Notebook

Bridge to the future?

Luzhkov plays a Crimean Card

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oscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has offer-ed to build a seven-kilometer bridge over the Kerch Strait which separates Crimea (now part of Ukraine) and Russia’s Kras-no-dar region, at an estimated cost of  $1 bn, Kom-mer-sant daily reported. 

Luzhkov made the offer during his recent meeting with the leaders of the autonomous Republic of Crimea. The proposed bridge would have three tiers — one level for trains, one for cars, and one for pipelines. 

Observers called the initiative a political move designed to fit with Luzh-kov’s electoral campaign for the Russian presidency, helping to garner support from those who, like Luzhkov, still consider Crimea Russian territory. Yet the bridge could also bring lucrative tolls: 7 mn tons of cargo and 30 mn passengers travel between Crimea and Russia each year.

 

The Era of Pugacheva

 

Pop Star Alla Pugacheva’s 50th birthday was celebrated widely in Russia with a series of concerts and a nationally-broadcast Kremlin meeting with President Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin told Pugacheva that the two had much in common: they both hate pressure and like to go against the grain. Yeltsin awarded the superstar an Order for Service to the Fatherland (Second Degree) and told Pugacheva that he will likely be remembered in history as simply someone who “lived in the epoch of Alla Pugacheva.” The two shared a toast over champagne and the beaming Boris Nikolaevich looked more robust than he has in months. 

 

Tolstoy

Doyenne Dies

Countess Vera Tolstoy, granddaughter of Lev Tolstoy and a former Russian-language broadcaster for Voice of America in Washington, died Aprill 1 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida at the age of 95. Countess Tolstoy was the last of the Tolstoy  descendants to have a personal memory of life at the Tolstoy estate at Yasnaya Polyana. She returned to Russia for the 1991 family reunion at Yasnaya Polyana and was the unofficial matriarch of Tolstoy’s 187 direct descendants. She recalled as a child sitting on Tolstoy’s lap and playing with his beard as he told stories.

Pushkin data

Two hundred years after Alexander Pushkin’s death, the report of the legal commission investigating the duel between Pushkin and George d’Antes has been discovered in the Russian State Military Archive. The document served as the basis for Tsar Nicholas I’s sentencing of d’Antes. The legal commission proposed demoting d’Antes to the rank of private and exiling him to the Causasus. But Nicholas thought that d’Antes might somehow benefit by serving in the troublesome Cau-casus. For the first time, Push-kinists can read the tsar’s authentic personal resolution “... Private Heeckeren [the name d’Antes took after being adopted by the Dutch Ambassador], as a non-Russian subject, shall be expelled from Russia, accompanied by a policeman and stripped of officer status.”

Build Up Urged

The State Duma passed a Resolution which tells the executive branch that “in a new geopolitical situation ... the size of the defense budget doesn’t fully guarantee an adequate reaction to potential military threats to the Russian national security.” The resolution urges the government, in its 2000 budget, to earmark no less than 3.5% of GDP toward national defense needs.

 

A Fish Called Nikita

In 1964, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave four sturgeon to Norway’s main aquarium. One outlived the others (sturgeon can live to be 100 years) and was named ‘Nikita’ in honor of the late Kremlin boss. But Reuters reported that Nikita died recently from an overdose of salt water that leaked into its tank. The aquarium said it would ask President Boris Yeltsin for a replacement sturgeon. “We understand it’s not a top priority,” said Stig Saegrov of Beren Aquarium, “but if Russia would be so kind as to give us a new sturgeon, we would be incredibly grateful ... We would call it ‘Boris.’” 

Baltika Grows

Baltika, Russia’s largest brewery, plans to boost production by 250% over the next three years, thanks to an expected loan from the EBRD, The Moscow Times reported. Founded in St. Petersburg in 1990 with Swedish capital, Baltika has become a showcase successful domestic business. The beer maker has an estimated 14% of the domestic beer market, built on popular brands like its lager, Baltika 3, Originalnoye (#4), and its strong brew, #9. 

Russian Gold

Over $534 mn was invested in the Russian gold mining industry in 1998, including $192.8 mn from foreign investors, The Moscow Tribune reported. Over 20 Canadian companies have shown an interest in cooperating with Russian partners in the mining and refining of metals and gems. 

kosovo fallout

The war in Yugoslavia has Russia radically rethinking its nuclear deterrence strategy. One influential military observer, Pavel Felgenhauer, said in early May that the NATO action has given new influence to those who argue for a limited nuclear war capability.

 

Polar

Matchmaking

Bachelors from the Norwegian town of Kafyord are looking Russia-ward. Itogi reported that the mayor of Kafyord, Aage Petersen, decided to subsidize trips of Norwegian bachelors to Russia, Poland, and Asian contries. The reason? To slow population declines in Norway’s rural northern areas, estimated at 39-40% annually, which results from Norwegian brides heading to the country’s bigger cities in the South.

$14mn per Day

Peter Llewellyn, 51, a British waste disposal magnate, wants to pay millions for a one week trip in space on the 13-year old Mir Space station. “If Llewellyn comes up with $100 mn, he gets a week on Mir in late August,” Energia spokesman Sergei Gromov told The Moscow Times. State support for Mir runs out in August. And money is not Llewellyn’s only obstacle. He admits to being 51 kilograms (112 lbs) overweight and, while certified to pilot a Cesna, hasn’t flown in years. Meanwhile, at press time, reports were surfacing that Llewellyn had a checkered past and was nothing more than a slick con-man.

Bulgakov Best

Moscow’s influential radio station Ekho Moskvy conducted a poll in February and March to find out who Russians felt was the best Russian writer of this century. Out of 6611 respondents, 4211 voted for Mikhail Bulgakov, who far outpolled writers such as Pasternak (1801 votes), Akhmatova, Solzhe-nit-syn, Bunin and Nabokov. Inter-estingly, Bulgakov received twice as many votes as the three Russian Nobel Laureates together (Bunin, Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn), while the poet Iosif Brodsky did not even make the list. 

 

 

“I would advise women from Vologda: don’t wear leather pants, don’t ride motorbikes, don’t smoke!” 

Vyacheslav Pozgaev, Governor of Vologda region, 

congratulating the women of his region on Womens’ Day.

 

“Cut out the c–––! What imagemaker? Would I tolerate such a person next to me? ... Do I really look like a man who would sit and think over what he would utter? I am not a Yavlinsky, after all!” 

Viktor Chernomyrdin in response to questions about the identity of his imagemaker. 

 

 “I am convinced: time will pass and my Peter will become one of Moscow’s symbols.” 

Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, rebutting criticism of his Peter the Great statue. 

 

“We are bogged down halfway between a planned economy and a normal market one.”

Boris Yeltsin,  

on Russia’s economy.

 

“Our great country will 

survive this little government as well.” 

Itogi weekly, employing the famous 1914 phrase of Russian entrepreneur Pavel Ryabushinsky, but in reference to today’s Russia.

 

 “He is always as healthy as the Constitution demands.”

[Former] Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Oleg Sysuev, on President Yeltsin’s health.

 

“Only a lazybones couldn’t beat the Germans.” 

Argumenty I Fakty quoting Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace after Russia 

beat Germany in Tennis’ Davis Cup. 

 

 “I have never fired anyone in my lifetime. Better to have your own imbecile than an alien smart guy.” 

First-Vice Premier of the Moscow city government Vladimir Resin, 

on his recruitment and staffing policies. 

 

Changing of the Guard at RNO

Pletnev passes the baton

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ussian violinist Vladi-mir Spivakov, foun-der of the world cham-ber music orchestra Moscow’s Virtuosos, was appointed chief conductor and creative director of the Russian National Orchestra (RNO). 

His predecessor, Mikhail Pletnev (Russian Life, Decem-ber 1995), who also founded the RNO, decided not to continue as head of the orchestra. Plet-nev was quoted in Kom-mersant Daily as saying his administrative duties consumed too much of his time. He will, however, retain the post of honorary conductor. 

Pletnev, a world-famous pianist before he founded the RNO, said he looks forward to concentrating more on his work as composer, pianist and conductor. 

 

Glazunov to Get Gallery

Moscow honors an artist

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ollowing in the steps of Alexander Shilov (see Russian Life, March 1998), the famous Russian pain-ter Ilya Glazu-nov will become the second artist to receive a personal gallery from the city government during his lifetime. 

Both Shilov’s and Glazunov’s galleries are conceived as gifts of paintings by the artist to the city of Moscow, making the galleries de facto museums of the artists’ works. 

According to Kommersant Daily, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov will give three buildings on the Arbat to Glazunov – a house built in 1744, a four-story building from 1903 and a small mansion from 1825. The first two are in need of significant re-storation. 

Glazunov’s art is staunchly realist and em-pha-sises Russ-ian historical and patriotic themes. Still, Glazunov has been criticized by liberals and conservatives alike. 

Glazunov, who was born in 1930 in Leningrad, came to prominence with a one-man exhibition in Moscow’s prestigious Manezh gallery in 1964. The exhibition attracted huge crowds and cemented his position as one of the most famous artists in Russia. He went on to paint portraits of many famous western politicians and became a millionaire even in the Soviet era.

In the post-Soviet era, Glazunov founded the Russian Academy of Paint-ing, Sculpture and Archi-tecture, which is largely dedicated to promoting the realist style in the arts.

 

In Gagarin’s Footsteps?

Saratov politician sets his sights skyward

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aratov Governor Dmitry Ayatskov (see Russian Life June/July 1998) told Sevodnya daily he intends to go into space with Russian cosmonauts by the year 2001. 

The 48-year-old Ayatskov, whose presidential aspirations were given wind by President Boris Yeltsin last year, reportedly struck an agreement on the flight with Yuri Koptev, general director of the Russian Space Agency. The flight will be on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight in space (April 12, 1961). 

“Gagarin came from our region,” Ayatskov said. “He was born and grew up here. A lad from Saratov began from here his path to space and immortality.” 

The governor has not yet begun his flight preparations, but made a point to mention he is in great physical shape and has already lost 8 kilos (17.6 pounds). If for some reasons the governor can’t make the trip (say, if he is serving as president of Russia), he said he will be replaced by a member of the regional government. 

 

Perovs Stolen

Russian Museum victim of heist

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or the first time in its 100 year history, St. Petersburg’s Russian Mu-seum (Russian Life Oct/-Nov 1998) has been robbed. The thieves climbed into the museum through a window and stole two paintings by Vasily Perov, “The Solitary Guitarist” and a sketch for the famous painting “Troy-ka” (right). 

The museum alarm system worked; guards spotted the robbers but were fired upon. The thieves escaped with the paintings. 

Some have speculated that the thieves had commercial intent but note it would be impossible to sell the canvasses on the black market, due to their “criminal record.” This version is supported by the fact that the paintings were the closest to the broken window which the thieves entered through and were small enough to carry. Yet, most museum workers said they felt the theft was ordered either by a “crazy nouveau riche” or by a collector of Perov’s works. 

 

Story Updates

Buy Russian First

In a move to boost the new “buy Russian” consumer trend (Russian Life, Dec/Jan 1999), the State Unitary Enterprise Mos-prod-kontrakt has inaugurated a chain of food stores selling products from different Russian regions. Each store will work with a specific region and the trade mark-up will not exceed 3-5%. Two stores have already been opened in Moscow.  

FALSE Tsar?

Scriptwriter Yevgeny Mitko accused Russia’s Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov of plagiarism. Mitko said that the plot of Mikhalkov’s latest movie, Siberian Barber (Russian Life April/May 1999) is based on a script Mitko wrote eight years ago, “Happy Monday.” Mitko’s script was entered in the 1991 Russian-American script contest “Merryl-Heartly Prize.” Kommer-sant, reported that Mikhalkov was a member of the contest’s jury and that Mikhalkov published the script of Siberian Barber eleven months after the contest, citing himself as “author of the original idea.” 

Kommer-sant movie critics said that, “from the point of view of cinema practices today, there is no room for scandal.” Yet, popular movie director Vladimir Motyl (White Sun of the Desert) came out in support of Mitko in an article in Sevodnya. “A brilliant movie actor, world-famous director ... [Mikhalkov] a priori expected to get away with anything,” he wrote. “The fearless challenge of the humble Mitko ... reminds us not only of laws and rights, but also of moral imperatives, whose basis was laid back in the OldTestament’s formula “thou shalt not steal.” 

Meanwhile, Agence France Press reported that Siberian Barber was selected to open this year’s 52nd Cannes Film Festival (but will not compete for the Golden Palm). 

 

Game, Set & Match

Russian tennis is on a roll

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ussian tennis won some bragging rights this spring and looks forward to an exciting summer. 

First, in March, a packed Olympiysky stadium in Moscow watched Russia’s women’s team defeat a heavily favored French team 3:2 in the Federation Cup quarterfinals. The match was notable for the absence of teen-sensation Anya Kur-nikova, who turned down repeated invitations to join the Russian squad (fueling speculation she is seeking US citizenship). Nonetheless, the team was coherent and united. 

Tatyana Panova, ranked just 71st in the world was the match’s heroine. The short yet agile Panova beat 11th-ranked Nathalie Tauziat 6:4, 6:2, winning the match point with a superb ace — unexpected from a player of her height. Yelena Likhov-tseva came back from a loss to Amélie Mauresmo (who came second in the 1999 Australian Open) to defeat Tauziat 6:2, 6:4. Then, together with Yelena Maka-rova, defeated Maure-smo and Tauziat 6:0, 7:6 in doubles. 

But the victory of Russia’s men’s tennis team over Germany (3:2) in the Davis Cup in Frank-furt was an even sweeter victory. Playing away, the Russians were faced with an understandably hostile crowd, an unfriendly chair umpire and a very strong German team led by triple Wimbledon champion Boris Becker. 

“Veteran” Yevgeny Kafel-nikov was merciless with Nikolas Kiffer in the opening match, yet 19-year old Russian prodigy Marat Safin succumbed to Thomas Haas in a grueling five set match. The German doubles squad of Becker-Prinosil then defeated Kafelnikov-Ol-khov-sky, thanks to a spectacular performance by Becker and horrendous mistakes by the chair umpire (which promp-ted Kafelnikov to refuse to shake hands with Becker after the match). 

On the final, decisive day, the Russian team bounced back. Kafelnikov beat Hass and Safin beat Kiffer, each in three straights sets. As a result of the victory in Frankfurt, the Russian team will play in the Davis Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1995

For its quarterfinals match, the Russian men’s team will play Slovakia in Moscow July 16-18. One week later, the women’s squad will play in the Federation Cup semifinals, also against Slovakia and also in Mos-cow. As Sport-Express daily put it, “a true festival of Slavic tennis awaits us in mid-summer in Moscow.” 

Will Kurnikova join the women’s team? “As far as I am concerned,” said Russia’s women’s team captain Kon-stantin Bogoro-det-sky, “I will not make a single move to invite her. It wouldn’t be fair on the girls. Of course, if she were to make the initiative herself, then ... In any case she should talk — not even to me, but to the team.”

 

As this issue was going to press, it  was announced that, for the first time ever in the history of tennis, a Russian player, Yevgeny Kafel-ni-kov, rose to the #1 ranking in the world. Kafelnikov becomes the 16th player ever to lead the ATP rankings.

 

Smooth Skating

Russia sweeps the gold at world event

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or the first time in the history of ice-skating, a single country —  Russia — swept the gold at the World Championships in Helsinki (to say nothing of silver and bronze medals). Even in Soviet times, when sports enjoyed wide financial support from the state, Russians did not produce such results. 

The most precious medal of four was the gold won by Maria Butyrskaya, who quieted many domestic Cassandras who said the 26-year-old skater was too old for competitive sports. Butyrskaya be-came not only the first Rus-sian to win a world gold but also broke the hegemony of Ame-rican skaters after beating the US’ Michele Kwan, who took the silver medal. 

The gracious Angelika Krylova and her partner Oleg Ovsyannikov confirmed their class in dancing, while Alexei Yagudin defended his world title in an impeccable free program which even earned him one “6” — the ultimate mark on ice. Finally, Anton Sikharulidze and Yelena Berezhnaya, arguably the most artistic pair in the world, stole the show in doubles (In a related note, Yekaterina Gordeeva chose Sikharulidze and Berezh-naya to star in her autobiographical film, dedicated to her husband Sergei Grinkov). 

Commenting to the Associated Press on the impressive Russian victory in Helsinki, Sikharulidze cited the “special relationship” Russians have with figure skating. “You know,” he said, “the Russian personality, the Russian mind, is really close to figure skating, because in Russia we have nice ballet, nice theater.”

 

Legendary Russian goalie Vladislav Tretyak organized his first International Ice Hockey Junior Tourney in Moscow. Tretyak invited junior players from Chicago and found sponsors in Russia to provide lodging and transportation for the guests and prizes for the winners. As it turned out, the Russian team from Dinamo (Moscow) beat the boys from Chicago and all other rivals from Russia and Belarus. Yet, Tretyak told Russian Life, the tourney was not so much about points and goals but about developing ties between young hockey players in Russia, Belarus, America and other countries. Tretyak, who regularly coaches adult NHL goalies in Chicago, hopes to make the junior tourney in Moscow a regular event. 

 

Going Loko 

Lokomotiv (Moscow) helped Russia to win 6 berths in next year’s European Soccer Cups, thanks to its draws at home (1:1) and away (0:0) against the heavily favored Lazzio (Italy). Although Lazzio qualified for the finals as a result of the two matches, thanks to a goal scored away, Lokomotiv earned respect by competing in European Cup semi-finals for the second year running. The hero of Lokomotiv, the stocky Georgian Zaza Dhza-n-ashiya, who scored the only goal against the Italians, is now coveted by many international soccer recruiters. 

Meanwhile, Russia’s National Soccer Team scored its first points in the European Qualifying Group by beating Armenia 3:0. It was the team’s first matched played under their new coach, Oleg Romantsev. In its second match, Russia beat underdog Andora 6:1. Russia can now nurture some dim hopes to qualify for EURO-2000.

New Champion

The Metallurg hockey team from Magnitogorsk won the final playoff series, beating Moscow’s Dinamo 4:2 in the sixth match. It was Metallurg’s first-ever gold medal in the Russian national championships, making it the third new Russian hockey champion in as many years. (In 1997 and 1998 the gold went to Torpedo from Yaroslavl and Ak-Bars from Kazan, respectively). 

Tour de farce

The Russian national women’s volleyball team canceled an exhibition tour of the United States, citing the widespread opposition in Russia to the NATO bombing. In a similar vein, the Russian wrestling team could not attend the World Cup in free wrestling after the US embassy in Moscow refused the team entry visas.

hockey defeat

At press time, the Russian national hockey team was knocked out of the World Championships by Slovakia.