Notebook

Russian Facelift

Facebook to learn from
Odnoklassniki.ru

The Russian company Digital Sky Technologies purchased 1.96 percent of the global social networking giant Facebook. DST paid $200 million in the deal, thereby valuing Facebook at $10 billion. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg told journalists that the money will be used to develop the company, aiming to increase profits by 70 percent this year. 

DST controls the Russian social network odnoklassniki.ru and has stakes in vkontakte.ru and mail.ru (see Russian Life, Mar/Apr 2008). The CEO is Yury Milner, who holds a controlling stake of shares jointly with Grigory Finger; 30 percent is held by Alisher Usmanov. 

Tech bloggers mulled over the union at length, gasping at the computed value of Facebook, guessing who will be the next investor to chisel into the Facebook mountain (though the company raised about $500 million in recent years, it has given up only 5% to investors). 

Zuckerberg conceded that Facebook may start applying some “monetizing” features similar to those used by DST in order to raise revenues. CNet editor Rafe Needleman cited an anonymous source in Facebook who said the company had chosen DST because of its connections to the government, potentially easing Facebook’s expansion and potential entry into Russia.

MoscowVision

European song contest rocks the Russian capital

Love it or hate it, Eurovision took place in Moscow this year, since the contest was won last year by Russia’s Dima Bilan. Organizers splurged on a lavish setup in Olympiysky Complex, installing the most expensive stage in the event’s history. The contest had huge losses (see Facts and Figures), and bloggers and columnists called it a feast in a time of plague. 

Aside from the 25 contenders, the finales featured performances by Cirque de Soleil and Fuerza Bruta, in which acrobats slithered in shallow glass pools suspended above the VIP section of the audience. Alexander Rybak, a Minsk-born Norwegian, took first place, charming Russian cameras with his boyish looks and fluent Russian. Russia was represented by the Ukrainian singer Anastasia Prihodko.

Record numbers of Muscovites tuned in to Channel One to watch the concert, which was clearly meant to enhance the image of those in power. Unfortunately, however, by the time of the finales, that image was tainted by police breaking up a gay pride parade in the city, where dozens were detained.

Men Only

Court upholds gender
discrimination

A St. Petersburg law student pursued a coveted job in the city’s metro all the way to the Supreme Court, only to hear that women are not allowed to drive the city’s metro trains. The student, Anna Klevets, sought the position of assistant machinist, but was told that the position is one of many on the list of “dangerous jobs prohibited to women,” a list approved by the government nine years ago. 

In court, representatives of the Health Ministry argued that the list is meant to protect women, rather than discriminate against them, as working in the metro involves a high level of emotional and physical strain, Vremya Novostey reported. Curiously, 30 years ago, in the Soviet era, women were allowed to work in the metro, according to Yelena Gerasimova of the Center of Social and Labor Rights. 

“It’s easier to simply limit women from working, rather than improve working conditions,” Gerasimova said. “Women are employed as metro cleaners, working in similar conditions, but for a much smaller wage.” Since the Supreme Court ruled that the current policy is non-discriminatory, Klevets will likely pursue her case in an international court.

17 Color Moments

Monochrome classic series tinted

A three-year, multinational effort by Rossiya channel finally delivered a colorized version of the classic Soviet miniseries, 17 Moments of Spring. Immediately, critics snubbed the project, saying it disrespects the original creators. 

Project producer Alexander Lyubimov said the meticulous frame-by-frame restoration, sound improvements, and colorizing was a Victory Day (May 9) present to the country. The cost to restore each minute of film was estimated at $3000, and the new version has cut the average length of each episode from about 70 to 50 minutes, dropping many lyrical passages, as well as main character Stirlitz’s musings on historical events.

The purpose of the remastering project was reputedly to open it up to young people who may not be familiar with the original. The 12-part series, directed by Tatyana Liozovna, was first aired on Soviet television in 1973 and became a multi-generational hit. In it, Soviet spy Maxim Isayev is a mole in the Reichstag (in 1945), with the rank of SS-Standartenführer.  

The original version was no longer fit to show on prime time, Lyubimov told Sobesednik. But critics say that the sole reason for adding reds to Nazi insignia and bringing a pallid tint to characters’ faces was to serve the producers’ commercial interests: they are reportedly producing a sequel called Isayev.

Vyacheslav Tikhonov, who starred in the movie as Max Otto von Stirlitz (Isayev’s German identity), condemned the colorized version as disrespectful to both the original makers and to the war itself. “What they did to the movie, a completed artistic work, is a crime,” he told Express Gazeta. Bloggers also fumed at Rossiya’s project, mockingly advising it to next colorize the Venus de Milo. St. Petersburg Commu-nists, previously known for publicly criticizing the latest Indiana Jones movie, have tried to sue the channel for R1 billion in compensation for ruining the classic series. A Moscow Court refused to hear the case.

Pioneering Putin

Prime Minister debuts with an opinion column

Vladimir Putin wrote a column for Russky Pioner magazine, run by longtime Kremlin and White House correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov, who is known for humanizing Putin in his articles. 

Putin’s column was called, “Why it is difficult to fire a person?” It is not clear whether the premier wrote it himself, but the characteristically unemotional language of the column sounded suspiciously authentic. 

“Sometimes it would seem that a person needs to be ousted with a broom,” Putin wrote. “But I assure you this is not the case. You must not get rid of a person only because he said something about you.” 

In the best Kremlinological traditions, bloggers rushed to interpret each paragraph. What could he have meant by: “If I, when I worked as president, failed to interfere in some situations, Russia would not have a government right now?”

Russky Pioner has previously run pieces written by prominent figures, such as Alfa Bank’s Peter Aven, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich, and others. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told RBC Daily that the column is not a sign that the Prime Minister will be penning more pieces for other publications. 

The column is available online at ruspioner.ru

Declare or Else

Kadyrov’s Lada does not
impress Russians

In what is advertised as the latest quest for anti-corruption transparency, government officials at various levels are declaring their incomes and assets. 

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin led by example, followed by the ministers, presidential envoys and officials in his administration, and the Russian Security Council. Med-vedev signed additional decrees this spring, expanding the requirement to publicize earnings to include state corporation executives, deputies, senators, auditors of the Audit Chamber, Election Committee employees, governors, and their wives and children. 

Although Russians appreciated the efforts at first, the income declarations were quickly seen as another insincere PR stunt by the rich and powerful. According to hechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s declaration, he owns only one Lada Zhiguli, and a 36 m2 apartment in Grozny. The Chechen president is usually seen driving a Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Mercedes. 

Other officials admitted owning expensive cars. The reports, available on a government website, list Audis, Mercedes, Porsches, and an occasional retro GAZ. Natural Resources and Envi-ron-ment minister Yury Trutnev stood out as unusually rich, according to the document, with R370 million ($12 million) in income last year. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov appeared to have a weakness for cars – officially, he owns six. 

A poll by the Russian Center for Opinion Research showed that Russians don’t believe the declarations. Only 13 percent of respondents said they were interested in them, but upon reading about them, 70 percent did not believe they were true.

Khodorkovsky decision

The European Court of Human Rights agreed to consider a complaint filed by jailed former head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, submitted in 2004. Khodorkovsky told the court that his arrest was illegal and politically motivated, and that subsequent court hearings were degrading. The Russian government responded to each of the charges, but the Court did not accept any of Russia’s arguments. A final resolution on the complaint will be released after Russia responds to the Court’s decision.

The bigger they are…

Oleg Deripaska, who tumbled from the top of the Russian Forbes list last year to number eight, is close to a debt restructuring deal that could secure his hold on his conglomeration of assets, the Wall Street Journal reported. Russia’s former richest man lost about $35 billion when his stock holdings went into freefall and he started to sell some of the foreign companies acquired in recent years. “The acute phase is past” for most of the businesses of Deripaska’s Basic Elements holding, said Olga Zinovieva, first deputy chief executive.

Morozhenoye by any name

Russian dairy producers are lobbying for a renaming of ice-cream-like products that contain heavy concentrations of vegetable oil. It does not deserve to be called ice cream, but “melorin,” they say, as its cream content is totally insufficient by comparison with the real thing. The dairy lobby’s recommendation has been passed on to the Ministry of Agriculture for review. 

Shukhov to be repaired

The Shukhov teletower in Moscow will finally be restored this year. The tower, which has not seen any serious repairs since it was built in 1922, will begin to be restored when the Ministry of Communication allocates R165 million this year, and R55 million in each of the next three years, Itar-Tass reported. The tower is Vladimir Shukhov’s most famous hyperboloid steel tower, considered a masterpiece of engineering art. For more information, visit shukhov.org.

Iramifications

The Rossica Prize, an award for excellence in Russian to English translation, was this year awarded to Amanda Love Darragh for Iramifi-cations,* Maria Galina’s ad-ven-ture fantasy novel (the book’s Russian title is Givi i Shenderovich) published in 2004 (a story by Galina, translated by Love Darragh, was published in the debut issue of Chtenia). The shortlist also included: Nick Allen’s translation of One Soldier in Chechnya (by Andrei Babchenko, whose latest dispatch from the Caucasus is published in Chtenia 07), Hugh Aplin’s work on Romance with Cocaine (Mikhail Ageyev), Ignat Avsey’s translation of Dostoyevsky’s Humiliated and Insulted, Andrew Bromfield’s The Sacred Book of the Werewolf (Victor Pelevin), Sasha Dugdale’s Birdson on the Seabed (Yelena Shvarts), and Jamey Gambrell’s Ice (Vladimir Sorokin).

Opel cousin to Volga

Soon before declaring bankruptcy in June, General Motors passed its German asset, Opel, to the Canadian company Magna International and Sberbank. Oleg Deripaska’s GAZ, which makes Volgas, will act as an industrial partner, providing production lines for the German cars. Sberbank got a 35% stake in Opel under the deal. The German government’s preference for the Russia-connected consortium over Italy’s Fiat signaled the increasing economic ties between Russia and Germany, but raised some eyebrows in Eastern Europe, Bloomberg reported. Vladimir Putin reportedly discussed the deal personally by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Business in the regions

For the second year in a row, Russian Forbes named Krasnodar the best city in which to do business in Russia. The magazine rated 30 Russian cities excluding Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the cities in the Northern Caucasus for their business climate, purchasing power, stability during the crisis, infrastructure, and other characteristics. Kazan, Samara, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk rounded out the top five. 

Oleg Yankovsky

Actor Oleg Yankovsky, left, who appeared in many popular films and was a mainstay at Moscow’s Lenkom theater, passed away in late May after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 65 years old. One of Russia’s most beloved actors, he is famous for roles in films directed by Mark Zakharov (like That Very Baron Münch-hausen, pictured below), and 1980s hits like Flights in Dreams and in Reality. Foreign audiences may know him for his leading role in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalgiya. From the 1990s forward, Yankovsky became more selective in choosing his film roles. Most recently, he  starred in a series of large productions like Stilyagi and Tsar, an Ivan the Terrible epic, which premiered in Cannes three days before Yankovsky’s death. His Alexei Karenin is said to be the focus of Sergei Solovyov’s Anna Karenina series, which took a decade to complete and is not yet in theaters. “Nobody can take his place,” said Tatyana Drubich, who played Anna in the film.

Tsarina Safina

On April 20, Dinara Safina unseated Serena Williams and claimed the top ranking in women’s tennis, making her only the second Russian woman, along with Maria Sharapova, to hold that title. 

Safina’s elder brother, Marat Safin, reached the ATP World Tour No. 1 ranking on November 20, 2000. Thus, the pair become the first brother-sister duo in tennis history to reach the top rankings, albeit separated by nearly a decade.

Safina became the 19th top-ranked player in women’s tennis since the advent of computer rankings, joining a distinguished list that includes Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Serena and Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Monica Seles and Steffi Graf, to name but a few. “It’s a great honor to reach the No. 1 ranking and it is a dream that every girl who has ever wanted to play professional tennis shares,” Dinara said. “It is even extra special for me since my brother Marat was able to reach the No. 1 ranking and I am happy to share this achievement with him.”

In 2008, in addition to winning a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics, Safina became the first player in tour history to defeat three reigning No.1 ranked players in the same season (Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic). Safina won 44 of her 54 matches, and her ranking jumped from 17 to 2 over the course of the year, resulting in her winning the tour’s Most Improved Player of the Year award.

Catching Rhythm 

Russia dominated the European Championships in rhythmic gymnastics held during May in Baku, Azerbaijan. Yevgenia Kanaeva, Olympic champion of the Beijing Olympics, stole the show. After helping her squad win the team event, Kanaeva took first place in all four individual disciplines (the ball, rope, hoop and ribbon exercises). 

With this win, the 19-year-old Kanaeva becomes the all-round European champion for the second straight year. Russia’s silver medalist, Vera Sesina, added three individual silver medals (ribbon, hoop and rope) to her gold with the team. Meanwhile, the Executive Com-mittee of the International Gym-nastics Federation (FIG) decided that the 30th World Champion-ships of Rhythmic Gymnastics will be held September 19-26, 2010, in Moscow.

The Red Machine

Russia defended its world hockey title in Bern, Switzerland this spring, defeating Canada 2-1 in the finals of the Ice Hockey World Champion-ships (last year Russia beat Canada on its home ice in Quebec). 

The final, winning goal of the game by Alexander Radulov was nothing short of spectacular. The youngest player on the Russian roster cut in through the right circle, made a pause, cheated the defender, and then fired left-handed into the goal.

Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov made 37 saves for Russia while Canada’s goalie, Dwayne Roloson, made only 15 stops. “We’ve got silver and they have a gold. Sometimes hockey is a cruel sport,” said Canadian coach Lindy Ruff. “Bryzgalov was very good and didn’t make a mistake that was going to allow us back into the game.” Striker and leader of the Russian team Ilya Kovalchuk, who scored key goals in the quarterfinals and semifinals, was named the MVP of the championships. 

Russia now boasts a record 25 world hockey championship golds, one more than Canada. The lead has observers talking about a return of the Soviet “Red Machine,” which won title after title in the 1970s and 1980s, but then suffered a 15-year drought after 1993.