SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1708 (19), Wednesday, May 16, 2012
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TITLE: Police Clear Chistiye Prudy Camp, Arrest 20 Protesters
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Early Wednesday police ordered opposition protesters camped out on Chistoprudny Bulvar to leave the area, ending a week-long occupation by the demonstrators.
Around 20 people were detained by police after they apparently refused to leave the camp voluntarily, Interfax reported. A police spokesman said the protesters would be released following a "preventive discussion."
By 6 a.m., no demonstrators remained in the area of the former camp centered around a statue of Kazakh poet Abai Qunanbayuli. Sanitation workers cleared the area of litter and sprayed down the statue of Qunanbayuli, whose first name gave the movement its unofficial name, Occupy Abai.
Basmanny Court on Tuesday ordered the camp at Chistiye Prudy closed in response to a lawsuit by residents of the area around the former camp who complained of inaction by authorities. (Related article: Court Orders Protest Camp Dismantled)
Leader of the liberal Yabloko party Sergei Mitrokhin called the police action illegal in a message on Twitter, saying he had filed an appeal of the Basmanny Court decision late Tuesday.
TITLE: Pollster: Putin's Attractiveness Sagging 'Irreversibly'
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The head of independent pollster the Levada Center said President Vladimir Putin's attractiveness to the public is not only shrinking, but the damage is irreversible.
In public perception, "the image of Putin is fading steadily and irreversibly," Levada Center director Lev Gudkov told Kommersant in an article published Thursday.
Putin still remains the most trusted politician in the country, but his ratings in terms of personal qualities have dipped. Gudkov said these factors often give a more accurate indication of public sentiment because when asked directly about support for a politician, people generally give the "correct" answer.
A May 15 poll showed that, since Putin first became president in 2000, people's responses to polling questions show that his ratings have dropped from their peaks near the end of his second presidential term to 2000 levels or lower.
In the recent poll, 39 percent of Russians said they considered a strong suit of Putin to be that he is "business-like" ("delovoi") at the beginning of his third presidential term, compared to 49 percent in 2000 and 62 percent at the end of his second term. Likewise, the portion of those polled who named "well-educated" ("obrazovannost") as one of Putin's strong suits dropped from a peak of 52 percent to 28 percent, and "cultural refinement" ("intelligentnost") to be another from 43 percent to 18 percent.
Even his most prominent qualities are losing their appeal. The percentage of Russians who see the president as "strong-willed and courageous" has dropped to 18 percent from its peak at 34 percent four years ago, and "leadership qualities" and "pleasant and charming" ("priyatny/simpatichny/obayatelny") as strong qualities of Putin has dropped from 41 to 28 percent, and 32 to 7 percent, respectively.
Additionally, only 11 percent said they didn't believe Putin was guilty of the abuse of power alleged by political opponents.
The only way for Putin to regain this lost ground would be an "image reset" for the president, which would require him to become even more liberal than Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, general director of the International Institute for Political Expertise Yevgeny Minchenko told Kommersant.
TITLE: Police Arrest 30 Protesters at Barrikadnaya Camp
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: At the protest camp near Barrikadnaya metro station late Wednesday, police detained around 30 demonstrators for offenses that included slashing the tires of a police vehicle.
Around 1,000 people gathered Wednesday evening on Kudrinskaya Ploshchad, where opposition protesters migrated Wednesday morning after being driven from their weeklong camp site on Chistoprudny Bulvar, Interfax reported. Opposition parliamentarians Ilya Ponomaryov and Dmitry Gudkov of the Just Russia party were present, as well as television personality Kseniya Sobchak and a "sizable" group of police officers.
Around 30 protesters were arrested at some point in the evening, a law enforcement source told Interfax.
Municipal deputies of the Presnensky district, which includes Kudrinskaya Ploshchad, are planning to meet Thursday to give the opposition camp the official status of a "festival," which could prevent police from breaking it up, Kommersant reported Thursday, citing Presnensky district deputy Yelena Tkach.
Moscow's head of regional security Alexei Maiorov told the daily that the deputies were authorized to approve cultural events in their districts but would have to "present the program of events and prove that it corresponds to the district's development goals."
Around 40 demonstrators slept in the square overnight Wednesday to Thursday, Kommersant-FM reporter Uliana Malashenko wrote on Twitter early Thursday. She wrote that there are several police vans on the square but that the atmosphere was "calm." Some people were drinking coffee, some people were asleep on benches, and one elderly man was playing a fife, Malashenko wrote.
TITLE: Siberian Man Gets Stuck in Trash Chute Fleeing from Girlfriend
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A Siberian man got stuck in a trash chute while trying to hide from his girlfriend, the regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry in Tyumen said in a report on their site Thursday.
Rescuers arrived at a residential building on Ulitsa 30 Let Pobedi to find a 31-year-old man stuck in the trash chute on the 5th floor level of the building.
The man told rescuers he jumped into the chute on the 8th floor while trying to hide after fighting with his girlfriend. He then slid down to the 5th floor, where he became lodged in the pipe and began to call for help, RBC reported.
Emergency personnel had to cut away a part of the tube to free the man, who was then sent to be checked by medical experts.
The Tyumen emergency service said this was the second time this type of incident had occurred in the past few years.
TITLE: Putin Congratulates New Hockey World Champions
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Russia's hockey team blasted its way past Slovakia's goalkeeper in the 2012 IIHF World Championships to earn a 6:2 victory and a telephone call from President Vladimir Putin, who was eager to heap praise on the team.
Russia's victory in the match with Slovakia Sunday closed its undefeated performance in the championship, with Russia beating out defending champion and home team Finland to become the new world champion in hockey.
In line with tradition, the team transformed the victory cup into a vessel for champagne in locker-room celebrations.
"Today's game is a victory that makes me very happy," head trainer Zinetulla Bilyaletdinov said, Channel One reported. "I am very happy not only for myself and the guys, but for our country, that we won, and our country is once again in the forefront," he said.
In response to a journalist's query, "To whom do you dedicate your victory?" Russia player Yevgeniy Malkin answered "Of course to Lokomotiv, we remember them, the guys who are regrettably not with us. And of course, the whole country."
A September airline accident killed the entire Lokomotiv team, evoking strong emotions throughout the world of hockey.
President Vladimir Putin congratulated team trainer Bilyaletdinov by telephone. "Vladimir Putin sent congratulations to all players of our team through the head trainer, as well as all those who made this series of brilliant victories possible," a Kremlin spokesman told Interfax..
The spokesman said that when Bilyaletdinov was seen on television speaking on the phone before the Russian anthem was played, he was speaking with Putin.
The Kremlin also said Putin watched the final match from beginning to end, as he did most of Russia's games in the championship.
Russian fans celebrated the victory through the night in Helsinki, waving the Russian tricolor flag and team symbols, as did thousands of fans in cities throughout Russia.
This was Russia's third championship title since 2008.
TITLE: Cash Salary Payments Could Be Eliminated
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Payment of wages in cash would be forbidden and stores would be forced to install credit-card terminals if legislation being developed by the Finance Ministry is implemented, Vedomosti reported.
A Finance Ministry working group has now prepared legislation that will require employers and stores to phase out cash transactions. In January, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov proposed to implement the "regulatory legal framework" for noncash payments.
Exceptions would be made in the law for small businesses with less than 35 employees and businesses in remote locations.
Legislation requiring stores to accept credit cards would exclude those that don't use cash registers and those with annual revenues of less than 2 million rubles ($65,000).
The proposed rules would take effect in 2013, though stores would be given a transition period to comply.
Bank or credit cards currently account for about 30 percent of transactions, and use is increasing, Fashion Continent financial director Sergei Kutsenko told Vedomosti.
Banks charge vendors 1.5 percent or more of the purchase price for each card transaction, so working with cash is more profitable for most businesses, said Lavrenty Gubin, a spokesman for retailer Dixy Group. The comparable European Union rate is 0.5 percent.
TITLE: Russian Satellite Takes Highest-Ever Resolution Picture of Earth
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A stunning 121-megapixel snapshot of the Earth was taken by a Russian weather satellite in what is thought to be the highest resolution picture of the planet ever taken from space.
The picture was taken by a camera aboard the Elektro-L, a geostationary satellite that travels at the speed of the Earth's rotation and remains at a fixed point about 36,000 kilometers above the equator.
In contrast to NASA's iconic Blue Marble images, which were created by pasting together several smaller, true-color pictures, the Elektro-L picture is a single shot of the entire globe.
Tech-blog Mashable explained that the pictures were produced by overlaying four pictures of the Earth — three taken at three wavelengths of visible light and one infrared image.
The infrared light makes vegetation appear orange, showing a strangely unfamiliar rusty brown in place of the normally green vegetation.
The Electro-L satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in January last year. The satellite is designed to help predict weather patterns, analyze the condition of oceans and seas, geological objects and carry out other tasks. It takes pictures of the Earth every 30 minutes. Electro-L is scheduled to orbit the Earth for a period of 10 years.
TITLE: City Governor Warns That Communal Flats Could Remain Into 22nd Century
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: There are still more than 104,000 communal apartments in St. Petersburg, with residents of 750 flats being relocated this year at a cost of 1 billion rubles ($33 million), the city's mayor Georgy Poltavchenko said Tuesday.
Last year, half that amount of money was spent to move a greater number of communal flat residents to new quarters, Poltavchenko said at a meeting of the city legislature, Interfax reported.
"If this trend continues, communal apartments could stick around until the 22nd century," Poltavchenko said.
As explanation for the slow pace of relocating residents of the flats — holdovers from the Soviet period, when multiple families often shared apartments due to insufficient housing — Poltavchenko cited the poor quality of the remaining communal flats, making them unattractive to investors, and the high cost of building new residential properties.
TITLE: Superjet Black Box Found
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: AKARTA, Indonesia — Investigators on Wednesday were analyzing the cockpit voice recorder from the Superjet, which slammed into the side of an Indonesian volcano. They hope the final words of the two pilots will help explain what caused last week's crash, which killed all 45 people on board.
The black box, found Tuesday at the bottom of a 500-meter ravine, was shattered and badly burned, said Tatang Kurniadi, who heads the National Commission on Safety Transportation, adding that the memory module appears to still be readable.
It could take up to a week to download the audio, said Mardjono Siswosuwarno, the chief investigator, and it will then have to be translated and transcribed.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 — Russia's first passenger jet model since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago — was being demonstrated for potential buyers when it roared into Mount Salak at 800 kilometers per hour and exploded on April 9.
Debris from the twin-engine jet rained down the near-vertical flank of the long-dormant volcano. It took days for search teams to find the black box partly because it was so badly charred and hidden in heavy brush, said Gagah Prakoso, a spokesman for the search and rescue agency.
He said the flight data recorder, which keeps track of instructions sent to any electronic systems on the aircraft, was still missing.
The Superjet — intended to help resurrect Russia's aeronautics industry — was on its fourth stop of a Welcome Asia! tour that was plagued pretty much from the get-go.
After a successful demo flight in Kazakhstan, the tour moved to Pakistan, where potential buyers were forced to look at the jet on the runway. One media report said it didn't take to the sky because of a technical glitch, but that could not be confirmed.
Then on the way to Myanmar, it was discovered that a "nozzle in the engine" was leaking, Alexander Tulyakov, vice president of United Aircraft Corporation, the main stockholder of Sukhoi, told Life News.
It got permission from the engine maker to return to Moscow.
A replacement jet — the one that crashed into the volcano — was then sent to the region to continue the ill-fated tour.
TITLE: Will Smith Slaps Man for Trying to Kiss Him
AUTHOR: By Justin Varilek
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Love can take over, overwhelm the senses and cause a person to act unceremoniously.
This is fine if your love is directed toward someone who loves you back, but if the object of your affection turns out to be 43-year-old actor Will Smith, you may be biting off more than you can chew.
At the Karo Film movie theater on Friday night, Vitaly Serdyuk learned this the hard way.
During the red carpet entrance and photo shoot for the “Men in Black 3” premiere, Serdyuk, a Ukrainian 1+1 television reporter, approached the actor and moved in for a kiss.
It was unclear whether he was aiming for the lips or the cheek, but Smith took no chances, pushing him away, slapping his cheek with the backside of his hand and saying, “C’mon man, what the hell is your problem buddy?” The Associated Press reported.
Despite the jarring experience, ever-jovial Smith bounced right back and was joking, shaking hands and signing autographs for another five minutes until his fellow dressed-in-black security hustled him to his reserved seat.
Serdyuk was only one of many journalists and fans who were starstruck by Smith’s presence that day.
He first met with journalists in the morning during a news conference at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, and as he entered the room, the energetic pack of reporters couldn’t help but immediately hoot and holler. Fellow actor Josh Brolin and director Barry Sonnenfeld received half-hearted receptions at best.
The journalists were charmed by Smith’s animated character, laughing along with every joke. They couldn’t stop smacking their knees when he took the rubles, which Josh Brolin passed to him for complimenting his acting as “a genius performance,” and tossed it to the first few rows of reporters, shouting “just put it on Sony’s bill.”
The journalists were so mesmerized that as the conference ended, at least 25 journalists rushed to the stage like teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert, pen and notebook at the ready for autographs.
The movie itself, “Men in Black 3,” tries to ride on the back of Smith’s magnetism to entrance fans with the third installment of the “Men in Black” series, but just as Serdyuk was too much journalist for the actor to handle, the task of carrying “Men in Black 3” may also be too much for Smith.
For starters, Smith hadn’t acted since 2008 — a fact Sonnenfeld himself said had scared him. Watching the jump back in time scene, “I’m thinking, ‘he’s not really that good anymore,’” Sonnenfeld said. He waited for him to improve, but finally called for a cut.
But during the break, Smith told Sonnenfeld that he was a little rusty and would get it together. “And he absolutely did,” Sonnenfeld said.
In the movie, Agent J (Will Smith) discovers that someone has gone back in time and killed Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), so he doesn’t exist in the present. He then travels back in time by leaping from the Chrysler Building and winds up in 1969 New York City.
He then works with a younger Agent K — played by Josh Brolin — so that fans are given a deeper look into the character of Agent K. The movie then carries on as Agent K and Agent J take on retro aliens to once again save the world.
Brolin pulls off a frighteningly impressive performance of mimicking Jones’ Agent K by matching the voice and mannerisms. A fan of “Men in Black” himself, Brolin said he watched the first film 40 to 50 times, analyzing Jones’ behavior and listening over and over again to his voice in order to achieve the final result.
TITLE: Russian Olympians Will Stay Dry During London Games
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Members of Russia's official Olympic delegation to London will find their summer a bit drier than usual.
Alcoholic drinks will be banned at any event organized by the Russian delegation in which athletes or delegation officials participate, Kommersant reported, citing information from the minutes of a meeting led by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, the official in charge of the team's trip to London.
Kozak representative Ilya Dzhus confirmed the information to Kommersant. "Olympic values are not commensurate with using alcohol," he said.
The ban applies to the Russian Olympic Committee, the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, the All-Russian Association of Summer Olympic Sports and the company Bosco di Ciliegi, the official outfitter of the Olympic team.
But a federal official in the meeting with Kozak suggested that organizers can make alcoholic beverages available at parties for their corporate clients and sponsors, as long as athletes or members of the official delegation do not participate.
Events hosted by Russia will primarily take place in four "hospitality houses," including a Russia Sochi Park house across from Royal Albert Hall near Hyde Park that will house the Olympic committee and Sochi 2014.
Bosco, which could operate event space in the Russia Sochi Park house, has said it has not yet decided whether or not it will make alcohol available at their events.
The measures to eliminate alcohol are being taken after Russia's disappointing haul of only 15 medals in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games instead of the expected 30 to 50.
In those games, the Russian House gained a reputation as one of the loudest, and vodka from producer Russian Standard was "accessible to all guests, participants and Olympic organizers" at the house, a news release from the company said, Kommersant reported.
The dry law will be in effect from July 27 to Aug. 12.
TITLE: Duma to Discuss Housing Homeless
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: It is a bitter truth that while there are many paths that lead to homelessness in Russia, there are no legal ways back, except for — as more cynical officials sometimes suggest to their humble homeless visitors — simply buying themselves a new home. Needless to say, this is hardly an option for someone who has been cheated out of their property by a shady realtor or kicked out by their alcoholic children, or whose uninsured house has burned down or whose apartment was sold by relatives when they were serving a jail sentence.
The key reasons people become homeless in Russia include family problems (35 percent of all homeless people) and economic migration (24 percent), according to the homeless.ru website. People who have recently been released from prison account for 18 percent of the country’s homeless population. A further 15 percent lost their home due to fraudulent real estate operations. It is not uncommon for Russians to evict an elderly relative when selling their apartments, or even fail to provide their children under 18 years old with accommodation.
So far, despite continued efforts by human rights groups across the country, the state has shown no political will to tackle the problem. It is all the more surprising, therefore, that the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly has this week expressed an interest in the matter and offered a possible way out of limbo for at least some of the many hundreds of homeless people in the city.
In the next few weeks, the parliament will discuss the possibility of including people who have been officially registered as homeless in St. Petersburg on the city government’s waiting list for state housing.
The man behind the pioneering proposal is the notorious United Russia lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, who took the international spotlight earlier this year after fathering the city’s widely criticized “gay propaganda” law, which was signed into law in March.
“It is unfair to homeless people that after they have lost everything — and people actually become homeless for very different reasons — the law offers them zero chance of a revival, of a comeback,” Milonov said. “Homeless people are no less human than any of us.”
According to the plan — and the bill still needs to be passed by the city parliament — not all homeless people would qualify for the waiting list. Inclusion on the list would only become possible after ten years of being officially registered as homeless, and priority would then be given to victims of criminal real estate deals and those cheated out of their properties by dishonest relatives.
Statistics on the numbers of homeless people in St. Petersburg vary from about 10,000 as registered by City Hall to more than 50,000 people as estimated by local non-governmental organizations. Local shelters can accommodate only several hundred people, a tiny fraction of the homeless population.
In the meantime, the official waiting list for state housing currently includes 185,000 local families. The list moves at a snail’s pace of less than 10 percent per year. If the authorities do not speed things up, being included on the list is not going to be of much practical help to homeless people. The law, if passed, would however grant the local homeless some hope — which in some cases is better than nothing.
TITLE: Devoted Opposition Remains at St. Isaac’s
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: “Occupy St. Isaac’s” — St. Petersburg’s response to continuing protests in Moscow, dubbed after the square in the city center — entered its second week Tuesday, as anti-Putin protesters continued to gather on St. Isaac’s Square, holding debates, lectures, poetry readings and concerts.
The protesters’ main demands are dissolving the “illegitimate” State Duma and dismissing the “illegitimate” president while organizing new elections. Contrary to expectations, neither the camp on St. Isaac’s Square nor the “Occupy Abai” protest near the monument to Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev on Chistiye Prudy in Moscow were immediately shut down by the authorities.
The protesters have banned posters and placards out of fear that it would give the authorities grounds to disperse the protest, although one man stood Monday with a sign reading “We demand new honest elections” at the opposite end of the small garden. The white ribbons and white balloons that symbolize the demand for honest elections are, however, widely in evidence.
There are people of diverse political views — from left-wing to liberal to nationalist — at the site, but they have been making decisions by democratic vote and conflicts are being avoided or dealt with peacefully.
“The authorities have demonstrated that they are not going to take people’s opinions into consideration,” said social activist Filipp Kostenko, who describes his views as anarchist.
“That’s why there’s a need for an efficient alternative to this system, and grassroots self-organization can be such an alternative. This gathering on St. Isaac’s Square is an attempt at such grassroots organization and people’s interaction, regardless of the authorities and against the authorities.”
The St. Isaac’s camp emerged spontaneously when the police shut down a small local demo on May 7, the day of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as president, when The Other Russia oppositional party urged residents to show solidarity with the St. Petersburg protesters arrested in Moscow on May 6 and 7.
The police arrested about eight people at the May 7 demo, but some of those who came did not leave, remaining to stand, talk or sit on benches, some playing chess.
Since then, from 50 to 300 people have been present at the site at different times of the day, with up to 20 staying overnight to keep the camp running around the clock.
The location was chosen because it is next to the Legislative Assembly and the City Elections Committee. On March 5, several thousand came there to protest electoral fraud, only to be dispersed by OMON riot police, who arrested more than 500.
Participants and supporters provide a constant supply of food and drinks, except alcohol, which is forbidden. The protesters have been keeping the site clean, packing trash in large plastic bags and taking it away.
On Tuesday, the camp launched its website, www.uznay.org.
The police have been keeping watch on the protest from one or two vans parked nearby, sometimes harassing protesters with ID checks or petty demands, such as to park baby carriages in a different way or remove a table brought by some activists.
“The police decided to check the IDs of everybody who was here at four or five in the morning,” Kostenko said Monday.
“A group of about six policemen approached those who were here — about 15 protesters — and they started checking IDs, citing an alleged complaint from local residents that terrorists were gathering here. When asked to produce an all-points bulletin (APB), they retreated. But they had time to copy the ID information of five people or so.
“The other incident was when a policeman came and disassembled a plastic table, saying, ‘If everybody sets up a table, what will we have here — a canteen?”
Unlike Moscow, where best-selling author Boris Akunin and the veteran rock band Mashina Vremeni’s frontman Andrei Makarevich took part in protests, no local celebrities have been to support protesters in St. Petersburg.
Locally based stadium rocker Yury Shevchuk, who enjoys a reputation as a politically conscious singer-songwriter and whom protesters had hoped would join the campaign, declined to come.
“I have no time to stroll on St. Isaac’s Square,” Shevchuk was reported as saying when promoting his band DDT’s Friday concert on a local music radio Tuesday. “I am tired. Every concert is a battle in itself!”
Local club band SP Babai’s frontman Mikhail Novitsky, who also leads the Green Wave preservationist group, has been a frequent sight at the protest site.
It was there that Novitsky premiered a song called “Putin Is Afraid of Everybody” inspired by hundreds of arrests in the streets of Moscow on May 6 and 7 and the May 7 TV footage of Putin’s cavalcade silently speeding to the Kremlin for the inauguration through a deserted Moscow, emptied of people by the police and security services.
“No dogs, no cats, no bird will chirp; everyone has been arrested, because Putin is afraid of everybody,” the song goes.
Novitsky said he was shocked by the footage.
“There was some scary, sinister lie in this silence, so I tried to make a joke out of it and cheer people up,” he said.
“I think people realized that you should laugh at it rather than despair.”
According to Novitsky, who plans to give two lectures on ecology to protesters, the importance of the St. Isaac’s protest was in uniting people.
“If you do something regularly, quantity turns into quality,” he said Monday.
“The situation ripens, connections are forged between people, and all this will explode at a certain moment. There are about 100 people now, but the total number of people who have been here is more than several thousand.”
The Other Russia chose not to participate in the protest on St. Isaac’s Square, but concentrate on the next Strategy 31 rally for freedom of assembly due on May 31, according to the party’s local leader Andrei Dmitriyev.
“We support any forms of protest activity, but it doesn’t look very serious,” Dmitriyev said this week.
“People come, sit there for a while and then what? There are no slogans, no posters. They don’t appear to be ready for resistance, for confrontation with the police, for more or less decisive action. Perhaps that’s why they are left alone — because they don’t pose any threat to the authorities.
“We’re preparing the next Strategy 31 rally and inviting them to join us, because it’s a totally different degree of confrontation with the system.”
TITLE: Avia Group Nord Buys Pulkovo-2 Building
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Pulkovo Airport has sold the distinctive Pulkovo-2 airport building to Avia Group Nord.
According to Northern Capital Air Gateway, the consortium that operates the airport, Pulkovo Airport decided to sell the building as it has not been in use for several years.
Avia Group Nord plans to finish restoring the building by the end of this year and to then use the facility for business flights.
The appearance of a new business aviation operator at Pulkovo Airport will promote the development of this segment on the market, Northern Capital Air Gateway said.
TITLE: Museum Night Event To Reveal City Secrets
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: St. Petersburg’s annual Museum Night will give residents and visitors the chance to check out the city’s cultural hotspots until the small hours of the morning on the night of May 19.
The theme of this year’s event is “City Secrets,” because St. Petersburg museums have many secrets that are often unknown to the public, organizers said.
“Puzzling events, breathtaking stories and secrets concerning some historical pieces or even whole buildings will all become part of the Museum Night program,” the organizers said.
At the Botanical Gardens, visitors will be able to wander through the flora in search of the elusive fern blossom until 6 a.m.
Guides at the Yelagin Palace on Yelagin Island will share secrets about the imperial Romanov family, explain the puzzles of Rossi’s architecture and hidden signals that ladies and gentlemen exchanged during balls in the 19th century.
The Gatchina State Museum in the suburb of Gatchina will share secrets from the prophesy of the monk Avel and from the burnt diaries of Empress Maria Fyodorovna.
Those who visit the Leningrad Zoo will find out some of the zoo’s legends such as the story of Peter the Great’s horse, the skeleton of the blue whale and how some of the animals have starred on the silver screen.
Other museums participating in the event will have their own secrets to share.
At least 74 museums are taking part in this year’s event, 19 of them for the first time. Many museums will be open from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., some from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and others until only 11 p.m.
The local event has proven highly popular in recent years, so nocturnal museum-goers should be prepared for long lines.
For more detailed information, visit www.artnight.ru/program.
TITLE: Navy Head Gets Sacked For Not Moving Headquarters
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The head of Russia’s navy, Vladimir Vysotsky, has been fired for ignoring orders from General Headquarters and the Ministry of Defense to move navy headquarters from Moscow to St. Petersburg, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Vysotsky was fired by then-President Dmitry Medvedev on May 6, but will remain in military service, the agency reported.
“Vysotsky did not move to St. Petersburg. That is the main reason for his dismissal,” a high-ranking representative from General Headquarters told RIA Novosti.
The representative said Vysotsky deserved respect for standing his ground, but that the new head of the navy would still have to move headquarters to St. Petersburg.
On May 6, Medvedev also appointed vice-admiral Viktor Chirkov as the new head of the navy.
Another high-ranking source from General Headquarters told Interfax news agency that Vysotsky’s dismissal had to do with the recent fire that broke out at a shipyard and spread aboard the strategic nuclear missile carrier “Yekaterinburg.”
“The fire that happened at the end of last year on the “Yekaterinburg,” which had weapons onboard at the time, was the last straw for the country’s authorities and Ministry of Defense,” the source said, Interfax reported.
The representative also mentioned that during Vysotsky’s tenure as head of the navy, there were fires at a navy base near Moscow and at the Ulyanovsk naval arms depot. He was also in charge when a gas leak onboard the nuclear submarine “Nerpa” killed 20.
The same anonymous representatives also negated the fact that Vysotsky was against moving navy headquarters to St. Petersburg.
“Despite the opinion that Vysotsky actively opposed enacting the decision, he never challenged it,” the source said, Interfax reported.
TITLE: Pikalyovo Factory Is Bankrupt
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Three years after it last made the headlines, the town of Pikalyovo in the LenOblast is back in the news.
The St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast Arbitration Court approved the claim of VestPromResurs company last week, recognizing the BaselCement Pikalyovo plant as officially bankrupt, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The Thirteenth Arbitrary Court of Appeal came to the same conclusion that the first court that heard the case on March 16, 2012 did, saying BaselCement Pikalyovo owes VestPromResurs 2.33 million rubles ($77,000) for deliveries made starting Dec. 29, 2007.
BaselCement’s holding company, however, said it would not let the company go bankrupt and would pay the debt in full by the court hearing, Kommersant daily reported.
The hearing is scheduled for June 19.
Pikalyovo, one of Russia’s single-industry cities, is home to three plants, all of which directly depend on the others to continue production.
Vyacheslav Shmatov, general director of the holding company, said the company was in so much debt because it had still not received the compensation it was promised for the high cost of transporting cargo by rail from the Leningrad Oblast budget.
“Despite Vladimir Putin’s statement and the agreement signed with the Leningrad Oblast in March 2012, the sum of 421 million rubles ($13.9 million) allocated for the company by the Russian Finance Ministry has not yet been received,” Shmatov said, Kommersant reported.
“In this situation we have had to prioritize the payments we owe our employees, primary suppliers and Pikalyovo ground partners,” he said.
BaselCement Pikalyovo is one in a chain of companies that manufactures elements used in the production of sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate.
BaselCement Pikalyovo produces alum earth from the nepheline concentrate that its gets from the company Apatit. After processing the alum earth, nepheline slime is produced and the Basel plant then sends the slime to the Pikalyovo Cement company to make cement and a carbon solution, which are then sent to the Metakhim plant to produce sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate.
BaselCement Pikalyovo transports nepheline concentrate from the town of Apatity in the Murmansk region to the Pikalyovo station by rail. In 2009, Putin declared that the companies involved in the Pikalyovo chain would get an annual 421 million-ruble ($13.8 million) stipend for the money spent on railway cargo shipments. In early 2012 it was decided that the direct subsidies granted to BaselCement Pikalyovo would be taken from the Leningrad Oblast budget, Kommersant reported.
The situation unfolding in Pikalyovo became a prominent case in Russia during the global economic crisis. In 2009, plant workers blocked a federal highway in order to draw attention to their plight, as BaselCement had not paid them for months and had been closed at the beginning of the year. Then-prime minister Vladimir Putin visited the town and famously threw a pen at oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who owns the business, telling him to pay workers everything he owed them.
Up until that time, a total of 50 lawsuits had been filed against BaselCement. Most of those who filed lawsuits were business owners seeking to recoup the debts incurred before Deripaska shut down the factory.
At Putin’s prompting, the BaselCement factory then reopened.
TITLE: Public Transport Prices to Climb This Summer
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: City Hall has announced that public transportation ticket prices will increase by two rubles beginning either June 1 or July 1, Fontanka news website reported.
St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko said the rise in prices was made necessary by the 2.8-billion-ruble ($92.2-million) increase — a rise of 9.1 percent — in the expenses of the public transport sector compared with 2011. The reason for the cost increase was inflation, Poltavchenko said.
The city also needs to recover the money it spent on new metro trains and the opening of new metro stations. Admiralteiskaya station opened at the end of 2011 and Mezhdunarodnaya is due to open by the end of this year.
In order not to increase public transport fees, City Hall would have needed to allocate another billion rubles ($33 milliion) to the public transport sector.
Individual bus, trolley and tram tickets will cost 23 rubles ($0.76) and a metro journey will cost 27 rubles ($0.89). The cost of a universal tram, trolley bus, bus and metro monthly pass will go up by 4.8 percent to 1,710 rubles ($56).
This year was the first in the last few years when the cost of public transport tickets did not increase from January 1. The need to increase ticket prices was discussed before the beginning of 2012, but City Hall did not reportedly want to raise prices before the presidential election.
Meanwhile, marshrutkas (commercial mini-buses) raised their ticket prices back in April. Prices increased by five rubles on average.
The last time public transport prices increased in St. Petersburg was in January 2011.
TITLE: Legislative Assembly Chooses New LenOblast Governor
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Deputies of the Leningrad Oblast Legislative Assembly confirmed the region’s new governor, Alexander Drozdenko, on Saturday.
At least 41 deputies voted for Drozdenko’s candidacy and seven against, Interfax reported.
President Vladimir Putin has already signed a document terminating the contract of current Leningrad Oblast governor, Valery Serdyukov, who will step down from his post May 28.
Drozdenko, 47, has considerable experience in politics, having headed the town council of Kingisepp in the LenOblast from 1988 to 1993. He held various mayoral positions of the Kingisepp district from 1993 to 2002.
Serdyukov has already signed a request for his tenure to be ended early, despite having previously said that he intended to complete his full term as governor, which was due to end on July 9, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Serdyukov, 66, has been governor of the Leningrad Oblast since 1998.
TITLE: Big-Name Writers Lead Protest Rally of 10,000
AUTHOR: By Jonathan Earle and Kevin O’Flynn
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — A week after bloody clashes between radical youths and riot police tarnished the first major protest rally in months, the moderate middle-class opposition appeared to re-assert itself Sunday with an unexpectedly large march of thousands in Moscow led by some of Russia’s most prominent writers.
Organizers said about 10,000 marched peacefully from Pushkin Square to Chistiye Prudy, where they merged with a four-day-old open-air camp that had become the headquarters of the fledgling street movement to oust President Vladimir Putin. Police put the number of marchers at 2,000.
Unlike the May 6 rally, police presence was minimal, and there were no reports of violence or detentions.
Prominent opposition-minded writers, including Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Dmitry Bykov, Lev Rubinshtein and crime novelist Grigory Chkhartishvili, who writes under the pseudonym Boris Akunin, took center stage at Sunday’s unsanctioned Test March, which doubled as a book-signing event for many.
“It’s great that the protest movement is taking various forms and genres, that it’s changing and mutating but isn’t dying down,” said Rubinshtein, a poet. “The fact that so many people showed up is also evidence that literature still carries some weight in our society.”
The event was called the Test March to see whether anti-Kremlin activists could walk around freely. Last week, people were detained for just wearing white ribbons — the symbol of the protesters, or for no clear reason at all. “We are now fighting for our right to walk where we want to,” satirist Viktor Shenderovich said.
As the crowds walked on Rozhdestvensky Bulvar, which slopes down a hill, cheers began whenever a new group reached the top of the hill. The mass of people on the street was a striking contrast to the empty city on the day of Putin’s inauguration.
Mathematician Fyodor, 63, held up an electronic reader with the words, “If you come up against a lie, use it,” a quote he attributed to Thomas Carlyle, the 19th-century Scottish writer.
Under a statue of 19th-century poet Alexander Griboyedov, poet Dmitry Bykov recited Griboyedov’s verse and collected manuscripts from aspiring authors in a plastic bag.
Marchers said they were appalled by the violence at the May 6 rally and welcomed the authors’ march. “It was scary. It seemed like a completely different group from the one that had been going to the rallies,” said Ksenia Velembovskaya, 60, editor of an academic journal. “Today, I feel great. These are our people.”
Unlike the mass police presence last week, the peaceful march was epitomized by a policeman who stood near the Pushkin Square cinema and shouted at the crowd, “Careful, there are steps ahead!”
Dozens of protesters at the opposition base camp at Chistiye Prudy braved chilly weather and rain on Saturday night, wrapping themselves in blankets under plastic sheets and umbrellas, thereby ensuring the continuation of the nonstop protest that began early last week.
Opposition activists say the government has initiated a propaganda campaign to portray the camp as an unsanitary nuisance, perhaps to build public support for a potentially bloody operation to clear it. On Friday, Channel One broadcast complaints by an elderly “local” who accused the protesters of, among other things, defecating “wherever and however they want.”
Protesters denied the charges, and bloggers say they’ve unmasked the woman, Nina Toporova, as a United Russia loyalist who doesn’t live on Chistiye Prudy. Socialite and opposition supporter Ksenia Sobchak raised the possibility of filing libel charges.
Protest leaders also appear to be coming under increasing pressure from the authorities. The authorities are preparing to jail opposition leaders Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny for two years, Sobchak tweeted on Saturday night, citing a source close to the Kremlin. She wrote that she hoped the allegation was just a rumor. Both men are currently serving a 15-day prison sentence for disobeying police orders during an opposition rally Tuesday. On Saturday, the Presnensky District Court upheld Navalny’s sentence.
Separately, the Investigative Committee opened a preliminary inquiry into allegations that they called for mass riots. Charges, if filed, would carry a punishment of up to three years in prison.
A Moscow court ordered the opposition camp closed Tuesday after complaints from local residents.
TITLE: Wreckage Search Continues
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: JAKARTA, Indonesia — Search teams have found some cockpit instruments in the wreckage of a Russian passenger jet that slammed into a cliff atop a dormant Indonesian volcano.
But National Transportation Safety Commission chief Tatang Kurniadi said they have found the emergency locator transmitter but not the voice-and-data recorder. The “black box” data could help explain what caused the crash.
Joint teams of Indonesian and Russian experts continued to comb through debris at the bottom of a 500-meter ravine on Tuesday afternoon.
The Sokhoi Superjet is Russia’s first passenger jet model since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. It was being demonstrated for potential buyers when it slammed into the jagged cliff last Wednesday. It had 45 people on board.
TITLE: Court Orders Chistiye Prudi Closed
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — A Moscow court ruled Tuesday that the opposition camp on Chistoprudny Bulvar be shut down, Interfax reported.
Speculation that police were preparing to clear the camp raged in recent days, fueled by reports of complaints from local residents.
The Basmanny Court handed down the ruling in response to such complaints about the camp, where numbers have ranged from dozens to more than a thousand demonstrators for over a week.
More than a dozen neighborhood residents petitioned the court, citing the “inaction of authorities” and “troublemakers of the protest action.” City Hall also said it had received more than 50 complaints about the camp.
It appeared on Tuesday that pressure was rising on activists to vacate the camp, despite assurances from a senior official Monday that City Hall was not planning to kick them out.
“We’re not against people expressing their opinion, but a crowd is a scary thing. If something happens, everybody runs into the courtyards where our children play after school,” said Yelena Salynina, who was part of the group suing the city over the camp and whose child attends School 310 near Chistiye Prudy, Interfax reported Tuesday.
Salynina told journalists that parents have stopped taking their children for walks along Chistoprudny Bulvar and don’t let them play alone in the courtyards. Others complained about alcohol being consumed in courtyards and inappropriate graffiti.
Opposition leader Ilya Yashin said residents’ complaints against the administration of the central administrative district was in fact an attempt by the authorities to clear the camp.
“I have no doubt that the court is being used to kick us out. The authorities understand the pointlessness of muscling us out, so they’ll try to squeeze us out by other means,” he said, Interfax reported.
The May 6 rally, like large protests in December and February, was promoted on Facebook and other social networks — and a United Russia deputy in the State Duma has asked Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to take steps against the owners and users of social network accounts linked to the clashes.
Facebook and Twitter “effectively became instruments for coordinating extremist activities,” Deputy Alexander Khinshtein wrote in the request, Interfax reported Monday.
Undeterred by a possible check, the opposition has set up a Facebook page for a mass rally on the Russia Day holiday on June 12. About 1,000 people had signed up to attend as of Monday afternoon.
TITLE: First Sentence Made in Perm Nightclub Fire
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The co-owner of a Perm nightclub where 156 people died after a pyrotechnic show ignited a bamboo ceiling was sentenced to six and a half years in a prison colony Monday.
Khromaya Loshad, or “Lame Horse,” co-owner Konstantin Mrykhin was also required to compensate victims of the fire in the amount of more than 200 million rubles ($6.6 million) for moral and material harm, the Investigative Committee said in a statement on its website.
The trial has been highly emotional, with victims’ relatives shouting and cursing at the defendant and the court. A group of about 15 people left the courtroom in protest as the sentence was read out, RIA-Novosti reported.
Mrykhin’s trial on charges of offering services in violation of safety laws resulting in death carried a maximum sentence of 10 years.
He fled Russia shortly after the nightclub incident and was hiding in Spain until his arrest and extradition to Russia in June 2011.
This is the first sentence of eight people charged in connection with the fire, including pyrotechnics experts, regional fire inspectors, and club owners and managers. Only club co-owner Anatoly Zak remains in custody.
The 2009 fire occurred Dec. 5 after a pyrotechnic show ignited the ceiling, which was covered in highly flammable materials in violation of safety codes. Patrons were only able to escape the club through a single exit accessible through a narrow stairway.
Footage of the incident recorded by a club-goer showed the fire begin as sparks flashed behind a decorative wooden panel on the ceiling. People began to push their way toward the exit as the fire spread rapidly across the room. People who made it onto the street could be seen stripping off their burning clothing.
TITLE: Russia To Visit NATO Conference In Chicago
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Moscow will send a high-ranking official to the NATO conference in Chicago, Kommersant reported Monday, citing a high-placed Foreign Ministry source.
Zamir Kabulov, the presidential envoy to Afghanistan who also heads a Foreign Ministry department, will most likely be Russia’s pick for the conference, the source said, though the information has not been officially confirmed.
An ongoing spat over missile defense and other questions have cast doubt on Moscow’s participation in the NATO meeting May 20 and 21, where the alliance is set to launch the first phase of a missile shield system that Moscow strongly opposes.
In April, Lavrov warned that he might not accept an invitation to send a representative to Chicago because the alliance won’t let Moscow attend all meetings of nations contributing to ISAF, NATO’s Afghanistan mission.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia was invited to attend an ISAF-contributor meeting at the sidelines of the Chicago summit.
President Vladimir Putin had earlier agreed with Rasmussen that he would not attend the event himself, officially because the event was so soon after his inauguration and during a busy domestic political season.
TITLE: Soyuz Shuttle Blasts Off for Space Station
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Two Russians and an American blasted off in a Soyuz spaceship headed for the International Space Station Tuesday, overcoming more than a month’s delay caused by problems with the Russian spacecraft.
Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, along with American astronaut Joseph Acaba launched atop the Soyuz FG rocket at 7:01 a.m. Moscow time from Kazakhstan’s Baikanur cosmodrome, soaring through clear skies to successfully reach orbit, RIA-Novosti reported.
The Soyuz TMA-04M capsule is scheduled to dock with the $100 billion research complex in orbit 385 kilometers above the earth Thursday morning at 8:39 Moscow time.
Padalka is making his fourth space flight as one of Russia’s most experienced cosmonauts, with 585 days in space and eight spacewalks under his belt, while this is the first trip to space for Revin.
In remarks to reporters before the launch, Acaba said he would take a toy bear, Padalka an iPad and iPod, while Revin said he would have with him a toy kangaroo and small gifts for crew members who would celebrate birthdays at the station, RIA-Novosti reported.
The crew will carry out experiments in ecology and medicine during the trip, which will be shortened because of launch delays, and will also hold a lesson on ecology from space for school students.
The crew gave a thumbs up to an onboard camera three minutes into the flight, and Mission Control near Moscow told visiting scientists and students the three were feeling well, Reuters reported.
The newcomers will join Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenk and Dutch and American astronauts Andre Kuipers and Don Pettit, who have been at the station since Russia’s last launch on Dec. 21.
Tuesday’s launch, originally scheduled for March, faced more than a month of delays because of a problem with the hull of the Soyuz capsule that was caused during pressure tests.
The Federal Space Agency has faced a series of recent launch failures, including the crash of the unmanned Russian Progress cargo vessel that broke up in the atmosphere in August and the loss of a $170 million probe, whose engines failed to break it out of Earth orbit to begin its mission to the Martian moon Phobos.
After retiring its space shuttle fleet last year, the U.S. is now dependent on Russia as the only country able to shuttle astronauts to the space station, at the rate of $60 million per passenger.
Several private firms are seeking to get commercial space programs off the ground, including SpaceX, which hopes to launch its Dragon ship from Cape Canaveral to the space station May 19.
TITLE: Russia Attempts to Turn Tables On Human Rights
AUTHOR: By Natalya Krainova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Attempting to deflect criticism against crackdowns on political protests at home, Russian officials shot back at Western critics Monday, lambasting racism and xenophobia in Europe.
Foreign Ministry and Duma officials joined others in urging European Union representatives present at a round-table discussion not to use Russia’s human rights record as a political tool.
“The West doesn’t tolerate criticism of its own human rights violations,” said Vasily Nebenzya, head of the Foreign Ministry’s department for humanitarian cooperation and human rights.
“Human rights have become a weapon,” he said, adding that Russia would treat its critics “with mistrust when they try to teach us [to observe] human rights … as long as our concern [about human rights violations in Europe] is ignored.”
Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s permanent representative to the European Union, suggested that the EU was guilty of hypocrisy for having not yet joined the 1953 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which Russia partially ratified in 1998.
He also noted that “at a time of economic crisis more attention should be paid to social and economic rights,” rather than to freedom of assembly. Western critics have been quick to fault Russia’s hostility to opposition protests.
Chizhov said Europe had many of its own problems, the most common being a rise in nationalism and xenophobia.
Konstantin Dolgov, the Foreign Ministry’s ombudsman for human rights, specifically accused Latvia and Estonia of harassing Russian-speaking minorities, Great Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland of discriminating against immigrants and the United States of creating secret prisons where suspected terrorists were allegedly tortured.
He said Europe and Russia had to have “equal rights” in their dialogue on human rights, a point repeated by many on the panel.
Andrei Klimov, first deputy head of the Duma’s international affairs committee, said the round-table participants would recommend that members of delegations in the European Parliament “more actively concentrate [their] attention on [Europe’s] own human rights record.”
Fernando Valenzuela, head of the European Union’s delegation to Russia, admitted Europe had some work to do.
“We do not claim that everything is perfect,” he said. “Our own institutions are weak to detect shortcomings.”
Valenzuela said the European Union was “committed to combat all forms of racism and xenophobia.”
But he decried the 15-day prison terms given to opposition protesters, the pretrial detention of the punk band Pussy Riot, the killings of journalists, the death in jail of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and imprisonment of Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Valenzuela told The St. Petersburg Times after the round table that a number of points raised such as racism and xenophobia in the EU states were “important,” but that some statements didn’t “correspond to reality,” such as accusations of discrimination against Russian speakers in the Baltics.
Valenzuela said some issues were “matters for discussion, but not human rights violations.”
TITLE: Airlines Hurry to Recruit Pilots During Shortage
AUTHOR: By Alec Luhn
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia has been widely touted as the world’s most deadly place to fly after a series of air crashes. The Russian aviation industry faces another pressing issue that may eventually compound safety problems — a shortage of personnel, especially pilots.
As passenger flights continue to increase, the number of students graduating from Russian aviation academies won’t be able to meet airlines’ staffing demands, an industry expert said. The burgeoning deficit is prompting airlines to cover their staffing needs by poaching pilots from other airlines and starting special recruitment programs, among other means. If this deficit is not successfully addressed, it could exacerbate the safety concerns about air travel in Russia, experts said.
“The most problematic segment, the deficit which could directly affect the level of flight safety in the future, is the shortage of graduates from educational institutions specializing in flight operations,” said Oleg Panteleyev, an analyst at the industry information agency Aviaport.
According to Panteleyev, about 330 new pilots graduated from Russian flight schools in 2011. Although the state flight schools plan to graduate 480 pilots in 2012 and to increase that number in future years, the number of graduates will be less than the number required by airlines. The industry’s staffing needs will include an estimated 800 to 1,000 pilots annually over the next few years, he said.
Meanwhile, passenger travel continues to grow in Russia. Sixty-four million people flew on Russian airlines in 2011, and the number of passenger flights increased 12.6 percent compared with 2010, RIA-Novosti reported in March. The number of passengers grew 18 percent in the first two months of 2012 as compared with the same period last year, according to the news service.
Wage Wars
Pilot positions comprise 5 percent of the aviation vacancies on recruiting website SuperJob.ru, said spokesman Vladislav Gladenkov by e-mail. Meanwhile, 14 percent of the site’s aviation vacancies are for flight attendants and 16 percent are for ticket agents, he said.
Aviator positions, however, remain foremost on airlines’ minds. Russia’s second-largest airline, Transaero, concerns itself mainly with hiring pilots, spokesman Sergei Bykhal said by e-mail.
“Because the company’s fleet is constantly expanding, we carry out constant, planned recruitment of personnel, primarily pilots,” Bykhal said.
Russian airline VIM Avia is most in need of pilots and flight attendants, said spokeswoman Yelena Fyodorova by e-mail.
Whereas during the Soviet period flight schools put out as many as 2,500 graduates a year, in post-Soviet Russia that number decreased to less than 200, Novaya Gazeta reported in 2011. This was because a decrease in the number of passenger flights in Russia during the 1990s was accompanied by a sharp drop in government financing for the country’s flight schools, Panteleyev said.
Moreover, the lack of ground personnel is only slightly less acute than the pilot shortage, Panteleyev said.
Most large airlines can currently meet their staffing needs by attracting personnel from smaller airlines, Panteleyev said.
“Airlines poach pilots from each other, and the only method of attracting pilots is higher wages,” Panteleyev said, noting that large spending on aviators makes Russian airlines uncompetitive with foreign companies.
VIM Avia declined to name the average salary of its pilots, and Transaero said only that its wages correspond to those at leading airlines worldwide. Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported in 2011 that the salary of an experienced pilot in Russia exceeds $10,000 per month.
Transaero hires pilots both from flight schools and other airlines, Bykhal said. Few other sources for aviators exist. Military flyers sometimes go into civil aviation, but the “number of these pilots is tens of people when the need is for thousands,” Panteleyev said.
Personnel from former Soviet republics could help address the problem, but by law Russian airlines can only hire Russian or Belarussian citizens, he added.
Bring a Friend
The personnel deficit has prompted airlines to try various recruiting tools. Russian airlines and flight schools have visited secondary schools on joint recruiting tours, Panteleyev said, but these trips can’t alleviate the current problem, as the number of students wanting to enroll already exceeds the number that flight schools can accept.
To try to establish a steadier supply of pilots, the country’s largest airline, Aeroflot, opened its own flight school in partnership with the Ulyanovsk Higher Civil Aviation School in March 2011, the company said on its website. Students first study for a year and a half at the Ulyanovsk school, then for half a year at Aeroflot’s school on the outskirts of Moscow, where they learn to operate a specific plane. The company requires 250 new pilots every year, general director Vitaly Savelyev told news agency Prime.
VIM Avia runs its own training center to provide flight school graduates with additional instruction, Fyodorova said, and Bykhal said Transaero also has a training center.
Aeroflot recently garnered publicity for its recruiting program “Bring a Friend to Be a Pilot.” For every new pilot hired on the recommendation of an Aeroflot employee, that employee receives a 200,000 ruble ($6,800) bonus. During the course of 2011, the airline hired 35 pilots in this fashion, flight director Igor Chalik told Vedomosti in April. Panteleyev said he doesn’t know of any similar programs at other Russian airlines.
Aeroflot started the program after first appealing to recruiting agencies to help it hire pilots, Chalik said. Although Russian airlines, including VIM Avia, don’t often tap headhunters, the skills of recruiting agencies may eventually find demand in this segment, Panteleyev said. One task for recruiters in such a market is to find the most qualified candidates, since almost any applicant starts to look good to personnel-starved airlines, he explained.
“A good recruiting agency should sift out the candidates that have problems,” Panteleyev said. “The second part is the search for specialists ready to work for a reasonable wage, so that you don’t have to overpay.”
Fatigued Flight Crews
The lack of both flight and ground personnel can exacerbate safety concerns due to overworking, according to Igor Obodkov, spokesman for the Sheremetyevo Air Staff Union, who said encouragement by airlines to fly more hours wearies pilots. The problem looks like it will only get worse: Aeroflot is planning to double its fleet even though “there’s nowhere to get pilots from,” he said.
“Pilots’ fatigue builds up, and it’s not clear what it will lead to,” Obodkov said.
Although the set maximum flight time for commercial pilots is 800 hours a year, regulations allow them to fly 900 with the approval of their airline union, often for overtime pay. Some fly up to 1,000 hours unofficially, Obodkov said.
Furthermore, down time between flights is often insufficient due to poor flight schedule planning, he noted. Russian aviators only have about six days off each month, compared with the 12 days off mandated by U.S. airline Delta, Obodkov said.
An investigation by the Interstate Aviation Committee of an Aeroflot-Nord crash in Perm on Sept. 14, 2008, which killed 88 people, found that the daily rest period between the crew’s flights on Sept. 11 had been less than half the 12-hour minimum (the crew flew on Sept. 11, 12 and 13), one of many regulatory violations in the crew’s work-rest schedule, according to the investigation report. The captain also had alcohol in his blood, the report said.
Errors made by personnel cause about 80 percent of air crashes in Russia, including allowing pilots without the necessary experience to fly, said Yelena Glebova, head of transport and customs oversight at the Prosecutor General’s Office, RIA-Novosti reported.
If the shortage of personnel is not addressed, it could constrict the development of the air industry, Panteleyev said.
“By the middle of this decade, the lack of pilots and ground staff will already hamper the growth of passenger traffic,” he predicted.
TITLE: Poor State Salaries Send Doctors to Pharmaceuticals, Abroad
AUTHOR: By Peter Spinella
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — All across Russia, hospitals need doctors. Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova told a conference last month that the nation lacks almost a million medical professionals. The government is frantically developing programs to boost the numbers.
Why is there such a deficit of medical staff? According to doctors and recruitment service providers, there is one big reason: Money. Much more lucrative and professionally appealing opportunities are available abroad or at pharmaceutical companies.
The government is pumping money into state-run hospitals to lure doctors, especially in rural localities where the shortage is most apparent. For instance, doctors under the age of 35 who agree to work for five years at a rural Perm hospital get a million-ruble ($33,000) grant. Then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised in March that doctors’ salaries will double regional averages by 2018.
But such monetary incentives often pale in comparison to what can be made at a drugmaker in Moscow or a clinic in Europe.
“In France, a doctor working at a hospital earns 7,500 to 10,000 euros [$10,000 to $13,000] a month,” Caroline Galliaerde, CEO of recruitment and executive search company Brainpower in Russia and the CIS, said by e-mail. “Highly professional specialists earn even more.”
A marketing director at a pharmaceutical firm in Moscow gets a starting salary of 150,000 rubles ($5,000) a month, according to Brainpower. A marketing manager or product manager gets 100,000 rubles.
Doctors in Moscow often get 20,000 rubles ($700) a month as a starting salary; a raise takes several years to obtain, a doctor told The St. Petersburg Times.
Luc Jones, head of pharmaceutical recruitment at Antal Russia, regularly sees highly qualified doctors quitting their profession to join the pharmaceutical industry to make a better living.
“Fewer people are choosing medicine as a subject at university because it requires many years’ study followed by a low paying job at the end of it,” Jones said by e-mail. “Additionally those already in the profession often realize that they can earn considerably more money by joining a pharmaceutical company — and these firms like people with a medical background.”
In Russia, medical school usually lasts about eight years, a doctor told The St. Petersburg Times. Candidates begin caring for patients after two years. In Europe, would-be doctors must tackle a longer and more challenging degree program, Brainpower’s Galliaerde said.
“In the first year of medical school alone, 42 to 45 percent of students drop out,” she said. “In general, the medical education lasts 10 to 12 years, and only then can you begin to treat patients.”
“Experienced doctors are over 35 years old,” Galliaerde added.
Ksenia, a doctor at a downtown Moscow hospital who, in order to speak frankly, asked that her last name not be disclosed, has seen conditions at her workplace improve drastically in the last couple of years, but many colleagues have left for more lucrative jobs elsewhere, she said.
Ksenia said her hospital has become better equipped. Doctors choose exactly what machinery they want, and eventually the state provides it. For the most part, people choose to work elsewhere because of salaries, she said.
“Many graduates want to work in research where they can make more money, but in Russia it’s difficult to get such jobs,” Ksenia said. “A lot of graduates go abroad for work.”
Marina Bogoslavskaya, head of the medical and pharmaceutical practice at Brainpower, agreed that salaries are a major factor in the lack of doctors for hospital positions in Russia.
“We often see situations where highly qualified doctors who speak fluent English and other languages, as well as having degrees in science, are choosing between work at multinational pharmaceutical firms in Russia and a job as a doctor in Europe — they move to Europe,” Bogoslavskaya said by e-mail.
“This attests to the fact that medical centers in Europe and other countries offer jobs with more precise prospects and comfortable conditions for professional development in comparison with Russian health care facilities,” she said.
Highly qualified doctors are also drawn to international projects not only because of better salaries and compensation packages, but also because of more interesting career opportunities, Bogoslavskaya added. Often doctors move to the business sphere for the opportunity to be involved in international scientific projects, which allow them to obtain new knowledge in their field together with highly qualified colleagues in Russia and at global offices, she said.
According to Galliaerde, “The reasons for the current unpopularity of this profession in Russia are that doctors have low social status, poor working conditions, a lack of prospects for development and, most importantly, the very low salaries and poor funding of health care in general,” she said.
TITLE: Keep the Protest Fire Burning
AUTHOR: By Georgy Satarov
TEXT: In just six months, from the end of September to March, Russia was transformed. The state’s gradual decomposition — its degenerate ethos of rent-seeking and appropriation of public goods — finally pushed Russians, especially its young post-Communist middle class, into the streets. Soviet-era deference to paternalistic leaders gave way to self-confidence and distrust of established authority.
Or did it?
Vladimir Putin and his regime, caught off guard by the protests in December and February, were on the verge of panic. But after the presidential election that returned Putin to the Kremlin, the protest wave rapidly subsided. Rallies shrank to one-tenth their previous size. With expectations of immediate success unmet, the romantic impulse wilted. It was clear what to do in confronting electoral fraud, but what to do later — after the defeat — was not. The protesters’ leaders could formulate no new goals and slogans.
Moreover, between the parliamentary elections of last December and the presidential election in March, the authorities began to seize the initiative. Putin’s placeholder, Dmitry Medvedev, proposed political reforms during the last weeks of his presidency and started meeting with representatives of opposition parties, which also had a demobilizing effect.
Of course, the reforms announced by the government were the simulated sort that have been a staple of Putin’s rule. But even as the authorities try to dilute their own initiatives — including direct gubernatorial elections, the removal of barriers to party registration and the establishment of independent public television — they have provided new opportunities for political participation.
Up until recently, the authorities no doubt perceived the temporary decline in street activity as a victory. Courts hearing allegations of falsified election results ignored clear evidence of legal violations. To many, the protest movement had become defeated. It seemed that Russian society had become a dry peat bog, waiting for a spark to ignite it.
We saw that spark on May 6, on the eve of Putin’s inauguration, when tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Moscow and clashed with police. As we enter the summer months, this spark could remain lit for a while — and perhaps gain force.
This bottom-up process is inestimably important to Russia’s future. And Moscow is not the only example. In several Russian cities, the opposition won mayoral elections. In Astrakhan, where the opposition candidate lost because of widespread voting fraud, the scale of street protests grew tenfold, and the entire country has been stirred by the scandal. Nowadays, opposition leaders from Moscow and elsewhere travel to other cities and join the protests or become election observers.
That activity will need to continue. When asked in a recent interview about the fate of the Putin-Medvedev regime, Medvedev, now the prime minister, said: “It is now time to calm down because the tandem will be here for a long time.” But while the tandem continues to see its main achievement as stability, what they now mean is the regime’s ability to stay in power “for a long time.”
To guarantee their understanding of stability, the tandem contrasts the continuous middle-class demonstrations with a wave of regime-orchestrated demonstrations. As a result, the country is now swollen with all sorts of phobias — against sexual minorities, against the “propaganda of sex” among young people, against critics of the Russian Orthodox Church and, as always, against the West.
It is difficult to predict the fate of such a blinkered regime. What we can say for sure is that only a democratic Russia will be able to survive within the country’s current borders. The alternative is collapse. Fortunately, the awakening of Russian society, the geographic broadening of political opposition, and the advent of a new generation unshackled by Soviet habits of mind and behavior has given the country an opportunity for genuine democratic reform that 12 years of Putinism had seemed to bury.
But Russia will choose not only between Putinism and democracy. Trying to ensure stability, the regime is awakening forces that it will not be able to control. The nationalism and homophobia that Putin and Medvedev have mobilized against the liberal wave is more dangerous to them — and their plan to swap jobs with each other indefinitely — than the liberals and leftists are.
Russia can go down three paths: democracy, which would preserve the country and provide prosperity for its citizens; the dead end of Putinism; or an orgy of nationalist obscurantism. Either of the second two scenarios would increase dramatically the likelihood of Russia’s eventual disintegration.
Georgy Satarov is director of Indem, a Moscow think tank. © Project Syndicate.
TITLE: FROM A SAFE DISTANCE: Medvedev’s Dangerous Incompetence
AUTHOR: By Alexei Bayer
TEXT: Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is a well-meaning yet incompetent man. His recently completed term as president was spent, innocuously enough, tweeting, toying with high-tech gadgets and listening to British rock. Yet, his four years in office have done enormous harm to Russia. Sometimes incompetence can be as dangerous as ill intent.
Medvedev came into office declaring that “freedom is better than no freedom” and promising liberalization, judicial and police reform, modernization and an end to corruption. Very little came out of any of that.
But the liberals were not the only ones who were disappointed in Medvedev. President Vladimir Putin, too, has plenty of reasons to be angry with his protege. After his second presidential term, Putin clearly wanted to retire from politics and enjoy the great wealth he reportedly amassed during his years in power. But he understood very well that every new Russian leader since Josef Stalin gained legitimacy by attacking and disgracing his predecessor. Putin, while not persecuting former President Boris Yeltsin, never missed an opportunity to criticize the lawless 1990s. He therefore feared that his own handpicked successor could turn against him.
During 2007, Putin wavered between two first deputy prime ministers: Sergei Ivanov and Medvedev. Ivanov, a former defense minister, was more competent and had ties to siloviki circles, while Medvedev was politically weak but extremely loyal. At the last moment, Putin opted for loyalty, assuming that once Medvedev was elected president in 2008, he would build his own power base.
This didn’t happen. Medvedev failed to surround himself with loyalists and place them in key positions. Nor could he ever get the entrenched bureaucracy to heed his orders. In the end, Putin realized that if he made Medvedev his true heir, Medvedev would be quickly removed and Putin himself would be in danger. On Sept. 24, rather abruptly and late in the game, Putin declared that he would run for president in the March election.
His failed attempt to install a successor has shown Putin that he can’t transfer power safely. Not only is he now facing an extended six-year term, but, if he lasts that long, he’ll have to seek another in 2018. He will be able to leave the Kremlin only feet first or by going straight to jail. As he himself once declared in one of the most telling Freudian slips in history, he’s been chained to power “like a galley slave.” Even though he has appointed Medvedev as his prime minister, Putin can’t be too happy with the job Medvedev has done.
As he starts his third term, Putin finds himself in a country far different from what it was in 2008, when he appointed Medvedev as president. Medvedev’s promises may have turned out empty, but they raised hopes that Russia could, for the first time in a century, join the community of nations and stop seeking its own “special path” in the wilderness. Even though Medvedev had been discredited long before the Sept. 24 announcement, Putin’s abrupt snub showed Russians that the government will not even contemplate meaningful reforms and that Putin’s regime has no intention of giving up power peacefully.
Putin’s May 7 inauguration was an unmitigated disaster, marked by mass protests, arrests and police beatings. Putin’s cortege sped through eerily deserted Moscow streets. It was a frightening harbinger of things to come.
Alexei Bayer, a native Muscovite, is a New York-based economist.
TITLE: Avant-garde artists
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Genesis P-Orridge — of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV fame — will headline SKIF (the Sergei Kuryokhin International Festival), St. Petersburg’s leading experimental and avant-garde music event that will be held this week for the 16th time.
The U.K.-born, U.S.-based musician, who will perform with his/her band PTV3, is perhaps the most experimental artist to appear at SKIF so far. Genesis P-Orridge’s experimentation has involved his/her own body, having dozens of operations, including breast implants, to form a “pandrogynous” entity with his/her now-late wife.
Sixty-two-year-old industrial-rock and electronica pioneer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson) had problems with the British authorities because of his/her radical art, and declared a “self-imposed exile” to California in the early 1990s.
In 2009, the now-Brooklyn-based P-Orridge announced his/her retirement from touring in “any and all bands” to concentrate on art, writing and music, but lately appears to have had second thoughts.
However, the festival’s organizers warn that “every concert could be the last, and it can’t be excluded that this visit to Russia will be the last in the history of the band.”
Chrome Hoof, an experimental orchestra from London, will be the main act to perform on the second night.
Featuring from eight to 14 members, the band performs a mixture of very diverse music styles. “Doom metal, disco, acid house and Donna Summer had a car crash on the highway to oblivion,” Chrome Hoof’s official biography states.
“Chrome Hoof emerged from the wreckage, grooving.”
The Belgian-American-French trio Hoquets — pronounced “OK” — mostly play with instruments that they invent and construct out of wooden boards, broken strings, tin cans, etc. in their Brussels workshop, according to the band’s website.
They admit influences of indie pop, hip-hop, punk, funk, sound art and the “strangeness of their homeland, Belgium.”
Slugabed (aka: Young Brighton-based musician Greg Feldwick) from the British label Ninja Tune will bring some electronic music that “influences both classic and contemporary, from the outermost reaches of dubstep, hip hop and beyond,” according to the label.
From Norway comes Next Life. Founded by guitarist and composer Hai Nguyen Dinh in 1999 in Tonsberg, the band also features Tormod Christensen on bass and Anders Hangard on drums and has been described as “progressive, electronic- and rock-based.”
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, also known by the acronym TKDE, formed in 2000 as a project to compose new music for existing silent movies.
Based in The Netherlands, the band uses traditional instrumentations, comprising cello, trombone, violin, beats, guitar, bass and vocals, computers and visuals.
SKIF was launched in memory of the late St. Petersburg musician Sergei Kuryokhin and aims to continue his music and performance ideas by drawing experimental bands that are believed to be kindred in spirit with him.
Kuryokhin was active on the local scene from the 1970s, first as a jazz and rock pianist and keyboard player, then as a film composer. He could be seen playing with the seminal rock band Akvarium and at avant-garde jazz performances.
From the mid-1980s, he led Pop Mekhanika, a band with no permanent lineup whose large-scale happening-like performances featured brass bands, string ensembles, ballerinas and animals. He died of a rare heart disease at the age of 42 in 1996.
The festival dedicated to his memory was launched in January 1997 by Boris Rayskin, a cello player who had earlier emigrated from St. Petersburg to New York.
Rayskin, who had played with Kuryokhin in Pop Mekhanika, had the idea of bringing musicians from diverse music fields together.
The very first event, which was called SKIIF (spelled with two “I”s), or the Sergei Kuryokhin International Interdisciplinary Festival, took place at a number of New York venues such as The Knitting Factory, Cooler and the Bitter End, lasted 11 days and featured Cecil Taylor, David Moss and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.
The second event in March 1998 was held to mark Rayskin’s sudden death, after which the festival was moved to St. Petersburg, where the third event was held in October that same year. Since then, the festival has been held annually in the city.
Originally migrating between various city venues such as the St. Petersburg Palace of Youth and Baltiisky Dom, SKIF moved to the former Soviet Priboi film theater, which was redesigned as the Sergei Kuryokhin Modern Art Center in 2005.
SKIF 16 Schedule
Friday, May 18
Hall
8 p.m Vuk (Finland)
9:30 p.m. PTV3 (U.S.)
11:30 p.m. Hoquets (Belgium)
12:45 a.m. Napszyklat (Poland)
2 a.m. Slugabed (U.K.)
3 a.m. Galun
4 a.m. DJ set
Foyer
7:30 p.m. St. Petersburg Improvisers
Orchestra
8:45 p.m. Borovik Yeralash
9:45 p.m. Ned Hoper
10:45 p.m. Mona De Bo
Saturday, May 19
Hall
8 p.m. Eivind Aarset & The Sonic
Codex Orchestra (Norway)
9:45 p.m. Next Life (Norway)
10:45 p.m. Chrome Hoof (U.K.)
12:15 a.m. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz
Ensemble (The Netherlands)
1:45 a.m. Za! (Spain)
3 a.m. Kap Bambino (France)
4 a.m. DJ set
Foyer
7:30 p.m. Kreatiivmootor (Estonia)
8:45 p.m. Key Is a Key (Denmark)
10 p.m. Usssy
11:15 Madlene’s Sax Trip
All events are held at the Sergei
Kuryokhin Modern Art Center at
93 Sredny Prospekt, Vasilyevsky
Island. M.: Vasileostrovskaya,
Primorskaya. Tel: 322 4223.
www.kuryokhin.net
TITLE: CHERNOV’S CHOICE
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: As the weather gets warmer, it’s nice to go to St. Isaac’s Square, where those who disagree with electoral fraud have set up a round-the-clock protest camp in the small gardens by St. Isaac’s Square.
Apart from discussions, the “Occupy St. Isaac’s” campaign offers a lot of music, sports and fun, with minimum harassment from the police.
As the protesters relax in the gardens amid beautiful architecture, three alleged members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot remain in prison for the eleventh week, facing seven-year sentences on dubious charges.
The group annoyed the Kremlin with several “unsanctioned” anti-Putin performances across Moscow, including on Red Square and at the Kremlin’s favorite church, the Temple of Christ the Savior.
Although they protested against Putin, not against the Orthodox Church, they were charged with “hooliganism” prompted by hatred toward a religious group.
Last week an obedient Moscow court prolonged the group’s pre-trial imprisonment until June 24, resulting in a series of protests being held around the world. One notable example was a demo near the Russian Embassy in Berlin, where protesters held signs reading “Free Pussy Riot,” “We Are All Pussy Riot,” “Bloody Oil, Stinky Gas” and “Holy Mother, Drive Putin Away.”
Those who wish can sign an online petition launched by Amnesty International urging Russian officials to drop the charges of hooliganism and immediately and unconditionally release Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
“Whether or not the women were involved in the performance in the cathedral, freedom of expression is a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and no one should be jailed for the peaceful exercise of this right,” the petition said.
Former political prisoner Maxim Gromov, who spoke to The St. Petersburg Times recently, sees the treatment of the women as Putin’s personal revenge.
Gromov was sentenced for taking part in a protest in which a group of (then not yet banned) National Bolshevik Party members occupied the office of then Minister of Health Mikhail Zurabov in 2004. He spent three years in prison and a prison camp as a result. The protest was against the monetization of benefits, which was seen by many as unfair.
An iconic photograph published in newspapers around the globe shows Gromov throwing a portrait of Putin out of the window.
“This is pure politics,” said Gromov, who now leads the rights group Union of Prisoners.
“It’s a slap in Putin’s face — the same as it was when I threw his portrait out. They were motivated not by the desire to commit an act of hooligaism, but by political reasons, so the charges can’t be applied to them.”
Meanwhile, DDT’s Yury Shevchuk declined Tuesday to come to the St. Isaac’s Square protest camp, saying he was “tired” and “had no time for a stroll.”
TITLE: Wartime vogue
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: How can you make a fashionable coat when the only fabric available is a piece of coarse felt used to make military overcoats? A possible solution — accompanied by spirited sewing patterns — can be found in the old, yellowing pages of a fashion magazine published in Russia in the 1920s.
“If you have a piece of cloth about two meters wide, cutting a one-piece seamless coat is a good idea,” the journal suggests. “We’ll only make cuts for the armholes. The sleeves will have one seam, while the collar will have the shape of half a square.”
The newspaper spread is part of a small yet overwhelming exhibit at the Konyushenny Wing of the Yelagin Palace. Titled “Models of the Season 1927-1953. Fashion Press From the Stalin Era,” the collection — which occupies a single hall on the second floor of the building — provides for a captivating yet sobering journey through the lives of Russian women just before, during and after World War II.
On show, accompanied by Stalin-era documentaries projected onto the wall, are newspaper and magazine spreads with fashion advice, sketches and sewing patterns on how to craft black lace gloves, a demure dark blue dress with a lacy collar, and a chic velvet dress topped with a luxurious silver fox stole tied with black silk ribbons. The display also includes a bottle of the iconic Stalin-era perfume, Krasnaya Moskva (Red Moscow) — a legend in itself — which embodies the scent of fashion and was coveted by millions of Russian women. Most of the pieces come from the private collection of local fashion historian Megan Virtanen, who came up with the idea of the exhibit.
Virtanen’s display is a much-needed softer addition to the traditional fare of exhibitions mounted every year to mark the May 9 Victory Day public holiday. Memories of the war consist of far more than images of bloodstained military uniforms, bullet-ridden helmets and deadly weapons — however compelling a story these items might convey.
A credible story about winning a war and surviving its horrors is impossible without a few lines on what made people smile and helped them to keep their chins up by providing them with moments of relief and happiness amid the devastation.
And in this respect, Virtanen’s display is a valuable addition to the palette.
At the heart of the exhibition is Virtanen’s collection of fashion magazines. One truly amazing edition from October 1942 featuring fashion designs created in Leningrad, which was already under siege at the time, reigns supreme.
A 1940s edition of the “Models of the Season” magazine offered a wide spread dedicated to what its editors described as “garment designs suited to wartime needs.” The designers suggested women turn to thick cotton fabrics, use zippers and make more trousers. The designs included a variety of “self-defense” outfits, which were designed to make movement and protecting oneself easier in the event of an emergency situation. Such practical advice contrast starkly with the glossy magazines from the 1930s, in which brightly-colored cocktail and party dresses danced across the pages.
Most Soviet fashion publications made sure to include pages showcasing international fashion trends. After the war, many women were keen to go ice skating — an affordable and entertaining pastime and a cheerful winter alternative to the traditional dances. The country’s fashion magazines responded to the trend with a series of sketches of woolen skating outfits. The designers recommended “a straight skirt, with a single deep front pleat and a straight jacket with a waist belt.”
In her everyday life, Virtanen, whose interest in Stalin-era fashion evolved from a keen interest in pre-war jazz, is a strict follower of 1940s fashion in her own wardrobe.
The collector and historian organized a preview event for her exhibition on May 7 in the form of a 1945 fashion show. Held in the courtyard of the Konyushenny Wing, not professional models but ordinary local women paraded down the runway in clothes and accessories from their own collections from the World War II era. Some of the items were inherited from older family members, some purchased in antique shops and others found at flea markets. Each participant gave a short personal introduction, telling the audience about the origins of a certain dress, a pair of gloves or a hat.
During the course of the exhibit, which ends June 30 with a typical dance from 1945, Virtanen will give three lectures about Soviet fashion during the periods covered by the exhibition.
A ticket covering entrance to the three different exhibitions at the Konyushenny Wing costs 50 rubles. On weekends, a ticket to enter the Central Park of Culture and Leisure, where the palace is located, costs 50 rubles. M. Krestovsky Island, Staraya Derevnya. For more information and the lecture schedule, visit www.elaginpark.spb.ru.
TITLE: the word’s worth: Mixing messages
AUTHOR: By Michele A. Berdy
TEXT: Ñëîâà, ñëîâà, ñëîâà: Words, words, words
I’m a pretty upbeat person, someone who can usually find the sunny side of any situation — or at least the funny side. But I have to admit that the past few days have gotten even me down.
And they’ve gotten me worried about my Russian-language ability. I listen to speeches and read transcripts, and I seem to understand all the words just fine. But they don’t make sense to me.
Take Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for Prime Minister President Vladimir Putin. First he said publicly that ïîëèöèè íàäî áûëî äåéñòâîâàòü æ¸ñò÷å 6 ìàÿ (the police should have been tougher on May 6). I found that odd. What about following the law and using appropriate force?
But then, according to Just Russia Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, Peskov clarified his first statement: Åù¸ ñëèøêîì ìÿãêî ñêàçàíî áûëî. Çà ðàíåííîãî îìîíîâöà íàäî ðàçìàçàòü ïå÷åíü ìèòèíãóþùèõ ïî àñôàëüòó. (That was said too delicately. The demonstrators’ livers ought to be smeared on the asphalt for every wounded OMON riot policeman.)
When did it become OK for public figures to use that kind of violent language? Was he misquoted? If he was, why hasn’t he complained?
And then I just don’t get this statement from Putin’s press service: Îòìåòèâ, ÷òî ó íåãî åñòü îáÿçàòåëüñòâà çàâåðøèòü ïðîöåññ íàçíà÷åíèé â ñîñòàâ íîâîãî ïðàâèòåëüñòâà Ðîññèè, ïðåçèäåíò Ïóòèí âûðàçèë ñîæàëåíèå â ñâÿçè ñ òåì, ÷òî íå ñìîæåò ïðèñóòñòâîâàòü íà ñàììèòå “âîñüì¸ðêè” â Êýìï-Äýâèäå (Noting his responsibilities to finalize Cabinet appointments to the new Russian government, President Putin expressed regret that he wouldn’t be able to attend the Group of Eight summit at Camp David.)
I get the words, but I don’t get it. If there’s one person on the planet who knows what duties await a new Russian president, it’s Vladimir Putin. So why did he go along with the original idea of holding the meeting at Camp David to accommodate him if he wasn’t sure he could attend?
And besides, just a few days before at his inauguration, he said, “Ìû õîòèì è áóäåì æèòü â óñïåøíîé Ðîññèè, êîòîðóþ óâàæàþò â ìèðå êàê íàä¸æíîãî, îòêðûòîãî, ÷åñòíîãî è ïðåäñêàçóåìîãî ïàðòí¸ðà” (We want — and will live in — a flourishing Russia, which is respected in the world as a reliable, open, honest and predictable partner).
Maybe I’m nuts, but doesn’t “predictable” apply to attending major international meetings as promised? But maybe a “predictable and reliable partner” means something different to Vladimir Putin.
But Putin is sending President Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his stead, and as presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said: Îí ðàáîòàë ïðåçèäåíòîì Ðîññèè ÷åòûðå ãîäà è âñåìè ýòèìè òåìàìè çàíèìàëñÿ (He worked as Russia’s president for four years, and he knows all those topics). So I guess the benefit of the job swap at the top is that the current prime minister is â òåìå (up to speed) with the issues.
I don’t understand Medvedev’s words either. He recommended that his Open Government ïðèâèâàåò ïðàâîâóþ êóëüòóðó ãðàæäàíàì Ðîññèè (cultivates a legal culture in the citizens of Russia) and then added: Âñåì.  òîì ÷èñëå íàøåìó ïåðåäîâîìó êëàññó, íàøèì ãîðîæàíàì, êîòîðûå ãóëÿþò ãäå õîòÿò (In everyone — including our progressive class and our citizens who walk around wherever they want).
And walking around wherever you want is … a problem? Annoying? Against the law?
I just don’t get what they are trying to say.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of “The Russian Word’s Worth” (Glas), a collection of her columns.
TITLE: Restoring wonderland
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: An array of once neglected and forgotten architectural gems from the former imperial estate of Tsarskoye Selo have been brought back to life and will be unveiled to the public this summer.
Local residents and city visitors alike will be able to set foot for the first time ever in the mystical White Tower, a spot once favored for outdoor activities by many members of Russian royalty, including the family of Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II.
The restoration of the White Tower Pavilion, located in the estate’s Alexander Park, is in full swing. Looming over the romantic park from a hilltop, the tower, built between 1821 and 1827, was born out of Tsar Nicholas I’s admiration for Gothic architecture, medieval art and the culture associated with knighthood. The tsar intended the tower to be a treat for his sons — princes Alexander, Nikolai, Mikhail and Konstantin — who all came to adore it. The princes studied history there and practiced various athletic activities.
The pavilion, designed by architect Adam Menelas, was severely damaged during World War II and proper restoration did not begin on it until the 1980s. Funding for the project was low, however, and renovation work did not get very far. The project was resumed only in the fall of 2011. Renovation work is planned to restore not only the building’s magnificent façade, originally decorated by a series of cast-iron sculptures of knights from medieval history and literature, but also the tower’s interior, including its intricate stucco molding. One of the tower’s signature attractions, its viewing platform, which offers stunning panoramic views of the park and estate, also looks set to open for visitors.
At present, the park — including the tower itself — is closed to the public. However, Olga Taratynova, director of the Tsarskoye Selo museum-estate, has promised that the White Tower will be home to a children’s center specializing in culture, entertainment and education by the end of the summer. Some of the tower’s rooms will be turned into classrooms, where local children will be able to learn to draw, sing and dance. An engaging interactive display will also be mounted in the tower.
Taratynova compared the restoration of the Cameron Gallery Grottos and the Oval Staircase to successfully performed heart surgery.
The grottos were almost entirely destroyed during World War II and have since remained closed to the public. The grottos, which are almost 200 years old, needed urgent and large-scale renovation work, as their brick walls were rapidly losing their ability to hold up the structure and were at risk of collapsing.
According to Natalya Kudryavtseva, chief architect at Tsarskoye Selo, the gallery now looks exactly as it did back in the reign of Catherine the Great.
The Oval Staircase renovation work, which is still underway, turned out to be particularly challenging for restorers, Kudryavtseva said.
“Without dismantling any elements of the staircase, we created temporary support structures to allow us to waterproof the lower levels of the staircase,” she explained. “It was a risky enterprise.”
In the future, the grottos will become home to a collection of period sculptures, which are expected to greet the first visitors by the end of this month.
One of Catherine the Great’s favorite architects, the Scottish architect Charles Cameron came to Russia in 1779, and spent more than fifteen years working on various projects in Tsarskoye Selo. The Cameron Gallery is regarded as the architect’s most successful project on the estate, and the one that brought him fame.
The empress wanted a serene colonnade for meditative strolls and intellectual talks, and the magnificent elegant masterpiece delivered to her has become an iconic image of St. Petersburg.
The Mirror Pond, situated in the Old Garden of the Catherine Park, also required renovation. After the pond was completely drained, its walls were reinforced with concrete platforms. The restorers are now working on making a new slime to line the bottom of it. It is expected that the Mirror Pond — which has not been renovated since the 1970s — will be filled with water again before the end of June.
In the meantime, the Alexander Park’s unique Shaking Bridge — the only bridge of its kind in all of St. Petersburg and its former imperial suburbs — has been completely restored.
The bridge, another masterpiece designed by Menelas, appeared in the park in 1825 and was dismantled in 2003 as it was literally falling to pieces. It has now reopened to visitors. The suspension bridge, which wobbles under people’s feet as they cross it, is about 13 meters long and just under one meter wide. It runs across the Krestovy Canal.
TITLE: in the spotlight: Sobchak’s moment of glory
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
TEXT: Last week, Vladimir Putin invited rapper Timati and lion-taming brothers Edgard and Askold Zapashny to his big day. On the other side of the barricades, it girl and media personality Ksenia Sobchak won the activist’s badge of pride by finally getting arrested.
Putin’s inauguration was a bit of a disappointment for star spotters. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t come, despite a rumor in the often well-informed paper Tvoi Den. And the more colorful guests were hard to spot in a sea of officials.
Just as Putin said he considered serving the fatherland his duty, the camera paused on two ponytailed men, one with bleached blond hair: the Zapashny brothers, Edgard and Askold. They’ve made it big on reality shows, but their main job is circus artistes, doing acts with lions and tigers. They’re staunch Putin loyalists and People’s Artists of the Russian Federation. And they were among the 55 who signed an open letter last year defending the second trial of jailed oil boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky. And both were also picked for Putin’s mysterious team of “representatives” in his presidential campaign. Admittedly, seemingly most of Russia was on the list of about 500 of Putin’s current best friends.
The best picture came later when rapper Timati posted a terrible greenish shot on Twitter showing him in a ruffled shirt and bow tie with pop singers Stas Mikhailov and Grigory Leps in the Kremlin. “Brothers at the inauguration,” he wrote. Again no surprises, Leps performed at the Putin snow-blown rally at Luzhniki and Mikhailov was one of Putin’s “representatives.”
Even at the inauguration, Mikhailov wore his shirt unbuttoned to reveal his hairy chest and gold chain with a cross. Although the dress code was a dark suit. Analysts might suggest Putin’s musical tastes are changing, or that he has cannily noted that Mikhailov is now Russia’s most popular singer.
Timati was one of the celebrities who did a promotional video ad explaining that “I am voting for Putin because …” In his case, it was because of the Middle East. He said he wanted peace in Russia and didn’t want “people hanging from the lampposts.”
In a ludicrous photo taken at the party for selected supporters after the election victory, Putin tried to do rapper hand gestures with Timati, who wore a T-shirt to show off his extensive tattoos.
Many other usual suspects were there: Zurab Tsereteli, so expect more giant statues; Eurovision winner Dima Bilan and Olympic medal-winning figure skater Yevgeny Plushenko, although I think the danger of them doing Eurovision again has passed. And the biker Khirurg, or surgeon, who leads the Russian Orthodox Night Wolves outfit. Kommersant reported that he insists his followers have badges only with Russian lettering on their leather jackets. Be very afraid.
Meanwhile Sobchak confirmed her status as an opposition activist — one of the few celebrities still visibly supporting the cause — by getting arrested Tuesday evening as the opposition held unregistered “walking” protests. She wasn’t holding a placard or shouting slogans. She was later released, but as Alexei Navalny pointed out on Twitter, only after making her first-ever trip to Vostochnoye Degunino. “The country is just one big police van,” she wrote on Twitter.
Things really have changed for Sobchak: until recently she would have been manning the campfire at Dom-2. And not dissuaded, she has continued going to the low-key but still simmering protests, turning up at Chistiye Prudy on Wednesday evening and even rallying support for the next evening get-together in her slightly head-girl manner.
TITLE: THE DISH: Sunday Brunch at miX restaurant
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Easy like Sunday morning
Brunch is usually not the kind of enterprise that aims to demonstrate the culinary philosophy of a certain chef or dining establishment. Still, with the arrival of Sunday brunch to miX, diners cannot fail to get a fair idea about the art and ideas of the renowned French chef Alain Ducasse, the Michelin-star-studded man behind the restaurant at the city’s W Hotel. To enhance the Mediterranean influences close to the heart of the chef, live Latina jazz is played by Yoel Gonzalez and his band.
This brunch is not immediately striking for its quantity. It is not the “two dozen types of seafood and three dozen types of appetizers” territory seen at other local hotel brunches, where loaded tables stretch far across the dining hall. However, after a bowl of Caesar salad with crab meat or toast with foie gras and apple compote, there is little chance diners will even be looking to stuff their plates. This is a different planet.
MiX’s brunch offers a laconic take on the genre, while making it as close to an a la carte experience as possible. The main courses here are taken from the miX dinner menu. The restaurant’s egg dishes and main courses are not displayed on the buffet section, and must be ordered through the waiter. Diners can order a maximum of one egg dish and one main course per person.
The cookpot of seasonal vegetables is one of four main courses. At first glance, the dish looks like a vegetable mille-feuille — fine, almost transparent slices of vegetables are layered in a circle, with the distinctive aroma of coriander clearly discernible. The dish has two layers, both very delicately cooked in olive oil. At the bottom lies the softer fusion of fennel, apple and red beetroot cut into tiny cubes and peppered with coriander. The upper level is a different cocktail of yellow beetroot, pumpkin, celery and turnips. Made with seasonal vegetables, the cookpot varies not only from season to season, but virtually every time it is made. This dish is essential to understanding the Ducasse gastronomic philosophy of making the most of the gifts of local nature and allowing every product to demonstrate its taste in full. No sauce is served alongside the pot — and nor is it remotely necessary.
Scrambled eggs with truffle bore a subtle truffle aroma — the dish would no doubt be more fragrant in the autumn when its key ingredient is fresh — and contained a welcome amount of black pepper for an energizing twist. Lamb shank served with potatoes, and roast chicken from the Leningrad Oblast — the latter was dripping with juice and served with French fries — were just as successful.
The extensive dessert section boasts fragrant strawberry mousse topped with grapefruit jelly — a zesty fruity contrast, certainly in unison with the upcoming summer season — and a meringue and nut cake, which was so light it would please the mouth of an elf.
Two members of our party had made previous forays to miX’s dessert section, and were raving about the restaurant’s unorthodox take on cheesecake. While they devoured the creamy marvel uttering moans of pleasure, this cheesecake is not for everyone. The runny dessert had a distinct aftertaste of sour milk. The problem was not the feeble texture — after all, who goes to an Alain Ducasse restaurant in search of standard recipes. But those hoping for an injection of glucose will find the sour milk note hard to stomach.
That sugar high did however arrive in the form of a warm pastry ball filled with Nutella, recommended to me by a male dining companion, sympathetic to the disappointment elicited by the cheesecake, who said the ball was so good that “it gives you a brain rupture.” It was indeed a very intense dessert, and, with its generous carbs and chocolate paste interior, a most masculine one, too.
TITLE: Siberia’s ‘Beautiful Shore’
AUTHOR: By Irina Filatova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: KRASNOYARSK — One of the oldest cities in Siberia, Krasnoyarsk boasts sights like picturesque churches and fountains with dazzling night lighting. But none of them can compare to its main attraction — majestic Siberian nature.
Surrounded by rocky mountains blanketed with deep forest, Krasnoyarsk is spread out on both banks of the Yenisei River.
Writer Viktor Astafyev, a Krasnoyarsk native, once described the Yenisei as “sometimes kind and quiet, broad, sometimes locked in cliffs, sometimes furious, foaming or raging with its white waves in a storm.”
The mighty river flowing through the heart of Krasnoyarsk is one of its symbols and the stuff of legend. One legend says Yenisei was a wizard who reigned over Siberia in ancient times and turned his two beloved daughters into rivers after they dared to thwart his will.
The locals’ idea of Yenisei is reflected in a sculpture in the city center that depicts the river as a brawny bearded man sitting on a rock and holding a sailing vessel in his right hand.
The ships that dock in Krasnoyarsk look somewhat different. Modern passenger and cargo vessels arrive at the port, one of the biggest in Siberia, with shipments of equipment, construction materials and other supplies.
For one vessel, Krasnoyarsk has become a place of eternal rest. The Svyatitel Nikolai — a cargo-and-passenger paddle wheeler that was one of the fastest ships on the Yenisei in the late 19th century — has linked two different eras of the country’s political life. In 1891, it brought future Tsar Nikolai Romanov to the city. Six years later, it delivered Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin from Krasnoyarsk to the place of his exile in the village of Shushenskoye almost 500 kilometers south of the city.
The ship has been turned into a museum and stands on the city embankment (84 Ulitsa Dubrovinskogo;
+7 391-223-9403), a favorite place for locals to take a walk.
The wide Yenisei embankment is an attraction in itself. A short walk is enough to understand that Krasnoyarsk deserves its name, which is derived from the ancient words “krasny yar,” which mean “beautiful shore.”
The city was founded as a military prison by Cossack voivode Andrei Dubensky in 1628 and obtained city status in 1690.
The turning point in its history was in 1895 when the Great Siberian Railway — now the Trans-Siberian Railroad — linked Krasnoyarsk to the biggest Russian cities and facilitated its fast growth.
In 1976, Astafyev — who lived here for the last 20 years of his life — noted in one of his best-known novels, “Queen Fish,” that the city was becoming foreign to him because it was growing bigger and noisy.
Since then, Krasnoyarsk has turned into a big industrial city, with rich mineral deposits making it one of Russia’s biggest metallurgy centers.
Once a year, the country’s business and political elite fly to Krasnoyarsk for an annual economic forum. The city also plans to bid to host the Winter University Games in 2019.
Until the 1990s, foreigners were barred from Krasnoyarsk, designated a closed city because chemical manufacturing facilities for the country’s defense needs are located in two nearby towns. But now it welcomes foreigners, with students coming from abroad to study at the local university.
The city has also attracted a few foreign companies in recent years, including French retailers Auchan and Leroy Merlin and Germany’s Metro Cash & Carry.
What to do if you have two hours
Given the size of the city, choosing an activity that will last a couple of hours is a tricky task. Other than a walk along the Yenisei embankment, locals unanimously recommend visiting the Chapel of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, a symbol of the city depicted on most local souvenirs. The white octahedral chapel with a red roof crowned by a small golden dome is located atop Karaulnaya Mountain, about 30 minutes from the city center by taxi.
According to one legend, a local merchant built a wooden chapel on the moutaintop site of a former Tatar heathen temple in 1805 after he escaped a river whirlpool. Another legend says locals built it to commemorate their ancestors’ victory over enemies.
The shabby wooden chapel was later replaced by a stone one preserved until today. An observation point near the chapel provides a stunning view of the city.
What to do if you have two days
Another symbol of Krasnoyarsk is the Stolby nature reserve (zapovednik-stolby.ru), a must-see if you have a couple of days. Established in 1925, the reserve got its name — which can be translated as “pillars” — because of its picturesque rock formations, many of which have names, like Pharaoh’s Tomb, A Knight’s Castle and Blue Gates. Some of the names are humorous: Kartoshka (“Potato”), Tsypa (“Chick”), Bukhanki (“Loaves of Bread”) and Rukavichki (“Mittens”).
Stolby occupies nearly 50,000 hectares on the right bank of Yenisei, with a stunning view of the city, the river and the surrounding mountains from a height of 90 meters. The reserve is open for visitors from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays.
An alternative destination is Divnogorsk, which stretches along the right bank of the Yenisei 35 kilometers southwest of Krasnoyarsk. The small town is known as home to one of the world’s largest hydropower stations, the Krasnoyarskaya, which provides electricity to regional manufacturing facilities. Its construction took 16 years and was completed in 1972. Divnogorsk’s name is derived from the words “divny gory,” or “amazing mountains,” a nod to its location facing a long stripe of high rock formations on the opposite bank of the Yenisei.
A breathtaking view of these rock formations covered in a green carpet of trees can be found at an observation point atop the mountain Sliznevsky Byk, a popular tourist attraction. A sculpture depicting Astafyev’s sturgeon — the Queen Fish — stands at the observation point.
Commuter trains to Divnogorsk leave from Krasnoyarsk three times a day, with a one-way trip taking about an hour.
Cultural tips
Locals strongly recommend visiting the Museum of Local History (84 Ulitsa Dubrovinskogo; +7 391-265-3481; kkkm.ru), whose exhibits include two letters that Rusnano head Anatoly Chubais wrote to Astafyev in 1982. Chubais, a 26-year-old economist at the time, wrote in defense of the rock band Mashina Vremeni, which was harshly criticized in an article published in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper and signed by Astakhov and a few other public figures. The letters were donated to the museum by Astafyev’s widow.
If you’re not limited by time, don’t miss a chance to visit Astafyev’s native village of Ovsyanka and visit the house that the writer bought in 1980 when he decided to settle down in his birthplace. The house, a small wooden izba, contains Astafyev’s personal belongings (26 Ulitsa Shchetinkina, Ovsyanka village; +7 39144-270-55; kkkm.ru/index.php/museum-expositions/museum-expositions-ostafev). To get here, take the Krasnoyarsk-Divnogorsk commuter train, which passes by Ovsyanka.
What to do with the kids
The Krasnoyarsk Circus (143a Prospekt Imeni Gazety Krasnoyarsky Rabochy; +7 391-233-1455; krascirk.ru) has welcomed many renowned artists, like tiger tamers from the Bagdasarov dynasty and members of the Moscow Nikulin Circus. Performances take place twice a day, with tickets starting at 300 rubles.
Royev Ruchei (293 Sverdlovskaya Ulitsa; +7 391-269-8101; roev.ru) is one of the biggest zoos in Russia. Occupying more than 30 hectares, it houses hundreds of species of animals and plants. Admire exotic white lions in the wild or watch waddling penguins at the country’s biggest penguinarium. The park is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in winter and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in summer. Tickets cost 160 rubles ($5) for adults and 30 rubles for children.
Nightlife
The James Shark Pub (155a, Ulitsa Karla Marksa; +7 391-26-62-300; jspub.ru) is a beer restaurant located in the city center that offers a wide selection of beer and pastries. A favorite hangout for locals, the restaurant also hosts live concerts by local bands every weekend.
For those preferring more physical activity, check out the Barton Pub with its pool tables and bowling alleys (160 Prospekt Imeni Gazety Krasnoyarsky Rabochy; +7 391-236-0126).
Where to eat
Learn the region’s history while enjoying a meal at Chemodan (2a Ulitsa Oborony;
+7 391-211-21-91), which claims to be a restaurant and a museum of the 19th-century Yenisei province. The menu offers local period dishes, including grilled deer meet served with cabbage and apples and locally caught fish grilled or roasted and served with vegetables. A meal for one including alcohol costs 2,000 rubles ($66).
The interior design of Shkvarok (102a Prospekt Mira; +7 391-265-13-04) is reminiscent of a mazanka, a traditional Ukrainian village house, and the menu offers Ukrainian national dishes like borshch and vareniki, pastries made of unsalted dough and stuffed with potatoes, cottage cheese, or cherries. A meal for one with alcohol costs 1,500 rubles.
A more affordable option is the local pizza chain Pertsy (peppers.bar10.ru), with cozy centrally located outlets frequented by the local youth. The menu offers various pizzas and pastas, including the exotic Tutti-Frutti pizza with Mozzarella cheese and a mix of tangerines, kiwis and strawberries instead of the traditional tomato sauce.
Where to stay
Hotel Metelitsa (14/1 Prospekt Mira;
+7 391-227-6060; hotel-metelitsa.ru) occupies a two-story, mansion-like building on a quiet street in the city center. The comfortable four-star hotel is favored by visiting local and foreign musicians and offers good value for money, with prices ranging from 3,900 rubles ($130) per person per night for a standard to 8,900 rubles ($300) per person per night for a two-room luxury suite. The hotel’s restaurant offers homemade fare but no buffet service, with breakfast ordered from the menu and taking about 15 minutes to serve. The trip to the airport takes about 30 minutes by taxi.
Dom Hotel (16a Ulitsa Krasnoi Army; +7 391-290-6666; eng.dom-hotel24.ru) boasts a central location and 81 spacious, well-equipped rooms. Prices start at 4,000 rubles ($133) per person per night for an economy-class room to 10,500 rubles ($350) for a luxury suite. Buffet breakfast is not included. The hotel is located 20 minutes by foot from the city’s main attractions and 40 minutes from the airport by taxi.
Other helpful hints
Like any of Russia’s big cities, Krasnoyarsk has traffic problems, so the 30-minute drive to the airport from the city center might take an hour or more during rush hour.
If you plan to eat out at night, choose a restaurant and reserve a table in the afternoon. The most popular places are packed in the evening.
How to get there
Regular flights depart from Pulkovo Airport, but most involve a connection in order to reach Krasnoyarsk.
NordStar and Rossiya Airlines offer direct flights to the city with roundtrip tickets costing about 15,000 rubles ($500). Krasnoyarsk’s Yemelyanovo Airport is an international airport with charter flights to major sea resorts like Antalya, Turkey, and Phuket, Thailand.
The long-haul trip by train from St. Petersburg takes 68 hours with trains leaving daily from the city’s Ladozhsky Railway Station. Ticket prices start at 6,200 rubles ($205).
Krasnoyarsk
Population: 990,600, according to the 2011 census. Its 1 millionth resident was born in early April.
Acting mayor: Edkham Akbulatov
Founded in 1628 as a military prison.
Interesting fact: The major symbols of Krasnoyarsk — the Chapel of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, the Kommunalny Bridge across the Yenisei River and the Krasnoyarskaya hydropower station — were depicted on the 10 ruble banknote that was recently withdrawn from circulation. A monument to the banknote was installed in the city center in 2011.
Helpful contacts: • Acting Mayor Edkham Akbulatov (93 Ulitsa Karla Marksa; +7 391-226-1025; admkrsk.ru); • Nikolai Khudykh, chairman of Central Siberian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (26 Ulitsa Kirova; +7 391-268-1585; cstpp.ru).
Sister cities: Sault Sainte Marie, Canada; Daqing, Harbin and Heihe, China; Cremona, Italy.
Major Businesses
• Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant
(40 Ulitsa Pogranichnikov;
+7 391-256-3898; rusal.ru) is one of the major facilities of the world’s largest aluminum maker, RusAl.
• Krasmash (Krasnoyarsky Machinery Plant) (29 Prospekt Imeni Gazety Krasnoyarsky Rabochy;
+7 391-264-6601; krasm.com) is a major producer of ballistic missiles for submarines. Its civil-manufacturing ventures include equipment for the oil and gas industries.
• Magistralniye Elektricheskiye Seti Sibiri (117 Ulitsa Ady Lebedevoi;
+7 3912-659-500; fsk-ees.ru) is a local unit of the Federal Grid Company and supplies electricity to more than 20 million people in 10 regions.
TITLE: Russia’s Vegetarians Thrive, Despite Prejudice
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Although vegetarianism is not as popular in Russia as in many Western countries and some Russian psychiatrists even consider some of its forms to be indicators of mental illness, the number of Russian vegetarians and vegans continues to grow.
St. Petersburg resident Lembit Lemsipp, a 33-year-old Russian translator who gave a pseudonym for this article, said his major motivation for becoming a vegan was “feeling disgusted with the idea of brutality and torture.”
“I reckon there was some influence from the hardcore punk scene and the health and environmental benefits of the vegetarian diet were appealing,” said Lemsipp, who became a vegan in 1997 when he was 18.
Lemsipp said that now it is quite easy to find most of the vegan food he needs in St. Petersburg.
Vera Kozlovskaya, 30, who teaches at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, said it took her about five years to make her decision to become a vegetarian.
“We always had animals in our family, and my parents taught me to love animals and nature, and at some point I realized it was hypocritical to say that I love animals but at the same time eat them and wear clothes made of leather and fur,” Kozlovskaya said.
Kozlovskaya said she then thought that vegetarians were doing the right thing by not eating meat, but she still couldn’t make a final decision for herself. She thought she wouldn’t be able to avoid eating meat and didn’t want to inconvenience her parents, with whom she lived, by making them cook special meals for her.
However, when Kozlovskaya was 22, she came home one day and told her mother that she would not be eating meat anymore. Three years ago, she switched from vegetarianism to veganism. She does not wear clothes made from leather or fur, and tries to avoid buying things made of wool.
Kozlovskaya said her parents soon accepted her choice. The other advantage of her new lifestyle was that she finally learnt to cook herself, she said, and it even became a hobby.
Nadezhda Davydova, a 45-year-old PR manager, became a vegetarian “in a completely natural way,” as she put it.
“In fact, I never felt any particular inclination to eat meat, but would eat barbequed meat at picnics with my friends two or three times a year. Then, 12 years ago, I suddenly noticed that I hadn’t eaten any meat for more than a year, just because I didn’t feel like it. At that time I would still have fish at my friends’ for dinner or at a restaurant, but gradually fish also disappeared from my diet,” Davydova said.
Davydova finds it difficult, however, to follow a vegan diet in which people don’t eat any animal products.
“It’s really hard not to eat eggs because I have a sweet tooth and eggs are common ingredients in cookies, cakes and ice cream,” she said.
Davydova said she never feels critical of people who eat meat.
“I feel perfectly comfortable at a dinner table with other people who are eating non-vegetarian food. If I have guests I certainly buy sausage or other meat products. The most important thing for me about people is not their food choice but their good nature,” she said.
Davydova said she was against violence of any form and that for her, eating a rabbit would be like cooking a cat. However, she said she felt uneasy about people who wanted to impose their vegetarian lifestyle on other people.
“We won’t be able to survive if we don’t cultivate balance, non-violence and care about our planet and those who live on it,” Davydova said. “However, in order to ensure that vegetarianism doesn’t become some sort of psychiatric problem or cult, the decision to switch to it should be voluntary, conscious and happy. There should not be any arrogance and pride in one’s ‘heroic’ deed.”
Dmitry Koretsky, who is 25 and the coordinator of the Vegan Club project, said he became a vegan when he was 18 after talking with some of his friends who didn’t eat animal products.
“It took me a while to do my homework on the topic and find out the influence such a diet can have on one’s health. After that I became a vegan overnight,” he said.
Koretsky said he didn’t experience any difficulties in becoming vegan.
“The major difficulty was explaining to my relatives that a vegan way of life is normal and that I wouldn’t die from it,” Koretsky said. “About a year later, everyone had accepted my choice,” he said.
Koretsky said he felt “excellent” about his diet. Last summer he took part in a bicycle marathon from St. Petersburg to Novgorod and traveled to the Crimean Mountains, and this year he took up ice swimming.
“After I switched to veganism I virtually stopped catching colds and my allergies disappeared,” he said.
Koretsky said it was not very hard to be a vegetarian in St. Petersburg, where the food selection is quite rich.
“It’s a bit harder with veganism, but it depends on what people want,” he said.
At a recent press conference in St. Petersburg, the city’s head dietitian Vladimir Dotsenko said that vegetarianism and raw food diets were dangerous for children and pregnant women.
“Vegans practice raw foodism. Such a diet results in a lack of vitamins A and D, calcium and protein, which are all found in animal products,” Dotsenko was cited by Interfax as saying. “‘Rational’ vegetarians consume milk and eggs, giving them close to optimal nutrition. However, children need to eat meat to grow and pregnant women also need to in order to help the development of a normal fetus.”
The Head of the Hepatology Center at Mechnikov Medical University, Valery Radchenko, said human nutrition depends on age, genetics and illnesses.
“If a young woman doesn’t eat meat, she will give birth to a non-healthy child who will suffer from anemia and that child will be ill for the next several years,” Radchenko said.
Some foreign experts share Radchenko’s opinion. Nina Planck, author of the Real Food series and the Farmer’s Market Cookbook, shared her view in an article that she wrote for the New York Times.
“For babies and children, whose nutritional needs are extraordinary, the risks are definite and scary,” wrote Planck, who used to be a vegan but stopped practicing veganism during pregnancy. “The breast milk of vegetarian and vegan mothers is dramatically lower in a critical brain fat, DHA, than the milk of an omnivorous mother and contains less usable vitamin B6. Carnitine, a vital amino acid found in meat and breast milk, is nicknamed ‘vitamin Bb’ because babies need so much of it. Vegans, vegetarians and people with poor thyroid function are often deficient in carnitine and its precursors.”
Kozlovskaya said, however, that some of her vegetarian and vegan acquaintances had given birth to healthy children despite their diets. They also put their children on full-fledged vegetarian diets and the children grow and develop well, she said.
Kozlovskaya said to get enough protein she eats different kinds of pulses, adding that this gives her enough protein to cycle to work almost all year round.
“The only vitamin that is difficult to get from vegetables is B12. That is why I drink B12-enriched soymilk and take special vitamins developed by the Vegan Society of Great Britain,” she said.
Scientific endeavors in the area of vegetarianism have shifted from concerns about nutritional adequacy to investigating its health benefits and disease prevention. The American Dietetic Association and the Dietitians of Canada have stated that at all stages of life, a properly planned vegetarian diet is “healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provides health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”
Many studies have shown that the percentage of deaths caused by heart disease was 30 percent lower among vegetarian men and 20 percent lower among vegetarian women than in meat-eaters.
Vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index, lower levels of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and less incidence of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, metabolic syndrome, dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders. Non-lean red meat, in particular, has been found to be directly associated with increased risk of certain cancers.
Under the Orthodox calendar, there are more than 220 fasting days per year.However, modern vegetarianism first came to Russian in the 1890s.
Thanks to the influence of famous Russian vegetarians such as the writer Leo Tolstoy and botanist Andrei Beketov, a strong vegetarian movement appeared in Russia before World War I.
After the Bolshevik Revolution, the topic of vegetarianism became taboo and the Big Soviet Encyclopedia said that “vegetarianism, which is based on false hypotheses and ideas, does not have followers in the Soviet Union.”
Today in western European countries and the U.S., between three and 10 percent of the population follow some kind of vegetarian diet. In the U.S., about 12 million people are vegetarian, in the U.K. there are 3.5 million and in Germany about 3 million, researchers say. The number of vegans is much lower, with only half a million vegans in the U.S. and about 200,000 in the U.K.
TITLE: Hollande Sworn In as French President
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: PARIS — Socialist Francois Hollande took over as France’s president Tuesday and jetted off to Berlin hours later for talks on Europe’s debt crisis — only to have his plane struck by lightning. No one was hurt.
It was a startling beginning for a man who promised to be a more “normal” president, and less flashy than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, who was ousted by voters after a single term for his handling of a stagnant economy plagued by joblessness.
After a succession of rain-drenched and pomp-filled ceremonial inauguration events, Hollande took off in a Falcon 7X aircraft for Berlin. The plane was hit by lightning shortly afterward, and returned to the Villacoublay air base outside Paris as a precaution for inspection, Defense Ministry spokesman Gerard Gachet said.
Defense officials say the president and his entourage were transferred to another aircraft, a Falcon 900, and left shortly thereafter. That made Hollande about an hour and a half late for his first meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Hollande was following a postwar custom for new French leaders to reach out to their German counterparts to solidify European unity. Right before leaving for Berlin, Hollande named a moderate, German-friendly member of his Socialist party, Jean-Marc Ayrault, as his prime minster.
The new French president and Merkel are in different camps when it comes to solving Europe’s debt crisis. While new figures Tuesday showed the 17-nation eurozone has avoided a new recession, thanks largely to Germany, political turmoil in Greece was reviving fears about the fate of their shared euro currency.
Hollande, elected May 6 as France’s first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995, rode to the presidency on a wave of resurgent leftist sentiment amid Europe’s debt woes and protests against capitalism around the world.
The 57-year-old displayed his populist touch in between Tuesday’s ceremonies, stopping for handshakes — and even a kiss — with adoring fans.
Arriving Tuesday morning at the 18th-century Elysee Palace, the traditional residence of French presidents, Hollande was greeted by Sarkozy on the red-carpeted steps. The two held a 40-minute private meeting that is traditionally the moment when the outgoing president hands over the codes to France’s nuclear arsenal.
Hollande was declared president after the head of the constitutional court read out the final results of the May 6 election.
The new president immediately acknowledged the challenges he inherits: “a massive debt, weak growth, high unemployment, degraded competitiveness, and a Europe that is struggling to come out of crisis.”
In his speech, Hollande promised to fight financial speculation and “open a new path” in Europe. He has pushed back against a European budget-cutting pact championed by Merkel and Sarkozy.
“To overcome the crisis that is hitting it, Europe needs plans. It needs solidarity. It needs growth. To our partners, I will propose a new pact that will tie the necessary reduction of public debt with the indispensable stimulus of the economy,” he said.
Hollande also pledged to bring “dignity and simplicity” to the presidential role — something voters felt that Sarkozy did not always do.
The French mood is glum. Many voters looked to the inauguration as a rare moment of national pride and to Hollande’s presidency as a new opportunity to make things better.
Earlier Tuesday, the state statistics agency released new figures showing that the French economy had failed to grow in the first quarter. Some economists predict a contraction ahead, which would complicate Hollande’s promises to rein in the deficit.
World markets and other European leaders will be watching closely to see whether and how Hollande follows through on his campaign promises, such as pulling French troops out of Afghanistan, freezing gasoline prices and hiking taxes on the rich. Observers expect that once he settles into the presidency, he’s likely to fall back into the moderate consensus-building that has characterized his career.
Crucial to Hollande’s presidency will be his relationship with Merkel, the German chancellor.
The announcement of lawmaker Ayrault as prime minister may well prove an advantage for this relationship. Ayrault, who leads the Socialists in Parliament, is a German speaker and a former teacher of the language of Goethe. The 62-year-old Ayrault and Hollande are said to be very close.
After the Berlin visit, Hollande heads later this week to the United States to meet President Barack Obama and attend summits of the Group of Eight and NATO.
In the ceremony Tuesday, Hollande received the insignia of the Grand Croix from the hands of General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who heads the prestigious Legion of Honor, and the necklace of the Great Master of the Order of the Legion of Honor. Each linked medallion of the necklace bears the name of a president, with Hollande’s name recently added.
Hollande shook hands with many of the hundreds at the ceremony, then reviewed troops in the palace gardens. Following tradition, 21 shots were fired from cannons at the Invalides, a domed complex on the opposite side of the Seine River that holds Napoleon’s tomb.
Rain started pouring down on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue as Hollande rode up its center, standing in the sunroof of his hybrid Citroen DS5, trailed by dozens of Republican Guardsmen on horseback and motorcycle. His suit was visibly drenched within moments. He then headed for the Arc de Triomphe, and its monument to the unknown soldier.
His second presidential speech of the day focused on education, as he pledged to create 60,000 new teaching jobs in the aftermath of cuts Sarkozy had made.
Hollande was joined for the Elysee ceremonies and in his motorcade car Tuesday by his girlfriend, journalist Valerie Trierweiler.
Hollande’s former partner and the mother of his four children, Segolene Royal, joined him later Tuesday in a ceremony at Paris City Hall.
TITLE: Man Self- Immolates At Anders Breivik Trial
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: OSLO, Norway — An unidentified man was seriously injured in a self-immolation Tuesday outside the courthouse where right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik is being tried on terror charges for a bombing and shooting massacre that killed 77 people on July 22.
Police said the man didn’t appear to have any connections to the trial, which has been under way since mid-April in the Oslo District Court.
Before the incident the man had stopped by the office of Norwegian lawyer Bente Roli, where he dropped off an envelope with “confused” notes, Roli told The Associated Press.
“He was disturbed. Very much. He has nothing to do with the July 22 events,” Roli said.
A video clip of the incident posted on Norwegian newspaper VG’s website showed the man setting himself on fire before stunned witnesses. He walked up to police with flames shooting up from his sweater and hat, and appeared to yell “shoot me, it hurts” in a Scandinavian language with a foreign accent.
He then ran toward the security checkpoint outside the court but turned right just before the entrance and slumped to the pavement. The man shouted in pain as police officers rushed up to him and tore off his burning sweater.
“There were police officers on site and the fire was put out quickly,” police operations leader Finn Belle told The Associated Press.
Roli said she wasn’t in the office when the man came in but her secretary met him.
“He was psychologically unstable and thought he was the victim of a conspiracy,” she told AP. “He thought everyone was after him because of the social problems he has.” She said the man was 49 but didn’t name him.
The man was taken to Oslo University Hospital with serious injuries, police said. He didn’t appear to have any links to the Breivik trial, police spokeswoman Unni Turid Groendal said. “Not as far as we know,” she said.
Police spokesman Kjell Jan Kverme said the man was a Norwegian citizen of foreign origin but did not disclose his identity.
Nouni Mohsen, a witness who works in a restaurant across the street from the courthouse, told AP that police came in asking for water.
“I didn’t have anything but small bottles. They wanted to have a lot of water because there was much fire on his body,” Mohsen said.
Breivik has admitted to setting off a car bomb that killed eight people outside the government headquarters in Oslo and then killing 69 people in a shooting rampage at the Labor Party’s annual youth camp. The self-styled anti-Muslim militant has shown no remorse for the attacks, saying the victims had betrayed Norway by embracing multiculturalism.
The self-immolation was the first incident outside the Oslo district court since the trial began. Inside the court, an Iraqi man whose brother was killed in the massacre threw a shoe at Breivik on Friday, hitting one of Breivik’s defense lawyers. That incident briefly interrupted the proceedings, which had been conducted without disturbances until that point.
TITLE: Rebekah Brooks, Husband Charged in Hacking Scandal
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LONDON — Ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, her husband and four others were charged Tuesday over alleged attempts to conceal evidence of Britain’s tabloid phone hacking scandal, prosecutors said.
The criminal charges are the first to be filed since police launched a new inquiry into phone hacking in January 2011. Previously, two people were jailed in 2007 for hacking the phones of members of the royal household.
Brooks, 43, who quit as News International chief executive in July, faces three separate allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice — an offense that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Alison Levitt, the principal legal advisor to Britain’s Director of Public Prosecutions, said that Brooks is alleged to have concealed material from police — including computers and other electronic devices — and is accused of removing seven boxes of material from News International archives.
Brooks’ husband Charlie Brooks, a racehorse trainer; Brooks’ former personal assistant Cheryl Carter; the ex-head of security at News International Mark Hanna; Brooks’ ex-chauffeur Paul Edwards; and Daryl Jorsling, a member of the firm’s security staff, also face allegations of obstruction of justice.
Levitt confirmed that a seventh person, who was also a member of News International security staff, would not face any charges.
“All these matters relate to the ongoing police investigation into allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World and The Sun newspapers,” Levitt said.
The offenses are all alleged to have taken place in the frantic days last July when Rupert Murdoch closed down the 168-year-old News of the World amid widespread public disgust over revelations that it had hacked the cell phone of a missing schoolgirl who was later found dead.
Murdoch announced his decision on July 7, 2011. Levitt said the alleged offenses took place between July 6 and July 19.
In a statement, Brooks and her husband said the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to file charges was unjust.
“We deplore this weak and unjust decision. After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS we will respond later today after our return from the police station,” the couple said in a statement.
Levitt said that all six would appear for hearings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. No dates have been set for the hearings.
Carter’s lawyer Henri Bradman said in a statement that Brooks’ former assistant “vigorously denies the commission” of any offense. He said that the ex-aide was suffering the “most unhappy period of her life.”
Brooks, who spent more than 20 years working in the News Corp. empire — rising from a junior employee to chief executive — remains on police bail over separate allegations related to illegal eavesdropping, and will face more questions from detectives on that issue in the coming months.
Last week, she was questioned by Britain’s media ethics inquiry over her close links to leading politicians — including Prime Minister David Cameron, a neighbor and longtime friend of her husband.
She acknowledged that while serving as a news executive she had frequently traded text messages with Cameron, and that he had sent her a message of support as she stepped down amid the scandal.
Separately, police said Tuesday that two people had been arrested in their investigation into the alleged bribery of public officials by tabloid reporters seeking scoops.