Notebook

A sign of better times? Advertising spending 

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f corporate advertising budgets are any guide, the Russian economy is doing well. According to The Moscow Times, annual advertising sales were $1.1-1.4 bn last year, the first time they have crossed the $1 bn mark since 1997. This represents a 45% increase over 1999 and is a clear signal that foreign companies are returning to the market. 

“The consumption capacity of the population has increased, the dollar has held firm, and international companies re-turned,” said Video Inter-national President Yury Zapol. 

The top spender in 2000 was Procter & Gamble ($429 mn in 2000, vs. just $255 mn in 1999). Wrigley placed second, virtually tripling its advertising budget to $222 mn. The top domestic advertiser was Russian food giant Wimm-Bill-Dann, which spent $121.5 mn (triple what it spent in 1999), ranking the company seventh overall.  

Experts say outdoor advertising, newspapers and magazines have exhausted their growth potential, but noted that the potential growth for promotion and public relation activities is huge. To wit, The Moscow Times cited the example of mobile phone company MTS, which has launched its own vodka brand: Sotovaya (“Cellular”). 

Something fishy this way comes

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rimorye Region Gover-nor Yevgeny Nazdra-tenko submitted his resignation in February, despite repeatedly claiming that he had done everything possible to prepare the region for winter. His move came shortly after a phone conversation with President Vladimir Putin. Putin also fired Energy Minister Alex-an-der Gavrin (his first cabinet-level firing since assuming the presidency), accusing the minister of a chronic inability to solve his sector’s problems. 

Primorye has suffered with continual energy shortages and residents have had little or no central heating for most of the winter (see Russian Life Postscript, last issue). A state fact finding mission headed by Emer-gency Minister Sergei Shoygu pinned blame for the crisis on the governor’s office and the Russian Unified Energy System (RAO EES), headed by Anatoly Chubais. 

Deputy Governor Valen-tin Dubinin formally took over Nazdratenko’s position. But all 11 vice-governors and heads of departments in the governor’s office re-signed after meeting with Konstantin Pulikovsky, the Presidential Head of the Federal District encompassing Primorye Region. Such a mass exodus, Sevodnya daily noted, puts Puli-kovsky in charge in Primorye. 

Pulikovsky indicated that law-enforcement bodies should “evaluate” Nazdra-tenko’s seven-year tenure in office. And apparently this has happened: as this issue was going to press, Putin appointed Nazdratenko Minister of Fisheries.

“Don’t expect the prosecutor’s office to be more pristine than the Alpine peaks.”

Former senior investigator of the Prosecutor’s Office, 

Boris Uvarov, sharing his views on the 

present and future of that office. (Sevodnya)

“No matter what party you try to build, you will end up with a CPSU.”

Former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, 

on the Duma’s proposed law on political parties, 

which would fix the minimal required 

membership at 10,000.

“A thank you to Bush. It’s a good cold shower on our Powers That Be, who must realize that one doesn’t need to make pretty faces, but rather construct serious policy. Foreign aid was wasted, and quite often it was the donor 

who needed that aid more than the recipient.”

Chairman of the League of Defense Enterprises, 

Anatoly Dolgolaptev, commenting on 

President George Bush’s statement that he would 

cut financial aid to Russia. (Kommersant)

“As far as ‘constructive opposition’ goes, I can’t fathom what the term could 

possibly mean. Because the [WWII] 

partizans would be ‘non-constructive opposition.’”

Grigory Yavlinsky, on what kind of 

opposition Russia needs. (Argumenty i Fakty).

“There was a time when Yeltsin was the embodiment of faith and when he epitomized the hopes of millions of people. He was seen almost as a Moses leading his people to the Promised Land. Then, after it became clear that nothing ever improves quickly and that the road is long and fraught with losses, people remembered that Moses led his people around the wilderness for 40 years.”

Excerpt from a book on Boris Yeltsin 

written by some of his former aides, 

The Epoch of Yeltsin, Essays on Political History,

 due out this spring. 

FACTS & FAGIURES: 462 Russian soldiers are missing in action in Chechnya (official data of the special presidential representative in Chechnya, Vladimir Kalamanov). ! Russia posted a $69.1 bn foreign trade surplus last year, $26.6 bn more than in 1999 (Interfax). ! Corruption costs Russia $15 bn per year, according to the deputy chairman of the Duma’s Security Committee, Alexander Kulikov. He said organized criminal gangs control 85% of Russian banks and 40% of private and 60% of state enterprises. Revenues of “shadow businesses” amount to 40% of the country’s GDP. ! The Russian state budget showed its first surplus in memory in January 2001, totalling R7.85 bn, or 1.3% of GDP (Russian Finance Ministry). ! President Putin’s approval rating was 76% on January 22. 18% of Russians disapproved of Putin’s actions as president (VTSIOM). ! Capital investment in Russia’s economy grew 18.3% last year vs. 1999, prime-minister Mikhail Kasyanov said. Total direct investment in the Russian economy reached $1.171 bn (R42 mn). ! At the end of 2000, Russia’s richest 10% brought home 32% of all income (down from 33.3% in 1999). The poorest 10% received just 2.4% of all income, the same as in 1999. ! The number of individuals registered with tax bodies and receiving tax identification numbers rose nearly six-fold from 1999 to 2000, to reach 39.4 mn. ! In November of 2000, 7,368,000 Russians (10.2% of the workforce) were unemployed. This represents a 17.9% decline since January 2000. ! Labor payments, including monies paid “under the table” accounted for 65.6% of Russia’s total income in 2000. Other sources of income included: entrepreneurial activities, 12.6%; social payments, 13.4%; income from property, 7.2%; other, 1.2%. Average per capita monthly income was R2112 ($75), which was a 32.4% increase in current prices. (Interfax) ! The total number of Russian Internet users 18 and over exceeds 9.2 mn, or 8.3% of Russia’s adult population (estimated at 110.5 mn). 64% of users use the internet for news, 59% for entertainment, 47% participate in online chat rooms, 40% use it for ecommerce and 37% for business and finance (National Institute of Social and Psychological Studies). ! Beer consumption in Russia rose from 33 liters per capita in 1999 to 36 liters in 2000. ! There were 31,000 more crimes committed in Moscow in 2000 vs. 1999, said Nikolai Kulikov, head of the Moscow City government department for liaisons with law enforcement bodies. This represents a 41% increase, of which apartment robberies represented the largest share. ! 42% of Russians believe that it is best to have only one child per family under current economic conditions. 32% think they should have two children, and 5% felt three was the right number. 9% think this is no time to have any children (Interfax). ! Moscow’s death rate exceeded its birth rate by 57,500 persons in 2000 (Moscow ZAGS). ! Experts estimate that monthly revenues in the Moscow sex market (i.e. prostitution) are $50 mn. ! The Russian government increased pensions by 10% on February 1. The minimal pension was raised from R453 to R600. The Federal Pension Fund can well afford it: it closed the year with a R4 bn surplus. ! When Russians were polled on “Who is the man of the century?” the leading vote getter was Vladimir Lenin (14%). Joseph Stalin placed second with 9% and Andrei Sakharov came third with 8%. Other leading men included Yuri Gagarin (5%) and Mikhail Gorbachev (3%). Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Leonid Brezhnev and aerospace designer Sergei Korolev each received 2%. (Public Opinion Foundation) ! Gold production in Russia has steadily risen since 1998, when annual production was 110 tons. In 2000, output was 143 tons, up 13.2% from 1999. Gold mines in Yakutia and Sverdlovsk region account for the bulk of the increase, boasting a four-fold rise in output since 1999. ! In a poll conducted across 200 cities, 44% of Russians said they consume alcoholic drinks “occasionally,” while 38% drink “rarely,” 5% drink “often” and 16% “not at all.” When asked about a potential vodka price hike, 52% disapproved, 29% were indifferent and 15% approved of the measure. (Interfax) ! President Putin received 529,000 letters in 2000, twice that of Yeltsin in 1999. (Interfax)

Panel seeks closure in Raoul Wallenberg mur

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ussia has proof that Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg was shot in an MGB (Ministry of State Security) prison, Kommersant daily reported, according to Federal Security Service (FSB) Colonel Valery Vinogradov, Russia’s representative on the Russo-Swedish Working Group investigating the case of Wallenberg. 

Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat in Hungary who helped over 100,000 Hungarian Jews survive the Holocaust by extending them diplomatic and personal protections in Swedish safe houses and through often brazen diplomatic efforts. Wallenberg survived the war but was arrested as a suspected spy by occupying Soviet troops in 1945. His fate has been the source of much speculation since that time. Soviet and Russian authorities lied about Wallenberg’s death for 35 years, from 1957-1991, saying he had died of a heart attack while under Soviet protection. 

In November, Alexander Yakovlev, the head of a presidential commission investigating Wallenberg’s fate, announced that Wallenberg had in fact been executed in 1947 in the KGB’s Lubyanka Prison in Moscow. He cited a private conversation with Vladimir Kryuchkov, the former Soviet secret police chief, as the source of his information. The Russians released another statement in December admitting that Wallenberg was wrongfully arrested on espionage charges in 1945 and held in a Soviet prison for two years until he died. 

On January 12, the Russo-Swedish panel released a report that did not reach any conclusion as to Wallenberg’s fate, yet Vinogradov said “we suspect it was a forceful death.” “The trials and tribulations which [Wallenberg] had to endure after 1945,” the panel stated, “cause deep sorrow and regret. The illegal arrest and jailing, the subsequent actions of the Soviet powers towards the Swedish diplomat, all of this is a difficult tragedy. Not-withstanding the fact that the concrete circumstances of those events have not so far been established, such actions are assessed as criminal both in Russia and Sweden.”

On January 18 a monument to Wallenberg was unveiled in the garden of Moscow’s Foreign Lan-guage Library, not far from the Yauza river embankment.

Magic boots

Shoemakers from Ufa, Bashkiria have manufactured the first experimental lot of Saygak fast-running boots (sapogi-skorokhody) – which take their name from Russian fairy tales. The boots are the invention of researchers at the Internal Combustion Engines department of Ufa’s Aerospace University and reportedly allow the runner to expend 70% less energy when running. The boots use the same fuel as small, radio-controlled airplanes.

Sun Worshipper’s Museum

The world’s first Museum of the Sun has opened in Novosibirsk. The project was spearheaded by Valery Lipenkov, former research fellow at the Institute of Nuclear Physics under the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a local Children’s Club called Solnechny (Sunny), which Lipenkov leads. Over 400 exhibits are on display, including Sun-related symbols from Siberia, the Altai, the Urals, Kazakhstan and other places from around the world. In the photo,  Valery Lipenkov works on a piece of art with pupil Sergei Kolybaev. 

monuments added

UNESCO added three more Russian monuments to its World Heritage list: Ferapontov monastery, the Kazan Kremlin and the Kurshskaya Kosa (Spit). Ferapontovo Monastery (Vologda region, see Russian Life, June/July 1998) is famous for its 16th century frescoes by Dionisy, which are not only well preserved, but also bear Dionisy’s signature, a rare case in ancient Russian art. The Kazan Kremlin contains a unique mixture of styles and cultural influences: Tatar, Russian and Italian. Kurshskaya Kosa is a narrow strip of land, consisting largely of sand dunes, which separates the Baltic Sea and Kurshsky Bay. Territorially, it is split between Lithuania and Russia’s Kaliningrad region. The Russian portion badly needed UNESCO patronage, as Lithuania limited access of tourists to its part of Kurshskaya Kosa after declaring it a natural preserve. 

Yeltsinophobia

Most Russians feel Boris Yeltsin did more harm than good during his nine years as president. The VTSIOM poll results were published on Yeltsin’s 70th birthday in February, and 49% said Yeltsin should be tried for acts committed during his term of office. Just 39% favored immunity. 75% felt Yeltsin did more harm than good, 15% felt the opposite. 56% had a negative or fairly negative opinion of Yeltsin, while only 9% had a positive or fairly positive opinion of the ex-president.

ice cream FOR UNCLE LENIN?

A high school student in Chelyabinsk was caught stealing plaster busts of Vladimir Lenin and Fidel Castro from his school, Kommersant daily reported. The young crook was not making a political statement, but apparently planned to sell the busts in the local bazaar and use the proceeds to buy ice cream for his classmates. Such a crime in Soviet days would have led to uncomfortable ideological investigations of the boy’s family. But today, the boy and his parents will most likely get off with a “preventative briefing” to the effect that “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”

Three in one

The eau de cologne Troynoy (Triple) was quite popular among alcoholics in the Soviet era as a vodka substitute. But now the cologne has had a retro-makeover and is back on shelves in Crimea, Interfax reported.  The name supposedly symbolizes the “unshakable unity” of the three founders of communism: Marx, Engels and Lenin, whose portraits are on the bottle. Local jokers have already dubbed the perfume “three in one.” 

TEA ROOM OWNER DIES

Werner Leroy, the flamboyant New York restauranteur who resurrected the Russian Tea Room, died in February of complications from lymphoma. Leroy was 65. The son of Hollywood pioneers (his father produced The Wizard of Oz), Leroy was famous for his over-the-top restaurant decor, beginning with Maxwell’s Plum, then The Tavern on the Green. In 1995, he bought the Russian Tea Room from Faith Stewart-Gordon and closed it for renovations for nearly three years. When the restaurant reopened, it was a visual treat, with glass bears, floor to ceiling mirrors, and gold everywhere. 

TAXING ISSUES

A special conference of the Russian Orthodox Church in February failed to heal a schism between two camps: on the one side are those opposed to Russia’s new Tax Identification Number, saying it could portend the 666 numeration of the apocalyps; on the other side are clerics who say this is just a step to introducing a more rational tax system in the country. 

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ussians sweep ice medals 

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ussia continued its domination of world figure skating grabbing two-thirds of all medals at the latest European Championship held in Bratislava (Slovakia) in January. 

For the second time in a row, the Russians won three disciplines out of four. In women’s singles, Russian skaters swept all three medals: Irina Slutskaya (gold), Mariya Butyrskaya (silver) and Viktoriya Volchkova (bronze). 

The men’s singles team was also very strong, with the competition between Yevgeny Plushchenko and Alexei Yagudin (defending World Champion) propelling the technical level of the men’s competition to unheard of heights. Pluschenko won the gold thanks to a fantastic combination including a quadruple jump. 

While a silver medal was a setback for Yagudin, a bronze for Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh in pairs ice dancing, was a success (ice dancing is the only competition of four in the championship in which Russia did not take the gold medal).

In pairs, Russia took the two top medals. Silver medalists Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin offered light and fast skating that reminded experts of the famous Russian partners Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaytsev. Not unexpectedly, the gold went to the indomitable pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. 

After his victory, Sikharulidze made a point to praise the newly re-worded Russian National Anthem — played at a skating competition for the first time in many years. “It’s great, because I love this music,” he said. “I was nearly moved to tears.”

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avis Cup hopes on the rise 

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ussia beat Slovakia 3:2 in its first Davis Cup-2001 victory. The February victory sealed a seat for Russia in the tennis cup’s quarterfinals.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov was instrumental in the victory, defeating Dominik Hrbaty and Karol Kucera in doubles with partner Marat Safin, beating Hrbaty in three straight sets and pulling out a match-clinching win with a three-and-a-half hour long, five-set bout against Kucera. And all this in Bratislava, on Slovakia’s home turf. “We can win the Davis Cup,” a jubilant Kafelnikov exclaimed.

At the end of last year, shortly after winning the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, Kafelnikov said that the only dream which has not come true for him was a Davis Cup victory for Russia. In February he even said he could finish his career with a sense of fulfillment if Russian could win the cup this year.

The road ahead is certainly a challenging one. Russia will play its quarterfinals match against Sweden on April 6-8, again without a home court advantage. Sweden has won the Davis Cup seven times.

Russian hockey players in the NHL now number 86 — an all-time record (up from 85 last season). In 1989-1990 there were just 10 former Soviet players in the NHL.

Moscow’s Spartak soccer squad won the CIS Cup for the sixth time, beating Sconto (Riga) in the finals 2:1. This traditional tournament, played on artificial turf, is a warm up for the opening of the 2001 soccer season. President Vladimir Putin personally congratulated the winners, who in turn gave Putin a Spartak red and white polo shirt bearing his favorite number: seven. But Spartak later lost two matches in the Champions’ League to Bayern (Germany): 1:0 and 3:0. The losses mean that Spartak has little chance of coming out on top in this competitive tourney.

Russian-born boxer Konstantin Tszyu now holds both the WBC and WBA World Super/Junior Lightweight (under 140 lbs) boxing titles. He defended his WBC title against Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez last July and won the WBA title after defeating American Sharmba Mitchell in a TKO February 3. Tszyu, who holds Australian citizenship, will face off against International Boxing Federation Junior Light-weight Champion Zab Judah of the US on May 19. If he wins the IBF title, he will be one of only two boxers to hold all three international titles in his weight class.

Russia won the largest number of top awards at the World Biathlon Championship in Slovenia in February. Pavel Rostovtsev won two gold medals in the 10 km and 12.5 km races, while the women’s team — composed of Olga Pyleva, Anna Bogaliy, Galina Kukleva and Svetlana Ishmu-ratova – claimed a third Russian gold in the 4 by 7.5 km relay.