08


Feature


RUSSIA NOW WWW.RBTH.RU SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA DISTRIBUTED WITH THE DAILY TELEGRAPH TUESDAY_NOVEMBER 30_2010


MOST READ


Tomsk: Cultural treasure in the taiga http://bit.ly/cUQRwL


Lifestyle Professionals, increasingly disappointed with cities, are looking for the good life in the wild


Fleeing the rat race for a new utopia


Altai is an unspoilt land of mountains, forests, lakes and rivers


See multimedia at www.rbth.ru


The Land of Plenty ecological commune in south-central Siberia offers an escape from city life


Thousands of weary urban professionals are shunning the mainstream and retreating to the forests to create their own utopias.


ANNA NEMTSOVA SPECIAL TO RUSSIA NOW


Yevgenia Pystina is a medi- cal doctor who was once a scientist at the Novosibirsk Medical Institute, the pres- tigious research facility in Siberia’s largest city. Three years ago, her husband, a concert pianist, told her about some green movement activists living off the grid on communal land 75 miles north of Novosibirsk, along the banks of the River Ob. “I laughed at his fairy tale but he said, ‘let me take you there, so you see with your own eyes,’” she recalls. “That is how we arrived here and stayed.” Mrs Pystina, her husband,


and her seven- and eight- year-old daughters 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 remote sections of Russia in the past decade, in- cluding Siberia, attracting thousands in search of a sim- ple, self-sufficient and envi- ronmentally friendly lifestyle, free from state control and big city troubles. The number of “eco-com- munes” has grown dramati- cally in those 10 years, and the movement back to the land is drawing profession- als weary of the country’s corruption, pollution and new consumerism. A tall, slim woman, with a long dark braid, Mrs Pysti- na sings through her busy day, stacking cabbage heads


on her veranda, storing honey, and painting eggs with daughters Angelina and Poli- na. “Since the day I moved to the Land of Plenty com- mune, my new interests in art, singing, science and ag- riculture wake me up every morning,” she says. Not everyone is charmed by the romantic aspirations of these activists. The Orthodox Church has criticised the communes as sects selling false gods. And some suspi- cious local authorities have challenged commune at- tempts to establish owner- ship of the land they have settled. Environmentalists at Land of Plenty said they are not a threat, and every house is open to guests who want to visit and sample their honey, pumpkin pies and goat’s milk. They also stress the dif- ferences with some of the re-


ligious communes that have also emerged in Russia. Organic farming forms the basis of a vegetarian diet fol- lowed by commune members. Families here also believe in home schooling their chil- dren. Mrs Pystina, for in- stance, teaches chemistry. Each household contributes something to the common good at Land of Plenty, mem- bers say. The family of Valery Popov, a former physicist, helps newcomers build their log cabins. The Nadezhdins, a family of dentists, serve as the commune’s bakers. Klavdiya Ivanova, a former music teacher, is famous for her handmade traditional clothes. Her husband, Dmit- ry Ivanov, a former army of- fi cer, helps the commune re- cycle. “All my life, I’ve been a part of the system: at school, as a university student, then as a


faithful officer,” says Mr Ivanov. “But the system fell apart before my eyes, de- stroyed by liars, by thieves, by outrageously corrupt managers” – a commonplace rationale for many people seeking a new life at the com- mune. “We are here to create a new social model of free, professional and self-confi - dent individuals,” he adds. “And it is focused on decreas- ing our negative impact on the environment.” Established environmental groups applaud the eco-com- mune movement. “We wel- come all green movements as they refl ect a natural desire people have to live in har- mony with nature,” says Vladimir Chuprov, head of energy-saving at Greenpeace Russia. It is hard to get exact num- bers of Russians who have moved into the wilderness,


but, clearly, the numbers are growing. Dozens of ecologi- cal settlements have emerged in the last two years in the Altai Mountains, Karelia and on the Volga. However, life on the land can be brutal: last winter, the temperature fell below -50C in the Altai Mountains; start- ing the wood-burning stove on a freezing morning is a singular challenge, settlers say. And, as with any human en- terprise, there is internal dis- cord and allegations of cor- ruption, leaving some former commune dwellers disillu- sioned. Olga Kumani, a former crime reporter in Novosibirsk, quit big-city life in 2002. “I could not breathe in the city; the state system choked me,” said Ms Kuma- ni, a mother-of-three who in search of a better place joined the Charbai commune in Altai. “The commune lead- ers just wanted to control our money and exploit us for work around the commune,” she says. Ms Kumani left to find an even more isolated home. She and her children now live in a community of 22 artists who make clay pots and fl utes in a village in the Altai Republic. But she fi nds even the artists’ community too stressful, with tense relations among the inhabitants. “We are still searching for al- ternative options, for new so- lutions,” says Ms Kumani, who is now contemplating a move to the most desolate part of Siberia.


Altai Republic: the living spirit for the more adventurous tourist


The rugged splendour and unspoiled nature of Siberia’s southern Altai Republic in- creasingly draw adventurers, pilgrims and romantics alike. Here, on the borders of Mon- golia and Kazakhstan, visitors can trace relics of old shaman- ic religions and find prehistoric rock carvings over meadows ablaze with lupins and lilies. Or they can test their mettle raft- ing, hiking, mountain climbing and sleeping in wooden yurts. In the summer months, local tourists flock to stay on the shores of the imposing River Katun, which flows through a landscape of towering cliffs and forests, its banks lined with villages and dachas. Thrill-seekers head to treetop adventure playgrounds such as the Extreme Park. And, near the village of Chemal, those seeking the ultimate kick can speed across the


hydroelectric dam on a vertigi- nous zip wire, or bungee jump from the clifftops. More spiritual pilgrims come to visit the island chapel of St John, reached by a rick- ety bridge, or take part in the new-agey festivals that have grown up around local tradi- tions of shamanism. For those who journey south down the Chusky Tract, the 375-mile main road that leads to the Mongolian border, tour companies like SibAlp have campsites with basic but ad- equate facilities. Using these stepping stones, the more adventurous can access the snowy mountains, fast-flowing rivers and dusty plains domi- nating this mystical landscape, which the indigenous Telengiti tribe honours as a living spirit.


Phoebe Taplin Special to Russia Now


An abandoned yurt in the south of the Altai Range


Amur tigers clawed back from extinction


CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1


Not before time. Russia still does not hand down jail sen- tences to poachers, and given the difficulties in proving culpability if poachers are not caught red-handed, there have been few prosecutions. But recently, a man in Pri- morsky region who killed a tiger in June was success- fully prosecuted and fi ned $14,500. Meanwhile, a survey last year by the US-based Wild- life Conservation Society in- dicated that tiger numbers are sliding again as illegal hunting persists, despite the work of the rangers who pa- trol the Primorsky and ad- joining Amur regions. It’s not just the tiger skins that are prized. The bones, teeth and innards are wide- ly used in Far Eastern “med- icine”. The snow leopards that in- habit the territory are also critically endangered, num-


bering 40 in a 2004/5 count. Belov’s 25-man team keeps watch over tiger and leopard habitats spread across more than 720 square miles of for- est and scrubland: it’s as physically demanding as it is technically tricky. A number of his colleagues are army veterans. This is one of Russia’s wild- est landscapes and can re- quire extreme solutions to problems facing species of fauna and fl ora that form a single food chain, from foli-


Slide Show at www.rbth.ru


age to the hogs and deer that the big cats live on. When that chain broke down in the winter of 2002, Belov simply borrowed tanks from the army to breach snowdrifts and feed the stranded cats.


Folklore Scots culture takes root on Siberia’s doorstep


“We also used them to bring down willows as fodder for deer – entire herds were feed- ing along those tank trails,” recalled the ranger. Funding is another problem. Until money filters down from the World Bank’s cam- paign, meagre budgets from local and federal authorities must be supplemented by NGOs such as the WWF, which provide equipment, fuel and other essentials. “We know how to save tigers, the problem is we don’t sus- tain it,” said Eric Dinerstein, chief scientist at WWF. “We fund conservation for a few years and then it tails off. We have to find sustainable funding.”


Celtic fan base sprouts in Urals


Caledonian food, music and fashion finds resonance deep in the heart of Russia.


NADEZHDA GAVRILOVA ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA


Ranger Anatoly Belov has fought poachers for 22 years


They’ve even got a new Rus- sian word for it: “RuSco” de- notes the curious intersection of Scottish and local culture that has sprung up in the Urals, better known for min- eral wealth and tank facto- ries than borscht sharing a table with haggis. But at a recent festival or- ganised by the Urals-Scot- tish Society in Yekaterinburg, local designers launched a new fad known as “RuSco style”, a curious blend of in- fl uences from both lands. “Our designs were an exper- imental attempt to combine the seemingly incompatible,” said fashion show organiser Yelena Zhivina, adding that none of the lines is on sale yet. But it is not just the tar- tan look that fascinates here.


The Urals-Scottish society grew from a hard core of Scotland buffs who insist the cultures connect in more ways than meets the eye. “We have a lot in common with the Scots,” says Boris Petrov, the society’s president. “Russian history was infl u- enced by many great Scots- men, and the Russians have left their mark on Scottish history. We have common Scythian-Celtic roots, we both like hard liquor and col- ourful expressions, our na- tional characters are rugged and friendly at the same time, and our folk music and in- struments are similar.” Comprising a nucleus of 30 members and with hundreds of visitors attending its events, the Urals-Scottish so- ciety was founded after what seemed a small episode, the unveiling in 2009 of a me- morial to Sir Roderick Mur- chison, a 19th-century Scot- tish geologist who travelled


Tartan like never before: designers in Yekaterinburg let the brakes off convention for the Urals-Scottish fashion show


the Chusovaya river during surveys of the region. The idea of a closer cultural dialogue caught on, result- ing in the music and gour- met festival that ended on November 2.


Not even the astute Mur- chison would have guessed what now looks likely to fol- low: tourism chiefs have plans for an authentic “Scot- tish village” on the banks of the Chusovaya river.


Catch the vibes of Moscow www.rbth.ru/blogs


business distributor To advertise


http://www.volgatrader.com 01656 767545


in this supplement contact


Julia Golikova golikova@rg.ru


ph. +7 (495) 775 3114 Find a Russian


TATIANA ANDREEVA


ANNA NEMTSOVA


WWF


ALAMY/PHOTAS


PHOEBE TAPLIN


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8