Notebook

Infant-Patriots

State policies seek to 

reduce population decline

Russia’s looming demographic crash is inspiring some creative ways to increase birth rates. In Ulyanovsk region, the government created incentives for couples to conceive on September 12 and give birth on June 12, Russia Day (formerly Independence Day). The contest is called “Give Birth to a Patriot,” and September 12 was dubbed “Day of the Family,” although the original name was “Day of Conception.” Earlier in the summer, 78 couples who gave birth to a child on June 12 were entered in a drawing for a car, which was eventually won by Irina and Andrey Kartuzov. In 2006, only 28 children were born on June 12. 

Whether such unconventional measures will help reverse Russia’s precipitous birth rates is unclear. According to official statistics, more children were born in 2007 than in any of the past 15 years. Yet RosStat’s Vladimir Sokolin said the increase could be attributed to other, natural factors. Women born in 1986-1987, when there was a birth rate increase, have reached childbearing age, perhaps accounting for the slight increase this year. In any event, the birth-death gap during the first seven months of 2007 is 130,000 less than during the same period of 2006, Sokolin said. 

Meanwhile, the State continues to hatch schemes to convince women to have more babies. The “mother’s capital” measure will allocate 250,000 rubles per child to couples that have two or more children, but the money will only be available three years after the second child is born and the couple will have to spend the money on education or improving living conditions. 

 

Anti-Citizens

Fearful Russians 

shed their passports

More than a thousand persons who refuse to exchange their old Soviet passports for new Russian ones have decamped to the village of Diveyevo to lead a life without valid passports. The Orthodox “otkazniks” (refuseniks) believe that the new Russian passport contains symbols of the Antichrist, and that accepting it willingly is sinful. As a result, the community lives with no legal identification documents. The allegedly anti-Christian design includes six ornamental images and a snake encircling the Earth and swallowing its own tail, one woman from Diveyevo explained to RenTV. Diveyevo is a well-known pilgrimage center and site of the Serafimo-Diveyevsky Convent. The convent’s nuns have all exchanged their passports, the station reported.

 

Living Record

Oldest living person 

may be in Russian North

An Evenk woman from Yakutia may be the oldest living person in the world. Varvara Semennikova, who turned 117 in May 2007, grew up in a nomadic family, hunting and herding deer. In the course of her life, Semennikova reared four adopted children, teaching them midwifery and later sending them off to get higher education. She is in good health and readily offers opinions on many social and political issues, Interfax news agency reported. Semennikova’s age was determined when an employee of the National Archive found an entry in a church register documenting her birth on May 10, 1890. Yakutia’s indigenous peoples have historically lived quite long lives, an archive representative said.

Prior to this, the world’s oldest person was thought to be 114-year-old Edna Parker, who lives in Connecticut. She claimed the title after Japan’s Yone Minagawa, also 114, passed away in August.

 

NGO Bust

New law leads to 

hundreds of closures

The human rights group “Voronezh-Chernozemye” (Voro-nezh Interregional Group of Rights Defenders) analyzed the activities of the Federal Registration Service (FRS) in eight regions of the country in the past year and a half and found that FRS decisions have led to the closure of 600 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) this year.

Eighty percent of currently registered NGOs have not filed the reports required by Russia’s new law on NGOs and may also be closed, according to Rosregistratsiya. The new law went into effect this spring, tightening NGO registration and monitoring procedures. 

According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, FRS often closes organizations through the courts, without bothering to notify the organizations themselves. For example, the International Youth Human Rights Movement (MMPD in Russian) found out about its demise two months after the fact. “We directed our reports to Moscow, rather than the local Rosregistratsiya office, since we are an international organization based in Berlin,” said Dmitry Makarov. “Notifications and the lawsuit were sent to the address we had before 2004, and we didn’t even know we were liquidated.” Although MMPD has successfully appealed the court decision, other NGOs are less fortunate. Human rights lawyers are concerned that the government picks on organizations working with “inconvenient” issues – like problems in the Russian army or refugees, but FRS’s Sergei Vasiliyev denied the accusation, according to Novye Izvestiya. 

Slamizdat

Political opposition faces

publishing snafus

Political activist Ruslan Linkov’s first book sold out before it was even printed. An undisclosed buyer stepped in and purchased the entire 5,000 copy print run of Notes of a Survivor so that it would not see the light of day. Linkov had to cancel a book presentation scheduled for the Moscow International Book fair in September. In a comment to Radio Free Europe, Linkov said the book mentions several high-ranking politicians and events of the late 1990s, when Linkov was working with Duma Deputy Galina Starovoitova and was wounded during her 1998 assassination. “It was likely one of them who purchased the book,” he said. He suggested that such a person may have wanted to buy up the entire print run so that “dirt” on them would not come out before party lists were announced in October. 

Linkov was not the only one who came empty-handed to the book fair. Garry Kasparov, ex-chess champion and presidential candidate for Other Russia, had his own book, Chess as a Model for Life jeopardized. According to Kasparov, publisher Eksmo refused to print his book because it criticizes President Vladimir Putin. According to Kasparov representative Marina Litvinovich, timely printing and launch at the book fair were stipulated in the publishing contract. Yet Eksmo representative Maria Markova had a different story: “The author did not sign the agreement, so the publishing date had to be postponed,” she said. Kasparov’s Web site (kasparov.ru) announced that the book will be published soon, either with Eksmo or a different publisher. 

Likewise, at press time, Linkov’s volume was to be released in a second printing, after party lists were revealed and with a stipulation that publisher Amfora could not sell more than three copies to any one person.

 

Vainakh Only

Committee will judge wholesomeness of Chechen singers

Chechnya’s Ministry of Culture has introduced new rules for stage and television performers in the republic. A special council will evaluate all potential performances to decide whether they are suitable, and folk music remixes will not be tolerated. Artists will also have to dress in accordance with vainakh culture. 

Culture Minister Dikalu Muzykaev denied that visiting artists will be censored. Yet neighboring Dagestan has already formed a blacklist of unwelcome pop-stars under a similarly restrictive policy. Artists on the list include Filipp Kirkorov, Boris Moiseyev, and Verka Serdyuchka. “Until now, anyone could sing whatever they want, in any manner they want,” Muzykaev said, criticizing lack of taste, plagiarism, and vulgarity.  “Chechen art and culture was distorted, and young artists follow a bad example.” (Kommersant)

“In Soviet times many artists defected to avoid pre-censorship and artist councils, and now Chechen artists can do the same,” music critic Artemy Troitsky told Kommersant.  “Although it is possible that Ramzan Kadyrov wants exactly that: to only keep people in the republic that please him personally.”

 

Cabinet Shuffle

Putin rearranges 

Russian government

September’s government shakeup was highly anticipated, but not, apparently, by the prime minister designate. The candidate, Viktor Zubkov, was on vacation in Mon-te-negro and learned of his fate just one day in advance. And despite the fact that 85 percent of Russians had not heard of Zubkov before President Putin nominated him, the State Duma overwhelmingly approved his candidacy just two days later.

Supporting actors added an element of comedy to this first move in “Operation Successor.” Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov is Zubkov’s son-in-law, so Serdyukov immediately tendered his resignation on familial grounds. Putin refused the resignation and in fact underlined the importance of family ties by appointing Tatyana Golikova the new Minister of Health. Golikova is the wife of Viktor Khristenko, Minister of Industry and Energy.

Clearly the Zubkov elevation was a setback for presidential pretenders Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov, both first deputy prime ministers. Zubkov, 66, who has essentially become the country’s top economic policymaker, has a pedigree for pursuing corruption, a top hot button issue in the coming campaign. Alexei Kudrin, who was reappointed to the post of Minister of Finance, was also elevated to deputy prime minister. 

Anton Orekh of Yezhenedelny Zhurnal summed up the situation nicely: “Let’s be honest, we don’t know what and who is going to come next, and we are unable to predict it. Our fate is coming down to the old Soviet formula: ‘You will be notified.’” By making cabinet changes immediately before the Duma election, Putin demonstrated that there really is only one vote that matters when it comes to deciding who will govern the country.

 

“The only thing that matters in a mafia structure like the one Mr. Putin oversees is loyalty. Criminologists, not Kremlinologists, are required to understand the Putin administration.”

Garry Kasparov (Wall Street Journal)

 

“We can now say proudly that not only do we have the world’s best ballet, the world’s largest reserves of oil and gas, and the closest approaches to the North Pole... but we can also display the world’s best presidential torso.”

Vyacheslav Kostikov, on Putin’s visit to Tyva. Central TV showed
the president bare-chested (Argumenty i Fakty)

 

“Today’s poachers are not drunken and unshaven Uncle Vanyas wearing fufaikas. Poaching now is a well-organized community with big money. Both families and children of poachers live in Seattle, the capital of Russian fishermen.”

Andrei Krayny, head of the Federal Fishing Agency (Itogi)

 

“Citizens are told, ‘go to the elections, vote for parties’ and at the same time, the president says a week later ‘while you’re there busy voting for the Duma, I’m here changing the government and the ministers.’ Why do we need all these parliamentary elections, why do we need parliamentary parties, and what does it serve to go to the elections?”

Vladimir Ryzhkov on Putin’s September firing of the government (Ekho Moskvy)

 

“Every cultured person has to know the roots of his culture, and the history of Russia is closely intertwined with one thousand years of Orthodox culture. If a person wants to be well-educated, and not just deal with his professional work, he has to know the history of his country.”

Patriarch Alexei of Russia, commenting on teaching Orthodox religion
in Russian schools (Izbrannoe newspaper)

 

“A Russian without firm faith and moral convictions, when not talked to, turns into a ‘mindless beast.’ A Russian can be convinced of many things by talking, and by letting him talk. Dostoyevsky wrote about this.”

Nikita Mikhalkov, about his new movie 12, a remake of 12 Angry Men (Time Out)  

 

“Russia, they say, rests on three principles: perhaps, most likely and somehow or other.” 

[авось, небось и как-нибудь]

Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov, Moscow City Duma Deputy (Itogi)

 

“If, as one of the leaders of Unified Russia put it, we are the naughty child in the sandbox, then Unified Russia is the sand the Big Uncles use to form their cake moulds.”  

Sergei Mironov, chairman of the Federation Council and leader of A Just Russia (Itogi)

“We need, perhaps, to fight less about all sorts
of ideologies; we got our fill of that over the last
100 years.”

Alexei Gordeyev, Agriculture Minister (Itogi) 

 

23 languages are in danger of extinction in the combined area of Eastern Siberia, China, and Japan. ¶ The estimated cost of December’s Duma elections will be $168 million, or about $1.50 for every Russian. Some 3 million Russians will be involved in organizing the election, 1.5 million as monitoring observers. The 2003 elections cost about $110 million.  ¶ Five million families in Russia earn over $30,000 annually. This is 60 percent more than last year. 160 families are millionaires, and 12,000 families have revenues above $5 million. ¶ here were 126.2 abortions for every 100 live births in Russia in 2003. Russia has the highest abortion rate among CIS countries, followed by Belarus (90.6 per 100) and the Ukraine (77.3 per 100). In 1990, the numbers were 206 per 100, 183.5 per 100, and 155 per 100, respectively. ¶ ome 1,700,000 Russians outside of Russia are eligible to participate in the Russian elections. During the 2003-04 election cycle, this number was 100,000 fewer. ¶ 

About 2,000 Russian children under the age of 17 are killed by their parents or other relatives each year. This translates to a rate of 6.9 per 100,000. The suicide rate for Russian youths aged 15 to 19 was 20.2 per 100,000 in 2004. This is over twice the U.S. rate of youth suicide (8.2 per 100,000). Some 50,000 Russian children, or one out of every 580, run away from home every year. ¶ pproximately 1,203,000 Russian children started school in 2007. ¶ 

The Russian cities of Norilsk and Dzerzhinsk are among the world’s top ten most polluted cities. Other CIS cities on the list are Chernobyl, Ukraine, and Sumgait, Azerbaijan. 

 

Spiderman 

French climber Alain Roberts recently ascended the 242-meter Federation Tower in the Moskva-City business district of the Russian capital. Roberts, nicknamed Spiderman, because he does not use ropes or suction cups, has previously scaled such landmarks as the Abu Dhabi Bank in Dubai and New York’s Empire State Building. He took one hour to climb the Russian skyscraper after getting permission from city authorities.

 

Late Arrival

Starbucks coffee opened its first shop in Russia, in a mall in the Moscow suburb of Khimki. In 2005, Starbucks had to sue a Russian lawyer who had registered the name in Russia and offered to sell the rights to the company for $600,000. Russian courts found in favor of Starbucks. The company will have to compete with popular Russian coffee chains like Shokoladnitsa, which has 140 outlets in Russia, and Coffee House, which has 163 outlets in the capital alone.

 

Back in the .su

Despite the fact that USSR ceased to exist in 1991, the Internet domain suffix .su has lived on, and in fact registered its millionth domain this fall. Domain registration with a .su suffix was impossible between 1994 and 2002 but has recently regained popularity. The .su suffix is administered by the Foundation for Internet Development (Fond Razvitiya Internet) which has decided together with ICANN to keep .su alive, lenta.ru reported.

 

Pulp Non-fiction

International Paper Company has signed a joint venture with the Russian forestry firm Ilim Holding, paying $650 million for a 50 percent stake, Reuters reported. Ilim is worth $1.6 billion and produces pulp and cardboard for sale to Russia and Asia at its four pulp mills. The venture will be headquartered in Saint Petersburg.  It will be the largest international venture in Russia’s forest products sector.

Freedom Scale

The US-based Freedom House has again concluded that Russia is not a democratic country. In its annual survey, Freedom House gave Russia a civil liberties score of 5 and a political rights score of 6, which means Russia continues to be ranked as “not free” –  designation it first received in 2005, alongside Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan. Myanmar, Cuba, and Turkmenistan received the lowest ratings.

 

New Social-Democrats

Mikhail Gorbachev and several other Russian public figures are forming a new left-wing social-democratic movement. The group’s statement mentions “concern about today’s situation” including “laws that inhibit free democratic choice, lack of political competition, and pressure on civil society.” Along with Gorbachev, the statement is signed by former Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov, economist Pavel Kudyukhin, journalists Lyudmila Telen and Genrikh Borovik, and several others.

 

Lose the Laryok

Small “laryoks,” convenient street kiosks selling everything from stationary to beer, may soon disappear from Moscow streets. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov wants to get rid of all of them and create a new “consumer market system,” Interfax reported. Luzhkov cited tax evasion and unsafe products as two prime reasons for shutting down the merchants. Earlier this year, Luzhkov removed all barges and floating real estate from the Moscow river.

 

Dankeschön 

In 2005, while visiting Israel, President Putin visited his former 9th and 10th grade German teacher, Mina Yuditskaya. Shortly after the visit, an unidentified presidential representative showed up at Yuditskaya’s door, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. “The man told me that Putin is a very grateful person,” Yuditskaya said. “He doesn’t forget about those who did something nice for him.” He purchased a small apartment for Yuditskaya near a clinic and drugstore. “It is convenient for me here,” she said. “The floor is easy to clean.”

 

Russians Who

…believe that when the West accuses Russia of something,
it is merely to discredit Russia and gain advantage for itself 69%

…think that Moscow should use Europe’s dependence on
Russian gas and oil to promote Russian foreign policy objectives 59%

…think that deteriorating relations with Britain are temporary
and will soon return to normal 53%

 

 

 

66% are satisfied with their personal health 52% 

56% smoked the previous day 18%

18% drink every day or several times a week 6%

 

 

… trust or distrust

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… during a three-month period
watched the evening news 

   on Channel 1 90%

   on Rossiya 90%

   on NTV 80%

…watch TV news every day
(aged over 65) 75%

(aged 18 to 24) 30%

 

…feel “news programs are over-politicized,
all about politics” 75%

 

…read newspapers 

(aged 18-24) 28%

(other age groups) 40%

 

…use the Internet as their news source 

(aged 18-24) 25%

(aged 25-44) 16%

(aged 44 and over) 5%

 

Spiderman 

French climber Alain Roberts recently ascended the 242-meter Federation Tower in the Moskva-City business district of the Russian capital. Roberts, nicknamed Spiderman, because he does not use ropes or suction cups, has previously scaled such landmarks as the Abu Dhabi Bank in Dubai and New York’s Empire State Building. He took one hour to climb the Russian skyscraper after getting permission from city authorities.

 

Late Arrival

Starbucks coffee opened its first shop in Russia, in a mall in the Moscow suburb of Khimki. In 2005, Starbucks had to sue a Russian lawyer who had registered the name in Russia and offered to sell the rights to the company for $600,000. Russian courts found in favor of Starbucks. The company will have to compete with popular Russian coffee chains like Shokoladnitsa, which has 140 outlets in Russia, and Coffee House, which has 163 outlets in the capital alone.

 

Back in the .su

Despite the fact that USSR ceased to exist in 1991, the Internet domain suffix .su has lived on, and in fact registered its millionth domain this fall. Domain registration with a .su suffix was impossible between 1994 and 2002 but has recently regained popularity. The .su suffix is administered by the Foundation for Internet Development (Fond Razvitiya Internet) which has decided together with ICANN to keep .su alive, lenta.ru reported.

 

Pulp Non-fiction

International Paper Company has signed a joint venture with the Russian forestry firm Ilim Holding, paying $650 million for a 50 percent stake, Reuters reported. Ilim is worth $1.6 billion and produces pulp and cardboard for sale to Russia and Asia at its four pulp mills. The venture will be headquartered in Saint Petersburg.  It will be the largest international venture in Russia’s forest products sector.

Freedom Scale

The US-based Freedom House has again concluded that Russia is not a democratic country. In its annual survey, Freedom House gave Russia a civil liberties score of 5 and a political rights score of 6, which means Russia continues to be ranked as “not free” –  designation it first received in 2005, alongside Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan. Myanmar, Cuba, and Turkmenistan received the lowest ratings.

 

New Social-Democrats

Mikhail Gorbachev and several other Russian public figures are forming a new left-wing social-democratic movement. The group’s statement mentions “concern about today’s situation” including “laws that inhibit free democratic choice, lack of political competition, and pressure on civil society.” Along with Gorbachev, the statement is signed by former Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov, economist Pavel Kudyukhin, journalists Lyudmila Telen and Genrikh Borovik, and several others.

 

Lose the Laryok

Small “laryoks,” convenient street kiosks selling everything from stationary to beer, may soon disappear from Moscow streets. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov wants to get rid of all of them and create a new “consumer market system,” Interfax reported. Luzhkov cited tax evasion and unsafe products as two prime reasons for shutting down the merchants. Earlier this year, Luzhkov removed all barges and floating real estate from the Moscow river.

 

Dankeschön 

In 2005, while visiting Israel, President Putin visited his former 9th and 10th grade German teacher, Mina Yuditskaya. Shortly after the visit, an unidentified presidential representative showed up at Yuditskaya’s door, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. “The man told me that Putin is a very grateful person,” Yuditskaya said. “He doesn’t forget about those who did something nice for him.” He purchased a small apartment for Yuditskaya near a clinic and drugstore. “It is convenient for me here,” she said. “The floor is easy to clean.”

Volley Upset

Russia, host of September’s European Volleyball Champion-ships, advanced confidently to the tourney final and looked set to clinch the title. But apparently the Spanish team had a different opinion. They frayed Russia’s nerves straight off, taking the first set 25:18. Russia bounced back, taking the second set 25:20 and the third 26:24. Despite two matchpoints in the fourth set, however, Spain came out on top and snatched a 16:14 tie-break win to grab the gold. Russia’s Semyon Poltavsky was named tournament MVP, Yury Berezhko was selected as the best hitter of the competition, Alexei Verbov the best libero and Vadim Khamutskikh the best setter. Spain’s blocker Jose Luis Molto was named the best blocker. Serbia took the bronze by defeating Finland 3:1 in the third place match.

J.R.’s Shot

Two seconds before the final buzzer, American J.R. Holden (who has Russian citizenship) sunk the shot to give Russia the European basketball championship over Spain, 60-59. The Russian team was coached by American David Blatt, who has earned a reputation as one of the best coaches in Europe, presiding over such marquee teams as Maccabi-Tel Aviv, Benetton Treviso, and, at the start of this season, Efes Pilsen in Turkey. 

The victory was hugely important for the Russian team, clinching an Olympic berth in the 2008 games. “The irony is too much to fathom,” said Blatt. “Growing up in Framingham during the Cold War, the last thing you could imagine was an American Jewish guy coaching the Russian national team. Especially a guy who spent so much time in Israel.” Russia has qualified for the Olympics in men’s basketball only once since the breakup of the Soviet Union, finishing eighth in Sydney in 2000. (The Soviet Union won the gold in 1972 in Munich and in 1988 in Seoul, beating the U.S. in the finals on both occasions. It finished fourth as the C.I.S. in Barcelona.) This year’s Russian team, led by Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko and former Bucknell star J.R. Holden, had to qualify simply to get into the field of 16 in Spain.

 

Third Fed Cup

As was widely expected, in September Russia won its third Fed Cup tennis trophy in four years by destroying Italy 4-0 at Luzhniki’s Small Sports Arena. 

Anna Chakhvetadze brought her team the first point, defeating Francesca Schiavone in a thrilling three-setter, and then Svetlana Kuznetsova, world-ranked #2 player, easily defeated Mara Santangelo. 

On the second day of the tie, the Italian team fought back hard, and it took Kuznetsova 2 hours and 48 minutes (saving two match points) to defeat Schiavone 4/6, 7/6, 7/5. That gave Russia a winning 3-0 lead, and Yelena Vesnina easily brought the score to 4-0 by putting Santangelo away 6-2, 6-4. The rubber doubles match was cancelled on mutual agreement. 

Next year, Maria Sharapova is expected to play for the team. During this finals, she was invited by captain Shamil Tarpishchev to act as a hitting partner and supporter of the team. Sharapova, ranked fourth in the world, has never played Fed Cup tennis for Russia. She is looking for a berth on the 2008 Olympics team, and must therefore play at least once for her native country.

 

Moscow Offensive

In a come-from-behind victory, the Russian men’s tennis team defeated Germany 3-2 in the prestigious Davis Cup, advancing to the finals versus the American team, to be played in Portland, Oregon in late November. Igor Andreyev was the clutch player, winning both his singles matches – versus Tommy Haas on day one and Philipp Kohlschreiber on day two – and accounting for two of the three team victories. “It’s an amazing feeling, playing here in Moscow, and it’s the second time I won the deciding point… it’s great,” said Andreyev.

The third win was from Mikhail Youzhny, who replaced a sick Nikolai Davydenko.

Russian captain Shamil Tarpi-shchev expects a hard fought finals match. “We know they will play on a fast, hard court, so it’s all about good preparation and if all the guys are in fine condition then it will be the five guys that were here that will go to the USA,” he said. Tarpishchev was quick to note he already has his visa application in for this trip – a late application in July almost kept him from making the women’s Fed Cup semifinal against the U.S. team (which Russia won).