(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Gleb Cherkasov, special to RBTH – June 11, 2013) Conceived by the founding fathers of the new Russia and in the mold of U.S. Independence Day, “Russia Day” has become just a new summer holiday mainly because no one has ever managed to figure out who Russia gained independence from. For almost […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – June 12, 2013) The Kremlin, Moscow PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, friends, Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, I congratulate you on Russia Day. This holiday grows in importance every year. Its meaning, spirit and atmosphere reflect Russia’s development today. It is also a part of our history with all its difficult and sometimes dramatic moments. We all […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) Only 50% of Russian citizens know the correct name of the June 12 national holiday the Day of Russia, according to a survey by the Levada Center independent pollster. The survey, published on Monday, indicates that another 30% of Russians know this holiday by its previous name the Day of […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Chloe Schmitt – June 3, 2013) New Moscow Population: 250,000 residents in the added territory Main industries: In the past, the city of Troitsk was well known for its textile industry. But today there are no major industries in new Moscow. One of the major businesses today is real estate, with the construction of many […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 31, 2013 – Michael Bohm) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times and author of “The Russian Specific: An Analysis of the Russian Work Ethic” (A. Golod, 2007). Any discussion about the Russian work ethic inevitably ends up focusing on the Soviet Union, which did more than any other period in […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – Anna Arutunyan, Editor and Correspondent at themoscownews.com – May 27, 2013) It was the best of times, it was the worst of… you get it. There is an awful lot of Pinot Grigio being consumed in Moscow this summer, the parks are filled with the same crowds that took to the streets in protest last year, and, […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – May 27, 2013) Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” has been updated for a modern audience by playwright Sasha Denisova – and you can see the results at the Mayakovsky Theater (affectionately known as the Mayakovka), as directed by Nikita Kobelev. In the politically charged atmosphere of the day, Ibsen is […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Des Brown – May 28, 2013) “How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin: The Untold Story of a Noisy Revolution,” rockets the reader back to the stagnant times of the Brezhnev era, when the Beatles’ music was illegal in the Soviet Union, yet at the same time, bootleg recordings of Paul, George, John and Ringo were […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – May 27, 2013) John Freedman has been the theater critic of The Moscow Times since its inception in 1992. Natalya Druzhinina is the director of development for the Yekaterinburg Young Spectator Theater. She is also an artistic and executive director of the Real Theater festival, which is organized biannually by the Young […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Sochi, May 22, 2013) Dmitriy Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, has described reports that the Kremlin was taking film-making under its control as fiction but stressed that films produced with state money should have matching content. “A number of mass media outlets, including the (business) newspaper Vedomosti, have said that all of Surkov’s (Vladislav Surkov, once […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – Carl Schreck – WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013) It’s a mere three seconds of stock footage in the critically acclaimed Cold War television series “The Americans,” a nighttime panorama showing Moscow’s renowned Christ the Savior Cathedral as a US counterintelligence official explains that a top KGB officer is about to be assassinated. There’s just one problem: The […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – May 6, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is a correspondent and editor at themoscownews.com When, over the long weekend, I sat down to watch “Game of Thrones,” a fantasy series set in a mythical realm where seven houses ruthlessly vie for supreme power, I was prepared to draw parallels with Russian politics. At first, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 8, 2014) Vladislav Surkov says he plans to write a political comedy based on real events. “I have some plans. I have a plot for a political comedy based on real events,” Surkov said in an interview with the magazine Russky Pioner, for which he writes columns, responding to a question as to whether he will […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, May 1, 2013) A rally promoting European electronic music in Russia was the first event held at the “Hyde Park” (speakers’ corner) that opened in Moscow’s Gorkiy Park on Wednesday (1 May), the creator of Hardcore Russia TV, Yuriy Markin, has said. “We are pioneers, the first people who held an action in this ‘Hyde Park’. We […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 30, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to consider by June 15 the expediency of restoring a contemporary Western art museum in Moscow. “To consider the expediency of restoring a new (contemporary) Western art museum in Moscow,” say Putin’s instructions given after the Direct Line with Russians. The government’s report on the subject […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 1, 2013) Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across Russia on Wednesday to mark Labor Day with events ranging from Soviet-style state-endorsed marches to campaigns for promotion of European techno and single ladies’ rights. Moscow saw seven rallies, the biggest of them being a march of labor unions in Moscow, co-organized by the ruling […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktoriya Semioshina, special to RBTH – May 1, 2013) In early May, Russians have two bank holidays in quick succession, both inherited from the former Soviet Union. This sometimes translates into as many as nine days off work plenty of time to head for warmer climes, though many will opt to stay […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Simon Speakman Cordall special to The Moscow News – April 29, 2013) Overshadowed by dramatic Victory Day celebrations, the May 1 holiday has yet to be redefined in the post-Soviet landscape There were four pivotal dates on the Soviet calendar; January 1, May 1, May 9 and, the anniversary of the revolution, November 7. Times, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) Russians are mostly happy with their lives, especially those living in Tyva, Dagestan, Adygea and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, the poll held by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) showed. The poll was carried out in 2,220 settlements in 79 Russian regions among 56,900 respondents. A total of 73% Russians consider themselves happy. The following […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – George Feifer, special to RBTH – April 25, 2013) Author and longtime Russian expert George Feifer turns conventional wisdom on its head and explains the ways in which Russians are free and Americans are dully imprisoned. When Denis Diderot visited St. Petersburg at Catherine the Great’s invitation, the great philosopher and founder of […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – April 18, 2013) The 19th annual Golden Mask Festival award ceremony began with a drum roll and a walking bass line from the Oleg Lundstrem Jazz Orchestra and ended with standing ovations for six veteran theater artists who were honored with lifetime achievement awards. As 47 awards were announced over the course […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – April 16, 2013) If you wonder why Russians don’t smile in the metro, what they really think about corruption, how many of them fought bears and how many of these brave souls were drinking vodka at the time, now you can satisfy your curiosity. A Moscow-based team of market researchers has recently […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – April 12, 2013) As Russia’s relationship with Georgia warms up after the new Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili assumed power in Tbilisi, Moscow will host its long awaited Georgian guest, the famous Rustavi ensemble. Rustavi, a folk dance and chorus group, will perform in Russia on Thursday after a 10-year absence. “We […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 6, 2013) Russians are split in their perception of the acid attack on Bolshoi Theater Ballet Art Director Sergei Filin in January and the way it characterizes the situation in the theater, the Levada Center public survey organization found after conducting a poll in 130 communities of 45 regions of Russia in March. The poll showed […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – April 8, 2013) “Do you dare come to the square where the regiments are waiting … between the Senate and Synod?” These lines, though written by Russian poet Alexander Galich in 1968 about the Decembrist revolt of 1825 on St. Petersburg’s Senatskaya Ploshchad, express the spirit of the art inspired by Russia’s […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – April 8, 2013) The Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning at the Higher School of Economics here in Moscow has come out with a report that says that most Muscovites want little to do with their neighbors. A recent poll conducted by the graduate school revealed that less than a third […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – April 5, 2013) Moscow has finally taken first place in an international rating, but it’s in a category the authorities would like to be excluded from. According to the Tom-Tom congestion index, which was released Thursday and is produced annually by the Dutch firm specializing in navigation products, Russia’s capital is ahead […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – April 3, 2013) He never appears for the presentation of his books. His interviews, even short ones, are often literally a sensation and some people even question his very existence. In modern Russia, Viktor Pelevin is considered a cult figure and many of his books, from “Omon Ra,” a touching and grotesque […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Raymond Stults – March 26, 2013) Despite the turmoil following the attack in mid-January on Bolshoi ballet artistic director Sergei Filin, the theater has continued without hesitation to follow the age-old precept “the show must go on.” And this week it promises to do so with still greater intensity when it opens a four-week-long festival, […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – March 25, 2013) “A lot of people these days are finding parallels between the present and the 1930s, but the real connection I see is between the present and 1968.” Playwright Mikhail Durnenkov made that comment to me as we chatted Friday prior to the beginning of an evening called “1968. Prague […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 22, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-136-national.html) Some 136 national languages of the Russian Federation are at or already beyond “the edge of extinction,” according to UNESCO. Many of these languages are subgroups of others, but the danger of disappearance exists for groups as large as Avars, Bashkirs and Chechens. According to the United […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – March 17, 2013) Around 250 languages are spoken in Russia, including Russian, which is spoken by some 150 million people. Russian, along with several Turkic-based languages, is doing fine. However, the linguistic situation for many lost tribes and Small Indigenous People in Russia is far more Dmitry Sukhodolsky, special to RBTH Russia’s many […]
» Read more
(Interfax – March 17, 2013) Russians have been losing interest in the supernatural over the years, sociological studies indicate. Whie in 2000 57 percent of respondents admitted that they believe in omens and 52 percent in prophetic dreams, last February the figures dropped to 52 percent and 43 percent respectively, Interfax was told at Levada Center that conducted a special […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – March 13, 2013) When Royal Shakespeare Company alum Jonathan Bex realized he was spending a lot of time in Moscow but had little hope of acting in any of the city’s many theaters, he came up with a creative solution. He decided to start a theater company that would offer exclusively English-language […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – March 11, 2013) Journalist and theater director Mikhail Kaluzhsky called it a “theatrical slam.” Olga Shakina, a journalist from the Dozhd television channel, said it was a moment when “one theatrical event replaced another.” What they were discussing on Saturday on Echo Moskvy radio was a now-notorious performance of “Moscow Trials,” a […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Inna Soboleva, Combined report, RBTH – March 8, 2013) Before International Women’s Day, Russia’s leading media revealed a list of the country’s 100 most influential women. The speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of Russia’s parliament), Valentina Matviyenko, topped the list of the 100 Most Influential Women in Russia for the second […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, March 7 (RIA Novosti) A lawyer for the star Russian ballet dancer who admitted this week to having masterminded an attack on the artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater said in court on Thursday that his client had not ordered acid to be used in the assault. A masked assailant threw concentrated acid into the face of Sergei […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Natalia Yamnitskaya, special to RBTH – March 7, 2013) A “babushka” used to spend her time babysitting grandchildren and gardening, but today’s retirees are taking advantage of a wide range of opportunities. Olga Kuznetsova, who graces the floor of a dance studio in an elegant dress and heels, can hardly be described as […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 26, 2013) President Vladimir Putin said last week that returning a Jewish book collection confiscated after the Bolshevik Revolution was impossible because it would open a “Pandora’s box” of claims on such property. “[If Russia] starts satisfying these sorts of claims, there would be no end to them and no telling […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Stepan Ivanov, combined report, RBTH – February 24, 2013) Dmitry Bak, the new director of the Literature Museum, talked to a number of journalists about how the museum is developing and emphasized how classic Russian literature needs to be understood through the contemporary. To this end, the director suggests branding Russian literature […]
» Read more
(Interfax – February 19, 2013) The decision to abolish daylight savings time, taken in June 2011 under then-President Dmitriy Medvedev and hotly debated since its implementation, is becoming increasingly more annoying for Russians, a survey by the pro-Kremlin All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM) pollster has found, the Interfax news agency reported on 19 February. The poll, posted on the […]
» Read more
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2013 From: Sue Dorfman <Sedorf@comcast.net> Subject: PUTIN’S KISS on 2/20 in DC Matt Rojansky suggested I contact you to help spread the word on the upcoming screening of the film, PUTIN’S KISS. The film shows on Wednesday, February 20 at 7 pm at the West End Cinema, located at 2301 M St NW Washington, DC 20037. […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 11, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News In early December in the Siberian city of Barnaul, Vitaly Sidukhinsky, 28, was trying to board a bus with his mother. The doors closed before his mother could get on the bus, and Sidukhinsky, who was mentally disabled and […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Eradzh Nidoev – February 11, 2013) Unless you have traveled forward in time from the beginning of the 20th century, writing rhymes might not seem like the hippest thing to do. Such an old-fashioned skill probably won’t even get you a date. But this preconception is changing thanks to a group of young poets who […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Roland Oliphant – February 6, 2013) The heaviest snowfall in a century brought Moscow and the surrounding region to a near standstill and left hundreds of people without power, officials said Tuesday. And with snowfall set to continue at least until the end of the week, the authorities are bracing for more chaos on the […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Aliide Naylor – February 4, 2013) When I met the collective of 25 young people who traveled across Russia in one month and had just arrived after a three-day train trip from Irkutsk, they were, understandably so, at first more preoccupied with eating dinner, washing, shaving and finishing their film edits. These young people are […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, February 5 (RIA Novosti) Moscow has not witnessed such a snowy winter in the past 100 years, Deputy Mayor Pyotr Biryukov said on Tuesday, after heavy snowfall hit the Russian capital last night. “This is the snowiest winter in 100 years,” Biryukov said, adding that 216 centimeters (85 inches) of snow have blanketed Moscow since the beginning of […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 1, 2013) Ballet may be high art onstage, but last month’s acid attack on Bolshoi Ballet chief Sergei Filin has drawn attention to the fact that it’s a dirty business behind the scenes. Two weeks after an unidentified assailant threw sulfuric acid in Filin’s face outside his apartment building, the attack […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – January 28, 2013) In a grim Soviet reality, he lived the lifestyle of a playboy. While not being a dissident, he sang satirical songs. While not writing a single song that would praise the authorities, he wrote ballads about World War II and was a symbol of patriotism for many Russians. Vladimir […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Eradzh Nidoev – January 21, 2013) If you live in Moscow, breathe and have a fairly stable hand, consider yourself invited to take part in a new documentary series. Casting for the documentary project “Realnost.Doc” (Reality.Doc), which aims to chronicle life within Moscow society through a series of amateur-shot clips, launched on Sunday. Chosen candidates […]
» Read more