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Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia) and did not involve the
Good Business Separating Russian Lessons Learned from
news or editorial departments of The Washington Post Prospects Still Exist Myths and Realities Afghanistan Mistakes
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 P.03 P.04 P.05
Putin: Solutions
and Ideas, Not
the Blame Game
In his Davos speech, Prime Time to cool down
Minister Vladimir Putin Putin set the tone for the 2009
compared the global crisis World Economic Forum in
to a perfect storm, trapping Davos by avoiding contentious
many countries, including issues.
Russia. Questions lingered “Many expected Putin to give
at the 2009 World another Munich-style address,
Economic Forum: Would it but it never came. It is time for
be possible to escape the everybody to cool down and
raging elements? And at work together,” said Stanislav
what price? Voskresenskiy, Russian Deputy
Minister of Economic Develop-
ALEXANDER CHUDODEEV
ment.
ITOGI MAGAZINE Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy
Prime Minister, asserts it is im-
In the Hollywood drama "The portant that Putin did not crit-
Perfect Storm," the captain of icize the U.S. on this occasion,
a fishing boat, in pursuit of a “and his wishing good luck to
fast buck and ideals of sea-far- the new Obama administration
ing honor, perishes in an un- is a positive signal.” Moscow’s
precedented violent storm, tak- suspension of Iskander missile
ing his vessel and the entire deployment to Kaliningrad after
crew with him. the prime minister’s Davos
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speech put emphasis on the
presented a different approach: Kremlin’s intention to extend a
Economic policy has to be flex- hand to the new U.S. adminis-
ible. Government intervention tration.
Reborn
has its limits, and only efficient The crisis, therefore, has
businesses should be support- helped to bring the global play-
ed. This approach would help ers together in the face of a
the Russian economy to exit common threat.
"the perfect storm" in better
shape. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
SERGEY ERMOKHIN_ITAR-TASS
On the night of January 18, you'd see that people who jump through holes in Both believers and non-believers cook
The Sacred
them: Seemingly ordinary Russians cut- the ice are strong believers? Not always. Russian blini pancakes before Lent.
ting the ice and plunging into the This is more a case of proving how How religious are Russians today? It’s
Medvedev: We
Plunge:
depths. Despite the freezing conditions, brave you are. Somewhere deep there’s difficult to give a simple answer. There
they strip off their clothes and dive a kind of naïve, almost childlike faith in are more thriving churches, surely. In this
Wash Away
in turns, from the very young to the very a miracle – I can plunge into this water issue of Russia NOW, we analyse the sit-
Need to Protect
old. This is their unusual way of mark- and wash away all my sins. uation of the Orthodox Church and brief-
Your Sins
ing The Feast of the Epiphany, when Rus- At the end of February Russians mark ly profile its new Patriarch below.
-
sian Orthodox Christians commemorate another festival in which Christian and
Journalists
the baptism of Christ. Does this mean pagan traditions coincide: Shrovetide. TURN TO PAGE 4: SOCIETY
The editorial office of “There isn’t a single article
opposition newspaper that is worth the life or health
Novaya Gazeta, five of of a journalist,” said Vitaly Yaro-
whose staff have been killed shevsky, Muratov’s deputy and
Hopes for 2009:
Church A look at the new Orthodox leader
or died in mysterious the paper’s social affairs editor.
circumstances in the last “But we still continue to do it.”
Economic Rest
Russia Chooses Kirill
eight years, is nestled in After years of the authorities
one of central Moscow’s doing little or nothing to pro-
oldest districts. The tect journalists’ safety, the
and Recovery? as its New Patriarch
atmosphere at its office Kremlin meeting was a wel-
echoes the spirit of Soviet come surprise, and the Presi-
dissidents. dent was “sincerely con-
cerned,” Yaroshevsky said.
ANNA ARUTUNYAN
And while that signal comes
Russia's economy was months – oil prices and the ruble The Russian Orthodox THE MOSCOW NEWS much too late, it is undoubt-
brought to a shuddering halt exchange rate. Without at least Church recently elected edly a positive one.
at the end of 2008. Despite some stability in both of these Metropilitan Kirill as its new The paper’s editor, Dmitry Mu- Getting hold of Muratov for
the setbacks, some of the factors, we believe the Russian Patriarch. He takes over ratov, thought hard about clos- more than a brief snatch of
strategy papers from the markets will be unlikely to sus- from Alexiy II, who initiated ing the paper in 2006, when conversation was practically im-
investment banks tain a rally, even in the short a religious renaissance in its most prominent investiga- possible, as he was literally run-
indicate a Russian rally in the term.” the post-Soviet era. tive reporter, Anna Politkovs- ning in and out of his office on
second half of 2009 — According to Renaissance kaya, was gunned down out- the way to a lengthy court
fluctuating oil prices and Capital, “In 2009, Russia’s mar-
YELENA ALEKSEEVA
side her apartment. hearing on Politkovskaya’s mur-
ruble devaluation permitting. kets will outperform when the RUSSIA NOW He thought about it some der.
historic levels of disorder in glob- more, colleagues say, after the He described his talk with
BEN ARIS
al finance begins to ease. The Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk
SERVICE OF THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE
brutal slaying in Moscow last Medvedev warmly in his edi-
BUSINESS NEW EUROPE breakdown in global markets is and Kaliningrad was one of the month of human rights lawyer tor’s column, but also with sad-
a consequence of structural most active archbishops in the Stanislav Markelov and Novaya ness, suggesting the gesture
Despite the global slowdown, weaknesses in developed econ- life of the Church. Kirill is also Gazeta’s junior reporter Anas- should have come sooner.
Russia is expected to be one of omies. When the liquidity being quite prolific, having present- tasia Baburova. “Medvedev, I thought, was
the few islands of growth left created globally to combat the ed hundreds of papers and But the newspaper soldiers very moved by the fact that
in the global economy by the crisis begins to feed into risk as- written several books. He was on, continuing the work of Stas and Nastya were so
end of 2009. The timing of this sets, emerging markets in gen- the only senior clergyman who Politkovskaya and other mur- young,” he wrote. “He said to
recovery and return of confi- eral, and Russia, will benefit dis- hosted the television program THE PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PRESS dered reporters. us: ‘Here we are, three people
dence isn’t clear and as 2008 proportionately.” entitled “The Word of the Shep- The Patriarch (center) is a leader of ancient Orthodox tradition One source of hope came who have lived a while and
drew to a close, two big ques- Clearly, if the oil price remains herd." Somewhat unexpected- when President Dmitry Med- know our risks, but it’s partic-
tions remained: Where will the at the sub-$50 per barrel, then ly for a top cleric, he has a pen- vedev spent an hour talking ularly painful for the young.’
price of oil settle in 2009? And the value of the ruble will have chant for sports. After work, dox Church in neighboring with the Georgian Orthodox with Muratov and Novaya Gorbachev said to Medvedev:
can the government manage to fall some 15-20 percent and Kirill dons a tracksuit and walks countries and the extensive Church throughout the con- Gazeta co-owner Mikhail Gor- ‘This could have come much
a controlled devaluation of the until this happens, investors will his dogs. One of his passions, growth parishes from a few flict in South Ossetia. Hiis ef- bachev about the security prob- sooner.’ And Medvedev replied:
ruble without causing yet an- stand on the sidelines. Analysts after God and Church, is down- dozen to 330. He was respon- forts have led to more stable lems journalists face. When Mu- ‘Mikhail Sergeyevich, I under-
other bout of instability? agree that the new value for hill skiing. sible for stopping Ukraine from relations with the Vatican. He ratov raised the issue of closing stand, but I didn’t want any
UniCredit wrote in its strategy the ruble should be resolved in Among Metropolitan Kirill’s establishing an independent is no stranger to criticism in the the paper because its work was interpretation of my words to
report: “We see two major fac- 2009. major successes are the unifi- Orthodox Church separate Russian press, both for being too dangerous, Medvedev re- affect the investigation.’”
tors shaping investors’ attitudes cation of the Russian Orthodox from the Moscow Patriarchate too ecumenical, and too con- portedly told him it was out of
toward Russia over the next 12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Church (ROC) with the Ortho- and for maintaining close ties servative.
-
the question. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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