A Russian lawmaker has reached out to Belarus, asking President Alexander Lukashenko to allow Russia’s disqualified athletes to compete in international events under the Belarusian flag.
“Taking into account the status of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, I ask you to begin consultations regarding the possibility of Russian athletes participating in international competition under the Belarusian flag, until the ban is lifted by the International Association of Athletics Federations,” said United Russia party lawmaker Yevgeny Fyodorov. Conveniently, Lukashenko also heads the Belarusian National Olympic Committee. The Russian Athletics Federation is still under a ban (extended in February) due to allegations of pervasive doping, and many Russian competitors have already petitioned to compete under a neutral flag, assuming they can pass the drug tests.
A new Russian app will help people organize… funerals. The morbid mobile application, called Umer (“Died”) will help grieving relatives navigate Russia’s overwhelmingly complex web of funeral services, whose prices are far from transparent. Developer Dmitry Geranin, who launched the app, is the chief of the Yandex.Weather forecasting service, and says his new app is a “hobby.”
For the first time, Moscow’s Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Musical Theater has hired a non-Russian to lead its ballet troupe. Laurent Hilaire, a Frenchman with a career at the storied Paris Opera Ballet, joined Moscow’s second-ranked company (after the Bolshoi) on January 1. A star dancer who was groomed from a young age by the legendary Rudolf Nureyev, Hilaire will be responsible for 125 annual performances during his five-year contract.
Russia’s new epic drama Viking, a film seven years in the making, is the story of the coming to power of Prince Vladimir in tenth century Kievan Rus. The expensive blockbuster, directed by Andrei Kravchuk (whose previous films include The Italian (Итальянец) and Admiral (Адмиралъ), cost some R1.25 billion (over $21 million) to make, and was the highest grossing film in Russia last year, as well as the highest-grossing Russian film in history.
The plot is based on the description of Vladimir’s coming to power found in the Russian Primary Chronicles (Повесть Временных Лет) – a history written by the monk Nestor nearly a century after the fact – and historians say the film more or less accurately reflects the story line, though some medieval experts have been critical.
Some attacked the movie as being overly violent and for depicting Russia as “too dirty,” as well as for portraying Vladimir (to whom a giant monument was erected near the Kremlin last year, see Russian Life January/February 2017) as too brutal. Some compared the aesthetic of the film, particularly the wintry battle scenes, to Game of Thrones.
The film’s plot has young Vladimir, played by heartthrob Danila Kozlovsky, summoned from exile in Sweden to avenge the murder of his brother Oleg by his other brother Yaropolk. Vladimir eventually becomes the ruler of Kievan Rus and later converts to Orthodox Christianity. Most of the film’s shooting was done in Crimea, and the set has since been converted into a theme park.
Producer Konstantin Ernst, the chief of Channel One, said the movie is important because, “had Vladimir made a different choice, we would be different… Russia, despite its complicated geography, is a European country, and we are people of European culture. And that is an outcome of the choice Vladimir made,” he told Gazeta.ru.
The Justice Ministry has registered Russia’s 77th political party – one that has been trying to get itself on the books since 2013. “The Partyless Party” is led by Alexander Safoshin and aims to unite voters reluctant to identify with any party. It has already opened 29 branches around the country.
Russian theaters’ cooperation with American cinemas is expanding. This winter Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theater launched Anna Karenina, a modern dance interpretation of Lev Tolstoy’s novel, in partnership with Stage Russia HD, which screens Russian plays in cinemas across the US.
Other classics on view will include the Moscow Art Theater’s Cherry Orchard, Vakhtangov’s Eugene Onegin, and MTUZ’s production of The Black Monk, set to premiere in March. For showings and times, visit stagerussia.com
Russia’s space industry has hit another rough patch. After recent tests (and the December 1 failure of an unpiloted supply ship bound for the ISS) showed that engines to be used by future second and third stages of the famed Proton rocket had resulted in a large number of failures. The company that produces them, Voronezh Manufacturing, was put under investigation.
The head of the Voronezh facility resigned, and the failures were traced to the illegal replacement of a heat-resistant alloy with less expensive and more failure prone materials. Dozens of engines were recalled and all Proton launches have been put on hold, at least until May.
Space officials deny there is a link between the Voronezh scandal and the Soyuz rockets, which are used to launch missions to the International Space Station, but the manned mission that was set for late March – to carry cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikin and astronaut Jack Fisher to the ISS – is now delayed until late April.
The heavy-lifting Proton booster and the smaller Soyuz rocket are workhorses used to launch crews and cargo to the ISS and to put satellites in orbit for countries lacking their own launch capabilities.
The Russian government has launched a land giveaway in the Far East, in hopes of invigorating this sparsely populated territory. Called the “Far Eastern Hectare” (дальневосточный гектар), the program aims to give away over 44,000 plots of land, each 10,000 square meters (2.5 acres, or one hectare), in the provinces of Chukotka, Kamchatka, Yakutia, Magadan, Amur, Sakhalin, Khabarovsk, and Primorye.
Those interested can select the plot they desire through the website надальнийвосток.рф and claim it for free for five years. If, in that time, the claimant in fact launches a farm or other sort of business, it can become his or her property.
The program was actually launched last year, but was limited to residents of the far-eastern provinces. It has now been extended to the entire country, with mixed results, as most of the territory on offer is far from any road or power lines, and developing it would require enormous investments.
At press time, fewer than 4,500 plots had been claimed since the launch date of June 1, 2016.
Critics say that just giving land away is not enough to motivate people to move to under-developed expanses. What is needed are sweeping reforms to ease working conditions for small businesses such as organic farms.
Moreover, one hectare is rather small for a modern farm. Pyotr Stolypin, who initiated a similar reform over a century ago in the hope of encouraging Russian peasants to move to Siberia, offered the equivalent of five hectares.
Путь один — это китайский вариант.
“There is only one option, the Chinese approach. Without question, there have to be controls, because there’s no way to prevent [security breaches]. China is less sensitive to public opinion; they have evaluated the threat and limited the internet. Now they have no such problem.”
– Presidential adviser German Klimenko, on the need to shield Russia from the global web. (Interfax.)
У нас наблюдается серьезная усталость от этих обвинений. С нашей точки зрения, по-прежнему звучат абсолютно ничем не подкрепленные голословные обвинения на достаточно любительском, эмоциональном уровне, который вряд ли, наверное, применим к высокопрофессиональной работе реально высококлассных спецслужб.
“There are signs here that people are sick and tired of these accusations. From our point of view, these still sound like absolutely unfounded accusations made at an amateurish, emotional level that is hardly the sort of highly professional work you would expect from truly top-class intelligence services.”
– Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, on reports that President Vladimir Putin personally ordered cyber attacks to sway the US presidential election. (Interfax)
Я хочу успешно завершить свою карьеру. Сегодня все мои путешествия сводятся к тому, что я приезжаю в аэропорт, из него перебираюсь в какое-то помещение, потом назад в аэропорт, вот вроде куда-то съездил. Мне хотелось бы, конечно, по-другому путешествовать, посмотреть на природу, на какие-то исторические достопримечательности.
“I want to bring my career to a successful conclusion… Today all of my traveling consists of arriving at an airport, going from there to some building, then back to the airport – some people might call that travel. Of course, I would like to take different sorts of trips, spend time in nature, take in some historical sites.”
– President Vladimir Putin, on the constraints of sightseeing while being president (Interfax)
Знаем, что Дональд Трамп считается мастером заключать сделки, но Владимир Путин тоже умеет договариваться – и всегда в интересах России.
“We know that Donald Trump is considered a master deal maker, but Vladimir Putin is also a good negotiator, and always in the interests of Russia.”
– Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the prospects of improving Russian-US relations (RIA-Novosti)
Если США дадут гарантии того, что здоровье наших детей, их жизнь, права будут гарантированы <...> то все можно вернуть на круги своя.
“If the United States provides guarantees that the health, lives, and rights of our children will be assured… then everything can go back to the way it was.”
– Russian Senate speaker Valentina Matviyenko, on Russia’s readiness to revisit the ban on US adoptions (Interfax).
Миграционные службы продлили вид на жительство Сноудена на три года. Таким образом, у него появятся основания для получения гражданства.
“Migration authorities have renewed (Edward) Snowden’s residency for another three years. This offers him the grounds for obtaining citizenship.”
– Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena on the possibility of Snowden receiving a Russian passport; he has lived in Russia since the summer of 2013. (Interfax)
Alexei Yablokov, a marine zoologist turned environmental campaigner who became a legend in the Russian environmental movement, passed away in Moscow after a long illness. He was 83 years old.
Yablokov focused on marine mammals during the Soviet era, developing a non-invasive way of studying their populations, even running a joint program with the US off the California coast.
Following the Chernobyl disaster, Yablokov dedicated many years of his life to drawing attention to the dangers of radiation exposure. The anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s became the core of the perestroika-era environmental movement, and Yablokov was one of a handful of outspoken scientists to join the country’s first popularly elected parliament, the Congress of People’s Deputies.
He was also behind the establishment of the Soviet branch of Greenpeace, which went on to become Greenpeace Russia. He served as the environmental advisor to President Boris Yeltsin and later spent decades advising countless NGOs.
For environmentalists across the country, according to Sakhalin-based activist Dmitry Lisitsyn, Yablokov was “the equivalent to what a saint is to believers.”
A Christmas Day airplane crash into the Black Sea killed 64 members of the famed Alexandrov Ensemble – almost the entire working membership of the troupe, including its director.
The official song and dance ensemble of the Defense Ministry, the group was en route to Syria to perform for the Russian contingent at the Hmeimim Airbase, out of which Moscow has been running its bombing campaign to support the government of Bashar al-Assad.
The Alexandrov Ensemble is one of the two Russian groups known in the West as the Red Army Choir, the other being a similar ensemble belonging to the Interior Ministry.
Both have gone viral in recent years with their interpretations of modern hits. The Alexandrov Ensemble’s rendition of “Skyfall” went viral on Youtube, while the Interior Ministry choir was featured during the opening of the Sochi Olympic Games performing “Get Lucky.”
The Alexandrov Ensemble is considered to be the more highbrow of the two choirs, with a repertoire heavy on classic folk tunes and wartime songs. It was founded in 1928 by Alexander Alexandrov and was a tool of “soft power” during the Soviet era, touring Western countries.
After the tragedy, the musical world mourned the singers’ passing, and performances were held in their honor all over the world, including by the Band of the Scots Guards in Britain.
Auditions are being held to refill the ranks of the Alexandrov Ensemble.
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