DOCSLIB.ORG

Russia's "Pivot" to Eurasia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Russia's RUSSIA’S “PIVOT” TO EURASIA edited by Kadri Liik ABOUT ECFR The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is the first pan-European think-tank. Launched in October 2007, its objective is to conduct research and promote informed debate across Europe on the development of coherent, effective and values-based European foreign policy. ECFR has developed a strategy with three distinctive elements that define its activities: • A pan-European Council. ECFR has brought together a distinguished Council of over two hundred Members – politicians, decision makers, thinkers and business people from the EU’s member states and candidate countries – which meets once a year as a full body. Through geographical and thematic task forces, members provide ECFR staff with advice and feedback on policy ideas and help with ECFR’s activities within their own countries. The Council is chaired by Martti Ahtisaari and Mabel van Oranje. • A physical presence in the main EU member states. ECFR, uniquely among European think-tanks, has offices in Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Sofia and Warsaw. Our offices are platforms for research, debate, advocacy and communications. • A distinctive research and policy development process. ECFR has brought together a team of distinguished researchers and practitioners from all over Europe to advance its objectives through innovative projects with a pan-European focus. ECFR’s activities include primary research, publication of policy reports, private meetings and public debates, ‘friends of ECFR’ gatherings in EU capitals and outreach to strategic media outlets. ECFR is a registered charity funded by the Open Society Foundations and other generous foundations, individuals and corporate entities. These donors allow us to publish our ideas and advocate for a values- based EU foreign policy. ECFR works in partnership with other think tanks and organisations but does not make grants to individuals or institutions. www.ecfr.eu RUSSIA’S “PIVOT” TO EURASIA edited by Kadri Liik The European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. This paper, like all publications of the European Council on Foreign Relations, represents only the views of its authors. Copyright of this publication is held by the European Council on Foreign Relations. You may not copy, reproduce, republish or circulate in any way the content from this publication except for your own personal and non-commercial use. Any other use requires the prior written permission of the European Council on Foreign Relations. © ECFR May 2014. ISBN: 978-1-910118-03-0 Published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), 35 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9JA, United Kingdom [email protected] Contents Kadri Liik 5 Introduction: Russia’s pivot to (Eur)asia WHAT IS THE EURASIAN UNION? 17 1. Fyodor Lukyanov 18 Building Eurasia and defining Russia 2. Timofei Bordachev 25 Eurasian Russia in the twenty-first century Mikhail Shishkin Russian Monologue 38 THE LOGIC OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY 41 3. Dmitri Trenin 42 Drivers of Russia’s foreign policy 4. Pyotr Stegny 49 Russia’s foreign policy: searching for a new paradigm Anna Arutunyan The Coronation 54 THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE EURASIAN UNION 61 5. Evgeny Vinokurov 62 From Lisbon to Hanoi: the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union in Greater Eurasia 6. Vladislav Inozemtsev 67 Russia turns east: Eurasian integration, regional development, and the West as East Andrei Rubanov Temujin Highway 74 RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC “PIVOT” TO ASIA 84 7. Alexander Gabuev 89 The development of the Russian Far East 8. Mikhail Krutikhin 91 Can Russia reroute natural gas from Europe to Asia? Anna Arutunyan The Paleologue Donation 95 AN ASIAN RUSSIA? 99 9. Vassily Kashin 100 Russia turns to Asia 10. Pavel Salin 107 European Asia: why Russia is ready to turn to a “backward” East Kadri Liik Introduction: Russia’s pivot to (Eur)asia The annexation of Crimea has shattered the West’s notions about Russia, the motivations and limitations of its behaviour. But as the West in general and Europe in particular searches for explanations of what has happened and struggles to predict what will happen next, two simplistic narratives have emerged that both interpret Russia’s expansionism or geopolitical revisionism – embodied by the annexation of Crimea – as almost inevitable. In the first, Russia acted because the European Union failed to respect a “natural” red line by offering an Association Agreement to Ukraine. In the second narrative, President Vladimir Putin always intended to restore the Soviet Union and has become more expansionist simply because Russia is now finally strong enough to act. In fact, Russia’s journey from Belovezhye (where the agreement to dissolve the Soviet Union was signed in December 1991) to Simferopol has been a long one, with multiple junctions, changes of directions, and breakdowns. The annexation of Crimea was prepared long in advance, but it was launched almost overnight. Hardly anyone foresaw it, either among Russian elites or among experts on Russia, but in retrospect, it can be interpreted as the logical outcome of long-term processes. At the same time, however, it was not predestined. And even though it is likely to cast a long shadow over Russia’s relationship with the outside world, it is too early to say how exactly and for how long. This essay collection reflects this complicated journey. It was first conceived in the aftermath of a study tour to Moscow in the summer of 2013 whose aim was to understand the changes that had taken place in Russia during Putin’s third presidency. One of the clear messages we brought back from Moscow was that Russian elites were disappointed in the West and were turning towards (Eur)asia. We asked ten Russian authors to explain the essence of this 5 disappointment and the nature of their hopes and fears for Russia’s turn to the East. The initial drafts of the essays in this collection were written before the current crisis. But Russia’s actions in Ukraine, though unexpected, seemed to confirm pre-existing narratives rather than making them obsolete. The collection explores Russia’s increased focus on Asia and on post-Soviet “Eurasia” – two distinct, but in many ways interlinked processes. Both of them have their roots in the dynamics of globalisation, in Russia’s disappointment in the West, and in the country’s attempts to find a place for itself in the contemporary world. Struggling to imagine what “an Asian Russia” would really look and feel like, we also asked several Russian novelists to paint us fictional pictures of Russia’s future. We hope these vignettes will help to unlock realities that remain beyond the reach of expert analyses and give texture to the analyses. They convey a Eurasian world without borders – a space in which past and future have merged. Asia, Eurasia, and Eurasianism The term “Eurasia” can mean different things. In terms of physical geography, Eurasia most often refers to the landmass that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In terms of political geography, however, things are more complicated. Other terms relating to the region are clearer: when they speak of “Central Asia”, Russians mean the former Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union; “Asia” means first and foremost China and East Asia; the “Far East” refers to Russia’s own south-eastern and Pacific territories. But “Eurasia” is harder to define. It is usually used to refer to the territory of the former Soviet Union with the exception of the Baltic States. But the exact boundaries of this political Eurasia vary depending on geographical or political preconceptions. The political concepts of Eurasia and Eurasianism have their roots in the 1920s, when mostly emigré thinkers such as Prince Nikolai Trubetskoy and Petr Savitsky suggested that maritime (Euro-Atlantic) and continental (Eurasian) civilisations were fundamentally different in their values, attitudes, and habits, and were therefore bound to compete. Russia, according this theory, represented a unique civilisation with a mission to unify the huge space of Eurasia and to withstand the attempts of maritime (Atlantic) civilisation to encircle and crush it. But such ideas were suppressed in the Soviet Union. The most famous Soviet adherent, the historian Lev Gumilev (the son of the 6 famous and persecuted poets Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilev) spent nearly 20 years of his life in the gulag and, even after his release, his books were largely banned. Thus Soviet Eurasianism was confined to underground circles, where it mixed and mingled with most different lines of thought debated by opponents of Soviet ideology. It was in these circles that Eurasianism was discovered by Alexander Dugin – its most important contemporary adherent. Dugin began to promote the concept at the advent of perestroika and continued to do so after the demise of the Soviet Union again made ideological and existential debates both possible and necessary. Even so, in independent Russia, Eurasianism remained a fringe concept with a marginal following, mostly among the unfashionable left. But this changed in 2013 when it was suddenly rediscovered as the supposed driving force behind Putin’s Eurasian Union. In fact, it is a mistake to equate the Kremlin-driven project with the ideology of Dugin and his predecessors, let alone to see Dugin as “Putin’s brain”.1 Putin may be fond of ideas and is certainly acutely aware of the power of symbols. He is increasingly ideological and nationalist. But he has always been a practical man. For him, the Eurasian Union is a practical project that also reflects the thinking of Russia’s foreign policymaking class as a whole. The overlap between Putin’s project and the historical and theoretical Eurasianism put forward by earlier thinkers is almost accidental – except that both have their roots in Russia’s eternal need to define its place between Asia and Europe.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Russia Takes Double Punch As Vanishing Workers Fan Prices Bloomberg.Com – Global Edition by Olga Tanas 2014-09-17, T14:12:11Z
    Russia Takes Double Punch as Vanishing Workers Fan Prices Bloomberg.com – Global edition By Olga Tanas 2014-09-17, T14:12:11Z Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg. An employee works on the assembly of a truck cabin on the production line at the OAO KamAZ plant in Naberezhnye Chelny, Russ The aging workforce is packing a double punch for the Russian economy The unborn generation of the 1990s, a period of hyperinflation and instability after the Soviet breakup, left the nation depleted of younger workers. Unemployment is at a record low, putting pressure on wages (RUMEREAL) and helping keep inflation near the fastest since 2011. The poor demographics are shaving 0.5 percentage point off economic growth a year, according to the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, which estimates the working-age population will shrink by as many as 15 million people, or more than the size of the Russian capital, by 2030. Aging populations are unsettling central bankers from Tokyo to Frankfurt in their struggle to prevent deflation as older workers tend to defer consumption in favor of savings. Russia faces the opposite threat: entrenched inflation that risks shackling monetary policy already lurching from one crisis to another since Crimea was annexed in March. “Taking into account low unemployment and tight supply on the labor market, wages will remain at a high level, affecting inflation,” said Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank in Moscow. With the central bank increasingly drawing attention to poor demographics, it’s “in effect saying it can do nothing for the economy, whose problems are structural in character.” Demographic Factor Russia is caught in a vise of elevated inflation and stalling economic growth.
    [Show full text]
  • European Commission Press Release on the Adoption of Its Plan for the Consolidation of Its Services in Luxembourg (11 February 2003)
    European Commission press release on the adoption of its plan for the consolidation of its services in Luxembourg (11 February 2003) Caption: On 11 February 2003, the European Commission adopts a plan for the consolidation of its services in Luxembourg and empowers Neil Kinnock, Commission Vice-President for Administrative Reform, to sign the final agreement with Luxembourg’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Lydie Polfer. Source: RAPID. The Press and Communication Service of the European Commission. [ON-LINE]. [Brussels]: European Commission, [18.02.2003]. IP/03/2003. Disponible sur http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guestfr.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/216|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=. Copyright: (c) European Union, 1995-2012 URL: http://www.cvce.eu/obj/european_commission_press_release_on_the_adoption_of_its_plan_for_the_consolidation_of_it s_services_in_luxembourg_11_february_2003-en-3aee6ba0-1e2d-4865-9cf6-6a1149edddbb.html Publication date: 23/10/2012 1 / 2 23/10/2012 Commission adopts its plan for the consolidation of its presence in Luxembourg The Commission has today adopted the definitive plan for the consolidation of its services in Luxembourg, and empowered Vice-President Neil Kinnock to formalise the agreement with the Luxembourg authorities. The plan will enable the Commission to ensure that its services in Luxembourg have sufficient size to enable them to operate with a high degree of autonomy and therefore higher efficiency. As the Commission made clear, this was the main objective of the process for consolidating the Institution's presence in Luxembourg launched in 2000. Consolidation will also entail an increase in the number of staff based in Luxembourg, from almost 3000 to 3400 by 2010. Neil Kinnock, Vice-President for Administrative Reform said: "The plan adopted today fulfils the objectives that the Commission set itself when we launched the process of consolidating services in Luxembourg.
    [Show full text]
  • Catherine the Great and the Development of a Modern Russian Sovereignty, 1762-1796
    Catherine the Great and the Development of a Modern Russian Sovereignty, 1762-1796 By Thomas Lucius Lowish A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Victoria Frede-Montemayor, Chair Professor Jonathan Sheehan Professor Kinch Hoekstra Spring 2021 Abstract Catherine the Great and the Development of a Modern Russian Sovereignty, 1762-1796 by Thomas Lucius Lowish Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Victoria Frede-Montemayor, Chair Historians of Russian monarchy have avoided the concept of sovereignty, choosing instead to describe how monarchs sought power, authority, or legitimacy. This dissertation, which centers on Catherine the Great, the empress of Russia between 1762 and 1796, takes on the concept of sovereignty as the exercise of supreme and untrammeled power, considered legitimate, and shows why sovereignty was itself the major desideratum. Sovereignty expressed parity with Western rulers, but it would allow Russian monarchs to bring order to their vast domain and to meaningfully govern the lives of their multitudinous subjects. This dissertation argues that Catherine the Great was a crucial figure in this process. Perceiving the confusion and disorder in how her predecessors exercised power, she recognized that sovereignty required both strong and consistent procedures as well as substantial collaboration with the broadest possible number of stakeholders. This was a modern conception of sovereignty, designed to regulate the swelling mechanisms of the Russian state. Catherine established her system through careful management of both her own activities and the institutions and servitors that she saw as integral to the system.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Notes and Comments
    Some Notes and Comments AGM of the Association The AGM took place on the 12 th April 2013. There was a good attendance of members. Reports from the chairman, secretary, treasurer environment and planning officer were presented and a new committee was elected for the coming year. No 52 June 2013 The formal meeting was followed by members question time. Issues raised were -the lack of proper pedestrian facilities in Rathgar, the new A view from the Chairman John McCarthy property tax, planning issues and enforcement, the state of pavements after last Autumn’s leaf fall and the continuing problem of dog fouling. It is that time of year when we should be out enjoying our gardens, our leafy suburbs, linear parks and river banks. However with very poor weather we are Annual Garden Competition limited in what we can do. Having that said, we have to make the effort toget up The judging of front gardens in the Rathgar area will be conducted in late and get on with living. June with the presentation of the Dixon cup for best garden taking place at the Rathgar Horticultural Society’s annual show in early July Spring this year, brought the Local Property Tax demands. Whilst we can argue the unfairness of it, this tax is here to stay. At a recent meeting in Rathmines, Design Manual for Urban Roads . This is the title of a new publication by local TDs Lucinda Creighton, Ruairi Quinn and Kevin Humphries stated that the Departments of Transport and Environment. This is a welcome 80% of the LPT will go into the coffers of the local council.
    [Show full text]
  • The Advisability of High-Rise Construction in the City
    E3S Web of Conferences 33, 01037 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20183301037 HRC 2017 The advisability of high-rise construction in the city 1 2 3 Natalia Sergievskaya *, Tatyana Pokrovskaya and Natalya Vorontsova 1 Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, Yaroslavskoe shosse, 26, Moscow,129337, Russia 2 Moscow Polytechnic University, Bolshaya Semenovskaya str., 38, Moscow, 107023, Russia 3 Vyatka State University, Moskovskaya str., 36, Kirov, 610000, Russia Abstract. In this article there discusses the question of advisability high- rise construction, the reasons for its use, both positive and negative sides of it. On the one hand, a number of authors believe that it is difficult to avoid high-rise construction due to the limited areas in very large cities. On the other hand, a number of other authors draw attention to the problems associated with high-rise construction. The author of the article analyses examples of high-rise construction in several countries (UAE, Dubai "Burj Khalifa"; Japan "Tokyo Sky Tree"; United States of America, "Willis Tower"; Russia "Federation Tower") and proves the advisability of high-rise construction in the city. 1 Introduction Nowadays high-rise construction is becoming more and more actual in the world. This is due to the fact the urbanization urban space is increasing and there is also accelerated development of construction technologies and technology of engineering support of buildings. As it was considered in USSR and then in Russia, high-rise buildings have height of 75 m that is more 25 floors. As for other countries, high-rise buildings have height from 35 to 100 metres.
    [Show full text]
  • Central Asia in a Reconnecting Eurasia Kyrgyzstan’S Evolving Foreign Economic and Security Interests
    JUNE 2015 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW Washington, DC 20036 202-887-0200 | www.csis.org Lanham • Boulder • New York • London 4501 Forbes Boulevard Lanham, MD 20706 301- 459- 3366 | www.rowman.com Central Asia in a Reconnecting Eurasia Kyrgyzstan’s Evolving Foreign Economic and Security Interests AUTHORS Andrew C. Kuchins Jeffrey Mankoff Oliver Backes A Report of the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program ISBN 978-1-4422-4100-8 Ë|xHSLEOCy241008z v*:+:!:+:! Cover photo: Labusova Olga, Shutterstock.com. Blank Central Asia in a Reconnecting Eurasia Kyrgyzstan’s Evolving Foreign Economic and Security Interests AUTHORS Andrew C. Kuchins Jeffrey Mankoff Oliver Backes A Report of the CSIS Rus sia and Eurasia Program June 2015 Lanham • Boulder • New York • London 594-61689_ch00_3P.indd 1 5/7/15 10:33 AM hn hk io il sy SY eh ek About CSIS hn hk io il sy SY eh ek For over 50 years, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has worked to hn hk io il sy SY eh ek develop solutions to the world’s greatest policy challenges. ­Today, CSIS scholars are hn hk io il sy SY eh ek providing strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to help decisionmakers chart hn hk io il sy SY eh ek a course toward a better world. hn hk io il sy SY eh ek CSIS is a nonprofit or ga ni za tion headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center’s 220 full- time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analy sis and hn hk io il sy SY eh ek develop policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change.
    [Show full text]
  • Register of Political Parties 10 December 2015
    Na hAchtanna Toghchain, 1992 go 2012 Electoral Acts, 1992 to 2012 (Section 25 of the Electoral Act, 1992 as substituted by Section 11 of the Electoral Act, 2001 and as amended by the Electoral (Amendment) Political Funding Act, 2012) Clar na bPairtithe Polaitfochta Register of Political Parties 10 DECEMBER 2015 NAME OF PARTY I EMBLEM I ADDRESS OF NAME(S) OF OFFICER($) TYPES OF EUROPEAN DETAILS OF PARTY AUTHORISED TO SIGN ELECTIONS/ PARLIAMENT ACCOUNTING HEADQUARTERS AUTHENTICATING CERTIFICATES PART OF THE NAME OF UNITS AND OF CANDIDATES STATE POLITICAL RESPONSIBLE GROUP PERSONS Any one of the followingpersons:- Aras de Valera, Dail Alliance of See Appendix 1 FIANNA FAIL I 11117 or FIANNA 65-66 Lower Mount Micheal Martin T.D. or European Liberals and � 1H( FAIL:!.:¥:LICAI< Street, Dara Calleary T.D. or Local Democrats for Dublin 2. Sean Dorgan Europe (ALOE) k David Burke I FINE Any Q!1£ of the followingpersons:- I FINE GAEL 51 Upper Mount Dail Group of the See Appendix 1 GAEL Street, Enda Kenny T.D. European European Dublin 2. Dr. James Reilly T.D. Local People's Party Tom Curran (Christian Terry Murphy Democrats) Bri id Phelan lh or I THE LABOUR I • y Floor, Block C Joan Burton T.D. Dail Socialists and See Appendix 1 PARTY Labour I Bloodstone Building Brian McDowell European Democrats Sir John Rogerson's Local Group Quay Dublin 2 Any two of the followingpersons:- 24N25 Hill Street I I THE WORKERS' I I Dail See Appendix 1 PARTY -- Dublin 1. Sean Garland European John Jefferies Local Seamus McDonagh Michael Donnelly 2 NAME OF PARTY I EMBLEM I ADDRESS OF NAME(S) OF OFFICER(S) TYPES OF EUROPEAN DETAILS OF PARTY AUTHORISED TO SIGN ELECTIONS/ PARLIAMENT ACCOUNTING HEADQUARTERS AUTHENTICATING CERTIFICATES PART OF THE NAME OF UNITS AND OF CANDIDATES STATE POLITICAL RESPONSIBLE GROUP PERSONS COMMUNIST James Connolly Any one of the followingpersons:- Dail See Appendix 1 PARTY OF House, Lynda Walker European IRELAND 43 East Essex Eugene Mc Cartan Local Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Russia's 2020 Strategic Economic Goals and the Role of International
    Russia’s 2020 Strategic Economic Goals and the Role of International Integration 1800 K Street NW | Washington, DC 20006 Tel: (202) 887-0200 | Fax: (202) 775-3199 E-mail: [email protected] | Web: www.csis.org authors Andrew C. Kuchins Amy Beavin Anna Bryndza project codirectors Andrew C. Kuchins Thomas Gomart july 2008 europe, russia, and the united states ISBN 978-0-89206-547-9 finding a new balance Ë|xHSKITCy065479zv*:+:!:+:! CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & CSIS INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Russia’s 2020 Strategic Economic Goals and the Role of International Integration authors Andrew C. Kuchins Amy Beavin Anna Bryndza project codirectors Andrew C. Kuchins Thomas Gomart july 2008 About CSIS In an era of ever-changing global opportunities and challenges, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides strategic insights and practical policy solutions to decisionmakers. CSIS conducts research and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. Founded by David M. Abshire and Admiral Arleigh Burke at the height of the Cold War, CSIS was dedicated to the simple but urgent goal of finding ways for America to survive as a nation and prosper as a people. Since 1962, CSIS has grown to become one of the world’s preeminent public policy institutions. Today, CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. More than 220 full- time staff and a large network of affiliated scholars focus their expertise on defense and security; on the world’s regions and the unique challenges inherent to them; and on the issues that know no boundary in an increasingly connected world.
    [Show full text]
  • State Policy in the Arctic
    INFORMATION DIGEST ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCTIC October 2020 KEY TOPICS: NORTHERN SEA ROUTE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE NORTH STATE POLICY IN THE ARCTIC 30 October 2020, TASS Alexander Krutikov: large economic projects will appear in almost all Arctic regions “The system of preferences that exists in the Arctic is different from the one in the Far East. <…> The first block of support measures was put into operation. It is meant for large economic projects that significantly change the economic environment. <…> Such projects are planned for practically every Arctic region,” shared Deputy Minister for Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic Alexander Krutikov during the roundtable organized by the Ministry and the Roscongress Foundation. The second block applies to small and medium businesses. It offers premium rebates: when a small business becomes a resident of the Arctic zone, its premium rate goes as low as 3.025%. The third block includes non-tax measures. tass.ru/ekonomika/9876979 26 October 2020, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, TASS, RIA Novosti, Regnum, etc. Vladimir Putin approved Arctic Zone Development Strategy President Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving the Arctic Zone Development Strategy and ensuring national security until 2035. Within the next three months, the Government will need to approve a unified action plan to implement the basics of the state policy in the Arctic and the afore-mentioned strategy. The Government will report on their status annually. rg.ru/2020/10/26/putin-utverdil-strategiiu-razvitiia-arkticheskoj-zony.html 26 October 2020, TASS Public Council of Russia’s Arctic Zone is chaired by President of Russian Association of the Indigenous Peoples of the North Grigory Ledkov, President of the Russian Association of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East, is now the Chairman of the Public Council of Russia’s Arctic Zone.
    [Show full text]
  • Dear Members of the FIDE Electoral Integrity Committee, I Write Regarding the Complaint That You Have Received from Mr. Arkady
    Dear members of the FIDE Electoral Integrity Committee, I write regarding the complaint that you have received from Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich, I would like to note the following; 1. The positions of principals are awarded to people on the basis of their experience and the valuable voluntary contribution towards the functioning of FIDE. This has been a standing principle. With regards to the countries mentioned in Mr. Dvorkovich's complaint; Austria, Georgia, Greece, Germany, I further inform you that; a) Nikolopoulos, Takis (GRE), Japaridze, Marika (GEO), Tandashvili, Margarita (GEO) were proposed for nomination by the Organizers b) Deventer, Klaus (GER), Kytharidis, Argiris (GRE) were proposed for nomination by Europe (ECU) c) The Chief Arbiter, Takis Nikolopoulos, proposed for nomination in order to ensure the best possible team for the pairings, the remaining three officials; Herzog, Heinz (AUT) (Owner Of Swiss Manager Program - Olympiad Version, Used In Every Olympiad Since 2010) Krause, Christian (GER) (Swiss Pairings Programs Commission Chairman, Owner Of The Swiss Pairings Program For Olympiad - Countercheck Of Swiss Manager), Stubenvoll, Werner (AUT) (Qualification Commission Chairman, Swiss Manager Program Specialist) Subsequently, out of the eight persons mentioned by Mr. Dvorkovich, neither FIDE nor I have nominated any of them. I only approved these persons, in accordance with FIDE regulations. I fear that the attack which Mr. Dvorkovich attempts to make is mainly a political one, especially in regards to Georgia, which being the country that organises the Olympiad was entitled to even more than two Principals that they were awarded to them. Regrettably, although Mr. Dvorkovich runs for the presidency of a global sports organization, he is unable to separate that from his own country's political agenda, or the clear need for a politically independent FIDE President, in accordance with the principles of the IOC to which FIDE is affiliated.
    [Show full text]
  • Kazan Kremlin (Russian Federation) No
    Category of property Kazan Kremlin (Russian Federation) In terms of the categories of cultural property set out in Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a group of buildings. No 980 History and Description History The first human occupation in the Kazan area goes back to Identification the 7th and 8th millennia BCE; there are traces of the Bronze Age (2nd to 1st millennia, late Kazan area settlement), early Nomination Historical and Architectural Complex of Iron Age (8th to 6th centuries BCE, Ananin culture), and the Kazan Kremlin early medieval period (4th–5th centuries CE, Azelin culture). From the 10th to 13th centuries Kazan was a pre-Mongol Location Republic of Tatarstan, City of Kazan Bulgar town. Today’s Kremlin hill consisted then of a fortified trading settlement surrounded by moats, State Party Russian Federation embankments, and a stockade. A stone fortress was built in the 12th century and the town developed as an outpost on the Date 29 June 1999 northern border of Volga Bulgaria. The so-called Old Town extended eastward, on the site of the former Kazan Monastery of Our Lady. The fortress was demolished on the instructions of the Mongols in the 13th century. A citadel was then built as the seat of the Prince of Kazan, including the town’s administrative and religious institutions. By the Justification by State Party first half of the 15th century, the town had become the capital The Kazan Kremlin is a unique and complex monument of of the Muslim Principality of Bulgaria, with administrative, archaeology, history, urban development, and architecture.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Museums Visit More Than 80 Million Visitors, 1/3 of Who Are Visitors Under 18
    Moscow 4 There are more than 3000 museums (and about 72 000 museum workers) in Russian Moscow region 92 Federation, not including school and company museums. Every year Russian museums visit more than 80 million visitors, 1/3 of who are visitors under 18 There are about 650 individual and institutional members in ICOM Russia. During two last St. Petersburg 117 years ICOM Russia membership was rapidly increasing more than 20% (or about 100 new members) a year Northwestern region 160 You will find the information aboutICOM Russia members in this book. All members (individual and institutional) are divided in two big groups – Museums which are institutional members of ICOM or are represented by individual members and Organizations. All the museums in this book are distributed by regional principle. Organizations are structured in profile groups Central region 192 Volga river region 224 Many thanks to all the museums who offered their help and assistance in the making of this collection South of Russia 258 Special thanks to Urals 270 Museum creation and consulting Culture heritage security in Russia with 3M(tm)Novec(tm)1230 Siberia and Far East 284 © ICOM Russia, 2012 Organizations 322 © K. Novokhatko, A. Gnedovsky, N. Kazantseva, O. Guzewska – compiling, translation, editing, 2012 [email protected] www.icom.org.ru © Leo Tolstoy museum-estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, design, 2012 Moscow MOSCOW A. N. SCRiAbiN MEMORiAl Capital of Russia. Major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation center of Russia and the continent MUSEUM Highlights: First reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when Moscow was already a pretty big town.
    [Show full text]