M O S C O W Interview with Leonid Shishkin - Passport magazine

JUNE 2010 www.passportmagazine.ru 

Interview with Leonid Shishkin 

The non-Soviet aspects of Soviet Art 

Restaurant Reviews: L’Albero, Tatler Club and 21 Prime 

Timeless Torzhok 

Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

MOSCOW

5 

14 

22 

26 

36 

42 

3 What’s On in June 

5 Previews 

Chekhov Festival in June 

Exhibitions and Performances 

French Contemporary Art in Moscow 

10 Art 

Interview with Leonid Shishkin 

12 Cinema 

The Kinotavr and Moscow International 

Film Festivals 

14 Travel 

Torzhok 

St. Petersburg v. Moscow 

18 Russian Reflections 

Literature under Stalin 

1987 

The sale of Alaska 

24 Education 

Are Russian Children Too Stressed? 

26 Your Moscow 

Gorky Park, Sparrow Hills, Neskuchny Sad 

June 2010 

Contents 

31 Gourmet Moscow 

How to make: Coquelet with Tarragon and Cream, 

Fondant au chocolat 

34 Out & About 

38 Columns 

Deidre Dares 

Anth Ginn 

41 Book Review 

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

42 Family pages 

46 Wining & Dining Listings 

48 Distribution list

Letter from the Publisher 

John Ortega 

Owner and Publisher 

Event especially for disabled people 

An Open Theatre event for disabled people is being held on the 5th June in 

Ekaterinsky Park. Participants can take part in a variety of sports activities, 

receive information about jobs and education, communicate and listen to 

music. Special master-classes will be held. 

Everybody who wants to spend a Saturday in the open air is welcome. The 

long-term goal is to change society’s attitude to invalids. 

The lives of disabled people in Russia are still far from what is considered 

to be normal in other countries and in Russia their opportunities are very 

limited. Open Theatre aims to change all this. 

Sponsored by ROLF in Ekaterinsky Park, on the 5th June, Bolshaya Ekaterinskaya 

Ulitsa, Dom 27 (entrance from Olympic Propsect). Start: 15:00 For further info call Marina 

Glushkova, Julia Antipoba, (495) 967 9671. Mobile: 8 916 854 4973 meglushkova@ 

rikf.ru; YOAntipova@rolf.ru www.opentheatre.ru 

‘Usadba’ celebrates its anniversary 

‘Usadba’ real estate agency recently celebrated its 10 th anniversary in the 

Moscow real estate market at the Turandot restaurant. The day was spent in 

private, with employees and long-term customers. Besides, the anniversary 

year was marked by a move to the one of the best business centres of 

A-class in Moscow, which is situated in the truly deluxe residential area, 9 

Trekhprudny Lane. 

The ‘Usadba’ company started its development in the Rublevo-Uspenskoe 

highway area and continued its operation entering other market segments. 

It evolved from a small to a wide-ranging company. Today it is one the most 

outstanding representatives at the deluxe real estate market. 

Cover painting by Yuri Pimenov ‘Ball at Olympia’s House’ 

Owner and Publisher 

John Ortega, +7 (985) 784-2834 

jortega@passportmagazine.ru 

Editor 

John Harrison 

j.harrison@passportmagazine.ru 

Deputy Editor 

Elena Krivovyaz 

e.krivovyaz@passportmagazine.ru 

Sales Manager 

Valeria Astakhova 

v.astakhova@passportmagazine.ru 

Editorial Address: 

42 Volgogradsky Prospekt, Bldg. 23 

Office 013, 1st floor 

109316 Moscow, Russia 

Tel. +7 (495) 640-0508 

Fax +7 (495) 620-0888 

www.passportmagazine.ru 

June 2010 

Soviet Art, seemingly boring and Socialist Realist, turns out to be an amazingly rich juxtaposition of contrast- 

ing styles and genres. This is the opinion of gallerist, Leonid Shishkin, as he explains in an interview on page 10. 

Soviet Art has indeed become the theme of this issue, with a painting by Yuri Pimenov ‘Ball at Olympia’s House’ 

on the cover. In this month’s ‘Russian Reflections’ section, Tobie Mathews offers a chilling insight into literary 

censorship under Stalin, a time when Osip Mandelshtam (before he died in a labour camp) quipped: “Poetry 

is taken so seriously in Russia that people are even shot for it.” We all known that Alaska was Russian, but do 

we know how, and under what circumstances, the Russians sold off these extensive territories? In this issue we 

publish the first of a two-part series by Yury Samoilov on the sale of Alaska. 

In our travel section, Larissa Franczek takes us to picture-postcard, yet mostly unknown, Torzhok, only a four- 

hour train ride from Moscow. The one-upmanship present between Washington and New York, and London and 

Edinburgh for example, is also present in Russia, when citizens of the present day capital; Moscow, talk down their 

noses about yesterday’s capital St. Petersburg, and vice versa. This article on the subject by Maya Rusanova may be 

of interest to anybody planning a trip to the ‘Northern capital’, or interested in good old Russian ‘snobizm’. 

In our ‘Your Moscow’ section, Ross Hunter takes us for a quick tour of three interconnected parks: Gorky Park, Neskuch- 

ny Sad and Sparrow Hills, whilst Katrina Marie walks us down one of Moscow’s oldest streets: Bolshaya Ordinka. 

Whatever your interests, I hope there is something for you in this issue of PASSPORT. 

Arts Editor 

Alevtina Kalinina 

alevtina@passportmagazine.ru 

Designer 

Julia Nozdracheva 

chiccone@yandex.ru 

Webmaster 

Alexey Timokhin 

alexey@telemark-it.ru 

Accounting and Legal Services 

Vista Foreign Business Support 

Trubnaya St. 25/1, Moscow +7 (495) 933-7822 

Published by OOO Passport Magazine. All rights reserved. 

This publication is registered by the Press Ministry No. 

77-25758. 14.09.2006 

Printed by BlitzPrint. Moscow representative office: 

127051, Moscow, Petrovsky Boulevard, Dom 10. 

Wine and Dining Editor 

Charles Borden 

c.borden@passportmagazine.ru 

Book Reviews 

Ian Mitchell 

xana.dubh@ukonline.co.uk 

Contributors 

Ross Hunter, Elena Rubinova, Nika Harrison, Olga 

Slobodkina, Deidre Clark, Alina Ganenko, Vladimir Kozlev, 

Larissa Franczek, Maya Rusanova, Tobie Mathew, Yury 

Samoilov, Peter Mellis, Katrina Marie, Rashmi le Blan, 

Anth Ginn, Svetlana Grebenuk 

Passport occasionally uses material we believe has been 

placed in the public domain. Sometimes it is not possible 

to identify and contact the copyright owner. If you claim 

ownership of something we have published, we will be 

pleased to make a proper acknowledgment.

Wednesday, 2 nd 

One Republic 

Featuring the anthemic songwriting 

of Ryan Tedder, One Republic rose to 

prominence in 2007, when “Apologize” 

began its reign as the most popular 

digital download in American history. 

Hip-hop producer Timbaland took notice 

of the group’s audience and signed 

One Republic to his own Mosley Music 

Group, a joint venture with Interscope 

Records. Timbaland also remixed one 

of the group’s most promising tracks, 

Apologize, and included it on his own 

album, 2007’s Shock Value. The song 

quickly became a platinum-selling single 

in many countries, breaking airplay 

records in the UK, selling an unprecedented 

4.3 million digital downloads 

in America alone. 

B1 Maximum, 21:00 

Blackberry Café’s 

Gastronomic 

Celebrity 

Wednesdays 

In May, Blackberry Café held a masterclass 

gala-dinner with head chef Luisa 

Pestano of the luxury resort, Reid’s 

Palace, in Madeira, Portugal. Celebrities, 

businessmen, and expats - the 

event was all you could ask for! Every 

Wednesday the Café holds a Gastronomic 

Celebrity Dinner. Instead of 

going to a bar before the club, why not 

do something different? 

Blackberry Café, 10, Prospekt 

Akademika Sakharova, 

www. blackberrys.ru 

Thursday, 3 rd 

Oomph! 

Hailed as pioneers of the German ‘tanz 

metal’ (dance metal) scene and heavily 

influencing late-’90s acts like Rammstein, 

Oomph! were arguably one of the most 

controversial, influential, and popular 

German goth-industrial bands to emerge 

in the early ‘90s. 2009 onwards saw the 

20 th anniversary of Oomph! The band 

didn’t even think of taking it easy but was 

looking ahead towards the new decade. 


Tenors of the XXI Century 

Tenors of the XXI Century are leading 

soloists of the Moscow opera houses 

(the Bolshoi Theater, Stanislavsky 

and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, 

Novaya Opera) performing at the best 

venues in Milan, Dresden, New York, 

Tokyo, etc. Tonight Tenors of the XXI 

Century perform compositions by 

Spanish and Latin American composers. 

Participants: Alexander Zakharov 

(tenor), Maxim Paster (tenor), Yuri Medyanik 

(violin, bandoneon). 

MMDM, Chamber Hall, 19:00 

Tim Amann 

(UK, jazz) 

The Tim Amann Band plays melodic and 

soulful contemporary jazz. With various 

additions over time, the original quartet 

comprises Tim Amann (piano, composer 

and arranger), Sam Rogers (saxes), Adam 

Gilchrist (bass) and Carl Hemmingsley 

(drums). The group plays a wide variety 

of lyrical original jazz compositions with 

influences ranging from folk to soul and 

gospel. The four core members of the 

group are also part of the award winning 

Walsall Jazz Orchestra. 

Soyuz Kompozitorov Club, 20:30 

Friday, 4 th 

President Symphony 

Orchestra of Turkey 

President Symphony Orchestra of 

Turkey perform Erkin’s Dance rhapsody 

for orchestra, play for orchestra; Tuzun’s 

Breeze; Altinel’s Origins of Night; Alnar’s 

Prelude and two dances; Schumann’s 

symphony No. 4. Cem Mansur conducts. 

Column Hall of the House of Unions, 9:00 

Fun Lovin’ Criminals 

(rock, USA) 

The New York trio known as Fun Lovin’ 

Criminals hit the alternative airwaves 

with a blend of hip-hop beats, alternative 

style, and bluesy rhythms. FLC played 

around the area, and released their selftitled 

debut album in 1995 on the Silver 

Spotlight label. Signed to Capitol the 

following year, the group gained popularity 

as an alternative radio hit with their 

single Scooby Snacks, which featured 

samples from films by Quentin Tarantino. 

In 1997, the band played stateside dates 

as U2’s opening act on their Popmart 

tour. Eighteen months later, FLC returned 

with 100% Colombian. Love Unlimited 

and Korean Bodega were red-hot hits 

across Europe and moderate favorites on 

college radio in the States. 

Green Theater, 20:00 

What’s On in June 

Saturday, 5 th 

Asia Pacific Women’s 

Group (APWG) Charity 

Bazaar 2010 

Shoppers to the Bazaar will be spoilt for 

choice with the many unique handicrafts 

for sale from the Asia-Pacific Region 

as well as ethnic food to tantalize 

your taste buds. Be entertained with 

songs and traditional dances by the 

children of the orphanages and members 

of the APWG. Other highlights 

include lucky draws with a Samsung 

46” television as one of the top prizes, a 

silent auction of paintings and a bronze 

sculpture by famous Russian artists, 

hotel vouchers and more. Proceeds 

will be donated to the APWG adopted 

orphanages and charity projects. Entrance 

tickets are only 100 rubles. 

Radisson Hotel, M.Kievskaya 

10:00-16:00 


The International Women’s Club of 

Moscow invites you to a Meet & Greet 

coffee at Le Pain Quotidien 

( Novinsky building, 7). Great opportunity 

to join IWC and to socialize. 

Le Pain Quotidien , also Tuesday, 8th For more information please see 

www.iwcmoscow.ru 

Usadba-Jazz 

Arkhangelskoye Estate is the official 

venue for Usadba Jazz festival. More 

than 30 Russian and foreign groups 

are taking part, such as Jazzanova 

(Germany), Giulia y los Tellarini 

(Spain), Zap Mama (Belgium). There 

will be three main stages: ‘Whim’, 

where swing and rock’n-roll reigns, 

‘Orchestra’ with jazz-rock and world 

music as the main theme, and ‘Aristocrat’ 

where traditional jazz sound 

will be heard. Over 30 Russian and 

foreign bands will take part. The 

stage ‘Livejournal session’ gives 

everyone the chance to take part in a 

mega-jam-session with famous jazz 

musicians. 

Arkhangelskoye Estate, 5th kilometer of 

Il’inskoye shosse, also Sunday, 6th , 

12:00-23:00 

June 2010

What’s On in June 

Tuesday 8 th 

Arsenal (jazz-rock, Russia) 

Formed about 30 years ago by Alexey 

Kozlov and recently re-formed with a 

new line-up, Arsenal has a special place 

in Russian musical culture. It symbolizes 

innovation, a fascinating fusion of 

different genres going far beyond popculture 

and show business. Arsenal 

collaborates with the likes of Tamara 

Gvardtsiteli, Yuri Bashmet, the Moscow 

Male Jewish Choir ‘Hasidic Capella’, 

Shostakovich Quartet to name a few. 

MMDM Svetlanov Hall, 19:00 

Guns ’n’ Roses 

At a time when pop was dominated 

by dance music and pop-metal, Guns 

N’ Roses brought raw, ugly rock’n’roll 

crashing back into the charts. They 

were not nice boys; nice boys don’t 

play rock’n’roll. They were ugly, misogynist, 

and violent. They were also funny, 

vulnerable, and occasionally sensitive, 

as their breakthrough hit, ‘Sweet Child 

o’ Mine’, showed. While Slash and Izzy 

Stradlin ferociously spit out dueling 

guitar riffs worthy of Aerosmith or the 

Stones, Axl Rose screeches out his tales 

of sex, drugs and apathy in the big city. 

Olimpiisky Sportcomplex, 19:00 

Randy Klein 

Randy Klein is a multi-talented jazz 

pianist and composer. He pursued a 

very successful career, winning four 

Emmy awards for film soundtracks. The 

musician and composer masterfully 

uses a combination of different genres 

referred to as ‘jazz eclectics’: solo piano 

improvisations, jazz standards with and 

without vocal, songs for musicals and 

shows, music for television, pop-music, 

country and R&B. 

Soyuz Kompozitorov Club, 20:30 

Wednesday, 9 th 

Deftones (rock, USA) 

Deftones were one of the first groups 

to alternate heavy riffs and screamed 

vocals with more ethereal music 

and hushed singing, spawning a fair 

amount of imitators. They are an American 

rock band from Sacramento, California, 

formed in 1988 and consisting of 

Chino Moreno (lead vocals and guitar), 

Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Chi Cheng 

(bass), Frank Delgado (keyboards and 

turntables), and Abe Cunningham 

(drums and percussion). They have 

released six albums to date, with their 

most recent, Diamond Eyes, coming 

out this spring. 


June 2010 

Thursday, 10 th 

The International Women’s Club of 

Moscow presents: General meeting 

- boat trip ! 

For further details see web site: 

www.iwcmoscow.ru 

Friday, 11 th 

Philip Subbotin (piano) 

Whilst still a student of the Gnessin 

Academy of Music in Moscow, the 

young pianist Philipp Subbotin won 

the First Prize at The Art of the 21 st 

Century Competition in Vicenza, Italy 

(2002) and established a reputation 

as a brilliant performer of Mozart’s 

clavier concertos. Philipp continued 

his education under the famous Ivan 

Moravec at the Prague Academy of 

Performing Arts. Tonight Philipp Subbotin 

performs Mozart’s Sonata in E 

minor; Beethoven’s Sonata in F major; 

Dvorak’s Sonata in G major; Smetana’s 

From the Home Country; and Sveceny’s 

Paganiniada. 

MMDM, Chamber Hall, 19:00 


Boy George (pop, UK) 

Boy George is now more than just a 

talented London musician. The singer 

and DJ has been in the public eye for 

a quarter of a century, first finding 

fame as the androgynous ‘gender 

bender’ front man for Culture Club, 

who affronted Middle England with 

his appearances on Top of the Pops in 

full make-up, effeminate clothes and 

long, ribboned hair. At the top of his 

career, Boy George turned his attention 

to acid-house, founding his own 

label, More Protein, and starting to 

write hits for dance floors. In 2007, he 

released new album, Time Machine, 

and took part in Kylie Minogue’s 

album production. 


Peter Mamonov 

(songs, monologues 

& theatre) 

In 1995, leaving behind the over-the-top 

pleasures of his ‘shaking-the-stage’ life, 

Mamonov secluded himself from society 

in the Moscow forests, and settled 

down in his wooden house somewhere 

near the town of Vereya to concentrate 

on two dozens cats and reading the 

Holy Writ. Sometimes he comes back 

to us to sing new songs and present his 

one-man show to the Moscow aesthetes. 

His concerts combining songs, 

monologues and theatre actions, are 

fascinatingly thrilling: kind of funny, 

kind of shocking, sending shivers down 

the spine and provoking one thought: 

Genius! 

16 Tons club, 21:00 

Sunday, 13 th 

Laura Garcia (jazz, Spain) 

The Soyuz Kompozitorov Club welcomes 

Laura Garcia with a solo program, 

Flamenca de Segovia. The 

Aflamencados dancing troupe delivers 

a unique and brightly expressive performance. 

Spanish dancer Laura Garcia 

demonstrated her mastery at major 

venues in Spain, Italy and USA. Laura 

takes part in grandiose dance projects 

launched by theatres in Rome, Madrid, 

Grenada, Seville, Cordova and other 

cities. 

Soyuz Kompozitorov club, 20:30 

Wednesday, 16 th 

Gala Concert, closing of the 

season (classical music) 

The Moscow Symphony Orchestra, 

Russian Philharmonic, conducted by 

Maxim Fedotov, performs Vivaldi’s Four 

Seasons; Rimsky-Korsakov’s Spanish 

Capriccio; Mussorgsky’s Dawn at Moscow 

River; Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances 

from the opera Prince Igor and Ravel’s 

Bolero. 

MMDM, Svetlanov Hall, 19:00 

IX Festival of Sand Sculpture 

From 1 May to 30 September, VDNKH 

(All-Russia Exhibition Centre) is hosting 

the IX International Festival of Sand 

Sculptures. The best domestic and foreign 

sculptors are creating breathtaking 

figures out of sand. This year the mysterious 

moments of our past are the main 

theme of the exhibition. Visitors will see 

giant dinosaurs, volcanoes, UFO people 

and many other outstanding things. 

All-Russia Exhibition Centre, metro 

VDNKH, 10.00-23.00 – every day, tickets: 

100-250 rubles.

IX Chekhov 

International 

Theatre 

Festival 

Elena Rubinova 

Performances at the Jubilee Chekhov 

International Theatre Festival in June 

represent both traditional theatre and 

experiments in dance and music. Two 

dance versions of The Cherry Orchard 

and Platonov are expected to sell out fast 

and become one of the most attended 

performances in the Festival calendar. 

In Chekhov’s world, there were multiple perspectives and 

this is probably one of the reasons why his plays are so often 

transformed by various theatre directors into genres that the 

author himself could hardly have imagined. Not in his wildest 

imagination could he have envisaged that his last play, The 

Cherry Orchard, would serve as endless inspiration to modern 

choreographers. The stage version being performed in 

Moscow, directed by Mats Ek of the Royal Dramatic Theatre 

of Stockholm, tries to portray “a drama about time and loss of 

time”, as the famous Swedish choreographer refers to his own 

vision of the play. 

Another attempt to tap into Chekhov’s spiritual message in 

The Cherry Orchard is brought to Moscow audiences by the 

outstanding Taiwanese choreographer and founder of the 

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, LIN Hwai-min, a fourthtime 

guest of Chekhov International Festival. This production, 

to be staged on June 10-13, is based on The Cherry Orchard 

and performed to music for solo cello by J. S. Bach. The creative 

ideas for Whisper of Flowers came from both the classical 

Chinese literature work, Dream of Red Chamber, written 

around the middle of the eighteenth century and Chekhov’s 

The Cherry Orchard. Lin’s imagery in the dance is one of exuberance 

fading into unknown darkness. He also forsook the 

characters and drama of the original play and illustrated this 

universal theme with the use of metaphors. 

“In Hwai-min’s production of the Cherry Orchard and its inhabitants, 

its angels and demons, its dead and its living, its 

metaphysics of light and shadows become the key elements, 

the central metaphor and the environment of the acting 

space,” says Russian theatre critic Alyona Karas, who went to 

see Lin Hwai-min’s Chekhovian meditation in 2008 when it 

premiered in Taiwan. 

The performance opens on a stage full of red petals. As 

dancers leap and run with abandonment, petals are tossed 

into different ‘geographies’. 

June 2010 

Previews 

New productions of Chekhov’s plays at Moscow theatres are 

also part of the June festival program. The Stanislavsky Moscow 

Drama Theatre is dedicating ‘The Chekhov Brothers’ to Chekhov’s 

personality, his childhood and personal life. 

“Our intention was to explore the time when the young Chekhov 

was maturing into the great classical writer Anton Chekhov,” 

says Director Alexander Galibin. The play is to be staged on June 

15-16. 

Chekhov Gala is a composition of five one-act plays by Anton 

Chekhov directed by Alexei Borodin of the Russian Academic 

Youth Theatre. 

“Each story storms into another, interrupting and overtaking 

its predecessor. It is a kaleidoscope of human passions, a collision 

of absurd situations and impracticable intentions that evolve 

into a sparkling Chekhovian phantasmagoria,” says Alexei Borodin 

about his vision of this play. It premiers on June 17. 

The month finishes off with Platonov, put on by the National 

Drama Center of Madrid on 29-30 June. This early play is 

also known as A Play Without a Title. It was written in 1878, 

but published only in 1923. It is famous because of two productions: 

one a successful 1984 adaptation by UK playwright 

Michael Frayn; the second a highly rewarding performance 

by Lev Dodin at the Maly Theatre of St. Petersburg, staged in 

1997. The latter version inspired a celebrated film: An Unfinished 

Piece for Mechanical Piano, made by Russian film director 

Nikita Mikhalkov in 1976. 

Juan Mayorga’s Platonov runs to two and a half hours, which 

is much shorter than the original. The Spanish dramatist cut the 

meandering text of the young Chekhov, which has a lot of storylines 

and is generally regarded as juvenilia. Geraldo Vera and his 

actors set a fast rhythm enabling the inner pulse of Chekhov’s 

play to reach the pitch of a hurricane. 

“Platonov is a captivating world in which the characters experience 

the same existential pains that torture the more emblematic 

personages of Chekhov’s great plays; characters that became 

a perfect mirror for all the social and cultural prototypes of 

late 19 th century Russian society,” says Gerardo Vera about the 

play that had a triumphal reception in Spain, where it premiered 

in March 2009. P 

PASSPORT will continue to cover 

the Chekhov International Theatre Festival. 

The full program of the Festival can be found 

at chekhovfest.ru

Previews 

From Raphael to Goya 

Two museums are collaborating to 

bring you some fantastic art in June. 

The Museum of Fine Arts from Budapest 

is displaying paintings at the Moscow 

Museum of Fine Arts. The two museums 

themselves are almost twins: look at the 

eclectic-neoclassical style of their design, 

their dates of construction—both 

in the first decade of the 20 th century— 

and their cultural interaction for years. 

Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova, the director 

of the Moscow Museum of Fine 

Arts, manages to arrange new exhibitions 

in a way that enable one to learn 

more about the visual arts not only from 

Russian artefacts but also from those 

of museum’s counterparts. Thus, coming 

up in June, we have the chance to 

Ottoman Sultans’ 

Treasures 

The Topkapi Palace is a fantastic example 

of a rambling ensemble of buildings 

making up an Ottoman palace. Those 

who have visited Istanbul will know that 

it is also home to numerous exhibits and 

relics such as the prophet Muhammed’s 

cloak and sword. This palace was the major 

residence of the Sultans from the 15th 

to the 19th centuries and maintains under 

one roof the best examples of what 

Turkish artisans, sculptors created during 

those four hundred years. 

It may be rather difficult to define a specifically 

‘Ottoman’ culture, so large and 

diverse was the Ottoman empire, yet in 

such centres as the Topkapi Palace, one 

can certainly speak about the national 

peculiarities of that culture. 

June 2010 

view, right here in Moscow, sixty classical 

paintings from the Esterhazy collection 

of the Budapest Museum, including 

masterpieces by Raphael, Giorgione, Titian, 

Veronese, Tintoretto, Dürer, Hals, 

Velázquez, José de Ribera, El Greco, 

Goya and others. 

The Spanish painters are a special object 

of pride at the Budapest Museum. 

Its collection is comparable to that of 

the Prado in Madrid. The title of the exhibition, 

From Raphael to Goya, promises 

to provoke new queues around the 

building in Volkhonka Street after the 

successful Picasso show. 

From June 8 

Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts 

Open: 10:00-19:00 

When the Trees 

Were Tall 

At the Lumiere Brothers’ Centre for 

Photography they have adopted a safe 

strategy for displaying reportage photographs: 

by decades, as part of an anthology 

of the 20 th century. Some people 

have asked: “What exactly does the 

curator do in such a show?” But the very 

first show, The 60s, which was held two 

years ago at the Central House of Artists, 

turned out to be very competent, 

even when compared to the simultaneous 

PhotoBiennale, for example. 

Choosing pictures for a show to be arranged 

by decades does produce curious 

results. Those buildings, fashion, ways of 

This is the first time that treasures 

from the Palace are being displayed in 

Moscow. More than a hundred exhibits 

illustrate the every-day life of the Ottoman 

Sultans. There are gorgeous weapons 

including parade helmets, swords, 

some of which belonged to Suleiman 

the Magnificent. He was the longestreigning 

Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 

ruling from 1520 till his death in 1566. 

Here you can find costumes, jewelry and 

certainly manuscripts of the Koran created 

in the 16 th and 17 th centuries, miniatures 

never shown in Russia before. 

May 25-August 15 

Moscow Kremlin, Cross Chamber of the 

Patriarchal Palace 

Open: 10:00-17:00, open every day 

except Thursdays 

www.kreml.ru 

life captured in the photographs evoke 

scents, tastes and music from deep down 

in our memories, and this is all in a time 

when today’s ten year olds think that sms 

and emails are the only way to write messages, 

and that photographs are printed 

only from flash cards. This summer, the 

Lumiere Brothers Gallery is presenting 

new exhibitions in a larger space at the 

Red October Gallery, with pictures by 

best Soviet reporters: Dubinsky, Abaza, 

Gnevashev, all of whom worked for the 

Soviet news agencies: Rian, Itar Tass. 

May 28 – August 1 

Lumiere Brothers Gallery 

3, Bolotnaya embankment, building 1 

Open: 11:00-20:00, every day except Monday

Alexandra Exter 

Goddess from the 

avant-garde 

It is impossible to imagine the Russian 

art of the early 20 th century without Alexandra 

Exter. This Byelorussian-born 

artist who lived in Kiev, Moscow, Toscana 

and Paris, an apprentice of Malevitch 

and a great admirer of Etruscan art, 

was a bright star of the Russian avantgarde. 

He took part in all that group’s 

major exhibitions, including those organised 

by the ‘Jack of Diamonds’ and: 

‘Union of Youth’, ‘№ 4’, ‘Tram B’, ‘Shop’, 

‘5×5=25’, also exhibitions in Berlin, Venice, 

Vienna, Paris and Prague in the late 

1920s. After that decade and her death 

in 1949 she was largely forgotten, and 

only exhibitions held in the 1970s, held 

in Europe and in the USA (Lincoln Center, 

New York) reminded the world that 

Watermark: Commemorating 

Brodsky 

It would have been the 70 th birthday of Joseph Brodsky 

on 24 May. The Nobel Prize laureate’s poetry, prose, essays, 

lectures, views and personal story attract more and more 

attention. Joseph Brodsky threw a bridge between Russian 

and world literature. After emigrating from the USSR he lived 

mainly in the USA, but his favourite city remained Venice, 

which he always visited in winter. His essay, Watermark, essay 

declared his love for the city. According to his will, Brodsky 

was buried in San Michele where thousands of his fans come 

to pay tribute. Konstantin Leyfer and Galina Bystritskaya are 

authors of the exhibition at the Vspolny Gallery. 

In photographs and paintings, they illuminate Brodsky’s favourite 

corners of the city. Bystritskaya created landscapes in 

an expressive manner, whereas Leyfer was the author of the 

winter mood works dedicated to Brodsky. The photographs 

and paintings follow the text of the Watermark essay, not illustrating 

it but recreating the ties between Venice, the city 

Exter was actually one of the leading 

lights in the avant-garde movement. 

She created Cubo-Futurism, andplayed 

a vital role in familiarizing Russian viewers 

with the latest developments of the Parisian 

avant-garde. Being friends with Pablo 

Picasso, Fernand Léger, Robert and Sonia 

Delaunay, Guillaume Apollinaire and 

many other brilliant figures of the time, 

she promoted their work in Russia. 

In her own work, she demonstrated 

ways for Russian artists to adapt their 

discoveries. The current exhibition at 

the Moscow Museum of Modern Art is 

actually Exter’s first retrospective and 

presents collections of several museums 

at once: Bakhrushin State Theatre 

Museum, Moscow Museum of Modern 

Art, National Art Museum of Ukraine, 

Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and 

State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. 

Tonino Guerra’s 

Rainbow 

Dom Nashchokina Gallery presents 

an exhibition celebrating Tonino 

Guerra’s 90 th birthday. He was a brilliant 

playwright, author and co-author 

of numerous films by Fellini, Antonioni, 

Bertolucci and Tarkovsky, architect, designer, 

sculptor and author of pictures, 

mosaics, and interiors. The latter will 

be on display. He is thought of as a Renaissance 

artist because he is so broadminded 

and multi-talented, and constantly 

manages the most surprising 

June 2010 

Previews 

May 29-August 22, 2010 

Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 25, 

Petrovka Street 

10:00-20:00, open every day except 

Monday 

things. For example, he laid out a garden 

of forgotten fruits as described in 

Catherine De Medici’s medicine books 

near the small medieval Pennabilli in 

the mountains where the maestro usually 

spends the winter. Guerra’s paintings 

are like poems, and radiate happiness. 

He believed that a drop of water 

is a miracle of creation, something that 

is expressed in his art and is constantly 

revealed to other people. 

Dom Nashchokina Gallery 

From May 27, open: 12.00-21.00 daily 

www.domnaschokina.ru 

on the water, and Saint-Petersburg, another city on the water 

which is often called the Venice of the North, and was where 

Brodsky was born. 

Gallery at Vspolny, 3 Vspolny Pereulok 

Until June 14 

Open: 12:00-20:00, open every day except Monday

Previews 

The French 

Connection 

Elena Rubinova 

For three months, French modern art will be all the rage in Moscow, 

St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, and other 

Russian cities. The public will be able to see the best works by Bernard 

Lavier, Claude Leveque and Annette Messager, the crème de 

la crème of French contemporary art. 

At the turn of the 20 th century, to think of modern art was 

to think Paris, Montparnasse, post-impressionism or the early 

days of cubism. It was, some say, French art that defined the art 

process for at least half a century before the center of contemporary 

art drifted to New York and later to London. Nevertheless, 

at the beginning of the 21 st century, French modern art is 

strongly felt on the international art scene. Artists selected for 

the Moscow exhibitions fully represent this tendency. 

From 21 May to 4 July, TSUM Art Foundation ( www.tsum.ru, ul 

Petrovka, 2) is mounting an exhibition of Bertrand Lavier’s work. 

M Lavier is one of the most respected contemporary French artists 

of the older generation (born in 1949). The exhibition presents 

13 works of different genres covering the artist’s creative 

work from the early 1980s. Painted objects, murals, video-art 

outline the whole landscape of Lavier’s works displayed in 2000 

square metres of exhibition area. 

“It took us a long time to make a decision what would be the 

best site for the future exhibition. Lavier came to Moscow several 

times to absorb the atmosphere of this city. He selected very 

provocative and unusual works for his Moscow show”, says Maria 

Kravtsova, curator of the exhibition. 

Lavier often works with the signs and symbols of mass culture 

transforming them into something unrecognizable. He 

reacts to contemporary consumer fashions, but everything he 

does has a rare touch of intelligence and wit. Lavier inhabits the 

border between art and reality, finding his personal distinction 

between fine art and popular art. He is one of the few artists 

whom critics define as being both an intellectual and a popular 

artist at the same time. Lavier considers that his art brings 

together incompatible elements to create hybrids, and says he 

was influenced by his educational background in horticulture. 

“If you combine an orange with a mandarin, you get a tangerine. 

Similarly, when I paint a piano or put a fridge on a safe, 

the result seems to float between two separate things. Under 

the layers of paint is the real piano, but you can also concentrate 

on the paint as paint. One could say that my works are 

like tangerines”, said Lavier in an interview. 

His famous pieces about Walt Disney, created back in the 

1980s or a Lips Sofa, which was produced on the basis of 

sketches by Salvador Dali, are considered iconic images of 

modern art. During his long and successful carrier, Lavier has 

exhibited at numerous international venues, including New 

York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Gallery in London, the 

Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the Venice Bienniale. 

10 June 2010 

B.Lavier Walt Disney 

Pacific Blue Picasso 

2004 Ligne blanche

Lavier 

The National Centre for Contemporary Art (www.ncca.ru 

Zoologicheskays ul, 13) offers a huge installation by another, 

no less distinguished and prolific, French veteran artist, Claude 

Leveque (born in 1953). The installation, called Ende, from the 

FNAC collection, initially shown in 2001 in Yvon Lambert Paris gallery, 

has been recreated here in Moscow. It starts out as a typical 

installation: a black curtain waiting to be pushed aside. Follow it 

through and you’re led into a soft-walled, soft-floored, pitch black 

space. This is supposed to be what the total unknown feels like. 

One of Joe Dassin’s songs performed by Leveque’s mother is 

heard in total darkness. Leveque has participated in more than 90 

group exhibitions. Last year represented France at the Venice Art 

Bienniale with the installation, The Great Evening (Le Grand Soir) 

that turned a national pavilion into a prison. Coming of age in the 

1980s, Leveque became involved in gathering and manipulating 

objects, but he is neither a formalist nor a postmodernist in his 

June 2010 

Previews 

attitude. Most of Claude Leveque’s work consists of large-scale installations 

that articulate objects, sounds and lights that take control 

of places and spectators. As the artist puts it: “I think that contemporary 

art can create a space of contrasts where things can 

be rediscovered, outside the consumerist obligations laid down 

by the degrading media, corrupted politicians and the vendors of 

games, houses and cars”. 

He is famous for using unusual venues and sites, many of his 

works play on the ability to provoke visual and sensory emotions. 

The Moscow exhibition is open from 25 May to 22 June. 

On 24 June, the Yekaterina Cultural Foundation (www. ekaterina-fondation.ru, 

Kuznetsky Most, 21/5) will host an exhibition 

of Annette Messager, France’s leading female artist. Playing 

on her surname, critics once called her “a bold messenger 

for feminist art”. She has been held this title for a long time; 

creating art works since the 1960s. She often incorporates 

photographs, prints and drawing into sculptural projects, 

fuses cuddly children’s toys with dangerous effigies thus 

reaching the hearts and feelings of numerous fans. She has 

been widely exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around 

the world and represented France at the Venice Bienniale in 

2005, where she was awarded the Golden Lion. P 

Finally, from May 28 to July 25, Baibakov Art Projects (www. 

baibakovartprojects.com Bersenevskaya Naberezhnaya 6) 

showcases a group exhibition called Perpetual Battles. It includes 

works by Thomas Hirschhorn, Saadane Afif, Cyprien 

Gaillard, Latifa Echakhch, and others. 

11

Art 

Soviet Art wasn’t just 

Socialist Realism 

Why did you move to this hotel? 

I would never move to any other hotel. This is the only hotel 

I could move to because it is quintessentially Soviet, one of 

Stalin’s ‘wedding cakes’. Also, the new owners of the hotel have 

made a special point of presenting all 1,400 pieces of their collection 

of Soviet paintings and sculptures, which were mostly 

created in the 1950s, when the hotel was constructed, thus 

raising the etiquette and awareness of this period of culture 

in Moscow. 

Why do you specialise in Soviet Art? 

I used to be a journalist and worked for the magazine, Soviet 

Union. The magazine covered a lot of cultural themes, but 

it was all the official side, and I hated it. All my friends were 

underground painters, such as Nikolay Smirnov, and they 

suggested that I stage an exhibition highlighting the underground 

art of the time. 

I organised my first exhibition in 1987 in Prague, and I exhibited 

the work of all my non-conformist artist friends. It was successful. 

At about the same time I travelled around Russia, and returned 

to my home city Ekaterinburg. When I was living there I brought 

a few European landscapes, from one of the most famous artists 

of those days, just because I liked them. I came to understand 

that there was a huge difference between the artists of the older 

generation, who were taught by people who received their education 

before the revolution, and the new generation of artists. 

I began to understand that their work was of very good quality, 

and they were conscientious. 

As for my friends, I know most of them were inspired by Polish 

art magazines, where they saw contemporary art that was 

not really so difficult to produce. I started to buy and collect Soviet 

Art. Just at that time, during Perestroika, an Italian antique 

dealer, Marco Datrino came to Russia with the idea of exporting 

Russian antiques. It was only when he got here did he find out 

that it was impossible to take antiques out of the country, and he 

wasn’t exactly bowled over by contemporary art. I showed him 

some Soviet art of the 1950s. He said: “Oh, I like this.” I sourced 

some paintings for his first big exhibition of this kind of art in 

12 June 2010 

Leonid Shishkin and his gallery are well known to many 

foreigners in Moscow who are interested in Soviet art. At the 

end of April, he opened a new gallery space in the atrium 

of the salubriously redecorated Ukraine Hotel. Paintings by 

Zinaida Serebryakova, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Yuri Pimenov and 

Alexandre Deineka’s adorn the walls. It is slightly shocking to 

see many works by these masters that I had previously seen 

only in art text-books hanging right in front of my eyes. But the 

everyman approach is misleading, some of these works have 

five or six figure (in dollars) price tags. John Harrison talked to 

Leonid about his life’s work. 

1990 in his gallery in Turin. We organised exhibitions in Turin together 

for three years. The first year was successful, the second 

was half as successful, and the third year, not successful. 

About this time, I made the acquaintance of Dmitry Nalbandyan. 

He was a very famous artist in Soviet times, but the intelligentsia 

and the artists didn’t like him because he was the only 

artist whom Stalin posed for. He also painted Khrushchev and 

Brezhnev, so he was a high-class court painter. 

During Perestroika, I saw an article in Ogonyok magazine 

about him, which associated him with Soviet times and was 

pretty negative. I decided to go and see him, something that I 

could never have done before, as he was way too high for me. 

He son and wife had died, and he was a lonely old man. We had a 

long talk. He was a brilliant guy. Nobody liked him because they 

accused him of being a conformist during the Soviet Union. He 

actually was a foreigner, from Georgia. His attitude was that he 

simply wanted to be successful. He wasn’t too concerned about 

who was in power. 

I started to buy his paintings, which he sold very cheaply. That 

is how I got into dealing Soviet art. 

Please tell me more about Soviet Art 

It is a strange that the Soviet period is only known for one 

school of painting: Socialist Realism. In fact there were at least 

four different styles. Before the Soviet period, up to about 1920, 

the major schools in Russia were classicism as in the peredvizhniki 

school, and the Moscow impressionist school. Soviet art 

absorbed these and turned impressionism into Soviet impressionism, 

and the peredvizhniki into socialist realism. There was 

also the avant-garde movement as personified by Pyotr Konchalovsky, 

Aristarkh Lentulov, Alexandre Kuprin and the ‘Jack of 

Diamonds School’. This was a mixture of post-impressionism 

and Cezannism. Then there was constructivism, with artists like 

Yuri Pimenov and Alexandre Deineka, who were young in the 

twenties, and who were influenced by German expressionism 

and Art Deco. 

All of these four trends were mixed up, and collectively, 

it became known as Soviet Art. All the key players were full 

members of the Academy of Art, as were traditional artists like

Arcady Plastov and Sergey Gerasimov. So the style of the art 

was individual. The only thing that united these artists was 

that paintings were commissioned officially. There were five 

or six established subjects: people struggling for their rights, 

chiefs with the people and with banners, people very happily 

working hard, some still lifes and landscapes, and some genre 

painting with very happy Soviet people. All the paintings in 

this hotel, for example, belong to the still life and landscape 

categories. That’s why it’s rather boring. 

During the Soviet Union, I hated Socialist Realism. But during 

Perestroika, when I saw the new Russian contemporary 

painting as a protest against all that, I reappraised Soviet art. 

Who buys Soviet Art? 

Before 2000, only foreigners bought Soviet art, but starting 

in 2000, Russian buyers began to appear. However the market 

for Russian clients is not Soviet art, if they do buy Soviet art, it 

will only be the big names they are interested in, for example 

that theatre sketch by Yuri Pimenov [Leonid points to a painting 

on a wall on sale for $250,000] or Zinaida Serebryakova, 

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, artists who are selling at the big international 

auctions in London and elsewhere. One of my ideas 

is to hold auctions in this hotel. 

Are you able to keep on selling through this crisis? 

The major downturn was from September 2008 until November 

2009, but already in December 2009, the market was picking 

up again, and we have already held successful auctions this 

year. The market is constantly changing. Because of the internet, 

Russians from the provinces have started to bid, and buy. 

The Russian market is bigger for us than the foreign market. But 

I still need foreigners to fill the auction house in Moscow. Most 

of the auctions are on a Saturday, and most Russians are at their 

dachas, so they bid over the telephone. But it is not possible to 

have an auction if nothing is happening here. 

What period would you recommend to foreigners who are here 

for a short time and who are starting out as collectors? 

A lot depends on whether you are buying for pleasure or 

for investment. In Russia, the problem is that foreigners don’t 

know that there is a huge amount of Soviet Art. Marco Datrino 

thought, “I will buy 1,000 paintings and then I will have them 

all, everyone will come to me and buy my paintings.” But he 

didn’t know that there are not only 1,000 Soviet paintings in 

this country, even not only one million! In no period of history 

in any one country was such a huge amount of money invested 

in artists. We had about 20 art institutes which produced 

June 2010 

Art 

each year at least 20 – 30 artists. In the 19 th century there were 

about 2,000 members of the Guild of Artists. In the Soviet 

Union, there were about 6,000 members of the Union of Artists. 

Artists received a modest salary, a studio, free materials, 

and had to present one painting a year in an official exhibition, 

and they could sell in exhibitions as well. 

So how do you make the decision who to buy? 

It is difficult, because the most well known names are already 

out of the market, and they are very expensive. There 

are a lot of artists who people do not yet know, take for example 

Nikolay Timkov, a painter from St. Petersburg, good quality 

work but not famous. His paintings sell for up to $5,000 

but no more. The secret is to find out who is going to be promoted 

and buy that artist’s paintings. 

How do you find out who is going to be promoted? 

It is down to market knowledge and advice. It is a good idea 

to talk to somebody who is already investing money, to learn 

from him or her. It is difficult to make it alone. 

Buying art is infectious. I always tell people who start buying: 

be careful, you will want to buy more and more. What is 

happening is that most of the revolutionary art has been sold 

out of the country, now we are busy buying it back from the 

West. Non-conformist Soviet art, for example, is all in the 

West, not here. There are more and more people who want to 

own such art, I think that this process will carry on for ever. In 

decades to come, people will start to wake up and want to 

buy back Soviet Art. P 

1

Cinema 

Miffed by MIFF 

Inside Russia’s film festivals 

Vladimir Kozlov 

In June, Russia’s two main film festivals, the national Kinotavr 

and the country’s oldest international film event, Moscow 

International Film Festival (MIFF), are to be held, and both are 

far from being in good shape. 

For about two decades, Kinotavr—the 21 st festival is scheduled 

to be held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi from June 5 

1 June 2010 

to 13—has been the main showcase for the domestic cinema 

industry, and the main venue for foreign festivals’ selectors to 

turn to for new Russian films. 

In the years preceding the global financial downturn, the 

festival was able to attract major sponsors and was held lavishly 

at the Zhemchuzhina Hotel. Critics said that the event 

was primarily an opportunity for Russian film industry people

to have a seaside vacation, and that the awarding of prizes 

was secondary. 

In any case, the festival’s budget had to be dramatically 

cut last year, and just a few weeks before this year’s festival 

is about to start, the news came that co-owner Igor Tolstunov 

and one of the festival’s main sponsors, the cell operator 

Vympelcom, are pulling out. 

And although the other co-owner, Alexander Rodnyansky, to 

whom Tolstunov had sold his share in the festival, insisted that 

this year’s event is going to run as planned, and he would be 

providing $2.5 million out of his own pocket on top of 7 million 

roubles ($241,000) coming from the culture ministry and local 

authorities, the future of the festival remains uncertain. 

Rodnyansky told the Russian media that in order for the festival 

to continue, either the government should step in and 

provide funding, or a new major sponsor should be found, 

both options being extremely uncertain in the aftermath of 

the financial crisis. 

Another constraint on this year’s festival is the fact that 

film production in Russia has declined substantially because 

of the economic downturn and a recent reform of the state 

funding system for the film industry. Because of this the government 

hasn’t provided a single rouble for a new film project 

for nearly a year and a half. 

Last year, Kinotavr’s organizers said it was the last time that 

they had such a huge selection of films for the official competition, 

as most of them were completed or nearly completed 

before the crisis hit the industry. And although this year’s 

lineup has not yet been announced, chances are that it is not 

going to be very strong. 

Similarly, the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), which 

is to be held in for the 32 nd time at the Oktyabr multiplex cinema 

from June 17-26, is also experiencing financial problems. 

But that’s not its main problem as, unlike Kinotavr, which has 

a more or less clear goal of being the domestic film industry’s 

showcase, MIFF has been desperately trying to find its identity 

for years, and this year is not going to be an exception. 

In Soviet times, the festival, which was first held in 1935 as 

a one-off even and was resumed in 1959 on a regular basis, 

in spite of the dominance of communist ideology, attracted 

some major-league international filmmakers by its anti-bourgeois 

and anti-capitalist stance, which might explain why 

Federico Fellini’s 8½ was shown at the festival. It won the 

main prize in 1963. 

But the heyday of MIFF coincided with Gorbachev’s reforms of the 

mid-1980s, and the interest in the Soviet Union, which was opening 

up to the rest of the world, was the main factor that brought 

major foreign films and filmmakers to Moscow. In that respect, 

1987’s festival was probably the best one, with the jury headed by 

US top-level star Robert de Niro and Fellini’s Intervista (Interview) in 

the official competition (predictably, the festival’s main prize went 

to the Italian director’s movie). And although at the time the festival 

was quite chaotic and didn’t have a clear message or strategy, the 

atmosphere of newly-granted freedom under Perestroika was its 

major asset. 

However, things changed when Russia went out of fashion. 

The festival’s organizers were unable to define a strategy, 

message and philosophy that would make the Moscow 

festival stand out among dozens of international film events. 

While the festival was turned into an annual event in 1999, as 

opposed to being held every other year, it has been largely 

avoided by major international filmmakers. 

June 2010 

Cinema 

True, top-league directors like Quentin Tarantino or Emir 

Kusturica have turned up in Moscow for the festival, but they 

were just hanging out, while preferring to send their movies 

to more prestigious events. 

One other thing that might have made the international 

film community sceptical about the Moscow Film Festival is 

the fact that domestic movies of dubious artistic merits have 

several times in recent years earned the favour of the international 

jury, picking up the main prizes, like Nikolai Dostal’s 

Pete on the Way to Heaven last year or Vera Storozheva’s Travelling 

with Pets three years ago. 

Most likely, this year’s festival’s official selection won’t contain 

any gems. But the good thing about the Moscow festival is that 

it normally shows lots of good films promoted by its international 

competitors, giving people in Moscow an opportunity 

to view movies that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to see for 

another several months, or ever on a big screen. Traditionally, 

all the best films from the Berlin International Film Festival and 

the Cannes International Film Festival, which are held earlier in 

the year, are part of the non-official programs. 

Most of the programs are still in the works and are to be announced 

closer to the festival’s date, but among those which 

are to debut this year is Generation Zero, compiled of films 

that had the biggest influence on domestic directors of the 

younger generation. 

Among other events worth checking out are a retrospective 

of movies by Italian director Sergio Leone and several 

French programs on the occasion of the celebration of the 

Year of France in Russia. P 

1

Travel 

Torzhok 

Text and photography by Larissa Franczek 

Are you interested in architecture? Do you see, feel and enjoy 

its harmony? Is your heart thrilled with delight when you 

hear the names of Kazakov, Lvov and Rossi? If the answer is 

yes, then take a four-hour train ride to Torzhok, a small town 

in the Tver oblast. As soon as you arrive you will realize how 

strongly it attracts and lures you. You keep pressing your 

camera button and no matter which way you turn, understandable, 

dear and loved Russian landscapes surround you. 

Only the posts carrying electric cables remind you that this 

is the 21 st century. If you try, you can easily find a secluded 

spot on a street where there aren’t any such intrusions. 

Torzhok is a marvelous example of an artistically complete 

architectural ensemble in the classical style. That’s why the 

town is considered to be a model of Russian architectural art 

of the 18-19 th centuries. The most amazing thing is that Torzhok 

has preserved its architecture almost untouched. 

“Torzhok undoubtedly is one of the most beautiful towns 

in Tver province. The banks of the beautiful Tvertsa river are 

fine and diverse. The ancient town is located on eight hills. 

Its streets and squares open a delightful panorama in front 

of you. And there are quite a few architectural and historic 

monuments around you that witness both sad and joyful 

events gone by.” That’s what A. Ostrovsky, a great Russian 

playwright, wrote in his diary about the place. I can only share 

his opinion and testify to its truth. 

Looking at the majestic Savior’s Transfiguration Cathedral, 

the cozy churches, the Road Palace, Kamenny and Petrovsky 

bridges, you feel stunned and perplexed. Finding all this 

splendor and grandeur in an off-the-beaten-track provincial 

town like Torzhok is surprising. 

Over 30 churches, cathedrals and monasteries have been 

preserved here. Services take pace in some of them; some are 

closed and their interiors dilapidated. Be that as it may, Torzhok 

is more fortunate than many other Russian towns. Few 

churches were destroyed here during the Soviet times. 

The Ascension church deserves special attention as a para- 

1 June 2010 

gon of wooden architecture. It is difficult to find examples of 

this kind of construction which are not museums. 

Talking about Torzhok’s architecture, you cannot help mentioning 

the name of N. Lvov (1751-1803), to a great extent the creator 

of the town’s inimitable look. He was a man of many talents: 

not only a great architect, whose buildings are scattered all over 

Tver oblast and other parts of Russia, but also a civil engineer, a 

choreographer, a historian, a musician and a botanist. 

On the bank of the Tvertsa river, Lvov built an elegant Rotunda, 

the form he preferred above all others. Now the Rotunda 

houses a souvenir shop and is the gem of the town. 

There is a monument to Lvov right next to it. 

The ancient Boris and Gleb monastery, founded in 1038 

and redesigned in Neoclassical style by Lvov, was home to a 

whole series of events in the history of Torzhok. The name of 

the town was first mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1015. 

Torzhok was conveniently located at a commercial crossroad 

connecting the lands of Novgorod, Vladimir and Suzdal. It frequently 

changed hands during medieval times. 

In the 18th century, a land road, the so-called ‘sovereign’s 

way’ between Moscow and St. Petersburg, was laid through 

Torzhok. But even now there is no direct railway here, though 

Torzhok lies half way between the two capitals. The legend is 

that local merchants who had become wealthy transporting 

their goods by river bribed the right people and the railroad 

was built some distance from the town. 

Torzhok was well-known in Russia 100 years ago as an important 

industrial and commercial centre. Already in ancient times, 

the town was a centre of gold embroidery in Russia. Some histori-

ans have asked the question: what is older, the town or the craft? 

Excavations on the spot of the former Kremlin have determined 

that embroidery with gold threads was practised here even before 

the Mongol invasion. 

Embroidery was used by tsars, boyars and senior clergy 

for decorating their clothes, as objects of interior design 

and for cult purposes. Many boyars’ wives at court had their 

own workshops, but seamstresses from Torzhok had always 

been trendsetters. Here is a well-known fact: in order 

to embroider the porphyra (a purple gown of a monarch) 

for his coronation ceremony, Alexander II commanded that 

30 of the best needlewomen from Torzhok be brought to 

St. Petersburg. 

The golden age of the craft occurred in the 18-19 th centuries. 

A gold embroidery factory still works in the town. It was 

there that they made beautiful costumes used in such movies 

as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Now they embroider 

clothes, military banners, Russian coats-of-arms, church 

shrouds, glasses, cosmetic cases and other objects. 

Many outstanding personalities of the past visited Torzhok, 

among them Tolstoy, Gogol and others. The great Alexander 

Pushkin, on his way to his village, stayed here more than 20 

times. Even if Torzhok had not been known for its architecture 

and gold embroidery, this fact would have been enough to 

make it famous. There is a very nice museum of the poet in 

the town. 

On one of his visits, Pushkin bought some embroidered belts 

and sent them as a gift to a lady-friend in Moscow. He then 

June 2010 

Travel 

asked her whether she wore the belts and whether Moscow’s 

women of fashion were envious. 

Pushkin stayed in Pozharsky’s inn. Its fame started with one 

of his letters. The beginning of the letter was written in prose, 

but the part describing Torzhok was nothing but wonderful 

poetry. Pushkin wrote about the inn and highly praised the 

cutlets that he ate there. During the 19 th century, they were 

enormously popular all over Russia and even abroad. 

To be in Torzhok and not to try Pozharsky cutlets is impossible. 

I tried them. They were tasty but that’s all that I 

can say. Unfortunately the original recipe was lost. P 

1

Travel 

Moscow and 

Maya Rusanova 

artwork by Julia Nozdracheva 

St. Petersburg is well worth a visit at any time of the year. Especially 

in the summer when you can ‘гулять’ (walk) all night 

long, as although the sun sets, the night never really begins. 

Take a weekend off, and enjoy this superb city which is so different 

from Moscow. When you go there, it may be useful to 

know that there is real competition between St. Petersburg 

and Moscow, just as there is between Edinburgh and Glasgow, 

or Washington and New York, to name but a few examples 

Officially the capital of Russia is Moscow. However St. Petersburg 

is often called the Northern Capital. This isn’t by chance. 

These two cities came to prominence at separate times, and 

they have been competing with each other for 300 years, beginning 

in 1703, when Emperor Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg 

on the banks of the river Neva. 

The reason for the confrontation lies in the fact that St. Petersburg 

was originally built to be exactly what is: the opposite 

of Moscow. Moscow is the embodiment of the Russian city; St. 

Petersburg of the European city. This is evident in architecture, 

fashion and even language. In the 18 th century, French was 

more popular than Russian in the upper classes in St. Petersburg, 

and the city became a ‘window to Europe’, just as Peter 

the Great planned. 

Moscow’s history stretches back a lot longer than St. Petersburg’s, 

all the way back to 1147. Moscow grew organically and 

sporadically; it was built on the confluence of important trading 

routes. The original settlement was a small village. To this 

day, citizens of St. Petersburg still tease Moscow citizens, calling 

Moscow a ‘big village’, which in many respects it is. 

St. Petersburg was a capital from birth, something that Muscovites 

resent; they suddenly became provincials when Peter the 

Great moved the capital there in 1712. However St. Petersburg 

managed to prove its superiority in some things. The newest 

trends in fashion, architecture, drawing, music and literature ap- 

1 June 2010 

peared in the northern capital first, and only reached Moscow 

some time later. Even when the capital was moved back from 

Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was known then, to Moscow after 

the Bolsheviks came to power, in 1918, the city was still considered 

the cultural capital of Russia. Many Muscovites will debate 

this. Take rock music. In the 1980s St. Petersburg spawned many 

leading rock groups. Aquarium, Kino were from St. Petersburg, 

whereas Mashina Vremeni and Zvuki Mu were from Moscow. 

Whether Moscow or St. Petersburg music was better or worse, 

was a heated topic for most young people. 

Moscow is faster, more hectic and business-like. In the 18- 

19 th centuries, however, St. Petersburg was also very bustling 

as a capital city should be. Much dancing and many sumptuous 

dinner parties took place. The city was full of merchants, 

the streets of the city were full of shops, cabs and people. Today 

St. Petersburg lives calmly and measuredly. In Moscow, for 

example, people run down the elevator; in Petersburg people 

ride on it. Muscovites seem brusque and impolite to citizens 

of St. Petersburg. If you ask somebody the way in St. Petersburg, 

locals may not only give you directions, they may take 

you for a mini-excursion around the city. People in Moscow 

aren’t often able to do that, many are often visitors like you. 

In Petersburg one doesn’t need to hurry. The city is much 

smaller than Moscow. There a person wants to walk, not run, 

although Muscovites don’t walk, they take cabs or the Metro 

during the long winter. Muscovites accuse St. Petersburg of being 

depressing, because the pace of life is too slow. This is partly 

because of the climate. St. Petersburg lies much further north 

and the city is very wet and windy. Muscovites often catch cold 

after visiting St. Petersburg. The sun rarely warms the citizens 

of Petersburg, because of high humidity. 

Moscow is sunnier, and that’s why it seems smarter, than 

Petersburg. But there is an eclecticism that is peculiar to 

Moscow. An antique building and a glass skyscraper can be 

neighbours in Moscow, but not in St. Petersburg. That’s why 

citizens of St. Petersburg say that the Muscovites don’t have a

St. Petersburg 

sense of style, whilst Muscovites accuse St. Petersburg as being 

boring. 

St. Petersburg was built according to a well thought-out 

plan. City regulations even today forbid he erection of buildings 

over 4 - 5 stories in the city centre. New buildings have to 

work, architecturally, with old buildings. 

On a linguistic level, people speak differently. For example, 

white loaves of bread in St. Petersburg are called ‘bulka’, and 

the Muscovites: ‘belyi khleb’ (white bread). A pavement is 

called by the former ‘porebrik’, the latter ‘bordyur’. The list of 

differences continues: in St. Petersburg the entrance in a block 

of flats is a ‘paradnaya’, in Moscow a ‘pod’ezd’; a doughnut is 

a ‘pyshka’ in St. Petersburg and a ‘ponshik’ in Moscow. If you 

visit other Russian cities you will notice that people there use 

Moscow language and perceive words used in St. Petersburg 

as being out-of-date. 

The reason why St. Petersburg language is so exotic can be 

traced in the way it was formed. Some of the population of Petersburg 

was originally formed by new arrivals, Germans and 

Dutchmen. It was difficult for them to study Russian, because local 

people spoke a lot of different Russian dialects. For newcomers 

it was extremely important to speak Russian as quickly as possible 

so as progress up the institutionalised career structures. So 

these foreigners turned to any kinds of documents in Russian that 

represented the most universal source of Russian language. They 

were documents full of formal phrases. 

Nowadays there is an opinion that the difference between 

Moscow and St. Petersburg has become a myth or a legend, as 

new high-speed trains services draw the cities closer and closer 

together. But there are major differences in the people themselves. 

Moscow is a very cosmopolitan city today. Who is a Muscovite? 

Nobody really knows. The majority of St. Petersburg citizens 

are drawn from Russian stock, but from northern Russian 

stock, and consequently they look and behave more like people 

from Finland or Scandinavia. St. Petersburg i.s nearer to Western 

Europe in more senses than one. P 

June 2010 

Travel 

1

Russian Reflections 

Books have 

their own fate 

Text and photos by 

Tobie Mathew 

“Poetry is taken so seriously in Russia 

that people are even shot for it.” This 

quip, uttered by the great poet Osip 

Mandelshtam, may have been meant 

ironically but it still contains more than a 

kernel of truth. Since the earliest days of 

ancient Rus, the written word has been 

granted near mythic status in the country; 

worshipped by its citizens as the 

Osip Mandelshtam 

20 June 2010 

source of ultimate knowledge, but desecrated 

by rulers in fear of its power. 

Russian governments throughout 

history have sought in vain to control 

the shape and flow of printed matter, 

unilaterally imposing their views on the 

literary world and silencing all other dissident 

voices. In the minds of the country’s 

leaders, writers were alluring but 

dangerous creatures who all too often 

needed to be separated from the masses 

by the black bars of the censor’s pen. 

And when this failed the threat of the 

hangman’s rope was never far away. 

Those in power had good reason to be 

fearful, for writers were uniquely placed 

to work against government, using their 

creations as vehicles for spreading subversive 

opinion. As the Soviet leaders 

later found out to their cost, books were 

often far more effective than ballot papers 

in giving a largely disfranchised 

population a democratic voice. The 

state tried hard to combat this, but while 

it succeeded in subjugating the vast majority, 

there was always someone who, in 

Tolstoy’s words, “could not stay silent”; 

a novelist or poet who was prepared to 

risk their all to present an alternative narrative 

to the people. 

Both tsarist autocrats and Soviet commissars 

were highly alert to this threat 

and between them they succeeded in 

staining the history of Russian literature 

with the blood of many of its finest writers. 

One name however stands out from 

all the rest: Stalin, who took this dubious 

tradition to a new extreme, murdering 

a slew of writers, poets and intellectuals 

in an effort to shut down forever what 

the political thinker Alexander Herzen 

called, “Russia’s second government”. 

In Stalin’s world there was no freedom 

of thought, let alone freedom of speech. 

Writers who did not bend to the will of 

the state sooner or later found themselves 

at its mercy. As his brutal dictatorship 

slowly clamped its jaws around 

the literary milieu, all aspects of creative 

thought were stifled. Isaac Babel noted 

wryly at the time that a man could speak 

freely, “only with his wife, at night and 

with the blanket pulled over his head.” 

Babel and Mandelshtam both paid 

the ultimate price for their inability to 

conform, a fate shared by countless 

others during Stalin’s reign of terror. “I 

would like to recall them all name by 

name but the list has been taken out, 

it is nowhere to be found,” wrote the 

poetess Anna Akhmatova. Most of the 

victims, including Babel and Mandelshtam, 

were buried in unmarked graves, 

their final resting places lost forever. But 

while nothing carnal remains of these 

two writers, their literary and spiritual 

legacy survives almost untouched, for 

this Stalin could never destroy. 

Today, almost every Russian knows the 

quotation, “Manuscripts do not burn”, 

from Mikhail Bulgakov’s anti-Stalinist 

satire, The Master and Margarita. The 

novel in part tells the story of a young 

writer who torches his life’s work, only 

to have it restored to him later by the 

devil. Bulgakov wrote the story, ‘for the 

desk drawer’, knowing that it was highly 

unlikely it would ever see the light of

day. Unbeknown to Bulgakov however, 

his words were to prove surprisingly 

prophetic. In 1967, more than twentyfive 

years after the author’s death, the 

novel was finally published. 

This salutary lesson is by no means 

unique. Many of Russia’s greatest twentieth 

century works of literature were 

written in secret and only published 

openly at a far later date. Through handwritten 

copies and samizdat or self-publishing, 

the work of writers passed over 

by the regime was kept alive for future 

generations. 

It is not only the texts of suppressed 

works that have lasted to the present day; 

even the banned books themselves still exist. 

One amongst many is Anna Akhmatova’s, 

Selected Poems 1910-46, which provides 

an excellent example of how these 

works survived, and moreover what they 

came up against in the process. 

It is said that throughout her life 

Akhmatova shared the fate of Russia itself. 

If this is true for the poet then it is certainly 

also true of her books, and in particular 

Selected Poems, whose entire print run 

was destroyed by the Soviet Government. 

The book itself is not what one might call 

pretty. It was cheaply produced, and ostensibly 

differs little from hundreds of 

thousands of others produced at the time. 

The importance of this secular relic however, 

lies not so much in its looks or even 

in its poems as in the reflection it carries 

of the literary and physical deprivations of 

Stalinist Russia. 

Before the October Revolution Akhmatova 

had been a popular and celebrated 

poet, but her fortunes changed after 

the Bolsheviks took power. To some degree 

this was because of her perceived 

sympathy for the old regime, but it was 

mainly due to the content and style of 

her work. Poetry that gave precedence 

to honest emotions and experience 

above the output of cement factories 

was always destined to struggle in a literary 

world that became dominated by 

the doctrine of Socialist Realism. 

After her poetry stopped being printed 

in the early 1920s, Akhmatova survived 

largely through translation work. 

She continued to write poetry, but it 

was not until 1940, after a gap of nearly 

eighteen years, that a new collection 

was finally published. It was said that 

Stalin only allowed From Six Books to 

be published as a present to his daughter, 

Svetlana, who was a great admirer 

of Akhmatova’s work. If this is true, the 

gift was short-lived. A few weeks after 

going on sale, Stalin ordered the book 

to be withdrawn, ostensibly because it 

contained a poem that denigrated him. 

The fact that the verse was written long 

before he was on the political scene was 

apparently not considered important. 

Following the Soviet Union’s victory in 

the so-called Great War of the Fatherland, 

Akhmatova had some cause to hope for 

a better future. In 1946 she was given a 

standing ovation at the Writer’s Union in 

Moscow and further to this, preparations 

were being started on the publication of 

two books of her poetry. The second of 

these, Selected Poems 1910-46, was not 

intended to be a new work as such but 

a cheap collected edition designed for 

mass consumption. It would effectively 

signal official acceptance for the popularisation 

of her work. 

Mikhail Bulgakov 

As the publication date neared however 

it became apparent that the war-time 

relaxation of rules governing civil society 

had only been a temporary interlude. For 

Akhmatova, the realisation of this was 

sudden and ominous: the announcement 

of an official investigation into the 

recent publication of several of her poems 

and a subsequent denunciation by 

Party Secretary, Andrei Zhdanov. 

The report into Akhmatova’s work 

claimed that her poems were, “full of 

pessimism and disappointment in life”. 

“Akhmatova has a sympathy and leaning 

towards the past,” it added, echoing 

earlier accusations against her. Following 

this report Zhdanov, Stalin’s Minister 

of Culture, was quick to condemn her. 

“How could the work of this half-nun, 

half-whore ever have seen the light of 

day,” he furiously demanded. 


By this stage both of Akhmatova’s 

books had already been printed, but an 

order was immediately sent out to pulp 

them. With only a very few exceptions 

this demand was carried through, and 

today surviving examples are extremely 

scarce. According to Professor Natalia 

Kraineva from the State Library in St. 

Petersburg there are thought to be only 

around seven copies of Selected Poems 

still extant, the majority of which are in 

institutions. Some of these were taken 

by print workers at the time of publication 

and one copy was even saved by a 

secret policeman, who years later donated 

it to the Akhmatova Museum in 

St. Petersburg. 

From a literary point of view the total 

disappearance of Selected Poems would 

not have been a major loss. The poems 

would all have survived in other forms. 

This is not so much a book, therefore, as a 

memorial, both to Russian writers and to 

the power of their work. Its yellowed pages 

and the words they carry are the physical 

manifestation of literature’s enduring 

triumph over earthly power. “Habent sua 

fata libellii” or “books have their own fate,” 

as Akhmatova was fond of saying. 

Akhmatova was fortunate in that it was 

not only her books that escaped the purges; 

so did she, though hardly unscathed. 

Her former husband Nikolai Gumilyov 

was shot in 1921 for alleged counter-revolutionary 

activity, and her son Lev spent 

years in the Gulag, a hardship for which 

he never fully forgave his mother. 

Akhmatova’s highly personal response 

to the mass killings and deportations was 

the epic, Requiem, which first appeared 

in Munich, a few years before her death. 

The full text was not printed in the Soviet 

Union until 1987, but today the poem is 

a far better known and more celebrated 

reflection of life in Stalin’s Russia than all 

of his own grandiose and self-serving 

monuments put together. 

A few months before Requiem was published 

the children’s writer and literary critic 

Kornei Chukovsky made a short entry in 

his diary. “Stalin’s police thugs have come 

a cropper,” he wrote, “and it is all Akhmatova’s 

doing. The man in the street may think 

it’s a miracle but we don’t find it in the least 

bit surprising; we know that’s how it always 

is.” Intriguingly it appears that Stalin himself 

should also have been aware of this. 

Many years earlier the dictator’s fellow revolutionary 

Nikolai Bukharin warned him 

about literature’s indomitable nature, saying 

that, “poets are always right, for history 

is on their side.” P 

June 2010 

21


John Harrison 

January 1987. For most of 1986, Gorbachev 

had been preparing for major 

changes, but little was actually done. At 

the January 1987 Plenum of the Central 

Committee, Gorbachev went on the offensive 

and called for changes in the party’s 

official ideas. ‘Developed socialism’ 

was out, ‘self-development’ was in together 

with the development of the ‘socialist 

market’. Gorbachev denounced the 

period of stagnation without mentioning 

Brezhnev, and declared that there were 

too many Brezhnev-era cadres in the Party. 

A Party Conference was convoked in 

mid-1988, to get rid of them. 

On television, Soviet viewers were 

amazed to see the show ‘Prozhektor 

Perestroika’; a section of the ‘Vremya’ 

news programme broadcasts news 

from the centre and from the provinces. 

Programmes often showed Gorbachev 

on his travels around the country and 

highlighted the ‘green shoots’ of perestroika 

in contrast to the old dark evil 

places where people were not yet per- 

Douglas O’Donnell 

February 1987 

22 June 2010 

estroiking themselves. ‘Vzglyad’, by far 

the most radical show so far, hit the 

screens in October, becoming ultrapopular 

when Alexandre Politovsky 

and Vladimir Mukusev joined the team 

and aired discussions on subjects like 

getting rid of Lenin’s tomb. Several 

episodes were cut, but the show had 

become unstoppable and somehow 

survived until it was closed in 1991. 

Glasnost was out of control in 1987. 

28 th May 1987. A Cessna 172P light 

aircraft landed just outside Red 

square piloted by a 19-year-old German, 

Mattius Rust. Rust was seeking 

Gorbachev’s attention, and he got it. 

Whilst flying over Finland, he dropped 

to a height of 60 metres and dropped 

a canister with petrol to imitate a catastrophe, 

then flew on to Moscow. 

Soviet air defences assessed the risk as 

being minimal, and failed to take any 

preventative measures. Rust landed 

on Vasilievsky Spusk and was applauded 

by passers-by. Gorbachev took this 

opportunity to get rid of Minister of 

My second trip to Moscow was in 

February of 1987. I was apart of an international 

group of approximately 400 

students studying abroad. It was known 

informally then and still today as Semester 

At Sea. We travelled to twelve countries 

as we circumnavigated the globe. 

Our third port of call was Yalta. 

In 1987, we thought we were in what 

we thought was the middle of the Cold 

War. Accordingly, we were both apprehensive 

and excited to have a back 

stage pass to the capital of what our 

President called the “Evil Empire”. From 

the Black Sea, the sea side resort looked 

dreary and grey. We where transported 

from the boat to our Aeroflot flight to 

Moscow via Intourist buses. 

Upon arrival, the tension in the air 

Defence Sergei Sokolov and General 

Alexander Koldunov, the Chief of the 

Air Defence Forces, both of whom 

were not exactly bright beacons of 

perestroika. Many have said that this 

event together with Chernobyl helped 

to destroy the reputation both of Soviet 

science and of Soviet Power. 

August 1987. Demonstrations in 

Lithuania and Estonia were held during 

the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet 

Non-Aggression Treaty. Gorbachev continued 

to maintain a non-involvement 

policy towards the constituent republics 

of the Union. 

11 th November 1987. Intellectuals who 

previously backed Gorbachev started 

to shift allegiances to Yeltsin who was 

First Secretary of the Moscow party. The 

Moscow boss went about implementing 

radical changes, as a result of which he 

became a tremendously popular mayor. 

He fought corruption (thus the dismissal 

of just about everybody), allowed street 

traders, and attacked abuse of party 

privileges. He saw himself to be in the 

was palpable. There was a multitude 

of security personnel, military and airport 

workers. What there were not: 

smiles. The immigration and customs 

agents were all business. There were 

three signs that struck out at me: “No 

Talking,” “No Photography”, and “No 

Pornography”. They did not share in 

our elation to be off the flight and our 

desire to explore the capital of our biggest 

“enemy”. We boarded the spartan 

buses and headed directly to the Hotel 

Cosmos. On the way, there were a 

plethora of large monolithic buildings 

and monochromatic edifices lined the 

highway. The mood and the landscape 

were dark, cold and grey. 

“Welcome to the Hotel Cosmos!” was 

the phrase with which we greeted upon

advance guard of Perestroika. 

He had little tact, or rather had no 

tact at all. During the run-up to celebrations 

of the 70 th anniversary of the Soviet 

Union, Yeltsin ravaged Gorbachev 

and the leadership of the party as being 

compromised. Not a man to accept 

criticism in pubic, especially from Yeltsin 

who had previously complained to 

both hardliner Yegor Ligachev about 

his wife, Raisa, meddling in affairs of 

state, Gorbachev, accepted Yeltsin’s 

resignation as a candidate member 

of the Politburo in October. But that 

wasn’t enough. On the 11 th of November, 

a conference of the Moscow City 

Party Organisation was called. Although 

Yeltsin was sick and in hospital, 

he was pumped full of drugs and 

dragged along to attend. Many saw this 

as one of Gorbachev’s lowest act. Yeltsin 

admitted his faults, but a decision 

had already been taken: a succession 

of speakers denounced his arrogance 

and he was sacked as the capital’s Party 

Secretary. From this point on, neither 

man was rational when contemplating 

the other. To counter Yeltsin, who was 

still a force to be reckoned with, Gorbachev 

had to consider going further 

along the reformist road than perhaps 

he had originally intended. 

Meanwhile, the west saw ‘Gorby’ as 

the saviour of mankind. He became 

one of the most talked-about people 

on the planet in 1987. This was ‘Gorby 

disembarking from our buses. As cold 

and foreboding as our introduction to 

Moscow was, our initial response to the 

Hotel was the exact opposite. It was as if 

we had just landed at a glitzy Las Vegas 

hotel. There was a gift shop, a Heineken 

bar, a bowling alley, grand stair-cases, 

high ceilings, and it was all so well lit! 

At dinner that night, we sat at long 

tables. Large trays of dried meats, marinated 

vegetables and smoked fish were 

passed. But what was amazing was the 

amount of vodka and caviar that was 

served! I had never seen so much and it 

never ran out! Say what you want but the 

“Evil Empire” really knew how to party! 

The next day we boarded buses for 

an all-day tour of Moscow. The Intourist 

guides were well dressed, smiled 

incessantly, they had beautiful teeth, 

mania’ year, where one incredible event 

followed the next to a thumbs up from 

‘Maggie’ and ‘Ronny’. Crowds gathered 

wherever Gorby went, and the General 

Secretary published a book. 

November 1987. In his book, modestly 

called Perestroika: New Thinking 

for Our Country and the World, Gorbachev 

denounced the ‘Stalinist command-administrative-system’. 

He pointed 

out that growth had stagnated from 

1981-1985. Gorbachev nevertheless 

idolised Lenin as a humanitarian and 

tried to isolate his hero from the violence 

that ensued after his death. However 

Gorbachev’s drive to democracy 

was in fact anti-Leninist; Leninists 

skin and hair, and they spoke perfect 

English. The people outside, were the 

complete opposite. The guides waxed 

poetical about the benefits of the Socialist 

State: free everything! Transportation, 

medicine, insurance, education 


weren’t very democratic. This ideological 

schizophrenia manifested itself in 

public with the enmity between hardliner 

Yegor Ligachev and those supporting 

the views of Alexander Yakovlev, 

who was widely seen as being the 

intellectual force behind Gorbachev’s 

perestroika, and who was appointed to 

the same full politburo status as 

Ligachev in June 1987. Both men had 

been appointed by Gorbachev at different 

stages of his political journey, 

and Gorbachev was not averse to playing 

opponents off against each other 

to his own advantage P . 

(we all did appreciate this one!) and rent 

was all paid for by the State. The people 

in the streets seemed not to be informed 

of this. They looked much older 

than they actually were. They were not 

well kept, their clothes were shabby and 

their teeth were universally stained and 

crooked! No smiles. 

Only the ‘traders’ smiled. These people 

were generally young and surprisingly hip 

and they sort of spoke English. “Doooouuuglas, 

you want a Soviet flag, a furry hat 

to keep your girlfriend warm during a cold 

February Moscow night, a Soviet uniform, 

etc…. for your pair of American jeans?” I 

happily obliged. The fun was, as the Irish 

say, “the bit of banter” between the ‘trader’ 

and us. I am convinced that they are 

amongst today’s Russian oligarchs. 

What a great experience…. P 

June 2010 

2


Was Alaska 

sold for a 

song? 

It is customary to consider that the USA bought Alaska 

together with adjacent, islands with overall area of 1.5 

million square kilometres for $7.2m in gold, which works out 

as about 2c per acre. These figures are printed in Russian 

and American literature as well as in various atlases. 

But was there a sale at all, or was it more like the USA 

paid Russia so that it would finally leave the American 

continent? In the first part of a two-part series, Yury 

Samoilov takes us back to the mid-eighteenth century 

when fur-hungry Russia colonised Alaska. 

Yury Samoilov 

The Russian-American 

Fur rush 

Company 

For local residents of the Chukotka-pen- To hold back foreign competitors, 

insula, Russian-Alaska was a place they Russian hunters decided to unite their 

had known about for a long time. They efforts, and in 1799 set up a powerful 

regularly rode there on sleighs pulled by monopoly with the name “Russiandeer 

across the Bering Strait in the winter American Company” or RAC. The com- 

and on boats in the summer to exchange pany was a joint-stock company found- 

goods with natives of Alaska. 

ed solely with Russian capital. 

Such journeys took a single day. In- The tsarist elite, having benefitted 

tensive colonization of Alaska began greatly in monetary terms from RAC, 

only after Russian seamen, Vitus Bering not only acquired part of the company’s 

and Alex Chirickov, reached the Ameri- stocks, but decided to make use of it for 

can continent in the summer of 1741 

on the three-masted sailing ships, Saint 

Peter and Saint Pavel. Tales of a huge 

number of fearless fur-bearing animals 

wandering along the shores who were 

not afraid of human beings got Russian 

hunters excited. Disregarding the 

risks involved, they rushed to the new, 

unknown lands, set up fortified settlements, 

showing no mercy on animals 

or natives. A mass extermination of sea 

otters, the pelts of which were highly 

valued on world market, and other wild 

animals was started. 

After a few years, American and British 

hunters joined in, enraging local Indians 

who mounted many, mostly unsuccess- 

Novo-Arkhangelsk. Drawing by I. G. Vosnesensky 

ful, rebellions against the aliens. 

2 June 2010 

Alexander Baranov 

the expansion of the Russian Empire. 

The first governor of Russian colonies in 

Alaska was Aleksander Baranov, a merchant 

from the small Russian town Kargopol. 

One of his descendants, Zoja Afrosina who is 

alive today, found out quite accidentally about 

her kinship with her eminent ancestor. She was 

informed that her uncle (a relative of Baranov), 

had left her heritage. She discovered a large 

number of previously unknown documents, 

concerning Baranov’s private life. He apparent- 

by the author

A Russian village in present-day Alaska 

ly literally went native and married the daughter 

of Indian chief and had two children by her. 

The full biography of Baranov is described in a 

new book on Alaska written by historian Allan 

Engstrom, which was presented in March of this 

year in the State Historic Museum in Moscow. 

From 1741 for 12 years, a considerable 

part of Alaska coast and most of its adjacent 

islands, the Aleutian and Kuril islands 

were colonized and explored. Baranov dispatched 

his assistant Ivan Kuskov in 1812 

to set up in California. He created a settlement 

called Fort Ross, about 80 kilometres 

from where San Francisco stands today. 

Fort Ross 

Fort Ross had a short history of only 

30 years. At first it thrived thanks to the 

fur trade, but this was short-lived, as almost 

all sea otters in the vicinity were 

soon exterminated and the rich soils on 

which wheat, barley, fruits and vegetables 

were cultivated were soon exhausted. 

The then governor of the Russian 

colonies in Alaska, the future admiral 

Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel, tried to 

save the fort from destruction. 

Descendants of Wrangel live, and still 

live, in the USA, Russia and Sweden. The 

Anchorage by Evgeny Datsko 

most famous of them was Peter Wrangel 

who was an officer in the Imperial Russian 

army and later commanding general 

of the anti-Bolshevik White Army in 

the final stages of the Civil War. 

Ferdinand von Wrangel came to an 

agreement with the revolutionary Mexican 

government about the apportionment 

to Fort Ross of a large tract of 

land on condition of acknowledgment 

of Mexico by Russia. But Tsar Nicholas I 

who despised revolutions, categorically 

refused to have anything to do with 

Mexico. In 1841, Fort Ross was sold for 

$30,000 to a farmer from Sacramento 

named John Sutter. Later on, the fort was 

repeatedly resold and a hundred years 

was almost completely decayed. In the 

1930s, thanks to the efforts of American 

and Russian emigrants, the fort was completely 

restored to its original state and 

transformed into a national museum - 

Fort Ross State Historical Park. 

The author of these article who grew up in 

San Francisco, happened to visit this splendid 

park with his father, who was working in Soviet 

consulate there in the 1940s. 

In retrospect, there is no doubt that the 

sale of Fort Ross was, as far as Russians go, 


an unforgivable blunder. Tsar Nicholas I 

totally failed to understand the strategic 

importance of California. To rub salt in 

the wound, only seven years after the fort 

was sold, a rich deposit of gold was discovered 

nearby, a discovery that preceded 

the California gold by seven years. The 

gold rush led to the rapid construction of 

roads, schools and infrastructure. 

A hard choice 

The sale of Fort Ross was the first step towards 

the liquidation of the Russian-American 

Company (RAC) whose profitability 

had been hit with the decline of sea otters. 

In the last five years it lost money, which 

annoyed the tsarist elite, accustomed as 

they were to fabulous dividends. 

The economic position and prestige 

of Russia noticeably worsened after its 

defeat in the Crimean war, at least in 

comparison to the rising might of Great 

Britain, France and the USA. The prestige 

of the 20 main settlements in Alaska, including 

Novo-Arkhangelsk ,which had a 

population of 3,000 people on Baranov 

island, also suffered. 

Most of these settlements were situated 

on the narrow western coastal strip 

of the Gulf of Alaska, which was separated 

from the huge, practically uninhabited, 

continental part of Alaska by a 

mountain chain. 

No borders as such were established 

by the Russian settlers. The only thing 

that the Russians could do, and even 

then not always, was to put somewhere 

on the hill not far from their wooden 

forts, the posts or crosses with notices 

attached to them: “This land is the possession 

of Russian Empire”. 

They made further attempts to make 

their settlements more legal, they also 

buried iron boards bearing the emblem 

of the Russian State in copper, with the 

same text underneath. 

Russia had two main choices as to how 

to what to do with its Russian colonies: 

- either to render financial help to 

Russian American Company (RAC) and 

set up an Alaskan State administration, 

which would involve not only administrative 

expenses, but also stationing 

regiments of troops and the naval ships, 

to defend territories Russia claimed as 

her own possessions; 

- or to leave Alaska, preserving its 

prestige. 

As we all know, the latter course of action 

was adopted. But how and why, will 

be discussed in the next article in the 

July edition of Passport. P 

June 2010 

2

Education 

Do Russians push 

their children too hard? 

The pressure’s on for 

Russian kids this month, 

as they cram for exams 

while keeping up a host of 

extracurricular activities. 

And the holidays won’t see 

an end to their labours, 

as they are packed off 

for extra lessons at camp. 

While the gifted can cope 

with the most gruelling of 

schedules with a smile, 

others will struggle. Are 

their childhoods being 

sacrificed to the modern 

age need to succeed? 

Text by Peter Ellis 

“I do it every day and I hate it. I really 

don’t want to do karate but my mum 

says I’ve got to,” says Pasha. With his 

soft brown eyes, wavy brown hair, trust- 

2 June 2010 

ing face and all of his eleven years, he 

doesn’t look like a killer. I ask him why 

he thinks his mum makes him do it. 

“To make me strong. Men have to be 

strong,” he replies with a weak smile. 

Pasha’s sister Sasha, 13, shares the 

same woes. “And I’ve been doing it for 

two year’s longer than him,” she whimpers. 

The kids are two of my students, 

who have been booked in for extra English 

lessons by their concerned mother, 

though their English is well in advance 

of their years. We talked about their daily 

routine: these school children have 

schedules which would make an international 

executive’s head spin. 

Sasha and Pasha aren’t alone in being 

busy. At weekends another of my students, 

Alex, goes to boot camp, where 

the day starts before breakfast with a 

five kilometre run with a heavy backpack, 

while during the week his free time 

is taken up with extra English, Spanish, 

and the martial arts. His father is hoping 

to get him into the FSB: a Russian James 

Bond in the making. But this seems part- 

time compared to one of my colleague’s 

twelve-year-old charges. She doesn’t go 

to school except to take exams and is ferried 

from tutor to tutor in a seven-day-aweek, 

twelve-hours-a-day regime. “My 

mum thinks I’m a genius,” she explains, 

though recently she has managed to negotiate 

some Sundays off. 

Even when school’s out, lessons don’t 

stop for many of Moscow’s youngsters. 

Busy working parents can relax knowing 

their offspring are being taken care 

of at a host of summer camps. 

“It’s great being a away from home 

and with my friends. We had great fun 

especially in the evening when we had 

free time,” says Andrei, another of my 

students who attended a two-week ‘bio 

camp’ last July, where he was taught 

woodland ecology, followed by a fourweek 

language course in the UK. 

Much of this extracurricular learning 

is organised by the youngsters’ schools, 

where they can experience the sort of 

practical activities that UK schoolchildren 

take for granted, though there

are legions of private companies willingly 

selling sojourns so kids can study 

languages, sport, music, the arts and 

the rest, both in Russia and around the 

World. 

Is it all too much? Worries about ‘overscheduled’ 

or ‘overbooked’ children 

have been niggling parents in the UK 

and the US ever since author and psychologist, 

David Elkins, highlighted the 

issue in his best-selling book, The Hurried 

Child, back in 1981. 

“The perfect picture of a balanced 

childhood, one in which our kids go to 

school, do a little homework and play 

fort, is a myth for many youngsters. 

More and more children are involved in 

far too many activities,” Elkins wrote recently 

in Psychology Today. 

He quotes Berkley professor Diane Ehrensaft: 

“Middle-class children in America 

are so overscheduled that they have 

almost no ‘nothing time’. They have no 

time to call on their own resources and 

be creative. Creativity is making something 

out of nothing, and it takes time for 

that to happen. In our efforts to produce 

Renaissance children who are competitive 

in all areas, we squelch creativity.” 

While round-the-clock schooling isn’t 

as unquestioningly accepted in Russia 

as it appears to be in Japan and Korea, 

it doesn’t seem to be causing as much 

hand-wringing as in the West. Moscowbased 

psychologist Anastasia Yerokhina 

says the pressure on children in Russia 

is not taken seriously enough: “It’s not 

considered a problem by the majority 

of the public and not treated as a priority 

by health professionals. Parents 

believe hard working children are necessary 

for Society; others want their 

children to have the sort of opportunities 

that weren’t available to them when 

they were young. Many of the children 

themselves don’t realise they have a 

problem but they are often nervous 

and tired all the time. They don’t appreciate 

their lives. 

“Overscheduled children are generally 

forced to study harder by their parents. 

They most probably don’t like it at 

all, but are not able to oppose. Parents 

try to make children obey, and children 

try to avoid oppression. But in case of 

overscheduled children, they are not 

taught to resist this pressure. Further in 

their lives, this disability leads to a lot of 

problems within society and with feelings 

of self-worth as well. Such children 

tend to conform more than their peers. 

They have significant problems when 

they need to demonstrate independence 

and in their ability to make their 

own decisions.” 

The Church is also concerned. Archimandrite 

Zacchaeus is Dean of St. Catherine 

the Great Martyr Church, Bolshaya 

Ordynka, and Representative of the Orthodox 

Church in America to the Moscow 

Patriarchate. He says: “Life in Moscow 

is moving more and more to the 

western style, where both parents and 

children are bombarded with demands 

on their time and extracurricular activities. 

They miss church services and have 

less time for spiritual matters. We have 

the ‘New York minute’ (definition: ‘half 

the length but with five times the activity 

than elsewhere’), soon there’s going 

to be a ‘Moscow minute’; it’s a problem 

for all ages. The Holy Scriptures state 

‘be still and know that I’m God’. By being 

over busy we loose connection with 

both God and ourselves, and that is a 

very dangerous thing.” 

Like parents the world over, Moscow 

mums and dads want the best for their 

June 2010 

Education 

kids. “My son had breathing problems, 

so I enrolled him in swimming classes,” 

says the mother of one seven-year-old, 

“he was also shy and awkward with other 

children so I took him to drama class. His 

breathing was better and he was more 

confident when he started school”. 

“The world’s a tough place,” adds 

a father of two, “we’ve got to give our 

children every advantage so they can 

compete when they are older. They may 

not like it now but they’ll thank us for 

it in the end”. He also explains the parental 

preoccupation with self-defence: 

“When the USSR collapsed the streets 

were dangerous, a lot of parents got 

their kids into karate class for their own 

good. Parents still think this.” 

“The over-scheduled child is a myth,” 

writes John Cloud in Time magazine. He 

blasts the idea that kids’ “more rushed, 

scheduled and digitized” lives are doing 

them any harm. Quite the opposite, he 

says: busy children have “better well-being 

and less drug use ... they even eat 

meals with their parents more often.” 

The desire for kids to slow down is an example 

of ‘transference’ he suggests, it expresses 

adults’ wish for an easier lifestyle. 

“Childhood is an invention of modernity 

... [so] the next time you’re hauling your 

kids from basketball, to SAT prep, to violin 

lessons, ask yourself whether it is them 

who really wants a break ... or you.” 

Elkins remains concerned: “parents 

need to relax. Slow down. Activities 

are fine but don’t go over the top. Research 

says that what children need 

most are relationships not activities. 

Focus on building meaningful relationships 

with your children, not becoming 

their chauffeur.” 

Veterans of parent pressure can look 

back wryly in adulthood. Zhenia is now 

a successful scientist: “My dad wanted 

me to play the piano and I spent hours 

at lessons. One day he said if I learnt 

three tunes he would buy me a kitten; 

I wanted a puppy. I don’t touch a piano 

nowadays and the cat hates me, we 

have issues,” she giggles “but that cat 

loves my dad.” 

Back in class I ask Sasha if she had 

asked her mum if she could give up karate. 

“Only if I start learning Chinese— 

she is really interested in China— but I 

don’t want to learn Chinese”. I ask what 

she would prefer to do if she had the 

choice. “I want to learn the guitar so I 

can play Beatles songs”. And which of 

their songs does she most want to sing? 

“Help!” She replies forlornly. P 

2

Your Moscow 

“Your Moscow (2) 

Green parts – south west” 

Text and photos by Ross Hunter 

Our second spring-time excursion into 

Moscow’s unexpectedly generous 

green lungs takes us to the playgrounds 

immediately south west of the city, along 

the river from Gorky Park to Sparrow Hills: 

all under 7km from the Kremlin walls. In a 

largely flat city, these offer some of the 

widest panoramas as well as a pleasant 

diversity of entertainments. 

Gorky Park 

Nearest to the centre and beside the Garden Ring is Moscow’s 

most famous recreational honey-pot. The swarm at the 

entrance arches, the roar of the traffic behind you and the 

shrieks and squeals from the big dippers tell you that this is 

a place for lively fun not quiet contemplation. Bring plenty of 

money, as this beehive is commercially driven. Expect plenty 

of amiable company, and enjoy roller coasters, rides, slides, 

ice creams, hot snacks and cold glasses, skating and snowballing 

in season, indeed, all the fun of the fair. Free amusements 

include people-watching and the frisson of people screaming 

themselves witless on the harem-scarem rides. Listening 

to them is not for the faint hearted, never mind actually going 

on the things: after you, I insist! Moscow traffic may even 

seem tame afterwards. 

Neskuchny Sad 

Next, step beyond: ‘Neskuchny Sad’ means literally The 

Enjoyable Garden, and after the collective excitements of 

2 June 2010

the man-made park, this is a complete contrast, an oasis of 

restful forest. It is free and you are free to make your own 

fun. Whether you are active on foot, bike or blades, or prefer 

idling, snoozing or picnicking on the grass, or enjoying the 

leafy views towards the river and nature, you have plenty of 

options for solitude, oneness with nature, or a friend. Surprisingly 

small swathes of forest feel remarkably expansive. 

There are wonderful bird watching opportunities, ornithologically 

speaking: see this month’s family quiz on p44. I’d 

promise to see you there, but there are more paths than 

people, so you are likely to be in luck. 

There is more yet. The new edifice of the Russian Academy 

of Sciences is a remarkable sight. What looks like a lonely 

brutalist concrete block from afar suddenly turns sci-fi or 

spy-fi with a wig of gloriously incongruous collection of 

gold cubes, shielding what? Dr Who? Dr No? Dr Quatermass? 

(Younger readers quiz parents here.) It is absurdly curious, 

from below. Once within, it is a coherent if perplexing complex 

of modernist architecture. Not only that, you can plot 

world domination while Bonding (sorry) in the excellent 22 nd 

floor Sky Lounge restaurant, surveying all the Moscow you 

command: everything including all the ‘seven sisters skyscrapers’ 

(beat that) to the Kremlin to the competing Swiss 

hotel tower; from the river via Shukov’s radio tower nearby 

to the distant Ostankino TV tower. Unbeatable without a 

balloon. 

Sparrow Hills 

Carry on round the outside of the river’s expansive bend, 

walking leisurely or cycling in your own style, and you will 

soon be in Vorobyovy Gory, the Sparrow (formerly Lenin) 

Hills. All my Russian friends tell me that this is their favourite 

part of the city. With good reason. Or, use the handy 

Red-line Metro shortcut to the station of the same name, 

unique in that the platforms are on a glass-walled bridge 

over the river, affording a great snapshot of this month’s 

landscapes. 

Sparrow Hills is a curious name. Hills they are not, more 

really the eroded meander scarp. Wildlife abounds and 

Your Moscow 

June 2010 

2

Your Moscow 

it forms the foundation for both Moscow’s most famous 

scenic viewpoint and most famous University. Before you 

amble up the steepish slopes, or cheat using the ski lift, 

0 June 2010 

enjoy the woodland idyll. There is plenty of wildlife within, 

avian and mammalian, though mostly quite shy and 

requiring some patience. The top arrives with pleasing 

suddenness, and the world changes in an instant. A car 

park festooned with souvenir sellers, not to mention the 

Olympic ski jumps, three road-rail bridges, newly-weds 

and their parties alighting here for the views, all let you 

know that this is a popular spot. Why? Turn around for the 

best natural view of the city. Pick a crisp, clear day, or the 

haze will frustrate you. The graceful ovals of the Luzhniki 

stadium dominate, followed immediately by the game of 

‘spot your dom’, to the tune of the celebrations and entertainments 

all around you. 

As if further evidence is needed, this is the spot chosen by 

Bulgakov for the eternal, ethereal climax of his definitive Moscow 

novel. After all their trials and frustrations and temptations, 

the eponymous Master & Margarita depart the city and 

the earthly life from here. It is their moment of revelation, of 

transience and eternity. It is the view of Moscow you will take 

with you. P 

How to get there. 

Sparrow Hills: Metro to Vorbyovy Gory or Universitet (Red 

line), cycle along the river, or by car: park near the University. 

Neskuchny Sad: walk from Sparrow Hills, Gorky Park or the 

Academy Of Sciences. Orange Metro Leninsky Prospect (by 

Gagarin). Enter at each end, or by the river. 

Gorky Park: Brown Metro Park Kultury or Oktyabaskaya. 

My thanks to Anna and Marina for their lifelong knowledge of these 

areas and help with research. 

anna@eolia-relocation.ru; 

m.semenova@intermarksavills.ru.

Your Moscow 

Bolshaya Ordinka: Street of the 

Golden Horde and Golden Domes 

Text and Photos by Katrina Marie 

The words Golden Horde evoke mystery, the Orient, and 

certainly another space and time. But a walk down Moscow’s 

Bolshaya Ordinka unearths multiple layers of Russian history 

in the Zamoskvorechya district, from where Mongul-Tartars 

once launched raids against the Kremlin. Indeed, the name 

Bolshaya Ordinka itself is derived from the Golden Horde (Zolotaya 

Orda) and served as the main route from the Kremlin 

south in the 14 th century. 

We begin at 69 Bolshaya Ordinka, the affiliate stage of the 

Moscow Maly Theatre, located just off the renovated Dobrininskaya 

Metro station. Dressed in Victorian-style blue and 

white scroll, the Maly features performances of Russian classics, 

such as Ostrovsky’s Wolves and Sheep and Chekhov’s 

Seagull. 

At 60/2 Bolshaya Ordinka is the Russian Orthodox church of 

St. Catherine the Great Martyr-in-the-Fields, quite a beautiful 

discovery on a Saturday morning when angelic choral voices 

fill this airy church with song. Funded by Catherine the Great, 

the church was built in the 1760s and stands on the site of 

a bloody battle in 1612 during the Times of Troubles, when 

Moscow was threatened by Polish and Lithuanian invaders 

(who reportedly were driven hence out of Russia). The church 

offers an English service once a month. 

At 39 there is another charming pink gem, the Church of 

Iveron Icon of the Mother of God-in-the-Fields, built between 

1789-1802. It sustained heavy damage from fire in the Napoleonic 

wars of 1812 but was refurbished in the late 1800s. 

During the Communist period, the church was used as a club 

for a bus depot. But fortunately early frescoes once painted 

over are being revealed. One shows a heart-breaking pitiful 

woman gazing fervently toward heaven; others gleam in rich 

blue and red. 

At 34, set off the busy street, is the unusual Marfo-Mariinskaya 

Convent, which envelopes the weary traveller in an oasis 

of tranquillity. Built between 1908-1912 by architect Shchusev 

(also the architect of Lenin’s Mausoleum), it houses the 

Church of Intercession of the Mother of God, a splendid mix 

of art nouveau and medieval Russian architecture. The murals 

are worth a special visit, earthy blues and yellows, modernist 

and wholly Russian, particularly the pastoral scene of Christ 

amongst the sick and needy. It was one of the last churches to 

be built before the revolution, and therein lies the tragic story 

of its founder, Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Fyodorovna, sister of 

Empress Alexandra (wife of Nicholas II). She established the 

convent after the murder of her husband by revolutionaries in 

1905 only to perish herself two days after the 1918 execution 

of the royal family. 

Cross the street to 27, listening to the burgeoning talent 

of the State Musical College of Bandstand and Jazz, and take 

a peek at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Pyzhy, a 17 th century 

grandiose, pristine, white church. Perhaps more impressive 

on the outside, its icons are still certainly beautiful. The 

church’s bell tower was reportedly seized by the Communists 

and given to the Bolshoi theatre in the early 1930s. 

At 20 is the Church of the Consolation of all Sorrows. Neoclassic 

and ornate, the church was funded by a wealthy merchant 

in the mid 1700s who lived just opposite in the mansion that 

now houses the Russian Academy of Sciences department of 

Latin America. Rumour has it that an underground tunnel was 

built by the late owner between the mansion and the church, 

possibly for those frigid Moscow winters? 

Though a stoic babushka cried from her window that 

there was nothing to see at 17, this apartment complex once 

housed famous Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Indeed, while 

not much remains of that time, a soothing sculpture stands in 

the courtyard lovingly dedicated to Akhmatova. 

Continuing north, the vivid onion domes of St. Basil’s cathedral 

are now in clear view. As you leave Bolshaya Ordinka, perhaps 

for an outdoor coffee on Red Square, close your eyes for 

a moment and breath in the rose and incense that has followed 

you from church to church. The glistening gold of the 

past will remain with you, a souvenir of Moscow’s incredible 

history. P 

June 2010 

1

Gourmet Moscow 

Cooking Lessons in Moscow 

Text by Rashmi le Blan, 

photos by Alina Ganenko 

Have you noticed how there aren’t many 

cooking lessons in Moscow? I have always 

been a foodie and used to love going to 

cooking courses, or watching beautiful 

food being prepared in gourmet shops. 

Since I am lacking that a bit in Moscow, I 

decided to start something on my own! 

Although professionally I have never 

worked in a kitchen, food has always 

been my true passion. Now in Moscow, I 

want to try to share my passion with others. 

The cuisine will be French and European, 

mixed in with some fusion. I have 

started lunch classes: you can cook yourself 

a two or three-course meal and then 

enjoy it here. 

A sample menu that I have in mind for 

the mid-day class would be: 

Coquelet with Tarragon and Cream 

Fondant au chocolat 

This is one of my personal favourites: 

Brandade of Salmon with green 

cabbage with poached egg 

Ingredients for 6: 

800g filet of salmon 

800g potatoes 

20cl olive oil 

2 cloves of garlic 

Thyme and bay leaves 

1 litre milk 

1 litre water 

6 / 8 leaves of green cabbage 

30g butter 

6 eggs 

20cl vinegar 

Peel potatoes, cut into cubes and let 

boil in salted water until tender. 

In a big pot, add the milk, water, garlic, 

thyme and bay leaves and the filets 

of salmon. Bring to boil, and then let it 

rest for about 10 minutes. Take the filets, 

skin them and take out any bones. The 

fish should be cooked enough so that it 

flakes into pieces. Save the milk for the 

potatoes and decoration. 

Once the potatoes have boiled, mash 

into a puree with a fork. Add some of the 

hot milk, then olive oil and the cooked garlic 

cut into small pieces. Keep the puree hot. 

Cut the leaves of the cabbage into thin 

strips and cook in butter. Add a ½ cup of 

water and let to cook covered until all 

the water evaporates. Add this then to 

the mashed potatoes and mix well. 

Boil some water in a pot, and add the 

vinegar. Break the eggs one by one into 

a small receptacle. When the water is 

boiling, create a little whirlpool in the 

pot with a spoon, and add 1 egg in the 

centre. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, 

and then take it out. Cook all eggs in 

this process. 

On a large plate, arrange the above 

in a ring: first a layer of potatoes, then 

some salmon, and finish with potatoes. 

Remove the ring and place a poached 

egg on top. Break the egg with a knife 

so the yolk drips out, and serve immediately. 

Decorate with some dill if 

desired. 

(If you have a special mixer, you could 

mix the milk into a mousse or foam and 

use it to decorate around the brandade.) 

If you are interested to come and 

cook, please contact me. I hope that 

this will be a great way to meet new 

friends, share and enjoy good food together. 

I also plan to have cooking or 

theme evenings, or Sunday lunches, 

where you can come and cook a meal 

and then everyone can sit and enjoy 

the meal with some wine and have a 

fun time together. P 

Rashmi Le Blan 

rashmileblan@gmail.com 

(Classes at Metro: 

Bibliotheka Im. Lenina or Arbatskaya) 

June 2010

Restaurant review 

Moscow Trio 

Charles W. Borden 

Classic Italian off Delegatskaya 

It’s difficult to keep up with Moscow’s new restaurant 

openings, and based upon stats, the Italian chef recruitment 

business must be booming. L’Albero is just one of 

a number of post-crisis Italian newcomers on PASSPORT’s 

must-visit list. Opened by veteran restaurateur Andrey 

Zaitsev (Noa), l’Albero is ensconced in a grand old two-story 

building behind the fenced yard of an educational organization 

on quiet Delegatskaya, just north of the Garden 

Ring. The interior is light and open with huge windows, 

tables large and widely spaced, providing a very relaxed 

and quiet environment. 

Jean-Michel Brunie of UBS, Elena Fedko of Baker McKenzie 

Kiev, and Antoine Poissonier of Collection Privee joined John 

Ortega and me for dinner. We were fortunate to meet resident 

chef Nicola Canuti to discuss his work and recommendations. 

Canuti’s menu is “classic Italian with a new taste” according to 

the promotions. Canuti has worked in several Alain Ducasse 

restaurants including his Spoon restaurants in St. Tropez, Tunis 

and Mauritius. 

L’Albero has a selection of Canuti’s pasta, risotto, and meats 

creations and an ample selection of grill seafood that range 

in price from 290r per 100 grams for calmari to 900r for octopus. 

I started with an Octopus and Artichoke Salad (1550r), 

June 2010 

large sections of octopus presented on an artichoke puree 

with hazelnuts, delightful. The pleasing, fresh, bright green 

Minestrone (400r) was beautifully presented. 

The signature meat dish is a lamb filet, oven cooked slowly 

for 36 hours with fennel, oregano, cumin and sumac (1250r), 

which unfortunately was still in the oven. Nicola recommended 

the Osso Buco with Vegetables (1350r), which was perfectly 

cooked and served with a small silver spoon to lap up the 

centerpiece pureed marrow from the bone. 

The restaurant prides itself on its bakery, and not just the 

creative, fresh baked goods that started the meal; we topped 

off the meal with a selection of small sweets from the chef’s 

recipe book. L’Albero is easily one of Moscow’s top Italian restaurants. 

Business lunches range from 750 to 1200 rubles. Cooking 

classes are the rage in Moscow now, and chef Canuti has 

joined in. Classes are 3500 rubles, but children can apparently 

join as well, free. P 

L’Albero 

Delegatskaya Str., 7 

+7 495 650 1674 

www.albero.su

Tatler in Ukraina 

Tatler Club, the newest trendy Novikov place on the first 

floor of the renovated and reopened Ukraine Hotel, reminds 

of its sister GQ by the Baltshug. It’s not really fair to review a 

restaurant the day after opening (in this case Tatler Club did 

not yet have an executive chef) but we wanted to give readers 

a heads-up on the first of the six or so restaurants that are 

planned for the Ukraine. 

Restaurant review 

The Ukraine appears to have been luxuriously updated, while 

retaining its heritage as one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters that include 

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Moscow State University. It’s 

worth a visit to see the 400 square meter diorama of Moscow’s 

center in the 50s. This award winning work, which was salvaged 

by the owners, toured Europe back in Soviet days, and has now 

been freshened up to stand at the back of the first floor. 

The Tatler menu is eclectic with pasta and sushi, but we focused 

on the significant Ukrainian section. Our selection included 

Stuffed Carp (740r), Draniki (potato pancakes) with 

Sour Cream (450r), Pelmini with Meat (480r), and House Jellied 

Meat (kholodets) with Mustard and Horseradish (610r). We 

added Baked Beet with Almonds and Goat Cheese (640r) and 

Terrine de Foie Gras with Fig Jam (970r). The Ukrainian selections 

were very fresh if stylish presentations of classics, pricy 

but such is expected on both Novikov and a hotel that is sure 

to move to the top of Moscow’s 5-star list. P 

Tatler Club 

Radisson Ukraina Hotel 

Ukraine Hotel, 

Kutuzovsky Prospekt 2/1 

Tel: +7 495 229 83 05 

Another Steakhouse 

Steak is also big in Moscow, and the past two years has seen 

the opening of two decent steakhouse chains, Ti-Bon and 

Torro Grill, following on the success of Goodman, plus a few 

luxury meat joints. Veteran restaurant promoter Doug Steele 

has been involved in the recent opening of 21 Prime Steakhouse 

and Bar next to Barashka on Novy Arbat about 100 meters 

from the Garden Ring. 21 Prime’s menu and décor, heavy 

on deep, comfortable leather chairs and dark wood, are reminiscent 

of Steele’s Doug’s Steakhouse that quickly flamed 

out on Tsvetnoy Bulvar, though not because of the food. The 

walls are decorated with early 20th century black and white 

Americana photos. 

Steele’s signature is prominent across the entire menu: 

Cobb Salad, rows of fresh chopped meats and vegetables 

over lettuce with the classic dressing, and a Wedge Salad 

(395r), a large section carved out of an iceburg lettuce head 

served with ranch dressing. 21 Prime is using Steele’s Australian 

ranch suppliers for the beef. 

John Ortega ordered the 21 Prime T-Bone, an 18-ounce Angus 

with roasted tomatoes (1800r). Since this was lunch, I 

passed up the featured Ribeye Lite, a 9-ounce “bargain” and 

tried one of the bar menu items, Three Mini Filet Mignon 

Sandwiches with Mustard Mayonnaise (450r). These three 

small filets were perfectly tender, and the sauce a nice com- 

plement. The wine list was a big surprise, featuring very decent 

wines starting just over 1100 rubles. If this holds, this will 

be a Moscow innovation, which alone should make 21 Prime 

popular with Passport readers. P 

21 Prime Restaurant and Bar 

Novy Arbat 21 

June 2010

Out & About 

Moscow Golf and Luxury 

Property Show 

Interest in golf in Russia is increasing 

fast and to cater to this trend the ai- 

Group launched the Moscow Golf Show 

and the Moscow Golf & Luxury Property 

Show in central Moscow 23 & 24 April. 

The majority of the exhibitors were presenting 

high quality golf properties from 

destinations from around the world and 

received many enquiries from golf enthusiasts 

looking to own a property on 

a golf course. The highlight of the event 

was the Moscow Golf Show party which 

attracted more than 700 visitors who enjoyed 

excellent food and drink, a unique 

indoor golf competition, live music and 

a performance from the Pacha go-go 

dancers. www.MoscowGolfShow.ru 

June 2010 

Russian Art in Russia 

On 17 May, MacDougall’s, the world’s 

largest auction house specialising in Russian 

art, held a VIP viewing of works which 

are to go on sale in London on 7, 10 and 

11 June. The event was hosted by the British 

Ambassador at the newly-refurbished 

Residence on Sofinskaya Embankment. 

Of all the sales of Russian art world-wide, 

70% are held in London, 20% in New York 

and the remaining 10% split between Paris, 

Stockholm and Moscow. Last December 

MacDougall’s overtook both Christie’s and 

Sotheby’s to become the largest seller. 

Amongst the classics was Vladimir Lyushin’s 

Two Girls on a Beach (see picture), which is 

expected to fetch around £100,000. It is 

one of the earliest Russian works to show 

a woman in a bikini, a garment new to Socialist 

Realist art in the 1950s. MacDougall’s 

lavish catalogue for the sale describes the 

picture as ‘combining the anticipation of 

Khrushchev’s Thaw with nostalgia for artis- 

tic imagery of the early 1930s’ while it ‘reflects 

the artist’s poetic dream of the free, 

harmonious human being.’ 

Ian Mitchell

BBC monthly meeting – 

Renaissance Monarch 

The British Business Club faced a fresh 

challenge at their monthly get together: 

how to fill the cavernous ballroom 

of the paint-still-wet new Renaissance 

Monarch Hotel, at Dynamo. It was ‘job 

done’ with the help of a good turnout 

and a record number of business ideas 

and presentations. Being St George’s 

Day and Shakespeare’s birthday, our 

host Anthony Farndon, the proud hotel 

manager, warmed us up with a topical 

account of the trials and tribulations of 

getting the project to completion, laced 

with lines from the Bard. His catering 

team did us proud with a magnificent 

spread, full of exciting oriental tastes 

and flavours, and those with a nostalgia 

for Blighty quaffed Spitfire ale, flown 

in from Kent. David Chitty from the UK 

Embassy updated us on security matters 

and In2 Matrix presented a new 

approach to health insurance. Most poignant, 

David Ford recounted his horrific 

accident (full interview in May issue of 

PASSPORT) and thanked the members 

Chicago Gangsters 

at Silver’s. 

Admit it, you were worried that the 

‘krissis’ had driven all the hoods, hoodlums, 

gangsters and ne’er-do-wells 

abroad (or at least out along Rubolovsky 

Prospekt). Thankfully Silver’s, the 

original genuine Irish bar, has restored 

our faith in the underworld. May Day 

night saw the subterranean pub transformed 

by the best barmaids in Mos- 

and Tania for their support. BBC chairman, 

Don Scott, held the reins, organised 

the raffle, updated us on the year 

ahead and promised free whisky—tomorrow. 

The serried ranks of troops exchanged 

notes and chatted noisily, trying 

to compete with the cacophonous 

roar from the gaudy carpet. The latter 

apart, a tasteful and purposeful gathering. 

Thank you! 

RDH. Photos supplied by Nadya Torina 

cow into glitzy, seedy, noisy, dressy, 

dodgy roaring twenties Chicago. The 

days when the bling was for real and 

jazz was the deal. A feast of gold, silver 

and shady shades. 

The costumes were eclectic, the bar 

girls were electric, the customers were 

charged and the atmosphere sparked. 

The music was the best from all the decades, 

from Billie Holliday to The Blues 

Brothers by way of Glenn Miller, Ray 

Charles and Dave Brubeck. Best of all 

June 2010 

Out & About 

was Julia’s virtuoso karaoke concert. 

She sang with the legs, the eyes and all 

her heart. If you were there, you’d know 

what I mean. If you missed it, big shame, 

but enjoy the photos. But don’t believe 

all you see. That teapot flowed all 

night like the sorcerer’s apprentice with 

moonshine potcheen hooch, although 

it tasted as good as genuine Jameson’s. 

A great night! Thank you! Don’t miss the 

next one! RDH

Out & About 

Penny Lane’s Rally 

On April 24 th , Penny Lane Realty took part in the opening of 

the Moscow rally season in an event organised by the Classic 

Car Club. 

The rally cars gathered on Vasilevsky descent from where 

over 50 crews in rare European, American and Russian cars, 

manufactured no later than 1979 ,drove off. The rally drew 

the attention of many Muscovites, motorists and others, who 

gathered to goggle at the retro, stylish cars. 

Here, on Vasilevsky descent, Penny Lane Realty announced 

two future rallies which the company is going to support in 

the near future: the Rally of the SuperCars, on September, 

25 th , and the Classic Cars Rally on July 10th. Both rallies will be 

organised with the support of the Classic Cars Club. 

All present could see the information on forthcoming rallies 

displayed on a bright orange 1953 VW Karmann Ghia branded 

specially for this event. The car was accompanied by two 

charming Penny Lane Realty employees stylishly dressed in 

retro-style clothes. The Volkswagen drew the attention of all 

present, including VIP’s, Evelinu Bledans, Pavel Derevyanko 

and Tatyana Vedeneyev, who took pleasure in being photographed 

by the car. 

The rally cars passed down central Moscow streets, through 

a check-point in Stoleshnikov Lane where motorists had a 

short champagne break in the Royal Club boutique. Prizes 

were awarded to drivers and owners at the Marusya Bar & Restaurant 

and all were treated to a celebratory supper. 

General Director of Penny Lane Realty, George Dzagurov, 

awarded a special prize: “For the will to win” to the crew of a 

1970 Chevrolet Corvette, to Michael Ilyin and Inna Denisovoi. 

June 2010 

The team caused a stir when the driver’s assistant, the charming 

navigator Inna, courageously added water to the car’s radiator 

throughout the rally, enabling the car to make it to the finishing 

line. In a gift from Penny Lane, the Chevrolet Corvette team received 

an automatic rifle with an engraving “For the Defence of 

Style of a Legendary Epoch”. 

“The opening of the rally season is a long-awaited sports 

event for true rally fans”, said George Dzagurov. “I personally 

deeply respect rally car fans and am always ready to support 

this kind of event. Our rallies which we plan to spend together 

with Club of Classical Cars on July 10 th and on September 25 th 

will be real entertainment and great events for all supercar 

and retro-car motorists and judges. We assure you that we 

will surprise motorists with our hospitality, high level of organisation 

and worthy prizes”.

June 2010 

Out & About

Columns 

Dare to ask Dare 

Photo by Maria Savelieva 

Expats and Russians alike 

ask celebrity columnist 

Deidre Dare questions 

about life in Moscow. 

Dear Deidre: 

I thought the Russians toasted with “Na 

Zdorovye,” but they don’t. What’s up 

with that? 

Dear Film Buff: 

You must be a simpleton because 

you’ve let Hollywood movies lead you 

astray. The American film industry has a 

lot of wrong ideas about Russians. 

Since living here, I’ve noticed that every 

“bad guy” in the movies is a Russian. 

According to Hollywood, all Russian 

men are mobsters and all Russian women 

carry little dogs in their purses. According 

to Hollywood, Russia has only 

one season: winter. According to Hollywood, 

all Russians make their money 

selling arms to terrorists. Oh, and according 

to Hollywood, we’re all running 

around every night drinking vodka and 

saying “Na Zdorovye.” 

When it comes to Russia, don’t trust 

Western source material. 

And that includes, by the way, CNN. 

Why don’t you try l’chaim instead? 

That should go over well. 

xxooDD 

Dear Deidre: 

I attach the first two pages of my novel. 

It’s about a divorced expat guy who 

moves to Russia and sleeps around with 

a lot of Russian women. I think these 

0 June 2010 

pages are really good – what do you 

think? 

Dear Don’t Quit Your Day Job: 

Nabokov you ain’t. 

In other words: I think they are awful. 

I still can’t believe I wasted 5 minutes 

reading them. 

You can’t imagine how many Western 

men have sent me first chapters of their 

version of the Great Russian Novel. Here is 

a sample of the summaries I’ve received: 

“It’s about an Aussie guy whose heart 

gets broken and he moves to Moscow 

and has sex with a lot of Russian women.” 

“It’s about an English couple who move 

to Moscow and the husband sleeps 

around with a lot of Russian women.” 

“It’s about a guy who loses his job and 

moves to Moscow and then copulates 

with a lot of Russian women.” 

See a common theme, Don’t Quit? 

There’s only one good thing about 

getting these kinds of queries: I reckon 

they move me up a rung on the “Famous 

Writers” ladder. Because I’ve heard that 

Famous Writers get a lot of novices 

sending them their meager attempts at 

literature and asking for guidance. 

So I suppose it’s just a cross I must 

bear. Sigh. 

xxooDD 

Dear Deidre: 

I’ve seen you at the Azbuka Vkusa on Novinsky 

Boulevard. Why do you insist on 

bagging your own groceries? I’ve noticed 

it upsets the staff. 

Dear Scary Stalker: 

I suppose that with my $500 a week grocery 

bill, I probably deserve having someone 

else bag my purchases. But I think if you 

can’t be bothered to do it yourself, you’re 

nothing but a Fancy Pants. And we’ve got 

enough of those running around in supermarkets 

in Moscow already. 

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why 

Russian women do their shopping in 

high heels and Chanel. The only explanation 

I can come up with is: Fancy Pants. 

Anyway, it doesn’t “upset” the staff, 

it “unnerves” them. Or used to. They’re 

getting used to it now. 

Here’s my question for you: is there such 

a thing as a restraining order in Russia? 

xxooDD 

Dear Deidre: 

After my journey to Los Angeles, I realized 

that “babushkas” live only in Russia. 

Why do we Russian women want to 

become old people so early? Why do we 

wear such boring and unfashionable 

clothes? Why don’t we want to look after 

ourselves after 45 and seem to forget 

about sex altogether? I am scared of getting 

to be old! 

Dear Fearful & Forgetful: 

I have one word for you: Communism. 

The Babushkas are a dying breed. 

The Fancy Pants at Azbuka Vkusa will 

never, ever, EVER be Babushkas. 

xxooDD 

Dear Deidre: 

I am on an antibiotics course so I can’t 

drink alcohol! What do I do? 

Dear Delirium Tremens: 

It must not have been a Russian doctor 

you saw if he told you that. I can’t really 

picture any Russian telling anyone 

not to drink… 

Go get pissed! 

That concept that you can’t drink 

when on antibiotics thing was debunked 

years ago. It was made up by 

doctors in the old days to combat the 

disastrous combination of drunken sailors, 

STDs and whores. 

Now, if you’re a syphilitic sailor who 

habituates whorehouses (which I’m 

guessing you’re not), avoid the booze. 

Otherwise, drink up! 

xxooDD 

Dear Deidre: 

What form of birth control do you use? 

Dear Oddly Curious: 

My age. 

xxooDD 

Do you have a question for Deidre? 

If so please email her at Deidre_Clark@ 

hotmail.com 

Do you have a question for 

Deidre Dare? If so, please email her 

at Deidre_Clark@hotmail.com.

Columns 

Trash-Cloud Grounds election 

Anth Ginn 

Britain has been under a cloud, trying to 

sort itself out politically. Both the volcano 

in Iceland, and the general election have 

resulted in a very British type of chaos. 

First the volcano. When it erupted the 

airports closed and the media caused 

everybody to panic. It took a couple of 

days for the nation to calm down, and 

realise that it hardly affected anybody. 

Aircrews had a few days holiday, and 

lots of families, stranded abroad, had 

extended holidays. 

However, if there isn’t a crisis, the media 

do their best to create one. All they 

had to work with were families stranded 

abroad, staying an extra few nights in the 

hotel, or coming home on a train instead 

of a plane. Reporters scoured airports 

looking for horror stories, but all they 

could come up with was things like, “This 

poor family had to sleep on seats in the 

lounge and live on bottled water, sandwiches 

and chocolates for three days.” 

Try as they could to make it look like 

a war zone, they failed miserably. They 

found one poor bloke who had to fork 

out £1,200 for a chauffer driven limousine 

to take him from Amsterdam to 

Calais, where he took the ferry. Nobody 

thought to ask him why he didn’t take 

the train and save himself £1,150. A family 

were interviewed by a crisis seeking 

reporter just before they boarded. The 

father was asked, “And what was the 

worst thing about your trip home?” The 

man thought for a few moments and 

replied, “I haven’t been able to change 

my socks for three days.” Earthquake 

victims eat your hearts out. 

The lack of flights did have a positive 

side. The residents of West London have 

enjoyed the peace of not having noisy 

jets flying over them every five minutes. 

One person told a reporter, “It’s been 

wonderful without all that noise in the 

sky. For the first time in years we can 

hear the traffic on the South Circular.” 

And as the poison, death bringing, invisible 

cloud of volcanic ash, hung like a 

giant dagger over the washing lines of 

the UK, we went into the general election. 

This time the election was presented 

like a voter driven talent competition, 

in the style of, “The X Factor”, “Celebrity 

Come Dancing”, “The Eurovision Song 

Contest”, or “Big Brother”, where the 

viewers watch the candidates do their 

thing, then vote. At last an election we 

could all relate to. The three party leaders 

debated, live on TV, and the nation 

voted. Hair styles, facial expressions and 

tone of voice became far more important 

than economic policy, education 

or the health service. The next government 

depended on who looked into the 

camera, or who had the most sincere 

smile. And on election night, the computer 

graphics took over. 

The BBC, ITV and Sky, poured millions 

into turning election night into a three 

party Avatar. David Dimbleby sprouted 

wings and horns and flew to the top of a 

mountain to commentate on the results. 

Andrew Neill was a giant goblin, who 

would ask questions to the three elves, 

then interrupt them, bite their heads off 

and pop their corpses into a cauldron. 

ITV went for ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ 

presentation, where the red monster, 

blue monster and orange monster 

fought it out, shooting fireballs at each 

other in the skies above a ruined castle, 

representing the UK. The election on Sky 

was more like an ‘80s version of Pac Man, 

where the big blue head ran around the 

screen, gobbling up little red cakes, representing 

labour party constituencies. 

The day after voting, the computer 

graphics were over and we took stock 

of the results. The nation had spoken, 

but unfortunately nobody could understand 

what it said. The results were up 

in the air, unlike the UKIP plane, which 

crashed, injuring Nigel Farage, its European 

MP. Nigel had to watch the election 

results from his hospital bed. 

Nigel wasn’t the only candidate who 

was unhappy. In fact by the time the results 

were in, everybody was unhappy. 

The Lib-dems thought they were going 

to get a couple of hundred seats, and 

ended up with the same amount as in 

the last election. The Tories thought they 

were going to be in Downing St next 

day, but couldn’t get an overall majority 

and had to hang around outside, knocking 

on the door. Labour, well, they lost. 

Peter Robinson, leader of the Unionists 

in Northern Ireland was shocked to lose 

his seat, but not as shocked as when 

he’d arrived home and found his wife in 

bed with an 18 year old man in the catering 

business. 

There were a few firsts. Three Moslem 

women were elected, along with Britain’s 

first Green Party MP. The youngest 

ever candidate, an 18-year old, stood 

in Erewash, Derbyshire, on a platform 

of not allowing parents into their children’s’ 

bedrooms without knocking, removing 

tax from pot-noodles, and the 

constitutional right not to make your 

bed if you don’t feel like it. 

The one party that managed to unite 

the nation was the British National Party, 

who turned everybody against them. 

They lost all their seats, but there was a 

debate whether this was due to their 

right wing policies, or their party song, 

“Christmas is a British Thing.” Check it 

out on You Tube. 

With no single party having an outright 

majority, we have a hung parliament. 

This disappointed many people, 

who thought this involved the gallows. 

The Liberal Democrats realised they 

held the balance of power, and went 

through the fastest transformation in 

British politics. It took them half an hour 

to change from a virgin with high principles, 

to a tart hanging out on the corner 

of Downing St, twirling her knickers 

around her index finger. Crying, “It’s for 

the good of the country,” she hopped 

into bed with a handful of amylnitrate 

poppers and David Cameron. 

The winds of change are blowing. Britains 

first female Moslem cabinet minister 

promptly cut her own benefits and had 

herself deported. National ID cards have 

been abolished, because Nick Clegg finally 

knows who he is. He’s been given 

the “non-job” of deputy prime minister, 

and moved into John Prescott old office 

next to the broom cupboard at the end 

of the corridor. The combination of Tory 

Blue and Libdem yellow give impression 

we’ve been taken over by IKEA. Britain is 

entering a new era of flat pack government. 

It’s bound to end in tears. P 

June 2010 

1

Columns 

Moscow Open-air 

Swimming 2010 

Svetlana Grebenuk 

Russian superstition says you can 

go swimming open-air after the first 

thunder-storm in spring when the May 

storms purify the water. The Russian 

Ministry of Civil Defence says it is really 

only safe to swim from until June 1 st to 

August 31 st . 

Starting from June 1 st there will be 

seven swimming places open in Moscow, 

four of which are not far from the 

centre and easily reached reach by 

public transport. This year, the requirements 

for the beaches in Moscow were 

tightened up, and no swimming zone 

will be approved before water samples 

are taken, rescue teams formed, and the 

bottom of lakes and stretches of rivers 

cleaned. 

Serebryanny Bor is probably one of 

the best natural recreation zones in 

Moscow. A unique stretch on the banks 

of Moscow River with pine woods and 

fresh air is worth visiting even if you are 

2 June 2010 

not a lover of outdoor swimming. Only 

20 minutes’ drive from the centre and 

you’re at two beautiful beaches. The entrance 

is not free but affordable. Around 

500 roubles segregates you from potentially 

undesirable beach neighbours, 

and life savers are on hand. There are 

three beaches, two beaches: #2 and #3 

are open to the public. To reach beach #3 

you can take a minibus taxi (marshrutka) 

or a bus 190 from Polezhaevskaya metro 

station and its last station will be the 

beach. Beach #2 will welcome you if you 

take a trolleybus 20 or 86 and hop off on 

the last station. 

Another two beaches: Troparevo in 

the South-West of Moscow and Mescherskoye 

in the West are much cheaper 

but less comfortable. They have free 

entrance, but this means they are more 

crowded. You’ll have to take your own 

umbrella with you, and there are no 

chaise longues or beach games to rent. 

Though Mesherskoye pond is closer to 

the centre, about 15 minutes on minibus 

500 which stops right next to the 

beach entrance (last stop). To find the 

bus you should come out of last metro 

wagon on Kievskaya station and look 

for the blue signs on the walls of the underground 

walkway that say the numbers 

of buses and follow the arrows to 

bus route 500. As soon as you come out 

of the walkway you will see a bus stop in 

a few meters from ‘Evropeyskiy’ shopping 

center. 

Troparevo boasts a free parking zone 

but it’s a longer way on bus 227 from 

‘Teplyi Stan’ metro station than Mesherskoye. 

Come out of the last wagon 

on ‘Teplyi Stan’ station, keep left after 

the glass doors and walk to the end of 

the walkway and then up on the left 

stairs. A little right from the exit you’ll 

see a path leading to the bus stop you 

need. 

Anyway, whether you swim or not, 

don’t forget to use sunscreen and drink 

hot green tea to avoid sunstroke. P 

Serebryannyi Bor is worth visiting even if 

you are not a lover of outdoor swimming 

Serebryaanyi Bor beaches are both approved 

for use (Beach #2 on the picture)

The Dead Novelists 

Society 

Two other books in the 

series are also available: 

The Girl who Played with 

Fire and The Girl who 

Kicked the Hornets’ Nest 

Ian Mitchell 

Last month the third and final book in 

the strange but wildly popular series of 

crime novels by the Swedish journalist, 

Stieg Larsson, was published. Why am 

I so confident that this will be the last, 

when publishers like to extend successful 

series almost indefinitely these days? 

Because Mr Larsson is dead. And the 

curious thing is that he died in circumstances 

ominously connected with the 

subject-matter of his novels. 

The heroine of the series is a tiny, 

lightly-built, unattractive, anti-social, bisexual 

computer ace with a love of violence, 

a hatred of men, a photographic 

memory and a preference for black lipstick 

and revenge of the classic Calvinist 

sort: two eyes for an eye; two teeth for 

a tooth. She seems to think of herself as 

incarnating the wrath of God. 

Her name is Lisbeth Salander and she 

lives in Stockholm, a city not normally 

noted for ugly, mannerless, man-hating 

savages. But then the plots of the books 

turn mostly on the belief, which the 

journalist hero, Mikael Blomqvist, shares 

with the author, that Swedish society is 

riddled with misogynistic corruption, 

especially in the semi-fascist police 

force and security services. It deserves 

the vengeance of Lisbeth Salander. 

Blomqvist is, as Larsson was in real 

life, involved in publishing a left-wing 

magazine which exposes these malign 

influences. He is a hero of the dull, selfrighteous, 

moralistic sort that anyone 

who has experience of the international 

charity industry will be familiar with. He 

never laughs, rarely smiles, never makes 

a joke, and never does anything irrational, 

passionate or poetic. Apart from 

having sex occasionally, he does nothing 

but plod away making the world a 

better place. 

Happily for the novel, he is attacked 

by a super villain, is defeated and nearly 

bankrupted and, as a form of salvation, 

asked to solve the mystery of a series of 

murders in rural Sweden, which he manages 

to do only with the help of little Lisbeth. 

They do so in the spirit of people 

who refuse payment for work they did 

for moralistic reasons. They are not presented 

as likeable people, or even particularly 

interesting ones. Indicative of 

the author’s approach is the Swedish title 

of this book: Men who Hate Women. 

The writing focuses on material things 

to the extent that you learn more about 

the square-footage of the character’s 

apartments than you do about their 

emotional lives and inner motivation. 

You really need a map of Stockholm to 

follow parts of the story. And the villains 

are such wooden, two-dimensional, 

predictable characters that they could 

almost have been invented by Jeffrey 

Archer. The prose is without a glint of 

anything resembling wit. You get life 

histories with dutiful completeness, but 

as Robert Graves said of the Bible, the 

ultimate moralisers’ text, there is “not a 

smile from Genesis to Apocalypse”. 

So why have these books sold so well? 

In 2008, Larsson was the world’s second 

best-selling novelist. I suggest there are 

two reasons, if one disallows the fad for 

Nordic fiction which erupted after Peter 

Høeg published Miss Smilla’s Feeling for 

Snow and Henning Mankell hit the top 

of the charts with the ‘Detective Wallender’ 

books. The first one is that Lisbeth 

Salander, for all her awfulness, is actually 

a curiously attractive character in 

her context. 

That context is the hideously conventional 

and, dare I say it?, unRussian world 

of respectable Swedish society. She is a 

rebel, and small and fragile with it. Also 

she has a cause, which is not justice, as 

the dreary Blomqvist seems to think, 

but just to say “Sod the lot of you!” to 

complacent, conformist Swedish bourgeois 

society. Not surprisingly, she is revealed 

to have foreign blood in her. And 

that foreign blood is as dangerously anarchic 

as it seems a moralistic Swedish 

novelist can invent: her father is Russian, 

and an ex-KGB agent to boot! 

The second factor is the strange 

story surrounding the author himself. 

He came from a family of committed 

The Girl with the 

Dragon Tattoo 

Stieg Larsson 

Maclehose Press £7.99 

978-1-84724-545-8 

communists in the hard-scrabble north 

of Sweden. Larsson was a militant leftwinger, 

so much so, that he left the 

huge fortune resulting from the success 

of these books to the Communist 

Party in his hometown, of Umeö. Control 

has gone to his father and brother, 

excluding completely his wife of 30 

years. He did not even like the brother, 

but presumably the cause was more 

important than his wife, who has been 

left penniless. 

Larsson died on 9 November 2004 

which, as the British journalist, Christopher 

Hitchens, has pointed out, is the 

anniversary of Kristallnacht. Officially, 

he suffered a heart attack, but there 

are rumours that he was the victim of a 

murder plot by a Swedish ex-SS veteran. 

He was only 50. 

His British publisher has said, “I know 

someone with excellent contacts in the 

Swedish police and security world who 

assures me that everything described in 

these book actually took place. Larsson 

planned to write ten books in all. So you 

can see how people could think that 

he might not have died but have been 

‘stopped’.” 

Perhaps that is what makes these 

book compelling reading. Behind the 

prosaic glumness, there is something 

real about the stories: life red in tooth 

and keyboard. P 

June 2010 

Book review

Family Pages 

Illustrations by Nika Harrison, 

story by Ross Hunter 

A Quartet of 

Creative Cubs 

A ‘Lisa and Friends’ 

story, no.6 

June 2010 

“BORED?” Lisa could not believe 

her furry ears. “If only protecting the 

burrow from the ravages of four overenergetic 

cubs let me get bored”, she 

thought. “You can’t be! The school holidays 

have only just started”. 

“Mum, we’re bored!”, wailed Dasha, 

Masha, Sasha and Boris in unison. Lisa 

took her apron off and tried to think. 

She knew all too well from clearing the 

floor of toys that they had plenty of diversions 

if only they wanted them. She 

resisted the strong temptation to invite 

help with the housework, doubting if 

washing, cleaning, dusting and ironing 

would sell well. 

With an exhausted sigh, she bought 

time by commanding bedroom-tidying 

while she looked for inspiration. Again. 

She glanced at the pile of papers needing 

attention, and saw their school reports. 

Plenty of pleasing effort from the 

twins, some good work from Sasha, with 

little effort, it seemed, and a string of catastrophes 

for Boris. Nothing new. Hang 

on! There is something missing. Everything 

normal is there, so far so worthy, 

but nothing creative, to tingle the heart 

or set the brain ablaze. 

Before she got any further, the cubs 

returned. Not a purposeful procession, 

more a vulpine tornado of fighting fur, 

crashing and laying waste to all it rolled 

over. Prised apart, the damage could 

be assessed. Boris had a bruised nose, 

again. Sasha was nursing squashed 

paws. Dasha was choking on mouthfuls 

of foxfur and dust. Masha was rubbing 

scratched and pummelled eyes and 

ears. All exuded the rancid sweat of battle, 

and nursed bruised egos. They felt 

very small and foolish. That was it! Sight, 

smell, taste, touch and sound. That summarised 

everything. 

A clean up first. TLC and TCP work 

wonders. Family conference time. “Each 

of you can be more creative with your

talents”, said Lisa. “Sit there.” The cubs went quiet while Lisa 

ferreted around the burrow, and dropped an ever growing pile 

of Good Things in front of them. 

“Here are some ways to stretch not wreck your senses. 

Choose a hobby for the holidays, and stick with it. Otherwise”, 

she added menacingly, “I’ll choose for you.” The cubs were in 

no position to argue. 

“Masha, you first. Pull out whatever pleases the eye”. Paper, 

brushes and pencils piled up. Dasha opted for Lisa’s old violin 

(Nika – change that to any instrument you feel like drawing!) and 

make songs from her verses. Sasha chose carpentry, to make a 

rocking chair for Mum, with a side offer of finding mushrooms 

and truffles. “Good luck to him (and me if it ever needs testing”, 

thought Lisa). “Boris, what smells good?” “Easy, Mum”, said Boris, 

relieved, “food, flowers and fragrance. I’ll cook”. 

Groans all round. “Stop!” ordered Lisa. “We haven’t heard 

your songs yet or seen your pictures, so give Boris a chance. 

You can start in pairs. Masha and Sasha, get organised for 

painting, before you go into the shed and sort out woodworking 

tools. Dasha and Boris, you start in the kitchen and 

I’ll teach you how to cook your supper, then you can make a 

song about it”. 

The cubs switched quickly from nothing to do to too much 

to do. With a hint of competition, a dash of pride and no small 

dose of fraternal jealousy as to what the others were up to, they 

got going. 

Early results were not encouraging. Sasha’s bashing and 

hammering sounded better than the strained squeaks from 

Dasha’s fiddle. Masha’s water-colour portrait looked uncomfortably 

similar to Boris’s soup ingredients. There seemed to be 

more wood-glue flowing than consommé, and they resembled 

each other. Early on, Lisa’s five senses were telling her that this 

was a mistake. It was hard to tell when Dasha stopped tun- 

ing and warming up and started a tune. Sasha’s first chair prototype 

failed to support... itself. Boris’ culinary creations were 

clearly compost. Covered by Masha’s unintendedly abstract 

canvases. 

But, bit by bit, order asserted itself. Sasha foraged in the forest 

for better ingredients for Boris. Masha found she could 

draw good chairs, which Sasha then copied. They sang or whistled 

while they worked, and Dasha picked up the tunes. Sasha 

made a workable easel, then a music stand. Dasha’s ideas and 

spices added to Boris’ dishes. Boris couldn’t draw or sing for 

toffee (or make it) but he became adept at composing both 

Masha’s pictures and Dasha’s ditties. 

Best of all, they discovered that each creative skills offered clues 

and encouragement for the others. And their vocabulary, calligraphy 

and mathematical dexterity advanced along with their arts 

and crafts. 

By the time they were done, Lisa could relax in her new 

chair, while enjoying her meal and being serenaded by pleasing 

tunes and fantasy landscapes. The cubs helped each other 

more and squabbled less. Their bedrooms somehow became 

tidier, though she never worked out why. Next term, their school 

grades improved, especially in the so-called core subjects. 

Lisa asked the cubs what they thought of their busy summer. 

The twins said that they had learned from their mistakes, 

which prompted Sasha and Boris to declare: P 

June 2010 

Family Pages

Family Pages 

Puzzles compiled by Ross Hunter 

1 Magic Squares 

Lisa’s story on pp. 42-43 was inspired by a famous wood-cut by Albrecht Durer, from 1514, which includes a magic square, 

shown below. There is a clue when he did the engraving, in the square. Can you make one? 3x3 or 4x4, or larger (but they get 

very tricky), all you have to do is fill in numbers so that every row, every column and both diagonals add up to the same number. 

These have been known about in the ancient Chinese, Arab and Western world for thousands of years. I’ve added a couple, 

plus space for you to do one. Good luck! Perhaps Sudoku is not so new. By the way, at the bottom of Durer’s engraving, called 

‘Melancholia’, is part of an Angel’s wing. 

a 3x3 square (15) 

2 7 6 

9 5 1 

4 3 8 

a 4x4 square (also 34) Your turn: 

4 5 11 14 

15 10 8 1 

6 3 12 12 

9 16 2 7 

Hint: pick a row total first 

2 Photo quiz 

Lisa and the cubs saw all these birds in under an hour during a walk through Sparrow Hills and Neskuchny Sad. Can you 

match the names to the pictures? 

Tree-Creeper 

Certha familiaris 

Пищуха 

обыкновенная 

Great Tit 

Parus major 

Большая Синица 

Chaffinch 

Fringilla coelebs 

Зяблик 

Greenfich 

Chloris chioris 

Зеленушка 

Remember! Enjoy seeing pictures of wild birds’ eggs. But, please, never go looking for eggs or interfering with nests. 

The Country code: “Take only Photographs – Leave Only Footprints”. 

4 Mini Sudoku & May answers 

Mini Sudoku - June 

6 1 

1 3 4 

3 

4 5 

5 2 6 1 

June 2010 

Answers to May puzzles 

Sudoku: see www.englishedmoscow.com /Passport 

Chistye Prudye was Kirovskaya (to 1990) 

Kropotkinskaya Dvorets Sovietov (to 1957) 

Teatralnaya Ploshchad Sverdlova (to 1990) 

Lubyanka Dzerzhinskaya (to 1990) 

Blue Tit 

Parus caerulus 

Синица 

Okhotny Ryad LM Kaganovich 1955-57; Pr. Marksa 1961-90 

Sparrow Hills (1959) Leninskiye Gory (to 1999) 

Dobryninskaya Serpukhovskaya (to 1961) 

Partizanskaya Izmailovsky Park (to 2005) 

Metro Bridges: Sparrow Hills, red line; Kievskaya, light blue 

Outside the MKAD: Mitono, NW on Purple; Novokosino, E on Yellow

Non vodka induced 

convulsion of fear: Customs 

Sherman Pereira, 

Crown Relocations, 

Regional Director – 

Central and Eastern Europe 

One of the most frequently asked 

questions concerning Expats shipping 

household goods to and from Russia 

is what Customs duties they will have 

to pay. Sometimes, the mere mention 

of having to deal with Russian Customs 

can send an otherwise normal Expat into 

non-vodka-induced convulsions of fear. 

As with most things Russian, the issue 

is simple in theory, but bureaucratic 

in practice due to the sheer amount of 

documents and forms that need to be 

completed in duplicate, signed, notarized, 

apostilled, and sent to Godknows-whom 

in some government department 

that’s who-knows-where, but 

at least seven Metro stops from wherever 

you are or intend to reside. 

In theory, as a non-resident of Russia, 

you may import furniture and personal 

belongings without paying any 

Customs duties whatsoever. However, 

this is contingent on an Export Obligation 

that you sign promising to export 

those items when you leave. The duration 

of an Export Obligation is valid for 

the same duration as your visa, at which 

point it can be renewed. As long as this 

Export Obligation is presented to Customs 

upon departure, you should be 

free and clear of any duties on your personal 

belongings. 

You are also exempt from paying any 

duties on most personal belongings and 

furniture that were purchased in Russia. 

The simple reason for this being that as 

it was purchased here in Russia, you’ve 

already paid your dues to the Russian 

government in the form of value-added 

tax. Exempt from this, however, are 

culturally valuable items such as books 

older than 100 years, some national artwork, 

military medals, antique coins, 

real coal-burning samovars, and other 

antiquities. 

In practice, however, you should allow 

for several weeks’ time at either end 

(whether arriving to Russia or departing 

from it) to submit the necessary forms to 

the company that will be assisting you 

with your move. You will normally need 

to submit, at a minimum, notarized and 

translated copies of your passport, visa, 

and registration. A customs declaration 

for your non-accompanied items 

(that must be stamped by Customs at 

whatever airport (or train station) you 

arrive(d) at. In addition to the Export 

Obligation, you should produce a Power 

of Attorney (PoA) form allowing your 

broker to import/export your belongings 

on your behalf. The right company 

should be able to provide you with detailed 

instructions as well as templates 

for the export obligation and PoA. 

A few other items bear mentioning 

here. If you’re here for more than a 

year, the company that relocated your 

belongings here should automatically 

extend your Export Obligations for you. 

Some charge a minimal fee for renewal, 

but it’s a good idea to make sure your 

company hasn’t let you fall through the 

cracks, as the cost of renewing an expired 

one incurs a government fine that 

can be several hundred euros. 

Also, you are not obligated to use the 

same company on departure that you 

did upon arrival. Any company shipping 

household goods can request the 

obligation from the company you arrived 

with. Don’t neglect to get more 

competitive quotations for your move 

simply because your Export Obligation 

is being held by the company you arrived 

with. 

All of the bureaucracy can be a hassle 

at a time that’s already potentially stressful 

without having to consider Russian 

Customs. There are several companies 

in Moscow capable of the shipping, so 

approach them and save yourself and 

your wallet the time and money. P 

How to say… I’m 

not feeling well 

The three most useful verbs are 

болеть (to be ill), болит(-ят) (to hurt, 

used in the 3rd person form only) 

and чувствовать себя (to feel). 

Armed with these three, you can 

easily talk about how you’re feeling: 

Simply not feeling yourself: 

Как ты себя чувствуешь? 

How are you feeling? 

Я плохо себя чувствую. 

I don’t feel well. 

Я болею. I’m ill. 

Я приболел. 

I’m coming down with something. 

Something hurts: 

У меня болит голова. 

My head hurts (I have a headache). 

У меня болит горлo. 

I have a sore throat. 

У меня болит живот. 

I have a stomach ache. 

У меня болят глаза. 

My eyes hurt. 

If you can be more specific: 

Я болею гриппом. I have the flu. 

Я простудился/простудилась. 

I caught a cold. 

У меня простуда. I have a cold. 

(interestingly, Russians also say this 

to refer to a cold-sore). 

Я отравился/отравилась. 

I have food poisoning. 

Hopefully your symptoms 

are short-lived: 

Сегодня чувствую себя лучше. 

I feel better today. 

Сегодня полегче. Today is easier. 

Я думаю, ничего серьёзного, через 

пару дней буду чувствовать себя 

нормально. I think it’s nothing serious, 

in a couple of days I’ll feel just fine. 

Жить буду! I’m not going to die today! 

June 2010 

Columns 

Courtesy of RUSLINGUA 

www.ruslingua.com

Wine & Dine Listings 

NOTE: 

**Indicates Passport Magazine Top 10 

Restaurants 2009. 

AMERICAN 

**CORREA'S 

New American, non-smoking 

environment, cool comfort food at 

several Moscow locations 

7 Ulitsa Gasheka, 789-9654 

M. Mayakovskaya 

STARLITE DINER 

Paul O’Brien’s 50s-style American 

Starlite Diners not only have the best 

traditional American breakfasts, 

lunches, and dinners in town, they 

draw a daily crowd for early morning 

business and lunchtime business 

meetings. Open 24 hours. 

Four locations. 

16 Ul. Bolshaya Sadovaya, 650-0246 


9a Ul. Korovy Val, 959-8919 

M. Oktyabrskaya 

6 Prospekt Vernadskovo, 783-4037 

M. Universitet 

16/5 Bolotnaya Ploshchad, 951-5838 

M. Polyanka 

www.starlite.ru 

AMERICAN BAR & GRILL 

This veteran Moscow venue still does 

good hamburgers, steaks, bacon & egs 

and more. Open 24 hours. 

2/1/ 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ul, 

250-9525 

BEAVERS 

Way down south (across from John 

Ortega’s Fashion Mart), American 

proprietor and drinks importer Robert 

Greco serves some family recipes from 

back home. Pizza, wings, salads, steaks 

and other favorites. 

171 Ulitsa Lyublinskaya, 783-9184 

M. Marino 

www.beavers.ru 

BEVERLY HILLS DINER 

The new kind on the diner block with a 

full range of American standards. 

1 Ulitsa Sretenka, 

M. Chisty Prudy 

HARD ROCK CAFÉ 

For those longing to Americana, 

HRC's main asset is its great location 

on the Old Arbat overlooking the 

busy pedestrian mall. The usual 

rock paraphernalia and a somewhat 

mediocre presentation of the HRC 

standard menu. 

44 Stary Arbat, 205-8335 

M. Smolenskaya 

www.hardrock.com 

21 PRIME 

A new steakhouse from Doug Steele, 

with Australian beef and a modestly 

priced wine list. 

21 Novy Arbat 

M. Smolenskaya 

*NEW* 

*NEW* 

ASIAN 

ASIA HALL 

Top class pan-Asian food in the 

Vremena Goda elitny mall on 

Kutuzovsky. 

Kutuzovsky Prospekt 48, 788-5212 

M. Slavyansky Bulvar 

**TURANDOT 

Fabulous Asian food in a palatial 

and exquisite setting – the owners 

reportedly spent a mid-eight figure 

amount on the fitout including a two 

million dollar dim-sum kitchen. Try the 

Wasabi shrimp. 

26/5 Tverskoi Bulvar, 739-0011 

M. Tverskaya, Pushkinskya 

www.turandotpalace.ru 

June 2010 

BUDDIES CAFE 

No frills but very expat friendly 

– Szechuan, Thai, or Vietnamese from 

Singaporean Kelvin Pang. Sports bar. 

12/8 Tverskaya Ulitsa, 694-0229 

M. Tverskaya, Pushkinskya 

DARBAR 

With great views from the top floor of 

the Soviet relic Sputnik Hotel, veteran 

expats say it's the city's best Indian. In 

addition to the usual norrth Indian fare, 

Darbar has an extensive south Indian 

menu. 

38 Leninsky Prospekt, 930-2365 

M. Leninsky Prospekt 

DRUZHBA 

Some say Druzhba is the only authentic 

Chinese in town, and very much like 

your corner Cantonese back home. 

Reasonable prices. 

4 Ulitsa Novoslobodskaya, 973-1234 

M.Novoslobodskaya 

MR. LEE 

Fashionable and expensive Chinese 

from Novikov. 

7 Kuznetsky Most, 628-7678 

M. Kuznetsky Most 

*NEW* 

COFFEE AND PASTRIES 

COFFEE BEAN 

Jerry Ruditser opened the first coffee 

shops in Moscow, and still serves 

the best coffee. Smoke-free. Several 

locations. 

56 Leningradsky Prospekt, 742-3755 

www.coffeebean.ru 

COFFEE MANIA 

The Coffee Mania next to the Moscow 

Conservatory is a popular daytime 

informal business venue. Open 24 

hours. Several locations. 

13 Ulitsa Bolshaya Nikitskaya, 775-5188, 

775-4310 

M. Arbatskaya, Biblioteka im. Lenina 

www.coffeemania.ru 

STARBUCKS 

Now has 32 locations. 

www. starbuckscoffee.ru 

VOLKONSKY PEKARNYA- 

KONDITERSKAYA 

The coffee service at this bakery takes 

second place to its fabulous Frenchstyle 

baked goods. Smoke-free. 

2/46 Bolshoi Sadovaya 


EUROPEAN 

**CARRE BLANC 

Moscow’s top French restaurant. Try the 

bistro and weekend brunch. 

9/2 Ul. Seleznevskaya, 258-4403 

M. Novoslobodskaya 

www.carreblanc.ru 

BLACKBERRY 

Elegant but comfortable with an 

eclectic international menu – Asian, 

Russian, Italian, sushi and other 

cuisines. 

10 Academic Sakharov Prospekt 

926-1640, 926-1645 

M. Chistiye Prudy 

BOLSHOI 

The latest high-end Novikov restaurant. 

Modern in a Ralph Lauren kind of way, 

with a continental-Russian menu. 

3/6 Ulitsa Petrovka, 789-8652 


eng.novikovgroup.ru/restaurants/ 

CAFE DES ARTISTES 

Restaurant and bar offers fine European 

cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere, often 

with recent artwork on the walls of the 

upstairs room. 

5/6 Kamergersky Pereulok, 692-4042 

M. Teatralnaya 

www.artistico.ru 

CITY SPACE 

Panoramic cocktail bar. A breathtaking 

view and loads of delicious cocktails. 

Located on the 34th floor of Swissôtel 

Krasnye Holmy Moscow 

M. Paveletskaya 

52 bld.6, Kosmodamianskaya nab., 

Moscow 115054 

+7 (495) 221-5357 

ELSE CLUB 

A small jewel next to the Pokrovsky 

Hills development and the Anglo- 

American School which complements 

the neighboring extravagant health 

spa. 

5 Ivankovskoye Shosse, 234-4444 

www.elseclub.ru 

GALEREYA 

Trendy, lavish and expensive. The place 

to see and be seen. 

27 Ulitsa Petrovka, 937-4544 

M. Pushkinskaya 


GRAND ALEXANDER 

Named after poet Alexander Pushkin, 

this opulent restaurant at the Marriott 

Grand Hotel is one of Moscow’s top 

French-European restaurants. 

26 Tverskaya Ulitsa, 937-0000 

M. Tverskaya 

JEROBOAM 

Ritz-Carlton’s Jeroboam, under the 

stewardship of celebrity German chef 

Heinz Winkler, offers “la Cuisine Vitale” 

in the new building that replaced 

the eyesore that was the Soviet-era 

Intourist Hotel. 


M. Okhotny Ryad 

KAI RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE 

Some of Moscow's best contemporary 

French cuisine with an Asian touch 

from chef at Swisshotel Krasnye Holmy. 

52/6 Kosmodamianskaya Nab, 221-5358 


SCANDINAVIA 

The summer café is one of Moscow’s 

main after work meeting venues. 

Excellent Scandinavian and 

continental menu. 


M. Pushkinskaya 

www.scandinavia.ru 

SKY LOUNGE 

Dining on the roof of the Russian 

Academy of Sciences offers guests 

unparalleled views of the city. 

32a Leninsky Prospekt, 915-1042, 

938-5775 

M. Leninsky Prospekt 

www.skylounge.ru 

VANIL 

Hip French and Japanese near the 

Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 

1 Ulitsa Ostozhenka, 202-3341 

M. Kropotkinskaya 


VOGUE CAFE 

Elegant, trendy partnership with Vogue 

magazine. 

7/9 Ul. Kuznetsky Most, 623-1701 


http://eng.novikovgroup.ru/ 

restaurants/ 

*NEW* 

FUSION 

BON 

Masterpieces of design art from 

Philippe Stark and filigree culinary skill 

from Arcadyi Novikov. 

Yakimanskaya nab. 4 , (495) 737 8008/09 

M. Polyanka 

bonmoscow.ru 

**NE DALNY VOSTOK 

Passport’s 2009 number one Moscow 

restaurant. Chef Glen Ballis turns out 

fabulous crab specialties, Asian, grill 

and salads. Come by when they bring in 

a big tuna. “Classny.” 

15 Tverskoy Bulvar 

694-0641, 694-0154 

M. Tverskaya 


restaurants/ 

**GQ BAR 

A warm, active hang-out for the elite 

just up from the Kempinski Baltschug 

Hotel. Partnership with GQ magazine. 

5 Ulitsa Baltschug, 956-7775 

M. Novokuznetskaya 


SOHO ROOMS 

Chef Laura Bridge mixes it up at 

this trendy restaurant-club along 

the embankment near Novodivichy 

Monastery. 

12 Savinnskaya Nab., 988-7474 

M. Sportivnaya 

www.sohorooms.com 

HEALTHY 

JAGGANATH CAFÉ 

A simple but excellent vegetarian 

buffet with an eclectic mix of Asian and 

other dishes. 

11 Kuznetsky Most, 628-3580 


www.jagannath.ru 

LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN 

Simple and healthy food and bakery 

at the Moscow extension of an 

international chain. Delivery. Multiple 

locations. 

5/6 Kamergerski Pereulok, 649-7050 

www.lpq.ru 

LATIN AMERICAN 

**NAVARRO’S BAR & GRILL 

El Salvador born chef-owner Yuri 

Navarro excels at everything from tapas 

to eclectic Peruvian-Mediterranean 

fusion, seafood to grilled meat. One of 

Moscow’s few chef-owned restaurants. 

23 Shmitovsky Proezd, 259-3791 

M. Mezhdunarodnaya 

www.navarros.ru 

OLD HAVANA 

An amazing place, with a stunning 

Brazilian tableside show nightly from 

Thursday to Saturday. The food is good, 

but the highlight is the unbelievable 

three-hour extravaganza with about 

two dozen dancers and capoiera 

performers. 

28 Ulitsa Talalikhina, 723-1656 

M. Proletarskaya 

www.old-havana.ru 

ITALIAN 

**SEMIFREDDO MULINNAZO 

Sicilian chef Nino Graziano dishes up 

the best of Sicily and the Mediterranean 

with the help of his personal grill out 

front. Huge Italian wine list. 

2 Rossolimo Ulitsa, (499) 766-4646 

M. Park Kultury 

www.semifreddo-restaurant.com 

**MARIO 

Delightful elegance and style with the 

best-quality Italian dishes. 

Open noon-last guest. 

17 Ulitsa Klimashkina, 253-6505 

M. Barrikadnaya 

MAMMA GIOVANNA 

The menu is also minimalistic but has 

interesting entries in every category, 

including pizzas. The wine list is almost 

entirely Italian with a selection limited 

to two pages. A definitely a worthwhile 

in-city romantic venue. 

M. Novokuznetskaya 

Kadashevskaya Naberezhnaya, 26 

+7(495) 287-8710 

www.mamma-giovanna.ru 

CASTA DIVA 

Great Italian and pizza to die for with 

award-winning Italian pizza chef. Try 

the Black Truffle Pizza. 

26 Tverskoi Bulvar, 651-8181 

M. Tverskaya, Pushkinskaya 

www.castadiva.ru 

CIPOLLINO 

Coffee- and cream-colored stylish 

Italian cafe a stone’s throw from the 

Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

7 Soimonovsky Proyezd, 695-2936, 

695-2950 

M. Kropotkinskaya 

www.cipollino.ru 

JAPANESE 

KINKI 

Authentic Japanese kitchen with 

amazing seafood delicacies like 

Tasmanian salmon, Madagascar shrimp 

and others. The range of Japanese 

drinks is extremely wide. You can taste 

true Japanese sake – rice-based hot 

drink – which is served in a special 

Japanese way. 

11, Osennyaya Str., (495) 781-1697 

M. Krylatskoye 

www.kinkigrill.ru 

**NOBU 

The Moscow branch of the legendary 

Nobu is now open on Bolshaya 

Dmitrovka. Nobu moves directly to 

Passport’s Moscow Top 10 list. 

20 Bolshaya Dimitrovka, 645-3191 

M. Okhotny Ryad 

www.noburestaurants.ru 

ICHIBAN BOSHI 

High-quality, affordable Japanese with 

cool ambience. Several locations. 

22 Krasnaya Presnya Ulitsa, 

(499) 255-0909 

M. Krasnopresnenskaya 

50 Ulitsa Bolshaya Yakimanka 

M. Polyanka 

www.ichiban.ru 

SUMOSAN 

Located in the Radisson SAS hotel, we 

have heard from many that Sumosan 

has Moscow’s freshest and best sushi 

but this naturally comes at a cost. 

2 Ploshchad Evropy, 941-8020 

M. Kievskaya 

MISATO 

Japanese cuisine, great choice of 

alcoholic drinks, Japanese and non- 

Japanese. 

47, Myasnitskaya st., 725-0333 

TSVETENIYE SAKURY 

Completely new restaurant concept 

in Moscow based on a combination of 

traditional and contemporary Japanese 

cuisine. Ancient recipes are joined by 

recent innovations. 

7 Ulitsa Krasina, 506-0033 


SEIJI 

One of the few Moscow sushi 

restaurants that actually has a Japanese 

chef, even a celebrity chef – Seiji 

Kusano, who also set up the O2 Lounge 

at the Ritz-Carlton. 

5/2 Komsomolsky Prospekt, 246-7624 


CAUCASUS 

ARARAT 

A little corner of Armenia right in the 

center of Moscow at the Ararat Park 

Hyatt. Cozy atmosphere and spicy 

Armenian fare. All ingredients delivered 

straight from Armenia including fine 

Armenian brandies. 

4 Neglinnaya Ulitsa, 783-1234 

M. Teatralnaya, Kuznetsky Most 

BAGRATIONI 

Great Georgian food and 

entertainment in a stylish mansion 

near Novodevichy Monastery and the 

Korean Embassy. 

1/7 Spartakovskaya Ploshchad, 

267-6881, 266-0531 

M. Baumanskaya 

BARASHKA 

Our Azerbaijanian friends swear it’s the 

best Azeri restaurant in town. 

20/1 Petrovka Ulitsa, 200-4714 


21/1 Novy Arbat 

M. Arbatskaya 


restaurants/ 

BELOYE SOLNTSE PUSTYNI 

Named after White Desert Sun, one of 

the USSR’s favorite films. An eclectic 

Central Asian menu that includes 

Azerbaijan and Uzbek cuisine. 

29 Ul. Neglinnaya, 625-2596, 200-6836 

M. Kuznetsky Most, Teatralnaya 


restaurants/ 

RUSSIAN 

**CAFE PUSHKIN 

A Moscow classic serving upmarket 

Russian cuisine in a lavish, 19th 

century setting. Bustling, ground-floor 

dining hall and a more sophisticated 

(and pricier) experience upstairs. 

Reservation essential. 

26a Tverskoi Bulvar, 739-0033 

M. Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya, 

Chekhovskaya 

GODUNOV 

For real lovers of all things Russian, 

including traditional Russian dancing, 

rivers of vodka and plates stacked with 

food in the Tsar’s chambers from the 

time of Boris Godunov. 

5 Teatralnaya Ploshchad, 698-5609 

M. Teatralnaya 

GUSYATNIKOFF 

The latest VIP Russian restaurant in an 

18th century estate. 

2A Ulitsa Aleksandra Solzhenitsyna 

M. Taganskaya 


restaurants/ 

NA MELNITSE 

Homemade cuisine – kvas, mors, vodka, 

pickles. Russian style with plenty of 

wood. The food is far from cheap, but 

the portions are enormous: it’s like 

being fed by an overzealous babushka. 

7 Tverskoi Bulvar, 290-3737 

M. Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya, 

Chekhovskaya 

24 Sadovo-Spasskaya Ulitsa, 625-8890, 

625-8753 

M. Krasniye Vorota 

www.namelnitse.ru 

OBLOMOV 

Authentic Russian cuisine in a restored 

19th century mansion. 

5 Monetchikovskyi Pereulok, 953-6828 

M. Dobryninskaya 

ONE RED SQUARE 

The menu features lavish, centuries-old 

recipes in the State Historical Museum 

on Red Square. Expect cream-laden 

meat dishes with fruit-based sauces 

and live folk music. 

1 Krasnaya Ploshchad, 625-3600, 

692-1196 

M. Okhotny Ryad, Teatralnaya 

www.redsquare.ru 

TSDL 

The Central House of Writers’ opulent 

Russian-French restaurant is located 

in the building with the same name. 

A memorable, top-notch meal in 

luxurious surroundings. 

50 Povarskaya Ul, 290-1589 

M. Barrikadnaya 

YOLKI-PALKI 

A Russian chain that serves a great 

selection of typical Russian specialties 

at modest prices. Many locations. 

23 Bolshaya Dmitrovka, 200-0965 

M. Okhotny Ryad, Teatralnaya 


restaurants/ 

SEAFOOD 

FILIMONOVA & YANKEL 

You will find an outlet near many of the 

Goodman steak houses. Very fresh fish 

and a straightforward menu. Several 

locations. 



www.fishhouse.ru 

LA MAREE 

La Maree is Moscow’s number one 

seafood restaurant, built by Tunisian 

Mehdi Douss, owner of Moscow’s 

leading fresh seafood importer. 

28/2 Ulitsa Petrovka, 694-0930 

www.la-maree.ru 

STEAKS 

**BEEF BAR 

The latest branch of the Monte Carlo 

hotspot serves top cuts of the finest 

imported beef: American, Australian, 

Dutch and French. Overlooks the 

river across from the Central House of 

Artists. 

13 Prechistinskaya Nab., 982-5553 


www.beefbar.com 

EL GAUCHO 

True Argentine menu. THE place for 

charcoal-grilled meats and fish. 

4 Ul. Sadovaya-Triumfalnaya, 699-7974 


6/13 Ul. Zatsepsky Val, 953-2876 


3 Bolshoi Kozlovsky Pereulok, 623-1098 

M. Krasniye Vorota 

www.elgaucho.ru 

GOODMAN 

Moscow’s premium steak house 

chain. Crisis menu added. Numerous 

locations. 



www.goodman.ru 

POLO CLUB 

Dining at its finest at the Marriott 

Aurora. Features American prime beef 

and steaks. 

Ulitsa Petrovka 11/20, 937-1024 


TORRO GRILL 

The focus is on the best mid-priced 

meat in Moscow. Wine Bar. Several 

locations. 

6 Prospekt Vernadskogo, 775-4503 

M. Universitet 

www.torrogrill.ru 

BARS AND CLUBS 

ALL TIME BAR 

The bar is decorated like New-York 

in Sex and The City series. You’ll find 

probably the best Dry Martini here 

and Manhattan cocktail. This bar is 

a creation of Dmitry Sokolov who 

is considered the best bartender of 

Moscow. 

7/5 Bolshaya Dmitrovka, 629-0811 


BOOZE PUB 

Wine & Dine Listings 

June 2010 

English-style pub with real British beer 

and original cocktails. Daily from 5 a.m. 

to noon: English breakfast for only 100 

rubles. 

Weekdays from 12:00 to 17:00. 

Business lunch from 140 rubles and 

35% menu discount. Sport matches on 

the big screen. 

5 Potapovsky Pereulok, Bldg. 2, 

621-4717 

M. Chistiye Prudy 

www.boozebub.ru 

KARMA BAR 

One of the most popular night clubs 

in town. Eastern-inspired interior, 

hookahs, and pan-Asian cuisine. Latin 

American dancing, Thursday-Saturday, 

21:00-midnight. 

3 Pushechnaya Ulitsa, 624-5633 


www.karma-bar.ru 

KRYSHA MIRA 

The club has a reputation of being a 

very closed place. Rich clubbers and 

beauties will do anything just to get in, 

so every Friday and Saturday they stand 

in line all night long asking face control 

to let them in. 

Open 23:00-06:00 

2/3 Tarasa Shevchenko Naberezhnaya, 

203-6008, 203-6556 

M. Kievskaya 

NIGHT FLIGHT 

If you don’t know about Night Flight 

– ask somebody. 

Open 18:00-05:00 


www.nightflight.ru 

M. Tverskaya 

PYATNICA BAR 

This is a nice city café with delicious 

and pretty cheap foods. They serve 

Indian, Thai, Japanese, Italian and 

Russian dishes here so it’s good for 

having lunch on working days. On 

Friday night it turns into crazy bar 

with vibrant, relaxed atmosphere and 

large selection of cocktails and other 

drinks. 

Pyantitskaya, 3⁄4, build 1. 953-69-32. 

www.pyatnica-bar.ru 

PAPA’S 

Master night spot host Doug Steele is 

back, at Papa’s tucked in the basement 

below Johnny the Fat Boy Pizzeria, Papa 

features live music and lots of sweaty 

young bodies. 

2 Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, 755-9554 

M. Kitai-Gorod 

NOTE: For restaurants with multiple locations the most popular location is given – see 

the website for others. All phone numbers have city code 495 unless otherwise indicated. 

Reservations suggested for most restaurants.

Distribution list 

Restaurants & Bars 

Academy 

Adriatico 

Adzhanta 

Aist 

Alrosa 

American Bar & Grill 

Apshu 

Art Bazar 

Art Chaikhona 

Australian Open 

Baan Thai 

Beavers 

BeerHouse 

Bellezza 

Bistrot 

Blooming Sakura 

Bookafe 

Cafe des Artistes 

Cafe Atlas 

Cafe Courvoisier 

Cafe Cipollino 

Cafe Michelle 

Cafe Mokka 

Cantinetta Antinori 

Сarre Blanc 

Che 

China Dream 

Cicco Pizza 

Coffee Bean 

Costa Coffee 

Cutty Sark 

Da Cicco 

Darbar 

French Cafe 

Gallery of Art 

Guilly’s 

Hard Rock Cafe 

Hotdogs 

Ichiban Boshi 

Il Patio 

Italianets 

Katie O’Sheas 

Labardans 

Liga Pub 

Louisiana Steak House 

Molly Gwynn’s Pub 

Navarros 

Night Flight 

Pancho Villa 

Papa’s 

Pizza Express 

Pizza Maxima 

Planeta Sushi 

Prognoz Pogody 

Real McCoy 

Rendezvous 

R&B Cafe 

Scandinavia 

Seiji 

Shafran 

Shamrock 

Shanti 

Silvers Irish Pub 

Simple Pleasures 

Starbucks Mega Khimki 

Starbucks Arbat 19 

Starbucks Mega Belaya Dacha 

Starbucks Moscow City Center 

Starbucks Arbat 38 

Starbucks Scheremetyevo 

0 June 2010 

Starbucks Dukat 

Starbucks Tulskaya 

Starbucks Galereya Akter 

Starbucks Metropolis Business 

Plaza 

Starbucks Zemlyanoi Val 

Starbucks Pokrovka 

Starbucks Chetyre Vetra 

Starbucks on Kamergersky 

Starbucks Baltchug 

Starbucks Festival 

Starbucks Belaya Ploschad 

Starbucks MDM 

Starbucks Fifth Avenue Business 

center 

Starbucks on Akademika 

Plekhanova Street 

Starbucks Schuka Business 

Center 

Starbucks Zvezdochka 

Starbucks Sokolniki 

Starbucks Druzhba 

Starbucks Mega Teply Stan 

Starbucks Severnoye Siyaniye 

Starbucks Atrium 

Starlite Diner 

Sudar 

T. G. I. Friday’s 

Talk of the Town 

Tapa de Comida 

Tesoro 

Vanilla Sky 

Vogue Cafe 

Yapona Mama 

Hotels 

Akvarel Hotel Moscow 

Art-Hotel 

Barvikha Hotel&spa 

Belgrad 

Courtyard by Marriott 

Globus 

Golden Apple Hotel 

East-West 

Hilton Leningradskaya 

Iris Hotel 

Katerina-City Hotel 

Marriott Grand 

Marriot Royal Aurora 

Marriott Tverskaya 

Metropol 

Mezhdunarodnaya 2 

Maxima Hotels 

National 

Novotel 1, 2 

Proton 

Radisson Slavyanskaya 

Renaissance 

Sheraton Palace 

Soyuz 

Sretenskaya 

Swissotel Krasnye Holmy 

Tiflis 

Volga 

Zavidovo 

Zolotoye Koltso 

Business Centers 

American Center 

Business Center Degtyarny 

Business Center Mokhovaya 

Dayev Plaza 

Ducat Place 2 

Dunaevsky 7 

Gogolevsky 11 

Iris Business Center 

Japan House 

Lotte Plaza 

Meyerkhold House 

Morskoi Dom 

Mosalarko Plaza 

Moscow Business Center 

Mosenka 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 

Novinsky Passage 

Olympic Plaza 

Romanov Dvor 

Samsung Center 

Sodexho 

Embassies 

Australia 

Austria 

Belgium 

Brazil 

Canada 

China 

Cyprus 

Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Delegation of EC 

Egypt 

Finland 

France 

Germany 

Hungary 

Iceland 

Indonesia 

India 

Israel 

Italy 

Japan 

Kuwait 

Luxembourg 

Malaysia 

Mauritius 

Mexico 

Netherlands 

New Zealand 

Norway 

Pakistan 

Peru 

Philippines 

Poland 

Portugal 

Saudi Arabia 

Singapore 

Slovenia 

South Africa 

South Korea 

Spain 

Sweden 

Thailand 

United Arab Emirates 

United Kingdom 

United States 

Medical Centers 

American Clinic 

American Dental Clinic 

American Dental Center 

American Medical Center 

European Dental Center 

European Medical Center 

German Dental Center 

International SOS 

US Dental Care 

MedinCentre 

Others 

American Chamber 

of Commerce 

American Express 

Anglo-American School 

American Institute of Business 

and Economics 

Association of European 

Businesses 

Astravel 

Aviatransagentstvo 

Baker Hughes 

British International School 

Coca Cola 

Citibank 

Concept MR, ZAO 

Dr. Loder’s 

DHL 

English International School 

Ernst & Young 

Evans Property Services 

Expat Salon 

Foreign Ministry Press Center 

General Electric 

General Motors CIS 

Gold’s Gym 

Halliburton International 

Hinkson Christian Academy 

Imperial Tailoring Co. 

Interpochta 

Ital-Market 

JAL 

JCC 

Jones Lang LaSalle 

LG Electronics 

Mega/IKEA 

Moscow Voyage Bureau 

Move One Relocations 

NB Gallery 

Park Place 

PBN Company 

Penny Lane Realty 

Philips Russia 

Pilates Yoga 

Pokrovky Hills 

PricewaterhouseCoopers 

Procter & Gamble 

Pulford 

Reuters 

Renaissance Capital 

Respublika 

Rolf Group 

Ruslingua 

Russo-British Chamber of Commerce 

St. Andrew’s Anglican Church 

Savant 

Schwartzkopf & Henkel 

Shishkin Gallery 

Sport Line Club 

Swiss International Airlines 

Tretiakov Gallery 

Unilever 

Uniastrum Bank 

WimmBillDann

M O S C O W Interview with Leonid Shishkin - Passport magazine

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