Notebook

Russia Aids US Agriculture

Importing tough bees and hardy peppers

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warms of hardy Russian queen bees will be used in a desperate battle to defeat tiny blood-sucking mites that have been devastating honey bee colonies in America since the late 1980s. The situation is serious not because of fears of a nationwide honey shortage, but because bees pollinate farm crops in the US with an estimated annual value of $8-10 billion. 

Russian honey bees are twice as resistant to attacks by the blood-sucking varroa mites, because the bees evolved in the mite-infested Primorsky region of the Russian Far East. 

The Russian bees passed through strict US quarantine requirements last year and this summer the Agriculture Department signed an agreement with bee breeder Steven Bernard of Breaux, LA, to raise hundreds of Russian honey bee queens during the fall and winter. 

Not an apiarist, but still want to “import” a bit of Russia into next year’s garden? Well, how about a Russian pepper? Like the bees, the sweet Russian Healthy Pepper (see photo), has been hardened by the peculiar climate of Russia—in this case the short growing season. The seeds are rare heirlooms (best of “open,” or naturally pollinated seeds passed down through the generations) and thus produce a more tasty, aromatic variety of plant than hybrid. They are just one of the many heirloom and open pollinated seeds offered by Maryann Under-wood, who said the Russian Healthy Pepper is “a wonderful variety.” You can order the seeds on the web at www.grandmasgarden.com or by mail from Underwood Gardens, 4N381RL Maple Ave., Bensenville, IL 60106. One pack of pepper seeds (about 25-30) costs $2.25, shipping and handling on any order is $2.75. A catalog is just $3. Underwood also sells a very fragrant, multi-colored Russian ornamental flowering tobacco for flower gardens. 

omsk anyone?

Do the crime in Germany, you could end up doing time in Siberia. Under a German program to reform juvenile delinquents, offenders are being sent to a special settlement in Omsk Oblast instead of to detention centers in their home country, Vremya MN reported. The aim of the program is an “attitude adjustment” toward life and other people by dropping the youths into an environment that is demonstrably more difficult than Germany. The program is also much cheaper than domestic detention programs and gives new meaning to the Russian saying: “What is good for a Russian is deadly for a German.”

hot springs

President Boris Yeltsin may soon stop vacationing in his beloved Shuyskaya Chupa, in Karelia (see Russian Life, Aug/Sep 1999). Geologists have discovered deposits of uranium and vanadium ores in the Onega lake region, just a few kilometers away from the presidential residence, Kom-mer--sant said. Eventual development of the deposits would threaten the ecology of Lake Onega and the world famous architectural monument of Kizhi. In the meantime, Nevsk-geologiya, a Russian contractor, is preparing a technical feasilibility plan for the State Committee on Ecology. Karelian leader Sergei Kata-nan-dov has refused to issue a license to Nevskgeologiya. Yet, as Kom-mer--sant daily pointed out, regional premiers come and go, but the deposit is there to stay.

psst, wanna metro?

Want to buy a metro? Vremya MN reported that Nizhny Novgorod’s metro system will go on the block (part of it at least, through a joint stock company) if mayor Yuri Lebedev has his way. The metro is bleeding money and cannot raise fares fast enough to pay escalating costs. Moreover, the system is still under construction and owes builders over 5 million rubles.

red hot square

Shortly after the release of their successful album Californication, the US rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers performed on Moscow’s Red Square near St. Basil’s Cathedral in a free, MTV-televised gig. Pepper’s Anthony Kiedis, referring to their album lyrics “Mother Russia stop suffering! I know you are brave and daring!” told a local press-conference that “when one lives in America, one always keeps thinking about Rus-sia as a fairy country....” Guitarist John Fru-s-ciante said of his visit to the Kremlin: “When we were in the Krem-lin, we enjoyed it so much that we laughed from joy. This is one of the most beautiful places on the earth and I would like to live there.”

space for let

Real estate experts interviewed by the Moscow Times recently concurred that the market is once again stable and prices are on the rise. The usurious profits (sometimes over 500%) of the past are gone, but there is still plenty of money to be made, the experts said. The experts said that prices for top-class apartments have declined only about 20% of their value as a result of the financial crisis, and demand is still quite high. But in the bottom half of the residential market, purchase prices and rents slipped by as much as 60%. In the middle, there are real “bargains” to be found and an apartment can be bought now for aroudn $450 per m2 (lower in the suburbs), whereas it was not possible to buy for less than $800-900 in early 1998.

for shame!

After a chemical accident at Lake Alabuga in Chelyabinsk Oblast in 1957, consumption of fish from the lake was banned. But this summer, local authorities for some reason authorized fish sales to hospitals and kindergartens, Green-peace reported in August. Within days of the report, the oblast’s health authorities again imposed the ban. Fish from the lake reportedly carry high concentrations of strontium and cesium. 

end of an era

Russian actor Alexander Demya-nenko died from complications after a heart attack in July. He was 63. Known and loved by millions, he is best remembered by Russians as the hapless student in thick glasses Shurik (a diminutive of Alexander), from Leonid Gayday’s film Prisoner of the Caucasus. Gayday and most of the other actors in the film—i.e. Yuri Nikulin and Frunzik Myrtchyan, Yevgeny Morgunov—-have also died. Even though the role made him famous, Demyanenko was not happy being known to all as simply “Shurik,” and he was successful in many other roles. Interestingly, he did a good bit of dubbing for foreign films—foreign stars like Jean Paul Belmondo and Robert DeNiro speak in Demyanenko’s voice. Only in his later years did Demyanenko resign himself to accepting the appellation of Shurik. “What are you gonna do to the people ...” he said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda shortly before his death. “You can’t really manage the audience. It looks like I will be best remembered as that hero ...” 

farewell

In early September, Lev Razgon died at the age of 91. Born in 1908, Razgon went on to become a journalist and author of children’s books. He married the daughter of a high-ranking Cheka official in 1932. In 1938, he was arrested and spent 18 years in camps and exile, before being rehabilitated in 1956. He resumed his literary work and also secretly began to chronicle the lives of those whose fate had been forgotten by Stalin’s repression. He was a founding member of Memorial, a private citizens group dedicated to remembrance of the victims of the Bolshevik repressions. His memoirs, first published in 1988 in Russia, were met by huge acclaim and he became a best-selling author. He also served on the Presidential Clemency Com-mission, which reviewed cases of capital punishment. 

Trading Cuisines?

Extending a Moscow chain; Reopening a US institution

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espite the chilling effects of last year’s financial crisis on dining out, pizza continues to expand its slice of the capital’s restaurant market. The Patio-Pizza chain recently opened its sixth restaurant in Moscow, this one on Smolenskaya square, across from the Foreign Ministry. 

The Patio-Pizza chain is part of the company Rosinter, founded by Rostislav Ordov-sky-Tana-ev-sky Blanco. Blanco was born in Venezuela but has Russian roots (his great-grandfather Nikolai Ordov-sky-Tanaevsky was the last governor of the Tobolsk guberniya). His first restaurant in Moscow was El Rincon Espanol, which opened in 1990. Today the company has over 30 restaurants in Russia —not only in Moscow but also in St. Petersburg and Omsk—including The American Bar & Grill, Rosticks and others. 

Meanwhile, in New York, the world’s most famous Russian restaurant, the Russian Tea Room, will celebrate its public reopening on October 11. 

The Russian Tea Room was founded in 1927 by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet. It quickly became the gathering place for Russian émigrés fleeing the Bolshevik revolution, despite that fact that it only served tea and pastries for the first few years (until Prohi-bition ended in 1932, when the soda fountain was re-placed with a bar, stocked with over 20 types of vodkas). During and after WWII, the restaurant quickly became a popular dining spot for Manhattan’s actors and artists—renowned as a “Hollywood East.” 

In 1995, the restaurant was purchased by Warner LeRoy, who had roots in Hollywood West, and who has enjoyed success with his New York restaurants Maxwell’s Plum and Tavern On the Green. Since the Tea Room’s closing in 1995, LeRoy (pictured  with some of the works of art that will adorn the restaurant) has poured $20 million into renovating the restaurant, which is now expanded to four floors and is being redecorated in modernist Russian style.

One Step Forward ...

Women and Russia’s Christian churches

Inessa Tirbah, above,  is Russia’s first female pastor. Tirbah preaches to parishioners at the Evangelical Lutheran church recently opened in Orenburg. Many parishioners are ethnic Germans who came to Russia two centuries ago at the invitation of Catherine the Great (see Russian Life, June/ July 1998) 

Meanwhile, Kom-mer--sant-Daily reported that the head of the Tula diocese of the Orthodox Church banned Larisa Kovyr-zenkova, director of the oblast’s Depar-tment of Culture, from entering the Cathedral of the Assumption at the Tula Kremlin. The diocese accuses Kovyr-zenkova of blasphemy for having stood directly in front of the cathedral’s altar, a place women may not go, according to Orthodox Church canons.

A monument to Russia’s fairy tale hero Ilya Muromets was unveiled in the bogatyr’s native city of Murom. The 17 meter high sculpture by Vyacheslav Klykov was erected on the famous Voevodina hill in the city park. 

In October, Russian composer Alexandra Pakhmutova turned 70. Her children’s songs made her famous, but she has also composed “hits” for adults, including Nezhnost (Tenderness), a lyrical tune dedicated to Russia’s cosmonauts, and the soundtrack to the film Three Poplars at Plyuschikha. The poet Nikolai Dobronravov—Pakhmutova’s husband—writes most of the lyrics to her tunes.

Russians’ incomes are not keeping pace with inflation. In August, real incomes were, on average, down 36% vs. last year. The chart at right shows the disparity in average monthly income across several Russian cities. At the time this data was collected, there were 26 rubles to the dollar. Source: RFE/RL Russian Federation Report, http://www.rferl.org/russianreport

A poll of 1,200 Muscovites found that most are worried about economic uncertainties and the cleanliness of their city: 51% said they are anxious about high prices for basic goods, 38% are most concerned with bad roads, dirty courtyards and garbage on the streets, 24% are irked by low salaries, 19% by rising unemployment, 20% worry about too many beggars and homeless on the streets and 9% are upset by noise and hazardous exhaust of cars. Just 2% expressed concern about the sorry state of public toilets in the city. ! Russia is the world’s fourth largest arms exporter, following behind the US, Germany and France, and followed by Great Britain. ! The US will spend $15 million on the destruction of nuclear subs at Snezhnogorsk’s Nerpa shipyard, near Murmansk, under the terms of a 1992 agreement to reduce mutual threats of war. ! President Boris Yeltsin is the best known foreign leader in the US—69% of Americans correctly identified him as president of Russia. Less than 50% of those polled knew that Madeleine Albright was the US Secretary of State. ! 11,000 Russians emigrated to the US in 1998. ! Austrian economists have estimated that the shadow economy in Russia accounts for 40% of the country’s GNP. They estimated the figure at 10% for the US and 23-28% for Italy, Spain and Belgium. ! Inflation is expected to come in at 45% for 1999, with real income falling 15-18% for the year. ! During the war in Yugoslavia, in March, 49% of Russians had a negative opinion of the US. By August, that number had dropped to just 32%. SOURCES: Flash poll; US Congressional Research Service; Sevodnya; Harris Poll; US Embassy, Moscow; Friedrich Schneider and Johan Kepler, University of Linz; Interfax; VTsIOM Public Opinion Research Center

“That’s why I was removed, because I was reliable. Not everything is for sale and can be bought.” 

Sergei Stepashin on the reasons for his firing in a 

phone interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda

“It’s a clinical case: senility.” 

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov 

on the reason for Yeltsin’s firing of Stepashin. (Sevodnya) 

“Gloves last longer than our prime-ministers” 

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov on Stepashin’s firing 

Stepashin had served just three months/ (Moskovsky Komsomolets)

“Your personal character closely approximates the level of the president’s demands. That’s good.” 

Boris Yeltsin to his new premier, Vladimir Putin. (Itogi) 

“A Russian general is always right and is never guilty of anything.” 

Duma Deputy, General Albert Makashov (Novye Izvestia)

“One should know how to work without money! Any imbecile can work with money.” 

First Vice-Premier of the Moscow Government Vladimir Resin. (Itogi)

“Give our guys just one beer, and they will drink 

a bucketful of vodka.” 

Soccer coach Leonid Buryak, on the problems of 

drinking in Russian sports. (Express Gazeta)

Spanish Gold

Russian Track and Field Squad Surprises Pundits

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gainst all the odds and contradicting analysts predictions, the Russian national team finished second in overall number of medals at the World Championship of Track and Field, in Seville, Spain. The Russian team took home 13 medals, including six golds; the first place US team won 17, with 11 gold. The powerful German team came in third, with 12 medals and 4 golds. 

The men’s team won four of the six gold medals. In addition to two golds in walking (Ilya Markov in the 20 km and German Skurygin in the 50 km race), Maxim Tarasov won the pole vault (at 6 m 2 cm; Ukrainian Sergei Bubka—who had to withdraw due to injury—had won the event five years running) and Vyacheslav Voronin won the high jump (2 m 37 cm). 

On the last two days of competition, the women’s team captured their two golds. First, they won the popular 4x400 relay race and then Svetlana Masterkova defeated the favored Regina Jacobs (from the US) in the 1500 meter race. 

At each of the two previous World Championships in track and field (which are held every other year), the Russian team won just one gold medal. Observers attribute the team’s success to new head coach Valery Kulichenko. They say he has brought back levels of discipline, organization and financial support reminiscent of Soviet times, when sports was a higher national priority. “Most importantly,” said gold medalist Masterkova, “we have no problems with financing. We can get together for team practice anytime.”

In an opinion poll by SPORT-EXPRESS and the Russian Olympic Committee, soccer goalie Lev Yashin was named Russia’s sportsman of the century. Yashin was on the Soviet national team that won the gold at the 1956 Olympics and at the European Championships in 1960. Wrestler Alexander Karelin got the second highest number of votes (2489, vs. 2524 for Yashin). Hockey goalie Vladislav Tret-yak came in third. 

Marat Safin was dubbed “The Savior of Russia” when his victory over 3:2 Dominik Hrbaty (Slova-kia) advanced the Russian team to tennis’ Davis Cup semifinals. Safin’s victory was crucial after team leader Yevgeny Kafelnikov and doubles team of Kafelnikov and Andrei Olkhovsky both lost their matches against Slovak opponents. It is the first time since 1995 that Russia has advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals. Shortly after the Davis Cup match, Safin won his first ATP tournament, defeating top seed Greg Rusedky in two sets. 

Englishman Ian Pyman won the BMW Russian Golf Open at the Moscow Country Club in Nakhabino (see Russian Life August-September 1999). He is the fourth Englishman to win the tournament in Nakhabino.  

Russian Alexander Khalifman beat Armenian Vladimir Akopyan 3.5 to 2.5, winning the world chess title in Las Vegas. Yet Gary Kasparov, the world’s top ranked player, and Anatoly Karpov, the previous champion, did not participate. Karpov is suing the International Chess Federation, claiming he had an agreement with Federation President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov whereby the latter agreed not to hold the championship without Karpov’s prior approval.