Notebook

Incensed pensioners

Putin faces social unrest

In January, Russia experienced its first serious wave of social unrest since President Vladimir Putin came to power five years ago. Throughout the month, thousands of pensioners took to the streets to protest social reforms which replaced in-kind safety-net benefits (such as free public transportation and access to basic medicines) with cash payments. The in-kind benefits were of particular importance to millions of pensioners, whose monthly pensions often do not exceed $80.

To make matters worse, even though free transportation and other benefits were effectively halted on January 1 (causing some problems with military deployments, since the change also affected servicemen), many pensioners never received the promised cash, which, even had it arrived, would have fallen well short of covering transport fees, to say nothing of other services.

 Protests started in the Moscow region but soon spread throughout the country, including Siberia and the Far East. They were particularly strong in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg. Angry pensioners demanded that the government resign and also focused their wrath on Putin himself – something almost without precedent. One banner held by elderly demonstrators in St. Petersburg read: “Hitler stole our youth, Putin stole our old age,” in a reference to the blockade of the city (then Leningrad) by Nazi Germany’s forces during World War II. 

Putin’s government was forced to backtrack, admitting that mistakes had been made and raising pensions by nine dollars effective March 1. Meanwhile, many regions reinstated free transportation, officially or de facto. But that did little to calm protesters. As this issue was going to press in early February, rallies were still being held throughout Russia, attracting thousands. 

More conscripts?

Military plans frighten families

The military unleashed widespread concern among Russian families when it announced it was considering ending draft deferments for university students and potentially shortening military service from two years to one. The plan was first unveiled by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov shortly before the New Year, although he backpedaled later in January. 

The discontent caused by this initiative was so great that Vladimir Putin addressed Moscow University students himself, assuring them that the government had not yet made up its mind and promising that there would not be a cancellation of all deferments. 

On January 25, dozens of angry students gathered in front of the Defense Ministry in Moscow to protest the plan and called for Ivanov’s dismissal. 

 

Beslan blockade

Victims’ families demand the truth

In January, hundred of relatives of those who died in last September’s Beslan tragedy blocked a key highway in the southern republic of North Ossetia, demanding an international probe into the hostage event. The protesters said they were not satisfied with the Russian parliamentary commission that is investigating the disaster and accused it of hiding facts. They also demanded the resignation of North Ossetia’s president, Alexander Dzasokhov, whom they accused of mishandling the crisis. 

The blockade of the Rostov-on-Don–Baku highway lasted three days, and protesters only lifted it after they were promised a meeting with Putin’s envoy for Southern Russia, Dmitry Kozak.

At least 344 persons died, half of them children, after approximately 30 pro-Chechen hostage-takers seized some 1,200 people in a school in Beslan last September. The siege ended in a chaotic battle between the guerrillas and Russian security forces. Radical Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the massacre.

 

Making up?

Putin and Yushchenko meet,
but problems remain

One day after his inauguration, on January 24, Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko traveled to Moscow to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin. The trip was meant to mend fences between Russia and Ukraine after Putin openly supported Yushchenko’s rival, Viktor Yanukovich, in Ukraine’s November 2004 presidential election. Yushchenko was elected in a December 26 rematch after a month of protests, dubbed “the Orange Revolution.”

The meeting between Putin and Yushchenko was pleasant and diplomatic. Yet Yushchenko made clear he would steer his course independently of the Kremlin when he appointed as his prime minister the nationalistic firebrand Yuliya Timoshenko, who is wanted in Russia in a bribery case. Russian prosecutors opened a criminal investigation against Timoshenko a month before the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, accusing her of having bribed a Russian defense official, and she cannot travel to Russia without risking arrest. 

Yushchenko hinted after meeting Putin that he had received assurances this would no longer be a problem. But a few days later, Russian General Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov said Russia would indeed pursue the criminal case against Timoshenko.

 

Support in freefall

Public pans politicos

The Public Opinion Foundation published a poll showing that fully 52 percent of Russians feel the current Duma is doing a “poor” or “very poor” job. The government was similarly ranked by 28 percent of respondents. Only 14 percent of those polled said they were satisfied with local government officials. Last year, 65 of those polled said they would vote for President Putin if elections were held at the time of polling. This year, the figure dropped to 42 percent. Just 24 percent of those polled said they trust the president. Last year, that number was 41 percent.

Oriental missiles

Russia came under heavy criticism from the US and Israel after it was reported that Moscow may sell state-of-the-art missiles to Syria. The weapons could be either Iskander-E missiles, which can penetrate Israeli defenses, or Sa-18 surface-to-air missiles, also known as Igla. Israel also fears that some of the missiles could end up in the hands of Islamic militants such as Hamas.

During Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Moscow in January, both he and Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that a missile deal was in the works. But the two countries did sign an important agreement on military cooperation, reviving Cold War ties, and Russia wrote off more than 70 percent of Syria’s $13 billion Soviet-era debt. Assad also urged Moscow to play a greater role in the Middle East.

Then, in a January 28 interview published by Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, Putin said he was still considering selling surface-to-air missiles to Syria after all, in spite of opposition from Jerusalem and Washington.

 

Finis

Beloved filmmaker bows out

Legendary filmmaker Eldar Ryazanov, who has shot some of Russia’s best-loved comedies, has announced that his next film, Andersen: Fantasy on a Theme, currently in pre-production, would also be his last. 

But, while he will stop shooting, Ryazanov, 77, has opened a movie club, called Eldar.

Ryazanov is one of post-Stalinist Soviet cinema’s most popular directors, with a string of comedies many Russians know by heart, including Sluzhebny Roman (“Office Romance”), Garazh (“Garage”), and of course Ironiya Sudby, ili S Lyogkim Parom (“Irony of Fate”), traditionally broadcast on TV every New Year’s Eve. 

In Irony of Fate, a Muscovite has too many drinks on New Year’s Eve and wakes up in someone else’s apartment in St. Petersburg. The apartment has the same street name and address (and keys) as his Moscow home and is furnished exactly the same, so he at first thinks it is his own. This being a Ryazanov movie, it inevitably develops into a romance.

Ryazanov also made more “serious” films, such as Zhestoky Romans (“Cruel Romance”), adapted from a tragedy by Alexander Ostrovsky, Bespridannitsa (“Without a Dowry”).

 

“If people are taking to the streets, it means there is a
misinterpretation of the [cash-for-benefits] law.”

State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov (Itogi)

 

“No one was planning to initiate criminal proceedings against ordinary pensioners, against the rally participants. They were talking about the forces who are trying to use pensioners as gunpowder for an Orange Revolution, in a Russian way.
I would like to suggest that these people relax. There will be
no Orange Revolution in Russia in 2005.”

State Duma deputy Andrei Isayev (speaking on Ekho Moskvy) commenting on statements that the Prosecutor’s Office prosecute organizers of cash-for-benefits rallies

 

“In recent years, Russia has broken loose from lies.
We stand on the threshold of honest and sincere relations.”

Russian Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov (Moskovsky Komsomolets)

 

“As soon as I say the word ‘reform,’ everyone starts expecting some kind of a mean trick.”

Yevgeny Yasin, academic head of Moscow Higher School of Economics (Itogi)

 

“Innocence comes with experience.”

Alexander Sokolov, Russian Minister of Culture (Itogi) 

 

“The Constitution is difficult to change, but this does not mean that it is unchangeable – it accumulates content.” 

Valery Zorkin, head of Constitutional Court (Itogi)

 

“‘Hello, Vasily Pavlovich.
This is the Committee for State Security.’
‘Hello!’ I shout ‘Hello, hello. It’s about time.’
Seriously, that’s what I said.”

Vasily Aksyonov, writer, about the Soviet KGB putting pressure
on him before his emigration.

 

“By the end of the 21st century, Russia will be a religious state – atheists will die out like dinosaurs.”

Andrei Kurayev, deacon and Orthodox writer (Itogi)

 

“They’re baaaaack. They’re busy as hell,  but I don’t think
we’ve really got what it is that they’re doing.” 

Unnamed former senior US intelligence official,
about reports that Russian spying in the US has dramatically increased. (TIME)

 

Chechens deported to Central Asia in 1944 on Stalin’s orders are to receive R75 for each month they spent in exile; the maximum compensation is R10,000. The Chechen government earmarked R5 billion for such payments. 

396 local residents were kidnapped in Chechnya in 2004, 175 of them are recorded as missing. 

In 2004, $7.8 billion in private capital drained out of Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry sent $2 million in aid to the region hit by the tsunami. 

Russia could pay off $10 billion of its foreign debt ahead of schedule in 2005, if government and creditor countries approve this decision.

18 foreign spies were detained in Russia in 2004.

217 residents of Pskov were taken to a vytrezvitel (state-run sobering-up facility) in the first week of New Year’s festivities. (31 Dec – 5 Jan) Some 16,496 Pskov residents were taken to a sober-up facility in all of 2004, 20% of them women.

There are an estimated 50,000 skinheads in Russia. 

Just 9.5% of all young men eligible for conscription are actually drafted; others use deferrals. If Russia switched to one year of compulsory service from the present two years, twice as many conscripts will be needed to staff the army. 

46% Ukrainians have a generally positive attitude toward Russia; 37% describe their attitude as very positive.

 

{Starving deputies} Five lawmakers from the left nationalist party Rodina (Motherland) party went on hunger strike in January to protest the scrapping of free public transportation for pensioners (see page 6). As this issue went to press, they had been fasting for over a week and one had been hospitalized. At first, fasting did not come easily, though, since they had to resist the smell of borshch and other alluring food reportedly being pumped into the vent of the office where they were staging their protest. 

 

{Stalin scrapped} Plans were announced in January to erect a monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in Moscow. The monument, which was also to commemorate fellow World War II leaders Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, was to have been built at Poklonnaya Gora, west of Moscow, which is dedicated to the Soviet victory in WWII. But the project drew hefty protest, particularly from liberal politicians, and the Moscow city government finally shelved it.

 

{Davos Boycott} Russian President Vladimir Putin’s economic advisor, Andrei Illarionov, until this year a fixture of the Davos World Economic Forum, caused a stir when he decided to boycott the January event, alleging that he was being censored. A vocal opponent of the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming (which Russia ratified last year), Illarionov had wanted to take part in a round table attended by a staunch proponent of the Protocol, British government adviser Sir David King. However, Davos organizers scheduled Illarionov for another debate, also devoted to global warming. Furious that he could not attend the debate of his choice (organizers insisted this was due merely to logistical problems), Illarionov decided to ditch the gathering altogether. 

 

{Holiday Iced} On December 16, the Duma adopted a new Law on State Holidays. It provides for the renaming of the November 7 (“October Revolution”) holiday from Day of Accord and Reconciliation to the Day of the Military Parade on Red Square, commemorating the WWII event after which parading units marched directly to the front. November 4 will also be a new holiday, National Unity Day, commemorating the day (in 1612) when the national revolt against Polish occupation began. Another bill set out to abolish the December 12 (Constitution Day) holiday. A final law made January 1-10 de jure holidays (whereas they had always been de facto).

 

{POVERTY STRICKEN} Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told President Putin in November that 34 percent of Russia’s military personnel are living below the poverty level.

 

{UNDER CONTROL?} Kommersant reported in January that Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev has proposed a reintroduction of a state “monopoly right to purchase alcohol from its producers, store it and sell it to consumers.” The intent was to bring to heel the black market for liquor and have the means by which taxes on alcohol could be increased by 50 percent.

 

Record snow On January 28, Moscow experienced its heaviest one-day snowfall since records began being kept. A total of 30 cm (12 inches) of snow fell on the capital from the 28th to the 30th. The snow, brought by a powerful snowstorm, smashed the previous (1977) record. The snow hampered traffic in the capital, caused over 1000 traffic accidents (twice the normal rate), and forced many planes to be rerouted to other airports. It marked the return of “real” winter, after Moscow earlier that month experienced the mildest January temperatures recorded since 1879.

 

Russians who:

 

Believe social benefits should not be replaced by cash payments

and live in cities 68%

and live in rural areas 52%

and are military officers 80%

 

support the Soldiers’ Mothers 

Committee engaging in talks 

with Chechen rebels 64%

 

think the strengthening of the 

“vertical of power” will help make 

Russia a better place to live 14%

 

do not feel secure 64%

 

do not think an 

“Orange Revolution” 

could happen in Russia 50%

 

believe Russia is moving
toward a dead end 49%

 

for New Year’s gifts were ready

to spend up to R1,000 13%

   ... over R20,000 8%

 

had “Olivier” salad for 

New Year’s dinner 55%

 

celebrated New Year’s at home (Muscovites) 63%

 

favor handing over the four
Kurile islands to Japan in
exchange for signing 

a peace treaty 5%

   ... handing over two islands 13%

   ... prefer to postpone the issue 62% 

 

believe Stalin was a wise leader

who led the USSR to power 

and prosperity 21%

 

believe Stalin was an inhumane 

tyrant responsible for deaths 

of millions 31%

 

believe that whatever vices are 

attributed to Stalin, under his 

leadership Russia won 

World War II 29%

 

believe governors will not be 

less corrupt if appointed by 

the president 46%

 

play checkers 5%

 

play chess 4.8%

 

The Russians are Returning!

“When we were growing up in the Cold War,” says Bob Poirier, associate producer with Lone Wolf Documentary Group, “we didn’t want to acknowledge that Russians were in America.”

Well, in America they were, and to America they will return this March in a new History Channel Documentary, Conquest of America, premiering March 28 and 29.

A&E Television approached Lone Wolf to do the research and come up with four distinct stories of exploration and conquest, one for each region of North America. The episode dealing with the Northwest (airing on March 29) focuses first on Vitus Bering and “his explorations and how his discoveries opened up the fur trade and the understanding of the abundance of wildlife in this region,” Poirier said. The story then follows the development of the Russian-American Company, particularly the story of Nikolai Rezanov.

 Scenes for the half-hour episode on the Northwest were filmed in Whittier, Alaska, in Washington state (on board the Lady Washington, an historical replica that was also used in Pirates of the Caribbean and Master and Commander) and, most notably, at Fort Ross in Northern California.

Fort Ross (1812-1841) was the southernmost point of Russian expansion into the Americas and it is the site of a huge annual festival that commemorates the Russian presence in the Americas with historical  reenactments and celebrations on the site of the Fort. “The people at Fort Ross were just fantastic,” Poirier said. “They really do a fantastic job of researching all the historical detail, from the clothing to the blacksmithing... They help create the atmosphere of a living frontier.”

Fort Ross also did a stand-in role for the fort at Sitka, which is no longer extant. It was to save Sitka (New Archangel) that, in 1806, Rezanov ventured south to the “frontier town” of San Francisco, seeking supplies that would help the struggling fort survive. The situation in Europe was not clear (who was on what side in the Napoleonic Wars), and Spain had imposed a ban on all trade. The Commander of San Francisco, Don Luis Arguello, sympathized with Rezanov’s plight, but did not feel they could risk trading with the Russians. 

Rezanov, being an exceedingly resourceful fellow, or perhaps being smitten (whether he was motivated by love or politics or survival, Poirier said, is a central, beguiling mystery of this story), proposes to Arguello’s daughter, Maria de la Concepcion (“Concha”). 

An interesting solution. And it got Rezanov the supplies he needed. But it also killed him. For Rezanov was Russian Orthodox and Concepcion was Catholic. And they could not be married, Arguello said, without the permission of the Vatican and the King of Spain. So, after delivering the supplies back to Sitka, Rezanov set off for St. Petersburg, to follow through on his pledge to get the marriage approved. But he never made it, as, sick and tired and rushing west across Siberia, he fell off his horse and died near Krasnoyarsk  on March 1, 1807.

Concha never married.

 

Myskina tops

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) named Anastasia Myskina the 2004 World Champion in women’s tennis. Last year, Myskina brought Russia its first female Grand Slam title when she won the French Open, defended her title at Moscow’s Kremlin Cup and then helped Russia win its first Federation Cup against France. 

 

Oh, Marat!

While Marat Safin failed to win the Hopman Cup doubling with Myskina in January, all was forgiven when he won the Australian Open later that month – his first Grand Slam win since winning the US Open in 2000. In an incredible five-set match, he defeated his nemesis, Switzerland’s Roger Federer, in the semifinals (Safin lost to Federer in the finals of last year’s Australian Open). And, in the final, Safin trounced Australian Lleyton Hewitt: 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The Grand Slam victory earned Safin the top world ranking in men’s tennis. Meanwhile, sports observers were almost universal in noting that this was a “new and improved Safin”: he still has the same powerful serve and baseline strokes, but has now added to that better volleying, smarter tactics and fewer on-court tantrums.

 

All-Russian affair

Another “Grand Slam” awaited Russia at the European Figure Skating championships in Torino (Italy), where Russian skaters grabbed all four golds. Of special value are the wins by Irina Slutskaya (she returned to the top of her form after a serious bout with vasculosis) and the pairs victory by Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin – it was Totmyanina’s first serious international event after her accident on the ice last year. Indeed Russian pairs swept the podium at Torino. Meanwhile, Yevgeny Plyushchenko finished first in the men’s event, defeating rival Brian Joubert, while Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov took home the gold in ice dancing. 

 

End of ice shortage?

In what was billed as the first step in turning back Russia’s decline in ice facilities, the ISU World All-Around Speed Skating Championships was held February 5-6 at Moscow’s new, state-of-the-art, indoor ice center at Krylatskoye. Russia was a speed-skating powerhouse in the 1960s-80s, but many local skaters have been forced to train abroad for the past two decades, for lack of good facilities. 

Speed skating coach Nikolai Gulyayev (World All-Around Champion in 1988) said it will take 5-10 years for Russia to capitalize on its new indoor rinks (another was built in Chelyabinsk last year) and to regain its top ranking in the sport (e.g., Lidiya Skoblikova, the “lightening from the Urals,” earned six Olympic golds in the 1960s).  

In the Speed Skating Championships, American Shani Davis won the All-Around competition. Chad Hedrick (also from the US) finished second. The best Russian skaters were Ivan Skobrev and Yevgeny Lalenkov, who finished 9th and 21th respectively. 

Germany’s Anni Friesinger won the Women’s All-Around event. 

Icers second

The Russian Youth National Ice Hockey Team lost to Canada 1-6 in the World Championship finals in January. The Russian team defeated the defending champion US team 7-2 in the semifinals, with Alexander Ovechkin and Yevgeny Malkin each scoring twice. 

 

CSKA scores big

By thrashing Turkey’s Ulker 90-77 at home, Russia’s CSKA basketball squad has won a berth in the Euroleague “C” group, three rounds ahead of the end of the regular Euroleague championships. CSKA Head Coach Dusan Ivkovic said CSKA’s defense was key to its success. CSKA’s “Russian American,” John Robert Holden, was also instrumental, sinking several three-pointers. In late 2003, Holden was granted Russian citizenship by a special presidential decree. The move was to bypass the limit of three foreign players on Russian teams. 

 

Semak raises profile

CSKA middlefielder Sergei Semak was invited by the International Soccer Federation (FIFA) to participate in the charity “Match of Hope,” to aid victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia. The match was to be played on February 15 in Barcelona. Semak was in the company of 52 world soccer stars, who were divided into two, 24-player teams. Other players on the field included Ronaldinio, Andrei Shevchenko, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Raul and other soccer megastars. Semak made a splash last December when he scored three goals in Paris during CSKA’s victory over Paris’ Saint-Germain. 

Can Moscow win?

The struggle for the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics has entered its final phase. On July 6, the International Olympic Committee will issue its verdict. Moscow is on the short list of five candidates, which also includes Paris, London, New York and Madrid. An IOC commission will visit the city this March. 

Dmitry Svatkovsky, Olympic pentathlon champion (Sydney), and executive director of the Russian Olympic Bidding Committee, said Russia has a decent chance to win the bid. In his opinion, the key elements of the bid include the history of sports in Russia and the existing sports infrastructure, especially those sites from the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Svatkovsky said that 65% of the required sports sites already exist. But Moscow is also actively building new sports sites – one example is the Indoor Speed Skating Stadium in Krylatskoye (see “End of ice shortage,” above). 

Russia is also betting on its unique and compact Olympic concept. The core of Moscow’s Olympic sites is the Olympic village, to be located just two km from the Olympic stadium, plus the Olympic park in Luzhniki, which would host competitions in 9-10 major sports. Since most Olympic sites are located along the Moscow river, separated by just 5-10 km, water transport is being promoted as a means for Olympic guests to avoid possible bottlenecks and offer a unique view on the city.

TOP OF THE HEAP With his January victory at the Australian Open, Marat Safin claimed the top men’s tennis ranking. This, combined with Anastasia Myskina’s recent crowning by the ITA (see “Myskina tops”) as the world’s top female tennis player, means that, for the first time in history, Russian players are at the top of both the men’s and women’s rankings at the same time.