Russia Intelligence N°66 of November 22 2007) and About Whom Legal Char- the Hatchet Ges Are Never Ending

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Russia Intelligence N°66 of November 22 2007) and About Whom Legal Char- the Hatchet Ges Are Never Ending N°67 - December 6 2007 Published every two weeks / International Edition CONTENTS KREMLIN P. 1-3 Politics & Government c KREMLIN Half-tinted election triumph c Half-tinted election triumph Election No, it wasn’t a resounding victory... Taking into account the means deployed, the multitude LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS Special of manipulations practice throughout the country abouty the level of participation and the c The Winers and losers of on the number of votes obtained by United Russia, the score of 64% in favour of the presi- December 2 dential party (and therefore Vladimir Putin), it could not be completely satisfactory for the Kremlin. It is ALERT far from the standard of 70% that many of those close to the President had announced as probable and so c Yevgeny Shkolov, or the it is natural that Vladimir Putin expressed his displeasure with these results and that he did not even see "Dresden connection" in the fit to visit the headquarters of United Russia Sunday night. Interior ministry FOCUS Also, this result does nothing to ease the embarassment that the Kremlin finds itself in concerning the c The strange confession by process of succession of Vladimir Putin. Even if it consecrates the pre-eminence of United Russia in the Oleg Shwartzman Duma (it passes from 305 to 315 seats), even if it confirms the popularity of Vladimir Putin with a majority BEHIND THE SCENE of Russians, this election changes nothing fundamental. It justifies the fact that Vladimir Putin can be des- c Vladimir Zhirinovsky : the little secrets behind an elec- ignated as Prime minister (but we hardly had any doubts about the fact that this could be technically pos- tion list sible), it could provide a basis for the creation of a status of “national leader” but it cannot hide the inter- nal contradiction in which the elites still find themselves : that Putin leaves the Kremlin while still remaining P. 4-7 Business & Networks in control of the state. None of the plans envisaged is satisfactory : the function of Prime minister, without METALS, MINES a significant modification of the constitution, offers no guarantee of permanence. The status of national lea- c Norilsk Nickel in the eye of der would require acrobatics backwards and forwards with the president, although nothing in the consti- the cyclone tution is foreseen for such a personality. This would establish a sort of bi-headed executive whose chances GAZ of success seem minimal in the current configuration of the powers and the clans in Russia. In the mean- c Kovytka : Gazprom plays cat time, the struggle to establish power and influence continue unabated in the power circles. Which creates and mouse with TNK-BP sur-realistic situations. So, the vice Prime minister and Finance minister, Alexey Kudrin, is still not “au- TELECOMS thorised” by the Sechin/Patrushev/Ustinov clan to pay a visit to his deputy, Sergey Storchak, emprisoned c Fridman and Reyman bury in Moscow since some ten days (Russia Intelligence n°66 of november 22 2007) and about whom legal char- the hatchet ges are never ending. These days the Shwatzman affair has unleashed a tempest (read page 3) and is in- FOCUS terpreted as a retaliation by the Cherkesov/Kudrin clan. After having given a good blow to the presidential c Green light for the south- administration (where Sechin has his office), Shwartzman retracted his declarations (in which he affirmed European gas pipeline managing a vast business network around Sechin), in accusing the Kommersant newspaper (whose owner OIL is Alisher Usmanov), of having “invented” the statements the daily attributed to him. Late regrets which c Rosneft : the great loneliness of Sergey only lead to further degradation of the climate. Bogdanchikov From his side, the Prime minister Viktor Zubkov is profiting from the situation to confirm his mastery P. 8 Regions & CIS over the government and wants to name a certain number of close associates to key posts (read page 7). He CASPIAN is said to have activated the financial and tax files on a certain number of oligarchs in order to inspire them c Gazprom Yields to the to caution, or even obediance, since it affects financial and industrial operations underway (read page 5 on ultimatum by Gurbanguly the discussions surrounding the fate of Norilsk Nickel and Vladimir Potanin). At once, it is no longer sure Berdymukhammedov that he is this docile and manageable personality that he was described to be following his nomination. Among certain major bosses in the circle close to Vladimir Putin, there are attempts to accelerate all ope- SUBSCRIPTION rations underway in order to conclude them as quickly as possible. This is the case of Sergey Chemezov who Print Edition has just abandoned the leadership of Rosoboronexport (read page 7) to devote himself to the new state (23 issues, airmailed overseas) holding company, Rostekhnologii. There is comparable agitation at RZhD, where Vladimir Yakunin has €770 TTC announced a strategic alliance with the Canadian group Bombadier, which the latter denied the imme- The Web Pack diacy just a few hours later. As to Oleg Deripaska, he is playing a delicate but well engaged game with Mi- (Print Edition khail Prokhorov over control of Norilsk Nickel, which if successful, will bestow on him the honorary status + PDF + archives acess) of “national industrial leader”. € 880 TTC The Premium We are also finally waiting a reshuffling in the energy sector, such as the “departure” of Alexey Miller Subscription from his post of director general of Gazprom, for example, or that of Sergey Bogdanchikov of Rosneft, (Print Edition + PDF + access where a wave of resignations has struck his closest collaborators in recent weeks. In brief, it is a strange to all the website contents) end-of-reign atmosphere which has taken hold in Moscow while no-one yet knows what tomorrow will € 1200 TTC hold... d www.russia-intelligence.fr RUSSIA INTELLIGENCE Politics & Government LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS c The winners and losers of December 2 Election As this current edition goes to press, the partial But the atmosphere is far from being triumphant. It must be said results furnished by the election commission re- that the candidate Putin lost close to 7% (and 5 million votes) Special port apply to more than 95% of the votes and are between the presidential elections of March 2004 and the legis- not likely to change significantly. Four groups have crossed the lative vote of December 2. And this even though the totality of threshhold of 7% required to enter deputies in the parliament. “administrative resources” had been mobilised : media bombast United Russia (64.23%), the Communist party of the Russian fe- on the state television channels, very “organised” voting in the deration (11.63%), the liberal-democratic party of Vladimir Zhi- military and prisons, advice given to students and university ad- rinovsky (8.14%) and Just Russia of the Federation council pre- ministrations, etc... Anxious to avoid any unpleasant surprises sident, Sergey Mironov (7.75%). According to the president of and faithful to the Stalinian slogan according to which what the central election commission, Vladimir Churov, these groups counts more is less the way people vote than the way the votes obtained respectively 315, 57, 40 and 38 seats in the State Duma. are counted, the Kremlin even went so far as to create a special Officially, the participation in the vote of December 2 reached working group within the central Electoral commission in order close to 63%, was significantly more than during the legislative to supervise the conformity of the statistics published. This group elections of December 2003 (55%). was not inactive if we can believe numerous reports of opposi- tion monitors that claimed a systematic rewriting of the trans- cripts established by the voting offices. A closer analysis of the official results of the vote leave the impression of certain unpleasant elements for Vladimir Putin. In some ten regions, United Russia obtained a score below 55%. This is particularly the case in Saint Petersburg (50.33%), but also in Moscow (54.15%), in Yaroslav (53.17%) or Smolensk (53.92%). The “Turkmen” results recorded in Chechnya (more Gennady Zyuganov Sergey Mironov Vladimir Zhirinovsky than 99% participation and an equivalent score for United Rus- The reactions of the principal competitors are, we can ima- sia) can not obscure the low turnout in North Ossetia, where gine, contrasted. The most virulant are the communists. Their the powers’ rhetoric on rediscovered stability still has trouble leader, Gennady Zyuganov, denounced the balloting as “the dir- passing three years after Beslan. tiest in Russia” for 15 years (even though the presidential elec- tion of 1996, where he had been beaten by Boris Yeltsin, had up The situation is, as can be seen, in greater contrast than could to now been a “reference point” in electoral fraud). It must be be said in Russia and the West. Has Vladimir Putin really won his said that the regional elections of the spring (Russia Intelligence bet? Has he emerged stronger from this vote, as the decisive bat- n°51 of March 16 2007) and the renewed inflation observed since tle for power in Moscow is being prepared? The congress of Uni- the start of autumn led them to hope for a score of close to 20%. ted Russia which will be held in mid-December will no doubt pro- The “historical” democratic parties — Yabloko and SPS — col- vide some indications on the intentions of Vladimir Putin and on lected respectively 1.60% and 0.96%. Failing for the second conse- his control over the scenario. d cutive time to enter into the parliament, these political forces must be considered as remnants of past political realities.
Recommended publications
  • The Pennsylvania United Nations Conference
    PUNC X: THE PENNSYLVANIA UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE Table of Contents Letter from the Crisis Director Page 2 Letter from the Chair Page 3 Background Page 4 Russia Since 2016 – Notable Events Page 5 Delegate Positions Page 7 Committee Structure Page 10 Committee Goals Page 11 Sources Page 11 1 PUNC X: THE PENNSYLVANIA UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE Delegates, My name is Milan Liu and I’ll be serving as your crisis director for the Russian Unity Conference 2020 at PUNC X. I’m a freshman at Penn State, pursuing a double major in International Politics and Geography, as well as minors in Chinese and Global Security. In addition to my love for international affairs and maps, I enjoy horseback riding, traveling, and binge-watching political dramas on Netflix. I have been involved in Model UN since my sophomore year of high school, and attended conferences at Penn State twice. I joined PSIADA last semester, and had the pleasure of crisis directing the Antarctic Treaty 2038 committee at PHUNC, Penn State’s high school Model UN conference, in the fall. I have always looked forward to Model UN conferences, and PUNC X is no exception. I’m excited to see the creativity of this group of delegates, and how you respond to the challenges Russia will face throughout the weekend. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns, and I’ll be happy to help in any way I can. Best, Milan [email protected] 2 PUNC X: THE PENNSYLVANIA UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE Delegates, Hello everyone! My name is Robert Liu and I am excited to be your Chair for Russian Unity Conference 2020.
    [Show full text]
  • Russia's 2012 Presidential Election
    Russia’s 2012 Presidential Election: Yet Another Term for Putin? By Paweł Piotr Styrna l February 27, 2012 The next presidential election in post-Soviet Russia is scheduled for March 4, 2012. The roster of candidates Russian voters can choose from is rather limited, both in terms of the number of candidates and their backgrounds. The upcoming contest pits five candidates against each other: the Sovietonostalgic chekist, Vladimir Putin; the unreconstructed and unrepentant communist, Gennady Zyuganov; the socialist - and long-time Chairman of the Federation Council (Russia’s upper house) - Sergey Mironov, the nominee of the “Just Russia” Party; the infamous, rabid chauvinist, Vladimir Zhirinovsky; and the “independent” oligarch, Mikhail Prokhorov. Not surprisingly, all these men embody different, yet often overlapping, facets of post-communism. One will notice the conspicuous and telling absence of a conservative, Christian, anti-communist alternative of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn variety. This seems to correspond with what some have argued to constitute one of the essential features of post-communism (particularly in the former USSR), i.e. an ostensible political pluralism serving as a façade, disguising an establishment jealously guarding the post-communist status quo, and attempting to marginalize threats to it. Thus, the faux pluralism appears designed to cater to multiple ideological persuasions in society without jeopardizing the main continuities between communism-proper and post-communism, not to mention the privileges, perks, and golden parachutes retained or acquired by the post-communist oligarchy. This is not to claim that the post-bolshevik establishment is a monolith or that no spheres of freedom exist, but that these are significantly limited.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Soviet Political Party Development in Russia: Obstacles to Democratic Consolidation
    POST-SOVIET POLITICAL PARTY DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA: OBSTACLES TO DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION Evguenia Lenkevitch Bachelor of Arts (Honours), SFU 2005 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Political Science O Evguenia Lenkevitch 2007 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY 2007 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Evguenia Lenkevitch Degree: Master of Arts, Department of Political Science Title of Thesis: Post-Soviet Political Party Development in Russia: Obstacles to Democratic Consolidation Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Lynda Erickson, Professor Department of Political Science Dr. Lenard Cohen, Professor Senior Supervisor Department of Political Science Dr. Alexander Moens, Professor Supervisor Department of Political Science Dr. llya Vinkovetsky, Assistant Professor External Examiner Department of History Date DefendedlApproved: August loth,2007 The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the 'Institutional Repository" link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work.
    [Show full text]
  • The North Caucasus: the Challenges of Integration (III), Governance, Elections, Rule of Law
    The North Caucasus: The Challenges of Integration (III), Governance, Elections, Rule of Law Europe Report N°226 | 6 September 2013 International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i Recommendations..................................................................................................................... iii I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Russia between Decentralisation and the “Vertical of Power” ....................................... 3 A. Federative Relations Today ....................................................................................... 4 B. Local Government ...................................................................................................... 6 C. Funding and budgets ................................................................................................. 6 III. Elections ........................................................................................................................... 9 A. State Duma Elections 2011 ........................................................................................ 9 B. Presidential Elections 2012 ......................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Russia Intelligence
    N°70 - January 31 2008 Published every two weeks / International Edition CONTENTS SPOTLIGHT P. 1-3 Politics & Government c Medvedev’s Last Battle Before Kremlin Debut SPOTLIGHT c Medvedev’s Last Battle The arrest of Semyon Mogilevich in Moscow on Jan. 23 is a considerable development on Russia’s cur- Before Kremlin Debut rent political landscape. His profile is altogether singular: linked to a crime gang known as “solntsevo” and PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS sought in the United States for money-laundering and fraud, Mogilevich lived an apparently peaceful exis- c Final Stretch for tence in Moscow in the renowned Rublyovka road residential neighborhood in which government figures « Operation Succession » and businessmen rub shoulders. In truth, however, he was involved in at least two types of business. One c Kirillov, Shestakov, was the sale of perfume and cosmetic goods through the firm Arbat Prestige, whose manager and leading Potekhin: the New St. “official” shareholder is Vladimir Nekrasov who was arrested at the same time as Mogilevich as the two left Petersburg Crew in Moscow a restaurant at which they had lunched. The charge that led to their incarceration was evading taxes worth DIPLOMACY around 1.5 million euros and involving companies linked to Arbat Prestige. c Balkans : Putin’s Gets His Revenge The other business to which Mogilevich’s name has been linked since at least 2003 concerns trading in P. 4-7 Business & Networks gas. As Russia Intelligence regularly reported in previous issues, Mogilevich was reportedly the driving force behind the creation of two commercial entities that played a leading role in gas relations between Russia, BEHIND THE SCENE Turkmenistan and Ukraine: EuralTransGaz first and then RosUkrEnergo later.
    [Show full text]
  • Putin's Nationalist Challenge
    Conflict Studies Research Centre Russian Series 05/20 Putin's Nationalist Challenge Dr Mark A Smith Executive Summary * Putin is increasingly dominating the political system, which is becoming more authoritarian. * Administrative reform has been implemented in order to streamline the state with limited success. Three key issues: * Could "mild authoritarianism" be replaced by a harsher form of rule? * What will happen in 2008, when the next presidential elections are scheduled, and Putin will be constitutionally obliged to step down? * Could the scenario of the "orange revolution" in Ukraine be repeated in Russia? * There is now a strong possibility that Putin may either attempt to stay in power after his second term expires in 2008, or attempt to create an interim leadership from 2008 to 2012, and then return to power. * Any post-2008 leadership is likely to be more nationalist and authoritarian. 05/20 Putin's Nationalist Challenge Dr Mark A Smith The Russian political system has been going through a process of subtle evolution since Vladimir Putin was first elected president in 2000. In 2000, major changes were made to the structure of centre-regional relations: • Putin created seven federal districts, headed by a plenipotentiary representative, appointed by the president, and solely accountable to him. The plenipotentiary representative’s main task is to ensure that federal government policy is being carried out by the regional leaderships. During the Yel’tsin period, many regional leaders had often ignored federal law, and elevated regional law above it. • The regional leaders were removed from the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, and the president acquired the legal power to dismiss regional governors who defied federal law.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Media and Civil Society in the Russian Protests, December 2011
    Department of Informatics and Media Social Science – major in Media and Communication Studies Fall 2013 Master Two Years Thesis Social Media and Civil Society in the Russian Protests, December 2011 The role of social media in engagement of people in the protests and their self- identification with civil society Daria Dmitrieva Fall 2013 Supervisor: Dr. Gregory Simons Researcher at Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies 1 2 ABSTRACT The study examines the phenomenon of the December protests in Russia when thousands of citizens were involved in the protest movement after the frauds during the Parliamentary elections. There was a popular opinion in the Internet media that at that moment Russia experienced establishment of civil society, since so many people were ready to express their discontent publically for the first time in 20 years. The focus of this study is made on the analysis of the roles that social media played in the protest movement. As it could be observed at the first glance, recruiting and mobilising individuals to participation in the rallies were mainly conducted via social media. The research analyses the concept of civil society and its relevance to the protest rhetoric and investigates, whether there was a phenomenon of civil society indeed and how it was connected to individuals‘ motivation for joining the protest. The concept of civil society is discussed through the social capital, social and political trust, e- democracy and mediatisation frameworks. The study provides a comprehensive description of the events, based on mainstream and new media sources, in order to depict the nature and the development of the movement.
    [Show full text]
  • RUSSIA INTELLIGENCE Politics & Government
    N°66 - November 22 2007 Published every two weeks / International Edition CONTENTS KREMLIN P. 1-4 Politics & Government c KREMLIN The highly-orchestrated launching into orbit cThe highly-orchestrated launching into orbit of of the «national leader» the «national leader» Only a few days away from the legislative elections, the political climate in Russia grew particu- STORCHAK AFFAIR larly heavy with the announcement of the arrest of the assistant to the Finance minister Alexey Ku- c Kudrin in the line of fire of drin (read page 2). Sergey Storchak is accused of attempting to divert several dozen million dol- the Patrushev-Sechin clan lars in connection with the settlement of the Algerian debt to Russia. The clan wars in the close DUMA guard of Vladimir Putin which confront the Igor Sechin/Nikolay Patrushev duo against a compet- cUnited Russia, electoral ing «Petersburg» group based around Viktor Cherkesov, overflows the limits of the «power struc- home for Russia’s big ture» where it was contained up until now to affect the entire Russian political power complex. business WAR OF THE SERVICES The electoral campaign itself is unfolding without too much tension, involving men, parties, fac- cThe KGB old guard appeals for calm tions that support President Putin. They are no longer legislative elections but a sort of plebicite campaign, to which the Russian president lends himself without excessive good humour. The objec- PROFILE cValentina Matvienko, the tive is not even to know if the presidential party United Russia will be victorious, but if the final score “czarina” of Saint Petersburg passes the 60% threshhold.
    [Show full text]
  • THE POLITICAL SYSTEM – CHANGES DURING the ELECTION CAMPAIGNS the Search for a New Political Model
    Part 1. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM – CHANGES DURING THE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS The search for a new political model. Putin as the national leader – a change in status and a possible change in the configuration of the political system. A change in the weight of different political institutions All of 2007 was characterized by the competition between two projects that can conditionally be called “successor” and “third term”. At that, supporters and opponents of the latter scheme belonged to different groups among the elites, which added a distinctive sharpness to the situation and this manifested itself not only in an ideological but also an administrative confrontation. The search for a place for Vladimir Putin in the “post-Putin” system of checks and balances started after the 1st of October when he agreed to head the United Russia party list. Before this, in spite of many statements by the head of state himself about his unwillingness to go against the Constitution and run for president for a third term, projects that entailed changing the Constitution predominated. The main lobbyists for the “third term” project were the so called “siloviki” or the security wing of the presidential administration that were headed by deputy head of the presidential administration, Igor Sechin. In the media, the main voice on this topic was the head of the Federation Council and leader of the party Fair Russia Sergey Mironov. This politician is considered to be in the orbit of this group of elites. Nevertheless, his wavering to meet the “party line” was evident. In particular, at the end of March in 2007, he increased his activity in this direction1.
    [Show full text]
  • Money Laundering Cases Involving Russian Individuals and Their Effect on the Eu”
    29-01-2019 1 SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL CRIMES, TAX EVASION AND TAX AVOIDANCE (TAX3) TUESDAY 29 JANUARY 2019 * * * PUBLIC HEARING “MONEY LAUNDERING CASES INVOLVING RUSSIAN INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE EU” * * * Panel I: Effects in the EU of the money laundering cases involving Russian linkages Anders Åslund, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Joshua Kirschenbaum, Senior fellow at German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy Richard Brooks, Financial investigative journalist for The Guardian and Private Eye magazine Panel II: The Magnitsky case Bill Browder, CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management Günter Schirmer, Head of the Secretariat of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 2 29-01-2019 1-002-0000 IN THE CHAIR: PETR JEŽEK Chair of the Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance (The meeting opened at 14.38) Panel I: Effects in the EU of money laundering cases involving Russian linkages 1-004-0000 Chair. – Good afternoon dear colleagues, dear guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. Let us start the public hearing of the Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance (TAX3) on money-laundering cases involving Russian individuals and their effects on the EU. We will deal with the issue in two panels. On the first panel we are going to discuss the effects on the EU of money-laundering cases involving Russian linkages. Let me now introduce the speakers for the first panel. We welcome Mr Anders Åslund, who is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University.
    [Show full text]
  • Issue 82 • May 2012
    Issue 82 • May 2012 Implications of the Eurozone crisis for EU the continuation of this Western leadership preserve. The foreign policy - costs and opportunities voting weights are such that if the old West votes together in mutual support, as they have just done in both cases, Europe, or more precisely the eurozone, has become a they cannot be outvoted by the rest of the world. But now big problem for the world economy. This has profound the BRICS begin to discuss the feasibility of setting up implications for European foreign policy. Foreign ministers their own BRICS development bank, motivated at least may turn the other way, with remarks like ‘not our fault’, and in part by the slow and limited recognition by the West seek to get on with their business of making a better world of their underrepresentation. The BRICS have ample with projection of European values into the international capacity to do this on a grand scale. Brazil points out arena, no doubt stressing their continuing commitment to a that its own development bank alone has a balance sheet normative multilateral order. twice that of the World Bank. Sidelining of the World Bank would have major implications for the economic But this approach does not fly. The immediate consequence policy norms prevailing in global finance. The Europeans of the eurozone crisis is the degradation of reputation of the in particular, supposedly multilateralism’s best friend, European Union as a whole on two accounts: as a model of would be fostering a structural development at the level competent economic policy management, and as a model of global finance over which they would have no voice of enlightened regional integration.
    [Show full text]
  • He Who Has Not Been to Moscow Has Not Seen Beauty
    STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS IN MOSCOW He who has not been to Moscow has not seen beauty A PROPOS “To Moscow, to Moscow, to Moscow!” Like a mantra, However, the majority of people who live abroad know this phrase is repeated by the sisters in Anton nothing about this. Old habits, as they say, die hard. Chekhov’s famous play “Three Sisters.” The play is Many foreigners still think that the sun never rises about three young women dreaming of escaping their in Moscow, that the city is always cold and that it boring small town and coming to the capital. Although snows year round. Not to mention the rumors of bears the play was written in 1900, people from all over roaming the streets at night. Disappointing as it may Russia, as well as people from CIS countries, still want be, these myths are still around. to move to Moscow. Of course, we are partially responsible for this – we Moscow has always been a magnet. At least this is the tell the world very little about ourselves. We need to way things have played out historically – all the best spend more resources on attracting tourists to Moscow things could be found in the capital: shops, libraries, by letting them know how convenient and comfortable clinics, schools, universities, theatres. At one point, the city has become. According to official statistics, coming to Moscow from Siberia was like taking a trip to over 5 million foreigners visited Moscow last year. This a foreign country. is obviously a small number – about 15 million tourists visit places like London and Paris every year.
    [Show full text]