This supplement is sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, which takes sole responsibility for its contents and is wholly independent of Nation Multimedia Group. April 23, 2016

Thursday, April 21, 2016asia.rbth.com

P6

RBTH reports from Russia’s most radioactive region.

30 years after Chernobyl

P3

First-hand accounts of two Thais studying in St Petersburg.

A Thai view of life in Russia

THIS APRIL, RUSSIA CELEBRATES THE 55TH ANNIVERSARY

OF YURI GAGARIN’S SPACE TRIP

PAGES 4-5

How Russia ishelping Asian space missions

GLE

B F

EDO

RO

V

PHO

TOX

PRES

S

02 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

asia.rbth.comNews

IN BRIEF

Several agreements will be

signed when Thai Prime

Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha

visits St. Petersburg in May.

Businessmen help set tone for Thai PM’s Russia visit

Following up on talks held in Moscow in February dur-ing the visit of Thai Depu-ty Prime Ministers Prawit Wongsuwan and Somkid Jatusripitak, a large Rus-sian delegation headed by Deputy Minister of Eco-nomic Development Alex-ei Likhachev visited Bang-kok in April.

In addition to officials from three ministries, the delegation included repre-sentatives of large compa-nies such as Gazprom, Rus-sian Railways and Rostec, and executives from small and medium-sized busi-nesses, whose interests are represented by Business Russia. Business Russia is a Russian non-profi t organ-ization.

The sides discussed the possibility of government incentives for bilateral in-vestment projects, as well as state support for projects in the oil and gas, power engineering, machine build-ing, railway transport and banking industries.

The parties also discussed the modalities of a new trade agreement that will be signed between Russia and Thailand when Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha visits St. Peters-burg in May. In addition, the parties agreed to start talks on a free trade agree-ment with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Sergey Malofeikin, Busi-ness Russia’s Ambassador in Thailand said these vis-its helped to strengthen Russian-Thai business re-lations and led to progress in large and small projects alike.

Business Russia has cre-ated a Russia-Thailand Trading House, which is in the process of implement-ing several new projects, in-cluding the sale of electro buses with Kamaz engines in Thailand.

Another project involves the development of tech-nology for secure access to the Internet across Thai-land.

GLEB FEDOROVRBTH

China to move plants to Far East

Russia and US must cooperate

BILATERAL TIES

SYRIA

China has come forward with an initiative to trans-fer production facilities in 12 industries, including chemical and metallurgy, to the Russian Far East, the Ministry for Development of the Russian Far East said following a visit by its head Alexander Galushka to Be-ijing.

Galushka was accompa-nied by senior officials from the ministry. The possibil-ity of the export of produc-tion facilities was brought up during talks between Rustam Makarov, the Far East ministry’s investments department director and Zhou Jianping, head of Chi-na’s Department of North-east Revitalisation.

“The talks concerned a possible transfer of Chinese enterprises to the [Russian]

The recent liberation of Palmyra by the Syrian army and the successful actions of Kurdish units on the way to the de facto Islamic State (ISIS) capital Raqqa are the result of coordinated efforts of Russian servicemen and the American-led anti-ter-rorist coalition, despite the absence of official agree-ments concerning such co-ordination.

Russian politicians and

Far East, provided that it complied with the environ-mental requirements estab-lished in Russia,” the min-istry said.

According to the state-ment, China has taken on the initiative to “export pro-

experts believe that the US does not wish to admit that it is cooperating with Rus-sia for political reasons..

Pyotr Vodolatsky, deputy chairman of the State Duma Defence Committee, said that the American mil-itary is cooperating with the Russian military in Syria, despite the absence of official agreements.

“The American adminis-tration has demonstrated

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad patrol the streets of the historic city of Palmyra.

pragmatism. The US may not admit the coordination but their coalition is fully interacting with the Rus-sian air force,” said Vodolatsky.

“Everything that con-cerns transportation and our strikes and the fl y zones is carried out under joint management.”

The close coordination between Russian and Amer-ican servicemen in Syria is, however, not being admit-ted on an official level.

“From the very beginning we proposed to coordinate our military actions on the ground” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in February.

duction facilities in 12 pri-ority sectors of the econo-my.”

These sectors include the construction industry, met-allurgy, power engineering, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, chemical in-

Alexander Galushka supports the Chinese initiative.

Artists from the Asia-Pa-cifi c have been invited to take part in the fi rst Far Eastern International Fes-tival, Valery Gergiev, Art Director of the festival said on April 11.

Gergiev, who is also the art director or the Mari-insky theatre in St. Peters-burg, added that the clas-sical music festival will be held in the city of Vladiv-ostok from July 30 to Au-gust 10.

Russian roof climbers have uploaded a seven-minute video on YouTube that documents their ascent of the Lotte World Tower sky-scraper in Seoul.

Viewers of the video were surprised that the roofers managed to get in-side the compound, which has guard dogs, security officers and monitoring drones. Vadim Makhorov and Vitaly Rascalov are known for their love of conquering tall buildings in exotic locations abroad.

Far East calling

Roofers

conquer Lotte

“We wanted a joint, hon-est process, but were always met with a refusal. Our only accord was a memorandum on the prevention of inci-dents in the sky.”

However, observers say that the course of combat activities paints a different picture. On April 7, Bloomb-erg wrote that the actions of the Syrian army and the Kurds are increasingly re-sembling a well-planned operation whose aim is to trap ISIS forces and cut them off from Iraq.

Russian experts point to the fact that without close interaction the sides would have inevitably launched attacks on each other, since not only their air forces are operating in Syria but also their special forces, some-thing that has been openly declared on many occa-sions.

“Within that agreement on the prevention of inci-dents some kind of mecha-nism for exchanging infor-mation must function, communication channels must always exist and through these channels other activities can also be discussed,” says Vadim Kozyulin, a professor at the Academy of Military Sci-ences. “There is an objec-tive necessity for Russian-American cooperation in solving the Syrian problem.”

dustry, textile industry, ce-ment industry, telecommu-nications and agriculture.

China is “willing to ac-tively involve private and public companies to imple-ment” such projects, Jian-ping said during the talks.

A representative of the Ministry for Development of the Russian Far East, in turn, confirmed Russia’s readiness to cooperate. They noted that new businesses created in conjunction with priority development areas and the Free Port of Vladi-vostok receive signifi cant tax benefi ts and adminis-trative preferences.

“We are ready to accept Chinese enterprises and to establish joint export-ori-ented production facilities in the territory of the Far East,” Makarov said.

Altai Mills, an enterprise based in the Altai Terri-tory in Siberia, has begun exporting wheat fl our to Thailand. The fl our will be used to make noodles.A test batch was shipped in early March, the Altai Territory’s Department for Food Processing said.

Flour exports from the territory increased by 60.8 per cent year on year in 2015. Asia is the main market.

Siberian fl our

in Thailand

YU

RI SM

ITYU

K / TA

SSR

EUTER

SFROM PERSONAL ARCHIVES

VLADIMIR SMIRNOV / TASS

03RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)asia.rbth.com Education

NATALIA PADORINARBTH

NATALIA PADORINARBTH

Chidpong Poonpeng likes

the cool weather in

St Petersburg as well as the

city’s efficient public

transportation system.

Patra, a third-year student

at the Faculty of Philology

of the St Petersburg State

University, talks about her

love of the city’s museums.

‘I enjoy walking in residential areas of St Petersburg’

Thai impressions of St Petersburg

Experience A Thai student talks about her life in Russia

“Thais are not too keen on museums. But, of course, I would advise my friends to go to the Hermitage and Peterhof.

“I really like metro sta-tions in St Petersburg. For example, Admiralteiskaya is very interesting. It is the deepest station, I like the long escalator, and mosaics on the wall are very beau-tiful.

“I also often walk through the streets, but I don’t remember their names.

“I enjoy walking in re-sidential areas of St Peters-burg, at the ends of metro lines, such as the Komen-dantsky Prospekt Metro. It is not like in the centre and is not for tourists. I think this is real life. It doesn’t look like Thailand at all. There are a lot of tall buil-dings, while we have mostly simple, small houses.”

People“Sometimes I think that the nature and the thinking of Russian people is some-where between Asia and Europe, just like the geo-graphical position of their country. Russians are very different. Many tourists say that Russians are gloomy,

but I do not think so. I have many Russian friends and they often help me, espe-cially to say something in Russian, since I have prob-lems with the Russian lan-guage. I like the Russian language, I think it sounds like murmuring music. There is a lot of “rrrr” in speech, it reminds me of a fast current.”

Food“The Russian dish I like most is pilaf, I’d love to go to an Uzbek restaurant, but so far I have no time. Some-times I eat borshch and cutlets in the dining hall of our faculty. During the Maslenitsa celebrations, our teacher made pancakes with banana, I also tried them with sour cream and jam; it’s very delicious!

“My other favourite Rus-sian item is vodka. They make very good vodka in Russia, it is better and cheaper than in Thailand.

Other cities“Last year, I went to Pskov to visit friends who study there. We were in the Pskov State University. It was beautiful, but not very big. It is a light-toned building, with columns and a mon-ument to Vladimir Lenin at the entrance. And if you go through the park, you can find a monument to (another Soviet leader) Ser-gei Kirov.

“Russians remember their history, including fa-

mous revolutionaries. We also walked around and took pictures on the main street of Pskov. But the most beautiful and inter-esting building in this city is, of course, the Pskov Kre-mlin. I think that every tou-rist should visit this city, it is very clean, and the peo-ple are very kind there. They always helped us when we did not know where to go. I will certainly go to Pskov again some time.”

Differences with life in Thailand“In Russia, it is very diffi-cult to get food! I always want to eat, and in Thai-land, you can buy food in every corner. And here I have to take it with me. I usually carry dried fruit and nuts. And pepper! When I eat in the dining hall, I always pepper my dishes. But there are very cheap berries here. I love strawberries. You can buy them in almost any super-market for little money.

“Another unusual thing for me in Russia is trans-port. We don’t have trolle-ybuses and trams in Thai-land. Although the metro is similar to the BTS in structure, it is completely different. It is beautifully designed, and the stations, architecture, statues and images are exciting to see.”

“Many tourists say that Russians are gloomy, but I do not think so.”

“My favourite museum in St Petersburg is the Her-mitage. I was particularly impressed with the Greek and Egyptian halls. When I was little, I had read many books about the ancient world, and to get acquaint-ed with this culture was just a fairy tale.

“I was amazed when I saw a mummy in the Egyp-

tian Hall! I could not im-agine that they would be in display outside Egypt.

“I also really liked the General Staff Building. I fell in love with the paint-ings of the Impressionists, such as Claude Monet. It was my dream to see works of these artists. I really wanted to go to the Louvre for this reason. I was happy to learn that it was not nec-essary to go to France – here they are, next to me, and I can look at them at any time after my classes.

Another museum that I would advise to visit is the house of Peter I. This mu-

seum is not very popular, and there are few people there, but it is very inter-esting.

“This is the only house that has kept its original interiors since the early 18th century! For this, it was even included in the Unesco list. “And I was very surprised that such a great Russian tsar lived in such a small and modest house. That’s impressive.”

Suburbs“Most of all, I liked the park in Pavlovsk. You have very fresh air and greenery there with a real forest. I associ-ate this place with the fi lm “Onegin”, with the scene where the main characters are in a forest.”

rbth.com/578965 rbth.com/582057

FRO

M P

ERSO

NA

L A

RC

HIV

ES

04 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

asia.rbth.comSpecial

Russia has sent more na-tions into space than any other space power. The fi rst (non-Russian) Asian in space was Pham Tuan, a Vietnam Air Force pilot. On April 1, 1979, he fl ew aboard the Soyuz 37 space station as an In-tercosmos Research Cos-monaut, and was award-ed the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1990, Toyohiro Ak-iyama became the fi rst person of Japanese na-tionality to have fl own in space. He was known as the “Space Journalist” in Japan. India got its fi rst cosmonaut in 1984 when air force pilot Rakesh Sharma rocketed into space on a Soyuz rocket. Other Asian countries which got their first – and so far only – glimpse of space on a Russian rocket include Mongolia and Malaysia.

It was during the Soviet era that Moscow launched its space partnership pro-gramme in competition with the US for the hearts and minds of peoples in the region. Close allies such as Vietnam and Mongolia had cosmonauts before Europe-an nations got a lift on an American Space Shuttle.

Russia is closely engaged in space cooperation across Asia. It is working with Ma-laysia and Japan on manned space flight programmes, assisting South Korea in in-stallation of rocket launch-ing facilities, and carrying out commercial space launches for India, Indone-sia, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.

Since 2011 Russia has been operating GLONASS – Global Navigation Satel-lite System with 24 satel-lites and a wide network of land stations ensuring glob-al coverage – and is discuss-ing cooperation on its joint use with China, India and Indonesia.

China’s long marchAlthough China has never got a ride on a Russian rocket, it is the country that has gained most from the

opening up of Russia’s space sector. Due to the col-lapse of the Soviet econo-my in the 1990s, Moscow held a sort of fi resale of the crown jewels of its space industry. From space suits to re-entry vehicles and sat-ellite technology, everything that was offered was grate-fully grabbed by the Chi-nese.

The fl ood of Russian tech-nology allowed China to surge into space with a manned space flight in 2003.

Today, both Russia and China work closely togeth-er on space-related projects. “Through its space coop-eration with Russia, China is able to gain valuable knowledge from one of the world’s top space powers to advance its own space tech-nology development,” says a 2015 report by the US-China Economic and Secu-rity Review Commission.

“Future cooperative activ-ities in space could include joint rocket engine devel-opment and a joint Russia-China space station.”

South Korea: Giant leapSouth Korea is known as the home of Samsung and LG, but in the coming dec-ades it is destined to be a major space power. Seoul can thank Moscow for help in charting its space jour-ney. South Korea’s space ambitions gained traction after North Korea’s at-tempted launch of a satel-lite from its Taepodong I missile in 1998. Three years later, Seoul sought to ac-quire liquid-fuel boosters but failed to reach a deal with the US mainly because of US export controls.

In 2004, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) inked an agreement with Russia for the purchase of a large liquid-fuel Angara booster to serve as the fi rst stage of its planned Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV) I. Russia agreed to assist KARI in the devel-opment and construction of a space-launch facility on an island in South Jeolla province. The 1000-acre

Naro Space Centre in Goheung was built by the SP Korolev Rocket & Space Corporation Energia of Russia. Moscow also pro-vided Seoul with astronaut training and a fl ight to the International Space Sta-tion.

The fi rst successful Ko-rean rocket, launched in 2013, consisted of a Rus-sian-built fi rst stage and a South Korean upper stage.

Malaysia: Like a prayerThe fi rst Malaysian in space rode into the fi nal frontier on a Russian rocket on Oc-tober 10, 2007. When Sheikh Muszaphar, a 36-year-old medic, arrived at the Inter-national Space Station, the antariksawan – cosmonaut in Malay – had to spend time going through an in-struction manual on daily religious rituals provided by Malaysian mullahs.

Vyacheslav Urlyapov of the Moscow-based Centre for Southeast Asia, Austral-ia, and Oceania Studies, RAS Institute of Oriental Studies, sums up the cos-monaut’s experience: “The 11-day fl ight overlapped in part the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims had

RUSSIAN SPACE PROWESS

55 YEARS AGO, THE SOVIET UNION SENT THE FIRST

HUMAN BEING INTO SPACE. NOW IT HELPS ASIAN

COUNTRIES WITH THEIR PROGRAMMES

CONQUERING OUTER SPACE

RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHASPECIAL TO RBTH

Russia’s status as a

space power with several

launches and good

scientific capabilities is

in sync with the space

ambitions of Asia.

The first Korean rocket, launched in 2013, consisted of a Russian-built first stage

3FACTS FOR THE ASIAN SPACE FAN

1  In the 2000s, China obtained Russian tech-nical assistance in pro-

ducing a heavy lift booster, capable of placing 20,000kg into the Earth’s low orbit.

2 Yi So-yeon became the first South Ko-rean woman to travel

to space. In 2008, she trav-elled in a Soyuz spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and together they spent 10 days in the In-ternational Space Station.

3  In September 2000, Russia helped put a Malaysian remote

Earth sensing mini-satellite into orbit. That year, fires raging in the jungles of Su-matra and Kalimantan at reg-ular intervals turned into a common disaster for South-east Asia. Data from the sat-ellite helped assess the scale of the environmental disaster and search for ways to coun-ter it.

The mystery of the Romanovs’ untimely demise romanovs-mystery.rbth.com

Read other RBTH special long reads at rbth.com/long_reads

05RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)asia.rbth.com Special

been in orbit before him, but it fell to Muszaphar to comply with the detailed instructions written for him by Islamic theologians (ulema) to remain a true be-liever in space, too.”

It isn’t known whether it was the Russian space sta-tion crew or the Malaysian space bosses who overruled the ulema, but Muszaphar’s mission set a benchmark for future Muslim space travellers. “A resulting pub-lication, ‘Guidelines for Per-forming Islamic Rites at the International Space Sta-tion’ was published by the Malaysian government, suggesting that each Mus-lim fi gure out the best way according to each one’s ability.”

Vietnam: Baby stepsAfter the spectacular fl ight of cosmonaut Tuan, Vietnam and Russia settled down to more mundane – and more productive – matters. In the

1980s Russia helped Viet-nam build a ground satel-lite station and joined Vi-etnamese scientists in the

study of photography from outer space.

The Russian Science Academy (RSA) oversees joint Vietnam-Russia pro-jects developing satellite telecommunications and earth research from outer space, known respectively as Vinasat and Vinzor. The Vinasat project is under-way with the involvement of a number of Vietnamese and Russian institutes. Vi-nasat will allow Vietnam to study, produce and launch telecom satellites serving radio and television broad-

casts as well as telephone and Internet links.

Future flightsThere are more than 55 government space agen-cies in the world, with Asian and Asean nations being the most compet-itive and serious of the lot. The region’s edge can be attributed to three main reasons.

One, the economically booming Asian nations can afford to undertake such expensive missions. Two, they have large pools of engineering tal-ent. Three, heavy infusion of Russian technology plus mentoring by Rus-sian scientists have helped them leapfrog into the space age.

However, not all part-nerships are about Rus-sia helping countries lag-ging in space technology. It can also be a joint partnership.

IN BRIEF

Scientists from Tomsk State University have called for destroying as-teroids in orbit by using nuclear weapons, the use of which is currently banned in space. To avoid radioactive contamina-tion, they suggest to elim-inating asteroids that are moving away from the planet.

Nukes to save

the world?

Russia may build a base on the Moon by 2035, the country’s federal space agency Roscosmos said in April. The base is like-ly to house a scientific laboratory, the agency said, adding that it was pondering over manning the base using the ISS model.

Roscosmos has approved the country’s fi rst private space tourism project. KosmoKurs plans to con-duct 15-minute space rides for tourists from 2020. Tickets will cost around $250,000, A space capsule will accommo-date a group of six tour-ists and one pilot.

Russia plans

a lunar base

Green light for

space tourism

Toyohiro Akiyama, left, was the first Japanese to have flown into space.

Scan QR to read more about the Soviet Moon mission or use the link

rbth.com/580823

The first Malaysian in space rode into the final frontier on a Russian rocket on October 10, 2007

ANDREI KISLYAKOVRBTH

In 1963, a Soviet cosmonaut

blasted off into the history

books. RBTH looks back at

the programme that put

Valentina Tereshkova in

space.

Training the first woman for a space mission

History Women passed tough tests

The Russian space indus-try has always been a pre-dominantly male preserve.

Nevertheless, Russian fe-male cosmonauts do have a history that goes back half a century. After Yuri Gagarin’s successful voya-ge into space in 1961, So-viet leader Nikita Krush-chev set out to send a woman into space.

Out of the thousands of candidates who applied to be cosmonauts, fi ve women were shortisted: engineer Irina Solovyova, mathema-tician and programer Va-lentina Ponomareva, weaver Valentina Tereshkova, tea-cher Zhanna Yerkina, and secretary and stenographer Tatiana Kuznetsova.

To test their resistance to high temperatures, they were kept inside a heat chamber at 70 degrees Cel-sius with 30 per cent hu-midity, dressed in full fl ying gear, until their body tem-peratures climbed 2.5C and pulse rates hit 130 beats per minute.

The sea trials, which were designed to train the cos-monauts for a splashdown (a method of landing a spa-cecraft in the sea using a parachute), were also no walk in the park.

Having successfully com-pleted the general training, the female unit was officia-lly presented to Sergei Ko-

rolyov, head of the USSR’s space programme, who was said to be unhappywith the group.

On June 16, 1963, Teres-hkova was selected to be the first woman to enter space, with Solovyova as her back-up.

After successfully orbi-ting the Earth 48 times in the Vostok 6 spacecraft du-ring her three-day fl ight, the whole unit waited at the launch pad with baited breath, on June 19 Teres-hkova and her Vostok 6 spa-cecraft descended separa-tely by parachute and landed safely within three miles (5km) of each other. However, during the fl ight Tereshkova suffered from nausea and could not com-plete all the mission tasks.

The female unit was eventually disbanded due to “lack of utilisation” in 1969. Only Tereshkova sta-yed at the Cosmonaut Tra-ining Centre. She was there in an official capacity until 1997.

Tereshkova was the first

woman to fly into space.

© R

IA N

OV

OST

I

© R

IA N

OV

OST

I

NA

SA

SHUTTERSTOCK/LEGION-MEDIA

T RAV E L BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION

travel.rbth.com

Gems:

• Kostroma: the home of Russia’s Snegurochka, the snow maiden

• Yakutia’s frozen heart: mammoths, chilled vodka and the lord of coldParis, Berlin, Leipzig and other

• Russian villages

Capitals:

• Moscow by tram: see the city from a

diff erent point of view

• A holiday in St. Petersburg: get the most

out of winter in Russia’s cultural capital

• What to see in the Metro, Moscow’s

cheapest and most incredible museum

Destinations:• Five Unbeatable Locations to Watch the Sunset on Lake Baikal

• Siberia’s northern desert: hot sands, taiga and mosquitoes

• Russia’s most spectacular ski resorts

Tours:• Five unusual Moscow tours you can’t miss• Best winter package tours to Russia

06 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

asia.rbth.com

RBTH.COM/SCIENCE_AND_TECH

Ar

As

Ec

ElPa

Ch

Ph

SPBiMe

ARCHAEOLOGY

ASTROPHYSICS

ECOLOGY

ELECTRONICS

PHYSICS

PALEONTOLOGY

CHEMISTRY

MEDICINE

SPACE

BIOLOGY

NEW TECHNOLOGY

MIGHT END THE WORLD’S

DEPENDENCE ON OIL

rbth.com/584357

REMEMBERING

YURI GAGARIN

rbth.com/584075RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS CREATE

VISUAL MODEL OF ZIKA VIRUS

rbth.com/580935

Society

GLEB FEDOROVRBTH

Thirty years after the

nuclear power plant

accident, RBTH visited

Russia’s most

radioactive area.

Effects of Chernobyl plague townNuclear tragedy 30 years after accident, survivors struggle to cope with life in a town near the Ukraine border

If you ever happen to pass through Novozybkov, a town that is almost on Rus-sia’s border with Ukraine and Belarus, you are likely to see normal hinterland. Like many places in Rus-sia there are bad roads, half-deserted villages, over-grown fi elds and old, Sovi-et-made buses. No signs suggest that the town has been in an evacuation zone for the last three decades. Nothing warns visitors that the southwestern part of the Bryansk Region is the Rus-sian area that is most af-fected by the 1986 Cherno-b y l a c c i d e n t . T h e Chernobyl nuclear power plant is around 200 kilo-metres away from Novozyb-kov.

In the evacuation zoneIn the late 1980s, several hundred settlements in the southwestern part of the Bryansk Region were in-cluded in the evacuation zone, but the population was not forcibly resettled. However, those who want-ed to leave were assisted in their efforts by the author-ities.

There were a few reasons behind a lackadaisical ap-proach from the authorities and the public when it came to resettlement.

Firstly, before Chernobyl, the Soviet Union had neither the experience, nor a monitoring system, nor the proper methodology for assessing radiation dama-ge in large areas. Hence this

work dragged on for years. No one understood the real magnitude of the disaster.

Secondly, since the disas-ter and mitigation activi-ties date back to the last years of the Soviet Union and the 1990s, the govern-ment simply had no money to decontaminate the areas and resettle people. Local legend has it that Boris Yelt-sin himself came to Novo-zybkov in the 1990s and de-cided not to resettle inhabitants of the town, but decided that removing the contaminated soil would be enough. The soil was remo-ved only from the town and not the surrounding areas.

The third point is no less importan: The bulk of the people did not want to re-settle. Most remained, even if they knew the danger. Some left, but many retur-ned. Accurate statistics are not available.

Viktor Strelkov, 40, comes – just as his parents and an-cestors– from the Old Be-liever village of Svyatsk, 30 kilometres away from No-vozybkov. Instead of a blos-soming village with two churches and hundreds of homes as it was 30 years ago, there is now a young forest. Residents left. What is left of their homes is in the woods.

The radiation dose is at an average of 0.6 microsie-verts per hour. Such lands-capes are usually shown in apocalyptic movies.

The liveliest place in the area is an old cemetery on the outskirts of the villa-ge, where burials are still conducted, mostly of old people. There is also a cha-pel that Strelkov built on the site of the burnt church. Svyatsk residents moved to different parts of the coun-

try, but Strelkov was only away briefl y. His family left immediately after the ac-cident but returned to neighbouring Novozybkov after some time. Now his parents are buried in the cemetery, and Strelkov has cancer.

AnomaliesIn 1986, Galina Sviridenko was a 16-year-old. Her son Denis, who is now 16, was born without ears. The boy’s spine and bones are curved,

Older residents of Novozybkov have no intention of moving to another part of Russia.

and he is mentally retard-ed. He underwent eight sur-geries. It took three years for Sviridenko to prove the connection between radia-tion and her son’s health problems.

Apart from Denis, seven children with Down syn-drome were born in Novo-zybkov in 2000. According to statistics cited by Lyud-mila Komogortseva, a for-mer deputy governor of the Bryansk Region and now a well-known environmenta-list, the proportion of chil-dren suffering from chro-nic diseases, increased from 8 to 80 per cent after the Chernobyl disaster, while the region’s per capita can-cer incidences are more than two and a half times the national average.

The greatest danger to the population comes from small doses of radiation, which enter the body mainly through local food products, says Viktor Kha-nayev, a surgeon from the

Novozybkov district hospi-tal. Over the years, the cu-mulative radiation can lead to cancer and affect not only the person but also his or her progeny.

Radiation is everywhereThe local people are so ac-customed to the radiation that they avoid the topic, even though radionuclides have poisoned everything that grows or is produced in the area. – soil, water, wood, animals, mushrooms and berries. However, the forest and vegetable gar-dens are the main sources of livelihood due to low sal-aries.

“We’ve been eating local products for 30 years and never had a problem,” say many locals. However there still is a problem. An em-ployee of a local radiation control laboratory says even food grown in cleaner soil emits as much radiation as it did in 1986. Dried mus-hrooms that were picked

from the forests in Septem-ber 2015 and brought for examination showed a ra-diation level of 100,000 be-cquerels per kg (2,500 is normal).

Despite this, the number of settlements in the Br-yansk Region to be resett-led was reduced in 2016 from 226 to 26. A list of pla-ces officially declared safe for living include Novo-zybkov. Along with the list, compensation payments were halved to 1,000 rubles a month on average.

Benefits and economicsIt is easy to the blame the government, which could invest more in the rehabil-itation of the residents. However, the paradox lies in the fact that residents, actually, do not want relo-cation, but insist on the re-instatement of full benefi ts.

Benefi ts that range from 2,000 to 6,000 rubles are a signifi cant asset in the re-gion, where there is little work and a salary of 10,000 rubles is considered a good amount.

“We don’t care about what the zone is called,” says Dr Khanayev. “We need real compensation.” He adds, “One can live here, by observing radiation safety regulations. What is requi-red is the cleaning of fo-rests, clean food delivery and special fertilizers. The state should help in this, but it does not.”

Oksana Inashevskaya, chairwoman of the Novo-zybkov Mothers’ Council, says people are ready to cope with difficulties, but do not see any economic prospects. “The economic development of these areas ended with Chernobyl,” she says.

The bulk of the people did not want to resettle. Most stayed, despite knowing the danger.

The greatest danger to the population comes from small doses of radiation from local foods.

SPACE

REMEMBERING

YURI GAGARIN

rbth.com/584075

GLE

B F

EDO

RO

V

07RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)asia.rbth.com Opinion

COMMENTS AND LETTERS FROM READERS, GUEST COLUMNS AND CARTOONS LABELLED “COMMENTS”,“VIEWPOINT”

OR APPEARING ON THE “OPINION” AND “COMMENT & ANALYSIS” PAGES OF THIS SUPPLEMENT ARE SELECTED

TO REPRESENT A BROAD RANGE OF VIEWS AND DO

NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THOSE OF THE EDITORS OF RUSSIA BEYOND

THE HEADLINES OR ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA.

PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO EDITORTH@RBTH.COM

RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES (RBTH) IS PUBLISHED BY RUSSIAN DAILY NEWSPAPER ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. ITS PRODUCTION DOES NOT INVOLVE THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF NATION MULTIMEDIA GROUP. RBTH IS FUNDED THROUGH A COMBINATION OF ADVERTISING AND SPONSORSHIP REVENUES, TOGETHER WITH SUBSIDIES FROM RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. RBTH’S EDITORIAL VOICE IS INDEPENDENT. ITS OBJECTIVE IS TO PRESENT, THROUGH QUALITY CONTENT, A RANGE OF PERSPECTIVES ABOUT RUSSIA AND RUSSIA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD. PUBLISHED SINCE 2007, RBTH IS COMMITTED TO MAINTAINING THE HIGHEST EDITORIAL STANDARDS AND TO SHOWCASING THE BEST OF RUSSIAN JOURNALISM AND THE BEST WRITING ABOUT RUSSIA. IN DOING SO, WE BELIEVE THAT WE ARE FILLING AN IMPORTANT GAP IN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE. PLEASE EMAIL EDITORTH@RBTH.COM IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON OUR OWNERSHIP OR EDITORIAL STRUCTURE.

EVGENY ABOV PUBLISHER VSEVOLOD PULYA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OLGA VLASOVA EXECUTIVE PRODUCER GLEB FEDOROV EXECUTIVE EDITOR KUMAR KRISHNAN ASSOCIATE EDITOR (THE NATION) AJAY KAMALAKARAN GUEST EDITOR DARIA STRELAVINA ASSISTANT EDITOR

ANDREY SHIMARSKIY ART DIRECTOR ANDREY ZAITSEV HEAD OF PHOTO DEPT MILLA

DOMOGATSKAYA HEAD OF PRE-PRINT DEPT MARIA OSHEPKOVA LAYOUT

ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA ALEXANDER GORBENKO CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD PAVEL NEGOITSA GENERAL DIRECTOR VLADISLAV FRONIN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SUPPLEMENT CONTACT SALES@RBTH.COM TEL +7(495) 988 9213 FAX +7

(495) 988 9213 ADDRESS 24 PRAVDY STR, BLDG 4, FLOOR 7, MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 125 993

ANY COPYING, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION OF ANY OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS PUBLICATION, OTHER THAN FOR PERSONAL USE, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED. TO OBTAIN PERMISSION TO REPRINT OR COPY AN ARTICLE OR PHOTO, PLEASE PHONE +7 (495) 775 3114, OR EMAIL EDITORTH@RBTH.COM WITH YOUR REQUEST. RBTH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS AND PHOTOS. © COPYRIGHT 2016, FSFI ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS ISSUE WAS SENT INTO PRINT ON APRIL 18, 2016

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS AND SECTIONS ABOUT RUSSIA ARE PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES, A DIVISION OF ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA (RUSSIA), IN THE FOLLOWING NEWSPAPERS: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, UNITED KINGDOM • THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, UNITED STATES • LE FIGARO, FRANCE • LE SOIR, BELGIUM • HANDELSBLATT, GERMANY• LE JEUDI, TAGEBLATT, LUXEMBOURG • LA REPUBBLICA, ITALY • EL PAÍS, SPAIN, CHILE, PERU, MEXICO • EL OBSERVADOR, URUGUAY • LA NACION, ARGENTINA • FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL • THE ECONOMIC TIMES, INDIA • MAINICHI SHIMBUN, JAPAN • GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA • THE NATION, PHUKET GAZETTE, THAILAND JOONGANG ILBO, JOONGANG R MAGAZINE, SOUTH KOREA • GEOPOLITICA, NEDELJNIC , SERBIA • NOVA MACEDONIJA, MACEDONIA.

WHY RUSSIA AND JAPAN SHOULD IMPROVE THEIR BILATERAL TIES

It seems clear from recent high-level statements that political leaders from Russia and the

West don’t trust each other. Sanctions, talk of a new Cold War, and the ongoing sabre-rattling exacerbate the problem. However, there is one area where Moscow does agree with Washing-ton and Brussels – the de-sire to keep nuclear weap-ons and other weapons of mass destruction away from terrorists.

That’s one big difference between now and the Cold War. Today there is a uni-versal understanding of common security threats, although their interpreta-tions may be different. In short, the rise of terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) has re-centred the focus of Russia and the West on the risks of nucle-ar proliferation.

Russia may not agree with the US on how to deal with either North Korea or Iran, but the Kremlin and the White House have found common ground on ad-dressing the nonprolifera-tion challenges and threats posed by these countries. For example, the Kremlin and the White House suc-ceeded in resolving the Ira-nian nuclear problem and signed the Iranian nuclear deal.

Likewise, Russia and the US were able to agree on sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test-

Just when it seemed that relations be-tween Tokyo and Moscow appeared to

be moving in a positive di-rection, Russia announced on March 25 that it planned to deploy missile defence systems and military drones on the Southern Kuril Is-lands by the end of the year. It is precisely these islands

that have been the focal point of tensions between the two countries ever since the end of World War II. What remains to be seen is how the latest move im-pacts relations between Moscow and Tokyo.

For Russia, any attempts to forge better relations with Japan should be seen as part of its “Pivot to the East”.

Russia’s strategy not only seeks to enhance its pres-ence in the Asia-Pacifi c, but also to avoid limiting its list of partners in East Asia to China.

Japan and Russia have sought to increase their eco-nomic ties, which are par-ticularly important for the development of the Russian Far East.

ing and attempts to acquire nuclear technologies.

Russia and the West con-tinue to share a common understanding of key chal-lenges to the nonprolifera-tion regime. The Russians,

the Americans and the Eu-ropeans do not want new states to acquire nuclear weapons. And they espe-cially do not want non-state actors to have access to weapons of mass destruc-tion.

Russia and the West seem to have accepted the idea that they cooperate when it comes to nonproliferation

while, at the same time, they may be confrontation-al on other issues..

The danger is that the confrontation between Rus-sia and the West weakens international nonprolifera-tion collaboration. The fact that Russia and the US can agree on the Iranian or North Korean challenge doesn’t mean that their nonproliferation effort is going to work . Moreover, lack of understanding be-tween the US and Russia could derail the interna-tional nonproliferation ef-fort for a couple of major reasons.

First, the US-Russian nu-clear disarmament partner-ship is frozen, which sends worrying signals to both nuclear and non-nuclear states worldwide. Some may interpret this to mean that it is high time to arm, not to disarm.

Second, mutual accusa-tions about the violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Trea-ty lead to questions raised by other members of inter-national community about the responsibility of Russia and the US, their adherence to their commitments, and their ability to negotiate ef-fectively.

Despite several success stories , Russia and the West are creating conditions for new proliferation threats to be born, and leave them-selves with limited instru-ments to anticipate these threats clearly, as well as to stop them.

Petr Topychkanov is an associate in the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonpro-liferation Programme.

One potential reason for Tokyo’s desires to shore up ties with Moscow is the pre-vention of the possible de-velopment of a China-Rus-sia axis. Then there is the question of Tokyo’s ties with Washington.

While the containment of China remains the primary purpose of the Japan-US defence apparatus, US stra-tegic containment of Rus-sia also continues to be an important factor in the Ja-pan-US alliance, which comprises one key fl ank of the American strategic pos-ture in Asia. Washington also seeks to limit potential Russian military infl uence in East Asia.

As Japan and Russia seek a greater level of rap-prochement and coopera-tion, a major factor in To-kyo’s defence relationship with Moscow is Japan’s al-liance with the US.

If the government in Tokyo sees it as being bet-ter for Japanese interests to build a closer defence re-lationship with Moscow, its efforts may be hamstrung by its commitment to the US, and will require deli-cate and nimble manoeu-vring on Japan’s part.

Anthony V Rinna is a Rus-sia and Eurasia analyst for the SinoNK scholarly re-search group.

Japan will require nimble manoeuvring to balance ties with Russia and the US

Confrontation between Russia and the West weakens international collaboration

Read the full version

on russia-direct.org

Read the full version

on russia-direct.org

ANTHONY RINNAANALYST

WHY A RUSSIA-WEST SHOWDOWN IS BAD

PYOTR

TOPYCHKANOVJOURNALIST

IOR

SH

08 RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINESA global media project, sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia)

asia.rbth.comCuisine

NATALIA ALEXANDROVARBTH

Rasstegai: A popular treat of the Tsarist era

Culinary Delight A stuffed pie with an open hole in the centre is an all-time Russian favourite

Rasstegai is a large oblong filled pastry made from yeast dough and distin-guished from other filled pies by the large hole in its centre.

This distinctive element is not a mistake on the part of the cook — the hole is used to add broth to the fi ll-ing.

Rasstegai can be stuffed with a wide variety of fi ll-ings; some of the most pop-ular are meat or liver with eggs, rice with mushrooms and vegetables and herbs.

The classic pie, however, is stuffed with fi sh. Salm-on, sturgeon and burbot liver are the most tradition-al fi llings for rasstegai.

Rasstegai was one of the most popular types of pies in Russian homes and inns during the Tsarist times.

Innkeepers in St Peters-burg and Moscow compe-ted with each for the right to call their rasstegai the best.

Muscovite rasstegai were different from their nor-thern cousins not only in taste, but also in form – they were round and big enough to cover an entire dish.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the rasstegai of Moscow were

by far the most popular and were even frozen and taken to St Petersburg!

In Moscow during that era, the Prague restaurant, owned by merchant Sem-yon Tararykin, was especia-lly proud of its “Rasstegai half-and-half”,which con-tained equal parts of two types of sturgeon.

Vladimir Gilyarovski wrote about the rasstegai in “Moscow and the Mus-covites”, his encyclopaedia of Russian life at the turn of 20th century: “This is a round, pie stuffed with min-ced fi sh and notochord [the nerve chord of a sturgeon] which takes up the whole plate, the middle is open and in there on a slice of sturgeon is a piece of bur-bot liver. A gravy for the pie was served for free in the boat...”

Rasstegai are often ser-ved with soup. Traditiona-lly a fi sh rasstegai is served with ukha (fi sh broth) and a meat rasstegai with a meat soup, while rasstegai with rice, carrots and egg may be served with any soup.

Ingredients for the pastry400 grams fl our1 tablespoon of fresh yeast or 2 tsp of dry yeast170ml Milk2 eggs

The classic rastegai is usually stuffed with fish and served with Ukha (fish broth).

Innkeepers competed to

make the best Rastegai.

2 tbsp butter2 tbsp sugarA pinch of salt1 egg for the egg washIngredients for the fi lling500 grams salmon fi llet (or another type of fi sh)2 tbsp butter2 tbsp cream½ onion1 bunch of parsleyA pinch of salt and pepper

Preparation:There are two stages in the

preparation of rasstegai: making the pastry and making the fi lling.

1 First prepare the dough. Gently heat the milk and dissolve the yeast in it, add the sugar, 100g of fl our, stir and leave to sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.

2 Add the egg, salt and softened butter to the re-sulting mixture and mix well.

3 Sift the remaining fl our,

make a well in it and put the dough in the indenta-tion. Then, carefully knead the dough, roll it into a ball, place into a bowl, cover it with cling fi lm or a linen towel and leave it for an hour in a warm place. After about 30 minutes, knock down the dough to remo-ve the air.

4 While the dough is ri-sing, prepare the stuffing. Cut the fish into small cubes or thin strips. Finely

chop the onion and fry it in butter until golden brown. Mix the fi sh with the onions, add the milk, fi nely chopped parsley and the salt and pepper.

5 Form the dough into balls and then roll them into fl at rounds (the size can vary according to your preference. Place the stuffing into the centre. Pinch the edges of the pas-try together, making a boat shape. Do not forget to leave a small hole in the middle.

6 Cover a baking sheet with parchment and brush butter over it. Place the rasstegai on the sheet and brush with beaten egg. Bake for 25 minutes at 175 degrees Celsius (350 fahr-enheit).

Serve your rasstegai with fish broth, pouring the broth into the hole in the middle of the pie right be-fore eating.

Discover Russia’s rich culinary traditions in our special section.

rbth.com/576201

Gather around our table to find exclusive recipes,

video tutorials, useful tips and places

to enjoy Russian cuisine

rbth.com/russian_kitchen

NOW ON INSTAGRAM!

/therussiankitchen

/the_russian_kitchenFRESH DESIGN CRISPY NEW RUBRICS

NEXT issue

19 May

LOR

I/LE

GIO

N M

EDIA

SHU

TTER

STO

CK

/LEG

ION

-MED

IA