result, of his welcoming hospitality, there were twice as many guests then he expected.

The day after Igor’s birthday, most of the guests stayed in Jurmala and joined the 50th Birthday celebrations of Aleksand Shenkman, the chairman of the “New Wave” at the same La Riva restaurant. Most of his family were with him that evening: his sons,

daughter, wife, mother and many other relatives who came specially for this day from around the world. In the middle of the evening the Russian Ambassador to Latvia Mr. Veshnyakov announced that President Medvedev had awarded Mr. Shenkman the «Order of Peoples' Friendship».

The last VIP after festival party was the most relaxed evening as everyone had got to know one another. Among the guests were Timati and his spouse Mila Volchek, who hadn’t shown up

before. Everyone refl ected on how quickly the past six days had gone by.

Jurmala seems to be a new rendezvous for the Russian and CIS billionaires and celebrities. It is defi nitely a new Hot Spot on the map “to be seen at and to be at” during the summer! I have already booked a hotel for next year and am looking forward to the parties, new gossip and meeting the guests from the Forbes list. See you all in Jurmala next year!

Music Festival “New Wave”

10th Anniversary of the Music Festival “New Wave”.

Star Guests of the Festival: SEAL, Lara Fabian, Baby Face, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sumi Jo, Sergey Lazarev, Lera Kudryavtseva, Julia Kovalchuk, Timur Rodriguez,

Ivan Dorn, Kseniya Sobchak, Irina Dubtsova, Jasmine, Mila Nitich, Ivan Breusov, Hila Ben David, Vladimir

Zelensky, Vera Brezhneva, Dominique Joker, Gennady Khazanov, Igor Krutoy, Raimonds Pauls, Valeria, Joseph Prigogine, Vladimir Vinokur, group "A-Studio", Philipp Kirkorov, Kristina

Orbakaite, Alla Pugacheva, Alsou, Joseph Kobzon, Leonid Agutin, Angelika Varum, Igor Nikolaev, Natasha Koroleva, Aleksandr Zhulin, Maxim Galkin, Dima Bilan, Yana Rudkovskaya, Timothy,

Nicholas Baskov, Anna Ardov, Evelyn Bledans, Anita Tsoi, "Discoteka Avaria", Verka Serduchka, Valeriy Meladze, Larisa Dolina, Valeriy Leontev, Vladimir Presnyakov, Alexey Chumakov etc.

Lorak, Sergei Lazarev, Leroux, and Lera Kudryavtseva. There was no security or

then he expected.

Jurmala and joined the 50th Birthday

Irina Dubtsova, Jasmine, Mila Nitich, Ivan Breusov, Hila Ben David, Vladimir

Zelensky, Vera Brezhneva, Dominique Joker, Gennady Khazanov,

Orbakaite, Alla Pugacheva, Alsou, Joseph Kobzon, Leonid Agutin, Angelika Varum, Igor Nikolaev, Natasha Koroleva, Aleksandr Zhulin, Maxim Galkin, Dima Bilan, Yana Rudkovskaya, Timothy,

Lorak, Sergei Lazarev, Leroux, and Lera Kudryavtseva. There was no security or

then he expected.

Jurmala and joined the 50th Birthday

Irina Dubtsova, Jasmine, Mila Nitich, Ivan Breusov, Hila Ben David, Vladimir

Zelensky, Vera

Pugacheva, Alsou, Joseph Kobzon, Leonid Agutin, Angelika Varum, Igor Nikolaev, Natasha Koroleva, Aleksandr Zhulin, Maxim Galkin, Dima Bilan, Yana Rudkovskaya, Timothy,

Aleksandr Rumyantsev with his daughter

Soso Pavliashvili, Iosif Kobzon, Grigoriy Leps

Igor Efremov with his wife Taina and daughter

Aleksandr Shenkman (Chairman of the New Wave) with Lilita Zaltere (ex-wife of Latvian president)

Sergey Stepashin (Chairman of the Accounts Chamber)


Event Diary

Friday OutfitWhat Russian Businessman Do You Know?

Gabriel Giravy, 23, student,

jacket Zara, jeans Gap,

shoes Fred Perry, t-shirt Gap

Abramovich

Francis Cuvelle,

22, student, jacket – Franch,

jeans Levi’s, shirt and

shoes Topman, belt – Scotch

and Soda No one

Alicia Cura, 22, works in business school, t-shirt and shoes Zara, jeans from French shop, jacket – American vintage, bag SandroRoman Abramovich

Laury, 28, student, dress soaked, shoes Bitter nl, shawl Bricklane, bag from Venice Roman Abramovich

Carina Parry, 26, top Dorothy Perkins,

jeans Primark, bag from India

Vladimir Putin

Mercy Dery, 29, assistant,

top Zara, trousers Primark,

watch Juicy Couture,

ring Oasis, shoes Dune

Abramovich

Street Chic

30 №8(08) 25 August - 10 September 2011

Angel, 30, marketing,

shirt and t-shirt H&M,

jeans Levi’s, shoes El Gauso

No idea

Admir Begic, 22, student, everything from Zara Alexander Lebedev

Natasha, 22, sales assistant, trousers H&M, top Zara, shoes ClarksNo idea

Sanjita, 23, student, top/shoes/bag from Topshop, shorts H&MBoris Berezovsky

Nick, 19, student,

top Banana Republic,

jeans PrimarkStandard’s

owner Lebedev

Amber, 18, student,

top and jeans from Primark,

shoes D2 Roman

Abramovich

Photographer: Anton Phatianovwww.onanton.co.uk

№8(08) 25 August - 10 September 2011 31

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RussianMind #08 25 -10 September

Documents

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