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"We’re against everything. We’re patriots"

Posted in Moscow, Russian, march, nationalist, neo-nazi, unity day on November 5, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Spiegel Online has a story today about the neo-Nazi National Unity Day march in Moscow at Kutosovsky Prospect yesterday. An estimated 2,000 people participated in the march and rally. The Spiegel article attempts to capture the stupidity and shallowness of the Russian neo-Nazi movement, and to explain the Kremlin and other government officials apparent tolerance of far-right nationalism, as contrasted with complete intolerance of the liberal left.

This was the 3rd annual such march in Moscow. While last years march resulted in many arrests, this year Moscow police issued a march permit for a relatively low-traffic area of the city.

The march included the cowboy hat wearing Preston Wiginton, a white supremacist from Texas. Wiginton spoke to the crowd, cheering “Glory to Russia,” with the audience responding “white power” back to him in English.

Hey, so there is something we Americans and Russians have in common. Racist bigots. Hurray.

“Russia for Russians!” the demonstrators shouted in unison, followed by slogans such as “For a Slavic, Russian nation!” or “Slavic, Russian, Powerful!” The demonstrators stretched out their arms in the Hitler salute between slogans. Their loud shouts of “Slavic Russia!” were followed by the sound of drum rolls.

“We are opposed to the immigration of Caucasians and Asians to Russia. Our people must remain pure. Russia belongs to us,” 32-year-old Andrey Bukov explains. The trained media expert says he has been “serving” in the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) for four years. He waves its white, yellow and black flag, which features a symbol resembling a swastika.

Nineteen-year-old Sergei carries the red flag of his group — the “Slavic Union” — tied around his shoulders. “We Russians are part of the white race,” he says. “The blacks — the Caucasians, the Chechens, the Dagestani — should stay away,” says the Muscovite, a student at the Finance Academy.

If the use of the word Caucasians in the negative sounds unfamiliar to the less traveled American readers, it is because while we use the word Caucasian to indicate anyone of white race, Russians (and many Europeans) use the word to indicate people from the Caucasus Mountains. Again, for the unfamiliar – many Russians perceive such people to be non-white.

The utter brilliance of the marchers is demonstrated further into the Spiegel article, by a short interview with Olga and Darya:

Pensioner Monika Nikolayeva [says] “When it comes to our children, there is not even enough money to send them to university in Russia.” That is why she believes it is good that young people take to the streets and protest. “Young girls in particular only get limited education!”

The young girls she means are technical university students like Olga and Darya, who are marching beneath the flags. “We’re against everything. We’re patriots,” rants 18-year-old Olga. She and her 19-year-old friend have traveled to Moscow from Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia to attend the demonstration. Asked what they are demonstrating against, she is at a loss for a moment. Then she stutters: “Against the anti-Russian policy in the world — I can’t say it any more clearly.”

Further analysis in the article is provided by Andreas Umland, “an expert in comparative fascism studies who specializes in Russia.” Mr. Umland believes that these neo-nazi’s are welcome bogeymen by the Kremlin, that their existence justifies strong-armed tactics by the government, with the increased use of extremism laws and other crack-downs on civil liberties. Of course, the Kremlin and law enforcement officials seem loathe to use those laws and measures against the ultra-nationalist bogeymen, preferring instead to crack the heads and knuckles of any organized liberal parties and individuals who dare fault or make a joke about Putin.

From the Associated Press article on the event:

“This is just an outbreak of national identity feelings, which is noticeable worldwide, and it has affected Russia too,” said Vyacheslav Postavnin, deputy director of the Federal Migration Service, the Interfax news agency reported.

In the first Russian March in 2005, thousands marched through central Moscow, some shouting “Heil Hitler.” The march horrified many Muscovites, and the following year it was blocked by police.

“The first Russian March was unexpected good luck, the second one was about overcoming the resistance of the authorities, and the third one is already a new Russian tradition,” said Konstantin Krylov of the nationalist Russian Social Movement.

I encourage you to read the rest of the article for additional details and observations by Simone Schlindwein.

Other marches on National Unity Day included the Yabloko party rally against fascism and xenophobia. The pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group assembled a “peace quilt” from the contributions of thousands of young people across Russia.

Sean’s Russia Blog discusses how National Unity Day has actually served to highlight Russia’s fractured and disunited nature. Neo-Nazi marches certainly add an exclamation point to his discussion.

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The Wake of Dmitri Prigov

Posted in Metro, Moscow, Prigov, Voina, art, pir, wake on September 6, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Approximately 50 people, including members of the Voina (War) Performance Group marked the 40th night since Dmitri Aleksandrovich Prigov’s (Дмитрий Александрович Пригов) passing last week by holding a wake (or Поминки – Pominki, although the organizers called it a pir, meaning feast)… on the Circle Line of the Moscow Metro. Prigov died July 16th, a few weeks after he succumbed to a heart attack on the Metro.

From the New York Times:


Dmitri Prigov, a prolific and influential Russian poet and artist who at one point was incarcerated in a Soviet psychiatric hospital as punishment for his work, died on Monday. He was 66.

Mr. Prigov’s creative expression took many forms. He said in 2005 that he had written nearly 36,000 poems. He also wrote plays and essays, created drawings, installations and video art, acted in films, staged performance art and performed music.

For years his verse circulated in the Soviet Union as samizdat, officially banned literature that was passed furtively hand to hand. Only in 1990, during the last stages of the Communist era, was a collection of his verse officially published in his country. His work had been published extensively abroad in émigré publications and Slavic studies journals.

Trained as a sculptor at the Stroganov Art Institute in Moscow, he began writing poetry in the 1950s, then worked as a municipal architect and created sculptures for parks. In the 1970s he grew close to artists in the Soviet underground and became a leader in Moscow’s conceptual art movement, combining his poetry with performance. He was also known for writing verse on cans.

“In America there was Pop Art,” said Vitaly Patsyukov, a Russian art historian and friend of Mr. Prigov’s. “Here it was ideology as a manifestation of mass consciousness.” Mr. Patsyukov added, “He turned words into objects.”

At the time he was producing work considered subversive by the authorities, Mr. Prigov was stopped while walking down a street in 1986, he recalled, and was whisked away by the K.G.B. and then to a Soviet psychiatric hospital. His stay was brief, however, after prominent poets like Bella Akhmadulina lodged protests.

In the West he was probably best known for his performance art. Rita Lipson, a senior lecturer in Russian literature and culture at Yale University, recalled Mr. Prigov’s performance there. His work, she said, was “a form of social protest.” One of his most widely known cycles of verse is about a Soviet policeman.

The Moscow Times further reported:


Members of the Voina performance group, including students, artists and a few employees of the Cinema Museum, only revealed the location of the wake by telephone a few hours beforehand, to prevent it being stopped by police. Prigov’s relatives did not attend. Most elements of the ceremony were symbolic, though in a jokey, rather incoherent way that seemed to echo Prigov’s own style of writing.

The metro was an obvious choice, said Oleg Vorotnikov, the organizer of the wake and the cancelled Moscow State University performance, who works at the Cinema Museum. “He’s considered to have gone to heaven, but if you don’t believe in God, then he has gone underground.”

As for the choice of line: “The Circle Line of the Moscow metro is depicted using the color brown – the color of earth, and the color of feces, waste products. That which is left of you,” Vorotnikov said. “What’s left of Dmitry Alexandrovich is his poetry and his body, which is located with us in Moscow, not far from the center.”

The mourners met at Krasnopresnenskaya metro station, northwest of the city center, and covered a makeshift table with a checkered tablecloth, pickled salads and bowls of candy. Vorotnikov solemnly intoned a few lines of Prigov’s poetry. Arriving back at Krasnopresnenskaya, they left the table and the food for metro workers to dispose of — plus a symbolic plate of food and glass of wine for Prigov.

“They’re commemorating something?” asked Magomed Alebekov, who shared the metro car with the revellers for a few stops. “That’s diversity,” he approved. “If they’d done it somewhere else, it would have been boring.”

Prigov was reportedly on his way to a reading with the Voina Performance Group. The group planned to drag Prigov in a cupboard up 22 flights of a Moscow State University student dormitory while reading poetry.

For those less than familiar with Russian funereal traditions, 3 days, 9 days, and 40 days after death are traditional for wakes or feasts of the dead. The place setting with the bread on the glass of wine is symbolically placed for the departed. From the abstract from a paper by Michel Bouchard, Department of Anthropology, University of Northern British Columbia:


The age-old tradition of feasting the dead has been maintained by Russian populations for well over five centuries. Graveyards hold a special place both in traditional Orthodox faith and in the lives of Russians and others in the city of Narva, Estonia. The tradition of feasting the dead for three, nine and forty days after death, can be traced unbroken to pre-Christian Rus’. Details may vary, but always the soul of the deceased must battle its way out of the body and then spend time in both heaven and hell. While this journey is occurring, the living must remember the dead, helping their souls during this period of travail. Even a final feast one year after the death of the individual does not end the relationship between the living and the deceased, for the graves are still visited on a regular basis as a sign of respect to the dead, who are potential saints in the Russian Orthodox tradition. This ‘saintly’ land — Russian graves — defines homeland and roots the population to a new area.

Postscript – After I wrote this, I saw that both IZO (and by extension, English Russia) had posts regarding this unusual wake. Just want to give credit to those blogs as well.


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10 Arrested in Politkovskaya Murder Case

Posted in Berezovsky, Chaika, Chechen, FSB, Litvinenko, Moscow, Muratov, Politkovskaya, Putin, Ryaguzov, arrest, murder, police on August 27, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika has announced the arrest and pending charges of 10 people in connection with the October 2006 murder of reporter/activist Anna Politkovskaya. Politkovskaya was 48 when she was shot dead in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment on Vladimir Putin’s birthday last year. Closed circuit security cameras at her building revealed a lone assassin shooting her as she left for work.

“We have made serious progress in the Politkovskaya murder investigation,” Russian television showed Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika telling President Vladimir Putin at a meeting.

“Ten people have been arrested in connection with this case and literally, in the very near future, they will be charged with carrying out this grave crime.”

Prosecutors said her killing was probably linked to her reporting. She had been active in exposing abuses by security forces in Russia’s turbulent Chechnya and neighboring regions.

Putin said at the time the murder was a “disgusting crime.” [AR note: albeit belatedly] But Politkovskaya’s supporters said she had paid the price for criticizing the Russian authorities. Foreign governments appealed for a thorough investigation.

Anna Usachyova, a spokeswoman for Moscow City Court, said a judge had approved the detention of two people suspected of involvement in the killing. An earlier court hearing ordered the other eight to be held in detention pending charges.

Politkovskaya’s former employer, Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was cautiously optimistic regarding the arrests. The newspaper said it believed the 10 arrested people included people from an “ethnic” organized group, and law enforcement officers (both former and active).

It will be most interesting to see who these people are as the case develops.

Update: Some more tidbits on the murder case and the police officers involved:

Investigators probing the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya suspect the involvement of former police officers who served in Chechnya, the Kommersant newspaper said on Wednesday.

Investigators from the interior ministry and prosecutor’s office left Moscow “almost en masse” last week for the west Siberian town of Nizhnevartovsk with the aim of questioning former police officers who had served in Chechnya, the paper said.

They suspect that the officers may have taken revenge on the hard-hitting journalist from the Novaya Gazeta newspaper after she named them as being involved in at least one killing of a civilian in Chechnya, Kommersant said.

“It appears a dominant explanation has appeared. Investigators think that former officers from the Nizhnevartovsk police were involved,” the paper said.

Investigators particularly want to find a former police major and a former police lieutenant colonel who are already wanted in connection with crimes in Chechnya, the paper said.

This case will certainly do nothing to improve the less than stellar reputation of police officers in Russia.

Update 2: Another Reuters report has Prosecutor Yuri Chaika cutely implying that Boris Berezovsky ordered or paid for Politkovskaya to be murdered.

Russian prosecutors said on Monday they had detained 10 suspects in the murder of reporter Anna Politkovskaya, but that the killing was masterminded from abroad by anti-Kremlin forces trying to discredit Russia.

The contract-style shooting last year of Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, led to a storm of international condemnation, with critics saying the Kremlin was failing to protect freedom of speech.

Prosecutors had said her killing was probably linked to her reporting. She had been active in exposing abuses by security forces in Russia’s turbulent Chechnya and neighboring regions.

Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika told reporters an investigation showed Politkovskaya had been killed by an organized crime group led by an ethnic Chechen and including serving and former law enforcement officers.

He said the same group may have been involved in two other high-profile murders: the 2004 killing of U.S. reporter Paul Klebnikov and the shooting last year of central bank deputy chief Andrei Kozlov.

But the chief prosecutor said the trail from the Politkovskaya killing, and other crimes, led to Kremlin opponents living in exile abroad.

Asked if he had in mind Boris Berezovsky, a multi-millionaire critic of the Kremlin who lives in London, he smiled and refused to answer the question.

“The person who ordered the (Politkovskaya) killing is abroad,” Chaika told reporters at a news briefing.

“Our investigation has led us to conclude that only people living abroad could be interested in killing Politkovskaya.

“Forces interested in destabilizing the country, changing its constitutional order, in stoking crisis, in a return to the old system where money and oligarchs ruled, in discrediting national leadership, provoking external pressure on the country, could be interested in this crime.

“Our investigations showed that this was not the first such attempt — a number of previous murders were similar provocations.”

The accusation, true or not, certainly ties everything up into a neat package for the Kremlin. Operating under the assumption that it is true, it would make the killing of Litvinenko look more like a tit-for-tat exchange of murders.

Of course, the Kremlin spokespeople had been making sounds about the Politkovskaya murder being done to undermine or discredit Putin’s government from the beginning. It does seem rather convenient for that version of events to be the final outcome.

I predict these accused will get pushed through the Russian court system rather quickly. It seems in these sorts of cases the judges simply agree with the prosecutors evidence and ship the accused off to jail.

Update 3: It is being reported by ITAR-TASS that one of the criminals was also an FSB agent.

In the group of those detained in connection with the murder of investigative journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, there is the man who gunned down the victim.

The officer of the federal security service FSB detained in connection with the Politkovskaya case had long been under the surveillance of the FSB’s internal security division, its chief, Lieutenant-General Alexander Kupryazhkin, said on Monday.

Slain investigative reporter Politkovskaya had known and met with the man who is suspected of ordering her murder, Yuri Chaika said.

International Herald Tribune quotes an Associated Press article that says it was a Chechen crime boss who ordered Politkovskaya killed.

Update 4: Another BBC article describes the former FSB officer as Lt. Colonel Pavel Ryaguzov. The article also quotes Novaya Gazeta chief editor Dmitry Muratov, as saying the evidence from the investigations are “very convincing and professional”.

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Антошка, Антошка, Пойдем копать картошку! Let’s Go Dig Potatoes!

Posted in 2007, Antoshka, Fest, Kartoshka, Moscow, Potato, Russia, cartoon, multifilm on August 25, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Mansur Mirovalev of the Associated Press has the story of Moscow’s Potato Fest 2007. Yes, here you can be reassured that in Russia, the lowly potato remains king! The website for the Potato Fest cheerfully exclaims that the potato is second only to bread in Russia (hmmm … I would have guessed third).

The fest is being held in a suitable location. You might imagine the U.S. to be king of potato production, with all those french fries and potato chips to be served, but you would be wrong. Russia is the world’s second largest producer of potatoes (China passed Russia to become the #1 potato producer in the 1990’s). Some 90% of the world’s potatoes are produced by Russia and Europe. Russians, in fact, lead the world in per capita potato consumption.


Thousands of scientists, business executives and gastronomes from around the world converged on Moscow this week to lavish praise on a Russian icon: the common potato.

The occasion was Moscow Potato 2007, a chance for leading potato-heads to debate the subtleties of planting, exchange cooking tips and strategize on ways to promote the potato around the world.

Moscow was a fitting venue: While New York is known as the Big Apple, the Russian capital is called the Big Potato (AR note: I’ve not heard this one). And rightfully so – for the lumpy tuber holds a holds a privileged place in Russian history and hearts.

Among Czar Peter the Great’s many reforms was introducing potatoes to Russia 300 years ago. They were initially rejected by the peasantry as ‘Devil’s Apples,’ but potatoes quickly caught on and eventually came to rival cabbages and beets as staples of the Russian diet. During the worst famines of the Soviet era the potato saved millions of lives.

Organizers staged the three-day spud fest at the sprawling All-Russian Exhibition Center in northern Moscow – still decorated with Soviet statues of robust maidens bearing sheaves of grain – and at the All-Russian Research Institute for Potato Growing southeast of Moscow.

Boris Vershinin, who spent four decades breeding varieties that could thrive in Russia’s harsh climes, admonishes anybody who dares disparage the potato by using the diminutive Russian term ‘kartoshka’ for the vegetable.

“It’s ‘His Highness Potato,’” said the biologist from the southern city of Kislovodsk. “It’s Russia’s second bread.”

Vershinin gave a tour of the institute’s potato plots to international colleagues Thursday, squeezing intriguing specimens as he lectured on the varieties he cultivated over the years. All the while, he expounded on the potato’s legacy in Russia.

After initially overcoming their suspicions, he explained, Russian peasants learned to plant the hardy crop in fields where agriculture is risky because of unpredictable weather, high humidity and early winters. The potato became a key ingredient in everything from borscht to vodka.

During the early 1920s, as Russian agriculture collapsed, Bolshevik commissars raided villages to confiscate grain and redistribute it. All that some peasants were left with were potatoes, but it was enough to keep many alive.

Potatoes helped ease food shortages during World War II, when there was again widespread hunger. The Soviet Union’s 1947 famine could have been much more devastating without spuds, Vershinin said.

For most of the 20th century, Russia produced more potatoes than anywhere else in the world – until the Chinese took the lead in the late 1990s.

Although the Russian diet has drastically improved in the 16 years since the Soviet collapse, the potato still rules many fields here. The Ministry of Agriculture says about 7 million acres of Russian farmland are dedicated to growing potatoes.

Meanwhile, Russians have been learning to eat potatoes in new ways. During the communist era, Russians knew such things as potato chips existed, but only because they saw them in the movies. Last year, according to market research firm Euromonitor International, Russians bought almost 130,000 tons of potato chips.

After McDonald’s and other fast food giants invaded post-communist Russia, peddling french fries to the potato-loving masses, local producers responded with chains grounded in national cuisine.

Kroshka-Kartoshka, or ‘Baby Potato,’ founded by two Muscovites in 1998, hawks potatoes out of brightly colored kiosks scattered throughout Moscow and other Russian cities. Their product is served whole, baked and hot – lathered with cheese and butter and stuffed with delicacies such as marinated mushrooms, salmon or fried eggplant. “The customers vote for us with their rubles,” said marketing director Mikhail Kudryavtsev.

Spoken like a true capitalist! Actually, even eXile finds Kroshka-Kartoshka tasty.

Lastly, in the spirit of potato digging everywhere, we offer this little song and cartoon from Весёлая карусель (Cheerful Carousel), about Antoshka, the little freckled red-haired boy who was too lazy to dig for potatoes. Katja liked this one so much, that she was inspired to write a soon-to-be-coming article about Весёлая карусель cartoons.

Lyrics for singing along:
Антошка, Антошка,                Antoshka, Antoshka
Пойдем копать картошку!,                Let’s go dig potatoes!
Антошка, Антошка,,                Antoshka, Antoshka
Пойдем копать картошку!,                Let’s go dig potatoes!

Дили-дили,,                Dili-dili
Трали-вали,,                Trali-vali
Это мы не проходили,,                We did not study it,
Это нам не задавали!,                It was not required!
Тарам, пам, пам,,                Taram, pam, pam
Тарам, пам, пам,,                Taram, pam, pam

Антошка, Антошка,,                Antoshka, Antoshka
Сыграй нам на гармошке!,                Play for us on the accordion!
Антошка, Антошка,,                Antoshka, Antoshka
Сыграй нам на гармошке!,                Play for us on the accordion!

Дили-дили,,                Dili-dili
Трали-вали,,                Trali-vali
Это мы не проходили,,                We did not study it,
Это нам не задавали!,                It was not our homework!
Тарам, пам, пам,,                Taram, pam, pam
Тарам, пам, пам,,                Taram, pam, pam

Антошка, Антошка,,                Antoshka, Antoshka
Готовь к обеду ложку!,                Prepare your spoon for dinner!
Антошка, Антошка,,                Antoshka, Antoshka
Готовь к обеду ложку!,                Prepare your spoon for dinner!

Дили-дили,,                Dili-dili
Трали-вали,,                Trali-vali
Это, братцы, мне по силе!,                This, brothers, I can handle,
Откажусь теперь едва ли!,                I hardly can refuse!

Тарам, пам, пам,,                Taram, pam, pam
Тарам, пам, пам,,                Taram, pam, pam
Парам, пам, пам.,                Taram, pam, pam

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Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin – On Tour

Posted in Moscow, SSLYBY, concert on August 14, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

Came across a link to Pitchfork records blurb on the band Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin (SSLYBY). How 5 guys from Missouri come up with such a name isn’t explained.


Nearly four months after their namesake’s passing, Polyvinyl-signed upstarts Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin made it to Russia late last month.

Seems the Missouri-bred quartet were the talk of the Annual Afisha Picnic, which went down July 28 at Moscow’s Kolomenskoye park. There they competed against native heavyweights like Mumiy Troll– as well as cartoon viewings, fashion shows, backgammon and chess tournaments, sculpture gardens, manicures, an interactive “cardboard kingdom,” and a whole lotta food– to win the hearts and raise the eyebrows of our brothers and sisters of the former Soviet Union.

Hey, isn’t that guy on the right Donnie Wahlberg?

I’m sure these guys have a page on MySpace as well, might be worth giving them a listen.

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Hyper-Commercialism and Irony

Posted in Moscow, Tsum, advertisement, marketing on August 14, 2007 by accidentalrussophile


Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears blog has the images and translations of an TsUM advertising campaign that is pissing off many Russians.

From the UK’s Telegraph:

Moscow’s oldest department store, which was infamous in Soviet days for its empty shelves and churlish staff, is at the centre of controversy after telling young schoolgirls to wear Western designer clothes or else become social outcasts.

In a demonstration of the extent to which the land of Lenin has embraced consumerism, TsUM – the Russian capital’s equivalent of Harrods – placed a display in its windows with the slogan: “If you don’t wear Prada, you’re a reject”.

In a series of cartoons, a girl of about six is shown sneering at the childish pleasures of life.

One shows her turning her back on her teddy bear and toy bunny, saying: “I don’t need you two any more. Now all I’m interested in is clothes.”

In another she tells the unhappy bear: “You are unfashionable! Farewell!”

Standing across from the Bolshoi Theatre, TsUM has become a symbol of New Russia. Brimming with clothes and accessories, from Gucci to new Russian favourite Dolce & Gabbana, it is frequented by a growing number of affluent customers. But with its latest stunt, the store seems to have misjudged the public mood.

Russia’s newspapers – broadsheets and tabloids alike – have reacted with outrage, mourning a crude attack on childhood innocence.

“TsUM likes to portray itself as a world-class store on a level with Harrods, yet it speaks with a nouveau riche accent,” commented Komsomolskaya Pravda, the country’s biggest newspaper, on its front page.

“It is difficult to imagine Harrods declaring that only rejects don’t drive Bentleys.”

Yes, I’m sure that Harrods is kicking themselves for not thinking of it themselves …

Actually, almost all marketing of luxury items implies some level of cool or the exceptional. Given the style of the cartoons in the TsUM advertisement, I thought it was quite clear that the ads were meant to be humorous or ironic.

I suppose the perceived innocence of childhood is something you don’t mess with in Russia.

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Wine, Moscow, and Travels

Posted in Moscow, Vinosyr, wine on August 5, 2007 by accidentalrussophile


French photographer and wine-aficionado Bertrand Celce has an article in Wine Terroirs Blog about the Vinosyr Wine Bar in Moscow (Malyi Palashevsky p. 6, Moscow. Metro: Pushkinskaya-Tverskaya). Mr. Celce provides some lovely photography of Vinosyr and an evaluation of it’s atmosphere, selection, and service.

Wine bars are coming to Russia, to Moscow at least. Wine bars are usually the last wine thing to come in a country newly converted to wine (but is Russia really a newbee in wine?), long after the full wine sections in the supermarkets and the opening of specialized wine shops. It is one thing to sell wine in the retail sector but is usually a much more arduous one to have people come to a place just to buy a glass of wine and stay afloat in this business. It is already a challenge in the West, so imagine in a country discovering wine where not so long ago the only available wine were low-quality wines from Moldova, Southern Russia or Bulgaria. Some such wine bars were short lived and closed, but some others keep sprouting in Moscow under the impulse of daring sommeliers or passionates. Anatoly Sokolov is one of the latter and while he does not come from the restaurant business, he said in an interview that he wanted long ago to open a wine bar. And he opened Vinosyr last November (2006).

I think those interested in wine and travel will find many other things at Wine Terroir to enjoy as well. Mr. Celce seems to enjoy his work and travels and it shows in his selection of imagery and topics for discussion.

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The Thrill of Victory …

Posted in Moscow, heels, race, women on August 1, 2007 by accidentalrussophile

… and the agony of da feet. (ba-dump! Thank you, I’ll be here all weekend.)

Moscow had it’s own version of the high heel race today, sponsored by Glamour magazine (video on the link). Russia Blog has earlier blogged on the topic of the St. Petersburg race. Naturally, anything that St. Petersburg can do, Moscow can do better. From the Associated Press story:

Russian women proved on Saturday that they can do what no man in the world can: running a 100-metre race in 9 cm (3.5 inches) high heel shoes.

The new sports competition, “The High-Heel Race” was held this year in five Russian cities between July 16-28.

Last year, over 200 women took part in the first sprint race in Moscow, Petersburg, Yekaterinburg (the Urals) and Novosibirsk.

The race was such a success that the Russian edition of Glamour magazine decided to support it and turn it into an annual event.

“Generally our women are very fond of heels, make-up, hair-dos, minis and whatever in order to present themselves,” said Anna Rykova, a fashion expert.

“On one hand it is not good because their attire is not an everyday one. On the other hand, (this style) attracts foreign men because our women are always looking good – from morning until night,” she added.

Oksana, one of the high heel racers, said Russian girls were permanently competing.

“Our girls are dressing better than girls abroad and they are paying more attention to what they wear. Everyday for them is like a beauty contest.”

The winners of each race get cash certificates of 100,000 roubles ($4,000) to spend in the city’s shopping malls.

More photos of the contest, from Glamour magazine

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Moscow Out of Burial Space Within 7 Years

Posted in Moscow, cemetery on July 30, 2007 by accidentalrussophile


Seems the real estate boom in Moscow has other, unintended consequences. According to a recent article by Svetlana Osadchuk of Moscow Times, The city is running out of burial space in cemeteries.

The April deaths of former President Boris Yeltsin and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich brought a period of national reflection, as well as awareness of a new challenge facing Moscow: where the remains of dignitaries, luminaries and common folk alike should be interred.

While overcrowding is a common complaint among Moscow’s living, the situation is hardly better six feet under: At the current rate, burial space within the city limits could run out within seven years.

The city currently has only 100 hectares of available burial space in its 72 cemeteries and is using 10 to 15 hectares per year for burials, according to data from City Hall’s consumer market and services department.

Last year alone, Moscow registered 127,000 deaths, and Muscovites, proud of their status as natives of the center of the Russian world, may have to begin seeking their final resting place in the suburbs.

With very few possibilities to expand burial space within the city limits, city authorities have already begun spending some 1.5 billion rubles ($59 million) on land for new cemeteries in the Moscow region, said Svetlana Ozkan, a spokeswoman for Ritual, the monopoly owner of Moscow’s cemeteries.

And space is tight no matter how famous you are.

Yeltsin and Rostropovich were buried in the historic Novodevichye Cemetery, the resting place of the country’s most famous writers, poets, politicians and public figures and considered the premier cemetery in the capital.

“Rostropovich’s grave was probably the last one in Novodevichye Cemetery,” said Vladimir Kozhin, the head of the Presidential Property Department.

The article goes on to note the many famous dead that are buried in Moscow’s most famous cemeteries, such as Novodevichye or Vostryakovskoye. Prior to 1991, noteworthy people were actually buried in Red Square next to the Kremlin walls.

Part of the problem is that … by law, the city must provide a burial space to all citizens for free. However, currently such requests are filled by burial in cemeteries outside the Moscow city limits.

People who insist on burying a loved one in Moscow need to contact the administration of the desired cemetery directly to discuss the possibility of obtaining a plot.

“Nobody will offer you a plot for free in Moscow unless you bury a very important or famous person or if you already have a family place in the cemetery,” said a woman who answered the telephone at Ritual’s information center.

A handpicked spot at a less prestigious cemetery — such as the Mitinskoye cemetery, northwest of Moscow — could cost around 50,000 rubles ($2,000), while a spot at the Miusskoye cemetery in northeast Moscow could go for around 560,000 rubles ($22,000), she said.


Such prices have lead to resale of plots, both used and new, in the most famous locations. Supply and demand, after all. The story reports:

One woman who posted her phone number on the Internet under the name Natalya said she was ready to sell a plot at the Vostryakovskoye cemetery for $45,000.

At the same time, there is no information about ownership for 20 percent of all graves in the country, according to a State Duma report released in March. There have been reports that the ambiguous ownership of gravesites has led to abuse from cemetery employees who try to resell the spaces.

A Channel One television documentary broadcast in June 2006 featured a man in the Leningrad region town of Gatchina who said he visited his wife’s grave in a local cemetery only to find a new grave with a different headstone embossed with a name that was not his deceased wife’s.

Obviously, all of this cost and trouble has led the more pragmatic to select cremation when they shuffle off this mortal coil. Approximately 50% of Muscovichi do just that, even though only 7 to 8 percent of all Russians select cremation. The Russian Orthodox Church generally discourages cremation as a heathen practice. Despite that, due to a limited number of crematoriums in Russia, demand is quite high. The Nikolo-Arkhangelsky crematorium is the largest crematorium in Russia (and all of Europe) claims to cremate 100 to 120 bodies each day. With this demand, even the cost of cremation is scheduled for a price increase from approximately 2,500 rubles ($100 or so) to 3,800 rubles on Wednesday.

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Pile-Driving in the White City (Белый город)

Posted in Moscow, White City, construction, Белый город on July 21, 2007 by accidentalrussophile


A few months ago, construction for a multi-story underground parking garage in the Hohlovskoy Square area (between the Pokrovskoi and Pokrovskim Boulevard) of Moscow uncovered something quite unexpected.

The former foundations for the White Walls (Белой стены) of the White City (Белый город) region of Moscow.

Steel piles had already been driven through parts of the former wall foundations, as seen in these photos. Construction has since been stopped and reportedly a team of archaeologists are now working on the site.


How none of this was discovered prior to construction is a mystery (to me, anyway) – it’s very typical to perform deep soil borings and possibly test pits prior to construction as part of the foundation design.

The walls of the White City were part of a ring of defenses on the left bank of the Moskva River protecting the City of Moscow. Besides the inner fortress of the Kremlin, these defenses were comprised of Kitay-gorod (Китай-город), the White City (Белый город) and the outer Earthen City (Земляной город).

The White Walls were constructed from 1585 to 1593 as part of overall defensive improvements to the city, and when completed were approximately 10 kilometers long and up to 4.5 meters thick, with 27 guard towers and 10 gate towers all built from white stone. The walls and towers were designed by the Russian architect Fyodor Saveli’evich Kon’ (Фёдор Савельевич Конь) who later went on to design and build the fortifications at Smolensk.

In addition to the great White Walls, the defensive preparations included a moat, filled with water from the nearby river, and an underground water pipe which passed under the walls for a city water supply. When completed it was widely considered one of the supreme fortifications in all of Europe.

At the end of the 18th Century the white stone walls were dismantled and replaced by the linden and poplar tree-lined Bulvarnoe Koltso (Boulevard Ring). All that remains of the great White Walls are the names of some former gate towers which have been given to Moscow squares: Nikitskiye, Sretenskiye, Myasnitskiye, Pokrovskiye and Yauzskiye.

Photographs, paintings, and additional information for this article were obtained from дядя Коля.

A radio interview with archaeologist Aleksander Veksler, chief archaeologist of Moscow, regarding this site and other archaeological and historic preservation efforts is here.

A map outlining the city of Moscow, circa 1695 is below. The White City is the semi-circular area shown on the northern side of the river.

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