Space, Felix, and Banyas

ISS it Over?

Russia announced that it wants to leave the International Space Station in 2025, due to ongoing technical issues and cracks that are appearing in the Russian module and becoming a permanent problem.

Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov announced that Russia agreed to stay on the ISS through 2024, but after that a decision would be made based on conditions on the station. He said the station’s modules “have exhausted their resources,” and that Russia plans to launch its own national station.

Since its launch in 1998, the ISS has been a symbol of international cooperation, particularly between Russia and the United States. The two countries’ space agencies – NASA and Roscosmos – are the primary users of the station, engaging in microgravity research on the ISS, which orbits Earth every 93 minutes at roughly 420 km above the surface.

If Moscow decides to bring its involvement at the station to an end, it would not only end the 23-year-long partnership with the US, but also jeopardize the future of the floating laboratory.

Olympic Neutrals

Twenty-seven Russians were approved by World Athletics to compete as neutral athletes in international competitions. The world body overseeing track and field previously suspended Russia’s national athletic federation over doping charges, and individuals must apply for exemptions from the ban to be able to compete under a neutral flag.

Even with a neutral status, only 10 Russian athletes will be allowed to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, World Athletics said earlier this year, an additional punishment for Russia’s breaching of anti-doping rules. And it is possible that no track and field athletes from Russia will even go to the Olympics (if they are held at all), if Russia does not pay its outstanding $10 million fine.

Gazprom 2

Less than a decade after breaking ground on St. Petersburg’s controversial Lakhta Center skyscraper (now the tallest building in Europe), Gazprom is itching to build a second building even taller than the first.

Lakhta-2, as the project was presented to city hall, would be 703 meters tall. Designed to resemble a giant drill bit, the architectural model makes it seem as if the new building will be on an island, though there are no islands in the vicinity of the first Lakhta skyscraper, which has yet to open amid contractor delays.

Some architects and St. Petersburg-philes are predictably horrified that Russia’s “European capital” may be developing along the lines of Hong Kong and could eventually have dozens of skyscrapers dominating its skyline. Architecture critic Grigory Revzin opined that the project is  symptomatic of inferiority complexes, reflecting the fact that St. Petersburg feels underestimated as a provincial city, and Gazprom feels undervalued as a global company.

Space Brags

A huge museum opened in Kaluga to showcase the glories of Russian and Soviet space exploration. The Museum of the History of Space Exploration, in the city that was the birthplace of scientist and inventory Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, has finally launched its huge modern wing. It features over 500 exhibits, including a Vostok rocket launch complex.

The new space is four times bigger than the original Soviet-era museum (which is still open). Multimedia and interactive exhibits tell the story of the solar system, and there is a simulation complex that mimics the effects of space flight. The museum also recently opened a small space observatory for group tours, where visitors can peer at the Moon and the more visible planets and solar bodies.

Admission: R450, free for children. gmik.ru

G’bye, Yeliseyevsky!

Moscow’s legendary Yeliseyevsky Food Store has closed. The palatial gastronom opened in 1901 and survived two world wars, only to be put out of business by COVID-19.

Yeliseyevsky’s ornate interior drew gawkers and tourists for decades. For much of the Soviet era, it was the only large food store for people living in the neighborhood (near Pushkin Square).

Called Gastronom #1 in the Soviet era, it carried an abundance of produce and luxury items, including caviar, during the worst years of scarcity. How its manager in the 1970s, Yury Sokolov, was able to stock the store so well remains a mystery. In 1982, Sokolov was arrested for bribery in a case that astonishingly led to his execution in 1984.

The store shelves that stretched out beneath crystal chandeliers became deserted after the 2020 demise of the Red Sails chain that owned Yeliseyevsky’s. The building is owned by the Moscow government. The city has promised to lease the space to a business that will respect the historic interiors, which are subject to state protection due to their cultural value.

ARTISTIC DEPARTURE

Tair Salakhov, an iconic Soviet realist painter known for his so-called “severe style,” passed away at the age of 92. Salakhov was an acclaimed artist for many decades under Soviet rule, even serving as the first secretary of the Soviet Union of Artists, as well as at the helm of the Academy of Arts.
Although state recognition did not always go hand in hand with talent in the USSR, Salakhov was a widely respected figure in the artist community and often promoted artists who were considered underground and very different to himself.

Born in 1928 in Azerbaijan, Salakhov lost his father, a local official, in 1937, when he was executed during Stalin’s purges. Despite bearing the “enemy of the people” stamp, Salakhov graduated from the acclaimed Surikov Art Institute and quickly developed his own unique style of realist portraits, with static figures and dark, intense shadows. He is also credited with advising Soviet leadership to invest vast funds in the arts during the 1970s and 1980s, and to bring Western art to be exhibited during the perestroika era.

Salakhov inspired a younger generation of artists, including his daughter Aidan Salahova, an artist who for two decades ran an important gallery in Moscow.

Felix Redux?

The dramatic 1991 removal of the Moscow statue honoring NKVD founder Felix Dzerzhinsky was a highly symbolic act following the failed coup of that year. The monument was hoisted with a crane and carted away from Lubyanka Square as crowds cheered the departure of this symbol of repression. But now, 30 years later, there is a new attempt to return Dzerzhinsky to his roost, which has remained empty for decades.

In a new twist, Moscow City Hall spun the proposal to reinstate Dzerzhinsky as a choice between two statues: the 16-ton Dzerzhinsky and a new statue of Alexander Nevsky. When Muscovites opposed Dzerzhinsky in an online poll, supporting Nevsky, City Hall backtracked, saying the space would remain empty.

Rehabilitation of Dzerzhinsky, who oversaw mass executions and called for “organized terror” against political opponents, has been a creeping phenomenon in recent years. Since it was taken down, the statue has stood in the Muzeon park of old monuments, near Tretyakov Gallery. In 2015, perestroika graffiti that had been painted on its foundation, including “The junta has fallen” and “Down with executioners,” mysteriously vanished, removed with a strong chemical agent.

According to a poll by the Levada Center, 51 percent of Muscovites are in favor of returning Dzerzhinsky to Lubyanka, while 26 percent are opposed and another 23 percent had no opinion. This is in contrast to 45 percent in favor and 38 percent against in 2002. Twenty-three percent of supporters say Dzerzhinsky fought corruption and did a lot for his country, while others said the monument is a part of history. Forty-four percent of opponents said he was a murderer.

Moscow Rails

Moscow has opened a new train station, the first one outside the city center and the first in nearly a century. Vostochny (Eastern) train station, in the eastern part of the capital, is tasked with reducing traffic on the rail network, particularly the over-used Kursky Station, which serves many destinations to the south, east and southeast. Vostochny Station will be the terminal for trains from Nizhny Novgorod and Ivanovo, as well as the Moscow stop for transit trains from Murmansk and St. Petersburg that are destined for southern Russia.

Banya Reborn

St. Petersburg has restored a historic public bathhouse (banya) and opened it for banya lovers in the 1870s. The Fonarnye Banyas were built by architect Pavel Syuzor, a Russian-born Frenchman whose original name was Paul-Jules Persin-Suzor. He created many buildings in St. Petersburg, in particular public baths.

The Fonarnye baths were officially named after their owner, Mikhail Voronin, but they quickly took on a popular nickname derived from the Fonarny side street where they are located. The banyas were at the forefront of their era’s banya technology, featuring a non-slip asphalt floor, smart ventilation, indoor fountains and pools, and even smokeless coal from Wales. Their ornate interiors were downscaled considerably during the Soviet era, when the baths were renamed “Banyas #43” and were a favorite haunt of famous city denizens like Sergei Dovlatov and Boris Grebenshchikov. They have been shut since the 2000s.

Now the banyas’ original interiors have been restored thanks to some surviving features and historical photos. Even the original nineteenth-century majolica fireplace in the men’s section has been preserved.

Fonarnye is more expensive than other banyas in St. Petersburg. At press-time, half of its facilities have yet to officially open, including additional bath space, a hair salon, gift shop, and restaurant. Prices start at R2,000 for a simple two-hour visit, to which one can add R2,000 for a short session with a professional “steam master” – the person who will expertly whack your tired body with birch branches. Neophytes are offered a banya starter pack for R4,500 that also includes a banya accessory set with requisite felt hat to protect their hair from intense heat.

Public banyas have been gaining popularity in recent years, after several were renovated and began drawing a younger clientele. Moscow’s historic Sandunovskiye banyas are the best known and often attract celebrities.

fonari.ru

No Borshch For You!

Russian Railways announced plans to drop restaurant cars from its trains, a feature since the Soviet era and often a welcome respite from the confines of one’s platskart seating or annoying kupe neighbors. The Russian rail monopoly has in fact been quietly taking restaurant cars out of its trains since the beginning of this year, according to its website, and in May it announced that the service is too expensive and will be discontinued in favor of fast food and microwave meals. Restaurant cars will be kept only in upscale or tourist trains, said Chief Executive Oleg Belozerov, according to RBK.

Many Russian trains are an exercise in patience, with little to no privacy, ventilation problems, and long travel times on routes across Siberia. The restaurant car is often a passenger’s only escape, and its dated menu offerings and interior have a retro feel for those living in large, Westernized cities. On trips that last many days, they are also the only way to have a hot meal. Passengers’ Union Head Kirill Yankov told Govorit Moskva radio that up to 30 percent of passengers on long-haul rides use the restaurant cars.

Faced with criticism, Russian Railways backtracked on its original announcement, promising to retain cars where passengers can have a meal, albeit not cooked from scratch, but prepared in advance and reheated.

New Hotels

A large, four-star Novotel hotel has opened in Vladivostok. Over 100 rooms are available in the shiny 18-story building on Partizansky Avenue in the city center, and more will be finished on the upper floors at a later date. There is also a restaurant serving local seafood, a fitness center, and a panoramic floor with a spa overlooking the city. Prices for a standard room start at about $80 per night.

Meanwhile the Russian Azimut chain is opening a hotel in central Tula. The four-star accommodation has 44 rooms in a central, historic building and a restaurant featuring traditional Russian cuisine.

Pressure on Navalny

The Kremlin has branded Alexei Navalny’s political network an extremist organization, which criminalized its efforts ahead of parliamentary elections in September.

Navalny, an opposition politician who amassed a large number of followers with his powerful exposés of state corruption, is currently serving a jail term for violating his parole (due to being in a coma in Germany, recovering from state-sponsored poisoning).

Navalny and his associates are subjects of an ever-growing array of criminal probes, ranging from fraud, to involving teenagers in protests, to disobeying police demands. Many persons have also been jailed pending investigations, while others reported being subjected to abuse by the police during searches.

In April, prosecutors in Moscow took steps to have Navalny’s organization, including his regional offices and the Anti-Corruption Foundation, officially recognized as extremist. The top lawyer representing Navalny’s organization, Ivan Pavlov, was promptly detained and placed under house arrest, rendering him incapable of representation. Other lawyers who stepped up in his place said the vast paperwork presented by the prosecution consisted primarily of reprints of online posts, which on their own cannot be considered extremist, according to Russian law.

As the state has designated the organization as extremist, Navalny’s entire network will be banned from participating in this fall’s elections.

SNAPSHOT

Only 11% of Russians have been vaccinated (19% who are 60+). 70% feel that mass vaccination can help stop the spread of coronavirus, while 20% disagree. 46% say they are ready to get vaccinated with a Russian vaccine, while 39% would not. (VTsiom) ◎ Muscovites who rent out rooms or flats in the capital earn an average of just R46,400 per month. Only about 35% pay taxes on this income. (RIA Novosti) ◎ The number of Ph.D students has fallen by nearly 50% since 2010 (from 157,437 to 84,265), and only 10% of them defend their dissertation on time, according to a new report by the Higher School of Economics. (hse.ru) ◎ Russia will lose up to R5 trillion by 2050 due to permafrost melt. Every year, it costs the country R50-150 billion to fix infrastructural damage caused by shifting soil. The government says a new law for monitoring permafrost will help control the damage. (Lenta.ru) ◎ Russia has over 500,000 stray dogs and 150,000 stray cats roaming the country and not housed in shelters. The country has just 90 municipal shelters for cats and dogs, 20 that belong to regional authorities and about 300 more run by volunteer groups. (Environment minister Alexander Kozlov, via Interfax). ◎ When applying for a job, Russians most often lie about their professional skills (52%), followed by work experience (37%) and job duties (35%). 24% of employers feel that job seekers also overestimate their software skills, 18% saw incorrect personal data as a problem and 16% said foreign language skills were overstated. Only 6% of employers said they did not come across incorrect information in resumes. (SuperJob) ◎ Every fourth Russian believes it is difficult to run a business, largely because of the bureaucracy. Meanwhile, 80% of business people say they are not protected from baseless criminal prosecution, a view that is shared by 60.8% of defense attorneys and lawyers and 18.4% of prosecutors.