Notebook

Soul First-Aid 

Orthodox businessmen to build churches overnight

A group called the “Russian Club of Orthodox Benefactors” has offered to construct several quick-build churches in Moscow’s densely populated residential districts. The club, which consists of Orthodox businessmen, has devised a method for putting up a 50 m2 log church in just 24 hours, at a cost of R2 million.

Vladimir Mikov, one of the club’s representatives, compared the churches to the oft-scorned khrushchyovka apartment buildings that were built rapidly in the 1970s to staunch a housing crisis. “Many of the outlying residential districts don’t have a single church, yet their atmosphere is spiritually very tense,” Mikov told Kommersant.

Vladimir Vigilyansky, press secretary for the Moscow Patriarchate, commended the initiative, saying that Moscow is short about 200 churches. The Patriarchate approved the project, although some priests are skeptical. Mikhail Ardov, a priest with the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church said that the initiative sounds suspiciously commercial. “You might as well build a circus in every district,” he told newsru.com.

Strasbourg Fines

The Costs of Joining With Europe

The Russian government paid €4.3 billion to Russian citizens as a result of punitive damages awarded by the European Court of Human Rights in 2007. The sum ranked Russia fourth (after Turkey, Greece, and Romania) in the amount of damages awarded a country’s citizens, according to a Council of Europe report. The court heard 192 cases against Russia in 2007 and decided against the state in 140 of them. The court examines only about 2.5 percent of all appeals it receives regarding breaches of the European Human Rights Convention. It received 9,497 appeals from Russian citizens last year. 

Most of the Russian cases dealt with police abuse, illegal arrests, prison conditions, and pretrial bias of courts and law enforcement agencies. In many cases, the Strasbourg court agreed with Russian human rights activists and lawyers who criticize Russia’s use of pre-trial detention instead of release on bail.  

Russia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in 1998. Tatyana Lokshina of Human Rights Watch told the BBC Russian Service that Russia has always paid its fines as meted out in Strasbourg court decisions. 

Neo-Pioneers

United Russia seeks 

yet another vertical

The United Russia party is starting a national children’s organization, with the first convention scheduled for June 1. Just 6 percent of Russian children are currently members of a children’s organization, a number that United Russia would like to see increase to 50 percent, as a way of keeping children occupied with various activities outside of school. The name of the organization has yet to be decided, but one of its attributes will be a neck kerchief colored in red, white, and blue, like the Russian flag.

The idea sounds suspiciously like the Pioneers, a cog in the Soviet state’s totalitarian ideological system which was stripped of its teeth shortly after the start of perestroika. United Russia deputies are careful, however, to keep their rhetoric apolitical, as Russian law prohibits party involvement in schools. Valentina Ivanova, a United Russia member who works on educational issues, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that there ought to be a “vertical” for teaching kids patriotism and civic involvement, reaching up from the class teacher through to the school and district level. “For every serious problem, we are used to building verticals,” Ivanova said, “and a vertical should be built here as well.”

The party members did not discuss how they will attract 50 percent of the nation’s kids into the new organization. Teacher Vsevolod Lukhovitsky wrote in Yezhednevny Zhurnal that the project is doomed to fail: “You can’t solve a serious problem by replacing long-term difficult work with one-time slogans.”

Apocalypse Not

Sect hides in a cave
despite landslide danger 

A group of 35 people began living in a cave in Penza Region last November, awaiting the end of the world. The members of the sect, which includes children, prepared their hideout through the fall, and have been living there all winter, refusing to leave. 

This spring, ground near the cave became unstable due to the melting of underground water, and part of the cave collapsed, Vesti reported. Rescue teams communicated with the group via a ventilation hole, but did not attempt to intervene: the members warned that they would set themselves on fire in the event of any such attempt.

The group’s spiritual leader, Andrei Kuznetsov (who merely “spiritually guided” the people, but never joined them in the cave), was charged with the crime of creating an organization that violates human rights. Charges may be dropped, however, since Kuznetsov was declared insane by a local psychiatric institution, and was recently hospitalized with head wounds.

After the cave’s partial collapse, most of the members decided to leave the group, emerging into the sunlight for the first time in six months. At press time, eleven members were still underground, and it was alleged that two members had died during their seclusion, one from “dry fasting,” the other from cancer. They members are in continued talks with Penza region’s vice-governor and with rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Mountain of Gifts

A mountain of presents, and a mountain as present

Moscow Correspondent newspaper has compiled a list of gifts received by President Vladimir Putin during his eight-year presidency. Presents range from the gargantuan to the eccentric. A copy of the famous Crown of Monomakh, valued at $80 thousand, was the most expensive 50th birthday gift that the president received, offered by Russian jewelers. Another generous present came from Askar Akayev, former president of Kyrgyzstan. He gave Vladimir Putin a mountain. Another official wrote a long letter to Putin in honor of his 55th birthday last year. Every word in the letter started with the letter ‘p’. 

Putin’s beloved dog Koni was a present from Minister of Emergency situations Sergei Shoygu. In 2002, Putin received another pet: an alligator from the President of Moldova, who commented that “it’s the only animal that cannot walk backwards,” RIA News reported.

The tradition of expensive personal gifts for Russian high officials is older than the Kremlin. According to Russian law, presents given as part of official trips and other events become federal property. The Civil Code prohibits gifts that have a value greater than five times the official salary measurement. This restriction does not apply, however, if the gift is a personal birthday present.

Politkovskaya Plot

Killer found but not arrested

The General Prosecutor’s office announced in late March that its investigation had identified the killer of Anna Politkovskaya, the outspoken journalist gunned down in October 2006 in her apartment building lobby. The name of the killer, who is still at large, was not disclosed. Meanwhile, the case’s investigation period was extended to September 2008, because of its “extreme complexity.” 

Ten people have been arrested in connection with the case, including FSB officer Pavel Ryaguzov. According to Dmitry Muratov, editor of Novaya Gazeta newspaper, for which Politkovskaya worked, the shooter’s name has been known since October 2007. The only reason for the current announcement, Muratov said on Svoboda Radio, was because the prosecution needed to extend Ryaguzov’s pre-trial detention. Ryaguzov allegedly provided Politkovskaya’s home address to the killer. 

Following the announcement, Komsomolskaya Pravda disclosed the name of the alleged killer. “According to our unofficial sources,” the paper stated, “the person who shot Politkovskaya is the 30-year-old Chechen Rustam Makhmudov.” Three of Makhmudov’s brothers have already been arrested as accomplices to murder in the case.

In early April, Dmitry Dovgy, a chief investigator at the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office who was recently dismissed under suspicion of taking bribes, alleged in an interview with Izvestia that Politkovskaya’s murder was carried out “by Boris Berezovsky, through Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev… a fugitive Chechen criminal gang leader.” Dovgy said that the murder was partly aimed at undermining confidence in law and order in Russia. “The organizers [of Politkovskaya’s murder] wanted to show that well-known people can be killed here in broad daylight, with the law enforcement agencies seemingly unable to solve such crimes,” he said.

Dovgy also accused the Russian government of ordering the murder of former Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov in Moscow in 2004.

Punk Legend Sleeps

Leader of Grazhdanskaya Oborona dies in Omsk

One of Russia’s most prolific songwriters and leader of a famous punk band “Grazhdanskaya Oborona” (Civil Defense) died on February 19. Yegor Letov, whose controversial lyrics and performances put him at odds with the Soviet authorities, was 43. 

Grazhdanskaya Oborona was created in 1984 and still has devoted fans all across Russia. A former dissident, Letov wrote songs that were deemed anti-Soviet. The band was censored and could only perform in “apartment concerts,” like Kino and other popular bands of that era. Letov frequently performed and collaborated with another underground Siberian musician and poet, Yanka Dyagileva, who died in 1991.

Ironically, in recent years Letov said that he missed the “old days” and proclaimed himself a “true communist.” Grazhdanskaya Oborona’s final album, Zachem Snyatsa Sny (“Why We Dream”) was released in 2007. Letov died in his sleep at his home in Omsk.  

Metropolitan Dies

Metropolitan Laurus, head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, passed away in March at the Saint Trinity monastery in Jacksonville, New York. He was 81. Head of the OCA since 2001, Laurus was a key figure in establishing closeAr ties with the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church. Laurus’ successor will be elected on May 12th, according to Kommersant.

Rich Care

Oligarch Roman Abramovich has opened a hospital for fellow Russian millionaires. The facility is located near Rublyovskoye shosse, a favored location for mansions and estates of Moscow’s nouveau riche. Annual membership fees are about R1.5 million. The hospital seeks to compete with private medical centers in Europe and the U.S., and keep Russia’s ailing rich (and their loot) at home, ITAR-TASS reported.

Return to Solidarity

A few years after establishing an extended (and, for the country, costly) holiday break in January, the Russian Duma is considering a return to the past. Under a new proposal, January 4 and 5 would again be work days, and two days off would be returned to the May 1 holiday. May Day was celebrated as a Workers’ Holiday throughout the Soviet era. Then, in 2004, a Labor Code change downgraded May Day to “Solidarity Day,” and expanded the New Year’s holidays. The move was widely criticized by sociologists, and by people who used the May holidays to make their first camping trips of the year.

Russia’s American Car

A new Russian car – the GAZ Siber – has been developed by Nizhny Novgorod’s GAZ autoworks, in collaboration with Chrysler. The model is based on a 2001 Chrysler Sebring 2001 and just 17 percent of the car parts are made in Russia, the rest come from the U.S. and China. GAZ has not announced a price for the Siber, but it is expected to sell for $18-25,000. GAZ expects the D-class sedan to be popular among middle-aged family men who don’t like cars with Russian names, gazeta.ru reported.

Ooh la la!

Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ has sold a blocking stake of 25 percent to France’s Renault for $1.17 billion, the Moscow Times reported. The company wants to launch a Russian car based on Renault’s Logan model. AvtoVAZ is Russia’s largest car manufacturer and, as a result of the purchase, Renault-Nissan became the world’s third largest automobile company, trailing Toyota and General Motors.

Hermitage Felines

St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum recently held a special exhibition to celebrate its cats. Some 50 felines live permanently in the Hermitage, keeping its basements rodent-free (see Russian Life, Mar/Apr 2003), and the exhibition included portraits of many of the “special employees.” A special foundation, “Friends of Hermitage Cats,” funds their room and board, as well as their veterinary treatment. The museum published a children’s book about the cats last year. “When their number exceeds 50, we take some cats to the storage building,” Museum Director Mikhail Piotrovsky told Interfax. 

St. Fevronia’s Day

The Federation Council approved creation of a Russian holiday as a homegrown substitute for Valentine’s Day. The “Day of Marriage Love and Family Happiness” will be celebrated on July 8th, the Saints day for Peter and Fevronia, patron saints of marriage. Instead of valentines, Russians are expected to give each other “fevronians,” Echo Moskvy reported.

Moscow is the 14th dirtiest city in the world, according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which ranked 215 cities worldwide in their 2007 Quality of Life report. The report considered air pollution, waste management, water potability, and other factors. The cities’ cleanliness was compared to New York, which served as the baseline, with a score of 100. The world’s three dirtiest cities are Baku, Azerbaijan, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Antananarivo, Madagascar. Calgary, Canada was judged the cleanest city. At number 14, Moscow had an index of 43.4 and was positioned between Bangui and Uagadugu, two cities in Africa. ¶ Russia was rated the world’s 65th weakest state by the Brookings Institution, which studied 141 countries. The results are based on the state of the economy, politics, defense, and the social sphere. Somalia, Afghanistan, and the Congo were at the bottom of the list. ¶ Every year, Russians consume 180 million kilograms of coffee, or 2 kilograms per person. By comparison, Finns consume 12 kilograms per person, per year. ¶ In 2007, Russians wired $9.6 billion to other CIS countries. The three top countries to which Russians and Russian companies wired money were China ($3.4 billion), Switzerland ($1.8 billion) and Ukraine ($1.8 billion). The average amount of a single wire was $1,725, up from $1,465 in 2005. ¶ In campaigning for the December Duma election, United Russia spent about R1.28 billion; Just Russia expended R664 million; LDPR spent about R550 million and the Communist Party R202 million (or 16% of United Russia). ¶ Muscovites placed 55th on a list ranking consumers’ buying power in 71 world cities. ¶ The average salary of a Moscow resident is 24.8% that of their counterpart in New York, putting Moscow 48th in an international ranking of salaries. The cities with the largest salaries were Copenhagen, Oslo, and Zurich.

“Some people might say, ‘You cannot loosen the reins,’ that the country does not need more democratic experiments, that it needs a powerful government, a ‘strong hand.’ Yet a strong government that exists in isolation often ends up being powerless. It has to have real popular support.”

Mikhail Gorbachev, after the Presidential election (Rossiyskaya Gazeta)

“There is a worldwide statistic: the less money, the smaller the apartment, the stupider the husband, the more children there will be. This is a demographic policy.”

Vasily Yakemenko, head of the State Committee for Youth Affairs (Itogi)

 “We are glad that Sochi residents did not select the bear, a symbol of the party in power and its candidate, but a dolphin, which, as we know, has long been used by caricaturists as a symbol of Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov, a leader of the opposition.”

Sergei Obukhov, Duma deputy, on a city-wide referendum held in Sochi on March 2,
coincident with the presidential elections. Residents were asked to express their
preference between four symbols: Father Frost, a snowman, a polar bear and a dolphin.
The dolphin was selected by the majority of residents of the Black Sea town. (gazeta.ru)

“I didn’t just wake up and decide to carry the banner of communism. No.
Even today it is a burden for me.”

Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-president of the USSR (Itogi)

“Of course, it might be good to cut off the hand [of a bribe-taker], like they did in the Middle Ages. It would be perhaps the best solution.”

President Vladimir Putin, on dealing with corruption (Itogi)

“I saw dozens of military vehicles on Sakharov Prospekt, and for a second thought that perhaps we were going to have to rise up and defend Moscow against a Fascist onslaught. But looking around, I didn’t see an enemy anywhere. There were about one hundred citizens protesting. Why did they need to mobilize so many forces? I see this as an overreaction brought on by some strange fear.”

Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, on the prevention
of the Dissenters March in Moscow (Regnum).

“There is more understanding within Russia and the Russian government about what is happening in the United States at the moment than there is with the American government and the American people.”

Dan Rather (Russia Today)

“I said several years ago that it’s not enough just to have the slogan, “Women, give birth!” Because the issue is not with women, but men.”

Federation Council Deputy Valentina Petrenko (Itogi)

“Russia is a country where people don’t like to observe the law. It is, as they say, a country of legal nihilism.”

President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, on strengthening
the rule of law in Russia (Financial Times)

Eight Seconds

Svetlana Kuznetsova lost (6-4, 6-3) to Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in the final of tennis’ Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. It was the 20-year-old Serb’s sixth career title and the Russian’s eighth defeat in her last nine finals. 

After the match, Kuznetsova said, “It’s painful any time you lose, but I prefer to get to the final and lose.” Earlier in the week, Kuznetsova became the first person to beat Maria Sharapova in 2008. Kuznetsova finished 2007 ranked second in the world and is presently vying with Ana Ivanovic, Sharapova and Justine Henin for the top spot. She will lead the Russian squad in its April FedCup match against the U.S. team, to be held in Moscow.

Dancing Bronze

Yana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitsky brought home Russia’s only medal – a bronze in Ice Dancing – from March’s World Figure Skating Championships in Göteborg, Sweden. The gold went to France’s Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder; Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir of Canada finished second. In the men’s event, Sergei Voronov was in 15th place after a dismal performance in the short program. Yet a perfect performance in the free dance vaulted him into 7th place, securing Russia a ticket to the men’s event in the next World Figure Skating Championships, in Los Angeles. The gold medal went to Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle; it was Canada’s first gold in the Worlds since 1997. France’s Brian Joubert took silver and Johnny Weir (U.S.) won the bronze.

Hiddink Re-Inks

The head coach of Russia’s soccer team, Guus Hiddink, inked a new contract with the Russian Football Union. The contract expires in July 2010, said Russian Football Union spokesman Andrei Malosolov. Hiddink began his tenure as coach of Russia’s national team in the summer of 2006. Under his leadership, the squad booked a berth in the EURO 2008 final matches in Austria and Switzerland. 

Olympian Flyer

China has recognized Russia’s Aeroflot as an official air carrier for the 2008 Summer  Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing in August. Sergei Bugrov, Aeroflot’s representative in China, said “The Aeroflot Beijing office received from Chinese authorities Certificate No. 3, confirming that Aeroflot was among the first foreign companies to become an official Olympic carrier.” This summer, Aeroflot will be making 14 flights a week (two per day) from Moscow to the Chinese capital, instead of its usual 10 flights. During the “Olympic Days,” the carrier will boost its flights to five a day. 

Outswimming Europe

The Russian National Team took 25 medals, including 12 golds, at the European Swimming Championships held in Eindhoven in late March. Italy, Spain and France had just five medals each, while Germany and Holland won four. 

Diving veterans Dmitry Sautin and Yulia Pakhalina together clinched four gold medals for the team. But it was the swimmers whose performance surpassed the boldest expectations, winning eight gold, seven silver and five bronze medals. 

“A new Russian team was born in Eindhoven,” head coach Alexander Klokov said after the championships. “What’s more, the age of our winners gives cause for optimism. Yulia Yefimova, who placed first in the 200m breaststroke and second in the 50m breaststroke, is just 16 years old. Another star, Anastasia Zuyeva, is two years older. Both, as well as Alena Alekseeva, 20, made their debut in top tournaments only last year. They all are able to progress and compete for at least two Olympic cycles, in addition to the current one.”

Yet observers are cautious. Even though Russia destroyed its continental rivals, it is not safe to conclude the team will be equally victorious in Beijing. There, it will also have to face the very strong teams from the U.S., Australia, and of course China.