Notebook

More Moratorium

Death penalty gets axed

After nearly 15 years, Russia again considered the question of capital punishment. A moratorium introduced in the 1990s by then President Boris Yeltsin was set to expire at the end of 2009. 

On November 19th the Consti-tutional Court ruled against introducing the death penalty after the moratorium lapsed, due to Russia’s responsibilities before the Council of Europe and the overall “international legal trend,” said Chairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin. 

While many Russian citizens may support the death penalty, Zorkin said, it is not a question to be decided by a national poll or referendum. “We have to consider these things… but the court cannot strive for national approval. There are always two sides to a court decision: one will like the decision, and the other will not.”

A November Levada poll showed 37 percent of Russians in favor of reintroducing the death penalty, 20 who wanted to continue the moratorium, and 14 in favor of outlawing capital punishment altogether. In 2000, 54 percent were in favor of the death penalty. Most proponents saw it as the last and most serious sentence for the worst criminals, guilty of serial murders or rape of minors.

 

Vivat, Anna

Period film director adds installment

A new movie by Svetlana Dru-zhinina continues the director’s saga about the instability, power struggles and court intrigue that followed in the wake of Peter I’s death in 1725. 

Druzhinina became known for her popular trilogy filmed in the -pe-re--stroika period (Gardemariny, vperyod!; Vivat, Gardemariny!; and Garde-mariny III). It focused on the fates of three young navy officers drawn into a court conspiracy preceding the reign of Elizabeth, and followed their lives through the next decade. Druzhi-nina’s new movie, Vivat, Anna!, in which Inna Churikova plays Anna Ioannovna, is set in the Kremlin’s Palace of Facets and at various estates in the Moscow region, Kultura Channel reported. 

Druzhinina, who is 73, reportedly based the screenplay on Karam-zin’s History of the Russian State, adding a love storyline. She is also said to be working on yet another sequel about Russia’s rulers. 

Churikova, a decorated film and Lenkom theater actress, is best known for appearances in Soviet films by Mark Zakharov, Pyotr Todorovsky, and Gleb Panfilov, her husband.

 

Gazprom under fire

Okhta tower meets resistance

Gazprom Neft Oil Company’s controversial plans to erect a giant 400-meter Okhta Center skyscraper in St. Petersburg appear to have caused friction within the government, likely because the proposed tower could lead to social unrest. 

The building, dubbed the “gazoskryob” or “gas scraper” would become the city’s dominant landmark, visible from most any vantage point in the city and casting a long shadow over St. Petersburg, recognized as a UNESCO World Heri-tage Site. Despite criticism that the planned building breaks several construction and height limit laws, it was okayed by Governor Valentina Matviyenko. 

Then, in November, state-controlled Channel One television unexpectedly criticized the project, calling it a “merging of Venice and Singapore” that has no place in the historic city built by Peter I.

To complicate matters, archeological research over the past two decades at the future tower site has identified it as a former Neolithic settlement site and uncovered four fortresses dating from different eras in the city’s history. The first of these — the Swedish fortress of Lands-crona — dates from the 13th century, and was destroyed by Russian forces in 1301. 

In the early 17th century, Sweden built Nienshants Fortress in this location, and the fortress stood for nearly a century before Peter the Great razed it. 

Gazprom has financed the archeological dig for the past two years, in accordance with Russian legislation that requires an investor to ensure a site’s historical integrity. 

Now Russian Academy of Sciences archeologists in charge of the dig are saying that the unique site must be preserved, that construction of any kind will destroy centuries of cultural history, which could instead be transformed into an internationally significant landmark.

An Activist is Born

Internet whistleblower crusades 

for police reform

The RuNet produced an unlikely hero from the ranks of Russia’s militia when a Novorossiysk major aired a series of public addresses to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on YouTube.com. Speaking directly to the camera while dressed in his uniform, the police officer, Alexei Dymovsky, complained about bad working conditions and the atrocious state of the police system in the country. “Maybe you don’t know about us, about simple cops, who live and work and love their work. I’m ready to tell you everything. I’m not scared of my own death,” Dymovsky said, confessing he had been ordered to arrest random people just to close cases. 

The 32-year-old officer and 10-year veteran of the force (monthly salary, R14,000 or $480), was subsequently fired, with the Interior Ministry alleging that he was undermining stability and was funded by the U.S. government through a local human rights group. For his part, Dymovsky likened his coming out to an act of “suicide.”  In one video he admitted, “I’m a little scared to speak in front of you and the whole country. I have a wife, who is six months pregnant. But I can’t act differently.” A work-related injury prompted Dymov-sky’s public appeal, after he said local medical officials refused to treat him. 

Dymovsky’s YouTube.com gam-bit soon led to copycat crusaders. Seven other officers around the country followed in Dymovsky’s wake, and Dymovsky indicated he is touring various Russian cities meeting colleagues, with the goal of reforming the police force. He declines being affiliated with any political party and has recently announced that he no longer wants to speak with Putin, since Putin ignored his request for a meeting.

While some commentators believe Dymovsky is somebody’s PR project, the YouTube bomb lit by the former policeman may end in a fizzle, despite its internet popularity: none of Russia’s television channels made any mention of the issue, and a Levada poll showed that 64 percent of Russians have never heard of Dymovsky’s video.

 

Museum makeover

Pushkin expansion steps on toes

Moscow’s renowned Pushkin Museum will undergo major reconstruction next year, aimed at expanding the museum’s territory and incorporating the entire neighborhood into a special pedestrian zone. 

The project was designed by British architect Norman Foster, Moscow and St. Petersburg city authorities’ frequent choice for important projects. 

The museum, located in a central district, near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, has already gained control of adjacent buildings, including former estates, one of which houses the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Philosophy, and will add buildings for a library and cinema. 

Most of the museum’s collections will leave the central building, which will be used for exhibitions. The new complex may also find room for a Museum of Film. Russia’s vast cinema collection has struggled without its own space for several years, in the process losing some items.

Yet there is strong criticism of Foster’s concept, since it will close off some of the historic buildings from public access and put a glass dome over the resulting courtyard, altering the architectural landmark and violating federal laws. 

Preservationists like Rustam Rakh-ma-tullin, who also writes for Izvestiya newspaper, fear that museum-focused reconstruction of some buildings will cause them to lose their architectural value, and possibly damage the main building’s unique roof, engineered by Vladimir Shukhov. Meanwhile, the philosophers at the Academy of Sciences’ institute are putting up a fight and have refused to move from their current address on Volkhonka because they were not offered an alternative.

The last original

Nabokov’s Laura 

sheds her veil

Vladimir Nabokov’s last novel, unfinished by the writer before his death, has been published in English and Russian as The Original of Laura, after the writer’s son decided to bring the work, which the author requested be burned, to light. 

Written on index cards, as was Nabokov’s habit, the text adds up to about 45 pages, and it was not clear how much of the text, which the writer had said was complete in his mind, he did not put down on paper. 

Publication of Nabokov’s ninth work written in English came after three decades of debate whether or not his final wish to destroy it should be respected. The book went on sale in Russia a month after its debut in the U.S., with one version of the volume consisting of reproductions of the index cards, while another, in Russian, had the text flowing in conventional form.

 

Time is Short

Russia may reduce the number (now 11, stretching from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka) of time zones Russia, following a suggestion from President Dmitry Medvedev that the economic costs and effects of such a change be considered. The suggestion, one of the most memorable from Medvedev’s state of the union address, has caused a stir among regional governors. 

 

Utopia in Print

The popular Moscow weekly Bolshoi Gorod dedicated a special issue to counter-realities, highlighting  Russians’ social grudges and pet peeves. In the issue, textbooks are found to be based entirely on science rather than ideology, over half of Russians contribute money to charity, Georgia and Russia open their borders to one another, courts sue the real stooges, Moscow finally sheds its traffic jams, and Channel One anchor Ekaterina Andreyeva admits that all TV channels broadcast propaganda.

 

Tsarist Record

A series of recent Russian art auctions exceeded all art market expectations, with the leading event at Sotheby’s London rounding off at over $30 million. The Sotheby’s auction created a stir with its collection of imperial items, like a collection of Fabergé cigarette cases. The items, once in the possession of the Romanov family, sat in a Swedish Foreign Ministry safe for nearly a century, and fetched £7 million at auction.

 

Waiting to Count

Russia will conduct a census in 2010, despite concerns that the budget has no money for the task. The census is expected to happen in October, with the first results published by the end of the year. The census will include information on nationality, access to housing, and demographics. Russia’s last census was in 2002. The Ministry of Industry also plans to conduct an “industrial census,” providing an overview of all production sites in Russia, yet it is not clear if the government will approve the plan. Russia last did an inspection of its industrial base in 1913, according to Vedomosti.

 

Equal Time

If the Culture Ministry has its way, Russian theaters and orchestras may have to fill a quota in their performance schedules with contemporary plays and works of living composers. The quota is the idea of Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev, and is meant to encourage cultural venues to look beyond the classics to fill their repertoire. 

 

Airborne Patriotism

Russia’s biggest airline Aeroflot wants to require government officials to fly on Russian airlines. Current CEO Vitaly Savelyev said the company sent a request to the government about putting in place such a rule, adding that in China government officials are banned from flying on foreign airlines.

 

Who’s Boss

Forbes magazine has created a new ranking of the world’s most powerful figures. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin placed third, preceded only by Barack Obama and Hu Jintao. President Dmitry Medvedev’s 43rd place ranking put him below Putin’s deputy, Igor Sechin — one of the least public figures in the government, who is known to control much of the country’s energy resources. 

(See opposite page.)

 

 

“In Russia’s current situation, everyone is playing their own game. There is the little-capable King Medvedev, there is Queen Putin, who clearly is not planning to surrender and who, in the event of his victory, will build a true dictatorship here. If he returns to power, the Khodorkovsky process will seem like vegetarianism.”

Opposition politician and former chess champion Garry Kasparov,
using chess lingo to describe Russia’s political scene. (Sobesednik newspaper)

 

“The series of actions were a provocation... to demonstrate… 
how the state supposedly behaves toward peaceful demonstrators.” 

Moscow Police Chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev reacting to accusations that
OMON interior troops had used unnecessary force. (Interfax)

 

“When Abramovich buys Chelsea, that’s not a Good necessary for our spiritual environment… such a Good is foreign to us.” 

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, on oligarch Roman Abramovich’s
purchase of a British soccer club. (RIA Novosti)

 

“That the city is in the middle of a war over culture is doubtless. It is a real war, with demolition and destruction, with victims. It is a real war with severe battle tactics. During the blockade, we guarded and protected everything, and now we cannot even protect it from our own countrymen.”

Film director Alexander Sokurov, on the battle over the
Okhta Tower in St. Petersburg. (Channel One)

 

“The Interior Ministry cannot be reformed, it can be only liquidated.” 

United Russia deputy Andrei Makarov (Vedomosti)

 

“We cannot speak about free elections, we cannot speak about true democracies in places where most people get most of their information from television that is either quite firmly in governmental hands or, if privatized, then in the hands of cronies or even families of governmental leaders, or if [the countries] nominally have public service broadcasting, that it is in fact just a propaganda tool for the government.”

OSCE Media Freedom Representative Miclos Haraszti,
on the role of television in most all post-Soviet states. (Associated Press)

 

“I am going to go to church today and light a candle in hope that the death sentence will be reestablished in our country.” 

State Duma Deputy Speaker Lyubov Sliska, on the day the Constitutional Court
reviewed the issue of the death penalty. (Rosbalt agency)

 

“As you recall, Al Capone was formally convicted in the United States in the 1930s for tax evasion, but in reality it was for the entirety of the crimes he had committed. But tax evasion was proven, and so he was sentenced according to the law. Everything that happens here happens in accordance with existing law.” 

Vladimir Putin, comparing Mikhail Khodorkovsky
to Al Capone. (government.ru)

 

Booker Laureate

On December 3, Elena Chizhova was announced as the 2009 winner of the prestigious Russian Booker Prize for Literature (sponsored by BP), for her novel, Vremya Zhenshchin (A Time for Women). The novel has not been published in book form, but was published in the journal Zvezda in 2009. The novel takes place in Leningrad in the 1960s and is about three older women who raise the illegitimate, mute daughter of their neighbor (who is ill with cancer) in their communal flat. Chizhova has twice before been shortlisted for the Booker, in 2003 and again in 2005.

 

facts & figures

 

Russia’s population was 145.3 million at the time of the last census in 2002, while the State Statistics Service estimated it at 141.9 million in the first half of 2009. The census in 2010 will employ 700,000 people, 400,000 of whom will be hired for canvassing.

 

 

Russian movies have incurred R15 billion in losses for their investors over the past 3.5 years. In 2009, R9 billion was spent on films, double that of 2006; the total spent over the past four years was R29 billion. On average, movie budgets have doubled over the last year to about R110 million, while box office results have grown much more slowly. 60% of investments in Russian movies did not break even.

 

 

Over 700,000 questions were directed to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prior to his annual call-in program. 30% of the questions had to do with housing and utilities problems.

 

 

In 2009, Russia’s population rose by 5,300 persons, or 0.004% of the population, between the start of the year and October 1 — its first sign of growth in 15 years. Some 1,321,000 persons were born in the first nine months of 2009. Last year, the population decreased by 0.08% over the same period.

 

 

Russians value their life at R4,100,000, on average, with the amount differing by as much as 4.75 times from one region to the other. In Krasnoyarsk, people gave their life a value of R7.6 million, while people in Ryazan and Kostroma estimated a mere R1.6 million.

 

Most Russian internet users use search engines to download something. About 4% of all Yandex searches contain the word “free” or “download.” 3% of queries are in the form of a question, and 9% contain a name of a city. Russian internet surfers are also interested in “games,” “weather,” “auto,” “horoscopes,” and “watch online.”

 

 

According to Yandex Maps, there are 170,000 localities in Russia, with 35,000 bearing unique names. The most common geographical name is Alexandrovka, of which there are 166. 8000 localities start with the letter “к” and 27 with the letter “ы” — mostly in Yakutia. 46 geographical locations have two-letter names, while the longest names belong to the villages of

Verkhne­­novokutlumbetyevo and Starokozmodemyanovskoye.

Верхненовокутлумбетьево

 

Logo Unveiled

A new logo for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games was unveiled in December, to the surprise of those expecting a rendition of the popular Mishka or Cheburashka. The logo is essentially the name of a website to promote the city of Sochi and Russia, with “sochi.ru 2014” written out, with mirror-image elements symbolic of the reflecting surface of the Black Sea resort. 

The unusual logo, the first to feature a website in the history of the games, was designed by London-based Interbrand for an undisclosed sum that was reportedly “less than for London [2012],” where the brand cost £400,000 to design. “I like the logo very much,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge. “It is very creative and innovative and is targeting the new generation.”

To get Russia ready for Sochi, a series of TV clips and internet advertisement banners have been launched. Next, the Organizing Committee will choose a mascot. Possible contestants include a dolphin on skis, a polar bear, and a Snegurochka, the sidekick of Russian Santa Ded Moroz.

Davydenko’s Hour

Nikolay Davydenko scored the biggest win of his tennis career in November, capturing his 19th title at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. He was the first Russian to ever win an ATP year-end championship.  

In the finals, Davydenko, famous for his phenomenal foot work and speedy movement on the court, ran down almost every ball and humiliated reigning U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6/3, 6/4. 

“He’s very fast. He plays like PlayStation,” Del Potro said after the match. “He runs everywhere. It’s very difficult to make winners… He is a great champion. Nobody knows how we can beat him.” 

En route to the finals, Davy-denko scored impressive wins over Rafael Nadal, former nemesis Robin Soderling from Sweden, and, most importantly, an impressive semifinal victory over top-ranked Roger Federer. The win brought a $1.3 million purse, which the Ukrainian-born Russian from Severodonetsk said he is going to use to buy an apartment in Moscow.

 

Soccer Disaster

President Dmitry Medvedev flew to Slovenia to cheer on the Russian national soccer team, only to witness a disaster. A helpless Russian squad led by the highly-paid Dutch coach Guus Hiddink was defeated 1-0 by the home team in every corner of the field. 

A first-half goal from Zlatko Dedic earned Slovenia a place at next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa, eliminating Russia on the away goals rule (Russia won 2-1 in Moscow three days prior in the first leg of the play-off match). 

“We are very disappointed with the outcome, and the players have not hidden their disappointment in the dressing room,” Hiddink said. “Alas, the reality is that Russia will not be going to the World Cup finals.” Now Hiddink must decide whether he wants to continue working with the Russian team after January 2010, when his current contract expires. Observers cite another Dutch coach on the shortlist of potential replacements – former coach of Zenit St. Petersburg, Dick Advokaat.

 

On the Money

Tennis diva Maria Sharapova has remained Russia’s richest sportsperson, according to the Russian Finans magazine. Sharapova’s revenues “dropped” to $24 million in 2009 after a lackluster season, but she is still leading the pack by a wide margin. Tennis itself brought Sharapova only $900,000, the balance coming from numerous endorsements deals. 

Utah Jazz star Andrey Kirilenko placed second with revenues of $15.1 million. The player dubbed in the NBA as “AK-47” may soon dethrone Sharapova if he moves from his current club to the New Jersey Nets, now owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who is known for his lucrative player contracts. 

Hockey star Alexander Ovechkin, of the Washington Capitals, finished third with $12 million. Football star Andrey Arshavin (forward for London’s Arsenal) came fourth with $11.25 million. The list of Russia’s wealthiest athletes features 16 ice hockey stars, five soccer players, three tennis players and a basketballer.

 

Tatars Prevail

Rubin (from Kazan, capital of Tatarstan) won their second successive Russian Premier League title after they drew 0:0 at home with Zenit (from St. Petersburg). Their closest pursuer, Spartak Moscow, lost 3:2 in a derby against CSKA Moscow, thus losing any chance to win the gold. It is the first time a non-Moscow team has won two consecutive soccer titles.