Vertical Rules
NGOs to face tougher scrutiny
On November 23, the Duma approved in a first reading a law on nongovernmental non-profit organizations. The law will bring NGOs under strict state control, requiring them to register with the Justice Ministry’s Federal Registration Service next year, and have all their finances closely supervised. “We know how easy it would be for the tax police and fire inspectors to find something wrong and shut down unwanted organizations,” said independent deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov, as reported by The Moscow Times. The bill, Ryzhkov said, “will put an end to civil society in Russia.”
The bill would prohibit foreign NGOs from having representative offices or branches in Russia. Russian NGOs will have restrictions on the acceptance of foreign currency and on the employment of non-residents. Some definitions in the law are extremely vague: for instance, NGOs may be denied registration if their name “offends the morality, national or other feeling of citizens.”
Many analysts commented that the bill reflects Russian officials’ concerns that NGOs may interfere in the 2008 presidential elections. Many in positions of power have repeatedly said that both Ukraine’s Orange Revolution and Georgia’s Rose Revolution were incited by Western schemes and financing.
Last summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin openly warned human rights organizations about foreign financing of political activities. However, on November 24, according to Interfax, Putin assured Ella Pamfilova, Chairman of the Presidential Council for Promoting Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, that “no step taken in this area will damage civil society in Russia.”
Meanwhile, in related news, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that Duma deputies and the Ministry of Education are preparing new legislation, whereby rectors of universities will be appointed in the same manner as governors. Presently, rectors are elected.
Nabokov’s Will
Manuscripts don’t burn
In accordance with last will of Vladimir Nabokov, who died in 1977, his unfinished last novel, “The Original of Laura” should have been destroyed. Yet Nabokov’s widow Vera could not bring herself to burn the manuscript prior to her own death in 1991. Recently, the London Times reported that Nabokov’s son Dmitry, 71, is firmly intending to destroy the novel before his own death, to honor his father’s wish.
The whereabouts of the novel, as well as its contents and size, are unknown. Some years ago, Dmitry Nabokov called his father’s last novel “the most outstanding of all his works.” The book had the working title, “Dying is Fun.” There are rumors, lenta.ru reported, that the novel is only 40 pages long.
Meanwhile, when NTV contacted Dmitry Nabokov, he denied the Times report, saying that a final decision had not yet been taken. And, lest we forget, as Mikhail Bulgakov wrote in The Master and Margarita, “manuscripts don’t burn.”
Artworks Freed
Swiss firm seeks compensation
through Pushkin paintings
On November 16, four trucks containing a collection of paintings from the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, insured for over $1 billion, were briefly seized by Swiss police and customs services. The cause of the action, Interfax reported, was a lawsuit filed by the Swiss company Noga against Russia. Noga is seeking compensation from the Russian government, claiming that Russia owes the firm $800 million from food for oil deals in the early 1990s. Noga had earlier attempted to seize a Russian sailing vessel and SU-30 fighter jets, as a result of which Russia has refrained from participation in the Le Bourget air show for several years.
Swiss authorities have since lifted their arrest order and, after prolonged negotiations, the collection was returned to Russia. The seized paintings, which included works by Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh and others, will henceforth be exhibited with a special label informing the public of this new wrinkle in their history.
Messages Can Kill
Moscow offers anti-science
and anti-incentives
Enigmatic posters appeared in Moscow streets and metro stations this fall. Two frivolously-dressed androgynous characters with near-identical faces stand against a black background (photo, above). One impersonates a man, another a woman. The text – in white letters – reads, “Real feelings and fidelity are your best weapon against AIDS. There is no ‘safe sex.’”
The message is clear: the billboard sponsors are against the use of condoms. The project’s leader, Ludmila Stebenkova, confirmed as much in an interview with Yezhenedelny Zhur-nal, saying she does not believe in contraception, only in fidelity and constancy. The whole thing seems intended as blast against AIDS education efforts. The blow is all the more significant because, compared to, say, America, Russians’ level of sex education is extremely low – most Russian teenagers know nothing about contraception.
Meanwhile, in a similarly bizarre innovation, the Moscow City Government is overseeing obligatory drug tests for conscripts. Special “express testing” will be established in all conscription offices, allowing officers to test recruits for drugs in just a few minutes. Positive tests will lead to immediate draft ineligibility. Given Russian youth’s prevailing attitude toward the army, one could well expect to see drugged-out boys flooding conscription offices, seeking their ineligibility. But apparently the military is not afraid of sending a mixed message. “You underestimate our young people,” replied Vasily Krasno-gorsky, Chief Military Commissar of Moscow, when Izvestia posed this question.
Shell game
Kremlin shakeup has
political observers talking
On November 14, President Putin introduced two new deputy prime minister positions, to which he appointed Chief of Presidential Administration Dmitry Medvedev and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. Ivanov continues to hold both his old and new positions, while Medvedev’s former staff position was filled by Tyumen Governor Sergei Sobyanin. The changes, not surprisingly, led to wild speculation on Putin’s strategy for the 2008 presidential election and on what observers immediately dubbed “Operation Successor.”
Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov said he thought that Medvedev is a likely candidate for the Presidency. But journalist Julia Latynina saw the appointment as exiling Medvedev from the Kremlin. “There’s a simple rule of thumb for political analysts,” Latynina wrote in her Moscow Times column, “When everyone is lying, focus on the facts, not the spin.”
Alexander Ryklin, meanwhile, warned in Yezhenedelny Zhurnal against coming to rash conclusions. Putin is an intelligence officer, he reminded, and the smokescreen is his natural weapon. “It’s a cover operation,” Ryklin said. “It has nothing to do with our lives.”
Plisetskaya at 80
Ballet legend still dancing
On November 20, Maya Plisetskaya, the famous prima ballerina, celebrated her 80th birthday. Still beautiful and glamorous, Plisetskaya is also still dancing. The Bolshoi Theater organized a three-day festival of dance in her honor, where Plisetskaya also performed.
Plisetskaya was born in Moscow in 1925. Her mother was an actress; her aunt and uncle were both outstanding dancers and worked in Bolshoi. In 1934, Plisetskaya was accepted to the Moscow Choreo-graphic Aca-demy. In 1938, her father was arrested and executed; her mother was also arrested and was imprisoned for three years. Nevertheless, Plisetskaya finished her studies at the Academy and, in 1943, joined the Bolshoi Theater’s troupe.
Plisetskaya performed most all the leading roles of the classical repertoire: Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote, Carmen in The Carmen Suite (to her husband Rodion Shchedrin’s arrangement of music from Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen) and many others. She also worked as a choreographer: in partnership with husband, she staged Anna Karenina, The Seagull and Lady With a Dog.
He’s Back!
A bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky was restored to the courtyard of Moscow’s Criminal Investigation Department, at Petrovka 38 (above), by order of Lieutenant General Vladimir Pronin. In 1991, after the failed coup attempt, the bust of “Iron Felix” in this location was taken down after the larger and more famous Dzerzhinsky monument was removed from Lubyanka Square. Security workers said they felt the bust will inspire patriotism and loyalty among the youth. The human rights group Memorial, however, protested the move, citing Dzerzhinsky’s role as a founder of state-sponsored political repression and persecution.
Meanwhile, the village of Ust-Kut, Irkutsk region, in October unveiled a statue to “Statesman Vladimir Lenin” which the town had ordered 18 years previous, but which had been sitting in the Cultural Department warehouse since the 1990s.
urban legend
It is variously reported that the famous linguist Roman Jakobson opposed Nabokov’s hiring at Harvard, as a professor of Russian. “He is a big writer,” a colleague said. “We should invite him.” “An elephant is a large animal,” Jakobson reportedly replied, “but shall we invite him to be the head of the department of zoology?” Nabokov never got the job.
“Russia is still an uncomfortable place to work and is dangerous for journalists to live in. The pressure of the state on the Russian mass media is mounting.”
Pascal Bonnamour, head of Reporters Without Borders, on why Russia was ranked 138th of 167 countries in a measure of press freedom.
“All buttons must be visible. The government should have the capability of pressing whatever button it needs.”
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov,
on the government’s acquisition of oil assets (Itogi)
{More is Less} Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov proposed founding a special government department or ministry to oversee all child adoption issues at the federal level. Kolesnikov noted that certain activities generally accepted in the course of adoption proceedings are prohibited by the Family Code. “Foreign agencies take $15,000 to $80,000 for an adoption, with a portion of money going to officials,” he said. Kolesnikov called for greater restrictions on adoptions and adoption mediators, but lawmakers balked at his measures. There are 800,000 registered orphans in Russia. (RIA Novosti)
{Tyumen, But Not Gay} A concert of openly gay pop singer Boris Moiseev, scheduled for November 19 in Tyumen, was cancelled after pressure was applied by the public movement, In Defense of Russian Orthodox Morals. The organization tried to ban Moiseev’s Tyumen concert last year, without success. This year, city authorities gave in. The head of In Defense, Tatyana Guskova, confirmed that the group opposes Moiseev’s concerts because of his sexual orientation and “damaging influence on young people.”
{Russian Pilgrims} According to Interfax, some 13,000 Russian Muslims plan to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca this January. Their numbers are also expected to increase next year, said Imam-Hatyb Rushan Abbyasov, head of the international department of the Council of Muftis in Russia. Abbyasov said that, last year some 9,000 Russian believers went on the Hadj to Mecca.
{Phone Home} Sergei Mironov, Chairman of the Council of Federation, announced that Russia wants to encourage the return to Russia of 25 million Russians currently residing in neighboring CIS countries, Kommersant reported. Mironov said that it is not enough to simplify migration laws; a special federal program must be launched, urging Russians to return. Russia faces a declining population, due to rising death rates and falling birth rates. In related news, the Federal Migration Service is planning an amnesty for some citizens of ex-Soviet states who are working illegally in Russia.
russian classics
A crowd of people pressed tightly around the players.
“I had a rook on this square a moment ago,” cried One-eye, looking round, “and now it’s gone!”
“If it’s not there now, it wasn’t there at all,” said Ostap, rather rudely.
Twelve Chairs, by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov (transl. by John Richardson)
Russians who:
would inform on a draft-dodging
neighbor 10%
... would not 57%
... only if he is too noisy 33%
feel the French riots could be repeated in
Russian cities 42%
... do not think so 43%
... not sure 15%
favor burying Lenin 52%
...are opposed 37%
...would take to the streets
to protest such a move 9%
feel migration into Russia:
... should be restricted 59%
... can be beneficial 36% ... not sure 5%
feel Russia is developing
... in the right direction 34%
... in the wrong direction 48%
... not sure 18%
prefer a political system
... with one political party 38%
... with two, three or more 39%
... with many small parties 4%
... without political parties at all 7%
feel there are no honest people
in positions of authority 52%
define themselves as “religious” 57%
... are convinced atheists 4%
... believe in horoscopes 8%
... believe it is possible to
resurrect the dead 8%
favored Communist Party
Gennady Zyuganov
for president in 1996 40.3%
... in October 2005 4.6%
“It is not a very good thing when people of this or that nationality become too numerous.”
Alexander Tkachev, governor of Krasnodar Region, explaining that there has never been “a nationalities problem” in his region. (Izvestia)
“The fact that there are now two vice-premiers, Medvedev and Ivanov, means that the president’s influence over the government has been strengthened. For prior to this, there were practically no people there.”
Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Itogi)
“It’s good that our government is not constantly changing, like it was under Yeltsin. He, of course, was a real muzhik, a roaring bear, but every three months something would collapse.”
Vladimir Medinsky, Duma deputy (Itogi)
“Recently, we were preoccupied with the problem of whether to remove Lenin from the Mausoleum, or, perhaps, whether we should squeeze Denikin and Ilyin in there. Then, thank God, after two weeks, we started to burn cars in the suburbs of Paris.”
Aleksandr Prokhanov, writer (Itogi)
“We have always carried out underground activity, all our headquarters were in cellars, and we call them, poetically, ‘bunkers.’”
Eduard Limonov, leader of the National Bolshevik Party (Ekho Moskvy)
“You have no alternative but to elect me.”
Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, on elections in 2006. (gazeta.ru)
“Over 20,000 new HIV infections have been registered so far this year... There are 90 new cases of HIV registered in Russia every day. To claim there is no epidemic is demagoguery.”
Federal AIDS Center Head Vladimir Pokrovsky,
in response to President Putin’s remark that HIV/AIDS in Russia
“still does not have the character of an epidemic.”
(The Moscow Times)
Code Change
Calling Moscow and can’t get through? It might be because, effective December 1, the city dialing code – long 095 – was changed to 495. The change is to comply with European telecom standards and affected some 18 regions across Russia: all those with prefixes beginning with a zero now begin with a four. Yaroslavl, for instance, which was 085, is now 485. As part of the change, long distance calls out of Russia will, starting sometime next year, be made by dialing 00, instead of 810. Intercity calls will use the prefix 0 instead of 8.
{BOOKER CONTROVERSY} Denis Gutsko, of Rostov-on-Don, was named the 14th laureate of the annual Russian Booker Prize, for his novel, Bez puti-sleda. It was an unexpected result, most observers having anticipated that Muscovite Anatoly Naiman would win for his book, Kablukov. What made the result all the more controversial was the revelation that Gutsko won by a 4-1 vote of the jury, the single negative vote being cast by author Vasily Aksyonov, who won the Russian Booker last year. Aksyonov said the book was not worthy of the prize, which comes with a $15,000 cash award.
{ART and FRIENDSHIP} In November, President Putin awarded the Medal of Friendship to Raymond E. Johnson, a Minnesota art dealer whose collections led to the founding of the only museum in North America dedicated to Russian art from the Soviet era. Putin praised Johnson for his work in “developing Russian-American cultural partnership and strengthening friendships between the people.” Johnson’s collection makes up the core of the Museum of Russian Art, which reopened in May in Minneapolis, following a multimillion renovation.
{To the State!} Agriculture Minister Aleksei Gordeev has said that the state will likely reimpose a monopoly on the sale and purchase of alcohol (nothing was said about production) in the middle of 2006.
{Against All} The Russian Constitutional Court ruled in favor of a Kursk man who, dissatisfied with the choices for State Duma elections, campaigned to have voters vote “against all.” He had been fined for his action, but the Court ruled that citizens have the right to campaign to elect no one, no one at all.
{Data Leak} A Federal Tax Police database showing the incomes and personal information of all 2004 Moscow taxpayers was found selling for less than $100 on the black market, ITAR-TASS reported. A criminal investigation has been started.
{President for Life?} Kirsan Ilyumzhimov, who has been president of Kalmykia since 1993, got the nod from Russian President Vladimir Putin for yet another term as the southern republic’s president. This, despite what some observers called possibly the worst executive record in Russia for violating democratic principles.
Plisetskaya is the Tsvetaeva of ballet...
The amazement of genius amidst mediocrity
is the key to all her roles…
Andrey Voznesensky, poet
CSKA Tops
CSKA (Red Army) defeated local arch-rival Dinamo Moscow to secure their second domestic soccer title in three years. CSKA’s Brazilian star playmaker Daniel Carvalho led the squad to a narrow and difficult 3-2 victory over Dinamo, clinching the title. Second place in the league was decided in a face-off between Spartak (Moscow) and last year’s champion Lokomotiv (Moscow). It ended in the draw Spartak needed to grab second place and book a place in the prestigious League of Champions tournament. Lokomotiv finished third on the year. CSKA’s Carvalho was named best player of the championships.
Chess Redemption
In a surprise comeback (see Russian Life, Nov/Dec 2005), Russia beat China 3.5-0.5 in the final round to win the World Team Chess Championship in Beer Sheva, Israel. Nearly 1000 spectators milled around the playing hall and the auditorium for live commentary, watching the giant screens in the lobby.
Russian players Peter Svidler, Yevgeny Bareev, Alexander Grischuk and Alexander Morozevich were the underdogs going into the final round, but won an amazing 5.5 points out of six matches to clinch the title. The Chinese team had been the odds-on favorite in the event, but the Russian team came away undefeated in eight matches. China took second place with a 6-2 record.
Tennis Honors
Nikolai Davydenko was named Russia’s Best Tennis Player of 2005 at the Russky Kubok (Russian Cup) awards ceremony held at Moscow’s Slavyanskaya-Radisson hotel on November 19. Davydenko was the only Russian player to qualify for the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai (he reached the semifinals, losing to the eventual winner, David Nalbandian). Davydenko also reached the semifinals at the French Open and broke into the top 10 in world rankings for the first time. Davydenko’s brother Eduard was named Best Tennis Coach of the year, and the women’s Russian Fed Cup team was honored as best team of the year after winning their second consecutive Fed Cup. Tennis & Business (edited by Russian Life sports editor Mikhail Ivanov) was named Best Tennis Magazine of the year.
Kharlamov Feted
Twenty-four years after his death, Soviet hockey legend Valery Khar-lamov was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto last November. He became only the fourth Russian ever to be given the honor. “Kharlamov was the personification of Russia’s hockey style. He was a high-speed and assertive virtuoso with a real man’s character,” said former teammate Vyacheslav Fetisov, who was at the ceremony. Previous inductees include Fetisov, coach Anatoly Tarasov and goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.
For most of his career, Kharlamov played on line with right wing Boris Mikhailov (who would later coach the national team) and center Vladimir Petrov. The troika was strong, fierce, highly skilled and by all accounts, one of the finest lines in the history of hockey, distinguishing itself during the historic USSR-NHL Summit Series of 1972. Many consider Kharlamov the best player of the series and the greatest Soviet of all time. Canadian goalie Ken Dryden, who played in the series, called Kharlamov, “Nureyev on skates.”
Kharlamov recorded 293 goals and 214 assists in 436 games (14 seasons) with the CSKA Moscow Red Army club. He participated in 11 consecutive world and European championships, winning eight titles with the Soviet National Team, along with Olympic gold in 1972 and 1976 and silver in 1980. On August 27, 1981, Kharlamov and his wife were killed in a car accident. Kharlamov’s son Alexander received the honor on his father’s behalf.
Name of the Vodka
In Ukraine there is vodka for men and vodka for women. In Stepanovka village, Cherkassy region, they produce the “lady’s vodka,” La Famme. According to RIA Novosti, the spirit is the product of a local distillery which discovered an artesian well, spent E20 million to build a production facility near the water supply, and started manufacturing.
La Famme is based on original recipes for fruit flavored vodka, based on the theory that women dislike harsher, straight vodka and tend to mix it with juice. The La Famme product line includes many vodka flavors (peach, grapefruit, cherry, apple) and even one tasting of roses.
“To simply drink vodka, even straight from the bottle – this will lead to nothing but vanity and a deadening of the soul. To mix vodka with eau de cologne – in this there is a certain whimsy, but no pathos whatsoever. To drink a glass of “Balsam of Canaan” – here there is whimsy, and ideas, and pathos, and, what is more, even a hint of the metaphysical.”
Moscow to the End of the Line,
by Venedikt Yerofeev
35,000
Traffic accident deaths in 2005 (a 30% increase vs. 2004).
40%
Increase in retail prices for medicine in 2005.
10-11%
Expected inflation for 2005.
37%
Russians who say they do not read books.
87%
Software on the Russian market that is pirated.
53
Authorized adoption agencies in Russia.
1,115,000
Homeless children detained by police in 2005.
6
Regions to be designated Free Economic Zones.
41
Regions that applied for the status.
15
Factor by which Russian military exports have increased over the last three years.
$104 million
Planned budget to combat HIV/AIDS in 2006.
20
Factor by which this is an increase vs. 2005.
138
Russia’s position on the 2005 Freedom of the Press ranking.
167
Number of countries in the ranking.
140
Russia’s Freedom of the Press ranking in 2004.
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