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Reflections


A NOWHERE MAN? S


Artem


Zagorodnov RUSSIA NOW


upporters say the new mayor of Moscow, Ser- gei Sobyanin, shows an ability to compromise,


offering a fresh start in the bruised city: he has already pla- cated the political opposition by allowing gay pride protests (which the former mayor called ‘Satanic’) and anti-government rallies. Detractors have labeled him a “nowhere man” who will go along to get along, espe- cially when it comes to pleas- ing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Sobyanin's last job was deputy prime minister under Putin. In the absence of a direct popular vote, most of the de- bate around Moscow’s new mayor took place online. Lead- ing independent daily Kommer- sant ran its own “elections” over the Internet, while mainstream media remained cautiously op- timistic about Sobyanin’s pros- pects as mayor. Some of his critics complain


that there is no essence to Sob- yanin; their complaints read like the Beatles song: “He’s a real nowhere man, living in his no- where land…” Leading business daily Vedemosti put it gently: “His ability to change with the ruling party’s line, typical of So- viet bureaucrats, helped him many a time in his career.” It is probably this cardboard


cutout stereotype that kept Sob- yanin from scoring well in the online straw polls. Nearly 50,000 Internet users ended up casting their votes during the first week of October, with liberal-minded lawyer and popular blogger Al- exander Nevalny winning the election with 45 percent of the vote. Second place went to the “against all” option, while Sob- yanin did not even make the list. Yet one trait clearly separates


Sobyanin from many other Putin cronies: whatever new po- litical post he occupies, “he never brings a large team with him,” reported Vedomosti, add- ing that “he probably won’t shake up the old (Luzhkov) team too much.” “He is the man who has al-


ways looked for compromises and has never really had his own people,” Igor Bunin, president of the Center for Political Tech- nologies, told Gazeta.ru. “He was considered to be a


good and quite efficient gover- nor of Tyumen,” Georgy Bovt, leader of the opposition Right


FLIGHT FROM PARADISE


Tatiana Sha- baeva


SPECIAL TO RN T


his month marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Leo Tolstoy. Even during his lifetime,


Tolstoy’s fame echoed around the globe, and thousands of people held him to be their spir- itual father. He was not pursued by the authorities, and no one would dare to offend the great man. And yet, 10 days before his death, Tolstoy fled his home by coach during the night with- out a word to a wife or chil- dren. He was of sound mind at the time, and even took his at- tending doctor, but nonethe- less his departure was a flight without any goal or direction. One hundred years have


Sobyanin's initiative to save jobs for Moscow natives over immigrants was controversial.


Cause political party, told RT television. Prior to entering na- tional politics in 2005, Sobya- nin had been a largely popular governor of the oil-rich Tyumen region in Western Siberia. “We should take into account


that the Tyumen Region is pros- perous in terms of money. In this respect, it certainly resem- bles Moscow,” Bovt added. Sobyanin recently created controversy in the media when he announced that jobs in Mos- cow should be preserved first and foremost for natives of the city, despite a burgeoning im- migration population, reported Noviye Izvestia. The announce- ment was made at a meeting of trade unions, and a subse- quent poll revealed that 63 per- cent of Muscovites supported him.


Not-so-Grand Plans Sobyanin has outlined two pri- orities as mayor: a war on traf- fic jams (which, as any Musco- vite will confirm, have brought the city’s roads to a standstill over the last decade) and a re- view of the city’s “grand plan” for development through 2020, which has so far contributed to the gridlock. Moscow’s “war on traffic” has


already assumed the status of a national project, reported Gazeta.ru, and the new may- or’s decision to shift city offi- cials’ work schedule an hour ear- lier (to begin at 8 a.m., in line with federal practices) deserves commendation. The logic is that highways will be somewhat less congested during peak hours. Sobyanin also cancelled plans


for the construction of a new office building on Khitrovskaya Plaza in the city center in favor of a parking garage. Traffic ex- perts have already offered cau- tious praise to the new mayor’s pledge to free up driving space by providing more ample park- ing opportunities. The approach is a far cry from


his predecessor, Yuri Luzhkov, who explored everything from


building highways on the roofs of residential buildings to con- structing underwater parking garages.


Sobyanin focuses less on the grandiose and more on the practical: he has spoken about halting the rampant destruction of the city’s historical center in favor of improving public trans- portation. The appearance of oversized corporate headquar- ters in Moscow’s older districts is partially blamed for traffic con- gestion, and the Luzhkov era of hands-down commercial de- velopment seems to be com- ing to an end. This may be what Sobyanin meant when he an- nounced that Moscow’s devel- opment plan through 2020 was “not untouchable.”


A Breath of Fresh Air? Since Luzhkov’s dismissal, op- position parties and activists have scored several important victories. Gay rights demonstrations, previously broken up by riot po- lice, held their first legal rally in October. “I will never forget this month,” organizer Nikolai Alex- eyev told The Moscow News. A 500-strong rally calling for


Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s ouster, led by world-chess- champion-turned-Kremlin-crit- ic Gary Kasparov, was held at the end of last month. And Oc- tober 31 brought another real suprise: Strategy 31, an oppo- sition group that had failed to get a permit for its protests for almost a year and a half, held its first legal demonstration on Triumph Square (see p. 3). Yet critics say these events


are the result of a vacuum cre- ated by Luzhkov’s demise rath- er than personal intervention by Sobyanin or a softening of federal policy. They point to the fact that Sobyanin was not known as a friend of the criti- cally minded press in his na- tive Tyumen. Time will tell. After traveling


to Siberia, Lola Tagaeva of in- dependent daily Novaya Gaze- ta found that while “for Mos- cow pundits [Sobyanin is] one of the most closed national po- litical figures… in Tyumen, they remember [him] as communi- cative and easy to talk to.”


Artem Zagorodnov is man- aging editor at Russia Be- yond the Headlines.


passed, and many people, both in Russia and abroad, have won- dered whom or what Tolstoy was fleeing from. What did he want? What did he hope for? Why did he not come back when he was discovered? Why did some of his children and friends help the 82-year-old man arrange this eccentric act?


Dozens of books have been


written about Tolstoy’s flight. The last years of Tolstoy’s life were examined in Michael Hoff- man’s new film, "The Last Sta- tion," which debuted in the United States earlier this year. The film is very well shot, and the actors are great, and yet it offers little insight into the great writer’s drama. He had been preparing for


this flight for his entire life. Even as a young man, Tolstoy loved to go alone to the steppe and remain there for long periods. And following the spiritual cri- sis he suffered at the age of 50, the idea of withdrawing from


EXPAT FILES


SOUP FOR THE COLUMNIST


RUSSIA WATCHDOG


ditions. But there are certain fundamental features of democ- racy like free and fair elections, independent institutions based on the rule of law, an indepen- dent judiciary and parliament and, of course, the ability to re- spect human rights. Vibrant civil society is also very important. However, I certainly don’t ex- pect Russia or other nations to exactly follow the American, British or French models.


Russia’s experience with de- mocracy is very short. How does one promote democrat- ic institutions in such circum- stances? First of all, I don’t consider the 90s as a period of great dem- ocratic development in Russia. I do think that Boris Yeltsin’s government deserves a lot of credit for trying to control the situation after the breakup of the Soviet Union, but in my mind, Yeltsin didn’t launch a full-scale democratization cam- paign. It’s no secret that many Russians view that as a period of dislocation, of chaos and weakness. And I think when Westerners describe it as a truly democratic period, we tend to discredit the notion of democ- racy.


Former high-ranking diplomat David Kramer was named the ex- ecutive director of Freedom House, an NGO staunchly critical of Rus- sia, last month. Rossiyskaya Gazeta’s Washington, D.C., cor- respondent Alexander Gasyuk spoke with Kramer about how his experience as assistant secre- tary of state for democracy, human rights and labor during the Bush administration will in-


“I don’t consider the 90s as a period of great democratic development in Russia.”


fluence his new role and his in- tentions to focus on democracy and human rights.


Since 2004, Freedom House has classified Russia as “not free.” How closely do you in- tend to monitor events there? Given its size, geographical lo- cation and impact on other countries, Russia will remain very much a focus for Freedom


House. I expect that there will be a lot of attention to what is going on with regard to democ- racy and human rights there.


Is there a single model of de- mocracy by which all nations should be bound? No. Each country moving in a democratic direction will devel- op in its own unique path based on its history, culture and tra-


Secretary of State Hillary Clin- ton recently complained that Congress doesn’t want to in- crease the State Department’s budget, on which Freedom House partially depends. How are you going to maintain Free- dom House’s proactive democ- racy assistance efforts? Fundraising will be a major part of my job and it won’t be easy. I am going to look beyond the government and look for pri- vate sources in other parts of the world.


David Kramer is director of Freedom House, a Washing- ton, D.C.-based NGO.


Jennifer Ere- meeva


SPECIAL TO RUSSIA NOW


T


ancy O’Reilly was felled by a bad November cold. I packed up some chicken soup, garlic and


oranges and went over to her apartment. She was in bad shape: huddled in bed, sur- rounded by balls of soggy Kleen- ex and a sticky laptop. I dropped peeled and sliced slivers of fresh garlic into the soup and let it simmer, fixed a tray and re- turned to the bedroom. Propped up against fresh pil-


lows, Tancy slowly spooned the garlic soup into her mouth and sipped the fresh orange juice. “This is great,” she croaked, “but I hate to take you away from your work.” “Well, I needed a break,” I responded. “I’m a little frustrat- ed. I wanted to use this week to really get stuff done with my book, but I keep having to re- write my humor piece for this month.” “Why?” asked Tancy. “My editor, whom I adore,


keeps rejecting everything I write. I wrote about Dr. X—“ “—He is SO funny,” crowed


Tancy. “What’s wrong with that?” “They have to be careful


about legal issues,” I said, shrug- ging.


“Why don’t you write about


these crazy holidays?” asked Tancy. “How the calendar gets all screwed up?” “I did that already,” I said,


“and got into trouble for it.” “How?” she asked. “Some of the other editors objected to the phrase ‘lunatic in a windowless room in the Kremlin,’” I said. “So, I put in another piece on how Russians never write thank you notes.“ “That is absolutely true,” said


Tancy. “What was wrong with that?” “Perceived as angry,” I said


shortly. My mobile rang; it was Velvet calling about home- work.


“Mommy, can I write about


the Russian at the Baptism of Christ site in Jordan who went in the river?” Velvet’s class was writing about Jordan. “You mean the guy with the


wife who had blue fingernails that matched her bikini and put Canadian club in her Diet Coke at 10 a.m.?” I asked, catching my breath. Now, they really were funny. “They sound perfect!” wheezed Tancy reaching for the Kleenex. “What happened to them?” I put Velvet on speaker so she could help tell the story. “He wore this teeny tiny Speedo and a huge pectoral cross,” I began. “And he jumped into the Jor-


dan River,“ said Velvet, “which was really gross.” “He was submerging himself


under it over and over again … and they were totally oblivious to the other side of the bank, where about 400 Israeli soldiers with their weapons trained on him. The Jordanian guide was tearing out his hair.” “And there was this man from America next to us—what did he say?” asked Velvet, gig- gling. “He said, ‘I hope that dude


got a Tetanus shot,’” I howled. “That is hilarious!” said Tancy.


“Use that.” “No, I want it for the


book.” “You could always publish the


recipe for this chicken soup,” said Tancy. “I feel better al- ready.” “That’s my cooking column,”


I sighed.


Jennifer Eremeeva is a long- time resident of Moscow; she blogs at www.rbth.ru/blogs and www.dividingmytime. typepad.com. She is currently working on her first book.


the world became one of the main themes of his works. In his book "The Flight from Para- dise," published in Moscow this summer, Pavel Basinsky took a different approach, showing Tol- stoy’s departure through the perspective of his entire life, which makes this book so spe- cial. On its cover we see the back of an old man moving away along an endless widen- ing alley. Basinsky showed how this plan had been nurtured for decades, and yet might not have been implemented. Tolstoy loved his Yasnaya


Polyana estate and his large fam- ily, and had a deep respect for his wife, who is often blamed for her husband’s flight. In his book, Basinsky dispels this myth. Indeed, Sofya Andreyevna was unable to understand her great husband in many ways, she was prone to hysterics as she grew old, threatening suicide, and Tolstoy feared that she could prevent his departure or stop him on the way. Yet, all these factors might not have prompt- ed Tolstoy to flee at night at this damp, chilly time of year. While dispelling many myths, Basinsky’s book does not give a final answer to this question. Written in a simple and clear language (published in Russian with hopes of being published in English), the book plunges readers into Tolstoy’s epoch, of- fering them the opportunity to judge themselves. Indeed, the great writer himself does not seem to have understood his motives completely. One sees an intricate family and histori- cal drama in which personal motives are intertwined with public and political ones. The book has every chance for suc- cess with the American and Brit- ish audiences, who prefer facts to speculation.


BIBLIOPHILE


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