Notebook

Slacking on Reform

Russia falling behind CIS countries

A study by the World Bank places Russia low on the list of countries enacting business-friendly reforms. According to the report, Russia enacted no legislation in 2008 to make life easier for small and mid-sized businesses, earning it a rank of 120 out of 181 countries. Top CIS reformers in 2008 were Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan. Azerbaijan shot from 97 to 33 in the rankings, a result of two years of targeted reforms, said study co-author Svetlana Bagaudinova. Russia, by contrast, fell from 112 on the list in 2007. The study, Doing Business, tracks the cost and time it takes to meet legal requirements to start and run a business in a given country. The world’s top three business-friendly environments are Singapore, New Zealand, and the United States. The report concluded that Russia’s weakest point is in construction permits, where it ranked 180 out of 181. To start construction in Russia, a company must complete 54 procedures over the course of 704 days.

 

Ossetian Serenade

Rush to the front

Musicians flocked to Tskhinvali after fighting halted in the streets of the South Ossetian capital. Re-nowned conductor Valery Gergiev, who was born in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, and who is now the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (in addition to artistic director and principal conductor at St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater), opened a “requiem concert” amid the ruins of the embattled city. He described Tskhinvali as a “hero-city” and compared it to the demolished World War II city of Stalingrad. “What I have seen today is Stalingrad — it is complete destruction,” he said. The Mariinsky Theater Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Sym-phony (famously performed during the Leningrad Blockade) and Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony (“Leningrad”) for a crowd of 5000, Interfax reported.

Other Russian musicians quickly followed in Gergiev’s footsteps. Oleg Gazmanov, a late 1980s pop star, joined efforts with Lyube, a “past its prime” band. Leonid Yakubovich, former host of the ultra-popular Wheel-of-Fortune spin-off called Polye Chudes, was also on stage. Meanwhile, crooner Iosif Kobzon and violinist Yury Bashmet separately expressed a desire to perform in Ossetia, but their plans did not materialize.

 

Ingush Ambush

A shot heard across the Caucasus

Magomed Evloev, owner of the opposition website ingushetiya.ru, and a vocal critic of the government, died of a gunshot wound to the head after flying from Moscow to Nazran, the Ingush capital, on August 31. 

Evloev was reportedly on the same flight as Ingush President Murat Zyazikov, yet, upon landing, Evloev was taken away in a police car (by some press accounts, upon an order by Zyazikov). Less than an hour later, his body arrived in a hospital with the fatal head wound. The Ingush Interior Ministry declared it “an accidental gunshot.” 

“The accidental shot version is nothing but a tall tale,” Magomed Khazbiev, a colleague of Evloev, told Kavkaz Uzel. “Why wasn’t the gun on safety lock, with a bullet in the chamber? The bullet went in one side of his head and out of the other, which could not happen in the case of a fight.”

Evloev had openly opposed the president of Ingushetia and was persecuted by the republic’s authorities for over a year. His campaign “I did not vote,” started after last spring’s presidential elections uncovered evidence of massive ballot stuffing in Ingu-shetia, indicating that the declared 99 percent turnout figures were a bald fabrication.

Shortly after the killing, Evloev’s family pledged blood revenge against Ingushetia’s Interior Minister Musa Medov and President Zyazikov. 

The human rights organization Memorial called the killing an act of “state supported terror,” and state prosecutors have opened an investigation. Experts note that the small Caucasian republic, which has been extremely unstable for nearly two years, is now closer than ever to a state of civil war. Since 2002, 159 persons have been kidnapped and as many as 800 killed, according to Mashr, a local human rights organization. “What is happening in Ingushetia right now is a step removed from solving real problems, toward a war of everyone with everyone in the Caucasus,” North Caucasus expert Abdulla Istamulov told Izbrannoe.

 

Gori Museum

Immortalizing the war

Georgia plans to open a Museum of Russian Aggression in Gori, Minister of Culture and Sport Nika Vacheishvili said, according to Kommersant. The new museum will be part of the existing Stalin Museum in Gori, the town where the Soviet dictator was born. Gori was one of the Georgian cities bombed in August, when Russia attacked Georgia after Georgia bombed the South Ossetian city Tskhinvali. Museum workers in Gori are collecting evidence of bombardment and looting by Russian troops, a Stalin Museum employee told Kommersant. Georgia is also apparently planning to consult Poland and the Baltic states on creating an exhibition that will reflect Russian occupation and aggression, said Natalia Mura-chashvili of the Georgian Ministry of Culture. 

 

New Networks

What Classmates.ru didn’t teach

Following the successes of established Russian social networking sites (see Russian Life, Mar/Apr 2008), a few spinoffs are competing for internet users. Shopaholics and brand-conscious yuppies can log on to -shopping2.ru and find out what clubs and boutiques their friends go to. Launched in July, the website now has over 500 members.

Sobornoedelo.ru (“ecclesiastical matters”) is a meeting place for Orthodox Christians, with a blessing from the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, and without the “pornography” so often seen on non-religious sites, as the project’s mission statement reads. 

Lastly, millions of Russians who did time behind bars now also have a chance to reconnect. What first appeared as a spoof on the social networking mania eventually became an actual website that aims to reconnect former prisoners. Sokamerniki.net (“cellmates”) is managed by the Prisoners Union, an organization that advocates for prisoners’ rights. At the time of writing, it had over 1000 registered users, although it is hard to verify how many have actually been in jail.

 

Field Work

A Soviet tradition returns

Russian universities may reintroduce the practice of sending students out to help with the fall harvest, most notably with potato crops. A tradition dating to at least the 1970s, students were sent to kolkhozes as a way to deal with labor shortages and build discipline in the proletarian environment of Soviet agriculture. In reality, these “kartoshka trips” often involved lots of drunken guitar songs and squabbles between city college youth and locals. 

This year, weather conditions were drowning potato crops, and students were dispatched to the fields to pick potatoes before they could rot, since tractors and other equipment were all but useless in the swampy fields. Universities in Tambov, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg were among the schools that sent first-year students into rainy fields, where they worked for R50 an hour (about $2). Twelve schools in St. Petersburg sent over 1,800 volunteers to surrounding farms, the region’s Ministry of Economic Development said in a press release. 

 

Mystery Crash

Plane fails to land in Perm

A Boeing-737 crashed while landing at Perm airport, killing 88, including 6 children and 6 members of the crew, spreading debris over the Trans-siberian railway and beyond, just missing residential buildings. 

The flight was arriving from Moscow and, judging from the flight transcript, the plane began a sudden ascent, despite directions from the Perm traffic controller to land the plane. For some reason, the pilots repeatedly failed to follow controllers’ instructions, Kommersant reported, noting that the pilots did not have much experience with Boeing jets.

In a company press release, Aeroflot Nord, which operated the flight, suggested that a possible reason for the tragedy was the Boeing-737’s navigational panel, which uses a scale different from what Russian pilots are used to.

Aeroflot Russian International Airlines, meanwhile, was quick to disown Aeroflot Nord – its subsidiary company – after the crash, which tarnished the company’s spotless 14-year safety record. 

Aeroflot Nord, which was previously known as Arkhangelsk Airlines, came under Aeroflot’s umbrella in 2004, when Aeroflot purchased a 51% stake in the company and changed its name. But now, as a result of the crash, the company is being forced to drop the “Aeroflot” from its name. One Aeroflot Nord pilot told Russky Reporter magazine that he considered this move hypocritical on the part of Aeroflot executives, because, he said, Aeroflot pays its subsidiaries’ pilots very little, in order to maximize profits.

 

Austria to Moscow

Russian S7 Airlines is a top contender to buy Austrian Airlines. The shortlist for the airline, which is majority owned by the Austrian government, includes Lufthansa, S7, and Air France-KLM. Austrian is worth some $746 million. The three bidders must make binding offers for the carrier by late October, Reuters reported. 

 

Luxury Living

A Moscow luxury apartment is on the block for €76 million ($109 million). The 1300 m2 (14,000 ft2) residence is in the Chistye Prudy neighborhood and has seven rooms on seven different floors, starting with a pool on the lowest level, and topped by a winter garden and terrace with a view of the city.

 

Arctic Ambitions

Russia has turned its eyes toward the Arctic. In September, Bloomberg reported that President Dmitry Medvedev set before Russia the task of turning the Arctic “into a resource base for Russia in the 21st century.” Russia stakes a claim to 18 percent of the Arctic, which butts up against 20,000 kilometers of Russia’s northern border. A development plan for the region is to be drafted by the government before December 1.

 

Stalin Slips

Contrary to some expectations, Joseph Stalin did not win the web-based “Name of Russia” contest, launched in Russia several months ago as a PR project for a state television channel. The winners, announced in late September, included Alexander Nevsky in first place, followed by Alexander Pushkin and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Stalin, who led the highly unscientific popularity contest for many months, finished in 12th place.

 

White Whale Wanted

Russian film director Timur Bekmambetov, who most recently adapted a comic strip to make the action movie Wanted, is moving into the classical canon. Universal Studios has paid screenwriters six figures to mold Herman Melville’s dense novel, Moby Dick, into something suitable for Hollywood, Variety reported. The film, to be directed by Bekmambetov, will depict Captain Ahab “more as a charismatic leader than a brooding obsessive,” while the special effects will “tell what at its core is an action-adventure-revenge story.”

 

Counting Russia

Russia is preparing for the 2010 national census. The 2002 census data is outdated, Rosstat officials said. “New information will let the government understand the seriousness of the demographic problem,” Vladimir Sokolin, head of Rosstat, told Kommersant. At present, Sokolin said, the number of employment-aged Russians is falling by a million persons each year.

 

Next Default?

One month after Russians remembered the August 1998 government default and market crash, the Russian market continued a summer long slide that brought it to its lowest point in years, raising waves of panic between investors and banks and leading to multiple market shutdowns. From a high of 2487 on May 19, the RTS index fell to 1058 on September 17. Experts pointed to global financial malaise, low oil prices, liquidity shortage, and a loss of investor confidence due to the war in South Ossetia. Russia has so far lost $10-15 billion dollars as foreign investors pulled out of the Russian market because of the global crisis, said Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. 

 

Goodbye Kitty

A Russian cartoon series may soon air on American cable channels. The company 4Kids Entertainment, which distributes Pokemon in the U.S., bought the rights to show the Russian-made children’s series Smeshariki (Funnies) in English-speaking countries. The series will air in November under the name Go Go Riki, Kommersant reported. Smeshariki was created in 2003 and has aired over 200 six-minute programs featuring nine round-bodied – thus the “sharik” (“ball”) in the series’ name – animal characters.

 

Big Budgets

The Russian Duma passed a new, three-year budget for the 2009-2011. Total budget income will be R10.92 trillion, of which R4.69 trillion will be revenues from oil and gas. The Reserve Fund is to reach R5.14 trillion by the end of 2009, while the GDP will be R51.5 trillion. Inflation in 2009 is expected to be 8.7 percent.

 

Another Fed Cup

Kuznetsova and Co. dominate

Russia retained its Fed Cup title this fall, hoisting the trophy for the fourth time in five years. For the second year running, Svetlana Kuznet-sova bounced back from losing the opening set of the third rubber to give Russia a winning 3-0 lead, after she and Vera Zvonareva each won their singles rubbers. Yekaterina Makarova and Yelena Vesnina defeated Suarez Navarro and Virginia Ruabo in the final, moot doubles rubber.

After sweeping the womens’ tennis medals in Beijing and with five players ranked in the Top 10, Russia was the odds-on favorite in the match, despite the absence of three of its top players. 

“It’s amazing to win another Fed Cup for my team,” said Kuznetsova, who has now won her last seven Fed Cup singles matches. “It’s been a tough year with a lot of ups and downs.” 

Russia has won 14 of its last 15 Fed Cup ties (in Fed Cup lingo, a match is a “tie”). Its last defeat was versus a Belgian team, led by Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, in 2006. The Fed Cup starts back up in February, where the enviably strong Russian team will face China. 

 

New Chess Queen

Alexandra Kosteniuk clinches title

In the first three games of the final in the Women’s World Chess Knock-Out Championship, Alexan-dra Kosteniuk (see Russian Life Mar/Apr 2002) scored two points by winning the first game and forcing two draws. In the 2nd and 3rd games, she had the advantage, but her opponent, Hou Yifan (China) skillfully defended her positions and held to a draw. In the final match, Yifan tried to force Kosteniuk to make mistakes. But Kosteniuk did not bite, solidified her position and then struck. Hou defended nicely, gave up her Queen for Bishop and Rook to create some complications. Finally, on the 56th move, a draw was declared and Alexandra Kosteniuk acceded to the title (gaining the necessary 3.5 points) of Women’s World Chess Champion. She is only the 12th Women’s Chess Champion in history, and the first Russian to win the title (the last time a Soviet woman won the world title was in 1991). She is also the only person to simultaneously hold the titles of World Champion in Classical Chess and in Chess960.

 

Davis Cup upset

Men’s team does not advance

Meanwhile, in men’s tennis, Russia lost its Davis Cup semifinals match to Argentina in Buenos Aires. Argentina was 2-0 up after David Nalbandian and Juan-Martin Del Potro beat Igor Andreyev and Nikolai Davydenko respectively on the first day. Dmitry Toursounov and Igor Kunitsyn saved the day, winning their doubles match against Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas in a five-set thriller. On day three, Davydenko evened the score (2-2) when he beat Nalbandian 3/6, 6/3, 7/6 (2), 6/0. But the match was lost when a merciless Del Potro defeated Andreyev 6/4, 6/2, 6/1 in the fifth and final match-up. Argentina will face Spain in the final, after the latter beat the U.S. 4-1. 

 

 

 

Russians Who

 

think Russian troops in South Ossetia should

  stay 56%

  leave 27%

*

speak a 

foreign 

language  

15%

of those

 80% speak English

 16% speak German

 4% speak French

 2% speak Turkish

 

think South Ossetia 

should become part of the Russian Federation quickly 20%

should become part of Russia, but after the situation calms down 26%

should not necessarily become part of Russia 25%

should definitely not become part of Russia 12%

 

prefer to treat themselves,

only visiting doctors in emergencies  52%

visit the doctor only when they don’t feel well  32%

would like to visit doctors more often but

  do not have time to wait in line  5%

  do not have the money  6%

  do not trust modern medicine  8%

  think it is pointless  2%

 

treat themselves and 

  use herbs  31%

  honey and propolis  10%

  vodka and alcohol infusions  7%

 

are happy with how they look 77%

think good looks are genetic  31%

would like to: 

spend more time and money on their appearance  46%

go to a beauty salon  14%

go  to a gym  11%

buy more expensive skin products  9%

get a massage  7%

 

“A lot of minigarchs are very rapidly becoming nanogarchs.”

Anonymous market insider about Russia’s financial market troubles in September (Financial Times) 

 

“In the past 4-5 years, a servile culture for satisfying leaders’ whims has arisen in the government. There is nobody there who can stand up, pound his fist on the table and say ‘Guys, everything is very bad. If you want, put me in prison. If you want, fire me, but I am bound to tell you that the economy is in a very bad way.’ There are no people like this. To the end, holding fast to their seats, they will keep telling us that things are great. That we’re an island of stability.”

Economist Vladislav Milov (Ekho Moskvy)

 

“But who opened Pandora’s box? Did we do it?
No, we didn’t do it.“

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, on the war with Georgia (CNN)

 

“As a result of the military operation [in Georgia], Russia returned to its traditional form of government, based on the three “elephants.“ This is, first, personalized power. Second, state control of the economy. And, finally, third, an anti-liberal, anti-western mobilization of society... Medvedev has donned a Putin workcoat, and now, even if he wanted to, he could not jump out of it.”

Commentator Lilia Shevtsova (Izbrannoe).

 

“Sovietology, like paranoia, is a serious illness and it is a shame that some of the U.S. administration still suffers from it. They need to study the new Russia, not resurrect phantoms of the Soviet Union.”

President Dmitry Medvedev, at the World Policy Conference in Evian, France.

 

“We are prepared to enter the WTO and consider this a proper step. But only on conditions favorable to us. The WTO is not a carrot, but a set of relatively complicated responsibilities placed upon us.”

Dmitry Medvedev addressing Russian businesspersons (Rossiyskaya Gazeta)

 

“Putin never smiles. He was just making it clear in what sense I existed for him. He knows that I won’t stab him in the back or play games, but that I will simply do what I do. I said, ‘If you want to close Echo, close it. I can’t restrain myself from doing what we are here to do.’”

Ekho Moskvy Radio’s Alexei Venediktov (The New Yorker)

 

“Moscow city architect Alexander Kuzmin has put forth a grandiose idea: ‘If 40 percent of the residents would combine their place of residence and work, the transportation problem would be solved.’ I know of a recipe where this figure approaches not 40 but 100 percent. It’s called a concentration camp.”

Mikhail Blinkin, Transportation analyst and longtime critic
of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s transportation policies (Vedomosti)

 

“If Russia ever wants to be more than just an energy supplier, its leaders have to recognize a hard truth: Russia depends on the world for its success, and it cannot change that.”

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice criticizing Russia’s actions in
Georgia in a speech to the German Marshall Fund

 

There were 1,262,500 marriages and 685,910 divorces registered in Russia in 2007. For every 1,000 persons, there were 8.9 marriages and 4.8 divorces (up from 7.8 and 4.5 the year before) 2 537,000 Russians were registered as drug users in 2007, while the real amount of drug users is estimated to be five times higher, or about 2% of the population. 90% of those registered use opiate drugs, half of which use heavy drugs like heroin. 10-30,000 Russians die from drug abuse every year.  2 110,950 persons have emigrated from Russia since 2004. 15,684 left in 2007 to countries outside the former USSR, down from 18,799 the year before. The top three destinations for Russians are Germany (6,486), the U.S. (2,108) and Israel (1,202). 2 Russians watched on average 411 television commercials per week in 2008 – 125 less than last year. A new Russian law passed in 2008 limits TV commercial time to nine minutes per hour, which has caused ad prices to increase 50-55%. 2 There were 58,787 book titles published in the first half of 2008, and total printings of 342,000,000 copies. The average print run for a Russian book title is 5,814 copies. 86.9% of volumes are more than 48 pages long, and 35% are hardbound. 9,196 of the books published were fiction, 4,735 were children’s books. 60% of all book titles and 83% of all copies were published in Moscow. Just 9% of all titles and 6% of all copies were published in St. Petersburg. Only 13 titles were published in the Tyva republic. 7,000 titles (12%) were translations from other languages, of which 4,681 were translations from English. The top published author is Darya Dontsova, who pens “women’s detective” novels. The top published classic author is Fyodor Dostoyevsky, in 11th place. 2 69% of Russians say they do not use the internet at all, while another 11% use it daily. 9% log on several times per week. As would be expected, usage is higher in cities than in the countryside. In Moscow and St Petersburg, 41% say they use the internet regularly; in rural areas that number is 12%.