A new Russian mini-biopic tells the story of one day in the life of Yelizaveta Glinka, a charismatic palliative care specialist who ran a charity in Moscow and died in a 2016 plane crash that also killed 63 members of the renowned Alexandrov Ensemble on their way to Syria.
Dr. Liza, as Glinka was known, is shown in the film spreading herself thin helping the city’s destitute, caring for the homeless at one of Moscow’s train stations, and struggling to find morphine for a little girl with terminal cancer, which lands her in trouble with the police.
Glinka is portrayed by Chulpan Khamatova, one of Russia’s top actresses, who is herself a leading charity figure. Dr. Liza’s work was the subject of multiple controversies: she escorted over 500 injured children from war-ravaged eastern Ukraine to Russian hospitals, for example, prompting the Ukrainian government to accuse her of kidnapping. Russian state propaganda, meanwhile, had elevated Glinka to the level of virtual sainthood. The film does not delve into politics but shows how Glinka coped with impossible situations created by life in Russia, and how she got involved when the reasonable thing would have been to stand aside.
«Для человека, который [разделяет] христианские ценности, жизнь в условиях тотального контроля и тоталитарных методов управления обществом неприемлема»
“For a person who holds Christian values, life under conditions of total control and totalitarian methods of social manipulation is not acceptable.”
A new black and white film by Andrei Konchalovsky delves into a once-forbidden event in Soviet history: the Novocherkassk uprising and massacre. In that event (the subject of a July/August 2008 article in Russian Life), police and KGB troops opened fire on a crowd of disgruntled factory workers in the southern city, killing several and injuring dozens more.
The film, Dear Comrades!, is told from the point of view of a city bureaucrat, Lyuda – a diehard Communist who cannot wrap her head around why workers at the electrical power plant have gone on strike. At a meeting with officials about the mutiny, she fervently calls for the harshest punishment for the perpetrators, only to be forced to look for her daughter, who has just gone missing, among the dead the next day.
The film is likely deeply personal for Konchalovsky, who grew up in one of the Soviet Union’s most privileged families (his father, poet Sergei Mikhalkov, authored several national anthems, including Russia’s latest). Meanwhile, Lyuda is played by Konchalovsky’s wife, the actress Yulia Vysotskaya, who was born and raised in Novocherkassk.
The film won the Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize and has been named as Russia’s candidate for an Oscar.
Moscow’s massive building that houses INION (the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences, above), which many feared was tragically lost after a serious fire in 2015 (right), is now almost completely restored, in a rare project honoring Soviet modernist architecture.
The scientific community was able to persuade the government to do something unprecedented: complete the structure anew following the original brutalist architecture blueprints from 1967. The institute’s library holds some 4 million titles, making it the fourth-largest in Russia. The building was groundbreaking for its time, featuring space-age design and circular skylights over the main reading hall. A fountain was envisioned to hold cooling water for the building’s air-conditioning system and giant mainframe computers. Rumor has it that scenes from Solaris, the Soviet sci-fi drama by Andrei Tarkovsky, were filmed here. The fire gutted the building and destroyed some 15 percent of its books. The new structure has been updated to meet modern safety requirements by changing some of the materials, reinforcing the foundation, and expanding staff workspaces. The fountain, unfortunately, had to go: an amphitheater is planned in its place as part of a new surrounding park and public space.
”«Знаете, в качестве одного из вариантов, механизмов на серьезном уровне обсуждался вопрос о так называемой «сакральной жертве». Причем говорилось о том, что лучше бы, чтобы эта «сакральная жертва» была из числа все-таки лидеров оппозиции»
“As an option [to reignite the opposition movement], they discussed at a very serious level the possibility of a so-called “human sacrifice.” And the idea was that it would be better if someone from the ranks of opposition leaders was sacrificed.”
In an unprecedented move, Russian MMA icon Khabib Nurmagomedov has left professional sport, after making an emotional speech following his October defeat of Justin Gaethje.
Having lost his father to Covid-19 several months prior, Nurmagomedov promised his mother that the October fight would be his last. A worldwide celebrity who calls himself “The Eagle,” Nurmagomedov, 32, has nearly 26 million followers on Instagram, and was unbeaten in the octagon. Rumors of a comeback began to circulate immediately after his announcement.
Russia launched new easy electronic visas for travelers from 52 countries starting January 1, 2021.
Previously tested for tourists entering the country in Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, the expanded system will now allow arriving visitors to obtain electronic visas and travel throughout Russia from 29 border checkpoints, and to remain for up to 16 days.
The visa is offered for the purposes of visiting Russian nationals, tourism, and business, as well as participating in conferences and sports events. It is all part of the plan by the government to double revenues from foreign tourism by 2030, while also nearly doubling the number of people employed in the industry.
Currently eligible home countries of visitors include European Union states, India, China, Indonesia, Iran, most of the Gulf states, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and Japan. The visa will cost $40 (and be free for children under six) and take four days to process. At press time, only the old pilot website was functioning for the electronic visas, and it only listed three available Russian regions. The program has been suspended during the coronavirus pandemic.
evisa.kdmid.ru evisa.kdmid.ru
Безусловно, пример — это важно, но в случае президента не следует забывать, что и люди, которые с ним встречаются, их эпидемиологическая безопасность также соответствующим образом обеспечивается. Это не просто такое массовое бесконтрольное общение.
“Of course, setting an example is important, but in the case of the president, one should keep in mind that the people meeting with him are also appropriately vetted for epidemiological safety. It’s not some large-scale, out-of-control socializing.”
Students at Moscow State University have threatened to sue the storied institution over what they say has become a sub-standard education as a result of coronavirus restrictions.
The students allege that several departments have failed to provide them with crucial skills, especially in laboratory work and software engineering, and are demanding a partial refund. The move parallels similar outrage expressed around the globe as distance learning has replaced face-to-face instruction.
The head of MSU, Viktor Sadovnichy, responded by ordering additional instruction and online tutoring by lecturers.
Tula, a city located a few hours south of Moscow, is staking out its place as a new center for Russian tourism.
Formerly known mainly for its comprehensive, albeit old-fashioned, weapons museum, pryanik gingerbread cookies, and the nearby, sprawling Yasnaya Polyana estate of Leo Tolstoy, the city is enjoying a boom in traveler interest.
The historic city center, which has retained some fine architecture, was revamped into a “museum cluster,” with buildings receiving a facelift, streets reserved for pedestrians, and several museums opening branches.
The city’s “coming out” was launched with great pomp in the fall of 2020, to coincide with the 500-year anniversary of the Tula kremlin. Recent projects include the trendy Family History Center (pictured), which seeks to pique interest among Tula’s residents in stories about their ancestors. The center has become Russia’s leader for studying family archives.
Blagoveshchenskaya street 8a (Admission R250. Currently open only for scheduled tours.)
csitula.ru
The Moscow Kremlin launched a new museum space showcasing the archaeological remains of Chudov Monastery, a revered medieval site where many children of the Romanov family were baptized.
The site is a symbol of twentieth-century perturbations in Russia: the Bolsheviks blew up the monastery’s cathedral in 1929, not even allowing preservationists to take measurements of the fourteenth-century building first. In its place, they built a cadet school, which later was converted to offices – the “14th Wing” of the Kremlin administration.
That building, in turn, fell into disfavor under President Vladimir Putin, who ordered it dismantled and the ancient monastery rebuilt. After the community of historians and architects protested against building old monasteries from scratch (adding yet another “novodel” – a disparaging name for rebuilding replicas of lost landmarks), Putin opted for an archaeological museum on site.
Only the second major archaeological dig in Kremlin history, the project made major discoveries in its four years of work: details from fourteenth-century book bindings, a piece of molding cast with the first Cyrillic writing found in Moscow, and parts of foundations of a medieval city visible under thick glass.
At press time, the exhibit had only been visited by Putin. Kremlin museum staff are unable to say when it will open to the public, given coronavirus restrictions.
Smolensk has opened its own kremlin museum. The city boasts one of the longest city fortifications (6.5 kilometers long) in Russia, built at the end of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately, however, they were largely destroyed by retreating Napoleonic forces early in the nineteenth century.
Still, more than a dozen towers remain. Some of these, as well as restored sections of the wall, have been made into a new national museum called Smolensk Fortress. Two of the towers have been opened to visitors and offer exhibits about the history of the wall and folk arts and crafts.
Open daily, 11 am to 7 pm (Admission R100).
Главное при этом не рваться в аптеку и не покупать лекарства, не заниматься самолечением. Вы знаете, кто умирает в наших больницах? В первую очередь те, кто занимался самолечением. Таких людей 95%.”
“Don’t rush to the pharmacy and buy medication, don’t engage in self-medication. Do you know who dies in our hospitals? First and foremost, those who undertook self-treatment. They make up 95%.”
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