Moscow's Jazzman


Green Revolution


How to clean up an oil and gas-based economy


P.02 Distributed with


Oleg Kireyev mixes ethnic and jazz


P.06


Rebuilding Lives


A disabled woman reclaims her life


P.03


This pull-out is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia) and did not involve the news or editorial departments of The Washington Post Wednesday, November 17, 2010


Civil Society After journalist's beating, new human rights adviser faces challenges A Tough Road Ahead VLADIMIR MILOV_AP


Mikhail Fedotov has his work cut out. In his first weeks on the job as the newly appoint- ed presidential adviser on hu- man rights, he has already ex- perienced the depth of Russia’s human rights challenges. His first victories—the first legal rally in downtown Moscow on Halloween night and President Dmitry Medvedev’s veto of a law restricting free assembly— have already been eclipsed by last week’s horrific beating of Kommersant journalist Oleg Kashin, whose fingers were mangled, probably to prevent him from writing again anytime soon. At press time, Kashin, who reported on youth move- ments among other topics, was still in an induced coma. How this beating is handled and investigated will be the real test of Fedotov’s mettle, and whether his position can be meaningful in the eyes of the Russian people. In a candid in- terview with Russia Now, Fedo- tov talks about his strategy for his first 100 days on the job.


SEE INTERVIEW ON PAGE 3 Journalists gathered in Moscow in a sign in support of Oleg Kashin, the Kommersant journalist who was brutally beaten less than two weeks ago. Lifestyle Abandoning the metropolis for a better future


Russia’s New Homesteaders: From City Life to Wilderness Utopia


Thousands of Russian professionals have lost hope for the urban life and have taken to eco-communes. Some have found harmony, others feel disillusioned.


ANNA NEMTSOVA SPECIAL TO RUSSIA NOW


Yevgenia Pystina is a medical doctor who was once a scien- tist at the Novosibirsk Medical Institute, the prestigious re- search facility in Siberia’s larg- est city. Three years ago, her husband, a concert pianist, told her about some green move- ment activists living on com- munal land about 75 miles north of Novosibirsk, along the banks of the Ob River. “I laughed at his fairytale, she recalled, but then “we arrived here and stayed.” Pystina, her husband, and her seven- and eight-year-old daugh-


ters now live among 51 other families in the Land of Plenty commune, whose members range in age from one to 91. New communities of home- steaders have sprung up across some of the most remote sec- tions of Russia in the past de- cade, including Siberia, attract- ing thousands of Russians in search of a simple, self-sufficient and environmentally friendly life- style.


The number of “eco-com- munes,” as they are called in Rus- sia, has grown dramatically in the last decade, and the move- ment back to the land is draw- ing professionals weary of the new consumerism. A tall, slim woman, with a


long dark braid, Pystina sings through her busy day, stacking cabbage heads on her veranda, pouring her honey in cans for the winter and painting eggs


with her daughters, Angelina and Polina. “Since the day I moved to the


Land of Plenty commune, my new interests in art, singing, sci- ence and agriculture wake me up every morning,” she said. Not everyone is charmed by


the romantic aspirations of these activists. The Russian Orthodox Church has criticized the com- munes as sects selling false gods. And some suspicious local au- thorities have challenged the at- tempts of various communes to establish ownership of the land they have homesteaded. Environmentalists at the Land


of Plenty commune said they are not a threat, and every house is open to guests who want to visit and sample the commune’s honey, pumpkin pies and goat milk.


CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 ANNA NEMTSOVA NEWS IN BRIEF


Medvedev Remarks on Kashin Beating


President Dmitry Medvedev was asked about Oleg Kashin at a meeting with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta editorial staff devoted to the 20th an- niversary of the publication last week. The first question put to the president concerned the horrific beating of the Kommersant journalist. "When will all journalists in Russia be able to work in peace without fearing for their lives?" the participant asked. Medvedev responded in part that "journalists must have the opportuni- ty to show events of our life honestly and pro- fessionally ... They must be guaranteed this right." For more on the RG meeting, see kremlin.ru.


Revised Police Bill Receives Praise


SERGEY MICHEEV_KOMMERSANT


Critics reacted with cautious optimism regard- ing a revised version of Russia’s new Law on Police, which President Medvedev submitted to the State Duma. The revisions followed an online discussion, which generated tens of thou- sands of suggestions. “More passages have been clarified in the new bill, but many things re- garding public control are still unclear,” Alex- ander Brod, a human rights activist, told The Moscow Times. However, the new bill marks the first time a Russian leader has appealed di- rectly to his constituents to develop law via the Internet. The bill introduces a Russian equiva- lent of “Miranda Rights” to be read upon ar- rest and limits police officers’ authority to their precincts.


Solzhenitsyna Shortens “The Gulag Archipelago”


The widow of Russian writer Alexander Solzhen- itsyn recently presented an abridged edition of "The Gulag Archipelago" that publishers hope will be read by every Russian student. “It is nec- essary that people know what has happened in our country by the time they finish school,” 71-year-old Natalya Solzhenitsyna told journal- ists. "The Gulag Archipelago," which was banned in the Soviet Union for 16 years until 1989, was included in the list of compulsory books for high schools last year. Human Rights Ombuds- man Vladimir Lukin described the Solzhenitsyns as a “factory producing truth, erasing mean- ness and cowardice from our souls.”


IN THIS ISSUE OPINION


DRAWING BY VIKTOR BOGORAD


See visual report at www.rbth.ru


The Land of Plenty ecological commune offers an escape from city life.


American Venture Capital on the Volga Business Kendrick White has been involved in Russian venture capital since the fall of the USSR


Before Arnold Schwarzenegger began to help Dmitry Medvedev boost Russian hi- tech start-ups in Skolkovo, one American knew firsthand what was keeping venture capital out of Russia: bad habits.


SVETLANA SOROKINA SPECIAL TO RUSSIA NOW


There are only a few handfuls of Americans who really have a sense of what it will take to bring innovation to the Russian busi- ness landscape and what holds Russian innovation back, and Kendrick White is among them.


ANTON CHUROCHKIN


Kendrick White came to Nizhny Novgorod to do business in 1991.


In 1991, he abandoned his suc- cessful career in the American subsidiary of ABN Amro Group and came to Russia, settling east of Moscow in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1998, his capital invest-


ment fund, Quadriga, invested in a small pharmaceutical com- pany, Nizhpharm. The influx of venture capital allowed for the construction of a new plant. Seven years later, Nizhpharm made it into Russia’s top three pharmaceutical companies. Asked “What impedes inno- vation in Russia?” he replied:


“Habits: it is very difficult to per- suade Russian businessmen that they need investors’ help to de- velop their businesses. This is a multilayered problem. For the initial stage, when there is just a bare business idea, Russia lacks people who can translate ideas into business plans and effec- tively present these business plans to investors. There are many universities with many bright students, but they lack the knowledge of how to de- velop their ideas.”


CONTINUED ON PAGE 2


Shellacking the Reset?


What the GOP victories mean for U.S.-Russia relations


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Moscow’s New Mayor How Russia's high-profile journalists perceive him


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