29.01.2009
Russian Society
Culture, Demographics, Politics
December, 2008 - January, 2009The following resource is meant to quickly introduce the reader to everyday life in Russia: how Russians live, study, relax, and worship. This news review is part of SRAS's monthly "obzor" publications. For more reviews, see the newsletter for this corresponding month. To receive the free monthly newsletter and obzori by email, simply sign up. Holidays New Year Address to the Nation
President Dmitry Medvedev's address on December 31, 2008 Free to celebrate
This year, Russia will be on holiday from January 1 to January 10. This year, in the teeth of a global financial crisis, can we afford this idle time? How will it affect the wider economy? Season's Greetings Welcome the New Year in Russian style
Relatively few Russians would plan to mark the holiday in a club or a restaurant. Average prices start at 7,000 rubles, with the most exclusive nightclubs charging up to 150,000 rubles for a table for eight. Siberian girl who asked Putin for dress to see New Year in Moscow
The nine-year-old Siberian girl invited to meet the New Year in Moscow by the Russian prime minister has been bought a ticket to the capital by local authorities after a row over her trip was resolved. Muscovites dreaming of a white Christmas
Winter is coming late in many parts of Russia and Eastern Europe – it's already a more than a month overdue in Moscow - but ecologists fear the eventual arrival of the cold weather might make things worse. Religion Some Christians Under Siege In 'Season Of Hope'
"They cannot use the building for worship because bureaucrats won't complete the paperwork on it to allow it to be used. So they've got to set up a tent." U.S. Judge Orders Russia to Preserve Jewish Texts
A federal judge ordered Russia on Thursday to preserve sacred religious documents that members of a Hasidic Jewish movement fear could be headed to the black market. Shors Singing Again in Siberia
When Olga Tannagasheva starts to sing, her gentle voice transforms into a bass-line growl designed to invoke other-worldly spirits. Tannagasheva, one of Russia's 14,000 remaining Shors, also wants to communicate with modern Russians, as her ancient culture strives to reassert itself after decades of Soviet repression and enduring economic hardship. Orthodoxy Metropolitan Kirill is the new Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Kirill, the 62-year-old Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, is the new Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Pope's Telegram to Patriarch Kirill
I have received with gladness the news of your election as patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. I warmly congratulate you and wish you every strength and joy in the fulfillment of the great task which lies before you as you guide the Church over which you now preside along the path of spiritual growth and unity. Critics Assail Revived Russian Church's Kremlin Ties
The world's second-largest church chose a new leader this week. Metropolitan Kirill will lead the Russian Orthodox Church, which has become wealthy — and highly visible — since it emerged out of decades of suppression under the Soviet Union. Orthodox treasures in Muslim republic
Although being at the first glance a purely Muslim republic with strong national traits and traditions, Tatarstan has many venerated shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church. The capital of Tatarstan itself observes the strict rule that regulates the number of churches and mosques within the city limits. Orthodox Faith Crowding Out Others In Chelyabinsk
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a former KGB operative, now wears a cross and is a staunch supporter of the Orthodox Church, which has become the de facto official religion. Russia buries first post-Communist Church leader
Russia on Tuesday buried its first Orthodox patriarch of post-Soviet times in an epic funeral ceremony reflecting the Church's resurgence and close Kremlin ties after the fall of communism. Farewell, middle roads. Russia's next patriarch may be harder-line than Alexy II
In late January bishops from Russia, Ukraine and the Slavic diaspora will meet to elect a new patriarch. The ostensible favourite is the current locum tenens, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, a tough and sophisticated practitioner of geopolitics as well as politics of the ecclesiastical sort. Russia's prospective church leader says opposed to reforms
Metropolitan Kirill, the interim leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a key candidate to become the next patriarch, said on Monday he was opposed to any church reforms. The Prop of the Knout
Far more real than Alexy's lone protestation is the danger of the Orthodox Church reverting to its historic form of a state faith, praying for Putin's "sovereign democracy" as it has prayed for the Golden Horde, and for Stalin, and for the post-1953 Soviet state. In Russia, a religious revival brings new life to Orthodox media
Today, in a country that was officially atheist less than two decades ago, there are again hundreds of newspapers, magazines and newsletters covering the world's largest Orthodox church. There are also as many as 3,500 Russian Orthodox Web sites. History Russia rewriting Josef Stalin's legacy
Archives on dictator seized from human-rights group Memorial. Today, the state tries to reconstruct history to make it appear like a long chain of victories. And they want these victories to be seen as justifying Stalin's repressions. Aleksandr Nevsky: A Fitting Hero For Today's Russia
Russians have just voted for their favorite historical figure. The 13th-century Prince Aleksandr Nevsky came out on top. Pyotr Stolypin, a reforming prime minister from the early 20th, was second. Stalin came in third. The Embrace of Stalinism
In sociological surveys, Stalin invariably features among the first three "most prominent figures of all times". In the new school history textbooks, Stalinist policy is interpreted in a spirit of justification. In Honor of Galina Starovoitova: Ten Years After
Starovoitova quickly transitioned from the life of a scholar to the very public life of a policymaker and politician. As President Yeltsin's first nationalities advisor, Starovoitova struggled to prevent the disintegration of the Russian Federation. Shakhray Describes How and Why the Soviet Union Died
Many people in thinking about the end of the Soviet Union ignore three important factors, preferring instead to suggest that what happened was somehow the product of behind the scenes conspiracies hatched either in the Kremlin or abroad. Bad Name of Russia
A new website parodies the recently concluded Name of Russia TV show, which sought to name the top Russian Heros. Mass privatisation in Communist bloc led to surge in male deaths
Between 1991 and 1994, male deaths in Russia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, where intense, fast-track privatization took place, rose 42 percent, coinciding with a 305-percent increase in unemployment. Medvedev Remembers Blockade
About 4,000 people gathered near the village of Nikolskoye outside St. Petersburg on Sunday to watch a reenactment of the battle that led to the breaking of the Siege of Leningrad during World War II. Medvedev Says Don't Rewrite WWII
President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday Russia should resist attempts by some of its ex-Soviet neighbors to "falsify" the history of World War Two by underplaying Moscow's role in defeating Hitler. Investigators Close Inquiry Into Execution of Last Tsar
Investigators have closed an investigation into the shooting by Bolshevik revolutionaries of Russia's last Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1918, ITAR-TAS news agency reported. Obituary: Vladimir Rubinstein
Driving force behind the BBC Monitoring Service who tracked international broadcasts during the Second World War and the Cold War. Media Russian newspaper to seek arms licenses for its journalists
The Novaya Gazeta newspaper will ask Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to issue arms licenses to its staff after one of its journalists was shot in broad daylight in downtown Moscow, a co-owner of the daily said. 'Crisis' a word best spoken quietly in Russia
On the three main television stations -- the principal source of news for most Russians -- the crisis is often treated as a problem that is happening somewhere else. Moscow police chief says journalists have no need for guns
The Moscow police chief said on Friday that he was against granting journalists permission to carry arms. Russian buys Evening Standard, sparks debate
A former KGB member turned businessman has bought the London based daily newspaper, The Evening Standard, which was founded in 1827, provoking debate in the UK media over the suitability of a man a Times source describes as "closer to those in power than he likes to admit publicly" to run a paper. International media's new face
The French Arbitration court has allowed Russian businessman Alexander Pugachev to acquire France-Soir, a popular tabloid. Art, Literature, Film, Sport Bolshoi Theater nears re-opening
The main state of the Bolshoi Theater, one of the best known Russian landmarks, won't open its doors earlier than in late 2010, although the theater's management denies that the global downturn added to problems with financing the ambitious renovation project. Dmitry Medvedev's Video blog on Recreation and Sport in Russia
In Russian. Totalitarian society invades screens
A classic Soviet science fiction story has been the big New Year hit in Russian cinemas. The Inhabited Island, the story of an astronaut struggling to survive on a totalitarian planet, is the most expensive Russian film ever produced. Does Putin See Film As Playing Vital Role?
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is taking on a new role as the head of a government panel on the film industry. Racing Bike, UFOs Compete for Russia's $50,000 Kandinsky Prize
Unidentified flying objects that transform into eagles and a 1970s racing bicycle are among the items competing for the Kandinsky Prize, Russia's premier contemporary art award. Jeers, Cheers Greet Kandinsky Winner, Painter Beliayev-Guintovt
Alexey Beliayev-Guintovt took Russia's top contemporary-art award, the Kandinsky Prize, with a series of nationalist paintings "Motherland-Daughter", winning 40,000 euros ($52,500) -- and jeers from sections of the audience. To Russia With Love
Imagine Mark Cuban with three times as many teams and five times as much money. He'd still be a piker compared with the Russian zillionaires who offer a life of luxury to lure world-class athletes and are bankrolling a new national sports machine. Gorgeous male finery from Russia on display in London
Even the socks are sumptuous. The white silk stockings Peter II wore to his coronation in 1728 are richly embroidered with shimmering silver-gilt thread. Puppets tug at Russian heartstrings
In a time of dizzying change, with Moscow unrecognizable to many, the Obraztsov puppet theater provides time-tested comfort to nostalgic residents seeking to share their past with their children. Kinokultura, 29
The latest edition of a journal devoted to film in Eurasia. Metro monument to great writer
Sixty meters beneath the street where he grew up, a new tribute to the author of 'Crime and Punishment' and 'The Brothers Karamazov' is taking shape. Cancellation of play raises controversy
Last weekend, the news arrived that the Zuev culture house in Moscow revised a previous agreement and won't allow a drama play called "Pro bab (About Broads)" to be performed on its stage. Mumiy Troll embarks on a North American tour
One of the most popular Russian rock bands, Mumiy Troll, has embarked on a tour of the United States and Canada - a rather uncommon event for a Russian pop or rock artist. Education and Science Pay staff more to get top teachers
Isak Froumin has a simple formula for fast-tracking progress at Moscow's Higher School of Economics: pay staff better salaries and help them to work at world standards. In Russia, environmentalist's concern runs deep for Lake Baikal
In a country where factories use bodies of water as trash bins, nature needs bodyguards.
Info Hard To Come By On Polluted Russian Province
The remote Chelyabinsk region is one of the most polluted in the world. Russian Miss World praised by tutors at jubilant university
Tutors at the university in northwest Siberia where new Miss World Ksenia Sukhinova studies praised her academic record Medvedev's Speech at Educational and Research Conference
The adoption of the Russian Constitution marked a turning point in modern Russia's history. It was approved by the people's will and thus signified a decisive and defining choice in favour of free and progressive development. Pioneers plan to cross British bridge
Former managers of an international higher education partnership programme, pioneered by the British Council in Russia before a crisis in diplomatic relations sharply curtailed its activities, want to continue developing wider educational benefits from the scheme. Russia says old nuclear satellite poses no threat
Russia's military said Wednesday that an old Soviet-built nuclear-powered satellite has spewed fragments in orbit, but insisted they do not threaten the international space station or people on Earth. Behind the glamour of a college dorm
This Sunday marks Students Day, as the winter exams draw to a close and Russia's brightest young things prepare to mark the anniversary of the foundation of Moscow State University back in 1755. Those exams are an important rite of passage - tradition holds that a Russian isn't a real student until that first semester is successfully complete - but others insist that only a true scholar has experienced the unique world of the student dorm. No More Space Tourists After 2009
Russia won't be sending tourists to the International Space Station after this year because of plans to double the station's crew from three to six people, the head of Russia's space agency said last week. Civil Society, NGOs, Protests Mummies must keep mum
Riot police on Wednesday detained some 30 people dressed as mummies, who attempted to gather on Moscow's Red Square calling for the burial of Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin, a police spokesman said. Hundreds Protest Release Of Murderer In Grozny
Hundreds of Chechens have been protesting in Grozny against a court decision last week to grant parole to a Russian army colonel convicted of murdering a teenage Chechen girl, RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service reports. Thousands In Russian City Protest Tax Increase On Imported Cars
Some 2,000 people have protested against a customs tax increase for imported used cars in the Far Eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Russians Protest Hike In Utility, Public-Transport Fees
Some 2,000 people in the western Russian city of Izhevsk have protested an increase in housing-utility fees and the elimination of free public transportation for senior citizens. Russia Violated Prisoner's Rights, European Court Says
Russian authorities violated the human rights of a jailed oil executive who has HIV/AIDS and who was not given proper medical treatment for his condition, Europe's Strasbourg-based human rights court has said. The Day They Raided Memorial
Anyone who watches the goings on in Russia knows about last week’s police raid of the human rights organization Memorial in St. Petersburg. The six hour search by masked, truncheon wielding agents has received forceful, cautious and hysterical condemnation. Russian Police Block Opposition Marches, Detain Dozens
Russian police detained dozens of people in Moscow at an unsanctioned opposition rally organized by Kremlin critic and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. Russian human rights activists divided on Freedom House latest report
Representatives of Russian public organizations have had mixed reaction to a report published on Tuesday (13 January) by the Freedom House NGO, which has yet again included Russia on the list of "non-free" states, however all of them agree that the report is not objective. (F)lying Numbers: The Art And Science Of Interpreting Russia Polls
Far from gearing for the nuclear war with the United States, Russian political leaders, on many occasions, have expressed their willing to work, in a positive way, with the incoming administration. More Moscow Murder
Another Russian fighting for human rights and the rule of law has been murdered in Vladimir Putin's Moscow. Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer who defended Chechens brutalized by Russian troops and journalists who wrote about the abuses, was shot in the head yesterday by a masked man carrying a silencer-equipped pistol. Russians condemn slaying of rights lawyer
Attorneys, activists and lawmakers Wednesday condemned the brazen shooting of a human-rights lawyer on a busy Moscow street and called for a thorough and honest investigation into a killing that spotlighted the risks faced by Russians who fight for justice. Court Rules for Rights Group
The Dzerzhinsky District Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of the Memorial human rights group and declared the Dec. 4 police raid on the organization's local headquarters at 23 Ulitsa Rubinshteina illegitimate. Demographics Global Financial Crisis Costs Many Migrant Workers Their Jobs
From the closure of factories in eastern China to the collapse of construction booms in Europe and the Middle East, the global economic crisis has caused millions of people to lose their jobs. And the first to do so are the foreign migrants who formed a cheap labor pool when times were good. Challenging The Assumptions About Russia's Future
A number of factors in Russia portend the disappearance of a crucial component of national power -- a growing and healthy population. Improved Chelyabinsk Health Care Still Falls Short
Russia continues to have a health crisis. Roads and potatoes: beyond Moscow city limits
When people, especially foreigners, think of one-sixth of the world's land mass, they overwhelmingly tend to focus on Moscow, extrapolating the specifics of one of Europe's largest and most expensive metropolises on to the rest of the country. Or we brush away the regions with a series of glum stereotypes from the Western press. On the face of it, it turns out we really don't know Russia - its regions - nearly as well as we should. Russia Reduces Quotas On Foreign Workers
Russia's prime minister has signed a decree aimed at reducing quotas on the number of foreigners working in the country, a move he says will ease the worsening financial crisis. Moscow's powerful mayor has backed the initiative. Xenophobia on the rise
There has been a steady escalation of violent xenophobia in Russia during the last decade - an escalation that can be measured against an already high level of xenophobic sentiments. Calls to Psychiatrists Soar
Russia's leading psychiatric institute has seen a four-fold increase in callers looking for advice since the start of the global financial crisis, its director said on Tuesday. Moscow racist murder gang jailed
A group of racist skinheads who carried out 18 brutal murders in Russia's capital Moscow have been sentenced to jail terms of between six and 20 years. Sentences In Russian Racial Murders Criticized As 'Derisory'
A Moscow court has sentenced a group of Russians skinheads to jail sentences of up to 20 years. The gang was found guilty of murdering as many as 20 non-Slavic migrants over a one-year period. Find out more! SRAS Travel Services
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