SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1686 (48), Wednesday, December 7, 2011
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TITLE: KidBurg Teaches Youngsters to Grow Up
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: KidBurg, a recreational center aimed at introducing children to the world of various professions opened at St. Petersburg’s Grand Canyon shopping center on Prospect Engelsa last week.
KidBurg, also advertised as children’s city of professions, is the first working model of adult society scaled down for Russian children. In KidBurg one can find a hospital, post-office, airport, bank, police station and more. There are also TV and radio studios, newspaper office, a theater and an art school, a supermarket, a fitness center and a number of other venues found in any modern city.
KidBurg will give children a taste of what life is like as an adult. As every child enters the city, they are given a passport and up to 50 “profi” — the city’s currency. To start working every city resident must pass a training course and receive a license. For example, a driver must take driver’s ed in order to get a driver’s license, a surgeon must receive a medical diploma and a pilot — a pilot’s license.
The initial capital each child is given is enough to pay for only one education program. After that, the child will have to earn money himself. He can spend this income on entertainment, education or put it into the bank to earn interest.
KidBurg offers the choice of 50 professions that coaches, most of whom are students at St. Petersburg pedagogical institutions, will train children for. The coaches’ job is to train young specialists, assign them tasks and monitor them.
The educational process takes place in special areas such as a hospital where children will learn to work as surgeons, dentists, eye doctors and EMTs. Farmers will grow vegetables and tend to an orchard. In addition, KidBurg kids will be able to have a walk around a real city park and even go sailing.
KidBurg organizers, also the creators of popular interactive museums such as Skazkin Dom and LabirintUm, said they came up with the new project to teach children about life responsibilities.
“Being parents ourselves, we understand how hard it is to teach children to work hard, be responsible, get results and value money as the result of hard work,” said Oksana Orlova, one of KidBurg’s co-founders.
“In KidBurg a child has the chance to learn how important work is and how much joy doing something you like can bring. Children will not only learn about a wide range of different professions, but also choose an occupation they like and spend time getting a higher education,” Orlova said.
Yekaterina Andreyevskaya, KidBurg’s art director, said that in all their projects the museum founders stick to a “learn and play” format, where children get the opportunity to develop new skills knowledge while playing.
“In the experience of our museums, the demand for the children’s recreation activities is very high. It’s not enough anymore to just spend time with children in shopping malls and amusement parks.
The investment into the new project totaled about 70 million rubles ($2.25 million). The founders hope that more than 150,000 children will visit the center.
TITLE: Projects Provide Hope To Baltiisky
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: St. Petersburg shipbuilding plant Baltiisky Zavod, which reached the point of bankruptcy, was promised both money and orders, as well as a new development strategy last week.
Baltiisky Zavod is to receive an order for the construction of parts for two troop- and helicopter-carrying Mistral ships and at least three icebreakers. This was announced at a meeting with plant employees and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who came in support of the plant Friday last week.
“The plant finds itself in a very difficult situation to put it delicately,” Putin said at the meeting.
“To a large extent this situation could have been avoided. The plant is in about 12-15 billion rubles worth of debt. Coming up with such money is unmanageable for the plant now,” Putin said, Fontanka reported.
Vice-prime minister Dmitry Kozak confirmed that the situation was very complicated.
“In this case, the owner’s careless actions were part of the problem. Today it is obvious. We had to take the necessary protection measures since the owner did everything possible to delay the court handlings while continuing to transfer assets abroad,” Kozak said.
Kozak said the only hope in saving the plant would be to agree on it declaring bankruptcy and then deal with its debt.
Baltiisky Zavod trade union representatives asked Putin to avoid the bankruptcy procedure in order “to maintain the plant’s image”. However, Putin said the bankruptcy scheme looked like the only possible opportunity to save the enterprise.
“We’re doing it to save the plant from clearing backlog under some unreliable projects and so as not to let those who drove the plant to such a situation get any money from it,” Putin said, Interfax reported.
In order to save the plant, authorities decided to create a new legal body, Baltiisky Zavod Shipbuilding, to be headed by the plant’s ex-manager, Alexander Voznesensky.
President of United Shipbuilding Corporation, Roman Trotsenko said that provided with a full production schedule its profit should be four billion rubles a year. The contracts for the construction of two diesel-electric icebreakers, one big icebreaker and parts of Mistral-class ship bodies will bring in 18 billion rubles. The contracts end in 2015, therefore for the next four years the plant will have work, Fontanka said.
Starting next year, the plant is to begin taking part in a program to construct nuclear icebreakers. The program is to go until 2020 and bring the plant 117 billion rubles ($3.75 billion).
TITLE: Plushenko Leaves A Just Russia Party
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Olympic figure skating champ Yevgeny Plushenko announced his resignation from the political party A Just Russia.
“I’m seceding from A Just Russia. I’m not joining another party, I’ll be an independent, at least for a while,” Plushenko said at a press conference last week.
Plushenko said that while a member of A Just Russia, he couldn’t find his way as a politician. “I can’t combine political activity with serious sports,” Plushenko said, Interfax reported.
Plushenko said that A Just Russia wasn’t going through its best times. “I don’t see a future with A Just Russia. We are going in different directions.”
The figure skater said that many party members were leaving the “sinking ship.” Plushenko said he hadn’t discussed his decision to leave the party with A Just Russia authorities.
When speaking about the continuation of his political career, however, Plushenko said that he hadn’t made any final decisions yet. “I don’t want to say that I won’t go into big politics in the future,” he said.
Oksana Dmitriyeva, head of A Just Russia’s office in St. Petersburg said that Plushenko probably had been pressured to leave the party, Interfax reported. “Our opponents understand that our party is winning. In order to gain ground on us they use provocation and blackmail.”
In St. Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly Pluschenko was known as a deputy who usually skipped assembly meetings. Several times members spoke about having his mandate rescinded.
TITLE: Police Crack Down on Protesters on Nevsky Prospekt
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Police detained dozens who peacefully protested against widespread violations in the State Duma elections. These violations increased the percentage of votes for United Russia, while cutting down on their rivals’ results. This tendency was also noted in St. Petersburg.
An estimated 1,000 came to protest the violations at Gostiny Dvor Metro Station on Nevsky Prospekt in central St. Petersburg, Monday — three times as many protesters as on election evening, Sunday.
The Monday protest was not organized by any political group and mainly consisted of people who had not previously participated in protest rallies. They organized the protest via the Russian social network Vkontakte (the country’s equivalent of Facebook), as soon as reports about large-scale ballot-stuffing, expulsion of observers and rigging of the the results started to appear.
“It was mostly students from various universities, active Internet users,” Maxim Tomchin, one of the organizers said.
Tomchin said the protesters came together via several groups on Vkontakte which were launched by St. Petersburg residents for the elections. He was an administrator of one of the groups.
“Originally, we were urging people to vote for any party except United Russia, but as news about violations started to come on Sunday, three groups were formed to protest them,” he said.
“We had no idea what an unauthorized rally was and how the authorities would react to that.”
Police reacted by surging into the crowd and arresting people, as they did during the Sunday rally that featured parties not allowed to participate elections.
Police said that about 150 were arrested (about 120 near Gostiny Dvor and about 30 near Moscow Railway Station). Human rights activists said that for most of them it was the first time they had been arrested and they did not know how to behave in a police precinct or what rights they had.
According to Tomchin, after the rally participants split into three large groups.
The largest group chose to act by holding authorized events, the smaller group — which included the participants who had been detained on Monday — became more radical and decided to continue protesting the following day. The smallest group “got scared and decided not to participate at all.”
Tomchin said he submitted an application to City Hall Tuesday to hold a meeting on Dec. 18. The Other Russia, Yabloko Democratic Party, the People’s Freedom Party (Parnas) and Solidarity Democratic Movement backed the rally. According to a Russian law introduced by Putin, the authorities should be warned about a planned rally 15 days in advance.
Tomchin said his group — while remaining non-partisan — will demand the election results be revised and is preparing to counter these kind of violations at the upcoming presidential elections.
He said the upcoming rally’s Vkontakte group was growing quickly, with one or two people joining every minute.
Maxim Reznik, the local chair of Yabloko, said his party will meet A Just Russia and the Communist Party (KPRF) to discuss possible joint protests on Wednesday.
He compared the struggle of observers against violations to the Stalingrad, referring to the fiercely fought WWII battle. “We will act in every way to dispute the results and organize a massive rally,” Reznik said. “It’s important to get a lot of people together.”
On Sunday, 300 to 400 protesters gathered at the same site near Gostiny Dvor as elections were taking place.
They reasoned that the elections were not legal because the authorities repeatedly refused to register several oppositional parties including The Other Russia, Parnas, and the Russian United Labor Front (ROT Front).
“Your elections are a farce” was one of the slogans. Some protesters held an image of Putin’s face with a line struck through it. According to police, 65 people were arrested on Sunday and charged with both failure to follow police orders and violating the rules of assembly. Activists said that more than 90 were arrested.
On Monday, three The Other Russia activists, Andrei Milyuk, Sergei Chepiga and Sergei Chekunov, were sentenced to three days each in custody.
A number of activists complained about police beatings. Olga Kurnosova, the local chair of The United Civil Front (OGF), who was arrested on Sunday, said Tuesday she had a suspected concussion and many bruises.
The Other Russia activist Igor Chepkasov said the policemen were beating the detained people in a bus. During the beatings they broke a window in the bus in which he was being held.
The Other Russia’s local chair Andrei Dmitriyev sees the Monday rally as a good sign. He said his party’s activists were not aware of the event in advance and headed there when they heard the news.
“On Sunday, it was as expected; a group of opposition activists and concerned citizens came to protest at Gostiny Dvor or Triumfalnaya Ploshchad [in Moscow] and got detained by the police,” Dmitriyev said.
“We thought it would be a one-time thing and that there would not be massive people’s protests. Ten thousand people came to the rally in Moscow and a thousand came to Gostiny Dvor. This is very serious, especially because they are not political activists, but ordinary people who are upset by the elections and who are not prepared to tolerate this.
“People feel deceived, they feel that their victory has been stolen, they feel injustice. They’ve started to realize that the question of power can’t be solved through elections. This is a very bad sign for the authorities.”
On Tuesday, protests at Gostiny Dvor continued. Police started detaining protesters at around 7 p.m.
TITLE: Investors Upbeat About New Duma Composition
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — United Russia won enough seats to usher government-sponsored bills through the State Duma, but the decline in popular support for the ruling party as revealed by Sunday’s elections will likely have consequences that reach beyond law making.
Led by President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the party will occupy 238 seats in the new Duma, while a bill requires at least 226 votes to pass.
The loosening of the tight grip that United Russia had on the previous Duma, where it counted 315 deputies, could trigger earnest liberal reforms and a few showcases in the tepid fight on corruption. This could allow the government to win over voters who are not placated by the state’s increased social spending.
“It’ds good news because it will hopefully give the message to the leadership that it will have to change to continue to be successful,” said Jochen Wermuth, chief investment officer at Wermuth Asset Management.
Some of the changes would have to appeal to the 47 million-strong Internet-using middle class who hardly have any representation in the new Duma, he said.
“To not lose these people who want to modernize the country, the Russian authorities will have to start implementing reforms that will make them happy — independent judges, rule of law, fighting corruption,” Wermuth said. “There could be a war on corruption — not with words but actions — for example, putting in prison high-level people who have taken or given bribes at the high level. That would be a chance to impress people.”
Some investment banks and asset managers predicted that the swollen ranks of the leftist forces in the Duma could prompt the government to undermine their support by expanding social spending. The Duma election results could “induce extra populist steps on the part of the country’s leadership to move the needle of public opinion” ahead of the presidential election March 4 where Putin will run, VTB Capital said in a note to investors Monday.
Tim Ash, head of emerging markets research at Royal Bank of Scotland in London, said: “The natural instinct for Putin will be to pump more money into the economy,” Bloomberg reported.
Viktor Szabo, who helps manage about $7 billion in emerging market debt, including Russia’s ruble eurobond, at Aberdeen Asset Management in London, also agreed about the prospect of increased spending, saying it could stoke inflation.
But the most plausible interpretation of the success at the polls for the Communist Party and A Just Russia is venting frustration with United Russia, both Alfa Bank and Wermuth said.
“We do not see this necessarily as nostalgia for Soviet times, but rather as an indication of protest voting,” Alfa Bank chief economist Natalia Orlova and analyst Dmitry Dolgin wrote in a note to investors Monday. “Supporting the Communists as a prominent second party was the most obvious way to vote against United Russia in the absence of a legal means to express this view.”
TITLE: Observers Question Fairness of Elections
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel and Alexey Eremenko
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday dismissed claims of massive vote-rigging in Sunday’s elections by declaring that the State Duma elections were democratic.
“United Russia got as many votes as it had — not more and not less — and in that sense the elections were absolutely fair and just,” Medvedev told supporters in a meeting at his Gorky residence, according to a Kremlin transcript.
But national and international observers pointed to multiple indications of voting fraud, many of which were recorded on video.
One of them, posted on YouTube, showed young men at a Moscow polling station engaging in so-called carousel tactics and voting multiple times. In one video, an activist of the Solidarity opposition movement uncovers a stash of ballots already cast for United Russia in the station’s toilet.
Medvedev, however, flatly dismissed such footage as unconvincing on Monday.
“I watched some of the videos. … There is nothing to be seen. They just cry foul and disgrace,” he said. The president said that although violations should be investigated, his party could not be blamed.
“I believe that United Russia gave a decent performance” he said.
The ruling party, whose list Medvedev headed without being a member, got 49.54 percent — 14 percentage points less than at the 2007 elections, according to preliminary results published Monday.
The Communists came in second with 19.16 percent, followed by A Just Russia with 13.22 percent and the Liberal Democrats, the party of nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, with 11.66 percent, the Central Elections Commission said on its web site.
Opposition leaders also branded the vote as illegitimate, even though United Russia managed to lose to the Communists in the polling station where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin voted.
The Communist Party garnered 26.35 percent at the poll in Moscow’s Gagarin district — almost four points more than United Russia, which got 23.7 percent, Interfax reported Monday.
Other signs of possible falsification was the Soviet-style 99 percent result in Chechnya backing United Russia and a screenshot from state-run Rossia-24 news channel — that quickly went viral on the Internet — showing results in Rostov-on-Don totaling a whopping 146 percent.
Western elections observers said Monday that the vote was unfair but stopped short of saying that it failed to meet international standards. They also said they themselves found indications but no direct proof of rigging.
The vote count was marred “by frequent procedural violations and instances of apparent manipulation, including several serious indications of ballot box-stuffing,” said a joint report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, and the Council of Europe.
Heidi Tagliavini, head of the OSCE mission, said the main deficiency was a blurring of lines between the state and “the governing party,” without naming United Russia.
Her words echoed the main complaint by opposition parties about the central and regional governments’ unashamed use of “administrative resources,” as well as the fact that major parties were not allowed to participate in the elections at all.
Tiny Kox, a Dutch lawmaker who led the mission of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, said he discovered a clear instance of ballot box-stuffing at a Moscow polling station.
“There was a stash of folded ballots inside the box after it was opened for counting, and the station’s head frantically tried to hide it from me,” Kox told reporters. He refused to name the polling station, citing the mission’s rules.
The Dutchman also caused some amusement when he recalled that another Moscow polling station entertained voters and observers with a six-member folk music troupe dressed in bright costumes.
“This is strictly a violation, but a minor one,” he said.
Kox also complained that Central Elections Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov had refused to sit down with observers, canceling a meeting at two hours’ notice last Thursday. “This sets a precedent to other states,” he said.
The commission had no immediate comment on the complaint.
TITLE: 5,000 Protest Vote In Moscow
AUTHOR: By Alexander Bratersky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — At least 5,000 protesters vented their frustration with the State Duma vote on Monday evening in central Moscow at one of the biggest liberal opposition rallies in recent years.
Unlike most events of its kind, the rally near the Chistiye Prudy metro station was sanctioned by the authorities — but it still ended in clashes with police and mass arrests.
Police said 700 to 2,000 people came to the rally, but organizers and independent observers, including several St. Petersburg Times reporters, estimated the crowd at 5,000 to 7,000.
Protesters chanted, “We need new elections,” “Russia without Putin,” “Revolution” and “Shame,” during speeches by opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin, anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, Khimki forest defender Yevgenia Chirikova, journalist Viktor Shenderovich, rock critic Artemy Troitsky and novelist Dmitry Bykov.
Police did not intervene in the rally, organized by the Solidarity group with City Hall’s blessing. But when hundreds of protesters tried to march to the neighboring Lubyanka metro station after the rally, they faced police cordons. Protesters managed to break through one chain of riot police and Interior Troops but were eventually stopped and dispersed by officers, who pushed the crowd inside the metro.
Dozens were manhandled and detained.
Gazeta.ru reported that a soldier with the Interior Troops tried to reason with Navalny during the unsanctioned march. “Alexei, I understand everything, but you just can’t,” the soldier pleaded. Navalny was among those detained, Ekho Moskvy said.
Meanwhile, seeing voters’ growing disenchantment with the ruling authorities, political survivor A Just Russia promised to boost its independence and the still-ruling United Russia hinted at liberalization — possibly under new leadership.
Outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev, the sole name on United Russia’s federal ballot in Sunday’s elections, may replace Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as party head, United Russia official Andrei Vorobyov said, Interfax reported.
The idea was previously voiced in September by Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin, who said the swap might take place after the March presidential election, which Putin is poised to win.
Medvedev did not comment on the proposal during a news conference Monday, but instead said he might consider restoring the “none of the above” option at the ballots.
TITLE: St. Petersburg Experts, Observers Slam ‘Rigged Elections’
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Kravtsova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The State Duma elections held on Sunday were anything but legal and fair, declared independent observers, members of parties opposing the United Russia party and media representatives at an Election Night reception, held in St. Petersburg immediately after polling stations closed.
The parliamentary election results were not surprising and fulfilled the predictions sociologists made foreseeing a decline in United Russia authority and a rise in control held by the Communist party, according to Roman Mogilevsky, research advisor from the Agency for Social Information. “The popularity of and belief in the ruling party will continue to decrease,” added political analyst Sergei Shelin.
“The election campaign had an emotional character. There was no constructive discussion or debate. Because of this, the election agenda remained unclear,” said political analyst Alexei Shustov.
Individuals and analysts agreed that the informational aspect of the elections was lower than it had ever been before. “Election commissions have never been so interested in having a low turnout,” said Vladimir Dmitriyev, leader of the Communist party fraction in St. Petersburg City Hall.
“The higher the turnout, the lower the result for United Russia,” said Alexander Belyayev, member of the City Election Commission.
Oksana Dmitriyeva, A Just Russia party leader in St. Petersburg, said that despite all of the obstacles, activity and consciousness of St. Petersburg residents was unprecedentedly high. “People were recording violations during voting and waited hours for missing ballots. It is a democratic upsurge indeed,” she said.
Dmitriyeva highlighted such violations as the placement of false ballots into ballot boxes and the use of incorrect voting lists. This resulted in a large difference between the number of actual voters and the number of ballots in the ballot boxes, as well as there not being enough ballots for real voters. “Whole households were not included on lists at some polling stations. The organization of the elections can’t be called anything other than a crime,” Dmitriyeva said.
Alexei Vorontsov, a member of the Communist Party, confirmed that people with temporary registrations, who had no right to vote in St. Petersburg, were brought to polling stations to give additional votes to United Russia.
“The city has been engulfed with cases of illegal voting by people with temporary registrations,” said Vladimir Dmitriyev.
Anton Veryovkin from the association of independent observers “Golos” said that photography and video recording was forbidden at almost all polling stations, which is a huge violation of electoral legislation.
“Near the end of polling, lots of journalists were kicked out. Taking into account all of the cases across the country, these were the dirtiest elections, full of mass violations,” he said.
Golos’ website has become the subject of attack along with other media websites like Kommersant, The Echo of Moscow, Dozhd, Bolshoi Gorod, Slon.ru and The New Times, which all reported on violations during polling and held a mass protest against the rigged election results on Dec. 5 in Moscow.
The majority of observers pointed out the unsatisfactory work of law-enforcement authorities, who, for the most part, not only neglected to catch and record violations, but acted aggressively towards those who noted violations during polling. According to Oksana Dmitriyeva, deputy from the party A Just Russia, Oleg Nilov was not allowed to polling station 1550 to participate in vote counting and was beaten by police officers when he tried to stop the falsification of votes.
“The violations that took place in St. Petersburg must lead to changes being made in legislation regarding the work of enforcement authorities and the judiciary system,” said a representative of the Right Cause party.
Political scientists allege that despite all the violations, the results are close to the real situation in Russia. “These elections had one new feature — the influence of new sources of mass communication, such as the Internet. Therefore Russian society is divided into two parts: those who find out information from state TV channels — they vote for United Russia, and those who find out information via the Internet, not watching television and as a result think that the minority supports United Russia. That’s why the latter don’t believe the results,” said political analyst and president of the Respublika Fund, Sergei Tsyplyayev, while Alexander Belyayev is convinced that falsified votes increased United Russia’s rate by 10 percent.
St. Petersburg and Moscow became the only regions in Russia where the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko broke the 7-percent barrier. “The results in St. Petersburg demonstrated that a silent revolution is taking place in the city,” said Belyayev. According to the City Hall polling results, a faction of Yabloko will enter into St. Petersburg’s legislative body, altering things significantly, experts believe.
“In St. Petersburg, United Russia party member Valentina Matviyenko’s unpopular policies caused a lot of people to develop a negative attitude toward United Russia,” Belyayev added.
According to political analyst Konstantin Aksyonov, the idea of a protest vote against the ruling party, which became the feature of the parliamentary elections, is very likely to be the main characteristic of the upcoming presidential elections as well.
TITLE: Holiday Shoppers Likely to Spend More
AUTHOR: By Irina Filatova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The global economic downturn hasn’t hit Russians’ purchasing power significantly, with this year’s spending on gifts and entertainment during the New Year’s holidays expected to grow 11 percent from 2010, while most Europeans plan to cut their holiday expenditures, a survey said Monday.
Russian consumers plan to set aside about 428 euros ($575) for holiday costs, or 11 percent more than last year. More than half of that sum is to be spent on gifts and the remainder on food and entertainment, according to the survey by Deloitte.
The consulting company polled 1,104 people aged between 18 and 65 in six cities with a population of more than 1 million — Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg.
European consumers’ average holiday spending is likely to decrease 0.8 percent this year to reach 587 euros, the survey said.
The gap in spending between Russian and European consumers is not very significant given that Russia’s inflation — expected to reach about 7 percent this year — is higher than in Europe, said Vladimir Biryukov, a partner at Deloitte’s consumer business group.
On the other hand, most respondents in Russia have seen their incomes increase and expect them to continue growing in the future, he said by telephone.
According to the survey, most Russians are optimistic about their personal finances, with 67 percent of them saying their purchasing power had increased compared with last year and 40 percent expecting further growth in 2012.
But half of the respondents think that the country’s economy is still in recession, with only 15 percent and 22 percent, respectively, saying the economy is growing or stable, the survey said.
“For Russian consumers, it seems that the crisis is something that has affected their heads more than their pockets at the moment,” Deloitte said in a statement.
This perception largely results in changing consumer behavior, with most survey participants being more cautious about choosing New Year’s gifts this year, Biryukov said.
Russians have become more rational in their holiday spending. The number of people buying presents without looking at the price decreased from 41 percent in 2010 to 34 percent this year, the survey said.
The number of consumers buying gifts on sale and items considered “useful’ has also increased, bringing consumer behavior in Russia closer to that in Europe, Biryukov said.
Of consumers surveyed, 87 percent said they are planning to buy useful gifts this year, compared with 79 percent in 2010, while about 67 percent will choose discounted or generically labeled products, which are cheaper than branded goods, Deloitte said.
Cash, travel and laptops have remained the most-sought after gifts in Russia over the last couple of years, while the most popular gift purchases are actually cosmetics and perfumes, the survey revealed.
TITLE: Gas Dispute Could Find New Venue
AUTHOR: By Howard Amos
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — While Russia’s expected accession to the World Trade Organization in 2012 could be used in a brewing struggle between Gazprom and the European Union, the move is unlikely to have a big impact on the country’s domestic gas industry or export revenues.
“Broadly speaking everything will stay as it was,” said Artyom Kochin, an oil and gas analyst at UniCredit Securities.
Gazprom increased production by 12 billion cubic meters in 2012 to 520 bcm, and profits from energy exports have grown to about 40 percent of federal revenue. WTO entry will do little to upset these trends.
But membership of the international trade body could provide state gas export monopoly Gazprom with another weapon as it battles the European Union’s third energy packet. The EU measures that could begin to be implemented next year seek to separate production from supply and break up Gazprom’s control of continental pipelines.
Asked about the EU’s plans, Russia’s chief WTO negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said last month that there was a “very big question over whether they are compatible with the obligations of our partners in the WTO.”
EU diplomats have stated repeatedly that the third energy package does not contravene WTO rules and that the issue should be decided in bilateral talks.
Whatever the political consequences for Gazprom, Russia’s export tariffs and internal gas prices are unlikely to be seriously affected. The country will retain its ability to set pricing formulas for the “indefinite future,” Medvedkov said. Long-term gas contracts with European customers are linked to the oil price.
While WTO entry conditions permit the Kremlin to maintain the regulation of domestic gas prices for households and noncommercial users, they are obliged to introduce market prices for gas to industrial enterprises.
This will occur gradually, said Alexander Kirevnin, an oil and gas analyst at VTB Capital, as the state will not allow Gazprom to raise domestic gas prices by more than 15 percent a year.
He added that VTB Capital had not changed its valuation models for either Gazprom or independent producer Novatek following the news of likely WTO accession.
A Gazprom spokesman declined to comment. “At the present moment, we won’t comment on this and will not even look into it,” he told The St. Petersburg Times. Novatek did not respond to repeated telephone and e-mail requests for comment.
TITLE: Agreement Reached On Overflights
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The European Union and the Russian government announced the settlement Thursday of a long-running dispute about how airlines are charged for flights over Siberia.
“From Jan. 1, 2014, any charges EU airlines have to pay for flying over Russian territory will be cost-related and transparent. They will not discriminate between airlines,” the EU said in an e-mailed statement.
The agreement contained in letters exchanged by Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina and two European Commission officials will enter into force on Jan. 1, 2012, after the expected approval of Russia’s WTO accession on Dec. 16.
The EU estimates that charges for flying over Siberia currently cost European airliners $320 million a year as part of a Cold War-era agreement meant to compensate state carrier Aeroflot for supposed lost business on the route.
The European statement did not mention the details of the agreement. Andrei Rozhkov, a transportation analyst at Metropol, said he believed the agreement was that existing European flights would cease to yield royalties in 2014, while new flights started in the intervening period would be exempt.
The European Commission has complained that the charges breach EU and international competition law, and even threatened legal action against EU member states that have agreed to pay them.
TITLE: Shooting the Messenger
AUTHOR: By Victor Davidoff
TEXT: For 10 years, Golos has been educating voters, analyzing electoral legislation, and monitoring elections at various levels, but only a few experts and journalists had ever heard of the organization.
But since late November, Golos, Russia’s sole independent elections observer organization, has been in the headlines of the world’s news agencies. The reason is an unprecedented harassment and intimidation campaign against Golos and its staff.
It began on Nov. 26 when government-owned newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta published an article accusing Golos of “reducing the process of observing the electoral campaign and voting on election day into a way of making money.”
The article seemed to be a signal. Soon Golos’ activities were the subject of an investigation by the Central Elections Commission, which ruled that continuing to gather information on violations directly during the five-day period before the elections was a violation of electoral law. The organization was fined 30,000 rubles (about $1,000).
The second blow to the organization was a film aired by NTV on Friday. This “investigative report,” which was stylistically reminiscent of crude Soviet propaganda films, accused Golos of a multitude of sins. But the most damning accusation was that it receives some of its funding from foreign donors. The film creates the impression that Golos is an agent of influence of the United States, which “traditionally opposes the current leadership” in Russia.
And then, Golos’ executive director, Lilia Shabanova, was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport on Friday on her way back from Poland where she had attended a civil society forum organized by Russia and the European Union. Customs officials demanded her notebook computer, which they suspected held some kind of mysterious “illegal software.”
Shabanova was not allowed access to legal counsel and was held for 12 hours in the transit zone of the airport until she gave them the computer. She managed, however, to copy the hard drive before relinquishing it.
The trigger that made Golos the Kremlin’s Enemy No. 1 might have been its innovative Internet project Kartanarusheniy.ru, which combines civic action with the power of Web 2.0 technology. Anyone, regardless of location, can submit information directly on the site about an alleged violation of his or her electoral rights or about violations of the electoral legislation in general.
The list of violations is depressingly monotonous. In various cities, business managers demanded that their employees vote for United Russia, threatening them with pay cuts or even dismissal if they didn’t.
During classes, teachers made their students check off United Russia on hundreds of blank ballots. Entire apartment buildings discovered that none of the residents were on voter lists.
It was also reported that none of the students, scholars or teachers at Moscow State University from outside Moscow could vote. They had to return to their hometowns to cast their ballots.
Violence was also widespread. In Belgorod, a Communist Party regional deputy was beaten up by the police. In Perm, the campaign manager for an oppositional party was beaten by unidentified men using baseball bats. In Bratsk, Irkutsk region, unidentified masked men kidnapped the 16-year-old daughter of the head of the local Communist Party branch office. They released her with a message for her mother: Quit the campaign, or we’ll kidnap her for real.
The staff of Golos doesn’t, however, believe that Kartanarusheniy.ru was the reason for the attacks. As Gregory Melkonyants, Golos’ deputy director, wrote on his blog on Grani.ru: “We’re used to pressure. But these elections are different. The pressure is coming from the very top, starting with the United Russia convention [on Nov. 27], where Putin was nominated for president. He talked about ‘Judases’ who are ‘so-called grant recipients’ of foreign donors ‘who brief them on how to work to influence the course of the election campaign in our country.’”
Golos wasn’t the main subject of Putin’s speech. It was perhaps his most sharply worded speech since his anti-Western diatribe in Munich in 2007. Like his Munich speech, this one was based on nationalism, anti-democratic ideology and outright xenophobia.
Unfortunately, all signs suggest that after Putin physically returns to the Kremlin, the country can expect nothing but a continuation of the status quo. The essence of this status quo in Putin-speak is “stability” — the preservation of an absolute monopoly on power in the hands of a very small circle of people.
And for them, Golos and its thousands of volunteer “informants” all over the country are, indeed, Enemy No. 1.
Victor Davidoff is a Moscow-based writer and journalist whose blog is Chaadaev56.livejournal.com
TITLE: regional dimensions: An Exciting End to a Dull Election
AUTHOR: By Nikolai Petrov
TEXT: The State Duma elections this time around were actually quite interesting, despite a sluggish start in which campaigning from all parties lacked vigor and went largely unnoticed by the public. Interest in the elections began rising sharply by the end of the campaign after the Kremlin suddenly became visibly nervous about United Russia’s falling ratings.
The authorities were even more concerned about the possibility that popular protests might break out after the elections. That would explain why the authorities cracked down on the Golos election-monitoring group and detained Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov and activists from The Other Russia. It would also explain their decision to mobilize 30,000 members of the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group, if necessary, to cordon off the central squares in Moscow.
For all its vapidity, the campaign served as a type of primary for United Russia. It also served as a venue for bargaining between the federal and regional political elites and for debates that, despite the lack of participation by top United Russia officials, provided a forum for increased and varied criticism of the ruling authorities.
The campaigns for 27 regional parliaments held simultaneously with the federal drive also added some intrigue to the Dec. 4 elections. Having successfully replaced all of the heavyweight governors, the Kremlin was left without any big names to run on the United Russia ticket in the regions. That is why deputy prime ministers and other Cabinet ministers headed one-third of all party lists in place of governors.
Indeed, the regional factor played a greater role in these elections than ever before. United Russia fared fairly poorly in a number of regions, and although that will not change the overall picture, it will surely add to the ruling party’s troubles and humiliation.
The fact that the authorities did not obstruct independent elections observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe could be indirect evidence that they had no concrete plan for widespread election falsifications, as many had expected to boost United Russia to the much-desired 60 percent level. At the same time, however, the Kremlin clearly overreacted with its heavy, crude attack against Golos.
Another positive aspect of these elections is that this is probably the last hoorah for a whole group of United Russia apparatchiks who need to be replaced with more energetic and innovative politicians. More importantly, this could also mark the end of the primitive and ineffective political system that Putin built back in the pre-crisis days when the Kremlin had so much money and power that it all but dictated conditions in the Duma. But it is clear that the current political system will now have to give way to a more pluralistic one in which the Kremlin and United Russia will have to compromise and build coalitions with the three other parties in the Duma.
More important than the mere redistribution of Duma seats orchestrated by a dominant United Russia is the palpable shift in mood. Increasing numbers of people are venting their frustration with the ruling regime through protest votes that are reminiscent of the elections of 1989-90. Today, we have woken up to a fundamentally new political configuration.
Nikolai Petrov is a scholar in residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
TITLE: Genre-rich German cinema
AUTHOR: By Elmira Delorme
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: According to the organizers of the German Film Festival, taking place for the eighth time in St. Petersburg, from Dec. 8 though 11, German cinema differs from other European cinema as “German film directors prefer to blaze their own trails without looking back at their forerunners or contemporaries for ideas.”
Festival organizers said that Germany is currently witnessing an increase in filmmaking. Film critics are comparing what’s happening now to the last 20 years of the 20th century, a period of German expressionism when German directors competed against and even outdid Hollywood with their ideas and technical realization of their projects. Organizers said that statistical data has proven that Germany is a European country whose local film production is a real competitor for Hollywood blockbusters.
This year the festival program includes eight films and a collection of shorts, all made in 2010 and 2011. Among the films are several comedies, two period films, family-oriented movies and even a film about anti-utopia. None of these films have ever been shown before in Russian cinemas.
“Traditionally the German Film Festival presents a program of many genres,” said Friedrich Dahlhaus, Director of Goethe-Institut in St. Petersburg. “Every year we try to attract not just a ‘festival audience,’ but people who simply like good cinema”.
“We follow the results of other film festivals and we try to bring to St. Petersburg the films that have already received awards at international cinema festivals,” said Dahlhaus.
Cinema aficionados might be interested in the films that received awards at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival. These include the winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director, Ulrich Kohler, for the film “Sleeping Sickness,” and the winner of the Alfred Bauer Prize Andres Veiel for innovation in cinema for the film “If Not Us, Who?” Veiel will be attending the festival in St. Petersburg to present his film.
The film “Goethe!” by Phillip Stolzl will open the festival in St. Petersburg. It is a biographical drama about the young aspiring poet struggling with his growing talents and experiencing his first true love. The story takes place in Germany in 1772 when a young Goethe fails his law exam and his father sends him away to a provincial court where he can study without being disturbed. Two of the film’s actors, Miriam Stein and Volker Bruch, will be attending the festival in St. Petersburg.
A younger crowd will be happy to watch Marc Rothemund’s romantic teen comedy “Groupies Don’t Stay for Breakfast” about love between a student and a singer from a boy band.
“In my opinion, German cinema differs from other cinemas in its focus on the big problems of modern society,” said Dahlhaus. “The directors don’t want to simply attract the viewer’s attention or surprise him, but rather to make him think.”
“For example, this year the festival program includes two films about emigration and the emigrant’s place in a new country,” said Dahlhaus. “It is interesting to emphasize that today directors are ready to experiment with different genres to make films about this problem. There are not just anguish-filled dramas, but also hilarious comedies such as the film “Almanya — Welcome to Germany” included in the festival program,” he said.
This year’s festival showcases the Russian premier of many films including “If Not Us, Who?”, an appeal of German directors to the anti-utopia genre in “The Coming Days” and also in Yasemin Samdereli’s “Almanya — Welcome to Germany.”
“German cinema is very diverse; there has been a lot of development in the fields of both festival and entertainment cinema,” said Dahlhaus. “We wanted to show this diversity in the festival program in St. Petersburg.”
The festival is organized by the Goethe-Institut in St. Petersburg with the support of the State Committee of Culture of St. Petersburg.
The films will be shown in their original language with Russian subtitles.
The German Film Festival runs from Dec. 8 through 11 at the Avrora movie theater at 60 Nevsky Prospekt.
M: Nevsky Prospekt, Mayakovskaya. Tel. 942 80 20. avrora.spb.ru, www.goethe.de/filmfest2011
TITLE: A musical extravaganza
AUTHOR: By Olga Panova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: An international music fest is taking to the stage in Tallinn, named this year’s capital of culture, Dec. 10 and 11. One of its aims is to strengthen cultural ties between Russia and Europe by inviting well-known Russian musicians to perform.
Stars such as Mariinsky Theater soloist Olga Trifonova, Moscow New Opera Theater soloist Khachatur Badalyan and the St. Petersburg Trio will give exclusive concerts as well as participate in a charity event while in Tallinn. The Russian classical music stars’ first pre-Christmas concert will take place on Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. at Haapsalu’s Dome Church.
On Dec. 11 at 5 p.m., the soloists and instrumental trio will give a concert at St. John’s Church in Tallinn. Earlier on in the day, they will perform during the celebration of divine service, dedicated to the church’s 144th anniversary.
It will be the first time that Mariinsky Theatre star Olga Trifonova is visiting and performing in Estonia while Khachatur is well-recognized and remembered here because of the Birgitta Festival he participated in last year.
The complete St. Petersburg Trio, beloved and well-known in Russia as well as abroad have never-before performed in Estonia,” said the Glasperlenspiel Festival art director Peeter Vahi, adding that all the money collected at the Tallinn concert will be donated to the Tudulinna Orphanage in Ida-Virumaa.
Soprano Olga Trifonova is a respected Russian actress and the winner of many awards. Her excellent voice has sounded on many stages all over the world, including at the Salzburg Festival and the New York Metropolitan Opera. In December 2010 Trifonova, famous for singing Russian romances and chamber music, debuted on the stage of the Prague National Theater as the Nightingale in Stravinsky’s opera of the same name.
Khachatur Badalyan is the winner of numerous international competitions and a graduate of Don State Technical University where he studied economic relations and of the Rostov Musical Conservatory. His unique voice has helped him to gain fame in Russia and abroad. The widely-known St. Petersburg Trio has been performing together since 1987 and is made up of violinist Maria Safaryants, cellist Sergei Slovachevsky and pianist Sergei Uryvaev. All members of the ensemble have won many prestigious awards. Maria Sarafyants started the trio, and is also the founder and art director of the large international music festival “The Palaces of St. Petersburg.”
Among the pieces the Russian musicians will be performing are romances by Glinka, arias from operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and a trio for piano, cello and violin by Tchaikovsky.
The concerts have been organized with the support of the international classical music festivals Glasperlenspiel and the Palaces of St. Petersburg.
Tickets can be bought in advance at Piletilevi ticket booths or an hour before concerts.
TITLE: Can’t Keep Silent
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Alexandra Kachko is involved in art, but not the usual kind. Her political artworks are seen not in galleries, but on the walls of St. Petersburg buildings and have become familiar to residents since her stencil and cut-out paper graffiti first appeared last year.
Kachko’s main character is that of a mischievous girl with a megaphone urging passers-by to “wake up,” to join Strategy 31 demos demanding freedom of assembly or, most recently, to come to an area near Gostiny Dvor and protest the Dec. 4 State Duma elections that a number of oppositional parties — including her own, The Other Russia — were not allowed to participate in.
“Recently we got arrested for stencil graffiti; we hadn’t done anything yet, just put glue on a piece of paper, and the cops came and asked, ‘What are doing here?’ We said, ‘Nothing,’” she says, sitting in an arty coffeehouse in the center.
“Then a very angry officer came, started swearing and fighting with us, they put us into their car, and then they glued the [paper graffiti] on the wall themselves and took a photo of it with our camera as proof of our wrongdoings.”
Kachko and her collaborators were taken to a police precinct where officers threatened to keep them under arrest until the next day, but then they were released without being charged after calls from supporters flooded the precinct. She discovered the photo taken by the policemen in her camera later.
Kachko, 25, characterizes her work as ZOA Art, the name stemming from the Russian female name Zoya, which is also the name of the main character of her street art.
“I thought that I should give it a name, and once somebody glued an ad on my graffiti, which said ‘I am interested in meeting a man. Zoya,’ and I decided to take it as the name,” she says.
Kachko says she started to make her political graffiti after finding out that her friend Alexander Pesotsky, one of the leaders of The Other Russia political party, was under criminal investigation under the anti-extremism Article 282 in October 2010.
Pesotsky and 12 other activists were charged with organizing and participating in activities of the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) they once belonged to, even though they were acting as part of the legal but not yet registered organization The Other Russia, (the authorities have as yet refused to register it).
Moscow-based human rights organization SOVA Center for Information and Analysis deems the 2007 banning of the NBP to be illegal.
“I was not interested in politics much, I had no friends and no hobbies, I simply wanted to do something interactive, something connected to the city,” she says.
“I didn’t show it to anybody for a long time, I didn’t think it was interesting to anybody.”
As a result, some of her artworks are directed against Article 282 and express support for the persecuted activists.
Kachko started her art education at art school. “I went to it all by myself, because my parents have never done anything about my education and never taken me to any classes,” she says.
“They were even against me becoming an architect because they didn’t understand what it meant. They had no higher education — my father was a welder — and wanted me to go to a technical school.”
Having graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, she works at an architectural company, moonlighting occasionally as an apartment designer.
“Like every architect, I like Kandinsky and Malevich, of course, I like constructivism, modernism,” she says. “But I like every work of art, because beauty is absolute.”
Kachko has also been active in social protest, having designed ads and posters for a recent rally against domestic violence and co-organizing and participating in a rally against the State Duma bill restricting women’s access to abortion earlier this year.
“I’ve never felt any special dislike for the authorities, but my father was and is an alcoholic, that’s why I’m saying that women should not tolerate and forgive,” she says.
“The police and nobody else can do anything about it; if a husband beats his wife, it’s seen as normal. It may not be legal, but in the Russian mindset it’s seen as normal. They say that a woman herself is guilty for being beaten.”
Kachko says she has no contact with the art scene, except for verbal exchanges on the Internet. “Street art is legal in Perm and Yekaterinburg, as long as it’s not political,” she says. “They let them paint on facades and hold art festivals there.”
She is a fan of Voina art group, three members of which have been under investigation since November 2010 for their Palace Revolution stunt, which included overturning police cars in St. Petersburg as an art protest against police lawlessness.
“Of course, I admire them,” Kachko says giving a special mention to the “Dick Captured by the KGB” — the 65-meter penis drawn on Liteiny Bridge next to the offices of the FSB (formerly the KGB) — and the Palace Revolution.
“And I liked how they poured urine over the policemen [during the Strategy 31 rally in March],” she says.
“Honestly speaking, I didn’t realize what was happening at that moment; they poured some liquid from the bottles when police surrounded them and seized them even though they were holding their child. I almost got busted along with them, but I ran away.
“It was not very spectacular; they don’t want to make a show. What they do is not a performance, but a kind of philosophical act. I don’t know whether I would be able to sacrifice everything for that kind of art, but they also give an example of how a woman can fulfill herself in art despite having children and stuff.”
Kachko’s political activities cost her a broken wrist when she got arrested at a Strategy 31 rally near Gostiny Dvor on Nevsky Prospekt on May 31. After being thrown into a bus where the police kept both activists and accidental passers-by they had detained, Kachko made her way to the door to shout “Russia will be free,” one of the event’s slogans. A policeman roughly pulled her by the hand back into the bus, breaking her wrist. She was taken by ambulance from the police precinct, where those detained were taken.
Kachko’s complaint to the investigative committee yielded no result, as after a month she got a call from an investigator, who said no violations had been found on the part of the police. She has never received a written reply that she was told was sent by mail.
Moreover, her involvement with protests and filing a complaint on police actions cost her husband his job. He was an officer with the Russian Space Forces and served at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia’s largest rocket launching facility.
“The investigator openly threatened me that they’d get him fired,” Kachko says.
“They sent a letter there, he was interrogated and got fired, even though he wasn’t at the rally and didn’t know that I had my wrist broken or even got arrested.
“Usually the chiefs value their officers and are reluctant to let them go even if they are asked to, but here it turned out that having to deal with anything political is worse for them than firing an officer.”
According to Kachko, she joined the Other Russia because of the activists’ “desperate heroism and uncompromising stand.”
Kachko says 20 to 30 original works were made, but due to their ephemeral nature, the attention from police and street cleaners, her artworks last for only a limited period of time.
“Some live only one day, some last for quite a long time,” she says. “Sometimes even some passers-by would tear one down and throw it on the ground.”
Always political or socially aware, Kachko’s works differ from the bulk of street art in St. Petersburg. “[What they do] it’s not political, they draw cats or some kind of little dancing men, some simply print out a photograph and glue it, it’s a type of entertainment or hobby for them,” she says.
As Kachko’s political art spread over the city, the graffiti war started, when a newly-formed pro-Kremlin “art” group called Gruppirovka Peremen started posting their strained loyalist, counter-revolutionary graffiti on city walls earlier this year.
“They rip down everything we’ve done and imitate us,” she says.
“I think they do everything with permission from some pro-Kremlin organizations. They always take a stand against the opposition. When [the Kremlin] created [the pro-Putin youth movement] Nashi, they tore down the NBP.”
Endorsed by Mariinsky’s director Valery Gergiev and formerly underground artist Sergei “Africa” Bugayev, Gruppirovka Peremen staged an authorized anti-oppositional, pro-government performance near Mariinsky Palace on the day of the State Duma elections on Dec. 4. It failed dramatically.
Apart from advertising Strategy 31 or protesting against Article 282, Kachko’s subjects include Taisia Osipova, the oppositional activist who has been imprisoned in Smolensk on dubious drug charges and a range of feminist themes.
“First I glued up images of a pregnant woman, then a woman crucified on a pink cross with the words, ‘Patriarchy kills,’” she says.
“Of course, I didn’t want the church to meddle in people’s private lives. Or accept a [Untited Russia’ recent] homophobic bill — then they’ll ban something else, then somebody else, and it’ll end in complete totalitarianism. That’s why one should not keep silent.”
TITLE: THE DISH: La Famiglia
AUTHOR: By Ronan Loughney
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A Taste of Italy
According to Webster’s Italian dictionary, the word “famiglia” can translate as either family or home, both of which spring to mind upon entering the restaurant. Thankfully, at this home the kids have already gone to bed. It is clear that a lot of money and effort has gone into furbishing the interior with the goal of creating an intimate and welcoming atmosphere. Photos of people at dinner parties of various shapes and sizes spatter the walls, giving the impression of having been lovingly put up over time, whilst the grey putty-colored walls gently reflect back onto the candle-lit tables. A layer of class is added by the miniature Roman sculptures delicately carved into the walls, as does the half spiral staircase that leads up towards the bathroom.
If the family atmosphere is hinted at by the decor, it is actualized by the staff — amongst the friendliest anywhere in St. Petersburg. Servers also showed wide knowledge of the menu and were ready to offer suggestions upon request. Although not always as attentive as it could have been, this relaxed approach added to the comfortable, laidback atmosphere that helps guests believe that each table is its own little world in which help emerges should it be needed.
The service in general — kitchen included — was excellent. The waitress offered to bring the single starter (bruschetta with basil and tomatoes, 85 rubles, $2.75) prior to the main courses with two plates, standard for Westerners but surprisingly uncommon in St. Petersburg. Although disappointingly small (both pieces would fit in the palm of an adult hand), the bruschetta was deliciously crispy and warm, with the tomatoes exceptionally fresh and fleshy.
As for the main courses, the shrimp risotto (295 rubles, $9.55) was prepared almost perfectly. Although the rice was arguably a little too al dente, the texture contrasted well with the sumptuously tender, juicy and fresh shrimp, whilst the lemon drizzle ensured a constant kick of flavor so the risotto didn’t transform into non-descript, tasteless mush upon chewing. The dry yet slightly sweet rose (975 rubles, $31.50 for a bottle) also pleasantly sharpened the flavor.
The spaghetti Carbonara (255 rubles, $8.25) was a model dish as well — deliciously creamy, with thick chunks of ham giving it an essential bite, all topped off (literally and metaphorically) by an unbroken egg yolk nestled neatly in the center of the dish.
Then, for a brief moment, the carefully-created mood threatened to disappear when, on the stroke of 8 p.m., traditional live French accordion music blasted from the bar area, accompanied by the shrill lament of a violin (there is live French music every Friday and Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m.). This fact was mentioned when making table reservations over the phone, but nevertheless, such an unexpected and sharp burst of music still came as a surprise. It did, however, quickly mesh with the surroundings, giving way to a livelier ambience, as customers began to chat more loudly and sway subconsciously to the music. It was certainly an overall improvement, as the music up to this point had been a bizarre mix of Euro-pop and Latin-inspired instrumental versions of such classics as Earth Song and Geri Halliwell’s Mi Chico Latino. Fortunately, the volume was low enough that the sounds simply acted as background noise and didn’t distract from the meal.
Half way through the main course the waitress emerged apologising for having accidentally closed the cash register, meaning that there would need to be two checks for the meal (the second for anything ordered after the main courses). As compensation for this mistake, she took 10 percent off the first bill.
The dessert menu, as can be typical for Russian restaurants, is limited, but the chocolate ice cream (95 rubles, $3.07) proved that nothing else was needed — subtly rich and creamy; the only problem was the one-scoop portion. Unfortunately the Americano coffee (85 rubles, $2.75) presented a fall at the final hurdle, barely warm, half-filling the cup and without an accompanying glass of water, but minds were already made up. Tasty, friendly and beautiful, you’d be proud to call this restaurant ‘Famiglia.’
TITLE: Illustrating the Gulag: Decades of Fear in Drawing
AUTHOR: By Peter Spinella
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — “Drawings From the Gulag” bears witness to some of the most horrific events to take place in Soviet prison camps, scenes that no camera was ever allowed to capture.
Almost 240 pages cover to cover, the book begins with a terse biography of author and illustrator Danzig Baldaev, a former warden at Leningrad’s infamous Kresty prison. After that, it’s basically 130 detailed depictions of beatings, rape and torture.
Baldaev, born in Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, in 1925, was the son of an “enemy of the people” — his father, an ethnographer, was arrested on charges of promoting tsarism — and he was raised in an orphanage for children of political prisoners. He fought in the Soviet army in World War II and, in 1949, was appointed to serve as a guard at Kresty, where he began keeping meticulous records of prisoners’ tattoos.
He reported his findings to the KGB, which, acknowledging that prisoners’ status and backgrounds were coded in their tattoos, sent Baldaev to penal settlements across the Soviet Union to continue his research. In those remote locations, he witnessed many of the shocking events recorded in “Drawings From the Gulag.”
“Initially [the drawings] appear overdramatic, focusing on the abject, the grotesque and the aberrant,” the book’s editors, Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell, write in the prologue. “Perhaps because they aren’t photographs it is easier to dismiss them as a figment of a disturbed imagination.”
The images, and their accompanying descriptions, often overwhelm.
A man is prodded into a tiny “settling tank” that holds dozens of prisoners. Baldaev notes: “Without enough room or fresh air to breathe, some died, their corpses stood upright, squeezed in between other bodies.”
A two-page spread meticulously depicts the mass rape of female “enemies of the people” aboard a ship destined for a penal colony in far eastern Magadan. “Convicts entered the hold, breaking through the partition walls, with the collusion of the guards and crew,” Baldaev writes. “Those who tried to resist were stabbed to death or strangled.”
“Our reason for publishing the book was simple: These events are not as well-known as they should be,” Murray, the editor, said by e-mail. “We consider the work a historical document — we think of Baldaev’s tattoo drawings in the same way — and we felt an obligation to publish it.”
“By 1921, there were already 84 camps in 43 provinces designed to rehabilitate the first inmates who were perceived by the authorities as enemies of the people. At any one time, there were about 2 million prisoners in the camps. Some 18 million passed through the system, a further 6 million were sent into exile. Although the camps shrank after the death of Stalin, many continued to operate, often less brutally, into the 1980s,” Murray said.
Fuel, the book’s London-based publisher, has also released the three-volume “Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia,” featuring a plethora of Baldaev’s renderings. “These books provide a way for us to expand readers’ knowledge of this subject, which is almost unknown in the West,” Murray said.
“Through these amazing and intricate tattoos, prisoners were able to tell details of each other’s deeds and misdeeds, specialities and even sexual preferences. The tattoos reveal the history of their bearers, a public record that can be read only by the initiated,” he said.
About a fifth of the illustrations in “Drawings From the Gulag” are from first-hand experience, the prologue concedes.
“We knew that Baldaev couldn’t have been present at all these events, they track almost the entire history of the gulag system. But we do know he had contact with people who were present at these events, both guards and inmates,” Murray said by e-mail.
“Because the authorities attempted to conceal its existence from the world, there are very few visual records of the gulag. Photographic records are scarce, usually limited to mug shots of inmates. Any broader photographic scenes were usually set up for propaganda purposes. They were sanitized and naturally devoid of truth.
“But where a photograph might capture the immediate reality, Baldaev’s drawings actually reveal more — they distill the essence of an experience into a vivid, focused scene. Very little is left to the imagination,” Murray said.
“They seem to reveal a side of him that recognized the then-largely untold atrocities committed by the regime, and they appeared to be his way of coming to terms with this — and perhaps his own complicity.”