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This supplement is sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, which takes sole responsibility for its contents and is wholly independent of Nation Multimedia Group. June 27 - July 3, 2015

Thursday, June 25, 2015

P14

Meet the descendants of Russia’s legendary writer Leo Tolstoy

The Tolstoys today

P8-9

RBTH shortlists the most fascinating destinations of 2015

Best summer destinations

BIG CHANGES AFOOT IN THE WORLD OF RUSSIAN COSMODROMES PAGE 12

What’s next after Baikonur?

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02 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.asia.rbth.comNews Digest

IN BRIEF

A Russia-South Korea joint research centre opened in Vladivostok on June 18. The main aim of the centre at the Admiral Nevelskoy Maritime State University, is to analyse the transport and logistics complex and port infra-structure in the Far East and Arctic regions, accord-ing to the report.

The centre is a joint pro-ject of the Nevelskoy Mar-itime University and the Korea Maritime Institute. It was set up under an in-ternational agreement on cooperation signed by the Transport ministries of Russia and South Korea in 2014.

Transport

research centre

The state corporation Ro-satom has signed a mem-orandum with Myanmar on the peaceful use of nu-clear energy, at the St Pe-tersburg International Economic Forum 2015, an Interfax correspondent has reported.

The document was signed by Rosatom chief executive officer Sergei Kiriyenko and Myanmar’s Minister of Science and Technology Ko Ko Oo.

This memorandum is the fi rst stage in the work on an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation on the peaceful use of nu-clear energy.

The latest negotiations between Russia and My-anmar on cooperation on the peaceful use of nucle-ar energy took place in March.

MoU with

Myanmar on

nuclear energy

Top 10 places in Russia to do business

Gas pipeline work begins

Five-star hotel plan

$450m resort planBEST CITIES

CHINA

MOSCOW

VLADIVOSTOK

The top ten regional busi-ness climates in Russia in-clude the Tambov, Kostro-ma, Ulyanovsk and Tula regions, according to Rus-sia’s presidential adminis-tration chief Sergei Ivanov.

“The start of such work has already allowed us to assess the business climate in different regions. Cer-tainly, it is neither a secret nor a surprise that it var-ies drastically. Today we have already determined the top 10 regional leaders,” Ivanov said at the St Pe-tersburg International Eco-nomic Forum on June 18.

China has started construc-tion on its section of the Power of Siberia gas pipe-line, Gazprom said in a press release. Work on the Russian section of the pipe-line is on schedule, the com-pany said.

“It has been noted that the construction of the pipeline to receive gas from Russia was officially launched in China last week, while the welding of the fi rst joint is scheduled for the end of June,” Gazprom said in the press note.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is looking to operate a fi ve-star hotel in Zaryadye, next to the Mos-cow River near the Krem-lin in the centre of Moscow, Kommersant Daily said, citing a source close to the negotiations.

The des ign of the 54,000-square-metre hotel was submitted to the Mos-cow authorities, the paper said.

The hotel will have 150 rooms and 51 apartments, as well as restaurants and commercial areas.

The space became vacant with the demolition of Hotel Rossiya in 2007.

The 13-hectare plot is lo-cated 100 metres away from the Kreml in on the Moskvareka Waterfront.

Japanese real estate devel-oper Iida Holding is look-ing to invest up to $450 mil-lion to construct a resort on Russky Island, off Vlad-ivostok, a city in the Rus-sian Far East.

The resort would have golf courses and a ski re-sort, Sergey Kachaev Rus-sia’s Deputy Minister for Development of the Far East told Kommersant on the sidelines of the MIPIM Japan Exhibition in Tokyo.

Iida declined comment, but a representative of the governor of the Primorye territory confi rmed that ne-gotiations were taking place.

Russky Island, formerly home to a military base,

Business people themselves have said that these regions have the most comfortable business climates and the local authorities support the development of differ-ent forms of entrepreneur-ship, he noted.

“They primarily include the Kaluga region, the Bel-gorod region and Tatarstan. In my opinion, it is not sur-prising because they were named in all groups of lead-ers previously. But new re-gions have emerged as well. The Tambov region was never ‘the talk of the town’ previously, but today it is

one of the leaders. The same concerns the Ulyanovsk re-gion and the Kostroma re-gion,” the Kremlin official said.

For example, the Kostro-ma region was described as a “basket case” not so long ago, and “it seemed to be living back in the 1950s”, Ivanov said.

“But the region made an economic ascent after new people came to power there,” he said. Russia’s list of the best places to do business also includes the Krasnodar territory, the Rostov region, the Repub-lic of Chuvashia and the Tula region.

“This region is not sim-ple either, but industrial production has been grow-ing there recently, and its business climate has notice-ably improved,” Ivanov said. Hopefully, further similar ratings will see changes, he said.

“Some regions will quit the top 10, others will join it. I am not naming any re-gions that lag behind.”

In late May, Gazprom re-ported that it expects to build between 43 and 50 km of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline in 2015, while China’s CNPC could begin to build a portion of the pipeline on its territory as early as in June. Gazprom’s chairman of the board Alexei Miller met the State Council of China’s First Deputy Premier Zhang Gao and CNPC’s chairman of the board Wand Yilin in Be-ijing on June 2.

The parties discussed the progress of negotiations on

The space was empty for a long time, even though its location courted plenty of interest from Moscow’s de-velopers.

In 2012, Russian Presi-dent Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei So-byanin decided to land-scape a park on the plot, and add an amusement cen-tre. Potential traffic woes shot down proposals for a commercial tower to be built on the land.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group was founded in Hong Kong in 1963. Cur-rently, it has 29 fi ve-star ho-tels, but none in Russia.

In 2007, Mandarin unsuc-cessfully tried to obtain permission to manage a hotel on Moscow’s Tvers-kaya Street.

was transformed to host the APEC Summit in Septem-ber 2012. The original plans called for the creation of a recreational area on the is-land.

If Iida decides to go ahead with the investment, it will receive preferential treatment, since Russky Is-land is on the verge of gain-ing priority development territory status, a represent-ative of the governor of Pri-morye territory said.

Residents of a priority development territory are exempt from the payment of VAT and income taxes for 10 years.

The Iida Holding has a 25-per-cent share in Japan’s residential housing market.

gas supplies to China via the western route and the schedule of further prepa-rations for the signing of the contract.

In November 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed a framework agreement on the supply of gas via the western route. At the ini-tial stage, gas supplies to China in this area may be 30 billion cubic meters per year. In May 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed a 30-year contract to supply natural gas via the Power of Sibe-ria pipeline.

View of the bridge to the Russky island in Vladivostok.

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03RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.asia.rbth.com Politics

Diplomacy Defence and economic cooperation revive strategic relations

RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHASPECIAL TO RBTH

The strategic relationship

between Russia and

Vietnam has been growing

closer and is connected to

cooperation in the areas of

oil exploration and defence.

Why ties with Vietnam are on the upswing again

Russia-Vietnam ties that seemed to be cooling after the end of the Cold War are warming up all over again. More than 20 years after Moscow abandoned its largest foreign base, Rus-sian military aircraft are once again welcome visi-tors at Cam Ranh Bay.

The renewed Russian presence in Vietnam has predictably set the alarm bells ringing in the Penta-gon, with the Commander of the US Army in the Pa-cifi c confi rming that Rus-sian strategic bombers cir-cling the massive American military base in Guam are being refuelled at Cam Ranh Bay. On March 11 Washington wrote to Hanoi requesting that the Viet-namese authorities not as-sist Russian bomber fl ights in the Asia-Pacifi c. The Vi-etnamese reaction was to remain publicly silent.

The value of the partnershipLocated at the gateway to the Indian and Pacific oceans, Vietnam is of criti-cal importance to Russia. Permanent basing of air and naval assets in Vietnam helps the Russian Pacific Fleet solve its problem of having to pass through the narrow straits of the Sea of Japan to gain access to the Pacifi c.

To be sure, the current Russian presence is mini-mal compared with the fi re-power of the 1980s, when Moscow’s Pacifi c fl eet con-sisted of an incredible 826 ships, including 133 subma-rines, 190 naval bomber jets and 150 anti-submarine aircraft. In fact, back then Alvin H Bernstein of the US Naval War College had written the Russian build-up is “unlikely to have a specifi c, aggressive, region-al intent since that would be quite out of character for

A MiG-21 jet that took part in the Vietnamese war.

a power” that has revealed itself as “cautious and non-confrontational”.

Economic angleAccording to a research paper by Portugal-based academics Phuc Thi Tran, Alena Vysotskaya G. Vieira and Laura C Ferreira-Perei-ra, “The acquisition of mil-itary capabilities is critical, not only purely for the sake of defence and strategic cal-culations, but also for the important function it plays in the safeguarding of both economic interests and the security of oil fi eld explo-rations in the South China Sea. This latter aspect is particularly critical given the role that Russia has been playing herein. Indeed, the lion’s share of these ex-ploitation projects has being undertaken by Viet-nam jointly with Russia.”

While defence gets more traction in the media, it is energy that’s the single big-gest area of cooperation be-tween Moscow and Hanoi. The Russia-Vietnam joint venture Vietsovpetro has generated big dividends for both countries. The compa-ny has produced more than 185 million tonnes of crude oil and more than 21 bil-lion cubic metres of gas from oilfi elds in the South China Sea. Nearly 80 per cent of Vietnamese oil and

gas comes from Vietsovpet-ro, and the income corre-sponds to around 25 per cent of gross domestic prod-uct. Russia has also made considerable investments in Vietnam’s heavy and light industries, transportation, post, aquatic culture and fi shing. These projects have led to other spin-offs – im-pressed by the profi ts gen-erated by Russian corpora-tions, a slew of other companies such as Mobil, BP and TOTAL have upped investments in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s strategic hedg-ing towards Russia is close-ly connected to its econom-ic cooperation in oil exploration, which brings signifi cant economic ben-efi ts to both sides. Strong defence ties between the two countries has enabled Vietnam to acquire modern military equipment, provid-ing the country with the ability to advance joint ex-plorations of oil and gas de-spite growing Chinese op-position towards these projects.

At the same time, Russia is returning to reclaim its great-power legacy. Vietnam offers Moscow a myriad of opportunities to secure po-litical and economic infl u-ence with the various emerging powers in the heart of the most dynamic region on the planet.

4FACTSABOUT ARMS

1  In 2011 Vietnam acquired two Gepard-class guided missile

stealth frigates from Russia at a cost of $300 million.

2 Vietnam’s legendary air force acquired 24 Su-30 combat jets

from Russia, and by the end of 2015, it will operate 36 Sukhois.

3  In 2009, Vietnam signed a $3.2-billion deal with Russia that

includes six Kilo class sub-marines and construction of a submarine facility at Cam Ranh Bay.

4 Vietnam also ac-quired Svetlyak-class fast patrol boats

with anti-ship missiles; 12 frigates and corvettes of Rus-sian origin; and two Molniya-class missile fast attack ships.

To be sure, the current Russian presence is minimal compared with the firepower of Moscow’s Pacific fleet in the 1980s

R E A D O N L I N E :

CHINA LAUNCHES

THE WORLD’S

LONGEST FREIGHT

TRAIN ROUTE

asia.rbth.com/46921

RUSSIA COULD GAIN

FROM CHINA-SOUTH

KOREA FTA

asia.rbth.com/46827

VUNG TAU: A

TROPICAL ABODE

FOR RUSSIANS IN

VIETNAM

asia.rbth.com/46825

CRISIS IN RUSSIAN

CLOTHING SECTOR

CREATES

OPPORTUNITIES FOR

SOUTHEAST ASIAN

EXPORTERS

asia.rbth.com/46589

25 YEARS OF

POST-SOVIET RUSSIA:

HOW FAR HAS THE

COUNTRY COME?

asia.rbth.com/46869

WHY RUSSIA WILL

NOT RETURN THE

SOUTHERN KURILS

TO JAPAN

asia.rbth.com/46797

S U B S C R I P T I O N

PHO

TOSH

OT/V

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04 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.asia.rbth.comBusiness

ALEXEI LOSSANRBTH

Russian banks reflect on

borrowing from Islamic

banks, which could help to

tackle their credit shortage,

caused by the cooling of

relations with the West.

Islamic funds offer hope in crisisFinance Western sanctions-hit companies mull strategy to overcome funding difficulties

Islamic fi nance could help Russian companies hit by Western sanctions to gain access to credit, Rustam Minnikhanov, president of the predominantly Muslim-populated Russian repub-lic of Tatarstan, said at the Kazan Summit Forum.

“Muslim countries did not join attempts to isolate our country on the interna-tional arena, and the latest events in the world econo-my have shown that Islam-ic banks help counter world crises and supplement the world financial system,” Minnikhanov said. He added that this Islamic fi -nance could not complete-ly substitute Western cred-it, but instead could provide Russian companies with an

important fi nancial instru-ment. According to IMF’s latest calculations, by the end of 2015 the volume of Islamic fi nance around the world will amount to $3.4 trillion.

“Against the backdrop of world crises, the importance of Islamic fi nance only in-creases, because all the op-erations in this scheme are backed up by real money, while investments become secure and do not carry any risks,” said Qatar’s Under-secretary of Economy and Commerce Sultan al-Khat-er. According to the re-quirements of Islamic banking, it is prohibited to charge interest while lend-ing, while receiving credit essentially implies ex-changing one commodity for another.

Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, president of the Is-lamic Development Bank, said, “Islamic fi nance is by nature tied to real econom-ic activity, which is why such a scheme allows the

optimisation of the inter-nal resources.” He added, “The concept of dividing risk in Islamic banking stimulates healthy fi nancial practices. In Islamic fi-nance, the transactions are tied to real investments, which helps avoid specula-

tion and the instability re-lated to it.”

Al-Madani suggested that Tatarstan could be pro-moted as “an Islamic fi-nance hub in Russia”.

According to Rustam Minnikhanov, Russian banks, including the coun-

try’s largest bank Sberbank, are currently showing an interest in Islamic fi nance. One of the advocates of the development of Islamic banking in Russia is the head of Sberbank, former Russian minister of eco-nomic development, Ger-man Gref.

“There are still problems with taxation and the lack of qualifi ed personnel, but with the help of our col-leagues in the Russian gov-ernment, we will be able to make this process more dy-namic,” Minnikhanov said. One example is Tatarstan’s largest bank, AK Bark, which has already attract-ed fi nancing in accordance with Sharia regulations.

In January 2015, the local Alliance Insurance Compa-ny started selling an Islam-ic insurance product called Khalal Invest.

Minnikhanov also told RBTH that the develop-ment of Islamic banking in Russia should be done on a federal level and that there is no talk of creating a unique fi nancial zone in Tatarstan. “Today the Kazan Summit is a plat-form that must change the attitude that Russians and Russian regions have to-wards Islamic fi nance, and this is our mission,” he said.

IRINA VINOKUROVARBTH

The new portal is a totally

open resource that does

not require user

registration, and promises

to become popular among

the general public.

Open source will offer easier access to databases

Energy New Russian-backed portal brings all ESCAP data under one roof

A team from Russia, which has been one of the most active participants in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific or ESCAP, was instrumental in the development of the Asia Pacifi c Energy Portal (asiapacificenergy.org), whose launch ceremony took place in Bangkok in late May.

An important factor in the success of multilateral dialogue in this fi eld today

is to create unifi ed databas-es of current and updated information and ensure easy access to them. It is to solve this problem that the Asia Pacifi c Energy Portal was designed.It is a totally open resource that does not require user registration, and promises to become popular among the general public, and not just within the narrow circle of ESCAP experts. All this is thanks to the original concept, an up-to-date platform and a unique opportunity to ex-tensively explore energy is-sues in the region almost in a single click.

“The driving objective of the portal is to make infor-mation easier to access and also centralised,” says the author of the project’s con-

cept and an ESCAP con-sultant, Kim Roseberry.

“There is data out there and you can fi nd it, but you have to do research and that could take literally days. We tried to make data very fast, very interactive and enable a user to ask the question and find the answer in a very short period of time. Here you seek to the data within seconds and just look at the visualisation of that data.”

One part of the portal is the statistical data from ESCAP databases, based on information of the Interna-tional Energy Agency, which in turn gets it direct-ly from the statistical ser-vices of the region. Al-though these data are just relevant, but not new, the IEA publishes it openly for the fi rst time as part of the action plan for the ex-change of information, adopted during the Vladi-vostok forum.

The other part of the por-tal is information about the legislation and regulation of the energy fi eld by the

state institutions in the re-gion.

Sergey Tulinov, Econom-ic Affairs Officer in the En-ergy Security and Water Re-sources Section of the Environment and Develop-ment Division, ESCAP, says, “The portal is a part of the bigger project to promote energy cooperation in the Asia-Pacifi c. It is done by the UN and by ESCAP, but with Russian participation and fi nancial and substan-tial support.”

He adds, “The idea is to provide energy information, policy, data, and just about everything. This idea was fl oating here for 5-6 years, but it felt like we were wait-ing for the right moment. So we wrote a concept and found a very good software company, located in Bang-kok that is small but very active and innovative.” The next stage of development of the portal is to create a single ‘map’ of the energy infrastructure in the region, which will bring together data on all facilities of the energy sector.

Islamic finance could provide short-term relief to Russian companies.

Muslim-populated Tatarstan could be promoted as “an Islamic finance hub in Russia”.

This April, Russia Direct released its comprehensive ranking of

Russian and post-Soviet Studies programmes in US universities,

together with an analysis of the current state of Russian Studies

programmes in the US. While bringing together top experts

(including Harvard’s Alexandra Vacroux, Georgetown’s Angela

Stent and Rhode Island University’s Nicolai Petro), the report will

address the major challenges facing Russian Studies programmes

in the US and ways of tackling them.

REGISTER TODAY AND GET A 30% DISCOUNT AT:WWW.RUSSIA-DIRECT.ORG/SUBSCRIBE

BEST RUSSIAN STUDIES PROGRAMMES 2015

April Quarterly Report

Russia Direct is a forum for experts and senior Russian and

international decision-makers to discuss, debate and understand

issues in geopolitical relations at a sophisticated level.

RUSSIA-DIRECT.ORG

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05RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.asia.rbth.com Business

Sourat

RakhimbabaevEXPERT

It is too early to say that the crisis is over but it is certainly on the de-cline, and next year

Russia is going to see some economic growth.

Some analysts believe that the Russian economy will contract for another couple of years, while oth-ers expect a small growth in the GDP next year. The government, though, is of the opinion that the cri-sis is over. It is not easy to find an informed an-swer to this question and we must now decide what we consider as a crisis. If we take the fall of the stock market index by more than 10 per cent as a sign of a crisis, the an-swer is a clear yes, but now the market is per-forming well. Another sign of a crisis is the de-valuation of the national currency. Again, the an-swer is yes. At the end of 2014, the Russian ruble had lost 60 per cent of its value, but since then ap-preciated by 40 per cent. The third feature in a cri-sis is an increase in the key interest rate of the Central Bank. For this, the answer is also yes, al-though the rates are grad-ually being cut. So, the ex-perts have all three “yes” answers, but at the same time, the latest data shows that the Russian economy is visibly on a path of growth again.

In the medium term, the IMF expects annual eco-nomic growth in Russia

COMMENT

Questions linger over the health of economy

to be at the level of 1.5 per cent a year. Moreover, there are positive aspects which the country has received as a result of this crisis. Com-panies that have more or less modern formats of business, confi dently con-duct their business further. Recently the World Bank improved its GDP forecasts for Russia in 2015-16. In 2015, the World Bank an-ticipates a decline in real GDP of Russia by not more than 2.7 per cent, and the growth rate in 2016 is es-timated to be around 0.7 per cent.

But the Russian forecast is slightly different. On May 21, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development an-nounced that in 2015, the decline in GDP could reach 1.8 per cent, but added that the Russian economy is ex-pected to grow by 2.3 per cent in 2016 and 2.5-2.7 per cent in 2017. The ministry added that this is a con-servative estimate. So, who do we believe? It is too early to say that the crisis is over but it is certainly on the de-cline, and next year Russia is going to see some eco-nomic growth. The ruble has stabilised, exports are increasing, major projects go on as per plans and eco-nomic activity is picking up. For some, the crisis is over, and for others it is still around. We can unanimous-ly agree that a lot of hard work is required to restore Russian economic growth levels to what we witnessed a few years ago.

The writer is the executive director of the Thai-Russian Chamber of Commerce

ANDREI RETINGERSPECIAL TO RBTH

The Atomexpo 2015

international forum in

Moscow drew a record

number of participants,

with many nuclear

‘newcomer’ countries.

Forum sees mounting interest in nuclear energy

Atomexpo Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand express interest in power plants

A panel of experts at the Atomexpo 2015 interna-tional forum, which was held in Moscow in June, es-timated the share of nucle-ar energy in the global en-ergy mix to reach 20 to 30 per cent by 2050.

More than 2,200 delega-tes from 47 countries came to the forum, which is twice as many as a year ago. The discussions were attended by foreign experts, with a large number from Malay-sia, Bolivia and Kenya. They expressed interest in the safety features and cost effectiveness of Russia-de-signed nuclear plants, and the management of spent nuclear fuel.

The highlight of Atomex-po 2015 was the signing of a large number of coope-ration agreements between Russia’s state-owned nu-clear energy corporation Rosastom and countries that are taking their fi rst steps on the path of the pea-ceful use of nuclear energy.

Russia initiated a part-nership with Tunisia and Indonesia, and even signed a roadmap for cooperation with Ghana. “Only research reactors operate in Ghana, but the country can recei-ve its fi rst nuclear reactor thanks to the cooperation

with Russian specialists,” Alexander Uvarov, an in-dependent expert and the editor of the web portal AtomInfo, said.

A number of countries have shown a serious inter-est in a floating nuclear power plant and mobile energy stations showcased at Atomexpo 2015. “Ro-satom is just completing the construction of the first floating nuclear power plant at the Baltic Shipyard. It will be delivered next year,” Uvarov said.

Floating power units are adapted for use in remote and not easily accessible areas along the banks of major rivers and seashores. This technology becomes of great interest to island sta-tes.

Nuclear power plants give a country an independent source of power supply.

Thailand is among the countries looking to deve-lop the peaceful use of nu-clear energy. Back in 2008, Thailand announced that it planned to build two nu-clear power plants that could signifi cantly help in-crease its electricity gene-ration. Russian specialists can help the country in the development of nuclear energy and basic research in the nuclear field. The foundation for cooperation has already been laid.

In September 2014, the parties signed a correspon-ding memorandum. In April of this year, the fi rst mee-ting of a bilateral working group on the peaceful use of atomic energy was held in Bangkok.

“With our Thai partners,

we discussed the possibili-ties of cooperation in va-rious fi elds of nuclear ener-gy, such as nuclear safety and radioactive waste ma-nagement, the use of isoto-pes for the needs of indus-tries, including agriculture, medicine, training of pro-fessionals of all levels for the nuclear industry and the use of applied research in nuclear physics,” said Nikolai Drozdov, director of the international busi-ness department of the state corporation Rosatom.

With the construction of nuclear power plants, a country gets an indepen-dent source of power supply, thereby strengthening its energy security. The eco-nomy also receives a power-ful development impetus.

W E P R O V I D E O U R A U D I E N C E

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06 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.asia.rbth.comBusiness

KIRA EGOROVARBTH

Russia’s economic crisis and

the ruble’s devaluation have

led some Asian airlines to

cancel their flights to

Moscow. But other carriers

are expanding.

As some airlines shut shop, others increase flights

Aviation Carriers respond to the growing demand from some Asian markets by widening their networks

The devaluation of the ruble led to a drastic reduction in demand for internation-al air carriers in Russia, which forced at least three Asian companies to stop op-erating in the country.

As of June 1, 2015, Cathay Pacific Airways stopped fl ying to Moscow. Company representatives say the de-cision was due to “commer-cial reasons” and “high ope-rating costs”. The Hong Kong-based carrier follows in the footsteps of Thai Airways, which stopped fl ying to the Russian capi-tal in February. In addition, popular budget carrier Air

Arabia cancelled its fl ights to Sharjah from Yekaterin-burg, Rostov-on-Don and Kazan.

Meanwhile, the market is witnessing a contrary trend:

FlyDubai, Etihad Airways and Sichuan Airlines are increasing their fl ights to Russia.

The Middle Eastern and Chinese carriers are putting

greater emphasis on fl ights to Russian regions, especia-lly to cities in the Asian part of the country.

Last month, Sichuan Air-lines started a fl ight from

Chengdu to Moscow. Des-pite the stagnation of the Russian market last year, Etihad Airways had an-nounced plans to increase freight capacity and the fre-quency of flights to the country.

From October 2015, FlyDubai will fl y to Novo-sibirsk and Nizhny Novgo-rod, expanding its network in Russia to 10 cities.

Oleg Panteleev, head of the Aviaport analytical ser-vices agency, says the re-gions are offering these air-lines better conditions than Moscow’s three busy air-ports - Vnukovo, Shereme-tyevo and Domodedovo.

Chinese companies con-tinue to consolidate their positions in Russia. “Cu-rrently, besides the Russian airlines flying to China, there is also the active pre-sence of Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan Airlines,” says Svetlana Pyatikhatka, exe-cutive director of the World without Borders Tourist As-sociation.

China is now connected with Moscow, St Peters-burg, Yekaterinburg, Novo-sibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Chita, Ulan-Ude,

Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalisk, Pytikhatka adds.

“New fl ights from China to Sochi are also being dis-cussed,” according to Pya-tikhatka. “This will increa-se the tourist fl ows to the region.”

The increase in flights from Asia refl ects the de-mand from the continent, says Alexander Burtin, Di-rector of Tez Tour.

Burtin says the ruble’s devaluation will lead to a 35-40 per cent year on year fall in overseas travel by Russians this year. “The bi-ggest fall is in the long-dis-tance fl ights (Thailand, Sri Lanka). The fall in demand at the end of 2014- begin-ning of 2015 was up to 60 per cent,” he says.

At the same time, ticket prices in rubles have been corrected in accordance with the strengthening of the ruble (currently the ex-change rate has stabilised at 51 rubles to a dollar).

Philip Brinkman Gene-ral Director of the Tripsta online tourist agency says that currently the most po-pular Asian destinations for Russians are India, Indone-sia and China.

ALEXEI LOSSANRBTH

A prototype plastic card for

the country’s new national

payment system was

presented in May. Ten

banks have already

shown interest.

Banking Autonomous financial system a response to US-imposed sanctions

The Russian authorities have created a prototype national payment card for use in the country’s new in-ternal payment system.

Mass production of the new payment card, called Mir (World), will begin in 2016.

As the Central Bank’s de-puty head Olga Skorobo-gatova stated at the official presentation of the card in Moscow on May 29, Ame-rican payment system MasterCard and Japan’s JCB have already expres-sed interest in issuing co-branded cards with the new system. The creators of the new card see the payment

systems of the BRICS coun-tries as future partners, she said.

According to Ilya Bala-kirev, chief analyst at in-vestment company UFS, the system is being created “at a rapid pace”, which has al-ready led to “various kinds of technical problems”. It will take some time to be-come clear whether the sys-tem receives the support of the population, said Bala-kirev.

The issue of the payment

card is part of a large-sca-le programme to create

an autonomous fi nan-cial system in Russia, launched as a coun-termeasure to the

sanctions imposed against Russia by the US over Moscow’s role in the Ukrainian crisis, which re-sulted in international pa-yment systems Visa and Mastercard ceasing to pro-cess card payments for cus-tomers of several Russian banks in March 2014.

To avoid a repetition of such a situation, on April 1 Russia launched a natio-nal payment system, in which payments are pro-cessed within Russia. The issuing of plastic cards is intended to be the next stage of the implementa-tion of the system, which Visa and Mastercard have now joined.

“The idea of establishing a national payment card

was not a direct result of the sanctions,” said Dmitry Bedenkov, head of the analytical department at Russ-Invest. “Although the activation of the process began after the introduc-tion of sanctions, this topic had been discussed to varying degrees earlier. The transition to a sanctions re-gime just increased the re-levance of creating domes-tic payment systems,” he said.

According to the Central Bank, 10 Russian banks are ready to issue the new card, including the sanctioned Bank Rossiya and credit institutions in Crimea, where all recognised inter-national payment systems pulled out following the im-position of sanctions and Russian banks have so far yet to venture. Incidentally, proposals for co-branding do not apply to the banks under sanctions.

A proto-

type plastic

card for Mir

Some Asian and Chinese air companies are increasing their flights to Russia.

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YEKATERINA SINELSCHIKOVARBTH

As sanctions continue to

take their toll on the

economy, an increasing

number of Russians are

finding themselves unable

to make ends meet.

More people joining ranks of the poor

Poverty 11 per cent of Russians were living below the poverty line in 2014

As Russia’s economy con-tinues to slide into reces-sion under the effect of Western sanctions and fall-ing relative incomes, fi gures published by Russia’s state statistics bureau Rosstat show that 16 million peo-ple, or 11 per cent of the population, found them-selves below the poverty line in 2014.

However, Russian experts claim that this fi gure is far too low: The Rosstat statis-tics are merely the official data, which analysts tradi-tionally see as unreliable. They warn that the official fi gures underestimate the

problem and that in 2015 almost one in fi ve Russians may fi nd themselves in dire fi nancial straits.

According to alternative estimates, even a year ago 25 to 40 per cent of Rus-sian citizens described themselves as poor.

Yelena Kiselyova of the Institute for Complex Stra-tegic Studies told RBTH that while 40 per cent is “certainly an exaggeration,” 30 per cent is “quite a rea-listic fi gure”.

“Official” poverty comes when incomes fall below the minimum subsistence level. Today, the minimum is 8,000 rubles a month ($150) per person. “Until re-cently, the number of poor in the country had been steadily declining since 2000. Even during the last crisis [in 2008] there was no signifi cant increase in the number of poor,” said

Kiselyova. But with wages and incomes shrinking, and most of this money going to cover food costs, housing and communal services, and other priority needs, there is no money left for other expenses, such as loan pa-yments.

“Today we are seeing an increase in the number of second and third loans that are taken out to service pre-viously taken loans,” said Kiselyova.

According to Sergei Smirnov, director of the Ins-titute of Social Policy at the Higher School of Econo-mics in Moscow, people are slipping into poverty faster than Rosstat thinks.

This year, as a result of the sanctions, consumer prices have increased by 20 per cent on average. If Smirnov’s forecasts are co-rrect, it is possible that by the end of the year one Rus-

sian in eight will be living from paycheck to paycheck.

A specifi c feature of Rus-sian poverty is that it is often those who work who are the most affected. “The salary level of many people is close to the subsistence level or slightly above,” said Kiselyova. According to official statistics, this is the case for 13 per cent of Rus-sian workers.

“It has become impossi-ble to live on a small pen-sion or salary,” says leading Russian sociologist Leon-tiy Byzov. “This is a very important factor, which we have been trying to leave behind for 15 years after the default of 1998, and now we have returned to it.”

What has changed during the current crisis is that today’s poor are not only people with social pro-blems.

According to public opi-nion surveys carried out in late March-early April 2015, the number of Rus-sians who see themselves as poor has increased by 25-30 per cent, he said.

So what steps is the Kre-mlin taking to combat ri-sing poverty in Russia? When asked about the mea-sures being taken by the go-vernment, the press service of Russia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Protec-tion reminded RBTH that insurance pensions have been indexed by 11.4 per cent (averaging 13,000 ru-bles, or $241 monthly), wel-fare payments by 10.3 per cent, and benefi ts for fami-lies with children and monthly payments for cer-tain categories of citizens by 5.5 per cent.

In turn, on May 23 Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin authorised the use of the state allowance paid for the birth of a second child as mortgage fee payments, as an additional measure to support families.

OLEG YEGOROVSPECIAL TO RBTH

A new social doctrine

recently adopted by

Russia’s Islamic clerics

defines the role and

outlook of Muslims in

contemporary society.

Islam ‘A believer must be a patriot’

This May, members of the Council of Muftis of Rus-sia, together with leading Islamic theologians, reli-gious scholars and academ-ics, drafted a new doctrine about what it means to be a Muslim in Russia. It com-bines recommendations to Muslims on a wide range of issues, from attitudes to the state to everyday mat-

ters. The provisions of the doctrine are supported both by Muslim sources, the Koran and Sunnahs (teach-ings and practices of the Is-lamic prophet Muhammad) and by Russia’s secular laws. The doctrine effecti-vely outlines the views of Muslim theologians that are loyal to the current autho-rities on what a true Mus-lim should be like.

Firstly, a true believer must be a patriot. “Love for one’s motherland is not only acceptable but is essential from the point of view of teachings of Islam,” the doc-trine says. This covers not only patriotic sentiments but also compliance with the law. It is prescribed that

Clerics come up with doctrine for Russian Muslims

a Muslim assumes obliga-tions of the social contract envisaged in the constitu-tion.

This is not the fi rst social doctrine to be adopted by Russian Muslim scholars. The previous one was pu-blished in 2001. In an in-terview with RBTH, one of the contributors to the 2015 doctrine, Damir Khayretd-inov, the vice-chancellor of the Moscow Islamic Insti-tute, explained: “Since the adoption of the fi rst doc-trine, the situation has changed. In Russia it has stabilised [the end of hos-tilities in the North Cauca-sus]. whereas for the rest of the world, unfortunately, the opposite is true.”

Khayretdinov pointed out that many young Mus-lims have become infl uen-ced by extremists and some have even travelled to the Middle East and joined te-rrorist groups there. One of the main tasks of the new doctrine is to keep the young generation within traditional Islam, he added.

The threat of radicalisa-tion of Islam is one of the reasons why the current doctrine deliberately focu-ses on peace, Khayretdinov said.

“The two biggest sections in the doctrine are devoted to Muslims’ peaceful co-existence with those of other faiths and the right attitude to jihad and takfi r. Takfi r is a practice whereby a religious leader declares that a particular state is a godless one and Muslims must fi ght against it. The doctrine says that takfir should not be applied now.”

The social doctrine combines recommendations to Muslims on a wide range of issues

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www.asia.rbth.comTravel

SLAVA SHIROKOVSPECIAL TO RBTH

While Russia is often

presented as a dark and

wintry place, in summertime,

the country comes alive and

is far more hospitable. It is

the perfect time to visit.

EXPERIENCE SUMMERTIME IN RUSSIA

WITH SUMMER IN FULL SWING, RBTH LOOKS AT THE

BEST-RATED WARM-WEATHER DESTINATIONS THE

COUNTRY HAS TO OFFER

RUSSIA’S TOP SPOTS

While Russia often hits in-ternational headlines, it’s rarely for its travel desti-nations. And yet, Russia is a vast country, with diverse natural, cultural and his-torical attractions. In sum-mertime, it opens up, and locals celebrate the good weather. And with the ruble being at such a low ebb this year, now is a particularly good time for internation-al tourists to visit.

2015 also sees Russia en-

joying the results of prepa-rations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The coun-try now has new tourist and transport infrastructure, which has made certain des-tinations much easier and more convenient for inter-national visitors to navigate.

Timeless Classics — Moscow and St Petersburg

1 More than 90 per cent of visitors to Russia visit Moscow and St

Petersburg, and for good reason.

These are the most icon-ic cities in Russia, and if you’re a fi rst-time visitor, stopping here for several days is an absolute must.

A p a r t f r o m w o r l d -famous sights like the Her-mitage and the Kremlin, both Moscow and St Peters-burg offer plenty of excit-ing activities – particularly during the summer.

From the inspiring White Nights Festival on the banks of St Petersburg’s Neva River to the colour-ful open-air food and music festivals in Moscow, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the long summer days and nights.

Sochi — the Perfect Blend of Sea and Mountains

2 The host city of the 2014 Winter Olym-pic Games has al-

ways been a popular resort among Russians. Sochi’s popularity lies in its unique geographic location.

Stretching along the Black Sea coast, Sochi is a place where you can enjoy almost every recreational activity imaginable. From soaking in therapeutic mineral springs with healing qualities to ski-ing at lofty mountain resorts; to lazy days sunbathing on the Black Sea Coast to re-energising in a traditional Russian “banya”, there are plenty of options for every-one here.

This year, after its major upgrade for the Winter Games, Sochi has brand new trains and hotels to make every tourist feel comfortable.

The Ultimate Rail Trip — the Trans-Siberian

3 This is probably the best time to take the Trans-Siberian rail-

road across Russia and Mongolia all the way to Chi-na. This year, costs per per-son on the famous route will be approximately $800 low-er than last year.

Start in either Moscow or St Petersburg and end in either Vladivostok or Bei-jing. Plan your trip to in-clude stops along the way in beautiful and historic cities like Yekaterinburg, Ir-kutsk and Ulan Ude. Ad-ditionally, the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar is an absolute must for any-one on this route.

The Trans-Siberian is one of the most exciting travel experiences on Earth, but it does require some legwork. It’s not too late to make the trip this year if you plan now.

The Rising Star of Russia — Kazan

4 Sometimes called Russia’s third cap-ital, Kazan, the

capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, deserves all the praise it gets. It doesn’t take long to get a sense of

the mix of Islamic, Euro-pean and Asian cultures in Kazan.

This multi-ethnic city is most famous for its colour-ful Qolärif Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Eu-rope; the Temple of all Re-ligions, which includes a mosque, a pagoda, an Or-thodox church and a syna-gogue; and the Kazan Kremlin. However, these sites are only the tip of the iceberg. Other top attrac-tions for visitors include a 16th-century fortress, the Raif monastery and the

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SEVEN COMPELLING REASONS

TO VISIT THE URAL REGION

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House of Tatar Cuisine, which is distinctly different from traditional Russian food. The city has conveni-ent links with Moscow and St Petersburg by train or plane and is celebrating the 1010th anniversary of its founding in 2015.

Far Eastern jewels — an Expedition Cruise to Remember

5 Nature lovers and ad-venture seekers will enjoy taking an ex-

pedition cruise along Rus-sia’s Pacific coastline and discovering the unspoiled nature of the Russian Far East.

Adventure cruise pro-grammes offer a wide vari-ety of activities, from whale watching to visiting remote Eskimo settlements. The best part about these trips is that every group member par-takes in nature conservation activities led by profession-al biologists, ornithologists and enthusiastic naturalists.

So, if spending a couple of weeks on a well-equipped expedition vessel and sur-viving the rough conditions

of the Far Eastern weather while enjoying some of the best natural scenery on Earth sounds like a plan for you, this cruise is just what you’ve been looking for.

Slava Shirokov, CEO of Travel All Russia and a keen globetrotter, recommends inspiring destinations for a tour of Russia.

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SIBERIA’S SEVEN WONDERS:

THE REGION’S MOST ASTOUNDING PLACES

TO VISIT

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.asia.rbth.comOpinion10

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SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS AND SECTIONS ABOUT RUSSIA ARE PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES, A DIVISION OF ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA (RUSSIA), IN THE FOLLOWING NEWSPAPERS: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, UNITED KINGDOM • THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, UNITED STATES • LE FIGARO, FRANCE • LE SOIR, BELGIUM • HANDELSBLATT, GERMANY• LE JEUDI, TAGEBLATT, LUXEMBOURG • LA REPUBBLICA, ITALY • EL PAÍS, SPAIN, CHILE, PERU, MEXICO • EL OBSERVADOR, URUGUAY • LA NACION, ARGENTINA • FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL • THE ECONOMIC TIMES, INDIA • MAINICHI SHIMBUN, JAPAN • GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA • THE NATION, PHUKET GAZETTE, THAILAND JOONGANG ILBO, JOONGANG R MAGAZINE, SOUTH KOREA • GEOPOLITICA, NEDELJNIC , SERBIA • NOVA MACEDONIJA, MACEDONIA • DUMA, BULGARIA

RUSSIA CEMENTS LEAD ROLE WITH BRICS PRESIDENCY

CONVERGENCE OF INTERESTS

The BRICS Summit, to be hosted by Rus-sia in Ufa from July 8-10, will be the sev-

enth meeting for the organ-isation since its establish-ment and the fi fth since the four BRIC countries were joined by the Republic of South Africa. Until recent-ly, the BRIC countries were united only in the imagi-nation of former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill, who created the ab-breviation in 2001 to defi ne the fastest-developing economies in the world and to offer his clients new in-vestment opportunities (the bank immediately began offering portfolios contain-

The rapid advance of radical Islamist ter-rorist groups repre-sent a threat both to

Russia and the United States, but they have most-ly asymmetrical interests in the region. The US, not to mention its allies, still re-mains a major buyer of Middle Eastern oil; a num-ber of states in the region are strategic partners of the US, having signed bilater-al security and defence treaties, so there are Amer-

ican military bases there. Russia has none of these. On the other hand, Moscow cooperates both with coun-tries that have a difficult relationship with the US and with some of its part-ners, like Turkey. On the whole, Moscow arguably does not have any vital in-terests in the Middle East. Accordingly, Russia and the US do not have any serious contradictions there, even if their administrations have different takes on cer-tain regimes and events. Hypothetically, this could create an opportunity for both countries to cooper-ate in the areas where they have common interests.

But what are those com-mon interests? First and

ing the four countries’ se-curities).

Russia has special rela-tions with BRICS. It was Moscow that breathed po-litical life into the BRICS stock exchange chimera. Back in 2006, on the initi-ative of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the first ministerial meeting of the BRIC countries was held in New York. Then in May 2009, in Ekaterinburg, Pu-tin’s successor Dmitry Med-vedev hosted the bloc’s fi rst summit. Even though there were no concrete results from that event, it had an important propaganda ef-fect for Russia: relations with the West at the time were at a low and Moscow demonstrated to the US and the EU that it had other infl uential partners.

In recent years, the or-ganisation has expanded its fi eld of activity. Besides the political image, it also began creating new inter-national regulations. For now, BRICS is most famous for its attempt to create an alternative to the Bretton Woods international fi nance architecture, which is dom-inated by the West. How-ever, in 2014, when it fi nal-ly became clear that the US Congress had blocked the IMF reform approved by the G-20 concerning the redis-tribution of votes in favour of the developing countries, BRICS participants agreed to create their own bank and a pool of national cur-rencies. In the future, this should help reduce the de-pendence of international fi nance on the dollar-euro

duopoly. So far these have been BRICS’s main achieve-ments. A key challenge to BRICS’s effectiveness is the specifi cs of its bureaucrat-ic system. BRICS is perhaps the only association in which the leaders’ summits do not represent the crown-ing of the presidency, but rather its beginning. Thus, one country prepares the agenda throughout the year, while another country made the decisions. Due to a lack of synchronisation, many initiatives remained poorly developed.

Russia decided to put an end to this.

Russia’s presidency for-mally began in May, mean-ing it has less than three months to set up the sum-mit; the 2016 summit in China will be the result of a fully fledged year-long presidency. Already within the framework of its man-agement, Russia is doing its best to expand the agenda: The Kremlin has asked all federal agencies to present their proposals concerning cooperation with BRICS. As a result, the Ufa sum-mit’s agenda has a total of 130 points. In Ufa, the Rus-sian administration will have an opportunity to pre-sent the country as a lead-er of the non-western world.

Presidency of BRICS will allow Moscow to position itself as a participant of an association that offers an alternative to the global world order. In the compa-ny of the largest economy in the world and the dy-namic leaders of South Asia, Latin America and Africa, Moscow can confi -dently say that it does not intend to return to the G-8.

Alexander Gabuev is director of the Russia in the Pa c i f i c R i m R e g i o n programme at Moscow’s Carnegie Centre.

foremost, there is of course the need to fi ght interna-tional terrorism and ex-tremism. Russia and the US both want stability in the Middle East. Even if Wash-ington, as many believe in Russia, has actually been seeking to create “con-trolled chaos” in the region, I do not think this would correspond to the long-term interests of the US regime change in the countries that are hostile to (or not con-trolled by) Washington, as it would create problems for the US, rather than ad-vantages.

However, US-Russia co-operation, even in the areas of common interests, is af-fected by a number of con-straints. The main one is the deplorable state of bilater-al relations and the result-ing deep mistrust between the two governments. Even once the Ukrainian crisis is settled, the situation is unlikely to change signifi -cantly. On one hand, the US supports several Islamist groups considered “moder-ate” in some Arab world countries that suffer from terrorism.

In turn, Russia believes these groups are almost as dangerous as the al-Qaeda branch operating in Syria and Lebanon. Abridged. First published in Russian in Kommersant Daily

Vitaly Naumkin is the di-rector of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Rus-sian Academy of Sciences.

US-Russia cooperation is affected by a number of constraints

Vitaly

Naumkin EXPERT

Alexander

GabuevJOUNALIST

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11

ARAM TER-GHAZARYANSPECIAL TO RBTH

The International Space

Station (ISS) may soon be

equipped with a newly

developed laser gun to help

protect it from space

debris.

New strategies to clean up spaceSpace The problem of space debris may have consequences for space travel and even for the Earth’s climate

In 2017, the ISS will set up the Extreme Universe Space Observatory, which will monitor space debris. If the project proves suc-cessful, the scientists will develop a laser gun. It is expected to fuse danger-ous particles from a dis-tance of about 100 kilo-metres and then direct them towards Earth where they will burn up in the atmosphere. The project was developed by the Riken Computational As-trophysics Laboratory of Japan.

Scientists believe that lasers represent just one of the possible way to clear low Earth’s orbit of un-wanted particles. Russia is planning to create the Li-quidator satellite scaven-ger by 2025, which will re-move parts from defunct satellites. The Lomonosov satellite, which will obser-ve space debris, is set for launch in December 2015.

Space debris flies at a speed of about eight kilo-metres per second. “The problem is very pressing,” Alexander Zheleznyakov, a scientist at the Tsiolko-vsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, told RBTH.“In recent years, small pie-ces of debris often hit spa-

cecraft, causing serious da-mage. A two-centimetre piece of debris can com-pletely destroy a spacecra-ft. If even a grain hits a pi-loted spacecraft, it will cause depressurisation and the death of astronauts.”

Where does orbital debris come from?Scientists around the world are trying to solve the problem of space de-bris. According to Ivan Moiseev, the scientifi c di-rector of the Space Policy Institute, until recently, Russian and American space services were trying to track the movements of debris pieces during launches of spacecrafts or to correct their orbits. “The laser is useful because it can heat up the debris,” Moiseev says. “When it starts evaporating a jet thrust is created. The de-bris flies towards the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up in it.”

The space debris issue became particularly acute after the collision of sate-llites Cosmos-2251 and Iri-dium 33 in 2009. The inci-dent literally “showered” low Earth orbit with de-bris at an altitude of 700-900 metres. Scientists have counted tens of thousands of large fragments of a few centimetres in size and mi-llions of smaller ones.

Another case that se-riously complicated the work of space services was an experiment by the Chi-nese military after they

The Earth is surrounded by space debris and scientists are looking at ways to deal with it.

shot down their own weather satellite in 2007. “The fragments of the mis-sile and the satellite will always revolve around the Earth,” Moiseev says. He believes that in order to prevent similar disasters in the future, it is neces-sary to introduce a legal framework for regulating space. Additionally Moi-seev thinks that the coun-tries participating in the ISS project should agree on how to share the costs of a laser gun being deve-

loped by Japanese scien-tists. “Until a decision is made, nothing important can be done,” he adds.

The situation is close to criticalThe problems associated with space debris have been studied since the early 1990s. Back then scientists from the US and the So-viet Union had already prepared a number of major forecasts that are starting to come true. Ac-cording to some experts,

the situation is gradually getting out of control.

“It is thought that the amount of debris will be critical when it will start reproduction [of debris] on a mass scale,” says Yury Zaitsev, head of the Insti-tute of Space Research. “We are now at a level that can be called close to the critical point.”

According to Professor Andrey Nazarenko, author of the book “Space Debris Modelling”, debris fission causes a dangerous process

when fragments collide at high speeds. “Measures such as lasers are local,” says Na-zarenko. “They can solve the problem of safety for one spacecraft or satellite. Ac-cording to our estimates, in some 200-300 years, humans will not be able to launch spacecraft because space de-bris will form rings similar to Saturn’s rings around the Earth. Our planet would simply be constrained by these small particles. It is possible that this could lead to serious climate changes.”

3STEPS OF THE ACTION PLAN

1  In 2017, the ISS will set up the Extreme Universe Space Obser-

vatory, which will monitor space debris. If the project proves successful the scien-tists will develop a laser gun.

2  Scientists believe that lasers represent just one of the possible

way to clear low Earth’s orbit of unwanted particles. Rus-sia is planning to create the Liquidator satellite scavenger by 2025, which will remove parts from defunct satellites.

3  The Lomonosov sat-ellite, which will ob-serve space debris,

is set for launch in December 2015. Space debris flies at a speed of about 8 km/sec.

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.asia.rbth.comScience&Tech12

Cosmodrome 60 years after Baikonur, Russia is building its own facility

ALINA POROSHINASPECIAL TO RBTH

An RBTH correspondent

visited the Baikonur

Cosmodrome, which marks

its 60th anniversary in

June, and the newly built

Vostochny Cosmodrome.

Taking off into a new future

Baikonur was the fi rst cos-modrome in the world and to this day it remains the largest. Yuri Gagarin be-came the first human to journey into space after launching into the cosmos from here. After the collapse of the USSR, Baikonur ended up in a different country – Kazakhstan. Rus-sia continues to lease the facilities. In 2004, the pres-idents of the two states signed an agreement ex-tending the contract through 2050.

In 2007, Russia decided to build a cosmodrome on its own soil. The new site for the ambitious plans will become the Vostochny Cos-modrome in the Amur Re-gion in Russia’s Far East. Many await the completion of its construction. The Rus-sian Space Agency (Roscos-mos) is waiting, as are those that dedicated their life’s work to Baikonur. Years ago, they left everything to come here and start their lives over from scratch. They are somewhat anxious, as they don’t what lies ahead for them. I went to Vostochny before fl ying to Baikonur. My fl ight from Moscow to Blagoveshchensk was in the evening. At the airport, we got into cars and drove along a bumpy road for another four hours to the

distant city of Uglegorsk. Black squirrels and grey hares keep running across the road. We made a stop on the steep banks of the Zeya River. The panorama that unfolded before me took my breath away.

The next day we went im-mediately to the Vostochny construction site, 20 minu-tes along the road through an absolutely blinding sandy cloud of dust. The construction workers, al-ready accustomed to ins-pections, paid no attention to us. “And what did you come to see?” a grey-haired friendly man asked us when he met us at the facility. “There is nothing in here, only a fence, sand, dogs…” However, the launch pad already loomed through the sand. And the fi rst buildings of the future city Tsiolko-vsky are rising in the villa-ge. A new space story is being written here. The Vos-tochny Cosmodrome is sup-posed to ensure Russia’s in-dependent access to space. In time, it is slated to be-come a major centre for space research and create new opportunities for the development of the Russian Far East and give a new im-pulse to the Russian space industry. However, the date for the cosmodrome’s ope-ning keeps getting pushed further into the future and the process itself is accom-panied by scandals tied to the waste and embezzle-ment of construction funds.

Before embarking on my fl ight to Baikonur, I had to write so many letters and send so many requests to

so many different govern-ment offices that all the joy of the upcoming trip nearly evaporated; every step was coordinated. Approval had to be obtained for each litt-le detail and my mobile phone never stopped rin-ging.

We fl ew for just over three hours. The view did not change for the entire last

hour of the fl ight. We land on the steppe. We go through many security checkpoints. “Tatyana, I un-derstand that everything needed to be checked in the 1960s. But there probably aren’t any cases of espio-nage now, are there?” I say after yet another document inspection. “You are wrong in thinking this way. All sorts of things happen here,” Tatyana replies. Seeing my eyes grow wide, she lets it be known that no details will be given out.

Finally, we reach the en-trance to the city. A wistful camel stands at the gate. As soon as we get through the security checkpoint, to the left and to the right,

green trees begin to fl ash in view, as if we have ente-red a new climate zone. The city has one foot in the USSR. I t i s seen in everything – the central market, the signs, the lack of 24-hour cafes. Half the city is dressed in the same uniform. They all work at the cosmodrome.

Over half of the world’s fi rst space launches were made at the Baikonur Cos-modrome. Among the many aircraft sent from here were the manned spacecraft se-ries Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz; the Salyut space sta-tions; Mir; the reusable Energia–Buran system; in-terplanetary spacecrafts; and scientifi c and military satellites. To this day, Baiko-nur is among the world lea-ders for launches per year.

Tatyana accompanies me for all three days in Baiko-nur. “You know, I am 43,” she says. “And I don’t know what’s ahead. Everything is here. My whole life is here. I understand that no one will take us there - to Vos-tochny. I don’t know what will happen to us. Although they have said that they won’t give up on Baikonur until 2050…” Tatyana looks at me. I remain silent and am surprised by her wo-rries. She is prepared to re-locate to the distant Amur Region and start everything all over. Again. There is an extraordinary pitch-black sky over Baikonur. And there are extraordinary people working there, peo-ple who lit up and still light up the stars of Russia’s space history.

Over half of the world’s first space launches were made at the Baikonur

Tatyana is prepared to relocate to the distant Amur Region and start everything all over

DARYA KEZINARBTH

By 2017 Russian technology

producers are planning to

create Russia’s first cluster

for designing underwater

robots for civilian and

military use.

Developers plan underwater robots in the Far East

Automation Military and civilian use

Developers of underwater robots in Russia’s Far East want to unite into one pro-fessional cluster. They plan to create new robots that would be able to spend months underwater carry-ing out challenging mis-sions and even replacing di-vers. They could be used for both military and civilian objectives, including shelf and geological exploration.

According to developers, underwater robots may be available in the Asia-Paci-fi c market in the near fu-ture. The most promising foreign partners in the crea-tion of robotic systems are India, China, South Korea, as well as a few potential collaborators in Southeast Asia.

The initiator of the Pri-morsky Cluster was the Concern Morinformsystem-Agat JSC. The company has been developing automatic managing systems for the Russian fleet for over 60 years. Within the fra-mework of the cluster the developers also plan on creating a system that will help to control robots from a great distance.

“The marine robotic sys-tem will be constructed in modules, which will make it universal,” said Maria Vo-robieva, Morinforsystem-Agat’s press secretary. The developers hope that the cluster will assist in the de-fense capability of Russia’s Pacific Region. “With the help of our partners, we plan on creating a compre-hensive solution, one that will be used for defending Russia’s borders and eco-nomic interests, as well as for civilian use,” added Vo-robieva.

Twenty Russian enterpri-ses are planned for the clus-ter, including the Tetis group, Okeanpribor and Gi-dropribor Underwater Ar-mament. In total the asso-

ciation will be supported by more than 100 industrial and scientifi c organisations.

Several specialised scien-tifi c-research institutes and production enterprises al-ready operate in the Far East.

For example, the Institu-te of Marine Technology produces apparatuses that are used in the North Sea, Black Sea and the Pacifi c Ocean fl eets.

This institute created the Klavesin-1R robot, which is capable of submerging to a depth of 6,000 metres. It proved its usefulness on the Arctic seabed, where no other robots or technologies can function due to the low temperatures.

Klavesin-1R helped scientists gather proof that the Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean is a continua-tion of Russian territory. Currently, the robot is being used by the Russian Minis-try of Defence.

One of the world’s most experienced underwater ro-botic technology teams works at the Far Eastern Federal University. With the cluster’s help the universi-ty hopes to create un-derwater autonomous and remote-controlled robots that will extract oil and mo-nitor the ecological situa-tion and security matters.

Despite the great poten-tial of these Russian scien-tists and the robots’ deve-lopers, their innovations are not breaking into the mar-ket quickly enough.

Problems exist related to the marketing and commer-cialisation of the already completed models. The ini-tiators of the Far East clus-ter hope to solve this pro-blem.

“In order for these un-derwater robots to catch on fi rst of all a strong indus-trial partner will be nee-ded, one that would help bring the idea to the level of an authoritative model with large industrial poten-tial,” says Tskhe.

“We have high expecta-tions for the cluster becau-se its aims are the commer-cialisation and promotion of Russian developments.”

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.asia.rbth.com Culture

13

ELENA KORENEVSKAYASPECIAL TO RBTH

In the USSR, animation

was a huge cultural

phenomenon. RBTH has

compiled a selection

of the most cherished

examples of the genre.

Cartoon characters who left their mark

Animation In an era when following Western trends was frowned upon, home-grown creativity was the alternative

1. The Bremen Town MusiciansIn 1969 in the USSR, things like rock music, fashion magazines, hippies and other cultural trends that were fl ourishing in the West were considered hostile and were accordingly banned from official media. But it seems Soviet anima-tors may have reasoned that if they couldn’t do it in real life, at least they could make a cartoon of it. And so animated rock opera The Town Musicians of Bremen was born.

The Troubadour wears a Beatles haircut, fl ared pants and a disco shirt with poin-ted lapels; his love interest, the Princess, sports a mini dress straight out of the la-test fashion magazines, and they sing together: “Our carpet is a meadow, our walls are trees, our roof is the bright blue sky! The glittering walls of palaces will never be a substitute for our freedom”.

In fact, everyone born in the USSR knows this “hip-pie-esque” song.

Complete the picture with the Rooster in disco glasses, the Ass in its silly cap, and lute-shaped gui-tars for everyone, and there you have early 70s pop cul-ture in one children’s car-toon. No wonder everyone loved it, and even now The Town Musicians of Bremen remains one of the most loved and most well-known Soviet animated fi lms.

All the male parts (except for the Ass) in The Town Musicians of Bremen are sung by one man – actor Oleg Anufriyev.

2. Nu, Pogodi! (Just You Wait!)Soviet children had their own Tom and Jerry, only in-stead of a cat and mouse, they had a wolf and a hare. This is Nu, Pogodi!, once the most popular animated series in the Soviet Union.

The plot is simple: The Wolf (just Wolf, no given name) tries to catch the Hare. However, Nu, Pogodi is anything but a Tom and Jerry clone. Of course, it’s a slapstick comedy with chases and comic falls, but social satire is also invol-ved: The Wolf is a caricatu-re of the kind of “hooligan” disapproved of by Soviet society. He smokes, drinks and wears stylish clothes – like a Hawaiian shirt or bell-bottom pants.

The Hare, on the other

Soviet-era animation is still regarded as national heritage.

hand, is a model Soviet teen – modest, engaging in sports activities, always eager to help others. But, as a typi-cal Soviet teen, the Hare is also very cunning and loves to play harsh pranks, mainly on the Wolf.

The cartoon scarcely has any dialogue: Just remem-ber that “Nu, Zayats, pogo-di!”, the Wolf’s catchphrase, means “Just you wait, Hare!”, and you are all set. But don’t turn off the sound completely: in Nu, Pogodi you can hear popular music of the time, including the Western tunes that Soviet people had no chance to hear on the radio. The Nu, Pogodi! franchise is still ac-tive, with the latest series released in 2012, although only the 16 series made in 1969-1986 are considered classic.

3. Gena the CrocodileGena the Crocodile is a three-episode stop-motion animated fi lm that holds a kind of cult status among Russians. It is a story of the friendship between the title character, Gena the Croco-

dile, who has a steady job working at the zoo, and Cheburashka, a fl uffy ani-mal with enormous ears who has arrived in the So-viet Union from Africa in a box of oranges.

The plot is simple and sweet. The characters, even the bad ones like the old crone Shapoklyak and her pet rat, are excessively cute and the soundtrack is per-fect. Gena’s song about his birthday (which you can hear in Episode 2, Chebu-rashka) has become a Rus-sian classic.

Since 2004, Cheburashka himself has become an offi-cial mascot of the Russian Olympic team. But the se-ries’ fame has spread even wider. A Japanese anima-tion studio recently rema-de two episodes of the show: One features Cheburashka in an original story and other one is a direct remake of the Soviet series.

4. The Mystery of the Third PlanetWriter Kir Bulychov was enormously popular in the USSR for his children’s sci-ence-fi ction novels about Alisa, a schoolgirl from a hi-tech communist future. The Mystery of the Third Planet is a 1981 adaptation of his novel.

The Mystery is an ani-mated movie with a com-plicated detective plot in-volving space-travel, intergalactic criminals, var-ious aliens and, of course, robots.

But there is more than just an intricate storyline to this fi lm: like The Town Musicians of Bremen it re-presents its era in a nuts-hell. The Mystery has al-most all that early 80s pop culture can offer.

Check out the wonderful electronic progressive “outer space” soundtrack, the bright disco colours and the overall futuristic feeling of the fi lm.

Best-known cartoon characters

The Bremen Town Musicians The Troubadour wears a Bea-tles haircut, flared pants and a disco shirt with pointed lapels; his love interest, the Princess, sports a mini dress out from fashion magazines...

Nu, Pogodi! (Just You Wait!) The plot is simple: The Wolf (just Wolf, no given name) tries to catch the Hare. However, Nu, Pogodi is any-thing but a Tom and Jerry clone.

Gena the Crocodile It is a story of the friendship between the title charac-ter, Gena the Crocodile, who has a steady job working at the zoo, and Cheburashka, a fluffy animal with big ears.

The Mystery of the Third Planet The Mystery is an animated movie with a complicated de-tective plot involving space-travel, intergalactic criminals, various aliens and robots.

a s i a . r b t h . c o m

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www.asia.rbth.comLiterature14

ALEXANDRA GUZEVARBTH

The Tolstoys can claim to

be the second-largest

family from the Russian

nobility, after the

Romanovs. Leo Tolstoy has

around 400 descendants.

Tracking down TolstoysLegend A devoted family man in his lifetime, the literary lion engenders the same loyalties from his descendants

The importance of family values was a theme that Leo Tolstoy explored thorough-ly in his work. His novel Anna Karenina presents the idea of family as something almost sacred, and one of the central characters in War and Peace, Countess Natasha Rostova, who is first depicted as a flighty and rather promiscuous girl, later fi nds real happi-ness with her family and her children. Tolstoy’s au-tobiographical trilogy, which comprises the nov-els Childhood, Boyhood and Youth, also revolves around his relationship with his relatives.

A devoted family man, Tolstoy had 13 children. Four died either in infancy or early childhood, while the rest mostly left Russia in the aftermath of the Rus-sian Revolution. During Tolstoy’s lifetime, all his fa-mily members contributed to the dissemination of his literary work and legacy, a devotion that continued after the author passed

Russian TV presenter

Fyokla Tolstaya.

Vladimir Tolstoy is Leo

Tolstoy’s great-grandson.

Tatyana Tolstaya, grand-

daughter of Alexey Tolstoy.

Great-grandson of the

writer, Pyotr Tolstoy.

This picture of an elderly Leo Tolstoy and his children was taken at his estate, Yasnaya Polyana, near Moscow.

away. Tolstoy’s wife, Sophia Andreyevna, copied – by hand, no less — War and Peace in its entirety nume-rous times; in 1917 his el-dest daughter Tatyana be-came the first director of his memorial museum, Yas-naya Polyana, while his other daughters Maria and Alexandra were his aides and authorised representa-tives.

The Tolstoys todayAccording to tolstoys.ru, there are currently almost 400 descendants of Leo Tol-stoy living in different countries. Quite a few of them continue their famous ancestor’s work, preserve his legacy and study his work.

One of them is Vladimir Tolstoy, 52, who is Leo Tolstoy’s great-grandson. During the 1990s, he wrote several articles to notify the public about the illegal log-

ging taking place on the grounds of the Yasnaya Po-lyana estate, and in 1994 he was appointed the museum’s director. Under his management, Yasnaya Polyana was revived and transformed into a major cultural centre.

Incidentally, it was Vla-dimir Tolstoy who organi-sed the fi rst convention for Leo Tolstoy’s descendants in 2000, returning the fa-mily members to their roots. The convention has since become a traditional event and is held on the estate every two years.

In 2012, Vladimir Tolstoy became President Vladimir Putin’s cultural adviser, while his wife, Ekaterina Tolstaya, took over the role of Yasnaya Polyana’s direc-tor.

Fulfilling Leo Tolstoy’s willWhen 2015 was designated

the Year of Literature in Russia, Vladimir Tolstoy was invited to join its organising committee, an appointment that came off the back of his organisa-tional role for 2014’s All Tolstoy in a Single Clickproject, which was one of the major literary events of the year.

The project involved di-gitising the complete works of Leo Tolstoy – comprising 90 volumes, including the writer’s letters and diaries – to make them available online free of charge. Seve-ral thousand volunteers from all over the world took part in the initiative, hel-ping to proofread the digi-tised material.

“The work was presen-ted as like a game, a com-petition of sorts: Partici-pants tried to do more than the others, proofreading as much as they could. It was a tremendous contribution

for future generations. I think we still do not fully comprehend the depth of what has been done,” says Vladimir Tolstoy.

“By creating an electro-nic version of his complete works, we actually fulfi lled Leo Tolstoy’s will – we made his work accessible to ever-yone,” says another great-granddaughter of the no-velist, famous Russian TV presenter Fyokla Tolstaya, who managed the project.

According to Fyokla, Tolstoy represents one of Russia’s “international brands”, and she is engaged in promoting his novels.

Tolstoy TVYet another great-grandson of the writer, Fyokla’s sec-ond cousin Pyotr Tolstoy, is also a TV celebrity: He pre-sented Russia’s main even-ing newscast, Vremya, which aired on Channel One, from 2005-12, and also hosted his own programme, Tolstoy: Resurrection, a ref-erence to Leo Tolstoy’s novel of the same name. Pyotr is a member of the Civic Chamber, a government body charged with coordi-nating the interests of citi-zens and authorities. Pyotr says his famous name has never helped or hindered him, but he did jokingly admit in one of his earlier interviews that it made his army service somewhat more difficult, as his army buddies sometimes refused to give him a hand, saying, “No, Tolstoy, you’re not get-ting anything from us, we got fed up with your gran-dpa back when we were in school.” Tolstoy’s works, in-cluding War and Peace, one of the longest novels ever written, are required rea-ding in Russian schools.

Another popular authorAnother famous member of the Tolstoy family is Taty-ana Tolstaya, granddaugh-ter of the famous Soviet au-thor Alexey Tolstoy, a distant relative of Leo’s. Even though she is not a direct descendant of Leo Tolstoy, she is a talented au-thor in her own right. Her most famous work is the post-apocalyptic novel The Slynx.

Just like some of her re-latives, Tatyana is also a fa-mous TV personality in Russia: Up until 2014, she hosted The School for Scan-dal, a popular talk show loved by Russian intellec-tuals.

asia.rbth.com/literature

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)www.asia.rbth.com Literature

15

Russia has declared 2015 as the Year of Literature. As a part of it, the Russian Em-bassy in Thailand, in coop-eration with the Thamma-sat University, held a short story contest that required participants write essays about paintings by cele-brated Russian artists.

A choice of three works – In the Vast Blue Skies by Arkady Rylov, In the Gar-den by Vladimir Pervunin-

sky, and Day and Night by Elena Zharskaya – was of-fered.

The jury headed by Pro-fessor Yodboon Loesrit se-lected the winner ahead of Russia Day, celebrated on June 12.

First place went to a story written by Phisit Churo-thong on Rylov’s painting.

The People’s Choice Award determined by Fa-cebook voting went to a story by Chalemchai Sriphanlom on Pervunin-sky’s work.

IRINA VINOKUROVARBTH

PHISIT CHUROTHONGCONTEST WINNER

CHALERMCHAI SRIPHANLOMCONTEST WINNER

Translating legendary paintings into words

Be a free spirit and fly to your freedom

The spirit to take to war

Contest Russia declares 2015 as the Year of Literature

In the Vast Blue Skies by Arkady Rylov. In the Garden by Vladimir Pervuninsky.

You want to know about something, you’ve got to check it out yourself. If you don’t open your mind, your vision, if you don’t develop your own sense of things, you will never know them. All things in the world have many sides and many col-ours no matter if you see them at the moment or not. Some things are locked in frigid frames of everyday rules and routines. The frames are like cages – in-fl exible, impossible to ex-pand. But not everything in the world can be caged. If you dare to break out of the cage, you will gain a new vantage point, you will see a different, much clearer view of things around you, and that is why breaking out of the cage is something worth doing. That is the way you discover the meaning and the value of freedom.

Look at the sky and think. You will see, the space up there is vast, it has no limits. Whichever angle you choose to look from, you can’t see it all at once. Has it ever occurred to you that you should try to get away from the rules and routines, from the cage in which your

Man is born imperfect. Lust, greed, anger, inner de-mons and desires – every-one has them since birth. These fl aws are the reasons for war. There hasn’t been a century without wars in human history. These fl aws make humans kill each other in order to achieve peace and safety for them-selves and their own, or in pursuit of a more comfort-able living. War is a thing that no one wants to hap-pen, but it is also a thing no one can prevent from happening or avoid it when it does.

That is why among human occupations there is such a profession as sol-dier, defender of country and tackler of troubles, the profession of being a brick in the great wall that de-fends the nation. All men have to take up that pro-fession and serve in the Armed Forces at some point in their lives, and many men become career soldiers. But only his battles and victo-ries can turn a mere man in uniform into a real sol-dier, a hero who brings fame to his family. Even if he dies in battle, a real soldier doesn’t lose his honour or shed his dignity. A real sol-dier is a gentleman and a

spirit dwells today? That there are many things you won’t ever learn about if you don’t touch them, if you don’t get that taste of some-thing new and different?

Try breaking out of the cage, try shaking off all things that fi x you in place, and crushing the frame into useless dust! Start anew, from scratch, from what-ever you fi nd in your mind. A quest in search of your

own, very individual free-dom is the best gift life can give you. You don’t have to live in a cage! Nature doesn’t. Freedom lives in the very fabric of Nature, and no one can ever rob Nature of its freedom.

There are lots of new places waiting for you out there. But you look like a bird that is, for some rea-son, unable to fl y. The only way for the bird to act is to train its body, teach it to sing in unison with its al-ready airborne spirit, so a habit of cooperation be-

tween them could form, and the ability to fl y will follow.

Then and only then the bird will learn how to fl y in a way that befits it. It will fl y wherever it needs to fl y. The bird has freedom, and its freedom is the es-sence of being a bird be-cause Nature created it that way. The bird will take up those physical and mental exercises which, in the end, will give it freedom. That is much better than idling and gradually forgetting how to fl y.

The bird thus discovers a new faculty in itself: the urge and ability to look for new things. It cracks the world wide open for its own beholding, and it doesn’t have to be afraid of being alone in it, for there are myriads of other birds out there, all in search of their own freedom.

A blink of an eye, and we see them fl ying in forma-tion, fl ying together, a sin-gle common purpose evi-dent in their fl ight, not one of them ever to be lonely again. Free spirits, every one of them, the birds yet can become not simply fellow travellers but parts of a whole – a fl ock purposeful-ly gliding across the blue vastness of sky.

All this is priceless expe-rience for the bird, the ex-perience of discovering new things. Not all is easy for the bird, there are always obstacles in its way...

The text is abridged

generous human being who sacrifices himself for the peaceful life of his people.

At war, a soldier’s life is always hanging by a hair. Sometimes in combat he has to face enemy weapons of all kinds, all targeting him alone. A soldier expects to be wounded and have scars. For his wounds he would need medicines but no chemical or herbal drug can be as good a balm for the wounds as the soldier’s own spirit, his own heart, when love dwells in it.

His Lady-love, gracious and gorgeous, with clear and beautiful eyes full of love, silk-soft skin, with the hands that pour the warmth of love upon the soldier’s heart. By beaming the light of her love on him across great distances she will help the soldier overcome the enemy and return alive. Re-turn to his home, where the spirit of love fi lls the rooms, to this garden that would live in his memory through-out the war, a silent witness to the promise he is now giving to his Lady: ‘I will

come back to you, my love’.She looks at him, wor-

ried about the dangers he would have to face in the war, somewhere in a far-off alien land. She will wait for him to come back. No one can predict when he will return. Only memories of being together, memories of love will be there to sustain her will to live and wait for months or maybe for years.

On the day he goes to war she cannot and doesn’t want to contemplate the possibility that he may not be coming back.

Her loving soul is full of pride for her soldier, and she is prepared to fortify his spirit for the oncoming fi ght with her love and faith in him, so he can stand like a wall in the way of the enemy of his country and his people.

They both are trying to delay the time when they have to say their goodbyes; they want the final mo-ments of parting to last longer. They look at each other and the best moments of their life together pass through their minds like photographic images, frame by frame.

Let’s hope that there will be a day for these two peo-ple when these pictures turn back into everyday re-ality of their lives once again.

The bird will take up those physical and mental exercises which, in the end, will give it freedom.

A real soldier is a gentleman ... who sacrifices himself for the peaceful life of his people.

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RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

www.asia.rbth.com

NEXT issue

27August

VISIT A SPACE CREATED FOR ALL THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT RUSSIAN CUISINE AND THE COUNTRY’S CULINARY TRADITIONS.

Learn the secrets of perfect Russian dishes:

rbth.com/russian_kitchen

• Russian Salad • Borsh • Schi

Cuisine16

IRINA VINOKUROVARBTH

For those in Thailand with

cravings for traditional

Russian cuisine, a couple of

small businesses in Pattaya

are now producing Russian

food locally.

Expatriates Catering to niche crowd

A pack of ordinary frozen pelmeni (meat dumplings) can always be found even in the smallest shop in Rus-sia, while the country’s su-permarkets have a complete range of dumplings with all sorts of fi llings. Russian ex-pats and tourists, however, struggle to get their hands on comfort food and their favourite products such as

rye bread, buckwheat, tvo-rog (quark), gingerbreads and pelmeni. Russian shops and small production facil-ities in Pattaya are looking to meet this demand.

Aram Bakery is run by a family from the Russian Far East. The Mkrtumian family moved to Pattaya from Bla-goveshchensk, equipped a production facility and re-ceived the necessary certi-fi cates to deliver fresh pro-ducts to supermarkets in Pattaya. They supply bread, sweet rolls, thin Armenian lavash bread, Russian gin-gerbreads, pastries and baklava.

The bakery makes its pro-ducts according to traditio-nal recipes from natural in-

Small-scale units in Pattaya process Russian products

gredients, avoiding the use of harmful additives, such as palm oil.

“My wife is a physician by training, and we have two children,” the company’s director Aram Mkrtumian says.

“We always carefully read the list of ingredients, when we buy them, for example, chocolate. And, of course, when we bake bread, cookies or any other product, we take care to make it not only delicious, but also high quality, and, of course, in no way har-mful to the health of our customers.”

The number of fans ofAram Bakery’s products is growing every day, and many come from Bangkok to stock their baklava and gingerbreads. People also arrive from Bangkok to stock up on other Russian food products.

The Best Frozen FoodCompany manufactures and sells sour-milk pro-ducts, spicy salted fi sh and frozen foods, such as varen-yky (Ukrainian dumplings) stuffed with strawberries, tvorog and potatoes, baked pirozhki (stuffed buns), cabbage rolls, cutlets, Kiev chicken and of course, pel-meni stuffed with pork, chicken, beef and lamb. Their products also don’t contain harmful preserva-tives and additives.

Recently, Best Frozen Food and Aram Bakeryagreed on a partnership, and are planning to open a few small shops in Pattaya as well as a warehouse for shipping their products to Bangkok.

ANNA KHARZEEVASPECIAL TO RBTH

Why would anyone ruin

perfectly good juice by

adding starch to it? And

why was it everywhere in

the Soviet era? Read about

Russian kissel.

Dessert Loved by some, hated by others, it was often the third course

Every Russian child has a few strong dislikes – for some, it’s the Russian-lan-guage school teacher; for others, it’s having to wear tights under pants in the winter. For me, it was kissel.

Kissel is like berry juice with starch in it. It was the gooey, disgusting, omnipre-sent nightmare of my chil-dhood. It was impossible to avoid kissel. It was always served in the cafeteria in my kindergarten. I remember having lunch at my best friend’s house and her mum putting a glass of kissel in front of me at the beginning of the meal. It would stare at me the entire time I was eating my soup and bread, trying to fi gure out how to disappear from their

Kissel — The juice that pretends to be a meal

apartment on the 15th fl oor before it was time to have “dessert”. Finally an hour or so after lunch was over, my friend’s mum would rea-lise I wasn’t going to even touch it and would kindly put it away.

One of the major perks of being a grownup is that kis-sel is officially out of my life. No more kindergarten ca-feterias, no more awkward meals at friends’ places. I was living the dream – until I realised that I couldn’t cook my way through the Soviet cook book without making it. Kissel was a cru-cial part of the Soviet diet. Granny agreed: “Kissel was everywhere – in every cafe-teria, and in the shops you could buy all sorts of varie-ties. They were ready made, too, sold in solid bricks – you just had to add water.”

My brother shares my ha-tred of kissel, unlike our mother and grandmother, who love it. My mum would apparently finish all the other kids’ kissel when she

was in kindergarten. Why, why wasn’t there someone like my mum in my kinder-garten?

Approaching the recipe for kissel, I tried to be open m i n d e d . M ay b e a p -proaching it again as an adult, I wouldn’t find it offensive at all. Maybe I could even tolerate it. But, as it turns out, when it comes to disgusting things to eat, there is no room for open-mindedness. Granny was sweet and ate all the kissel we made together. I told her that I couldn’t un-derstand why anyone would spoil perfectly good juice by putting starch into it and turning it into an inconsu-mable nightmare.

Granny suggested this may have been a way to make it more fi lling – appa-rently if you have a glass of kissel, which of course I’ve never done, you’ll be quite full. She says it was the tea or coffee of the Soviet times – often served as “tretye,” or the third course. A friend of Granny’s, who spent part of her childhood in an orpha-nage because her father was killed when she was 6 and her mother was arrested, says kissel was a favourite of the kids, and indeed if any of the orphans did an-ything wrong, they wouldn’t get a glass at lunchtime.

Granny says she doesn’t know anyone else who hates kissel as much as my brother and I do. I wonder if it’s be-cause we grew up with too much choice. Would we have disliked it so much, for example, if we had grown up in an orphanage? In any case, I am happy to go back to my kissel-free life!

RECIPE

Classic kissel

Ingredients:

1 cup cranberries;¾ cup sugar;2 tbsp starch.

Wash the berries with hot water then crush with a pes-tle or a spoon. Add ½ cup boiling water, rub through a sieve and squeeze through a cheesecloth. Set the juice aside.Put the berry remnants in a pan and add 2 cups of wa-ter. Put on the stove and boil for 5 minutes. Then strain and keep the juice. Add sugar to the juice and boil again on the stove until the sugar dissolves.Add starch and boil, stirring, until starch dissolves and mass has thickened. Add the reserved juice to the thick-ened mixture and stir well.

Russian expatriates struggle to get their hands on comfort food and their favourite products

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ZEEVA