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P O P C U L T U R E

RUSSI A!

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P O P C U L T U R E

RUSSI A!

Media, Arts, and Lifestyle

Birgit Beumers

Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado Oxford, England

Copyright © 2005 by Birgit Beumers

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without

prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beumers, Birgit.

Pop culture Russia! : media, arts, and lifestyle / Birgit Beumers.

p. cm. — (Popular culture in the contemporary world)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-85109-459-8 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-85109-464-4 (ebook) 1. Popular

culture—Russia (Federation)—History. 2. Popular culture—Soviet Union—History.

3. Mass media—Russia (Federation)—History. I. Title. II. Series.

DK510.762.B48 2005

306’.0947—dc22

2004026959

08 07 06 05 | 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.

Visit abc-clio.com for details.

ABC-CLIO, Inc.

130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911

Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911

Text design by Jane Raese

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Chronology of Events xiii

Introduction 1

After the Revolution, 1After World War II, 3After the Thaw, 6After Brezhnev, 9The New Russia, 10References, 12

1 The Media 13

The Broadcasting Media, 13Television, 13Radio, 46Internet, 49

The Print Media, 51Newspapers, 51Journals, 57

A-Z, 63Bibliography, 69

2 Visual Culture 71

The Cinema, 71Feature Films, 71Animation, 99

Visual Arts and Crafts, 104Art Movements, 105Crafts, 108

Architecture, 112Urban Design, 112Churches and Icons, 123


3 Performing Arts 134

The Theater, 134Drama Theater, 135Puppet Theater, 160

Estrada and Popular Entertainment, 168Staged Estrada, 169Anecdotes and Jokes, 173

The Circus, 182A History of the Circus, 182Choreographed Acrobatics and Clowns, 186


4 Music and Word 199

Jazz and Rock, 199The Beginnings of Jazz and Rock Music, 199The Bard Movement, 202Rock Underground, 207

Pop Culture, 228Rock Meets Pop, 228Estrada and Pop Music, 236

Youth Culture and Language, 243Youth Jargon and Slang, 245Swearing, 246

Musicals, 246Nord-Ost: The First Russian Musical, 249Soviet Musicals—The Revival? 253


5 Popular Entertainment 263

Sports, 263Olympic History, 264 Olympic Glory, 264Team Sports, 268Individual Sports, 278

V I C O N T E N T S

Winter Sports, 286Chess, 291

Pulp Fiction, 292Publishing, 292Best Sellers, 295Detective Stories, 298

Soap Operas, 305Crime Serials and Serial Crimes, 305Crimeless Serials, 309


6 Consumer Culture 316

Advertising, 316Product Advertising, 320Investment and Banks, 325Social Advertising, 329

Leisure, 330Restaurants, 330Eating and Drinking, 335Clubs and Bars, 337Games, 342Relaxation and Holidays, 343

Celebrations, 350Public Holidays, 351Religious Holidays, 352Rites and Rituals, 354

Fashion, 356Haute Couture, 359Fashion Design, 363


Glossary 373

Index 377

About the Author 400

C O N T E N T S V I I

Preface

Popular Culture Russia! is designed to offer an introduction to some ofthe developments in popular culture in the New Russia. There are someexcellent studies on popular culture in Soviet Russia, such as RichardStites’s Russian Popular Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1992).There are also collections of essays on aspects of contemporary culture;I should mention here Adele Barker’s Consuming Russia (Duke Univer-sity Press, 1999) and Nancy Condee’s Soviet Hieroglyphics (BFI/IndianaUniversity Press, 1995), which are groundbreaking and tackle aspects ofpopular culture previously not part of critical discourse. Dmitri Shalin’sRussian Culture at the Crossroads (Westview Press, 1996), NicholasRzhevsky’s Modern Russian Culture (Cambridge University Press,1998), and Catriona Kelly’s and David Shepherd’s Russian Cultural

Studies (Oxford University Press, 1998) are most valuable collections onRussian culture.

This book attempts to chart the development of popular culture in So-viet Russia in broad terms, in order to set the backdrop for a detailed ex-ploration of popular culture under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. I haveclearly not covered everything but have selected what seems to be mostrepresentative of the fast development of contemporary culture in Rus-sia. I could not even claim that I have covered the most important trends,figures, and events—only history will reveal that.

Acknowledgments

I should like to express my gratitude to the British Academy for fundingmy research trips to Russia during 2002 and 2003.

I should like to thank Nadia, Polina, and Glasha for making me feel athome in the popular jungle of Moscow; Svetlana Kriukova and SvetlanaKhokhriakova for their help in locating articles and pictures; Tamara,Masha, and Sasha at the Golden Mask for sorting me out whenever I gotstuck; Tanya Tkach and Tanya Kuznetsova for helping me in Petersburg.Special thanks for help with illustrations to Galina Butseva of Kommer-

sant for her incredible patience with the photo selection and to IrinaKaledina for her help with pictures. Sharon Daugherty and AnnaKaltenbach at ABC-CLIO have been the most competent editors any au-thor could wish for.

My sincere thanks to Gordon McVay for reading various drafts of themanuscript, to Barbara Heldt and Gerry Smith, and to Simon Mason forhis patience and his invaluable suggestions.

This book is for my mother, who supported the most extravagant en-deavors of her quirky daughter and even read Russian pulp fiction!

Transliteration

Transliteration from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet is a perennial prob-lem for writers on Russian subjects. I have followed the Library of Con-gress system without diacritics, but I have broken from this system inseveral instances to make it more user-friendly:

• when a Russian name has a clear English version (for example, Mariainstead of Mariia, Alexander instead of Aleksandr);

• when a Russian name has an accepted English spelling, or when Rus-sian names are of Germanic origin (for example, Yeltsin instead ofEltsin, Eisenstein instead of Eizenshtein);

• when a Russian surname ends in -ii or yi, this is replaced by a single -y(for example, Dostoevsky instead of Dostoevskii); this also applies tonames ending in -oi. All Christian names end in a single -i (for exam-ple, Sergei, Yuri);

• when “ia” and “iu” are voiced (at the beginning of a word and whenpreceded by a vowel), they are rendered as “ya” and “yu” (for example,Daneliya, Yuri); a voiced “e” becomes “ye” (for example, Yefremov);and “ë” is rendered as “yo” (for example, Kiselyov);

• when a soft sign has been omitted in an [’ev]-ending, this has been re-placed with an “i” (for example, Vasiliev).

I have adhered to some commonly used spellings for Russian namesand words (for example, banya, stilyaga, Nevsky Prospekt, Utesov,Beria).

In the main text, soft signs have been omitted; they have been kept fortransliterated Russian titles, which follow Library of Congress withoutbreaking from the system in the above cases. Titles of films, televisionseries, and books are given in their accepted English version, followedby the Russian original in parentheses. Names of rock groups, radio sta-tions, television programs, and newspapers are given in Russian, fol-lowed by their English meaning.

Birgit Beumers

Bristol, July 2004

X I I A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

Chronology of Events

1985

10 Mar Chernenko dies (general secretary of CPSU since the deathof Andropov on 9 February 1984)

11 Mar Gorbachev confirmed as general secretary

28 Mar death of painter Marc Chagall

04 Apr death of filmmaker Dinara Asanova

16 May announcement of antialcohol campaign

11–12 Jun announcement of “acceleration” (uskorenie) of scientificand technological progress

21 Jun A. N. Yakovlev as secretary for propaganda in the CC

24 Jun announcement of perestroika

16 Jul Shevardnadze as minister of foreign affairs

Jul Avtograf participates in Live Aid concert for famine reliefin Africa

Aug moratorium on nuclear tests (until February 1987)12th International Youth Festival, Moscow

27 Sept Nikolai Tikhonov retires as chairman of Council ofMinisters and is replaced by Nikolai Ryzhkov (head ofUralMash)

2–5 Oct Gorbachev on state visit to France

19–21 Nov Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Geneva

24 Dec Yeltsin as first secretary of the Moscow Party Section,replacing Viktor Grishin

1986

Jan television program Dvenadtsatyi etazh starts

24 Jan Alexander Vlasov as minister of interior affairs

11 Feb exchange of Anatoli Shcharansky in Berlin

20 Feb Mir launched

25 Feb–6 Mar 27th Congress of the CPSU

Mar Melodiya releases Beatles album

20 Apr death of playwright Alexei Arbuzov

26 Apr fire in reactor at Chernobyl

May new logo for Vremia

05 May Sviatoslav Fyodorov opens a center for microsurgeryon the eye

13–15 May Fifth Congress of the Filmmakers’ Union

19 May Anatoli Dobrynin recalled as ambassador to the USAafter 24 years in office

30 May Account 904: benefit concert for Chernobyl victims

14 Aug law permitting cooperatives

06 Oct Garri Kasparov becomes world chess champion

11–12 Oct Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik

17 Oct death of football coach Boris Arkadiev

12 Nov opening of Soviet Foundation of Culture

19 Nov individual work permitted

03 Dec Gorbachev meets with the creative intelligentsia

05 Dec Theater Union formed

08 Dec death of the dissident Anatoli Marchenko

23 Dec Andrei Sakharov returns to Moscow from exile inGorky (Nizhny Novgorod)

29 Dec death of filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky

1987

Jan start of “experiment” in theater management

12 Jan death of theater director Anatoli Efros

26 Jan release of Abuladze’s film Repentance and IurisPodnieks’s documentary Is It Easy to Be Young?

X I V C H R O N O L O G Y

19 Feb rehabilitation of Boris Pasternak

08 Mar television show Do i posle polunochi, hosted byVladimir Molchanov (closed June 1991)

25 Mar death of animator Ivanov-Vano

28 Mar–1 Apr Margaret Thatcher on state visit in Moscow

22 Mar Gorbunov Culture Palace: concert of Young Musiciansfor Peace (with DDT, Nautilus, ChaiF)

23 May space link on television (tele-most)

May Voice of America officially transmits in the USSR

28 May German aviator Matthias Rust lands a Cessna plane onRed Square

June “market socialism” announced

Theater der Welt, Stuttgart: theaters of Anatoli Vasilievand Oleg Tabakov participate

25 Aug decree on AIDS

02 Sept first exhibition of Marc Chagall

13 Oct chess championship: Garri Kasparov beats AnatoliKarpov in Seville

21 Oct Yeltsin criticizes Gorbachev and Ligachev

24 Oct death of footballer Nikolai Starostin

Oct split of the Moscow Art Theater

Nov television program Vzgliad starts

Nov exhibition of avant-garde and Socialist Realist paintingat the Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow

11 Nov Yeltsin removed from post as Moscow party chief

30 Nov Mikhail Shatrov’s The Peace of Brest opens atVakhtangov Theater

12 Dec Nobel Prize for Literature to Joseph Brodsky

17 Dec death of actor and comedian Arkadi Raikin

C H R O N O L O G Y X V

1988

05 Jan control of psychiatric clinics moved from Ministry ofInterior to Ministry of Health

06 Jan name of Brezhnev removed from towns and squares

08 Jan perestroika of the press: increased print runs of thejournals Druzhba narodov and Novy mir, thenewspapers Moskovskie novosti and AiF, and theweekly Ogonyok

28 Jan end of beriozka (foreign currency) shops

04 Feb rehabilitation of the anti-Stalin opposition (1938)

06 Feb nuclear test in Semipalatinsk

17 Feb suicide of musician Alexander Bashlachev

28–29 Feb pogrom against Armenians in Sumgait

15 Mar first Salvador Dali exhibition in Moscow

04 May nuclear test in Semipalatinsk

7–9 May demonstrations in Moscow

16 May Soros begins support

17–23 May Pepsi Cola advertisements with Michael Jacksonbroadcast

29 May–2 Jun Ronald Reagan in Moscow

03 Jun Sajudis, Lithuanian independence movement

07 Jun first auction of modern art by Sotheby’s

13 Jun Rehabilitation of Lev Kamenev, Karl Radek, GrigoriZinoviev (Stalin opposition of 1930s)

23 Jun demonstrations in the Baltic states against theirannexation in June 1940 by the USSR

17 Sept premiere of Viktiuk’s The Maids

Nov refugees from Armenia and Azerbaijan

29 Nov jamming of Radio Liberty and Radio Liberty Europestops

07 Dec earthquake in Spitak, Armenia

30 Dec death of poet and dissident Yuli Daniel

X V I C H R O N O L O G Y

1989

12–19 Jan census

19 Jan first Malevich exhibition

23 Jan earthquake in Tadjikistan

28 Jan society “Memorial”

31 Jan first McDonalds opens in Moscow

15 Feb removal of troops from Afghanistan

09 Mar “April” union of writers for perestroika formed

26 Mar election for delegates for the Congress of People’sDeputies

April exhibition of Andrei Shemiakin

02 May death of Veniamin Kaverin

23 May death of theater director Georgi Tovstonogov

May theater director Yuri Liubimov receives back Sovietcitizenship

25 May–9 Jun First Congress of People’s Deputies

27 May death of poet Arseni Tarkovsky

June pogroms in Fergana

12–15 Jun Gorbachev on state visit in West Germany

02 Jul death of Andrei Gromyko

04 Jul first exhibition of Vasili Kandinsky

4–6 Jul Gorbachev in France

10 Jul miners’ strike (Kuzbass)

15–16 Jun civil war in Abkhazia

24 Sept emergency power to Gorbachev for 18 months toensure transition to market economy

6–7 Oct Gorbachev in GDR

2–3 Dec George H. W. Bush and Gorbachev meet in Malta

01 Dec Gorbachev visits the pope

12–24 Dec Second Congress of People’s Deputies

C H R O N O L O G Y X V I I

14 Dec death of Andrei Sakharov

1990

01 Jan Tele Sluzhba Novosti starts

17 Jan exhibition of Russian artists in emigration at theRussian Museum, Leningrad

15 Feb fire destroys the House of Actors in Moscow

10 Feb pogroms in Dushanbe (Tajikistan)

11 Mar Lithuania declares independence (Vitautas Landsbergisas president)

12–15 Mar Third Congress of People’s Deputies, which electsGorbachev as president; formation of the Greenmovement and of the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party)under Zhirinovsky

10 Apr Helicon Opera opens

16 Apr Gavriil Popov elected mayor of Moscow (chair ofMossovet)

01 May calls for Gorbachev’s resignation (May Day parade)

03 May death of orthodox patriarch Pimen; succeeded byPatriarch Alexei II (7 June)

11 May death of writer Venedikt Yerofeyev

16 May–2 Jun First Congress of People’s Deputies of the RSFSR

23 May Anatoli Sobchak elected mayor of Leningrad (chair ofLensovet)

29 May Yeltsin elected chair of the Supreme Soviet of theRSFSR

30 May–3 Jun Gorbachev in the USA

2–13 Jun 28th Congress of the CPSU

11 Jun miners’ strike, Kuzbass

15 Jun Igor Silayev as chair of the Council of Ministers of theRSFSR

17 Jul death of writer Valentin Pikul

20 Jul death of filmmaker Sergo Paradjanov

X V I I I C H R O N O L O G Y

13 Aug rehabilitation of writers Vladimir Voinovich, Lev Kopelev,Vasili Aksyonov, Alexander Solzhenitsyn

15 Aug death of rock singer Viktor Tsoy

23 Aug Gorky renamed Nizhny Novgorod

22 Aug radio station Echo Moscow goes live

09 Sept Father Alexander Men murdered

Oct Nobel Prize for Peace to Gorbachev

16 Oct reform program of “500 days”

24 Oct nuclear test in Novaya Zemlia

26 Oct USSR borrows money from international funds

07 Nov attempt on Gorbachev’s life

23–25 Nov Congress on Chechen independence

30 Nov double-headed eagle as emblem for the Russian Federation

01 Dec ration cards on food (vouchers)

17–27 Dec Fourth Congress of People’s Deputies (USSR)

20 Dec Shevardnadze resigns as foreign minister

21 Dec newspaper Nezavisimaya gazeta launched

27 Dec 7 January (Christmas) as official holiday

1991

03 Jan beginning of diplomatic relations with Israel

09 Jan Vzgliad removed from air

7–13 Jan clashes in the Baltic States between Russian and nationalgroups; Vilnius television tower seized by Russian forces

02 Feb Radio Russia banned from union frequency

08 Feb Leonid Kravchenko as head of VGTRK

19 Feb Yeltsin requests Gorbachev’s resignation on television

01 Mar strike in Kuzbass

Andrei (men’s magazine) launched

07 Mar Gubenko as minister of culture

C H R O N O L O G Y X I X

13 Mar Erich Honnecker (GDR) on visit to USSR

17 Mar referendum on USSR

22 Mar New Opera opens under conductor Yevgeni Kolobov

28 Mar Third Congress of People’s Deputies of the RSFSR

fraction (party) of Rutskoy formed 31 May

02 Apr price rise

09 Apr Georgia independent

19 Apr 40-hour working week, 24 days of holiday entitlement

29 Apr earthquake in Georgia

06 May KGB of RSFSR formed

13 May Russian TV (RTR) begins transmission

15 May no tax on sales

21–26 May Fourth Congress of People’s deputies (RSFSR)

12 June Yeltsin elected president of the RSFSR

8–9 Jun Chechen National Congress

17 Jun Union treaty with nine former Soviet republics

28 Jun Union for Economic Support (SEV) disbanded

01 Jul Warsaw Pact disbanded

01 Jul unemployment benefits available

04 Jul privatization of apartments possible

10 Jul bodies of the last tsar’s family exhumed

17 Jul G7 in London

29–31 Jul visit of George H. W. Bush

19–21 Aug August Coup (GKChP). Gorbachev held at Foros. Coup by Vice President Gennadi Yanayev, Vladimir Kriuchkov(KBG), Valentin Pavlov (PM), Boris Pugo (Interior), DmitriYazov (Defense), Vasili Starodubtsev (Peasants’ Union),Alexander Tiziakov (industry), Oleg Baklanov (securitycouncil).

22 Aug tricolor as flag of Russia (Yeltsin)

X X C H R O N O L O G Y

23 Aug companies move from union to Russian responsibilityand gain economic sovereignty

24 Aug Gorbachev resigns as head of CPSU, which isprohibited

Pravda closed

30 Aug nuclear polygon closed by Kazakh president NursultanNazarbayev

05 Sept Sverdlovsk renamed Ekaterinburg

06 Sept Dudayev seizes power in Chechnia

07 Sept independence of the Baltic states—Lithuania, Estonia,Latvia—recognized

06 Oct Igor Talkov killed in Petersburg (anti-Communistsongs)

07 Oct USSR in International Monetary Fund (IMF)

12 Oct death of sci-fi writer Arkadi Strugatsky

autumn Leningrad renamed St. Petersburg

28 Oct–13 Nov Yeltsin authorized by Fifth Congress of People’sDeputies of the RSFSR to form a government

01 Nov COMECON dissolves Council for Mutual EconomicAssistance (also CMEA)

14 Nov Novo-Ogarev: union with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan

08 Dec CIS treaty at Belovezhsk: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

14 Dec Gagarin Party I

25 Dec Gorbachev resigns; Yeltsin is president of the RussianFederation

1992

01 Jan economic shock therapy (Yegor Gaidar); free prices(not fixed by state); inflation: 110 RR for one U.S.dollar, rises to 140 (March) and 334 (October)

18 Jan Ziuganov forms Popular Patriotic Forces

Jan Black Sea Fleet on Crimea: question of allegiance

C H R O N O L O G Y X X I

12 Feb Vice President Rutskoy suggests agrarian reforms

01 Mar Dzhokhar Dudayev seizes television center in Grozny

31 Mar Federation treaty (except Chechnya and Tatarstan)

April Congress of People’s Deputies

07 May end of state monopoly on spirits

08 May death of puppet theater director Sergei Obraztsov

15 May Treaty on collective security with Kazakhstan and otherCentral Asian republics

01 Jun Gavriil Popov resigns as mayor of Moscow and is succeededby Yuri Luzhkov

15 Jun Yegor Gaidar as acting prime minister

01 Oct voucher privatization begins

14 Dec Chernomyrdin prime minister

1993

06 Jan death of dancer Rudolf Nureyev

16 Mar war between Georgia and Abkhazia; Sukhumi seized byAbkhazian forces

20 Mar special presidential rule (decree)

23 Mar Khasbulatov calls for impeachment of Yeltsin

600 Seconds removed from air

3–4 Apr U.S.-Russian summit in Vancouver, British Columbia

25 Apr referendum supports Yeltsin

24 Jul monetary reform: bills from 1961–1991 out of use

31 Aug Soviet troops withdraw from Lithuania

01 Sept Rutskoy estranged from president

05 Sept death of spy thriller and detective writer Yulian Semyonov

15 Sept Michael Jackson in Moscow

18 Sept Gaidar rejoins government

21 Sept Yeltsin dissolves parliament

X X I I C H R O N O L O G Y

22 Sept parliament appoints Rutskoy as president

3–4 Oct storm on White House: Rutskoy and speaker Khasbulatov

Oct 600 Seconds closed completely

19 Nov death of filmmaker Leonid Gaidai

11 Dec patriotic song by Mikhail Glinka as new national anthem

12 Dec parliamentary elections: LDPR 23%, Vybor Rossii 15.5%,CPRF 12.5%, Union and Accord 7%

12 Dec referendum ratifies Russian constitution

1994

13 Jan Bill Clinton on state visit

06 Mar death of filmmaker Tengiz Abuladze

11–13 May Yeltsin visits Germany

23 May Burnt by the Sun wins Grand Prix in Cannes

27 May Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia

May Cosmopolitan launched

07 Jun attempt on Berezovsky’s life

11 Jun fight against pyramid schemes (MMM)

16 Jun Gaidar resigns as deputy PM

10 Jul Leonid Kuchma elected president in Ukraine; AlexanderLukashenka in Belarus

19 Jul civil war in Chechnya

July G7 in Naples

July MMM collapses

26 Sept Cathedral of Christ the Savior to be rebuilt

04 Oct premiere of Vladimir Mashkov’s A Fatal Number

05 Oct miners’ strike: unpaid salaries

11 Oct roble crash (one U.S. dollar from 3,000 to 3,900 RR)

17 Oct death of Dmitri Kholodov (Moskovsky komsomolets)

20 Oct death of filmmaker and Oscar winner Sergei Bondarchuk

C H R O N O L O G Y X X I I I

29 Nov ORT as 51% state-owned shareholding company

11 Dec Russian army into Chechnya

1995

01 Mar murder of television presenter and ORT head Vlad Listiev

27 Mar Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for NikitaMikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun

05 Apr Tretiakov Gallery reopened after refurbishment

12 May foundation of the party Nash Dom– Rossiya (Our House,Russia [NDR])

27–28 May earthquake on Sakhalin

09 Jun Black Sea Fleet divided between Russia (80%) andUkraine (20%)

14–20 Jun Chechens take hostages at Budenovsk

15–17 Jun summit at Halifax

11 Jul Yeltsin in hospital: heart attack

13 Jul state prosecutor against NTV for interview with Basayevand program “Kukly”

26 Oct Yeltsin suffers second heart attack

Iversk Gates open on Red Square

autumn release of Rogozhkin’s Peculiarities of the National Hunt

17 Dec parliamentary elections: NDR, Chernomyrdin: 10%; CP, Ziuganov: 22%; LDPR, Zhirinovsky: 11%; Yabloko,Yavlinsky: 7%

1996

09 Jan Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed from Kozyrev toPrimakov

16 Jan Seleznyov (Communist Party) as chairman of the Duma

17–19 Jan Chechens seize Turkish ship

28 Jan death of poet and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky

28 Feb RF member of European Council

X X I V C H R O N O L O G Y

15 Mar release of Sergei Bodrov’s (Sr.) Prisoner of the

Mountains

29 Mar/2 Apr union agreements with Belarus, Kazakhstan, andKyrgyzstan

21 Apr death of Dudayev; succeeded by Zelim KhanYandarbayev

27 May ceasefire in Chechnya

02 Jun Yakovlev beats Anatoli Sobchak in election as mayor ofSt. Petersburg

11 Jun terrorist attack on Tulskaya metro station andtrolleybuses near Rossiya Hotel and Alexeyevskayametro

16 Jun presidential elections (69.8% participation): Yeltsin 35%,Ziuganov 32%

June/July S. Lisovsky and A. Evstafiev caught in the act ofremoving cash from the House of Government,arrested; Chubais accused of embezzlement, butcleared; Barsukov (KGB) and A. Korzhakov(bodyguard) fired as they ordered the arrest of Yeltsinaides

03 Jul second round of presidential elections: Yeltsin with53.7% (Ziuganov 40%)

10 Jul death of musician Sergei Kuryokhin

25 Jul death of composer Mikhail Tariverdiyev

July premiere of Yuri Butusov’s Waiting for Godot withKhabensky and Trukhin

05 Aug Chechen rebels retake Grozny

31 Aug Lebed and Aslan Maskhadov sign peace accord

17 Oct General Lebed resigns

20 Oct Rutskoy elected governor of the Kursk region

30 Oct Berezovsky as deputy of Presidential Security Council

5 Nov–23 Dec Yeltsin undergoes heart by-pass operation and leavesChernomyrdin in charge

23 Nov death of composer Edison Denisov

C H R O N O L O G Y X X V

01 Dec troops withdrawn from Chechnya

1997

01 Jan new criminal code

27 Jan Maskhadov elected president of Chechnya

31 Jan Bodrov’s Prisoner released in USA

25 Feb death of writer and dissident Andrei Siniavsky

21 Mar Yeltsin and Clinton meet in Helsinki

12 May peace agreement with Chechnya

17 May release of Balabanov’s Brother

26 May Union charter with Belarus (effective as of 11 June)

09 Jun TV Center founded for the 850th anniversary of Moscow

12 Jun death of poet and bard Bulat Okudzhava

18 Jun death of writer and dissident Lev Kopelev

23 Jun Novye izvestiya opened after editor Golembiovsky removedfrom office by investor LukOil

27 Jun end of civil war in Tajikistan

21 Aug death of circus director Yuri Nikulin

26 Aug Kultura opens as television channel of VGTRK

27 Dec New Opera opens its new building in the Hermitage Gardens,Moscow

1998

1 Jan denomination of the ruble

04 Jan Streets of Broken Lights starts on TNT

23 Mar Yeltsin sacks cabinet; Kirienko replaces Chernomyrdin asprime minister (24 April)

17 May General Lebed elected governor of the Krasnoyarsk region

17 Jul interment of the tsar’s family in Petersburg

03 Aug death of composer Alfred Schnittke

X X V I C H R O N O L O G Y

17 Aug “default” (devaluation of ruble): 90-day moratorium on banktransactions

23 Aug Yeltsin sacks cabinet; Chernomyrdin replaces Kirienko asinterim PM; Chernomyrdin twice not confirmed as PM bygovernment

24 Aug first issue of Vogue

1–2 Sept Clinton in Moscow

11 Sept Yevgeni Primakov replaces Chernomyrdin

06 Oct death of actor Rolan Bykov

Sept British hostages Camilla Carr and John James freed fromChechen captivity (held since July 1997)

26 Oct 100th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater

29 Oct Inkombank bankrupt

20 Nov Russian Parliament member Galina Starovoitova murdered

1999

20 Feb premiere of The Barber of Siberia

18 Mar release of Rogozhkin’s Checkpoint

24 Mar North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bombsYugoslavia

29 Mar Putin as head of FSB (Federal Security Bureau)

12 May Yeltsin sacks cabinet; Sergei Stepashin replaces Primakov asprime minister

15 May impeachment vote against Yeltsin fails

19 May Stepashin confirmed as PM

22 June Andreyev Bridge moved from Luzhniki to Neskuchny Garden

07 Aug beginning of Second Chechen campaign (war)

09 Aug Stepashin dismissed; succeeded by Vladimir Putin (16 Aug)

29 Aug formation of SPS (Soyuz pravykh sil, Union of Right Forces)under Sergei Kirienko, Boris Nemtsov, Irina Khakamada

31 Aug bomb explosion in Okhotny Ryad shopping mall

C H R O N O L O G Y X X V I I

08 Sept bomb in Moscow apartment block in Pechatniki

13 Sept bomb in Moscow apartment block on KashirkoyeChausee

24 Sept formation of Unity party (Edinstvo) under I. Shoigu

20 Sept death of Raisa Gorbacheva

Oct premiere of the musical Metro

19 Dec Duma elections: CPRF, Ziuganov 24%; Unity, Shoigu23%; OVR, Primakov, Luzhkov 13%; SPS, Yabloko,Zhirinovsky bloc

31 Dec Yeltsin resigns, leaving Vladimir Putin as actingpresident

2000

02 Jan Kamenskaya starts on NTV

15 Jan Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitskydisappears

19 Jan–25 Feb Andrei Babitsky held hostage in Chechnya

20 Feb death of Anatoli Sobchak

09 Mar death of Artyom Borovik (journal Sovershenno

sekretno) in a plane crash

Mar Grishkovets at the Golden Mask Festival, Moscow

26 Mar Putin elected president

28 Mar Oscar to Alexander Petrov for best animation for The

Old Man and the Sea

30 Mar release of Kachanov’s DMB

01 May Criminal Petersburg starts on NTV

11 May search of Media Most (NTV) offices

11 May release of Balabanov’s Brother 2

17 May Mikhail Kasianov as prime minister

24 May death of actor, director, and head of Moscow ArtTheater Oleg Yefremov

02 Jun death of eye-surgeon Sviatoslav Fyodorov

X X V I I I C H R O N O L O G Y

2–5 Jun Clinton in Moscow

13 Jun Vladimir Gusinsky arrested for embezzlement

12 Jun Akhmad Kadyrov designated president of Chechnya

15 Jun death of playwright Grigori Gorin

Jul raid on Media Most offices

08 Aug bomb explosion in Pushkin Square pedestrian subway

12 Aug explosion on the Kursk submarine

25 Aug death of filmmaker and scriptwriter Valeri Priyomykhov

27 Aug fire on Ostankino television tower

09 Sept Sergei Dorenko sacked from ORT

Sept Berezovsky under pressure to surrender ORT shares

17 Nov GazProm settles share issue with Media Most

20 Nov death of animator Viacheslav Kotyonochkin

07 Dec death of children’s writer Boris Zakhoder

Dec Soviet national anthem reintroduced

2001

21 Feb arrest of Anna Politkovskaya

Mar cabinet reshuffle

04 Apr NTV journalists strike; new management

18 Apr premiere of Serebrennikov’s Plasticine

10 May release of Bodrov’s (Jr.) Sisters

Oct Masiania launched on mult.ru

19 Oct premiere of Nord-Ost

28 Oct death of filmmaker Grigori Chukhrai

2002

Jan TV6 closes

14 Mar release of War

Mar premiere of Dracula (musical)

C H R O N O L O G Y X X I X

06 Apr release of Anti-Killer

21 May premiere of Notre Dame de Paris

09 Jun riots after soccer match Russia-Japan

Aug Russian military helicopter crashes in Chechen minefield:115 dead

20 Sept death of Sergei Bodrov Jr. and his film crew

04 Oct premiere of Chicago

12 Oct premiere of 42nd Street

30 Oct premiere of Oxygen

23–26 Oct 800 hostages at Moscow Theater (Nord Ost): 120 dead

Nov premiere of Terrorism (Moscow Arts Theater)

Dec suicide bombers in Moscow-backed Chechen government inGrozny

2003

08 Feb revival of Nord-Ost

28 Feb newspaper Novye Izvestiya suspended

Mar Chechen referendum

24 Mar TaTu at Jay Leno’s

31 Mar release of Baltser’s Don’t Even Think

May suicide bombers attack Chechen government in Grozny;Kadyrov escapes narrowly

10 May Nord-Ost closed

27 May 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg

June suicide bomber on bus near Mozdok

TV6 successor, TVS, axed

16 June death of Novaya Opera conductor Yevgeni Kolobov

28 June release of Buslov’s Bimmer

06 July suicide bomb at rock festival in Tushchino, Moscow

Sept suicide bomb at military hospital in Mozdok, Ossetia

X X X C H R O N O L O G Y

06 Sep The Return wins the Golden Lion in Venice

Oct border dispute with Ukraine (agreement in December)

25 Oct arrest of Yukos manager Mikhail Khodorkovsky (fraud, taxevasion)

27 Oct death of filmmaker Elem Klimov

08 Nov premiere of Twelve Chairs

10 Nov Lines of Fate starts on RTR

25 Nov release of Anti-Killer 2

07 Dec Duma elections: CP 12.5%; Edinaya Rossiya 37.5%; LDPR11.5%; Rodina 9%

09 Dec suicide bomb near National Hotel, Moscow

2004

22 Jan KinoPark multiplex opened

06 Feb terrorist attack in the Moscow metro station Avtozavodskaya

14 Feb collapse of roof in Transvaal leisure center, Moscow

24 Feb Putin dismisses Prime Minister Kasianov and cabinet

09 Mar new cabinet under Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov;reorganization of ministerial apparatus

14 Mar fire in the Manège exhibition hall

14 Mar presidential elections: Putin gains 57% of the votes

C H R O N O L O G Y X X X I

Introduction

Although the term popular culture is appropriate for contemporaryRussian culture, it was, in a sense, contradictory to the entire Sovietethos. The Soviet regime wanted to educate its people in a particular ide-ological context, namely that of communism. It wanted to create a so-phisticated, high culture, raising the general levels of education of theworking class rather than pander to an audience. The term mass culture

remained synonymous with commercial and bourgeois throughout theSoviet period. A parallel can be drawn, however, between mass culturein the capitalist world, serving commercial aims, and mass culture in theUSSR, serving a political aim (Macdonald 1998). In this introduction I re-capitulate Soviet cultural history in the light of mass appeal and populartaste before exploring concepts of popular culture.

After the Revolution

The October Revolution of 1917 was supported by a great number ofartists, who put their art at the service of the Revolutionary cause. TheRevolution had an enormous impact on cultural life in general, and ontheater and cinema in particular, as a potential tool for agitation amongthe masses and the propagation of socialist ideas. The theater directorVsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940), who had staged rather grandiose pro-ductions at the Imperial Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg beforethe Revolution, instantly declared that he would dedicate his art to so-cialism. Along with the young directors Sergei Eisenstein, NikolaiYevreinov, and Nikolai Okhlopkov, Meyerhold favored spectacles thatwould both stun and actively involve the audience. A striking example ofthis was Yevreinov’s Storming of the Winter Palace (Vziatie zimnegodvortsa), performed on 7 November 1920 for 100,000 spectators with8,000 participants directed over a field phone. A celebration of the Revo-lution, the spectacle underlined the theatricalization of life (it was basedon the real events of the Bolshevik seizure of the tsar’s residence) andthe politicization of art while involving the masses.

Artists continued to theatricalize political themes in the years immedi-ately after the Revolution. The poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky

not only wrote plays that advertised the ad-vantages of the new Bolshevik regime andmocked the remnants of the bourgeoislifestyle but also wrote slogans for postersthat supported the Revolution. The artistand designer Alexander Rodchenko de-signed political posters and worked as aphotographer. The artist Varvara Stepa-nova designed proletarian fashion. SergeiEisenstein made his acclaimed film, The

Battleship Potyomkin (Bronenosets Po-temkin, 1925), at the state’s command.

Avant-garde artists may have activelysupported the Revolution in the 1920s, butconnection to the masses was not thatstraightforward. Crowds may have at-tended the first of the mass spectacles in1920, but they did not wear Stepanova’sproletarian collection, nor did they crowdMeyerhold’s experimental theater wherethe actors moved with machine-like move-ment to demonstrate their subordination toa larger mechanism (and the director’swill); and they certainly did not pack thecinemas to see The Battleship Potyomkin.

It may have been “the best film of all times,”according to a critics’ poll in 1958, but itwas no hit in the USSR. In fact, it was aflop, reaching only 70,000 viewers in thefirst two weeks of a mere four-week run.Meanwhile, Soviet audiences flocked to thecinema to see American films starring MaryPickford and Douglas Fairbanks (Robin

Hood was Potyomkin’s stiffest competitor).In the late 1920s, the melodrama, best rep-resented by Abram Room’s Bed and Sofa

(Tret’ia Meshchanskaia, 1927), could easilyattract more than a million viewers withinsix months. Konstantin Eggert’s melodramaThe Bear’s Wedding (Medvezh’ia svad’ba,1926), Boris Barnet’s comedy The Cigarette

Girl from Mosselprom (Papirosnitsa otMossel’prom, 1924), and Ivan Perestiani’sadventure Little Red Devils (Krasnye

d’iavoliata, 1923) emerged as the most prof-itable, if internationally least acclaimed,films. The experiment in art that was con-ducted by the avant-garde failed with themasses, who wanted to see emotionally en-gaging films, watch theater where theycould suffer with the protagonists, andwear fashionable, not artistic and experi-mental, clothes. Consequently, the avant-garde fell out of favor with the Communistleadership, which was concerned with theuse of art to reach the masses. For this pur-pose the concept of Socialist Realism, stip-ulating a portrayal of the Soviet Union in itsdevelopment toward the ideal of commu-nism, was adopted in 1934 as the only modeof artistic expression.

Lenin may have supported a certain di-versity of artistic forms, those that ap-pealed to the masses as well as those thatengaged in experimentation and soughtnew forms of expression. Yet after Lenin’sdeath in 1924, and certainly by the late1920s and early 1930s, artistic movementswere streamlined. Single unions were cre-ated, such as the Soviet Unions of Com-posers, of Artists, of Cinematographers, ofTheater Workers, of Writers, and so on, inorder to ensure that all artists would ex-press themselves in a way that was under-stood by the masses and—needless tosay—that was ideologically correct. Thisnew art was to advertise the utopia of com-munism: the bright future toward whichthe country was rapidly progressing, eventhough it was in reality struggling with eco-nomic mismanagement, famines, war, andthe purges.

In cinema, a directive was issued to edu-cate and enlighten the masses throughfilm. Foreign film imports were stopped,and the audience was fed a solid Sovietdiet. In 1935 Boris Shumiatsky, the newhead of the Soviet film industry, launched

2 P O P C U LT U R E R U S S I A !

an appeal for a “cinema for the millions”;he implemented a rigid campaign againstformalism in cinema, practically annihilat-ing the great experiments in Soviet cinemaof the 1920s. The entertainment value of afilm presented suitable packaging wherebythe ideological message would reach themasses. The blockbuster became a tool forideology. At the same time, popular ele-ments (comic or melodramatic genres, thepromotion of stars, the inclusion of massand folk songs) were incorporated into of-ficial Stalinist culture. The popular films ofthe 1930s all relied on a simple narrativeand conventional style, with a linear plot,reducing complex issues to a level thatcould be understood by the masses. Thehero Chapayev can explain his complexmilitary strategy with the help of potatoes.Folksy tunes and triumphant marches suchas “Black Raven” (“Chernyi voron,” in theVasiliev brothers’ [Georgi and Sergei] Cha-

payev, 1934) and “Song of the Motherland”(“Pesnia o rodine,” in Grigori Alexandrov’sCircus, 1936) assisted the plot and evenbecame hits in their own right. The Stalin-ist musical comedies were blockbusters,loved by the audiences for their glorifiedand glossy demonstration of life throughthe beautiful, feminine characters playedby Marina Ladynina and Liubov Orlova;they were loved for showing the victory ofthose Soviet ideals that the population wasforced to believe in and for the predictabil-ity of their plots.

In theater, the experiments of Meyerholdand other avant-garde directors werestopped, and Konstantin Stanislavsky’spsychological realism was elevated to the“method.” For the next fifty years, the ac-tor’s training would rely on this “method,”which drew exclusively on emotional expe-rience for a psychologically convincingcharacter portrayal, allowing the spectator

to experience the same emotions as thecharacter but never inviting him to think orinteract with the stage world behind the so-called fourth wall.

Stalin simplified the cultural discourseto make it accessible to the masses andused those tools that promised mass ap-peal as packaging for simple tales. SocialistRealism—the projection of the bright fu-ture of the USSR into a simple, linear plotand a realistic form—was the only artisticform of expression tolerated by the Sovietregime. Consumerism was a marginal fea-ture of everyday life; excess and luxurywere part of a special elitist culture towhich only the privileged had access.

Toward the end of Stalin’s life, culturalactivity in the USSR was almost dead: thepurges had exterminated a number of greatexperimenters; World War II had taken thelives of many artists; the campaign in 1949against “cosmopolitans” (a euphemism forJews) had taken its toll. Culture, high andlow, was struggling to find means of ex-pression; appealing to the masses was asecondary consideration after the mainone: ideological and political correctness.At this point in history it had also becomeobvious that Socialist Realism, which ex-cludes the notion of conflict (other thanbetween the evil aggressor and the Soviethero), precluded the notion of tension,thus limiting the emotional or intellectualchallenge of its artistic product. Here therelaxation that was brought on with NikitaKhrushchev’s Thaw took effect.

After World War II

The Thaw had begun with Khrushchev’s“Secret Speech” at the Twentieth PartyCongress in 1956, in which he disclosed thecrimes of the Stalin era. A period of liberal-

I N T R O D U C T I O N 3

ization, both in political and cultural terms,began. The Thaw had a number of positiveeffects on cultural life. Works that werecritical of Soviet society, such as Alexan-der Solzhenitsyn’s Day in the Life of Ivan

Denisovich (Odin den’ Ivana Denisovicha,1962) about life in a prison camp, werepublished. New theaters opened, includingthe Sovremennik and Taganka. In cinema amove occurred away from the glorificationof collective Soviet heroism toward an in-dividual heroism. Modern art was publiclydisplayed in major exhibitions, such as thePicasso exhibition in 1956 or the scan-dalous Manège exhibition of 1962, whenKhrushchev labeled the abstract paintingsin the exhibition as “sh**” and theirpainters “sodomites.” Artistic cafés openedin Moscow in 1961. Moreover, there wasthe celebration of the International YouthFestival in Moscow in 1957. The Thaw alsohad a reverse side, however, that reflectedthe struggle within the party between hard-liners and reformers. The reformist upris-ing in Hungary was crushed in 1956. In1958, Boris Pasternak was forced to rejectthe Nobel Prize for Literature, which hehad been awarded for his novel Doctor

Zhivago, published in Italy. The poetJoseph Brodsky was arrested in 1964 for“parasitism” (tuneyadstvo, not having ajob). These examples underscore the pro-cess of hard-line Communists gaining theupper hand. The tension between the twofactions in the Central Committee of theCommunist Party climaxed with the re-moval of Khrushchev from office in Octo-ber 1964.

The Thaw, to a certain extent, exposedthe low quality of Stalinist culture: thecheap gloss of the Stalinist musicals, thefalse tone of Socialist Realist literature, thestale nature of theatrical performance. In

the postwar period the taste for Westernculture grew rapidly among those who hadbeen brought up during the war but hadnever fought in it: often children of singlemothers whose fathers had died in the war.This generation was tired of the official ver-sion of war, the glorification of life in thecollective farm (kolkhoz), and industrialprogress. Instead, they preferred a pseudo-Western lifestyle. The satirical magazineKrokodil (Crocodile) defined them as“stilyagi”; they were mocked as uneducateddandies, concerned with appearance ratherthan intellectual achievement. In this sensethey were the extreme opposite of what theSoviet Union wanted its youth to be andtherefore the first sign of a rebellion againstthe officially prescribed cultural diet.

Detective and spy stories thrived in thepostwar period: on the one hand, they pro-vided the background for a conflict be-tween an enemy and a Soviet hero; on theother hand, they were a pale reflection ofthe American spy thrillers à la Alfred Hitch-cock. Yulian Semyonov emerged as one ofthe most popular writers of the period, cre-ating the hero-figure Stirlitz, a Soviet spy inNazi Germany. His works were later serial-ized for television and have become part ofRussian popular culture in the form ofanecdotes.

Mass song, which proliferated in the1930s owing to the advent of sound film,was confronted by the bard movement,which distributed its recordings by themodest means of illegal tape recordings(magnitizdat). Magnitizdat implied thecreation of an altogether more individual-ized product that was spread through apersonal and private distribution system.In 1956 Radio Moscow replaced the filmmusic “Song of the Motherland” (from Cir-

cus) with “Suburban Moscow Evenings”


(“Podmoskovnye vechera”). Estrada, orpop music, emulated Western styles, set-ting trivial lyrics to fine tunes. Jazz musicwas prohibited for public performance: itinvolved an element of improvisation, andthis unpredictable quality made the cen-sors always nervous. Illegal copies of jazzmusic were circulated in the 1960s, how-ever, including American jazz music byGlenn Miller, Bing Crosby, and Louis Arm-strong. The musical comedy copied the be-havior and looks of Western musical starsrather than dwelling on propaganda plots(for example, Eldar Riazanov’s Carnival

Night [Karnaval’naia noch’], 1956), andAmerican films were back in the cinemas,turning Tarzan into the most popular filmof the postwar years.

Film demonumentalized the past: heroesbecame simple human beings rather thansuperhuman characters. Cinema thus be-gan to deconstruct its grand narratives ofthe 1930s: the emphasis shifted in historicalfilms from collective heroism to the deedsof the individual. This is evident in thetreatment of World War II in Mikhail Kalato-zov’s The Cranes Are Flying (Letiat zhu-ravli, 1957), Pavel Chukhrai’s The Forty-

First (Sorok pervyi, 1956) and Ballad of a

Soldier (Ballada o soldate, 1959), andAlexander Stolper’s Living and Dead

(Zhivye i mertvye, 1964), all of which en-joyed great popularity both at home andabroad. They attracted between 25 and 30million viewers each. Kalatozov’s The

Cranes Are Flying received the Palme d’Orin Cannes in 1958; Chukhrai’s The Forty-

First and his Ballad of a Soldier wereshown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957and 1960 respectively. Cranes was onlytenth in the box-office charts at the time ofits release, however, thus not the most pop-ular film of its year. The international suc-

cess of these films can be attributed to thecommon experience of World War II andshared conventions of the portrayal of thewar hero in Russian and European culture,which made them international mainstreamrather than national blockbusters.

The Thaw bore upon the theater in a vari-ety of ways: first, a new generation of play-wrights emerged with Leonid Zorin, ViktorRozov, Alexander Shtein, and others. Sec-ond, young and promising directors wereappointed to head prestigious theaters.Most significant for the future were the ap-pointments of Georgi Tovstonogov to theBolshoi Drama Theater (BDT) in Lenin-grad; Anatoli Efros to the Lenin KomsomolTheater, Moscow; and Yuri Liubimov to theTaganka Theater of Drama and Comedy,Moscow. Third, new theaters were founded,such as the Sovremennik (Contemporary)in Moscow under Oleg Yefremov.

The plays of Viktor Rozov provided theimpulse for young directors to explore fur-ther the psychological realism of Stanis-lavsky. Rozov’s plays focused on “youngboys,” children on the way to adulthood,and therefore appealed to a theater thatwanted to create a hero with whom both ac-tor and audience could easily identify psy-chologically. His plays became the mainsource for the repertoire of Anatoli Efrosand Oleg Yefremov. In Rozov’s In Search of

Joy (V poiskakh radosti, 1957), the hero de-molishes a piece of furniture, symbol of thepetty bourgeoisie, with his father’s saber;the gesture accompanying this act becamesymbolic for the break with tradition. TheSovremennik started as a studio of theMoscow Arts Theater (Moskovskii khudo-zhestvennyi akademicheskii teatr, MkhAT)School under Yefremov, opening in 1957with Rozov’s Alive Forever (Vechnozhivye). Yefremov had begun acting at a


time when monumental realism was reced-ing. He did not aim at outward verisimili-tude and consciously combined a stylized,abstract set with the everyday realism of“kitchen sink drama,” emerging on theBritish stage at about the same time.

In 1956, Georgi Tovstonogov (1913–1989) was appointed chief artistic directorof the BDT in Leningrad. Tovstonogovmerged the approaches of Stanislavsky andMeyerhold, stylization with authenticityand figurativeness with psychologicalanalysis. Tovstonogov’s repertoire includedcontemporary plays, classics, and proseadaptations. A remarkable production wasthe adaptation of Lev Tolstoy’s Strider: The

Story of a Horse (Kholstomer, 1975). Sack-cloth was draped around the stage, and thecostumes were made from the same mate-rial. The actors playing horses wore leatherstraps around their heads and bodies as aharness, imprisoning the body. Tovstono-gov made ample use of cinematic devices,such as a disembodied voice reading textsor assuming a narrator function. Tovstono-gov interpreted the condition of the horseas a tragic metaphor for human life, creat-ing at the same time an allegory for the de-formation of nature by claiming it as hu-man property. His concern rested with theuniversal rather than with explicit socialcriticism. Tovstonogov never was a contro-versial figure.

The opposite is true for the enfant terri-ble of Soviet theater, Yuri Liubimov (b.1917). Liubimov had noticed the dangerousuniformity in Soviet theater and abhorredthe use of makeup, costumes, and decora-tive props. With his acting class, he stagedin 1963 Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person

of Szechwan, in which he mastered theconcept of Brecht’s epic theater. The Good

Person was set on a bare stage; posters

decorated the sides; panels indicated loca-tions; songs were used for comment, and amusical rhythm set the pace of the produc-tion; choreographed movement replacedverbal action. These elements, drawn fromBrecht and Meyerhold, characterized Liu-bimov’s style of the 1960s. The message ofthe production—the individual’s solidaritywith the people—enhanced the strong so-ciopolitical stance of the theater. The rangeof theatrical devices was fully explored inthe initial years but especially vividly inTen Days that Shook the World (Desiat’dnei, kotorye potriasli mir, 1965), based onJohn Reed’s account of the Revolution. Liu-bimov drew heavily on the devices of cir-cus, shadow play, folk theater, agitationaltheater, and documentary theater to createa revolutionary spectacle. The integrationof the audience into the festive revolution-ary atmosphere served to deprive historyof its magnificence and private life of itsseclusion. Like many other directors of histime, Liubimov staged prose adaptationsand poetic montages to establish a reper-toire in the absence of genuinely gooddrama. Liubimov’s theater therefore is an“author’s theater” (avtorskii teatr): the di-rector composes the text and offers hispersonal interpretation in the production.The Sovremennik and the Taganka as wellas the BDT in Leningrad were the mostpopular theaters in the two cities: ticketswere almost impossible to obtain.

After the Thaw

The period that followed under LeonidBrezhnev’s leadership is commonly calledthe period of “stagnation,” as it consoli-dated Communist rule through pragmaticpolicies rather than opening an ideological


debate about the adaptation of commu-nism to contemporary society. The periodis characterized by a much more aggres-sive policy, manifested in internal politicsin the arrest of Andrei Siniavsky and YuliDaniel in 1966 for publishing abroad underthe pseudonyms of Abram Terts and Niko-lai Arzhak and in foreign politics in the in-tervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Thisincreased suppression of opposition led tothe emergence of a dissident movementthat began formally with a letter protestingagainst Soviet foreign policy in 1967,signed by a number of members of the So-viet Writers’ Union.

In the late 1970s, the stagnation led to adearth of activity in Soviet cultural life.Many artists and intellectuals had emi-grated in the first half of the 1970s, whenthe wave of emigration to Israel had rippeda large hole in intelligentsia circles. In 1972the Leningrad poet Joseph Brodsky hadbeen expelled and in 1974 Solzhenitsyn de-ported from the USSR. In 1970 the liberaleditor in chief of the leading literary jour-nal Novy Mir, Alexander Tvardovsky, hadbeen removed from office. All these acts ofrepression were now showing their effectson cultural life while, in terms of culturalpolitics, the stifling atmosphere continued.In 1974 the open-air exhibition of modernart in the Moscow suburb Beliayevo wastorn down by bulldozers (the so-calledBulldozer Exhibition). In 1975, when An-drei Sakharov was awarded the NobelPrize for Peace, he was not permitted toleave for the ceremony in Stockholm; in1980 he was exiled to Gorky (now NizhnyNovgorod) and later placed under housearrest. In 1978 the dissident Anatoli Shcha-ransky was arrested; the writer Vasili Ak-syonov was exiled in 1981. In 1979, Soviettroops invaded Afghanistan, causing an of-

ficial boycott of the 1980 Olympic Gamesin Moscow by the Americans and severalother Western states. Many writers couldnot publish their works and instead re-sorted to the so-called samizdat (self-publishing typescripts with carbon paper—in the absence of photocopiers). A lastattempt at opposition was manifestedthrough the underground publication ofthe almanac Metropol, uniting works thatwere not accepted for publication in theSoviet Union. The doom and gloom of thelate 1970s was offset, however, by activi-ties in the artistic underground, includingstudio and amateur theater and “private”art exhibitions (the so-called apartment ex-hibitions [kvartirnye vystavki]). The songsof the bard Vladimir Vysotsky voiced oppo-sition to the system by addressing taboo is-sues such as alcoholism and drugs. Film-makers attempted to provide relief throughblockbusters that distracted with exoticsettings and exhilarating plots.

Whereas the 1960s had been governed byclampdown, censorship, and bans, the1970s saw deportations, exile, and housearrest. The dissidents’ fight within thecountry had given way to the elimination ofthe opposition through the state. Many dis-sonant voices withdrew into the rural idyll,writing prose that was set in the villagesand the countryside, inspired by folk tradi-tions and rituals, with characters speakingthe coarse language of rural Russia. Thisretreat, which may seem regressive andconservative, was in fact a form of opposi-tion to the dominant cultural discourse.

At the same time, the Brezhnev yearswere a period of relative material growthand economic stability. Products were insupply, jobs available, pensions paid, ac-commodation improving, transport sys-tems expanding. A “second economy”


(black market and underground culture)flourished to satisfy the demand for“deficit” products. Lavish state rituals,monumental parades, and holiday celebra-tions went hand in hand with the cult ofthe leader, Brezhnev. They covered up theincreasing dissatisfaction with the systemthat reduced the individual to a marionette.On an international level, Soviet music wasrepresented by the folk ensembles of IgorMoiseyev, Pavel Virsky (Ukraine), andBoris Alexandrov (Soviet Army Ensemble).The other showcases of Soviet culturewere the Bolshoi and Kirov (Mariinsky)Ballets, the internationally acclaimed andpolitically controversial filmmaker AndreiTarkovsky, and the ideologically sound cir-cus stunts of Oleg Popov with the MoscowState Circus. At home, Tarkovsky was byno means the most popular filmmaker; thepeople’s favorites were the comedy film-makers Eldar Riazanov, Leonid Gaidai, andGeorgi Daneliya, whereas the folk ensem-bles attracted great numbers—of tourists.

As the number of television sets inhouseholds was increasing, the pop starsMark Bernes and Iosif Kobzon appeared ontelevision with their patriotic and elegiacsongs, accompanied by Soviet bands. An-other popular singer was Zhanna Bichev-skaya, who presented a mix of folk andcountry music based on northern Russianfolk songs. In those years the pop singersAlexandra Pakhmutova, Alla Pugacheva,and Valeri Leontiev made their debuts. Thecabaret actor Arkadi Raikin, whose mock-ery of the system was combined with ahigh level of compassion for human flaws,moved from Leningrad to Moscow in 1981and frequently appeared on television. His“heir,” Mikhail Zhvanetsky, enjoys popular-ity to the present day.

The level of reading was unusually highin the Soviet Union. This fact was deployed

to advocate the standards of Soviet readersin contrast with the capitalist (supposedly“uneducated”) West. The science fiction lit-erature of the Strugatsky brothers (Arkadiand Boris), the spy thrillers of Yulian Se-myonov, and the historical novels ofValentin Pikul were at the top in the lists ofbest-selling (that is, “most wanted”) books.Soviet fiction of the period was character-ized by the absence of violence and sex butalso void of descriptions of fashion and ap-pearance that are so characteristic of West-ern “trash” literature.

Censorship interfered heavily with thecreation of new repertoires in the late1960s when, during the Twenty-Third PartyCongress in 1966, several critical and con-troversial productions were banned, suchas Alexander Tvardovsky’s Tyorkin in the

Other World (Terkin v tom svete) andEduard Radzinsky’s A Film Is Being Shot

(Snimaetsia kino). Efros was dismissed for“ideological shortcomings” in 1967. Cul-tural policy continued along a reactionaryline in the 1970s. The Twenty-Fifth PartyCongress of 1976 promoted the “produc-tion theme” in drama, compelling play-wrights to show the hero at work. Sincesuch plays were not very attractive for theaudience, the theaters instead adaptedprose works. Young directors started towork under the auspices of the establishedtheaters, however, which opened so-calledsmall stages in the late 1970s for experi-mental work, allowing also for a more inti-mate contact with the audience.

Censorship also interfered in the makingof films. Andrei Konchalovsky’s Asya’s

Happiness (Asino schast’e, also known as“Istoriia Asi Kliachinoi, kotoraia liubila da ine vyshla zamuzh . . . ,” 1966, released1988) was shelved for portraying the life ofa single mother, living in a collective farm(kolkhoz), who prefers to raise her child


alone rather than marry the child’s alco-holic father. Kira Muratova’s Short En-

counters (Korotkie vstrechi, 1967, released1987) was shelved—along with the sequelLong Farewells (Dolgie provody, 1971, re-leased 1987)—for the portrayal of the un-settled lifestyle of a geologist, played byVladimir Vysotsky. Alexander Askoldov’sThe Commissar (Komissar, 1967) wasbanned for positively showing the life ofthe Jewish population in Berdichev and forportraying the life of a Bolshevik commis-sar who has a child out of wedlock. Kon-chalovsky emigrated, Muratova did notmake her next film until the 1980s, andAskoldov never made another film.

During the stifled cultural atmosphere ofthe Brezhnev years, the state tried to pro-mote “high” culture in order to demon-strate the educated status of the Sovietpeople while driving those areas of culturethat were wanted by the masses (rock,jazz, detective and crime fiction) into theunderground. The divide between high andlow culture is more complex in Soviet cul-ture than in Western cultures: any experi-ment is dissident, and therefore experi-mental art (art-house film, abstract art, jazzmusic) was part of underground culture.The art conceived for the few was wantedby the masses as a “forbidden fruit.” Be-cause forbidden, underground culture ap-pealed by definition to a much broaderrange of people than the intelligentsia—that spectrum of Soviet society that saw it-self in dissent with the political system andat the same time defined itself as its chiefperpetrator and advocate of moral values.The official and politically correct culturewas, as it were, for the masses. Popularculture, on the other hand, was what themasses were craving: dissident and West-ern culture. At the same time popular cul-ture also encompassed official culture,

which was made widely available by thesystem of distribution. Consequently, massculture contained elements of the official(which was kitsch because it was official)and of the underground culture (which wasexotic because forbidden). Thus, the bardVladimir Vysotsky is part of dissident pop-ular culture, as is the Taganka Theater. Thecomedies of Leonid Gaidai and the televi-sion spy thriller Seventeen Moments of

Spring (17 mgnovenii vesny), on the otherhand, are popular culture. It is worth not-ing that critical attention and internationalrecognition have often focused on dissi-dent popular culture. This, however,should not imply that the Taganka Theateror Vysotsky are “high” culture. Rather, theyare part of a popular culture that—at thetime—included both high and low forms.

After Brezhnev

When Gorbachev took up office in 1985 hereplaced, within a year, most of the hard-liners in key positions in the cultural sec-tor. Vasili Zakharov was appointed ministerof culture, succeeding Peter Demichev.Boris Yeltsin took over the Moscow CityCommittee from Viktor Grishin. At theCentral Committee level, Yegor Ligachevbecame responsible for ideology in theSecretariat, succeeding Mikhail Zimianin,and the reformer Alexander Yakovlev wasput in charge of the Department of Agit-prop. Gorbachev invited the so-called cre-ative intelligentsia to a meeting on 3 De-cember 1986, during which he encourageda process of liberalization in the arts.

His encouragement very quickly trans-lated into action. The reform of artisticunions was the first step in this direction:the filmmaker Elem Klimov took over theFilmmakers’ Union, setting up a commis-


sion to release the films shelved by the cen-sors; in the theater Mark Zakharov took thelead in arguing for the responsibility of the-ater repertoires to be removed from thecity authorities and handed over to theTheater Union, while encouraging experi-ment in the theaters. The Union of Writersestablished a committee that rehabilitatedwriters and released documents from thestate archive, including the archive of theKGB (Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopas-nosti); the editors of literary journals wereencouraged to publish formerly bannedtexts. In this sense, glasnost lifted the lidfrom the barrel of forbidden, banned, andsuppressed art. This sudden release sweptto the surface a whole new culture. Thethirst for the censored, forbidden culturewas, for a while, greater than that for the“popular,” the taste of which would comewith the onset of more commercial termsof cultural production after 1991.

Cultural taste in the Gorbachev period(1985–1991) has to be seen in the light ofthe previous withdrawal. The popularity ofcertain novels, songs, films, television, orradio programs was directly related to thetaboo themes they touched upon and thenew areas they opened up for investigation.Popularity in the Gorbachev era thereforedepended not so much on taste as on thewish to taste the forbidden fruit. Indeed, inthe Soviet cultural context, the demand forclassical Western literature should be seennot just as a sign of the high level of educa-tion but as an indication of the possibility toaccess any cultural products from the West.The popularity of released art-housemovies, of historical novels about the blankpages of Soviet history, and of the lyricsrather than the tunes of rock music has tobe read in the context of an “artificial” pop-ular taste in the late 1980s.

The New Russia

This book covers the media, music, per-forming and visual arts, sports, religioustradition, and consumer culture in the NewRussia. Each chapter begins with the cul-tural history of the Soviet era to provide acontext for developments in the 1980s and1990s, before exploring each phenomenonin more depth. Broadly speaking, the dis-cussions follow three stages: first, the Gor-bachev era (1985–1991); second, Yeltsin’sreign (1991–1999), marked by the coup of1993, the presidential elections of 1996,and the economic crisis of 1998; and third,Putin’s first term as president (1999–2004).Rather than applying theoretical frame-works, the discussion of popular culture inthe New Russia offers a survey of the de-velopments of popular culture in the pres-ent while attempting to trace its historythat may serve to explain some reasons forthe shape popular culture has taken in theNew Russia.

Although Western theories of culturetended to perceive “popular” or “mass” cul-ture as a manifestation of capitalism, dem-onstrating the grip of capitalist economieson culture and thus securing control oversociety, its taste, and consumer behavior (aposition held by the so-called FrankfurtSchool), the development of Soviet andRussian culture does not lend itself to bepositioned within such traditional Westerncultural theories. The Soviet Union tendedto “level” cultural production in an attemptto make it a vessel for ideology that wouldbe widely accessible to the masses. WhereLenin had tried to raise the level of cul-turedness (kulturnost) of the masses,Stalin had emphasized the necessity toreach the masses by resorting to more con-ventional forms such as realism. The So-

1 0 P O P C U LT U R E R U S S I A !

viet Union had neither a proper cultural in-dustry nor a consumer market, however. Inideological terms it ensured the accessibil-ity of its cultural production, but in com-mercial terms it could not satisfy the de-mand for those cultural products that thepeople wanted. Even the “popular” spythrillers of Yulian Semyonov and the histor-ical novels of Valentin Pikul had such lowprint runs that they were hardly sufficientto cater for the readership. Thus, the cen-tralized Soviet propaganda machine manip-ulated the taste of the masses to ensurethat the levels would not drop down to a“mass” (speak “trash”) culture.

During the Gorbachev era, culture wasonce again designated to play an ideologi-cal role, namely to ensure the trust of thepeople in the reforms. As Richard Stites hasargued, “The new popular culture—muchof it legalised ‘old’ culture—containedstrong currents of iconoclasm, demytholo-gizing, and open irreverence” (Stites 1999).Only the late perestroika years saw an-other, genuinely “trash” culture emerge,which glorified not the Soviet forbiddenfruit but that of Western commercial cul-ture that had previously been inaccessible.

The Soviet system entertained twopower centers: the party represented offi-cial ideology, whereas the dissident intelli-gentsia opposed the party line. Betweenthose two poles there existed a “middle”class that was disinterested in ideology andpolitics and preoccupied instead witheveryday life. This large group of peoplesustained the “second economy” (or“shadow economy”) that—on black mar-kets and in the underground—providedgoods and objects for consumption: for-eign books, American jeans, and Westernfashion.

Throughout the Soviet era, the state and

the dissidents had shared a commonground in their rejection of commerce.Market forces were categorically rejectedby the dissident intelligentsia, who per-ceived commercialization as a threat. Thisattitude was shared by the state, whichalso perceived the flourishing shadoweconomy, which satisfied consumer de-mands, as a threat to the state’s more andmore dysfunctional economy. When com-mercial forces, now supported by the state,took grip of the economy in 1991, the stateno longer needed the intelligentsia topreach spirituality over materialism. Onceconsumerism invaded Soviet society, theintelligentsia lost its role as opponent tothe official view and eventually also as akey player in the balance of power. Its op-position (or pseudo-opposition) was nolonger needed. Therefore the intelligentsiahas been marginalized in the New Russia,which is well echoed in the poor perform-ance of the parties that it supports (SPS[Union of Right Forces] and Yabloko).

When the Soviet system collapsed in1991, a shift from the ideological to thecommercial culture took place. Globaliza-tion fully hit the New Russia and exposed itto all the trash and commercial culture thatpeople had known only through negativepropaganda. As Robert Edelman aptlycommented in his article on sports in theNew Russia, “It turns out that post-Sovietpopular culture is less distinctive than So-viet popular culture was” (Edelman 1999).Culture (at least official, highbrow culture)had always been focused on the text, asso-ciating the writer with a prophet who pro-vides moral guidance and reveals the ab-solute truth in his text. Now, visual culturegained ground, reflected in changes of ur-ban planning and in the appearance of ad-vertising posters in the cityscape.

I N T R O D U C T I O N 1 1

Whereas previously the leveling of cul-ture had taken place within the SovietUnion, the new consumer culture leveledRussian culture with Western culture. TheSoviet Union had upheld a concept of “so-cialism in one country” and set standardswithin that culture, excluding—at least of-ficially—any influence of Western cultures.After the fall of the iron curtain, Russiawas flooded with Western consumer prod-ucts and lifestyle. The country swung to-ward an extreme form of capitalism, turn-ing almost any manifestation of cultureinto a commercial enterprise. Thereforemany institutions, such as the Bolshoi andMariinsky Theaters, the Hermitage Mu-seum, and the Tretiakov Gallery, took along while to recover and to convince thestate of the need for subsidies, as well assecuring grants from both Russian and in-ternational organizations and businesses.

Therefore, the post-Soviet phenomenonof postmodernism (with its manifestationsof sots-art and conceptualism) may be seenthrough Western eyes as high art, whereasin fact the attempt to domesticate and trivi-alize Soviet culture and ideology (espe-cially of the Stalin era) brings the appar-ently highbrow Soviet culture closer to themasses by parodying it, thus turning it intoa commercially desirable product. Exam-ples of such transgressions from high tolow culture are the “postmodernist” best-sellers of Viktor Pelevin, the satiricalglosses in the lyrics of the rock band Lenin-grad, or the New Russian versions of thecherished Russian lacquer boxes portray-ing tennis courts and Mercedes cars.

The divide between high and low, popu-lar and art-house, intellectual and con-sumer, is often blurred in the New Russia.Thus, for example, haute couture or glossy

journals appeal to many, although they areaffordable only for a few. The attraction forthe consumer lies in the novelty and acces-sibility of these products, not in their af-fordability: they are signs, but not goods formass consumption. Russian cinema andtheater try to attract audiences with staractors appearing in commercial projects,but many people cannot afford the ticketsfor such commercial enterprises and there-fore prefer the “old,” State-subsidized the-aters that are more affordable. In otherwords, the commercialization of Russianculture is shaping two groups of con-sumers: those who can afford the productsallegedly made to cater for the masses; andthose who cannot afford them and there-fore stick with the old, verified, and trustedSoviet forms of entertainment and con-sumption, now available cheaply and read-ily. An exception is television, where trashculture, be it American serials or home-grown crime thrillers, captures mass audi-ences, rich and poor, as well as the bookmarket, which has made most books avail-able in paperback editions that are quite af-fordable for the majority of people.

References

Edelman, Robert. 1999. “There Are No Rules on

Planet Russia: Post-Soviet Spectator Sport.”

In Consuming Russia. Popular Culture, Sex

and Society since Gorbachev, ed. Adele

Barker, 219. Durham, NC: Duke University

Press.

Macdonald, Dwight. 1998. “A Theory of Mass

Culture.” In Cultural Theory and Popular

Culture, 2nd ed., ed. John Storey, 23–24.

London: Prentice Hall.

Stites, Richard. 1992. Russian Popular Culture.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 178.


1The Media

The Broadcasting Media

Television

The Russian media have made headlines in recent years because of theinvolvement of the oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky,in politics. Then their exiles and arrests were a news item: Berezovskysought political asylum in theUnited Kingdom, and Gusinsky,an Israeli citizen, took up resi-dence in Spain but was repeat-edly arrested and threatenedwith extradition. Then the head-lines were preoccupied with theNTV (Nezavisimoe televidenie,Independent Television) take-over through GazProm and thedismissal of Yevgeni Kiselyov.Finally, the feature film The

Tycoon (Oligarkh, 2002), byPavel Lungin, based on YuliDubov’s novel The Great Solder

(Bol’shaia paika, 2001), madethe international film festivalcircuit. The international inter-est in Russia’s media manage-ment has reached almost thesame level as that in the mediaempire of Silvio Berlusconi, Ru-pert Murdoch, or Ludwig Kirch.This chapter looks at the rapiddevelopment from state controlto an extremely commercialmedia market within a decade.

Businessman Boris Berezovsky during the

tenth anniversary of the newspaper

Kommersant, the flagship of his publishing

empire. (Photo by Dmitry Azarov/

Kommersant)

Soviet Television: From Its Origins to

Perestroika If, in the 1920s, Lenin hadhailed cinema as the “most important of allarts,” this was because it could reach alarge number of people at once. Themedium also overcame the problem of illit-eracy, which still dogged the new socialistempire in those days. For the modern era,the medium that can reach out to millionssimultaneously and span its networkacross the eleven time zones of the Sovietterritory is television.

Television is more than that, however: itis a powerful tool for the manipulation ofpublic opinion. In the Soviet era the pri-mary aim of television was the educationof the people and their socialization. Tele-vision was supposed to act as a model forimitation: hence no crime, violence, or sexwas shown on Soviet television. The newsserved not to inform people but to reassurethem that everything was on the righttrack: therefore news about murders, dis-asters, and accidents would be missingfrom the standard repertoire or mentionedin passing with a minimum of information.Political news prevailed, and this tended tobe of an authentic and documentary na-ture: speeches were transmitted in full orreprinted verbatim in the print media. Asthe Soviet socialist society was based onequality, there were no stars or celebrities.Naturally, people cherished “their” heroesand admired “their” stars, but these imageswere neither created by nor promoted inthe media. Thus, the hugely popular bardVladimir Vysotsky would never appear ontelevision shows, whereas the officiallysupported stars of the Soviet estrada, suchas Arkadi Raikin, Alla Pugacheva, and IosifKobzon, had conquered the new medium inthe 1970s with a number of musical showsand programs. Similarly, game shows re-

frained from offering prizes to individualcompetitors; instead there were shows thathelped develop job-related skills. Horo-scopes and clairvoyance were completelyabsent from Soviet television (and the printmedia as well), because the country collec-tively believed in a bright future, a commu-nist future, and there was no need to pre-dict that.

In the USSR, television spread widely, asit was one means of communicationwhereby the political center (Moscow)could reach the entire country effectivelyand immediately. If, in the infant days oftelevision, there were 400 television sets(1940), this figure grew rapidly to 10,000 in1950, and five million by 1960. At this pointthe television era had just started: the fivemillion owners of sets in 1960 representedonly 5 percent of the population; by 1986almost the entire population (93 percent)had access to television. The televisiontower in Ostankino, 533 meters high and 65meters in diameter, marked the new televi-sion era. Its adjacent television center wasexpanded to accommodate more offices in1970. Television coverage expanded also:television could reach 86 percent of thecountry’s population in 1980 and almost 99percent in 1996, reflecting the growing re-alization of television’s power and thestate’s concern with making this mediumas widely available as possible. Having saidthat, the state also wished to remain incontrol: in 1996 there were still 30 percentof households that could receive only thetwo national channels (First Channel andSecond Channel). From the mid-1990s on-ward, cable and satellite television becameavailable and more and more affordable.

The USSR had two nationwide channels:the First Channel, established in 1960, andthe Second Channel, which opened in 1982


to transmit largely second-rate material leftover from the First Channel. Apart fromthat there were a number of regional andlocal stations. Nevertheless, 80 percent ofthe Soviet population watched the eveningnews program at 9 PM, Vremia (Time). Sev-eral other news programs were also verypopular, such as Segodnia v mire (Todayin the World), an analytical program offer-ing an international panorama. In Moscowa third channel started local transmissionin 1965, focusing on education; in 1967 thefourth evening channel began to coversports and local events; and the fifth wasthe Leningrad channel. Despite the rangeof channels, the news programs all origi-nated from the same news agencies: TASS(Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union) fornational news (since 1992, ITAR-TASS, In-formation Telegraph Agency of Russia) andAPN (Agence Press Novosti, now RIANovosti/RIA Vesti, Russian InternationalAgency Novosti) for international newsand longer features. Both agencies werecontrolled by the state; the first indepen-dent news agency, Interfax, was formed in1989. Soviet television showed 29 percentfilms, 20 percent news, 9 percent history,12 percent economy, 15 percent culture, 4percent sports, 8 percent children’s pro-grams, and 3 percent science and travel.These figures reflect the relative absenceof entertainment in the viewers’ diet.

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to powerin 1985, he realized the importance of themedia. He was himself very keen to be por-trayed on television; unlike his successorBoris Yeltsin, Gorbachev felt at ease infront of the camera and made ample use ofhis telegenic appearance. Gorbachev be-gan his reform course with public opinion:he wanted the people to express theirneeds, their wishes, their problems; he en-

couraged criticism, which he perceived asa tool for eradicating the corruption andmismanagement inherent in the Soviet bu-reaucracy. Since ideology and propagandawere key instruments in this fight for anopen and outspoken public opinion, Gor-bachev began his reform by placing the re-formers Alexander Yakovlev and Yegor Lig-achev into key positions in the CommunistParty’s think tank, the Central Committee.Yakovlev, who advocated the power of tele-vision, was put in charge of propaganda(and thereby mass media), and Ligachevtook charge of ideology. By 1988 Yakovlevand Ligachev would adopt different view-points on the issue of how critical the me-dia ought to be. In this rift, Ligachev pro-fessed a more conservative view, wantingto limit the breadth of the debate.

Gorbachev himself brought a number ofinnovations to television: he encouragedlive broadcasts; he called for openness(glasnost) in the treatment of news; hestressed the importance of timeliness (ope-

rativnost), of breaking the news as andwhen it happens; and he advocated plural-ism of opinions, shattering the Soviet prac-tice of offering only one line: the Commu-nist Party’s line. One striking example ofinnovative television was the creation of atelemost, a space bridge, which was usedfrequently during the late 1980s and en-joyed tremendous popularity. The firstspace bridge took place in February 1986between studios in Leningrad and Seattle;it was followed in 1986 by a bridge be-tween Moscow and Kabul, paying tributeto the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The di-rect link to a studio abroad created a win-dow on the West formally; the content ofprograms would be adopted from the Westonly too soon.

Gorbachev’s emphasis on television and

T H E M E D I A 1 5

the leader’s frequent appearance on theblue screen provoked not only favorablecomments from his compatriots. The cover-age of Raisa Gorbacheva, for example, wasin harmony with Western style, but it didnot go down well with audiences at home:people were queuing for food while the firstlady was representing the USSR abroad.

Notwithstanding the innovations Gorba-chev’s leadership brought to the variety ofprograms and the methods of presentingthe news, central television was stillobliged to cover all appearances of mem-bers of the Politburo and the Central Com-mittee, to read all their names in full inevery news item, and to transmit the leader-ship’s—often long—speeches. Gorbachevencouraged criticism, yet this criticismseemed never ending. Furthermore, therewere no quick solutions that Gorbachevcould offer. Ultimately, he used televisionto destroy the old order, without encourag-ing the medium to engage actively in build-ing public opinion. The public, which oncesuffered from “disinformation,” was nowbeing overfed with information, unable tocomprehend fully the sophisticated lan-guage, the new style of reporting, the strug-gle that went on behind the screens for realpower. This use of the media for politicalaims rather than as a stronghold of stan-dards and values, combined with the tran-sition from state-finance to independenttelevision, made television wide open forcorruption. The new generation of man-agers and reporters who arrived on thescreens during Yeltsin’s presidency offereddifferent views, operated with changedethics, and—to varying degrees—vied forpower.

Maximum Exposure: News on Televi-

sion Soviet television programming had

contained some entertainment; however,the game show had the aim to instill the de-sire for self-improvement into the candi-dates, urging them to compete in skills.The television serial was an immenselypopular genre, with the spy and detectivethriller at the top of the league table duringthe Soviet years. The serial TASS Is Autho-

rised to Report (TASS upolnomochensoobshchit’, 1984) and Seventeen Moments

of Spring (17 mgnovenii vesny, 1973), bothwritten by the best-selling writer Yulian Se-myonov, were watched by millions andhave become part of urban folklore withanecdotes about Stirlitz, the Soviet spy inHitler’s administration. The Eternal Call

(Vechnyi zov), a best-selling novel by Ana-toli Ivanov that traces the fate of severalSiberian families during the Soviet era, wasalso serialized. Stanislav Govorukhin’s The

Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Mestovstrechi izmenit’ nel’zia, 1979), starring thebard and actor Vladimir Vysotsky, has be-come a classic.

With the advent of Gorbachev’s reforms,however, the main interest of people, edu-cated or not, lay with politics and history.For the first time in years they were al-lowed access to the previously blank pagesof Soviet history: they could read previ-ously censored works of literature, watchfilms that had been shelved, discover hith-erto hidden historical facts in documen-taries and historical novels. They were ableto hear things about their country that theywere aware of but that had never been pro-nounced in the open. The interest of view-ers was first and foremost in the analyticalprograms about the past and in innovative,live (rather than prerecorded) coverage ofcurrent affairs.

Therefore, most important and mostpopular were the news programs. The


news program Vremia took the lead. It hadbeen shown since January 1968 in the 9 PM

slot and was traditionally preceded by atrailer showing a view of the Kremlin towerand its clock, accompanied by a trium-phant, marchlike tune. Gorbachev’s newhead of Vremia, Eduard Sagalayev, re-placed this logo in May 1986 with a moreglobal symbol: a red star rising from be-hind a globe. One of his successors re-verted from the new tune by the moderncomposer Alfred Schnittke, widely knownin the West, back to the old music. Vremia

mainly covered news from the USSR, withjust under a fifth of its stories reaching be-yond the country’s borders. Vremia was in-variably presented by two newsreaders,one male and one female, seated at a tableand facing their large microphones. Therewere no teleprompters, so the news wasread from a script. The old-fashionedVremia was replaced temporarily by TSN,

or Tele Sluzhba Novosti (Tele ServiceNews), but returned with the old name in1994. TSN had started as an alternativenews program on 1 January 1990, wherethe texts were read from a teleprompter bythe anchors Tatiana Mitkova and DmitriKiselyov, who would move to the New Rus-sian channel RTR (Rossiiskoe Televidenie iRadio, Russian Television and Radio) in1991.

One of the first and most exciting inno-vations was the program Vzgliad (View-point), shown initially on Fridays as a lateevening weekend show, starting from Oc-tober 1987. In light of the fact that the jam-ming of foreign radio stations would endby the autumn of 1989, the new homemadeprograms had to be competitive and offer adifferent quality of journalism in a differentkind of news. Fresh faces were needed, sothe program hired its presenters from the

foreign section of Radio Moscow, sincethey were most versed in a Western-styleapproach to news. Alexander Liubimov,Vlad Listiev, Vladimir Mukusev, and SergeiLomakin formed the Vzgliad team underAnatoli Lysenko. Four young men in sweat-shirts would lead the country’s most chal-lenging information program. Listiev waspopular on television because of his gameshow Pole chudes (Miracle Field), modeledon Wheel of Fortune. Vzgliad covered anumber of sensitive themes, ranging fromAfghan students complaining about thenew Soviet-supported regime (January1989), to a show in which the director ofthe Lenkom Theater, Mark Zakharov, sug-gested that Lenin’s body, embalmed in the

T H E M E D I A 1 7

Eduard Sagalayev, president of the National

Association of Television and Radio

Broadcasters, 2001. (Photo by Valery

Melnikov/Kommersant)

mausoleum, should be finally laid to rest(March 1989). The latter programs led tothe forced “retirement’ of television chiefAlexander Aksyonov. It became clear thatglasnost had its limits: Lenin’s tomb was asacred cow for the Soviet regime. In Octo-ber 1989 Vzgliad had to refrain from livebroadcasting, using instead a taped inter-view with the dissident and nuclear physi-cist Andrei Sakharov, who had beenreleased from exile in Gorky (Nizhny Nov-gorod) only 18 months earlier. Vzgliad

achieved ratings of up to 70 percent, eventhough being repeatedly threatened withclosure. In December 1990 the Vzgliad

team was not allowed to cover ForeignMinister Eduard Shevardnadze’s resigna-tion but instead was forced to focus on thenew vice president, Gennadi Yanayev. On 9January 1991 the program was closed bythe television chief’s deputy, Petr Reshetov,who would himself be sacked only dayslater over the coverage of the events in Vil-nius (see “Event 3” below). The team ofVzgliad continued the production of theirprogram, transmitting it via regional sta-tions. Their production company VID(Vzgliad i drugie, Viewpoint and others)continues to the present day to make andsell political and analytical programs.

The second successful program wasDvenadtsatyi etazh (Twelfth Floor),named after the location of the youth de-partment in Gosteleradio and launched in1986 by Eduard Sagalayev. Sagalayev ex-ploited his Uzbek origin and his role as anoutsider in Moscow. Dvenadtsatyi etazh

was a youth program, inviting young peo-ple to comment on a number of themes. Itwent on air for the first time in January1986 as a supplement to Mir i yunost

(World and Youth). Dvenadtsatyi etazh

distinguished itself by a lively, natural at-

mosphere, where satellite links were set upto remote areas of the Soviet Union, to in-terview young people in their own environ-ment rather than in a hostile studio. It tran-spired that the young generation lacked asense of meaning in life: they complainedabout the boring textbooks at school, theabsence of interesting leisure-time provi-sions, and the obstructions of the komso-

mol youth organization when they tried toset up events that were interesting to them.In the studio were ministers or their dep-uties, answering questions and promisingsolutions. Dvenadtsatyi etazh told thecountry and its leadership about the needsof ordinary people, teenagers, youngsters;it made the politicians aware of a generallack of inspiration—a vital ingredient if thepopulation was to be mobilized to supportthe reform course. And this was clearly onGorbachev’s agenda: the need to have thesupport of the people for his reforms, to in-volve the people in the process of changewere things that Khrushchev had failed todo in the attempted reforms of his Thaw(1956–1964). Dvenadtsatyi etazh raisedexpectations and showed no results; orelse it exposed the fact that such resultswere not delivered. The Kremlin worriedabout the young generation in particular,perceiving the danger of youth opting outof a Soviet future. The blame for this lackof motivation to participate in the con-struction of the country’s new future waslaid at the feet of bourgeois propagandaand Western influences, such as rock mu-sic. Dvenadtsatyi etazh was condemnedby the press and was suspended in the au-tumn of 1987 on Ligachev’s order. It wasback in May 1988 and later replaced by Do

i posle polunochi (Before and after Mid-night), a program with music and news,created and hosted by Vladimir Molchanov.


Prozhektor perestroiki (Spotlight on Pere-stroika) started in August 1987 as anevening program hosted by AlexanderTikhomirov; it exposed corruption allacross the country, causing ministers tomake local visits and sort things out,prompted by the events covered in the pro-gram. Tikhomirov was fired in January1990. Like Vzgliad and Dvenadtsatyi

etazh, the program had come under attackfor controversial coverage.

Journalists became stars as they ex-plored and exposed the wounds of social-ism, leaving the healing process to poli-ticians, who were more than oftenunprepared for such a task. Suddenly thesocialist system, taken as perfect by theruling elite, opened up a minefield of prob-lems. Investigative journalists rose to thestatus of public heroes: Bella Kurkova,

Alexander Nevzorov, and Vladimir Poznerwere three such figures. Bella Kurkova ranthe Leningrad program Piatoye koleso

(Fifth Wheel), an investigative news pro-gram. Kurkova was elected to parliament,using her position of parliamentary immu-nity to save her program from closure in1990 and 1991 when other challenging pro-grams were closed; indeed, she even of-fered airtime to the Vzgliad team in 1991.Alexander Nevzorov’s 600 sekund (600Seconds) covered local news in Leningrad,touching on sensitive topics similar tothose brought up in Vzgliad: drugs, rockmusic, violence. Nevzorov’s rather unre-fined manners on his program, the bluntand obtrusive questioning, betrayed thefact that he trained not as a journalist butas a circus artist. His unusual style and hisovertly nationalist views made him a popu-

T H E M E D I A 1 9

Vladimir Pozner presenting Drugie vremena, September 2001. (Photo by Vasily Shaposhnikov/

Kommersant)

lar, but also despised, figure, which was re-vealed in the attempt on his life in Decem-ber 1990. When he supported Gorbachev’sattempts to stop Lithuanian independence,the ratings for his program slumped. Thetwo programs Nashi (Ours) on the Lithu-anian independence movement (1991) andon Chechnya (1995) defended strongly theaction of the Soviet/Russian troops withoutattempting a more objective portrayal ofthe events. Vladimir Pozner had been incharge of American and British affairs onradio since 1961. In 1986 he presented thefirst space bridges between Leningrad andSeattle and between Leningrad andBoston. He joined central television as apolitical observer and left the Soviet Unionin April 1991, the year of clampdown onnew programs that would end with a politi-cal coup and the dissolution of the SovietUnion. He moved to the United States,where he hosted a show with Phil Donahue(Pozner and Donahue), and returned toRussia in 1997. In these three presenterswe can observe different attitudes to politi-cal events: Kurkova’s investigative journal-ism that survived the impasse of 1990 and1991 thanks to her political involvement;Nevzorov’s nationalist views that lost pop-ularity with audiences and television direc-tors; and Pozner’s approach to open theviewer’s field of vision to life in the West,which became controversial and led to hisemigration.

The years 1990 and 1991 in this sensemark a watershed: the limits of glasnosthad been tested, television offered noremedies, and Ligachev put an end to theexposure of the system’s “wounds.” Threeevents of the Gorbachev period (1985–1991) may serve here as case studies ofchanges in the news coverage.

Event 1: April/May 1986: Chernobyl

The events of Chernobyl and their treat-ment in the Soviet media are regarded as awatershed in Soviet news coverage. The re-ports started off in Soviet style, playingdown the events; they ended in a full inves-tigation. After Chernobyl, the media werequicker to respond and more eager to dis-cover the truth of a story, and they applieda more investigative style of reporting. Theway in which information was reported(not only to the media) during the incidentin Chernobyl gave Gorbachev a lever toforce the media to adopt a different ap-proach and change strategy. The mediawere quick to respond to this challenge. Byexposing the rotten state of the Soviet sys-tem, they contributed to a much morerapid disclosure of the need for reformthan Gorbachev had envisaged. This even-tually led to Gorbachev’s defeat and pre-pared the ground for the spectacular rolethe media would play during Yeltsin’syears. Gorbachev wanted to expose thefaults of the Soviet bureaucracy and putthem right, without realizing that he wasopening a Pandora’s box. The flow of criti-cism was never ending, and problemscould not be solved with the needed expe-diency in a system that was partly still inthe grip of the old, Communist guard.

The explosion at the fourth reactor ofthe Chernobyl nuclear power station in theearly hours of 26 April 1986 was first notedin a news report on 28 April from Sweden,where high radioactivity had been mea-sured and traced back to the Ukraine. Thelargest nuclear accident of the twentiethcentury had to be reported by Western me-dia two days after the event to make theSoviet Union respond at all. The Sovietnews program Vremia reported that an ac-


cident had occurred at Chernobyl and thatthings were under control, probably unableto ignore the accident altogether, as it hadbeen picked up by the Western media. Nomeasures were taken to evacuate childrenor stop the May Day parades out in theopen air, or to warn the population in anyother way, thus exposing them unnecessar-ily to radiation in order to avoid panic. TheUSSR released sparse reports on the inci-dent, mentioning it briefly and low downon the news agenda, whereas the West ex-aggerated the incident by claiming thatthere was a danger of meltdown. Clearly,the USSR underplayed grossly, but theWestern media also overreacted. Localpeople were not informed either. The offi-cial version was formulated after a visit ofPolitburo members to the site, in whichGorbachev had not taken part. Gorbachevaddressed the people only on 14 May.

With hindsight it is most likely not onlythat the Soviet information system provedinadequate to provide a low level of infor-mation on disasters and accidents to itspeople but that the information flow withinthe structures of power also was at fault.According to the eminent Russian journal-ist Vladimir Pozner, the Ukraine tried toconceal from Moscow the scale of the acci-dent, so that it was not until the official del-egation from Moscow visited the plant atthe beginning of May that the full scale ofthe accident became apparent. Others haveargued that Moscow deliberately tried toplay down the incident, wanting to avoidpanic and trying to delay the evacuation ofchildren until the start of the summer vaca-tion later in May. No matter which versioncomes closest to the truth, after Chernobylthe Soviet media responded promptly andswiftly to calamities. They had learned a

lesson and would often give a clearer pic-ture of events than the official versions (forexample, in the coverage on Chechnya).

Event 2: May 1990: May Day Parade

Gorbachev expected gratitude from thepeople for the reforms he initiated. Instead,he suffered huge public humiliation. Dur-ing the traditional May Day Parade in 1990,Gorbachev and the party leadershipwatched the parade from the balcony ofthe Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square. Theofficial part of the parade was usually fol-lowed by a demonstration organized by theMoscow City Council, calling on tradeunion associations and workers’ unions. In1990, however, the mayor, Gavriil Popov,had been denied the right to organize thispart of the parade because of fears that hemight use the demonstration to air viewsabout those people disadvantaged by re-forms, for whom he tried to constructsafety nets. The nonofficial parade ap-peared with posters challenging Gorba-chev to resign. According to (unwritten)television law, the cameras had to staywith the parade until the leaders left thetribune. Although Gorbachev had been ad-vised to leave the tribune after the officialpart of the demonstration, he stayed onand witnessed the protest against his ownperson. Television had to show the protes-tors, thus contributing to the public humili-ation of the country’s leader. The transmis-sion was duly cut off as soon as Gorbachevleft the tribune. The television coverage ofthis minor incident shows that televisionwas still forced to adhere to unwritten con-ventions of the coverage of the leadershipand high-ranking officials. It also reflectsthe population’s dissatisfaction with thepolitics of their president.

T H E M E D I A 2 1

Event 3: January 1991: Vilnius Theevents in Vilnius in January 1991 are highlysignificant and cannot be underestimated.The Baltic republics Lithuania, Latvia, andEstonia vehemently opposed Soviet con-trol and demanded independence. In a his-toric sense, they had been the last “addi-tions” to the Soviet Empire and had beeneffectively annexed in 1939 by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In Lithuania the inde-pendence movement had begun in 1988with Sajudis (Lithuanian Popular Front),and independence had been declared on 11March 1990. On 7 January 1991, the minis-ter of defense deployed troops in the BalticRepublics in order to ensure that the draftinto the Soviet army would continue; thiswas a clear signal that independencewould not be acknowledged. On 13 Janu-ary these Soviet troops stormed the televi-sion tower in Vilnius, killing unarmed pro-testers in the process. After the incident,no high-ranking Soviet official took respon-

sibility: Defense minister Dmitri Yazov andKGB head Vladimir Kriuchkov claimedthey knew nothing, and Gorbachev insistedhe had not ordered the storming. Withhindsight, again this must be seen as an at-tempt to undermine Gorbachev’s policiesand to enforce the Soviet Union’s unity,particularly in the light of Yazov’s andKriuchkov’s roles later in August 1991. Theofficial media reports on this event sup-ported the Soviet intervention. Televisionhad become investigative, however, and re-porters had got into the habit of askingquestions rather than just executing or-ders. TSN anchor Tatiana Mitkova refusedto read the text produced by the head ofnews, Petr Reshetov, handing it to the headof television, who dismissed Reshetov. ByJanuary 1991 the media were living up tothe role required by Gorbachev: to reportas objectively and independently as possi-ble, with utmost “openness” and “timeli-ness,” even if this meant discrediting theKremlin leadership. The price they paidwas that the anchors were subsequentlyfired and TSN censored. The team movedto the newly founded channel RTR.

The topics of social problems, historicalanalysis, and current affairs had soon be-come largely exhausted. But more thanthat: exposure alone could not resolve theproblems, and although many programswere closed, others simply became repeti-tive. When the demand for such programshad been saturated, the viewers’ attentiondid not shift toward television serials orforeign films, which became available onSoviet television. The viewers were gluedto the political show. For the first time,they felt actively involved in politics ratherthan ruled by unbending bureaucrats. Inthe late 1980s the transmission of politicalmeetings gripped large parts of the popula-


Television presenter Tatiana Mitkova in her

Ostankino office, 2003. (Photo by Vasily

Shaposhnikov/Kommersant)

tion, to the extent that productivity fellduring sessions of the Party Congress orthe Congress of People’s Deputies. Thecongress’s live transmissions, for eighthours every day, captivated television audi-ences all over the country in the summer of1989 (25 May–9 June) when for the firsttime elected deputies could speak up infront of the congress, in front of an audi-ence of millions. They turned politics into ashow and found a receptive audience.Elections to the congress had taken placeon 26 March 1989. Many journalists andmembers of the cultural elite had beenelected to the congress, which thus con-sisted not only of bureaucrats but also ofpeople who had spoken up in favor of re-form. The coverage of the congress meantthat the people’s deputies could be heard:they could voice their opinions and ad-dress the cameras, thus legitimizing theirviews by expressing them to the leadershipand the public simultaneously.

The Political Show: Gorbachev versus

Yeltsin Even though public debate wasat the forefront of the media’s attentionand had become a routine, both in terms oftransmissions of debates and analytical po-litical programmes, elections had neverbeen covered before (other than reportingresults), since Soviet elections representeda ritual rather than a real vote. The firstelection to the Congress of People’s Depu-ties on 26 March 1989 involved no politicalparties, as the Communist Party remainedthe only admitted party to the elections. Itwas an opportunity for the people to electdeputies they trusted, and deputies wereoften from the artistic intelligentsia: theywere actors, directors, filmmakers, andjournalists rather than party bureaucrats.The congress to be elected would, how-

ever, have a pseudodemocratic status andelect the president, Mikhail Gorbachev, inMarch 1990. Despite the absence of partycompetition, the head of television, Alex-ander Aksyonov, was dismissed over thecoverage of the elections. He had showntoo much of Boris Yeltsin, who had beenexcluded from the Politburo and sacked asMoscow party boss in November 1987 afterhis severe criticism of Gorbachev and Liga-chev. Again, it was clear that glasnost hadits limits: a candidate for people’s deputywho had fallen from grace was not an ap-propriate subject for television coverage.The portrayal of Yeltsin on television wasfurther restricted during the run-up to theelections for the Russian Soviet FederatedSocialist Republic (RSFSR) Congress ofPeople’s Deputies. It was in the light ofthese restrictions that the acquisition of atelevision channel became of prime impor-tance to the Yeltsin camp, leading to aphased access to channel 2 for the new, pro-Yeltsin channel RTR in the autumn of 1990.Radio Russia was set up in December 1990by the same structures (VGTRK, the All-Russian Television and Radio BroadcastingCompany, Vserossiiskaia gosudarstvennaiatelevizionnaia i radioveshchatel’naia kom-paniia). Effectively, the First Channel wasthe Soviet, pro-Gorbachev channel; theSecond Channel was the Russian Federa-tion’s pro-Yeltsin channel. On 13 May 1991,a month before Yeltsin’s election as presi-dent of the RSFSR on 12 June 1991, RTRbegan broadcasting with an airtime alloca-tion of six hours a day in three segments,with their flagship Vesti, the evening newsprogram. The Soviet Union now had twochannels, with different political alle-giances; one Soviet, the other owned by theRSFSR (Russian) government. This pre-pared the ground for the “battle” to be

T H E M E D I A 2 3

fought over coverage during the Augustcoup of 1991.

In the prelude to the coup, the press hadestablished its power to force and push fordecisions. The media had conquered a po-sition whereby they could influence theruler, and therefore the ownership of themedia became a crucial issue in the future.The press, which had supported Yeltsin in1990 when showing information on Vilniusand crushing of demonstrations in Tiflis,both disadvantageous to Gorbachev, alsosided with Yeltsin during the coup.

The Putsch (Coup): 19–21 August 1991

On 19 August 1991, President Gorbachevwas on holiday in the Crimean resort ofForos. In Moscow, Prime Minister VladimirPavlov, Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov,Minister of the Interior Boris Pugo, KGBhead Vladimir Kriuchkov, and Vice Presi-dent Gennadi Yanayev formed a StateEmergency Committee, the GKChP (Gosu-darstvennyi komitet po chrezvychainomupolozheniiu). They declared that Gorba-chev was in poor health and incapable ofrunning the country’s affairs. Politically,they wanted to preserve the Soviet Unionand stop the break-up that was being nego-tiated between Gorbachev and other headsof Soviet republics. The sudden turn thatthe coup took on the third day depended toa large extent on the media coverage, how-ever.

The State Emergency Committee had re-alized the crucial role of the media and hadblacked out RTR on the morning of 19 Au-gust while the First Channel transmittedSwan Lake, interrupted by communiquésof the coup leaders. The head of state tele-vision (Central Television, the First Chan-nel), Leonid Kravchenko, had been orderedto the television center in the early hours

of the morning to ensure the transmissionof statements from the State EmergencyCommittee. Statements by the committeewere brought into the station in Yanayev’shandwriting, highlighting the rushed na-ture of the coup. With RTR switched off,the oppositional Leningrad television notavailable in Moscow, and no foreign sourceavailable (Cable News Network [CNN] wasnot yet broadcast in Russia), the commit-tee seemed in charge of the flow of infor-mation. Eleven newspapers were out-lawed, but—in an extraordinary display ofcourage and ingenuity—their editorsjoined forces to publish, and print outsideMoscow, the Obshchaya gazeta (CommonGazette).

Although the State Emergency Commit-tee had apparently taken control of the tele-vision center, it had underestimated the in-vestigative spirit aroused in journalistsunder Gorbachev’s reforms. The correspon-dent Sergei Medvedev asked for permissionto go to the “Bely dom,” the Russian “WhiteHouse” and seat of parliament (symbol ofthe opposition to the coup plotters, ofYeltsin’s resistance as he stood on a tankthere, surrounded by the rallying crowds),and to do coverage on location. He filmedthe crowds, making them look larger thanin reality. He showed Yeltsin from a lowcamera angle, making him tower up on atank. Medvedev did everything possible tocover the events but to make the resistancelook powerful. Back in the television cen-ter, the head of news, Olvar Kakuchaya,managed to slot Medvedev’s report into thenews program Vremia that evening, thusmaking the public aware of the oppositionto the coup and demonstrating that it wasfar from a smooth and well-planned opera-tion as the State Emergency Committeewould have liked to perceive it. The illegiti-


macy of their actions was further under-lined in a press conference, where Yanay-ev’s shaking hands were deliberately notedited out, hinting at his uncertainty: hewas not in control of the situation. Televi-sion manipulated the coverage of the StateEmergency Committee—despite censor-ship and control—in such a way that madethe illegitimacy of the coup obvious and ul-timately forced the coup leaders to surren-der. The role of television’s coverage ofYeltsin leading the crowds against the StateEmergency Committee contributed to thecoup’s failure. It was the media’s decisivepoint of view that had mattered. In a sensethis helps explain the overvalued role oftelevision in subsequent elections, espe-cially presidential ones, and the attempt ofleading politicians to control the media bypurchasing shares in channels. The ap-pointment of the editor of the liberal paperMoscow News (published in several lan-guages), Yegor Yakovlev, and of the pioneerof challenging current affairs programs,Eduard Sagalayev, to the two controllingpositions at the First Channel was a logicalstep that coincided with the transfer of theownership of central television from theSoviet authorities to the Russian Federa-tion (RSFSR).

The Second Coup: President versus

Parliament in October 1993 Althoughthe August 1991 coup posed a genuinethreat to the process of liberalization in-duced by Gorbachev, the October coupwas a muscle test between PresidentYeltsin and the elected Russian parliament.Yeltsin had exercised the right to overruleand disband parliament, whereas the par-liamentary opposition wanted to see therole of the president reduced along thelines of the French representative model. A

referendum on 25 April 1993 had given sup-port to the president, empowering him torule over parliament, overrule decisions,and dissolve parliament.

On 21 September 1993, Yeltsin dis-banded parliament by decree and orderednew elections. The parliament in its turn,led by Vice President Alexander Rutskoyand the speaker of parliament RuslanKhasbulatov, ordered the removal of thepresident. The White House was cordonedoff, and the parliamentarians inside weregiven a deadline: to surrender by 4 Octo-ber. On 2 October a demonstration tookplace outside the White House, assaultingpolice forces and breaking the cordon. Themob moved on to the television center Os-tankino, throwing Molotov cocktails intothe building, killing 143 people and leaving735 wounded. On 3 October Yeltsin or-dered the tanks to fire, charring the facadeof the White House. Rutskoy and Khasbula-tov surrendered. Another attempt to topplethe president had failed because of the in-ability of the coup leaders to control andmanipulate the media.

After the break-up of the USSR, the First(formerly Soviet) Channel served the presi-dent; the second channel (RTR) was loyalto parliament, in theory at least. RTR wasforced by the Russian parliament to in-crease its coverage of parliamentary dis-cussion and transmit Parliamentary Hourfive times a week; however, when re-quested to move it to a prime time slot, theYeltsin loyalist and head of the station OlegPoptsov resisted. On the evening of 2 Octo-ber, as the mob attacked Ostankino, thehead of central television, Viacheslav Bra-gin, took the decision to close down trans-mission. This meant that millions of televi-sion screens all over the country wentdark, suggesting to the nation that the

T H E M E D I A 2 5

country was without leadership. In orderto remedy this potentially dangerous situa-tion, RTR managed to secure access to thefrequency of central television and broad-cast on the first channel nationwide. Itplaced the anchor Svetlana Sorokina, aface familiar to the population from Vesti,

in the news studio. If RTR managed to useits emergency studios, it leaves the ques-tion why central television did not resort toits emergency studios. The conduct of RTRin this situation was just one more indica-tion of the responsiveness of newer televi-sion channels in comparison with the oncefavored central television. Yeltsin reintro-duced censorship in the aftermath of thiscoup. Several papers left blank spaces forsuppressed articles. Yeltsin indicated hiswillingness to manipulate the press, aswould later become evident in the manipu-

lation of television both for the coverage ofChechnya on NTV and of the elections.

The First Electoral Campaign: Parlia-

ment (Duma) 1993 After the attemptedcoup had been averted, the presidentcalled for new elections to parliament.These elections in December 1993 were thefirst multiparty elections. For the first timethe media, above all television, played acrucial role in party broadcasting. In the af-termath it would transpire that the owner-ship of television stations and control ofairtime were of prime importance. Thiswould lead to a battle over control of thetelevision networks that would dominatethe second term of Yeltsin’s rule (1996–2000). Thirteen parties were admitted tothe elections, which also comprised a voteon the new constitution that made parlia-


Svetlana Sorokina presenting the program Glaz naroda, September 2001. (Photo by Vasily


ment less powerful. Free airtime was allo-cated to each party, and unlimited addi-tional time could be purchased for partybroadcasts. The Communist Party andGrigori Yavlinsky’s liberal and democraticYabloko (means “apple” but is formed fromthe names of Yavlinsky, Boldyrev, Lukin,and company), however, bought no airtimeat all. None of the political parties had anyexperience of political party broadcasts;neither did the Russian viewers and votersknow what they were looking for: a politi-cal program, a charismatic leader, or agood political advertisement.

The party that supported Yeltsin, Rus-sia’s Choice (Vybor Rossii), simply mod-eled its campaign on product advertise-ments in the style of “buy this.” The mediawere used to build candidates, often littleknown outside Moscow. The candidate ofthe Liberal Democrats (LDP), VladimirZhirinovsky, was “made” by the media. Hehad the ability to address viewers in nor-mal language, which they felt spoke tothem directly, avoiding the official jargonthat had infected so many ex-Soviet politi-cians. He vowed to get rid of advertisingthat inundated television and the marketwith American products and promised a re-turn to the Russian style, using in his cam-paign the chocolate bar Snickers as thesymbol for American influence. The Com-munist Party’s candidate Gennadi Ziuganovalso led a campaign against American influ-ence. In a country inexperienced in plural-istic political broadcasting, the creation ofa media image was more important thanthe political agenda offered by the parties.For a population that for more than sev-enty years had voted only in order to ap-prove of the system, the new real andmeaningful elections took them to anotherextreme. People were called to the ballot

box more than six times in five years in avariety of elections, from Soviet to Rus-sian, parliamentary to presidential—not tomention census and referenda.

“Vote or You’ll Lose”: The Presidential

Elections of 1996 The presidential elec-tions of 1996 represented the first electionswith competing candidates for the presi-dency. Gorbachev had been elected presi-dent of the Soviet Union by the Soviet Con-gress of People’s Deputies, and the RSFSR’sCongress had voted for Yeltsin as presidentof the RSFSR in June 1991. In the 1996 elec-tions, Boris Yeltsin’s strongest opponentwas the Communist Gennadi Ziuganov. Theforecasts were all in favor of Ziuganov, as amajority of the population was dissatisfiedwith the economic chaos that had grippedthe country with the liberalization of prices(they had previously been fixed by thestate) in 1992. Especially the older genera-tion, largely on disgracefully low pensions,wished for a return to a stable economicsystem, and the Communist system had of-fered that for more than seventy years. Tomake sure they knew what they were vot-ing for by supporting Ziuganov, Nikita Mi-khalkov’s Oscar-winning film Burnt by the

Sun (Utomlennye solntsem, 1994), expos-ing the horrors of Stalin’s regime, wasbroadcast on the eve of the election. Themedia were thus far from objective, both inthe active involvement in the electoral cam-paign and in programming.

If Gorbachev loved to give television in-terviews and felt at ease in front of thecamera, then Yeltsin did not: he was nottelegenic. He apparently considered radioa far more effective medium. But above all,he preferred contact with the people with-out mediation. With presidential electionscoming up in 1996, the support of the

T H E M E D I A 2 7

media was crucial. RTR was state owned,and the state was a major shareholder inORT (Obshestvennoe rossiiskoe televide-nie, Public Russian Television) (now part-privatized); the other major shareholder inthe channel, the media mogul Boris Bere-zovsky, supported Yeltsin, so that the sup-port of the two major channels was cer-tain. The chief of the new and highlypopular news channel NTV, Igor Mala-shenko, was invited to act as Yeltsin’s elec-tion adviser, thus securing the support alsoof the third major channel. Malashenkohoped to acquire for NTV full airtime,which was subsequently granted in autumn1996. Malashenko was ready to sacrificeNTV’s objectivity, fearing the return of theCommunists. Although journalistically andmorally his actions deserve condemnation,he acted in political and economic self-in-terest. NTV used his role as a trusted andpolitically independent commentator, ac-quired as a result of the coverage of Chech-nya, to manipulate the voters.

Malashenko’s campaign group success-fully built up Yeltsin’s media image. Withthe help of Yeltsin’s daughter Tatiana Dia-chenko, the campaign team mounted forYeltsin a tour of the country that allowedhim to feature prominently on the news,thus enhancing his television presence. Inorder to improve his appearance in front ofthe camera, NTV’s major shareholder,Vladimir Gusinsky, purchased a tele-prompter for Yeltsin. The coverage of theelectoral campaign showed Yeltsin dancingand singing with the people, in direct con-tact with the population, which was whathe was best at (certainly better than at talk-ing to the camera). Since it was crucial toget over 50 percent of the population tovote, Sergei Lisovsky led a campaign espe-cially directed at young voters with the slo-

gan “Vote or you’ll lose.” Moreover, toavoid a majority for Ziuganov in the firstround, a strong third candidate wasbrought into the arena in order to split vot-ers between Yeltsin and Ziuganov. For thispurpose, ORT built the image of GeneralAlexander Lebed and raised his popularityby 10 percent. After the first round Lebedappealed to his voters to support Yeltsin.

Between the first round (16 June) andthe second round (3 July), Yeltsin did notappear on television; by now he had seri-ous health problems leading to a multiplebypass operation later that year. In theweeks between the two rounds of votinganother scandal blew up, which almost de-stroyed the campaign team’s efforts. Presi-dential security boss and former KGB offi-cer Alexander Korzhakov ordered thearrest of two aides in Yeltsin’s team as theyremoved half a million dollars (as paymentfor the electoral campaign) from the WhiteHouse on 20 June. Korzhakov tried to im-plicate the Yeltsin team (and the privatiza-tion minister Anatoli Chubais) in improperuse of campaign money. The spilling of theinformation could have seriously endan-gered Yeltsin’s campaign, and it is possiblethe incident was set up to discredit him.Korzhakov was dismissed. On 3 July, Yel-tsin was elected president of the RussianFederation, and the media had played a de-cisive and crucial role in building up hisimage as a people’s president and runninghis campaign. It had also become clear thatthe relationship between political powerand the media was riddled with corruption.

Not between Snickers and Tampax:

The Presidential Elections of 2000 Ifthe presidential elections of 1996 had cap-tured the television viewers’ attention bythe scandals that surrounded the media


coverage, then Putin’s campaign happenedbefore he even announced his candidature.Putin had no direct involvement with themedia, nor did he have a campaign team.His campaign was therefore, as it were,conducted behind the screen rather thanon the screen, clearly indicated in a state-ment made on a television. He assertedthat he was not going to conduct an elec-toral campaign through the media, adver-tising himself between Snickers and Tam-pax, the products that dominated Russianadvertising at the time.

Vladimir Putin had been designatedprime minister in August 1999. In the fivemonths before Yeltsin’s resignation on NewYear’s Eve of the new millennium, whenPutin became acting president until hisproper election in March 2000, the state-owned media (ORT, RTR) covered Putin’stravels across the country in his capacityas prime minister. As he promised to raisepensions, fight terrorism, bring back somesectors of the economy into the state’shands, and put an end to the Chechen con-flict, he created his image as a strongleader. The bombing of two apartmentblocks in Moscow in September 1999 justi-fied strong measures against Chechnya andeffectively triggered the second Chechenwar. The media speculated for a whilewhether these bombings had been genuineacts of terror or mere pretexts for the com-mencement of a second campaign. Chech-nya propelled Putin into the limelight as atough leader. Later, when elected presi-dent, Putin would often avoid that kind ofmedia attention, for example when delay-ing his comments on such calamities as theaccident of the Kursk submarine, the ter-rorist attack in the Pushkin Square subway,or the arrest of NTV’s boss Gusinsky.

The media’s attention in those months

was focused on the electoral campaign forthe parliamentary elections in December1999, which proved decisive in the prepara-tion of Putin’s victory. The party supportedby Putin, Unity (Edinstvo), was headed byIgor Shoigu; the apparently strongest polit-ical bloc was Fatherland—All Russia(Otechestvo—vsia Rossiya, OVR), headedby former prime minister Yevgeni Pri-makov, and the Communist Party of Gen-nadi Ziuganov. Apart from Primakov andZiuganov, the other major player for thepresidential campaign was the Moscowmayor, Yuri Luzhkov. As the state-con-trolled media (ORT, RTR) followed Putinon his journeys, they not only supported

T H E M E D I A 2 9

ORT journalist Sergei Dorenko conducted a

number of current affairs programs during

November and December 1999 that discredited

Yuri Luzhkov. (Photo by Pavel Smertin/

Kommersant)

the prime minister’s party Unity, but theyalso discredited Primakov and his partyOVR as well as the potentially strong presi-dential candidate, Yuri Luzhkov. The al-liance between Luzhkov and Primakov un-der OVR formed in the summer of 1999 hadled Yeltsin to realize the urgent need to finda successor who would protect the “fam-ily,” the people working around Yeltsin.ORT journalist Sergei Dorenko conducteda number of current affairs programs dur-ing November and December 1999 that dis-credited Yuri Luzhkov. Only the Moscow-owned TV-Center and the independentchannel NTV resisted the state channels,offering airtime to Primakov. After the de-feat of OVR in the elections, where theCommunists came in first and the pro-Putin Unity took second place, NTVchanged its portrayal of Putin to a more fa-vorable view. It is worth noting, however,that reprimands followed: NTV was sub-jected to tax inspection raids, and TV Cen-ter was asked in February 2000 to bid forthe renewal of its license (which was sub-sequently granted). Vladimir Putin waselected president on 26 March 2000 with amajority of 53 percent of the votes in thefirst round.

Television Conflicts The Afghan warcoverage under Gorbachev departed fromthe old-style view of the campaign as socialreform toward a conflict that involvedfighting; at the same time it was also a warwhere the military lost control of mediacoverage. In the Chechen conflict the jour-nalists developed their investigation stylesand showed reports that contradicted—openly and visually—the official versionoffered by the Russian government spokes-men, not unlike the coverage of the eventsin Vilnius.

Particularly blunt and challenging werethe reports shown on NTV by its reporterYelena Masiuk, who had covered Chechnyasince September 1994. When from Decem-ber 1994 to January 1995 (the beginning ofthe first Chechen war) the official reportsspoke of the peaceful capture of Grozny,NTV showed pictures of bombs and tanksin Grozny, which contradicted the officialversion. As a result, the channel wasthreatened with having its licence revoked.Masiuk was then subjected to criticismfrom LDP leader Zhirinovsky, accusing herof taking bribes from the Chechens. Ma-siuk sued Zhirinovsky and won the case in1996. Later, during her coverage of the war,Masiuk was seized by Chechen rebels andheld hostage from May until August 1997,until she was released for a ransom of al-legedly ten million dollars.

The Chechen war coverage was probablythe largest thorn in the flesh of the Russiangovernment with regard to television. Themilitary apparently feared and hated thejournalists. In one incident, Sergei Govo-rukhin, the son of the well-known film-maker and one time politician StanislavGovorukhin, was making a documentaryabout the war when he was injured inChechnya. The injury to his leg urgentlyneeded medical attention, but he could onlybe flown out of the war zone by a Russianmilitary helicopter. As he had no militarypapers, he was left waiting for transporta-tion, having received emergency treatmentonly. Subsequently he lost his leg.

The case of Andrei Babitsky causedmore of an international scandal, since heworked for Radio Liberty (funded by theU.S. Congress), thus ensuring media cover-age of his case outside Russia. Babitskywas reporting from Chechnya, not follow-ing the official line of war coverage, when


he suddenly and mysteriously disappearedin January 2000. With a massive delay, offi-cial Russian sources announced that he hadbeen arrested for not carrying the relevantdocuments and would be released. Instead,he was exchanged for two Russian prison-ers of war and handed over to Chechencaptivity in February 2000. Three weekslater he turned up in Makhachkala, the cap-ital of Daghestan, charged with possessionof false documents. Until his trial in the au-tumn of that year, Babitsky’s documentswere withheld. When they were reissuedand he was free to travel, Babitsky movedto Radio Liberty’s headquarters in Prague.It has been suggested that the arrest wasset up by the Russian authorities (and thatthe Chechen rebels who held Babitskywere pro-Moscow) in order to constitute anexample for the journalistic community.

According to the Kremlin spokesman onChechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the me-dia coverage of the second Chechen warshould signal support for the state, andthus for Russia’s campaign. Accreditationrules for the press in the war zone re-stricted the movement of journalists. Jour-nalists had to be accompanied by Russiansoldiers or escorts and were not allowed tointerview Chechen leaders. Many of theabove journalists were in breach of thisrule, unwilling to show loyalty to the state.This was particularly blatant in the cover-age of the apartment bock bombings: avery blunt program of Kukly (Puppets) al-leged the truck bombs had been planted bythe FSB (Federalnaia sluzhba bezopas-nosti, or Federal Security Agency). Thisand other anti-Russian comments weretaken as treason and journalists turned to

T H E M E D I A 3 1

Radio Liberty journalist Andrei Babitsky shortly after his release from captivity in Chechnya, 2000.

(Photo by Alexey Myakishev/Kommersant)

enemies, as the cases of Babitsky and Go-vorukhin show. Similarly, Anna Politkov-skaya, journalist for Obshchaya gazeta,

was detained and harassed for her cover-age of the conflict.

These cases reveal the dangers to theRussian journalist when investigating inmatters that were sensitive for the stateand in contradicting the official view. Sev-eral journalists investigating corruptionhad already paid their price for coming tooclose to the structures of power in their in-vestigations of corruption. The investiga-tive journalist Dmitri Kholodov of Komso-

molskaya pravda was killed by a bombdelivered to his office in the autumn of1994. ORT head Vlad Listiev was shot on 1March 1995, at a time when ORT was beingprivatized and he opposed the commercial-ization of the station.

Once again, the media assumed realpower: they were able to sway public opin-ion, increasing Yeltsin’s popularity overZiuganov in the run-up to the 1996 presi-dential elections, or to stimulate publichostility to the second Chechen war. In the1990s the media were a much stronger in-fluence on public opinion than they hadever been before. Now “independent,” theycould seriously damage or help the presi-dent, manipulate elections, and, of course,divert attention through entertainment.

Program Variety The new channelshad to compete with regard to the enter-tainment sector and, later, over televisionserial production and purchase. Therefore,after its launch in 1991, RTR immediatelyestablished its reputation by creating ahost of new programs.

In the early 1990s national channelswere competing with regional and localstations, which screen pirated American

movies. This practice was stopped whenRussia signed the copyright act in 1994, al-though piracy continued to pose a problemuntil the late 1990s (in particular videopiracy, but also compact discs [CDs] andcomputer software). Moreover, it wascheaper and easier for channels to pur-chase television programs and screenthem, rather than produce their own, espe-cially as the appetite for foreign productswas much greater than for the New Rus-sian products during the years that fol-lowed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

RTR focused on new entertainment,whereas NTV in the first instance boastedits own film production arm, NTV Profit(now NTV Film), which invested in andproduced New Russian cinema. NTVscheduled a good deal of such New Rus-sian films on its channel. ORT stuck largelywith the Soviet diet, screening films of theSoviet era, which suddenly gained im-mense popularity, because they remindedthe often older generation (who watchedtelevision during the daytime) of the sta-ble, golden, Soviet times and distractedfrom the chaos of rising prices and disap-pearing Soviet products that reigned inRussia in the first half of the 1990s. Onesuch program on ORT was the new yearedition of Old Songs about the Main

Things (Starye pesni o glavnom), pro-duced by Konstantin Ernst and LeonidParfyonov and broadcast between 1997and 1999, presenting old pop songs per-formed by contemporary estrada singers.TV6 was not a strong news channel, but itproved to be most inventive in entertain-ment programs and talk shows, generatingthereby a new wave of programs from itscompetitors.

The satellite or cable channels MTV (Mu-sic Television), TNT, and CTC (Set’ Tele-


vizionnykh Stantsii, Network of TelevisionStations) became more widely accessibleand rather popular in the large cities, espe-cially Moscow. Most significant was the es-tablishment of a television award, TEFI, bythe Russian Television Academy in 1994 toselect and honor the best presenters, pro-grams, and directors working on television.

Current Affairs, Political Satire, and

Crime. Competition for viewers in thepost-Soviet television landscape was huge.The First Channel had always focused onnews broadcasts and political programs,and so did RTR and NTV when they fol-lowed suit. In terms of the news presenta-tions, RTR had taken the lead over ORT inthe early 1990s, because RTR’s Vesti were

infinitely more investigative than the FirstChannel’s news programs. After 1994, NTVattracted a vast majority of news viewersfrom RTR and ORT. Both NTV’s eveningnews Segodnia and analytical programssuch as Itogi (Conclusions) had clearlytaken the lead among the public. NTV re-mained at the top of the league table fornews until its management changed inApril 2001, when viewers returned toVremia, and ORT resumed its leading posi-tion in news coverage.

Apart from the news, current affairs pro-grams were highly relevant to establish achannel’s credibility. RTR ran a program,Sovershenno sekretno (Top Secret), hostedby Artyom Borovik, that replicated the in-

T H E M E D I A 3 3

Konstantin Ernst, head of First Channel television (formerly ORT) in his office, July 2002. (Photo by

Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant)

vestigative journalism he had demon-strated in his weekly paper of the same ti-tle. The most popular current affairs pro-gram was NTV’s Itogi, hosted by YevgeniKiselyov until he left NTV in 2000. The his-tory program Namedni (Lately) by LeonidParfyonov is another one of NTV’s assets.Parfyonov here plays games with history,reassembling historical documents in high-quality technology. The program often con-tains reports from the well-known inves-tigative reporter Andrei Loshak. Along thelines of Kiselyov’s Itogi, other channels toopresented their analytical programs on theweek’s events, using presenters such asSergei Dorenko or Alexander Liubimov.NTV’s Strana i mir (The Country and theWorld, NTV) covers the day’s main eventsand is presented by Julia Bordovskikh andAnton Khrenov. Vladimir Pozner hosts Vre-

mena (Times, ORT); Vesti nedeli (News ofthe Week, RTR) is presented by YevgeniRevenko; Vremechko (A Bit of Time) is au-thored by Andrei Maximov, formerly direc-tor and journalist of the tabloid Komsomol-

skaya pravda; and the program Zerkalo

(Mirror, RTR) has been hosted since 1996by Nikolai Svanidze, the former director ofRTR, who engages in rather dull discus-sions with politicians.

A significant innovation in televisionprograms began with Itogo (Total) by Vik-tor Shenderovich, which was a trademarkof NTV—a sharp political magazine, sum-ming up the events of the week, parodyingthe title of the conclusions (itogi) drawn inYevgeni Kiselyov’s program. Anotherhighly popular and successful program wasthe equivalent of Spitting Image, calledKukly (Puppets), shown on NTV and cre-ated by Viktor Shenderovich. The puppetshave pet names, such as Borka (Yeltsin),Yegorka (Yegor Gaidar, the engineer of eco-

nomic “shock therapy”), Ziuga (Ziuganov),Michel Stavropolsky (Mikhail Gorbachev,who originally came from Stavropol); TolikVoucher (Anatoli Chubais, the privatizationminister), and Zhirik (Zhirinovsky). Withbiting satire, the programme commentedon the events of the week, often exposingpolitical leaders in quite a provocative way(for example, Yeltsin surviving on a statepension, exposing the ridiculously lowlevel of pensions). A program after theblowing up of two apartment blocks inMoscow in 1999 alleged that this wasarranged by the Russians to instigate thecontinuation of warfare in Chechnya.Kukly was controversial and removedfrom the schedule several times.

Programs about cultural life were largelyrelegated to the channel Kultura after itsinception, but other channels offered cov-erage of cultural events as well. The cin-ema programs Moye kino (My Cinema,TV6), hosted by scriptwriter Viktor Me-rezhko, and Peter Shepotinnik’s Kineskop

(Cinescope, TV6), which started in 1994and was one of the first newly commis-sioned programmes of the channel, cov-ered the film scene both in Russia andabroad. Teatralnyi ponedelnik (TheatricalMonday, TV6) reported on theater events.

Programs about street crime rose in pop-ularity along with the current affairs pro-grams that exposed organized crime. Do-

rozhnyi patrul (Street Watch, TV6) was aninnovative program that provided a shortdaily update on the criminal chronicle; itwas created by Kirill Legat. Legat later pro-duced Telespetsnaz (Tele-Special-Force,TV6), a program that explained the difficultand dangerous work of the police and spe-cial forces to ensure people’s safety; it washosted by Andrei Khoroshev, who outragedthe Russian film market in the mid-1990s


with his films made under the pseudonymAndrei I.

The Game Show. The game show cameas a novelty to Russia in the sense that itnow offered prizes. Often programs weremodeled on Western programs, and espe-cially in the new millennium the trend topurchase licences has increased. One ofthe first game shows, modeled on Wheel of

Fortune, was Vlad Listiev’s Pole chudes

(Miracle Field), now presented by the pub-lic’s favorite host, Leonid Yakubovich.Game shows enjoy huge popularity withthe viewers: Slaboe zveno (The WeakestLink), hosted by Maria Kiselyova, runs onORT, and Kto khochet stat millionerom?

(Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) is hosted

by the popular presenter—and brilliant im-personator of politicians—Maxim Galkinon ORT. Dmitri Dibrov is best known forhis NTV quiz show O shchastlivchik (O,Happy Man). Svoya igra (Your Game,NTV) is a version of Jeopardy, presentedby Peter Kuleshov.

Other game shows are more theme fo-cused, such as Agenstvo odinokikh serdets

(Agency of Lonely Hearts, RTR), presentedby the popular singer Alika Smekhova andthe entertainer Valeri Zakutsky. ORT’s Sun-day morning program, Poka vse doma

(While Everybody’s Still at Home), is pre-sented by Timur Kiziakov, who pays a “sur-prise” visit to the apartment of a famousperson and his or her family. NTV’s Kvar-

T H E M E D I A 3 5

Puppet of Boris Yeltsin, 2002. With biting satire the television program Kukly commented on the

events of the week, often exposing political leaders in quite a provocative way. (Photo by Ivan

Shapovalov/Kommersant)

tirny vopros (Apartment Question) is al-most modeled on Changing Rooms. ORT’sDog Show revolves around dogs and theirrespective owners. One of the most popu-lar evening programs is Poslednii geroi

(The Last Hero), a show that is set on a re-mote island, where sixteen people of showbusiness are divided into two teams andhave to complete a number of tasks whilestruggling with the adverse conditions onthe island. The show used to be presentedby the “last hero,” Sergei Bodrov Jr., whotragically died in a glacier slide in Septem-ber 2002. ORT’s Fabrika zvezd (Star Fac-tory) is a project where real stars and theaudience vote for the best amateur per-former, somewhat like RTL’s Deutschland

sucht den Superstar (Germany Seeks theSuperstar) or Fame Academy on theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Itis extremely popular and has had severaleditions since its start in December 2002.

MTV runs a number of quite populargame shows, such as the Totalnoye Shou

(Total Show), an interactive program wherethe audience votes on the best music clip.Rokirovka (Castling) is a competitive gameof sportsmen who change disciplines, sothat a boxer has to play tennis, a footballerhas to wrestle, and so on. Hand-Made

shows stars making things with their ownhands, engaging in jewelry making, handi-crafts, knitting, and sewing.

Reality TV made a short appearance onthe Russian television space: Big Brother,

called Za steklom (Behind the Glass), wasshown on TV6 before the station wasclosed in 2002.

The Tok-shou. Most of the new showswere talk shows (tok-shou in Russian), ex-posing famous guests to questions abouttheir private life or inviting ordinary peopleinto the studio to publicly discuss their per-

sonal problems. Television filled the gap bycreating shows that brought private lifeinto the public domain. It was not as if Rus-sians did not know of the problems of theirfriends and family, since privacy was notone of the privileges of the Soviet popula-tion, who shared apartments among threegenerations or inhabited communal apart-ments. The novelty and attraction of theseprograms, however, was to present a per-sonal point of view in public and be heardand seen by millions.

Lev Novozhenov, an elderly gentleman, isthe host of NTV’s show Vremechko (LittleTime), which is based on the concept of thelittle man, symbolized in Nikolai Gogol’s fa-mous character, Akaki Akakievich, whoseovercoat is stolen in the eponymous story.Vremechko alludes in its title to the majornews program Vremia, but it is concernedwith news of the little man, the ordinary cit-izen, who is more important than war andpolitics for Novozhenov. He interviews peo-ple who are extraordinary, abnormal, un-usual and highlights the absurdity of every-day life by stressing the psychopathology ofsociety at large.

The humorous show Gorodok (LittleTown, RTR), which exposes people andevents to laughter, was produced andhosted by Ilia Oleinikov and Yuri Stoyanov,who received four TEFI awards. Sam sebe

rezhisser (Directing Myself, RTR) began asa show with amateur video clips and gradu-ally developed into a weekly program onthe lines of Candid Camera; its host isAlexei Lysenkov. Znak kachestva (Proof ofQuality, TV6) was a show where peoplefrom the street could demonstrate their tal-ents, starting in 1996 and hosted by OlegKomarov.

The program Anshlag (Sold Out, RTR),hosted by Regina Dubovitskaya, brings fa-


mous people in front of the camera. Skan-

daly nedeli (Scandals of the Week, TV6),hosted by Petr Tolstoi since 1996, reflectstelevision’s growing interest in the moremundane aspects of life. Dmitri Dibrov is apopular presenter who created his imageas a “dandy” with his smart suits and color-ful ties. The trained journalist and directorof night programming on ORT hosts, aboveall, the programs Nochnaya smena (NightShift). With wit, charm, and inventiveness,he hosts the show Antropologiya (Anthro-pology), where he interviews famous cul-tural figures. Although noncommercial andindependent of ratings, the channel Kul-tura has also started a number of challeng-ing talk shows. Shkola zlosloviya (TheSchool of Scandal)—in a reference toRichard Sheridan’s play—is hosted by the

writer Tatiana Tolstaya and the script-writer Dunia Smirnova, who expose artiststo their “evil tongues.” The quibbling andquizzing Andrei Maximov presents the pro-gram Nochnoi polet (Night Flight) on Kul-tura, subjecting artists to harsh and chal-lenging questions. The writer and criticViktor Yerofeyev presents the literatureprogram Apocryph.

Yelena Yakovleva’s Chto khochet zhen-

shchina (What a Woman Wants, RTR) isone of the numerous women’s shows thathave appeared on television. Julia Men-shova, daughter of the Oscar-winning di-rector Vladimir Menshov, has hosted Ya

sama (I Myself, TV6) since 1995. It is a talkshow for women, who place the men in thestudio on the bench for the accused, asthey indict the men’s sins with examples

T H E M E D I A 3 7

Julia Menshova with her father, the filmmaker and Oscar winner Vladimir Menshov, attend the

“Moskovskaya Premiera” (Moscow Premiere) awards in 2002. The ceremony took place in the

Baltschug Kempinsky hotel, Moscow. (Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

from their private lives. More new pro-grams have been launched. In Zhenskii

vzgliad (Women’s View, TV6), OxanaPushkina interviews famous women or thewives of celebrities. A relatively young andvery popular program is Svetlana Soro-kina’s Osnovnoi instinkt (Basic Instinct,ORT, since 2003), which returns to the bluescreen the television anchor of the Gorba-chev years.

MTV boasts of some of the most popularpresenters among their staff. Tutta Larsenhosts Razum i chuvstvo (Sense and Sensi-bility). Larsen, who also works on RadioMaximum, is one of the most outrageouslydressed presenters of television. With anose ring, tattoos, and bleached hair, shedresses extravagantly and combines stylesthat do not go together. On the show,young people discuss problems withviewer participation. She also has her ownshow, Tants-pol (Dance Floor), for newdance music. Another star presenter onMTV is Viacheslav Petkun with his showCherno-beloye (Black and White) on as-pects of show business.

Children’s Television. The channelsTVTs (Television Center, TV Tsentr) andKultura schedule a number of educationalprograms, some of which tend to suggest amoral warning: they show, for example,documentaries on children in a youthprison, or the life of poor and underprivi-leged children, as a warning. Generally,children’s programs were largely based onthe very ample and beautiful production ofRussian animators. Soviet and Russian ani-mation still proves extremely popular withRussian children and provides the basictelevision diet, alongside the Disney car-toons that have flooded the market.Sesame Street (Ulitsa Sezam) was adaptedto the Russian context before it was broad-

cast: Russian characters were added, Vlasand Enik replaced Bert and Ernie, and theaction took place in a Russian courtyard.Spokoinoi nochi, malyshi (Good Night,Kids) is a good-night program for the pre-school age presented by Anna Mikhalkova,later by Oxana Fedorova. The Yeralashfilms, produced by the Gorky studios, areshort educational spots produced with agreat deal of appeal for children.

Miscellaneous. After its initial role as aplatform for political debate and maincritic of the system, television has con-ducted investigative journalism on inde-pendent channels, although it has not de-veloped a coherent model of programming.Television criticizes politics and entertainsthe viewer but offers no forum for the for-mation of public opinion. Instead, it resortsto entertainment programs, which draw onthe amateur music clubs of the past. Or onhumorous programs in which, à la ArkadiRaikin, the little man is not confronted withthe obstacles posed by the system, but inwhich he is the odd man out, thus justifyingthe individual’s rather passive role in thepolitical process. Television reiterates thecommon concepts of individual versusstate, the little man lost in a larger system,who searches for and finds a sense of com-munity with his brothers-in-arms—theother television spectators. The popularityof wildlife programs, such as V mire zhi-

votnykh (In the Animal World), Dialogi s

zhivotnymi (Dialogues with Animals), andPlaneta zemlia (Planet Earth), fits into thisoverall picture as much as Vremechko: theyexplore the behavior of animals and hu-mans in unusual circumstances and ana-lyze the divergence from normative behav-ior as an absurdity that matches theabsurdity of life. Such divergence from thenorm is also manifest in the behavior of


criminals and offers an additional reasonfor the popularity of the crime story in con-temporary Russia. It is this feature thatmade Vremechko so phenomenally suc-cessful, with its exposure of psychopathol-ogy as the norm. In this sense, televisionentertainment and news offer a substitutefor reality, where the substitute is morerecognizable than the real world. Reality isrepeated until it can be understood andconsumed in private among friends, requir-ing no active response. The political showthat happened on the blue screen in thelate 1990s has turned television into a de-vice that replays reality and offers a varietyof distractions from it to cradle the specta-tor in the illusion of something happeningout there that does not affect his life, histelevision programs. When seen in thislight, the closing of television channels andchanges in management were initially per-ceived as a real threat, more importantthan the party programs broadcast in theelectoral campaigns.

Television Serials The role of televi-sion serials underwent a complete trans-formation in Russia during the 1990s. Ini-tially the public was yearning for Westernserials: the American serials Santa Bar-

bara, The X Files, Dynasty, and Dallas

were acquired and shown. Then soap op-eras of Mexican provenance kept mass au-diences glued to the television screen:melodrama replaced the family dynasty-drama and the detective series. Audienceseagerly devoured Just Maria (ProstoMaria), Wild Rose (Dikaia Roza), and the1979 The Rich Also Cry (Bogatye tozheplachut), watched by 43 percent of thepopulation in Moscow during 1991. True, itwas cheaper to buy than to produce, but atthe same time the audience demand was

higher for foreign or Soviet products, notNew Russian films. In the mid-1990s, Rus-sian television began to invest in home-grown television serial production. RTRled in this area with the serial Maroseika

12, set in the tax police department Cobra,and Turetsky’s March (Marsh Turetskogo),based on a novel by the detective writerFriedrich Neznansky, starring AlexanderDomogarov as chief investigator Turetsky.The production of crime serials is expen-sive but popular, and they can be releasedon video and repeated on various channels.Nevertheless, Petersburg Secrets (Peter-burgskie tainy, 1994–1995) could hardlycompete with Dynasty.

Toward the end of the 1990s, domesticproduction of serials really took off. On theone hand, television could offer moremoney to filmmakers than they could findin the free market for feature films. On theother hand, after the financial crisis of Au-gust 1998 it was cheaper to produce than tobuy. The result was a flood of television se-rials that conquered Russian audiences andreached top ratings on television, pushingto the side the former leaders, old Sovietfilms and contemporary American cinema.

Streets of Broken Lights (Ulitsy raz-bitykh fonarei, 1997–1999) was the first,tremendously successful serial. It gener-ated numerous sequels and was releasedon video under the title Cops (Menty). It isa crime series showing street crime in Pe-tersburg. It engages in a realistic depictionof the police work, showing the dilapidatedliving conditions of a society where oldstructures have collapsed. The series, partsof which have been directed by the estab-lished filmmaker Alexander Rogozhkin,has drawn on star actors but has alsoturned other new actors into popularheroes.

T H E M E D I A 3 9

Detective Dubrovsky’s Dossier (Dos’edetektiva Dubrovskogo, 1999) is a detec-tive series starring the well-known actorNikolai Karachentsov, who is famous forhis production of and role in the first Rus-sian rock opera, Juno and Avos. Hunting

Cinderella (Okhota na zolushku, 1999)stars the redhead Amalia Mordvinova, whosuffers from memory loss after an accidentand is used by criminal structures to carryout a series of special assignments. Crimi-

nal Petersburg (Banditskii Peterburg,2000) was produced by NTV. It is a familysaga about a Mafioso family in Petersburg,where “Antibiotik” is a Russian version ofMario Puzo’s Godfather. The Truckers

(Dal’noboishchiki) is a road-movie cumcrime series. The most popular crime se-ries is The Crushing Force (Uboinaia sila,2000) made by ORT, which follows the Pe-tersburg investigator Plakhov as he ex-poses a large-scale political scandal. Ka-

menskaya (1999–2000) was a serial dealingwith large-scale crime, based on the detec-tive novels of Alexandra Marinina, inwhich Yelena Yakovleva played the mainpart. The complex structure of Marinina’sdetective novels reflects the interwovenlines of fate in the investigation of orga-nized crime. Bourgeois’s Birthday (Den’rozhdeniia Burzhuia, 1999) revolvesaround a family engaged in the businessworld of the New Russia and deals withtheir personal and professional worries.The Diary of a Killer (Dnevnik ubiitsy,2003), directed by the young and fashion-able director Kirill Serebrennikov, mixes amelodramatic plot in the present with aninvestigation of a mystery crime resolvedthrough the consultation of archival docu-ments by a librarian. In 2003, two serialskept people in front of the blue screen. Thefirst, The Brigade (Brigada, RTR), is based

on a novel by Alexander Belov about fourlads from Moscow who try to make moneyin the early 1990s and end in the criminalworld. The second, Ice Age (Lednikovyi pe-riod, ORT), is set in the Moscow of the1990s in the special section of the policeforce, which faces the task of investigatingmoles in police apparatus.

The production of serials concentratedon detective and crime plots rather thansitcoms. It appears that Russian audiencesare grappling with the rise in crime ratesmore than with the comic genre. Moreover,they see in the criminal investigation an at-tempt to analyze the changes in Russia thatstill confront them. Neither the sitcomFunny Business, Family Business

(Smeshnye dela, semeinye dela) nor thehigh school drama Simple Truths (Prostyeistiny, 1999–2000) has proved attractive.

The Television Channels Between1991 and 2001, the media developed veryquickly as a result of the investments of ty-coons, called “oligarchs” in Russia. Theyinvested in the media, encouraging them tooffer a challenging assessment of politics.As the media had demonstrated theirpower under Gorbachev and during thetwo attempted coups, they had the poten-tial to become a powerful instrument forwhoever owned or controlled them. Thishad been shown during the presidentialcampaign of 1996: the media could be usedto build a president or to discredit govern-ment policies. A game between the stateand the media followed.

The structural organization of mediaownership is so complex that it obscuresthe issue of who really controls the media.In 1985, when Gorbachev came to power,there was one national channel and severalregional ones, all owned and controlled by


the party. Under Yeltsin the channels prolif-erated and privatization set in, creating anumber of independent media (1990–1993); this led to a situation where the pri-vate shareholders invested more into themedia than the state, even into those sta-tions in which the state owned a majorityof shares. From 1996 to 1999, a status quoreigned over the media market, which wasshaken up in the aftermath of the 1999 par-liamentary elections and under Putin. Bythe summer of 2003, the six main nation-wide channels were once again controlledby the state, directly or indirectly. A num-ber of cable and digital channels existedalongside, but since they are not accessibleto wide parts of the population they are notdiscussed here.

Privatization and Freedom of the

Press: 1991–1995 The former FirstChannel (Central Television) had belongedto the Soviet state. After the August Coup(1991), ownership was transferred fromthe Soviet Union to the Russian Federation(RSFSR). With increasing costs and de-creasing economic stability, however, thestate could not maintain the budget for thetelevision channel. The channel was servedby production units while relying for up to80 percent on the state budget with noright to generate advertising income.Those advertisements that were shown onthe First Channel provided income to thenumerous individual production units butnot to the central management. The inde-pendent production companies kept theadvertising revenue to themselves ratherthan sharing it; also, much more incomewas received for advertising than they de-clared. Largely in order to remedy this situ-ation and to allow ORT to generate an in-come through advertising, Yeltsin ordered

the privatization of the First Channel in1995, when the company could not evenpay its electricity bills. He decreed the for-mation of ORT (Obshestvennoe rossiiskoetelevidenie, Public Russian Television),which took effect as of April 1995. ORTnow receives 30–50 percent of its revenuefrom advertising.

Out of the need to have a channel to op-pose Gorbachev, the RSFSR launched RTR(Russian Television) on 13 May 1991, amonth before Yeltsin’s election as RSFSRpresident. Oleg Poptsov was appointedRTR’s general director, supported by ateam of investigative reporters. The newsprogram Vesti became the flagship of thenew channel; it was anchored by presen-ters such as Oleg Dobrodeyev, YevgeniKiselyov, Tatiana Mitkova, and SvetlanaSorokina. RTR inspired more confidence inits news coverage because of the role it,and Poptsov in particular, had played dur-ing the two coups. The first direct sponsor-ship between political power and the me-dia came to an end before the presidentialelectoral campaign: in February 1996, OlegPoptsov was removed from office byYeltsin’s decree. Yeltsin would place hisstake for support on another, temporary di-rector and on the two media moguls,Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky.

In August 1991 the company Moscow In-dependent Broadcasting Corporation(MNVK, Moskovskaia nezavisimaia vesh-chatel’naia korporatsiia), largely owned bythe Moscow government, was founded toprovide a local channel that would supportMoscow’s mayor Luzhkov, running forelection against Gavriil Popov. After Gor-bachev and Yeltsin on the federal level, an-other politician (Luzhkov) had acquired hisown media organ on a local level. Luzh-kov’s “empire” grew to include the

T H E M E D I A 4 1

Moscow-loyal city periodical Metro, Ob-

shchaya gazeta, TV6, Versiya, Moskovskii

komsomolets, and TVTs.In this media landscape where each of

the major players in politics effectivelyowned a television station, the channelNTV meant a significant change: it was thefirst independent channel, established bythe media holding Most, owned by the me-dia mogul Vladimir Gusinsky. It begantransmission in 1993 on the frequency ofthe fourth channel. It first transmitted partof the day, then all day starting in Novem-ber 1996 (as a token for the channel’s sup-port in the electoral campaign of 1996).NTV took pride both in its web design andthe design of its logo: a green ball abovethe slogan “news is our profession,” but itgained real fame for its news programs par-ticularly. Yevgeni Kiselyov presented hisweekly critical political magazine Itogi onSunday evenings. The news programSegodnia (Today) rose to become the mostpopular news program. NTV also showedcontemporary foreign cinema and NewRussian films, often created by its own filmproduction unit, NTV Profit. It also coveredinternational sports events.

By 1996, the crucial year of Yeltsin’s re-election, those media formerly owned bythe state had been partly privatized,whereas the state offered no major invest-ment. Thus, although the private sectormay only have been holding a majority ofshares, the shareholders were in controlbecause of the financial power they hadover the media corporations. The state,and the president in particular with hispower consolidated after the attemptedcoup of 1993, had maneuvered itself into aposition whereby the state depended ontelevision, owning shares in televisionwithout holding real (financial) control. It

was this situation of dependence on mediatycoons on the one hand, and the involve-ment of these tycoons in politics on theother hand, that created a dangerous ten-sion between political power and politicalcontrol. The privatization of the media in a“smash and grab” style to oligarchs wouldtake its toll.

Stalemate: 1995–1999 The elections of1996 had tied together inseparably politicalpower and the media. This status quo, of ageneral support of all major channels forthe president, would last through severalprime ministers and the economic crisis of1998. The media world was divided only inthe run-up to the parliamentary elections of1999, which would prove a decisive factorin determining the relationship of the newpower (Putin) with the media.

The latter half of the 1990s saw the pro-liferation of cable and satellite televisionand the foundation of two new televisionstations. The channel Kultura started trans-mission in November 1997 as a noncom-mercial station that reports on cultureonly; it is part of VGTRK and thus belongsto the Russian state. TVTs (TV Center),which has transmitted on the third fre-quency since June 1997, belongs to theMoscow government; it is effectivelyLuzhkov’s channel. In February 2000 theformer RTR boss, Oleg Poptsov, was ap-pointed as the channel’s new director. It isthe only Russian channel with rights forFormula One. The MTV musical channelstarted in 1998, bringing musical televisionto the Russian viewers through the presen-ter, the so-called video jockey (VJ) TuttaLarsen, with her bleached hair and nosering mirroring her U.S. equivalents.

During those stalemate years it wasmainly NTV’s coverage that was often con-


troversial. Especially the reports fromChechnya have exposed the channel to fre-quent threats of license withdrawal, whichhas become one way of controlling the me-dia in the absence of direct censorship. Itsjournalists were exposed to public and po-litical threats. A criminal case was stagedagainst Yelena Masiuk (July 1995) for inter-viewing the Chechen rebel leader ShamilBasayev (she was accused of harboring acriminal). The head of the program Kukly

(Puppets), Viktor Shenderovich, wascharged with slander, and the program waspulled from the schedule numerous timesfor its all too critical comments on politi-cians under the guise of satire.

Deprivatization after 2000 After thetelevision stations had played their roleduring the parliamentary elections in 1999,they had to pay the price for meddling inpolitics. ORT and RTR had supported Putinand discredited Luzhkov; NTV and TV Cen-ter had offered airtime to the politicians ofparties that were competitors of the Putin-supported bloc Unity. ORT’s journalistSergei Dorenko, who had contributed inhis interviews and shows to a discredita-tion of Luzhkov, was plagued by a scandal.His current affairs program Versii (Ver-sions) was banned after a critical report onthe Kursk submarine incident, which im-plied that a Soviet missile had misfired.Dorenko also spoke out against the forcedhandover of Berezovsky’s shares. Dorenkowas arrested for hooliganism and sen-tenced to a term in prison in November2001, with the verdict overturned andchanged to a fine in December 2002. An-other investigative journalist had been re-moved from television.

During the presidential elections, there-fore, Berezovsky’s media arms had tried to

implicate Luzhkov in corruption and makeallegations about Primakov’s ill health, ef-fectively backing Putin. Gusinsky’s media,on the other hand, were trying to supportLuzhkov and Primakov. After the victory ofthe Unity block over Luzhkov’s and Pri-makov’s OVR in December 1999, Gusinskyhad, in fact, already lost the game forpower.

But more important was the massivecampaign against the media tycoons. Bere-zovsky, who had been accused of embez-zlement with regard to Aeroflot shares, hadalready moved to London to avoid charges.He was urged to sell his shares. After mak-ing a gesture and handing his shares to theartistic intelligentsia, he sold to the busi-

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Businessman Vladimir Gusinsky, founder of

Most Bank and later Media Most (including

NTV), in 1997. (Photo by Pavel Kassin/

Kommersant)

nessman Roman Abramovich, owner of therights to trade under Slavneft the resourcesof the Chukotka region, of which he waselected governor. RTR was taken over byOleg Dobrodeyev on 31 January 2000. Vesti

soon recovered its place as a leading newsprogram, supporting the military action inChechnya. The situation at NTV was morecritical. In September 2000, Gazprom Me-dia (a subsidiary of the state-run gas mo-nopoly company Gazprom) filed a suitagainst Media Most (parent company ofNTV) to call in the debt (a loan of two mil-lion dollars granted for the launch of theBonum 2 satellite). In April 2001, Gazprom(a shareholder in NTV) prematurely re-called loans from Gusinsky and assumedcontrol over NTV. Gazprom’s head, AlbertKokh, appointed a new general director,the American Boris Jordan, and removed

from office the popular journalist YevgeniKiselyov. The old NTV team of Kiselyov’sItogi and Shenderovich’s Kukly moved toTV6. The news anchor Tatiana Mitkova re-signed also but was reappointed head ofnews under the new management.

TV6 (or rather its parent companyMNVK) was subsequently sued for bank-ruptcy by LukOil Garant (the pensionfund), part of the private, but Kremlin-close, LukOil, which demanded the liquida-tion of the station on the grounds that itmade no profit and its assets did not offsetthe debts. In January 2002 the channel wasclosed, but in May 2002 the Kiselyov teamformed the station TVS (Television Spec-trum). TVS was closed in June 2003 for al-leged nonpayment of bills for cable use,which were charged at an excessive rate. Anew sports channel started to broadcast


Yevgeni Kiselyov in the studio presenting Itogi, 3 April 2001 during the conflict with GazProm Media.

(Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

immediately. The last independent channelhad folded, and the media industry was de-privatized.

It appears that under Putin the state tookcontrol of the media by strictly financialmanipulation. This process shows how thepolitical power structures, backed by the(state-owned) oil and gas industry, have re-sumed control over the media rather thancontinuing on the basis of a mutually bene-ficial relationship, which was entertainedin the second part of Yeltsin’s rule.

Media Control If the scandal surround-ing Berezovsky’s surrender of shares waswatched anxiously by the media, the scan-dal surrounding NTV’s takeover by thestate-controlled GazProm came under fire

from the public, which staged demonstra-tions in the streets and supported the NTVmanagement under Kiselyov. These pro-tests were to no avail, however. After April2001, TVS was the last remaining indepen-dent channel, a channel in which the state,partly state-owned companies, or the citydid not hold a majority of shares. Its clo-sure in 2003 bears witness to the continu-ous attempts of the state structures to re-move inquisitive journalists from the massmedia without applying censorship or forcebut simply by economic and financial ma-nipulation. The new form of entertainmentinvolves the public’s watching how their tel-evision is deprivatized. The NTV takeoveroccurred live on-air, making the mass me-dia themselves news item number one.

T H E M E D I A 4 5

Viktor Shenderovich, anchor of the Itogo political satire program (left) and Svetlana Sorokina, anchor

of the Glaz naroda program on NTV (right) during the press conference after the meeting of a group

of NTV journalists with Russian president Vladimir Putin concerning the situation of Media Most

Holding, at Ekho Moskvy radio station. (Photo by Valery Melnikov/Kommersant)

The Internet revolution has not passedRussia by. All the above-mentioned televi-sion channels operate elaborate Web sites,which also provide news, sometimes sup-plying video clips. There are also specialnews sites, such as strana.ru and lenta.ru,which offer news on line. Pravda, too, hashad an online service since 1999. Thesenew media offer up-to-date information,but it is early days to speak of politicaltrends or investigative journalism in thesemedia.

Soviet television was used for social con-trol and engineering rather than communi-cation. Under Gorbachev the media ad-dressed the viewer not as an object intowhich an ideological message would be in-jected but as an individual with his ownviews. This individual remained, however,the plaything of politics rather than takingon an active role. Television had thechance to form public opinion. Instead, ittaught its viewers to criticize and later itexercised only that function: to criticizeand expose the failures of the system, thestate, the government. Television’s rolewas not a constructive one and failed to in-volve the formation of a new value systemat a time when the old one had collapsed.Its “harbinger,” the intelligentsia, had lostits influence. Instead, television indoctri-nates the viewer not to trust politics. Andnot to trust reality, but only television’s ver-sion of it.

Taking Stock In 2004 the Russian massmedia are, broadly speaking, owned andruled by several large conglomerates.GazPromMedia (former MostMedia) con-trols the television stations NTV and TNT;Radio Echo Moscow; the publications Sem

dnei, Segodnia (discontinued), Itogi, andKaravan; and the film production com-

pany NTV Profit (now NTV Film). ProfMe-dia (InterRos) holds shares in the papersIzvestiya, Komsomolskaya pravda, andEkspert and in radio Europe Plus. Its sub-sidiary, Independent Media, holds shares inmany journal publications. Berezovsky in-directly holds (or held) stakes in ORT andTV6; the papers Kommersant, Nezavisi-

maya gazeta, and Novye Izvestiya; andthe journal Ogonyok. The state controlsVGTRK (Channel Kultura and RTR), thenews agencies ITAR-TASS and RIA Vesti,and the paper Rossiiskaya gazeta as wellas a majority of shares in ORT. TheMoscow government controls TVTs andthe paper Vecherniaya Moskva. Other ma-jor publishing houses are holding compa-nies in their own right, such as the editionSPEED-Info, Moskovskii komsomolets,

and Argumenty i fakty, with their ownsubsidiaries.

Radio

Soviet Radio Although the electrifica-tion of the country had been on Lenin’sagenda in the 1920s, by the late 1970s onlyhalf of the Soviet population was in posses-sion of a radio receiver; receivers with ashortwave facility (international range)were especially rare. This is low not onlyby comparison with Europe and the UnitedStates, but also stunning in view of the factthat cable radio provided access withoutan aerial for most households.

As a visible sign of the “radiofication,” aradio tower was built in the south ofMoscow on Shabolovka, with an extraordi-nary constructivist design of intercon-nected metal grids that spiral into the sky(design Vladimir Shukhov, 1919). The So-viet Union possessed five stations coveringdifferent areas of broadcasting: political


programs and news, international news,education, music, and information for ex-patriates. The jamming of foreign stations,such as Voice of America (VoA), the BBC,and Deutsche Welle, had begun in 1948,and although it contravened the UN resolu-tion of 1950 and was stopped in other East-ern Bloc countries, it continued in the So-viet Union well into the Gorbachev era.Jamming of VoA and the BBC stopped in1987; for Radio Liberty this was even later.The impact of Gorbachev’s reforms on theradio was slower, in a sense, than on televi-sion, which was clearly privileged by theleader. In the light of the most interestingmusic’s being distributed by magnitizdat

(the circulation of music on tapes), how-ever, and in a media market that piratedany tune before its official release, the sta-tus of radio has clearly been deflated.

During the Soviet period, two nationalradio stations fed into the cable network,and in 1964 they were joined by RadioMayak (Lighthouse), which played lightmusic and broadcast news on a 24-hour ba-sis. Although uninterrupted broadcastingwas clearly a novelty for Soviet listeners,the frequency of Mayak overlapped withforeign stations, so that it also fulfilled thefunction of blocking international news.The year 1964, the last year of Khrush-chev’s Thaw, also saw the launch of RadioYunost (Youth). These two stations, whichwere founded during the Thaw, played animportant role during perestroika: thelively and popular music made Mayak asuitable competitor for foreign radio sta-tions once the jamming had stopped, andYunost fed into the television revolution. Itwas from this station that Eduard Saga-layev (head of Yunost from 1980 to 1984)recruited the four journalists who startedthe television revolution with programs

such as Vzgliad (Viewpoint) and Dvenadt-

satyi etazh (Twelfth Floor).

Russian Radio At the end of the 1980s,when the law did not yet allow for indepen-dent television to be launched, the radiostations seized on the liberalization thathad allowed access to foreign broadcastingstations. Several new stations wereformed, the first of which was a Russian-French joint venture: Radio Europa Pluswas the first commercial musical radio sta-tion; it started broadcasting in April 1990. Itbegan with evening broadcasts from 7 PM

to 1 AM and expanded to full-day coverage.Europa Plus plays music, which is inter-rupted for news and horoscopes. Nowa-days there are more than 1,400 radio sta-tions, of which only 300 are state owned.Most stations are regional or local, butmore and more radio stations becomeavailable online. Many commercial stationshave emphasized music rather than infor-mation in order to save money on journal-ists. So far, advertising has generated lessincome for Russian radio than for its Euro-pean or U.S. counterparts.

The state-owned Radio Rossii (RadioRussia) followed suit, starting on 10 De-cember 1990. It was initiated by the re-form-supportive journalists on the Vzgliad

team and recruited its staff, just like thelegendary television program, from RadioYunost. The programs cover news (on thehour), literary themes, problems of Rus-sian language, and theater events. RadioRossii offers a relatively high level of pro-gramming, especially on current affairs. Itcounts among its staff Russia’s top politicalcommentator, Alexander Bovin, a journal-ist of the Soviet school, who hosts The

World in a Week (Mir za nedeliu). The 30-minute program started in 2001; in it Bovin

T H E M E D I A 4 7

combines analytical skills with a tolerantattitude to the events he explores. AndreiDementiev runs a program called Twists of

the Times (Virazhi vremeni), where hetalks with prominent figures of Russianculture or their heirs. Natalia Bekhtinaleads the program In the First Person (Otpervogo litsa), in which she interviewspoliticians and other people who make acontribution to society, such as doctors,teachers, lawyers, artists, and economists.Radio Rossii also broadcasts literary andeducational programs. Overall, its pro-grams are of a high intellectual standard.

Radio Ekho Moskvy (Echo Moscow)went on air on 22 August 1990. It was grad-ually acquired by the MediaMost holding,which meant that its journalistic positionsreflected a liberal democratic position andengaged critically with current affairs. Un-der the leadership of Alexei Venediktov,Ekho broadcasts news, sports, reviews ofthe press, and programs on the economy. Ithas been available online since 1997. Ekhois probably the most liberal radio station, areputation it created for itself in the early1990s with its reports on the events in Vil-nius and on the August coup, which pre-sented alternative views to the official ver-sions. Ekho excels with its news andpolitical talk shows, which are mixed withmusic. It makes extensive use of an interac-tive link with its listeners, who can phonein to live programs. Ekho is aimed, like Ra-dio Russia, at the more mature (age 35–50),educated, intellectual listener. Therefore,such recognized writers as Julia Latyninaand Sergei Parkhomenko are for the audi-ence apt and recognized commentators.

The local station Radio Govorit Moskva(Moscow Speaking) was founded in August1997 as a cable network, offering local

news, coverage of themes pertinent toMoscow life, and music. There are alsohoroscopes, ratings of all sorts (the best,the highest, and the biggest), programs onhealth, sports news, and press reviews.Other local stations can be found in mostmajor cities of the Russian Federation,such as Peterburg Radio in St. Petersburg.

The old Soviet stations continue tobroadcast. Yunost has adapted to the newinterests of the younger generation andnow employs a range of DJs (disc jockeys;di-dzheis) who present musical programs.It also runs regular programs on fashion,cars, Russian language and its pronuncia-tion, computers, and—with the Ministry ofDefense—“military correspondence” aswell as a program on the history of Russianrock music. Mayak is owned by VGTRK. Itsprograms range from analytical to musicaland include surveys of the press, programson the history of rock music, and financial-economic programs. On Mayak, the popu-lar crime fiction writer Daria Dontsovapresents a program on literature, and themusical program with Artur Makariev en-joys popularity thanks to his vast music col-lection from the 1940s to the 1990s.

Some radio stations address specific tar-get groups: Avtoradio (Autoradio) is fordrivers, with updates on the traffic situa-tion in the capital. Now transmitting for tenyears, the station is one of the most popu-lar for the increasing number of drivers try-ing to navigate through Moscow. Sport FMis for sports fans; Nadezhda is a stationthat deals specifically with women’s issues;and there are several radio stations thatserve the orthodox church.

Music Radio The interest in Westernpop music was massive once the record-


ings (vinyls, tapes, and later CDs) of West-ern bands became available in the SovietUnion. Most radio stations played Westernrock and pop, and new channels were es-tablished to cater especially for the youngeraudience who wanted to listen only toWestern music. Such stations mushroomedin the mid-1990s, when around 25 new pri-vate stations were launched. Among themost popular musical stations are Serebria-nyi dozhd (Silver Rain, 1995), which is alsoavailable online, offering music and newsbut also programs on sport, fashion, stolencars, and specials with famous guests; Ra-dio Chanson, a music channel that playsmainly retro music; Radio Maximum, whichbroadcasts music and shows; Otkrytoye Ra-dio (Open Radio); Radio Dinamit (Dyna-mite); and Radio Nostalgie.

Russkoye Radio (Russian Radio) was es-tablished in August 1995 to counterbalancethe inundation of Russian radio with for-eign music. Its remit, or charter, is to playonly Russian music. With its slogan “Rus-sian Radio—all will be well,” it is ratherapolitical, although the emphasis on do-mestic tunes reveals a certain nationalpride.

It is curious that the two leading radiostations for surveys in 2003 should be thetwo Russian channels, the state-owned Ra-dio Rossii and the musical channel Russ-koye Radio, which plays only Russian mu-sic. Clearly this trend reflects a reactionagainst the Americanization of Russian cul-ture, also aired in the electoral campaignsof the popular politicians Zhirinovsky andZiuganov, who held majorities in the parlia-ment (Duma) elected in 1995 and 1999. Ra-dio Rossii and Russkoye Radio are closelyfollowed by Radio Mayak and Europa Plus.Foreign radio stations, including Radio Lib-

erty, rank very low on the list of the most-listened-to stations. It is clear that theycater for an educated minority and the for-mer dissident intelligentsia.

Although the number of radio stationshas clearly multiplied in the New Russia,the radio is a far less important mediumthan television. Most stations focus on mu-sic and news, but other reporting is mostlyleft to television, and print media rank last.In terms of ownership, the control of radiostations is an important issue, but not sucha decisive one as with television. GazPromcontrols Sport FM, Ekho, and Troika; theRussian Media Group controls RusskoyeRadio and Dinamit; ProfMedia overseesAvtoradio. Russkoye Radio has recentlylaunched a project with the televisionchannel ORT to boost its commercial via-bility: together they ran the competition,the Golden Gramophone (Zolotoi gramo-fon), for the best popular song and edited aCD collection of the competitors for theaward.

Internet

The Internet is growing in importance inthe New Russia. Access to the World WideWeb is significantly lower in Russia than inany other European country or the UnitedStates, however: by 2002 merely 6 percentof the population had access to the Inter-net. The issue has been dealt with on a par-liamentary level, and the state dumaadopted a project called “electronic Rus-sia” in July 2001 that is designed to raisethe level of Internet access.

Since the mid-1990s, the Internet hasbeen available in Russia, but access is re-stricted because of the low number of per-sonal computers. At the same time theavailability of the Web for design initiatives

T H E M E D I A 4 9

was open to anyone, since the softwarewas available cheaply and widely, nonli-censed. The first Russian sites on theWorld Wide Web were an evening news edi-tion (ok.ru), followed by zhurnal.ru, whichwas launched in 1996. Soon thereaftercame Russian search engines, such asRambler (rambler.ru), which began withratings, followed by Internet service pro-viders, such as cityline and relkom. AntonNosik, a consultant at MediaMost, devel-oped Rambler but later also advised onsuch online newspapers as gazeta.ru,lenta.ru, and vesti.ru.

Surprisingly maybe for the foreign ob-server, but explicable in the light of the ea-gerness of Russians to read, text librariesproved a very important and popular as-pect of the Russian net. Such sites as lib.ru,rema.ru, and litera.ru were set up from1994 onward by Maxim Moshkov and pro-vided access to literature. Authors wouldeven send their new works to Moshkov foronline publication.

Some other popular, quirky sites on theRussian virtual space were the flash anima-tion cartoons of the Petersburg designerOleg Kuvayev on the site mult.ru, where hecreated the Masiania cartoons. Masiania,dressed in her short skirt and T-shirt in thecolors of the Russian flag, with her squeakyvoice and complete lack of manners, be-came a superstar of animation. Anotherstrange site was kogot.ru (kogot is a claw),which released compromising material. In1998 it published a list of the telephonenumbers of the political elite; later a re-corded telephone conversation betweenBoris Berezovsky and Tatiana Diachenko(Yeltsin’s daughter and aide) appearedhere, but those were isolated incidents.

The need for Internet service providers(ISPs) soon acquired the potential of com-

mercial business and attracted foreign in-vestment. The U.S.-owned Golden Telecomacquired glasnet, one of oldest ISPs in Rus-sia, and turned it into “rol” (russia-on-line,as equivalent to “aol” for America-on-line);they also purchased Agama and the searchengine aport.ru. In terms of providers forsearch facilities and mail, mail.ru is a majorplayer, whereas Rambler remains the mostfrequently used search engine, rating de-vice, and dictionary; it also owns 70 per-cent of lenta.ru. The group ru-net owns theonline bookshop ozon.ru, the search en-gine and mail provider Yandex (yandex.ru),and the popular sites of narod.ru. The ab-sence of an extensive credit card systemputs limits onto e-trade, however.

Many media are available online, espe-cially radio stations and print media. Televi-sion channels largely offer program infor-mation online, with the exception of RTRand NTV, who also run news informationonline. Newspapers almost all have Inter-net versions, and the literary journals aregrouped in a site called Reading Room (Chi-talnyi zal). A number of newspapers existonly online, such as lenta.ru, gazeta.ru,strana.ru, and utro.ru. They were underhuge demand in the weeks after the fire atthe Ostankino television tower in Septem-ber 2000, when aerial television transmis-sion was interrupted for about a month inthe aftermath of the disaster. According toRambler, Komsomolskaya pravda, Izves-

tiya, and Nezavisimaya gazeta are amongthe top 100 Russian sites and thus the mostpopular newspapers accessed online. Thesite smi.ru reports news on the Russian me-dia, and strana.ru specializes on Russiannews. The encyclopedias of Cyril andMethodius, available on compact disc–read-only memory (CD-ROM) and online atkm.ru, are frequently consulted.


It is astonishing to find some of the topweb design studios in Russia. Artemy Lebe-dev’s studio is one example of highly so-phisticated, interactive, and innovative useof the Internet with sites such as www.metro.ru that recreates the Moscow under-ground network on the web and provides awhole host of archival information and re-lated documents.

The Print Media

Newspapers

Soviet papers: Pravda and Company

Under the Soviet system the print mediawere rigidly controlled. They were ownedby either state, party, or a trade union orga-nization, and the chief editors were respon-sible for the ideological content of theirpapers while also working under the super-vision of a censor, usually one of the in-house editors. The Soviet system was hy-persensitive to any inappropriate allusion,any hinted criticism that might occur inprint. One example of the pettiness of thecontrol system is the incident over BorisPasternak’s obituary. Although Pasternakwas awarded the Nobel Prize for Literaturein 1958 for Doctor Zhivago, which hadbeen published in Italy and rejected forpublication in the Soviet Union, he wasforced to decline the award. He had be-come persona non grata. When he died afew years later, Literaturnaya gazeta (Lit-erary Gazette) carried an obituary. Thiswas placed—not on the front page, but afew pages into the paper—next to an arti-cle entitled “A Great Poet,” which was notconcerned with Pasternak at all. The lay-out might have suggested, however, thatthe “great poet” of the article’s headline re-

ferred to Pasternak. The editor in chargewas fired immediately. Subsequently, jour-nalists and section editors knew what wasacceptable and exercised self-censorship,keeping within the permissible to avoidtrouble.

Newspapers were a very importantmedium for the delivery of officialspeeches. Soviet newspapers tended toprint verbatim the full speeches of theparty leaders, adding little comment; theirtone was a mixture of official jargon andSoviet “news-speak.” The most importantnewspaper in the country was Pravda

(Truth), established in 1912 to voice Lenin’scause. The official organ of the CommunistParty, it had by far the highest print run ofall newspapers, reaching ten million by thetime Gorbachev came to office. Pravda

was followed in importance by Izvestiya

(News), the organ of the Supreme Soviet ofthe Council of Ministers (the highest bodyof the state apparatus), founded in 1917.Izvestiya had a print run of about sevenmillion at the beginning of the Gorbachevera. During perestroika, Komsomolskaya

pravda (Komsomol’s Truth), the organ ofthe youth organization (komsomol), andthe trade unions’ paper Trud (Work) be-came increasingly popular and reachedprint runs of 13 and 16 million respectively,thus towering even above Pravda. The cov-erage in these papers was more or less thesame, but what is interesting to note here isthe readership’s trend away from the offi-cial organs of state and party to those me-dia published by other organizations, albeitalso state or party controlled. These na-tional papers were complemented by ahost of local papers. For Moscow, thesewere Vecherniaya Moskva (Evening Mos-cow), Moskovskaya pravda (MoscowTruth), and Moskovskii komsomolets

T H E M E D I A 5 1

(Moscow’s Komsomol). In addition to thedaily papers a few weeklies appeared, suchas the paper Sovetskaya Rossiya (SovietRussia), founded in 1956 with a remit to de-Stalinize the media sphere. The weekly pa-pers Argumenty i fakty (Arguments andFacts), which started in 1978, and the for-eign-language paper Moskovskiye novosti

(Moscow News), which launched a Russianedition in 1980, were the youngest papersand therefore predestined to take on an in-novative and challenging role in the newGorbachev era.

Alongside the largely daily newspapers,the Soviet media market also producedspecialized papers. So, for example, Liter-

aturnaya gazeta is the organ of the Writ-ers’ Union and covers literary matters. Ittraces its origins back to the great Russianpoet of the nineteenth century, AlexanderPushkin, a detail in which the paper takespride and which it uses to legitimize itself(the profile of Pushkin appears on the frontpage as a logo). The weekly Sovetskaya

kultura (Soviet Culture) dealt with culturalmatters. The satirical weekly (or thrice-monthly) paper Krokodil (Crocodile) wasvery popular, but under the guise of satireit promulgated the official view through ex-posure of ideologically flawed socialtrends.

Gorbachev and the Newspapers

When Gorbachev became general secre-tary, the media landscape looked ratherdull. There were several rather thin (four–six page) newspapers, some unexciting lit-erary magazines, and a few political jour-nals. There were no glossy magazines,leisure and entertainment magazines,youth magazines, or fashion journals. Theproduction of papers reached more than215 million printed items per year, how-

ever. Unfortunately, most papers wereprinted on low-quality paper using out-of-date printing presses. Nevertheless—despite the restrictions due to lack of print-ing equipment, state-owned printingpresses, and paper that resembled more aslice of a tree than a sheet of paper—by1988 newspaper production had increasedby 23 million. The principles of openness(glasnost) and timeliness (operativnost)advocated by Gorbachev were also work-ing for the print media. Nevertheless, pho-tocopiers remained guarded and locked be-hind steel doors for the time being.

Although the newspapers continued topublish and distribute official speeches,the weeklies Argumenty i fakty (AiF) andMoscow News carried longer, more inquisi-tive articles. The journal Ogonyok startedto investigate, expose, and criticize just asmuch as its colleagues on television weredoing. Ogonyok’s editor in chief, Vitali Ko-rotich, became, like his counterpart atMoscow News, Yegor Yakovlev, an emblem-atic figure of liberal journalism. The papercovered previously taboo subjects, such asStalinist repression, economic mismanage-ment, corruption, alcoholism, drugs, pros-titution, and the Afghan war. All theseweekly editions were later graced with thegratitude of the readers and remain to dateamong the most popular print media inRussia. The daily paper Komsomolskaya

pravda began its course of investigativejournalism, for which it would gain fameand readers (but also pay a price—the mur-der of Dmitri Kholodov in 1994 being oneexample), in the mid-1990s. The dailyPravda took a rather conservative view ofthe proposed reforms, but Izvestiya

adopted a more liberal stance and sup-ported the reforms. Again, both editionshave paid their price: Pravda is reduced to


a very low print run and mainly reaches itsaudience through its online news site,whereas Izvestiya is still relatively popularin the twenty-first century.

Access to foreign print media (alongwith the end of the jamming of foreign ra-dio stations and the gradual availability offoreign television) also contributed to amore informed picture, which the mediawere able to present in the Gorbachev pe-riod. The print runs rose steadily as inter-est in politics and history grew, but no newtitles appeared until the new Press Law in1990. The media contributed to glasnost,with critical voices offset by more conser-vative ones, echoing the debate that wenton within the country and within the Sovietleadership. On 13 March 1987, Sovetskaya

Rossiya published a letter by Leningradlecturer Nina Andreyeva, in which she crit-icized the media’s obsession with exposureand attack. The paper deployed the ancientdevice of using a letter to the editor to dis-guise the paper’s (and supposedly theparty’s) view on a certain matter andlaunch a vitriolic attack on glasnost andthe revisionist view of Soviet history, echo-ing and reinforcing the hard-line positionof Yegor Ligachev. This practice was com-mon in the 1960s and 1970s when criticismof controversial plays, theater productions,or films would not take the form of an edi-torial but would frequently be attributed toletters from readers. The voice of the peo-ple, as it were, was used to condemn orcriticize, replacing the censor’s interven-tion. The device also served as make-be-lieve that the people had power over ideo-logical issues.

In the late 1980s, the landscape of thepress changed: a different style of journal-ism emerged, dwelling on the exposure ofhistorical facts and documents, offering

coverage of controversial events, and fea-turing rock musicians and stars of the newyouth culture. This extended not only tothe Russian media but also to samizdat pa-pers, tackling issues of ecology, humanrights, and so on, that were circulatedopenly. In terms of the political spectrum,papers veered between the old Communistviews (Pravda, Sovetskaya Rossiya), themore democratic positions (Komsomol-

skaya pravda, Izvestiya, Moskovskii kom-

somolets), and the new political forces(Nezavisimaya gazeta, Kommersant).The foreign press featured a range of mate-rial on the Soviet Union and its culture,making the first Soviet “sex” star, NataliaNegoda, a cover girl for Playboy in 1989.Negoda had played the main part in VasiliPichul’s film Little Vera (Malen’kaia Vera,1988), which exposed the dullness and lackof meaning in the life of the younger Sovietgeneration, showing them at a forbiddenrock concert, in illegal possession of hardcurrency, and—the greatest taboo of all—in bed. Beauty competitions, fashion jour-nals, and the much-sought-after editions ofBurda’s sewing patterns were waiting justaround the corner.

In 1989 the journalist Artyom Borovikand the writer Yulian Semyonov, author ofthe Stirlitz spy thrillers, started the paperSovershenno sekretno (Top Secret), inwhich they published archival material de-signed to disclose matters that were previ-ously hidden or obscured. The figure of Se-myonov, not only a best-selling author butalso one with well-known insider informa-tion from the KGB, infused the enterprisewith a sense of trustworthiness. On 40pages the monthly paper covered secretsof the economy, the special services, busi-ness, sport, history, and the stage as well aslines of investigation. Apart from Sover-

T H E M E D I A 5 3

shenno sekretno, the company formed byBorovik later launched a monthly journal,Litsa (Faces), in 1996 and a weekly paper,Versiya (Version), in 1998. The latterstressed the “male” sides of business andpleasure.

The new Press Law of 1990 required theprint media to register while also allowingfor financial restructuring; it establishedthe rights and responsibilities of journalistsas well as those of the readers to refuteinaccurate reports. Censorship ceased, al-though there have been incidents of arti-cles being blanked out after Yeltsin reintro-duced censorship after the October coup in1993.

The ownership of newspapers hadpassed to the Russian government after theAugust coup of 1991. Increases in the costof paper, growing inflation, the drop in sub-scriptions, and the reliance on state sub-sidy, however, led the print media to thebrink of bankruptcy. Although the sub-scription rates for 1992 had been raised,the increase in postage, paper price, andprinting was much higher than anticipated.In this new economic system the mediastill relied on the state for support whilefailing to take the opportunity to raiseprices or resort to advertising. At the sametime the papers insisted on their wish to beindependent. The government satisfied thedemand for support and offered loans inFebruary 1992, issuing a decree that forcedpaper factories to sell paper at fixed ratesto newspapers. In the course of this crisis,Pravda ceased to appear for three weeks,resuming publication three times a weekrather than daily. The completely out-moded polygraphic conditions representeda massive problem. Most journals wantingto use color were printed abroad, at greatcost, to achieve the desired quality. In 1997,

56 percent of journals and almost 20 per-cent of papers were still printed abroad, es-pecially in Finland. While this remains truefor many glossy journals, numerous publi-cations are now printed in Moscowpresses. Neither the Russian state nor themedia moguls have invested in substan-tially improving the printing conditions inRussia.

The 1990s saw a proliferation of new ti-tles, including papers of marginal socialand political groups, such as the paper ofthe homeless in Petersburg, Na Dne

(Lower Depths), the writer Eduard Limo-nov’s paper Limonovka, and the ultra-nationalist paper Den (The Day), edited bywriter Alexander Prokhanov and later pub-lished under the title Zavtra (Tomorrow).


Distribution of the nationalist paper Zavtra

(Tomorrow) in Moscow in 2004. (Steve

Raymer/Corbis )

The list could continue with ecological,agrarian, or religious publications. Women’smagazines such as Natalie and Moskvichka

(The Muscovite) addressed the changedrole of women; children’s and teenage jour-nals proliferated, catering for a new gener-ation of teenagers. Although the number ofnewspapers increased, the number of jour-nals doubled, and the print runs slumped.

Newspapers in the New Russia In1993, in the aftermath of the paper, price,and subsidy crisis of the national press, thefirst new independent papers appeared onthe market. Gusinsky’s Most Grouplaunched the liberal Segodnia (Today), an-ticipating the name of NTV’s evening newsprogram. Nezavisimaya gazeta (Indepen-dent Gazette) started as an independent,12-page newspaper, later with various sup-plements. The media tycoons ventured intothe world of the printed press before ex-panding their empires into television andradio, although the print market rankedlast in surveys about sources of informa-tion (after television and radio).

Nezavisimaya gazeta was founded on21 December 1990 under the editor VitaliTretiakov. The paper was genuinely inde-pendent, appearing three times a week,and later daily. It was a prestigious paper,read by the intelligentsia, and many jour-nalists who had to work elsewhere for aliving considered it an honor to publish inNezavisimaya. In 1992, during the papercrisis, Tretiakov refused to seek state sup-port, as most other papers did. In the after-math of that crisis, a team of journalists un-der Dmitri Ostalsky split off and foundedthe paper Segodnia in 1993. In May 1995Nezavisimaya was effectively bankrupt;resources and donations had been used upand faded in a growing capitalist market,

and the paper ceased to appear. It resumedonly after a deal with Berezovsky had beenstruck, in the autumn of 1995. In its secondlife, the paper expanded with a number ofspecial and regional supplements (for ex-ample, Ex Libris), and established the Anti-Booker Prize. Nezavisimaya remains animportant, if no longer independent, news-paper.

In Putin’s Russia the most popular paperis Moskovskii komsomolets, an eight-pagetabloid offering sensational stories aboutcorruption and scandalous exposure, withsexually appealing images, slang language,and cartoon-like stories in abundance. Itsprint run is more than two million, whereasall other dailies run below half a million.The paper Trud, with its six pages of cover-age of current affairs, and the six-pageMoskovskaya pravda, covering society lifeas well as current affairs, have print runs ofa quarter to half a million, just like theMoscow evening paper Vecherniaya

Moskva. Several new titles have gainedhuge popularity with the readers: the Rus-sian Federation’s official organ, Rossiis-

kaya gazeta (Russian Gazette), with eightpages of coverage on politics, events, andthe law was founded in 1990. The 24-pageKommersant of the publishing group Kom-mersant, covering politics, economics, cul-ture, and sports, was the first paper to haveleads for each article. Novye Izvestiya

(New Izvestiya), with eight pages of newsabout current affairs, split off from the lib-eral Izvestiya. LukOil, which held 20 per-cent of the shares in Izvestiya, had nevermeddled in editorial politics. In April 1997Izvestiya’s editor Igor Golembiovsky wasforced to change his editorial politics vis-à-vis the prime minister Viktor Cher-nomyrdin. When the editor refused to doso, LukOil gained 41 percent of the shares

T H E M E D I A 5 5

and pushed Golembiovsky out. VladimirPotanin’s Oneksimbank later bought thecontrolling stake in the newspaper. Golem-biovsky set up a new paper, Novye

Izvestiya, financed by Berezovsky andpublished in color. The paper was discon-tinued for three months in 2003 before itwas revived under a new editor, ValeriYakov. After the campaign against the me-dia tycoons, or oligarchs, Boris Berezovskyand Vladimir Gusinsky, the future of Neza-

visimaya gazeta became uncertain and itsreadership declined; Segodnia was closedin April 2001. At the same time, Oleg Pop-tsov, who had organized the televisionchannel RTR, having been dismissed fromhis post there, set up the publishing outfitPushkin Square (Pushkinskaya Plosh-chad), which published a number of dailies

and weeklies, most prominently the dailynewspaper Versty (Versts).

The weeklies Argumenty i fakty (26pages) and Sovershenno sekretno havemaintained print runs of more than twomillion. The tabloids Spid-Info (AIDS-Info,or SPEED-Info) and Megapolis Ekspress,

which represent a new type of newspaperwith gossip columns about stars and fash-ion, belong to the yellow press. Like anyother European megalopolis, Moscow alsohas a paper called Metro, distributed freeof charge on the subway. A new feature onthe print market is the advertising papersfor secondhand purchases, apartment ex-change, and other services, such as Vse

dlia vas (Everything for You), launched in1991 in Moscow and then in other cities,and Iz ruk v ruki (From Hand to Hand,1992). Tsentr Plius (Center Plus, 1992) andExtra M are free papers with print runs ofmore than three million copies, as is theweekly Metro, which was acquired in 2003by Boris Jordan’s media empire.

Regional papers remain popular and aremostly acquired by subscription at the lo-cal level. The central papers are purchased,both in the cities and the regions, and thesubscription has dropped rapidly as in-creased postal charges have devolved ontothe subscriber. In the light of this develop-ment, many central papers have expandedand launched regional editions of their pa-pers or regional supplements to the centraleditions.

The print media in Russia today offer agreat number of products that are wantedby the readers, and these tend to be tab-loids, glossy magazines, and celebrity gos-sip around television programs. In thissense, the Russian media market has re-sponded to customer demand and adjustedprices and print runs to the new market.


Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov attended the

“Slava” award ceremony. The second ceremony

of the national sports award took place in

the Moscow International Music House in

May 2004. (Photo by DmitryAzarov/

Kommersant)

What is lacking are newspapers of the size,complexity, and acumen of the Guardian

or the Times, the Herald Tribune or theNew York Times. Kommersant had thatpotential, but its print run has droppedsharply.

The once-so-popular Russian edition ofMoscow News was taken over by the Yukos-supported fund Open Russia, and the newowners brought in Yevgeni Kiselyov as edi-tor in chief in September 2003. Apart fromthe foreign-language editions of Moscow

News, a number of foreign papers are pub-lished in Moscow and Petersburg, includingthe English-language editions of the Mos-

cow Times and the Petersburg Times. Thelatter two were begun by Derk Sauer, aDutch entrepreneur and head of Indepen-dent Media, who later ventured further intothe Russian market with Russian editions ofCosmopolitan, Playboy, OM, Marie Claire,

and Harper’s Bazaar. The 21-year-oldShakhri Amirkhanova was appointed as edi-tor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar. AndrewPaulson joined forces with Boris Jordan, aU.S.-born financial consultant of Russianextraction, who is also associated withGazProm Media. They publish the entertain-ment guide Afisha (Billboard) and the freepaper Bolshoi gorod (Big City). Anotherpartnership exists between Vedomosti (In-formation), launched in 1999 by Indepen-dent Media in collaboration with the Wall

Street Journal and the Financial Times, aswell as the Izvestiya supplement Finan-

sovye izvestiya (Financial News), with Fi-

nancial Times. In 2004 the UK-based enter-tainment guide Time Out launched Russianeditions in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The leaders among newspapers are theweekly AiF, the tabloid Komsomolskaya

pravda, the daily quality paper Izvestiya,

the tabloid SPEED Info, and the daily Trud,

now with a weekend edition to boost sales.This is well reflected in their annual adver-tising turnover: for 1997 this was 10 milliondollars for Komsomolskaya pravda, 9 mil-lion for AiF, and 600,000 dollars for Trud.

Journals

Next to the papers stood the journals, andwe need here to distinguish between thejournal as we understand it in the West (a“glossy” journal) and the literary journals(“thick” journals), which publish contem-porary literature.

From Soviet to Russian Although therewere a few journals on the Soviet marketdealing with women’s issues (Rabotnitsa

[The Woman Worker] and Krestianka [ThePeasant Woman]), they typified women ac-cording to their social status as worker orfarmer. There was also a very popularhealth journal, Zdorovie (Health), since the1950s. The analytical journal Ogonyok (Lit-tle Flame) had been going since the lastcentury. It carried larger features on cul-ture, sport, and social and political com-ments. None of these journals contained“glossy” pictures (color photos on good-quality paper), horoscopes, fashion orbeauty advice; they featured hardly any ad-vertising as we understand it today; instead,they would print “product guides” explain-ing the use of new goods or the content andvalue of new food products. There werealso a number of highly specialized jour-nals, such as the film magazine Sovetskii

Ekran (Soviet Screen), the theater journalTeatralnaya zhizn (Theater Life), the musi-cal journal Muzykalnaya zhizn (MusicalLife), the ballet journal Sovetskii balet (So-viet Ballet), and Sovetskii tsirk (Soviet Cir-cus). Quite a few of these were also pub-lished—on better-quality paper—in foreign

T H E M E D I A 5 7


Paper Est. Print Runa Proprietor/Shareholderb

DailiesPravda (3/7 days) 1912 100,300 ANO Pravda, CPRFIzvestiya 1917 234,000 OAO IzvestiyaMoskovskaya pravda 1918 244,000 ZAO Mosk.PravdaMoskovskii komsomolets 1919 2,225,458 Editorial Staff Mosk.Koms.Trud 1921 612,850 ANO TrudVecherniaya Moskva 1923 300,000 ZAO Vech.MoskvaKomsomolskaya pravda 1925 754,800 ZAO Koms.PravdaRossiiskaya gazeta 1990 309,550 Russian Federation GovernmentKommersant daily 1990 105,278 KommersantNezavisimaya gazeta 1990 48,147 ZAO Nez.GazSegodnia 1993–2001 57,000 OOO SegodniaNovye Izvestiya 1997 42,169 ZAO Novye Izv.Vremia MN 1998 54,000 Media FinanceVersty (3/7 days) 1998 60,000 OAO Pushkin SquareVedomosti 1999 47,000 Independent MediaGazeta 2001–4 61,300 Charity FundVremia Novostei 2000 51,000 VremiaStolichnaya 2003–4 65,000 OOO Stolichnaya

WeekliesLiteraturnaya gazeta 1830 83,000 OAO Lit.GazMoskovskiye novosti 1930 63,700 Mosk.NovostiLiteraturnaya Rossiya 1958 24,000 ANO Lit.RossArgumenty i fakty 1978 2,964,000 Collective of JournalistsSobesednik 1984 252,000 Collective of JournalistsRossiiskiye vesti 1990 50,000 Culture Fond., Film Union, V. Kucher,

Dept. of RF PresidentMegapolis Ekspress 1990 700,000 ZAO MegapolisVechernii klub 1991 30,000 OOO Vech.KlubZavtra 1991 100,000 A. KhudorozhkovObshchaya gazeta 1991 203,442 Yegor YakovlevSPEED-Info (bi-monthly) 1989/92 2,863,000 OOO SpeedNovaya gazeta (twice weekly) 1993 138,280 ANO Novaya Gaz.Versiya: Sovershenno. sekretno 1998 97,550 ZAO MAPT -MediaIz ruk v ruki 1998 85,000 ProntoKonservator 2002-3 54,800 Leibman Media GroupMetro 2001 1,000,000 AO Metro, Moscow Gov. Metro St. Petersburg 1999 400,000 Tri Korony

Printed Press: Central Publications

T H E M E D I A 5 9

Journal Est. Print Runa Proprietor/Investorb

WeekliesOgonyok 1899 50,000 OOO OVA- PressSovershenno sekretno 1989 301,800 ZAO Sovershenno sekretnoVlast – Kommersant 1993 56,532 KommersantNovoye Vremya 1993 25,000 OOO Editorial StaffDengi – Kommersant 1994 81,102 KommersantTV Park 1994 389,000 ZAO Media ParkEkspert 1995 78,500 ZAO Expert (ProfMedia)Itogi 1996 85,000 7 DneiSem dnei 1996 895,000 7 DneiProfil 1996 75,000 Publ. RodionovaOtdokhni 1998 580,000 BurdaZhurnal 2001 71,200 OOO OstrovRusskii Fokus 2001 31,900 Infomaker

MonthliesRabotnitsa 1914 160,000 Editorial staffKrestianka 1922 81,190 ZAO KrestiankaZdoroviye 1955 195,000 ZAO ZdorovieAndrei 1991 50,000 Andrei (Veitsler)Moscow Times 1992 35,000 Independent MediaDomovoi 1993 104,500 ZAO 108Cosmopolitan 1994 420,000 Independent MediaPtiuch 1994–2000 110,000 ZAO GertrudaKrasota (6/12) 1995 30,000 MikhailovaElle 1995 180,000 HachettePlayboy 1995 105,000 BurdaOM 1995 70,000 Independent MediaHarper’s Bazaar 1996 65,000 Independent MediaMedved 1996 74,500 OOO MedvedPersona (9/12) 1996 10,000 Novy ArbatLitsa 1996 50,000 ZAO/BorovikSt. Petersburg Times 1996 20,000 Independent MediaMarie Claire 1997 90,000 Independent MediaOna/She 1997 150,000 AprelMen’s Health 1997 135,000 Independent MediaKaravan (istorii) 1998 319,000 7 DneiVogue 1998 150,000 Conde NastL’Officiel 1999 50,000 GlossyOops! 2001 250,000 Burda

Notes: aPrint run as of 2003. bAO = Aktsionernoe obshchestvo (shareholding company); ANO = Avtonomnaianekommercheskaia organizatsiia (autonomous, noncommercial organization); CPRF = Communist Party of theRussian Federation; OOO = Obshchestvo s ogranichennoi otvetstvennost’iu (company with limited liability);ZAO/OAO (zakrytoe/otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo) = closed or open shareholding company.

languages for libraries and subscribersabroad while also serving as publicity mate-rial. In a sense, all these journals testified tothe high level of education and the sophisti-cated cultural tastes of the Soviet citizen.None of the popular culture that just enter-tained the Soviet people formed part of theofficial cultural discourse.

Numerous new journals have emergedon the map in post-Soviet Russia. The cur-rent affairs journal Ogonyok (62 pages)changed its image in 1995 for a style morelike Time magazine or Newsweek, offeringless text and more images and coveringlighter topics. Although the journal lost itsheavy liberal political and moral angle, itremains a popular edition alongside thenew journals Vlast (Control), Expert, Itogi

(Conclusions), which has 64 pages and wasinitially launched with Newsweek (until2001), as well as Profil (Profile, 104 pages).The best-sellers among weekly journalsare, however, the television programs withsome society gossip offered by Sem dnei

(Seven Days) and TV Park, as well as theleisure magazine Otdokhni (Relax), pub-lished by the German publishing houseBurda; the women’s journal Liza; the soci-ety journal Gala; and Avtomir (Car World).All others journals remain under 100,000—a huge drop when compared to Ogonyok’sprint run for 1989 of more than three mil-lion. The interest in politics has evidentlyshrunk, whereas the hunger for leisure andentertainment has increased, filling a gapin the cultural sector but also signaling acertain level of political lethargy.

Glossy Magazines This tendency goeshand in hand with the rise of the “glossy”(gliantsevye) journals, both of general in-terest and for men or women. Again, therise in these publications can partly be ex-

plained by a complete absence of men’sand women’s magazines in the Soviet pe-riod. The first journal of this category to belaunched was the men’s magazine Andrei

in 1991—a timid equivalent of Playboy.

The Russian edition of Playboy itself hitthe market in 1995, together with a varietyof other journals owned by the global me-dia corporations, such as Cosmopolitan,

Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire,

L’Officiel, and—last but not least—Vogue,

all of which entered the Russian market be-tween 1995 and 2000. These women’s mag-azines clearly aim at the upper middleclasses, with features on fashion, lifestyle,culture, and beauty rather than the moretraditional family, children, kitchen themes.They mirror a world that is utopian for theaverage citizen.

They were complemented by a range ofhome-grown journals, such as the youthmagazine Ptiuch, which folded in 2000 af-ter the offices were raided by the police.The men’s journal Medved (Bear), editedby Igor Maltsev and based on a concept bythe TV presenter Vlad Listiev, covers men’sissues and hunting. It includes no pornog-raphy, but restores the macho image sup-pressed in Soviet times, returning to pre-Revolutionary images of men (hunting).OM (edited by Igor Grigoriev), Men’s

Health, and MaKhaOn are men’s journalsthat stress male potency and do not alwaysrefrain from nude images. They build theimage of the superman and reassure menof their (sexual) power. The women’s mag-azines Krasota (Beauty), Rabotnitsa

(Working Woman), and Krestianka (ThePeasant Woman) cover fashion and cook-ing. Liza is more for the domestic woman,offering advice on manners, holiday re-sorts, and plants and is part of a range ofpublications by Burda, all aimed at domes-


tic issues and youngsters: Otdokhni (Re-lax); Moi rebyonok (My Child); Burda DIY,

Cool Girl, and Oops!

The general interest journals are Do-

movoi (House Spirit) and Karavan istorii

(Caravan of History). Alongside these gen-eral interest journals is a host of specialistjournals on computer issues, motorist in-terests, and others. These glossy maga-zines are quite expensive for the ordinaryRussian, who is used to paying kopecks forprinted matter, be it a newspaper, a jour-nal, or a book. But all of the above-mentioned journals achieve print runs of100,000 and more and are thus clearly ingreat demand.

Entertainment guides might seem to benot even worth mentioning, were it not forthe fact that they too were a “deficit” (aproduct in high demand and low supply) ofthe Soviet media market. In the Soviettimes there was one entertainment guide,the newspaper Dosug v Moskve (Leisure in

Moscow), which had such a low print runthat it was sold out by 8 AM on Saturdays.In the mid-1990s when the media marketexpanded, there was a variety of attemptsto launch a journal-size entertainmentguide, until eventually in 1998 the journalAfisha (Billboard) was launched. It hasrisen to an extremely comprehensive, reli-able, and valued guide to Moscow’s day-and nightlife. Afisha also publishes bookeditions of its information on restaurants,films, and Moscow life as well as cityguides. At two dollars it is more expensivethan the old Dosug—but, unlike it, is avail-able for several hours, and even days, afterits publication.

The cultural sector is well served with anumber of low-print-run editions, such asthe weekly papers Kultura (Culture, theformer Sovetskaya Kultura) and Ekran i

stsena (Screen and Stage). The monthlyfilm journal Premiere was launched in1997 and edited by the film critic Alexan-der Kulish, until it was placed under newmanagement in February 2004, restrictingits scope to international releases coveredlargely by translated articles from the U.S.edition of the journal. There is also a Rus-sian-grown counterpart, publishing Rus-sian critics, called KinoPark. The journalTeatr (Theater) folded in 1994 and was re-launched in 2000 with substantial supportfrom the state; during the interim the mat-ters were covered by Moskovskii nabliu-

datel (Moscow Observer), which hadstarted in 1991 and folded in 1998. Teatral-

naya zhizn (Theatrical Life), a bimonthly,covered the theater experiments underGorbachev extremely well, with four edi-tions per year run by a “youth” editorialboard composed of students from the The-ater Institute. By 1992, Teatralnaya zhizn

was forced to reduce the number of issues

T H E M E D I A 6 1

Vlad Listiev, the first director of ORT

television, with the prizes for the game show

Pole chudes, which he presented in the early

1990s. (Photo by Kommersant Archive)

to 12 per year, and since 1996 the journalhas often published editions sponsored(bought) by a theater or an actor for pro-motion purposes. The Petersburg Theater

Journal (Peterburgskii teatralnyi zhurnal)has been running since 1992. The journal isunique in offering reviews not only on the-ater life in St. Petersburg but also onprovincial theaters. The journal Sovre-

mennaya dramaturgiya (ContemporaryDrama) was complemented by Dramaturg

(1993–1997), which also published playsand drama criticism, and Kinostsenarii

(Film Scripts) carries film scripts and filmcriticism. Many new plays are now avail-able online.

The post-Soviet journals thus cover abreadth of issues, and although a few edi-tions are part of international publishingnetworks, there are still a few indigenousRussian editions, in particular the special-ized cultural journals, many of which aresupported by the Ministry of Culture. Theprint media landscape overall has changed,though, in the last decade. If in 1990 therewere 43 publications with an average printrun of 2.5 million, then in 2000 we had 333publications with an average print run of117,000. This shows on the one hand thedemocratization of the print media, whichare able to offer a broader variety of edi-tions and titles to the consumer. On theother hand, the overall figure of readers isclearly down by more than half and repre-sents a lower per-head consumption ofprint media than in the United States orWestern Europe.

The “Thick” Journals The literaryjournals gave even more evidence of thehighbrow tastes of the Soviet readership.The so-called thick journals such as Novyi

Mir (New World), Druzhba narodov (Na-

tions’ Friendship), Znamia (Banner),Yunost (Youth), Oktiabr (October),Moskva (Moscow), Molodaya gvardiya

(Young Guard), and Nash sovremennik

(Our Contemporary) as well as Neva andAvrora (Aurora) in Leningrad and other re-gional journals published new writing.These journals were always in demand,from libraries as well as from individuals.The “thick” journals were the main, andfirst, outlet for contemporary prose andpoetry. Plays were published more rarely, afact that was remedied in 1982 with thenew journal Sovremennaya dramatur-

giya. During the 1960s the editors of the lit-erary journals fought many battles with theparty’s censors over permission to publishpieces by Mikhail Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn,or some other dissident writer. Sometimesthey could slip a work past the censors;sometimes they could obtain permissionfrom the top leadership (Khrushchev per-sonally allowed the publication of Solzhen-itsyn’s novel about the senselessness andbrutality of life in the prison camp, A Day

in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, in 1962).On other occasions they would be stoppedin their efforts. Some journals tried harderthan others; some preferred to stick withthe official line. During these years Novyi

Mir had gained a reputation as a probingand very liberal journal, especially underits editor Alexander Tvardovsky. Alongsidethe literary journals were journals of liter-ary criticism, philosophy, film criticism, arthistory, and theater. When Gorbachevcalled for openness and the Filmmakers’Union began to unshelve banned films, sig-naling a change in the censorship of art,the editors of literary journals rushed totheir desks and authors hurried to their se-cret drawers to pull out those texts theyhad been unable to publish earlier. In this


way, most literary journals supported thecause of glasnost, except for the more con-servative Moskva, Nash sovremennik, andMolodaya gvardiya, which veered in amore nationalist direction.

The literary journals have declinedhugely both in status and in print run. Themajor journals that remain on the marketare Znamia and Novyi mir, both compet-ing in a sense over the publication of theBooker Prize winner-to-be. If in the glas-nost period these journals were both runby eminent writers, Grigori Baklanov andSergei Zalygin respectively, then their suc-

cessors as editors in chief are tellingly notwriters, but literary critics: Sergei Chu-prinin and Andrei Vasilevsky. It is no longersignificant for a journal to have a promi-nent person at the wheel to steer the jour-nal through political tempests; it is moreimportant to have a professional with agood grasp of the literary developmentsand trends. The literary journals’ print runsare down substantially from the heyday ofthe 1980s, however, when they printed pre-viously banned and forbidden texts andhad print runs of more than a million. In2003, they reached 10,000 at most. The“thick” literary journal is faltering in a mar-ket where new works are published inbook format and publishing houses decideon the publication of already establishedauthors. The literary journals have, how-ever, the important task of discovering newtalents.

A to Z

Abramovich, Roman: b. 1966. Since 2000,governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Re-gion. Since 1992 in the oil business; hasmade joint deals with Berezovsky since1995. Since 1996 on the board of directorsof Sibneft and holds right for the exploita-tion of oil and gas resources of Slavneft. Heowns shares in ORT. According to Forbes,one of the richest people in the world. Hepurchased London’s Chelsea Football Clubin July 2003.

Argumenty i fakty (AiF, Arguments andFacts): Weekly paper that started in 1978and was very popular under Gorbachev.Commercially successful, it reaches printruns of more than two million. With its sub-

T H E M E D I A 6 3

Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya of the

paper Novaya Gazeta takes part in the round-

table conference summoned to discuss

terrorism-related issues. The conference

was held in the Central Journalist House, 15

February 2005. (Photo by Dmitry Saltykovsky/

Kommersant)

sidiary publications, one of the largest Rus-sian publishing companies. Supplements:AiF Health, Culture, Regions, and others.[www.aif.ru]

Berezovsky, Boris: b. 1946. Founded theautomobile company LogoVaz in 1989.Later formed an alliance of automobileproducers (Avtomobil’nyi VserossiiskiiAl’ans, All-Russian Automobile Alliance,AVVA). Participated in the launch of ORTin 1995, acquiring a substantial amount ofshares in the holding company. In 1996joined the presidential security council. In1999 launched Our Radio (Nashe Radio)and in 1999 invested in TV6. Owns sharesin the journal Matador, the papers Komm-

ersant and Nezavisimaya gazeta, and thejournal Ogonyok. Lives in London, havingsold his ORT shares to Abramovich. Asso-ciated with Rupert Murdoch.

Dorenko, Sergei: b. 1959. Since 1985 withGosteleradio. From 1990 to 1993 televisionpresenter with the First Channel, thenVesti on RTR. Famed for coverage ofevents in Lithuania. In 1995 had his pro-gram Versii (Versions) on ORT, which wasclosed. 1998–1999, producer on ORT, thenTV6. November 1999 deputy director ofORT. April 2001 accusation of grievousbodily harm caused to a civil servant fol-lowing an accident with his motorcycle.Used by Berezovsky to denounce politi-cians as and when needed to manipulatepublic opinion. Conviction of four years inprison in November 2001, reduced by ap-peals court to a fine in 2002.

Dvenatdsatyi etazh (Twelfth Floor): televi-sion youth program conceived by EduardSagalayev in the youth editor’s office onthe twelfth floor of the television building;

live coverage with links to remote loca-tions and guests in the studio; exposure ofthe dullness of life for the young genera-tion, of bureaucratic mismanagement inthe provinces.

Echo Moscow (Ekho Moskvy): radio sta-tion set up on 22 August 1990; gradually ac-quired by Media Most (shareholder since1994, owner since 1998). News, sports, re-views of the press, and programs on theeconomy. Liberal democratic orientation,often critical reports on political affairs. Di-rector: Alexei Venediktov. [www.echo.ru]

Europa Plus: first commercial musical ra-dio station, founded in April 1990 as a jointventure with France. The station playslargely music, with news. Owned by Onek-simbank and Hachette Media France.[www.europaplus.ru]

Gusinsky, Vladimir: b. 1952; graduated in1973 from the Institute of Oil Productionand in 1981 from the Theater Institute (GI-TIS). In 1988 set up a financial consultingagency. In 1991 founded Most Bank. In1992 formed the Most Group and in 1997established Media Most, which includedNTV Holding and the program Itogi, RadioEcho Moscow, TNT television, and thepublishing group Seven Days (Sem’ dnei),which publishes the journal Itogi. In 1999and 2000, Vneshekonombank and GazPromdemanded repayments for loans to launchthe satellite Bonum 2. In order to repay thedebt, Gusinsky tried to sell Most Bank, butthe deal was stopped by the state. In June2000 he was arrested for embezzlementand imprisoned for four days in the Bu-tyrka prison in Moscow, where commoncriminals are held. He sold shares toGazProm and left for Spain. Further claims


by GazProm and other banks led to briefarrests of Gusinsky in Spain and Greece,but each time the case was dropped. InMay 2004 the European court decided infavour of Gusinsky and ordered the Rus-sian state to pay him a compensation of 88million euros for losses to his business.

Itogi (Conclusions): weekly magazinewith 64 pages, initially launched withNewsweek and copublished with it until2001. [www.itogi.ru] Also the title of NTV’sflagship political program, hosted by Yev-geni Kiselyov until 2001.

Izvestiya (News): daily newspaperfounded in 1917, organ of the Supreme So-viet of the Council of Ministers (the highestbody of the state apparatus). Remainedone of the most popular papers in the1990s. Owned by Oneksimbank (MikhailPotanin). Split in 1997 into Izvestiya andNovye Izvestiya after a shareholder at-tempted to force a change in editorial pol-icy. Chief editor: Mikhail Kozhanin. [www.izvestia.ru]

Kiselyov, Yevgeni: b. 1956. Joined televi-sion in 1987, leading the news programVremia. From 1990 to 1991 with Tele

Sluzhba Novosti, then anchored Vesti onRTR. In September 1991 returned to ORTwith Oleg Dobrodeyev; launched the pro-gram Itogi in 1992. In 1994 moved to NTV.Created the show Geroi dnia (Man of theDay). Director of NTV since 1993 and gen-eral director after Dobrodeyev left in Feb-ruary 2000. After the hand-over of shares toGazProm in 2001, Kiselyov joined TV6. Af-ter the dissolution of TV6 in 2002, he estab-lished TV Spectrum, which was taken offthe air in June 2003. Since September 2003,chief editor of Moskovskiye novosti.

Kommersant: daily paper of the publishinggroup Kommersant, launched in 1990 un-der Berezovsky. Comprehensive, analyticaljournalism distinguishes the paper, whichis one of the most important dailies in Rus-sia. [www.kommersant.ru]

Komsomolskaya pravda (Komsomol’sTruth): daily newspaper, organ of the youthorganization (komsomol). Characterizedby investigative journalism in the mid-1990s. One of the most popular newspa-pers in the 1990s. [www.kp.ru]

Listiev, Vlad: b. 1956–murdered 1 March1995. Presenter of the Vzgliad program,television presenter. Head of ORT in 1995.Shows included Field of Miracles, Rush

Hour. Listiev had demanded a moratoriumon advertising during the privatization ofthe First Channel/Ostankino into ORT.

Mayak (Lighthouse): radio station estab-lished in 1964 as a 24-hour station. Lightmusic and news, increasing its program va-riety. Mayak is owned by VGTRK. [www.ra-diomayak.ru]

Mitkova, Tatiana: b. 1957; television an-chor. Worked on central television in theinternational news section. From 1990 to1991 presenter of the news program Tele

Sluzhba Novosti. In 1991 made a programon the church’s involvement with the KGB.In January 1991 refused to read the officialversion of the events in Vilnius. Since 1995at NTV, where she stayed after the manage-ment change in April 2001.

Moskovskiye novosti (Moscow News):weekly newspaper established in 1930 byAnna Louise Strong as an English-languagepaper; closed in 1949 when Strong was

T H E M E D I A 6 5

expelled from the USSR; relaunched in1956. Spanish, French, and Arabic editionssince the 1960s; Russian edition since 1980.Under chief editor Yegor Yakovlev, a flag-ship of perestroika and liberal journalism.[www.mn.ru]; English version [www.moscownews.ru]

Moskovskii komsomolets (Moscow’sKomsomol): daily newspaper, dating backto the Revolution; an eight-page tabloid of-fering sensational stories about corruptionand scandalous exposure. Print run morethan two million.[www.mk.ru]

News Agencies: ITAR-TASS is one of thelargest news agencies in the world. [www.tass.ru] Interfax was founded in 1989 as anonstate news agency, distributing infor-mation by fax. RIA Vesti succeeded APN in1992 and is also state owned. [www.apn.ru]

Nezavisimaya gazeta (IndependentGazette): daily newspaper launched by Vi-tali Tretiakov in 1990 as independent news-paper. Some journalists left in 1993 afterthe paper crisis and the refusal to demandstate subsidies. Bought by Berezovsky in1995; since then several supplements, andit awards the Anti-Booker Prize. [www.ng.ru]

Novyi mir (New World): liberal literaryjournal that was famous in the 1960s forbold editorial decisions under AlexanderTvardovsky. During perestroika, chief edi-tor Sergei Zalygin; in the late 1990s, suc-ceeded by Andrei Vasilevsky. Publicationof previously forbidden novels in the late1980s. [http://magazines.russ.ru/novy_mir/]

NTV: television station that began broad-casting on 10 October 1993. First used air-

time on the Petersburg channel. In Decem-ber 1993 allocated the frequency of thefourth channel, on which it transmitted inthe evenings beginning in January 1994 andfor the full day from November 1996 on. InJanuary 1998 its frequency could reach allover Russia. GazProm acquired sharesthrough a loan granted for equipment pur-chase. In 1999–2000, banks and Gazpromdemanded repayment of loan granted forexpansion of the network and satellitelaunches. A deal whereby Gazprom wouldsuspend its repayment demands in returnfor shares fell through. In order to repaythe debt, Gusinsky tried to sell Most Bankbut was stopped. In May 2000, tax policestormed the offices of NTV and Media Mostto search the premises for evidence of taxevasion. A month later, Gusinsky was ar-rested for embezzlement and imprisonedfor four days. He agreed to sell shares toGazProm that would give the company acontrolling majority; in exchange GazPromwould guarantee Gusinsky free travel anddrop charges. Gusinsky left for Spain butwas sued there briefly as well. In Septem-ber 2000 Gazprom filed a suit against Me-dia Most demanding repayment of 473 mil-lion dollars, and other banks followed suitwith their claims. In April 2001, Gazpromrepeated its claims for more shares afterprematurely recalling loans from Gusinskyand assumed control over NTV. When Gaz-prom’s representative, Boris Jordan, wasappointed new general director of thechannel, the old NTV team (Kiselyov andShenderovich) resigned and moved to TV6.The news anchor Tatiana Mitkova resignedalso but was reappointed head of news un-der the new management. In January 2003Jordan was replaced by Alexander Dybalof the new holding company GazProm Me-dia. [www.ntv.ru]


Ostankino/ORT: Central Television (FirstChannel). Main news program Vremia sinceJanuary 1968 on 9 PM slot. Headed by Alex-ander Aksyonov (January 1986–May 89);Mikhail Nenashev (until autumn 1990); Leo-nid Kravchenko (until August 1991). FromAugust 1991 to October 1992, headed byYegor Yakovlev with Eduard Sagalayev andOleg Dobrodeyev (head of news). Yakovlevwas sacked by Yeltsin because of a docu-mentary about the Ossetian-Ingush conflictthat exposed the Russian army as sidingwith the orthodox Ossetians. ViacheslavBragin held the post until December 1993,when he was dismissed following coverageof the October coup. On 1 April 1995 forma-tion of ORT (Obshestvennoe rossiiskoetelevidenie, Public Russian Television), withgeneral director Vlad Listiev (presenter ofVzgliad and game shows). Listiev was mur-dered in March 1995; though the case hasnever been resolved, it appears that his re-fusal to allow advertising may have played arole. In September 1995 the channel formedthe holding company ORT Reklama, collab-orating with Sergei Lisovsky’s Premier SV,which sold advertising time on ORT’s behalfuntil 1999. Since September 1999, televisionpresenter Konstantin Ernst has been gen-eral director of the channel. ORT wasowned by the state (majority of 51 percentof shares), a consortium of banks associ-ated with Berezovsky (38 percent), and Lo-goVaz (9 percent, plus an additional 3 per-cent acquired from GazProm in 1996). ORTcame under fire in 2000 in connection withthe campaign against oligarchs. In a loan re-payment claim, Berezovsky was forced tosurrender his shares; he sold to RomanAbramovich. [www.1tv.ru]

Piatoye koleso (Fifth Wheel): current af-fairs program during perestroika on Lenin-

grad channel run by Bella Kurkova. Kur-kova was elected to parliament and waschairman of Petersburg Television and Ra-dio Company.

Pozner, Vladimir: b. 1934, president of theRussian Academy of Television. Since 1961with APN and radio editor for US/UK; until1985 daily on the radio news. In 1986 spacebridges with Leningrad, Seattle, and Bos-ton; political observer for central tele-vision. Left the Soviet Union in April 1991for the United States, where he hosted aprogram with Phil Donahue (Pozner and

Donahue) and later Final Edition. Re-turned to Moscow in February 1997. Pre-sents shows on television, such as Che-

lovek v maske (Person in the Mask), andworks for the radio.

Pravda (Truth): daily newspaper estab-lished in 1912, official organ of the Com-munist Party. Lost popularity in the 1990s.Launched as online paper in 1999. [www.pravda.ru]

Prozhektor perestroiki (Spotlight on Per-estroika): television program that ran fromAugust 1987 to January 1990, presented byAlexander Tikhomirov.

Radio Russia (Radio Rossiia): radio sta-tion started on 10 December 1990; ownedby the state. Variety of current affairs andentertainment programs with some music.[www.radiorus.ru]

RTR (Russian Television): launched on 13May 1991 under Oleg Poptsov as RTR’sgeneral director. After the coup, Poptsovdeclined the offer to switch to the FirstChannel and to take over the Fourth Chan-nel. In 1993 Poptsov surrendered the

T H E M E D I A 6 7

Fourth Channel to Ostankino (CentralTelevision) for Russian Universities; sixhours were allocated to NTV, which latertook over the entire airtime on the channel.On 14 February 1996, Oleg Poptsov was re-moved from office by Yeltsin’s decree. Ed-uard Sagalayev followed for a year, resign-ing in February 1997, as his attempt tomove the channel onto a commercial foot-ing failed and his policy of purchasingrather than producing contradicted thespirit of the channel. He was succeeded byNikolai Svanidze, who resigned in May1998. RTR’s general director is AlexanderAkopov. [www.rutv.ru]

Russian Radio (Russkoye Radio): radiostation established in August 1995 with aremit to play only Russian music. It is oneof the most popular in Russia. [www.rusradio.ru]

Sagalayev, Eduard: b. 1946, Uzbekistan.From 1980 to 1984 head of youth section(radio station Radio Yunost). From 1984 to1988, producer of Vzgliad and Dvenadt-

satyi etazh. From 1988 to 1990, news edi-tor on central television. From 1991 to1992, at VGTRK, then 1992 to 1996 at Mos-cow Independent Broadcasting Corpora-tion (MNVK), launching channel TV6. In1996 and 1997, head of RTR. In 1997 re-turned to TV6. In 1999 sold his shares inTV6. Head of National Association of Tele-vision and Radio. Head of the National As-sociation of Radio and Television Broad-casters (NAT). [www.nat.ru]

Segodnia (Today): daily newspaper 1993–2001. Anticipating the title of NTV’s newsflagship, the paper was launched by Gusin-sky’s Most Group and founded by stafffrom the Nezavisimaya gazeta (Dmitri Os-

talsky). From 1996 on, Yevgeni Serov hasbeen chief editor. [www.segodnya.ru]

600 sekund (600 seconds): Leningradprogram about crime in the city transmit-ted from December 1987 to November1991. It was conceived and presented byAlexander Nevzorov (b. 1958, circusartist). Nevzorov also presented Dikoye

pole (Wild Field). 600 sekund was removedfrom the air in 1993 when Nevzorov be-came a Duma deputy and sided with thecoup leaders in Moscow. Nevzorov also di-rected the film Purgatory (Chistilishche)about the Chechen war in 1998.

Sorokina, Svetlana: b. 1957. Televisionpresenter. She began on the program 600

sekund, which she presented from 1987 to1990; then moved to the news programVesti on RTR, which she anchored from1991 to 1997. Then she moved to NTV tohost the show Geroi dnia (1997–2000) andGlaz naroda (2000–2001). Recently re-turned to ORT to present Osnovnoi in-

stinkt. Known as the “face” of RTR.

Sovershenno sekretno (Top secret):monthly paper launched in 1989 by thejournalist Artyom Borovik and the writerYulian Semyonov. Publishes archival mate-rial that discloses secrets. Also a holdingcompany, which has owned Litsa (Faces)since 1996 and the weekly paper, Versiya

(Version), since 1998. [www.sovsekretno.ru]

Trud (Work): daily newspaper establishedin the early 1920s, organ of the tradeunions. Trud is one of the top newspapersin the news in Russia, with a large printrun, reliable and sound information, and apositive balance sheet. [www.TRUD.ru]


TV Tsentr (TV Center): television station;since June 1997 transmits on the third fre-quency previously used by MTK/2x2 chan-nels (founded in 1989 as first commercialchannels). Registered on 31 December1996 and belongs to the Moscow govern-ment (Luzhkov). Headed by Vladimir Yev-tushenkov until June 1999; since February2000 by Oleg Poptsov. Available on the In-ternet since October 1998. [www.tvc.ru]

TV6/TVS: television station. Formation inAugust 1991 of Moscow IndependentBroadcasting Corporation (MNVK, Mos-kovskaia nezavisimaia veshchatel’naia kor-poratsiia), owned by the Moscow govern-ment, LukOil, LogoVaz, and several banks.Concept developed by Eduard Sagalayevwith CNN boss Ted Turner. On 12 Novem-ber 1992, license granted for the sixthchannel; transmission started 1 January1993 under director Alexander Ponomarev.In April 1994 the channel expanded cover-age for all of Russia. In October 1999Sagalayev sold his shares (37.5 percent) toBerezovsky. After the change in manage-ment at NTV in April 2001, Kiselyov and histeam joined TV6. In 2001, TV6 was sued forbankruptcy by LukOil (15 percent shares),demanding the station’s liquidation be-cause it made no profit and its assets didnot offset the debts. On 14 January 2002,the channel was closed. In May 2002, Kise-lyov formed the independent station TVS(Television Spectrum). TVS was closed inJune 2003 for nonpayment of bills for cableuse, which were charged at an excessiverate. A new sports channel took over thefrequency.

VGTRK: All-Russian Television and RadioBroadcasting Company; owns a variety oftelevision and radio stations, including

RTR and Radio Russia. General directorAlexander Akopov, succeeded by Oleg Do-brodeyev. VGTRK owns the channel Kul-tura (registered in August 1993), which hastransmitted on the fifth channel since 1 No-vember 1997; headed by Mikhail Shvydkoy(until he was appointed minister of culturein April 2001), then Alexander Ponomarev.[www.vgtrk.com]

Vzgliad (Viewpoint): weekly current af-fairs program on the First Channel fromOctober 1987 to January 1991. First pro-gram to touch upon sensitive themes andoffer live coverage.

Yunost’ (Youth): radio station founded1964. Musical programs presented by DJsand a variety of fashion, automobile, lan-guage, and entertainment programs. One ofthe most liberal radio stations in the Gor-bachev era, and from here a number ofjournalists were recruited for television.[www.unost.da.ru]

Bibliography

Belin, Laura. “Politics and the Mass Mediaunder Putin.” In Russian Politics under

Putin, ed. Cameron Ross, 133–152.Manchester: Manchester University Press,2004.

Bonnell, Victoria, and Gregory Freidin.“Televorot: The Role of Television Coveragein Russia’s August 1991 Coup.” In Soviet

Hieroglyphics: Visual Culture in Late

Twentieth-Century Russia, ed. by NancyCondee, 22–51. Bloomington andIndianapolis: Indiana University Press andBritish Film Institute, 1995.

Dunn, John. “A Pot of Boiling Milk.” Rusistika

8 (1993): 46–51.———. “The Rise, Fall and Rise? of Soviet

Television.” Rusistika 4 (1991): 10–15.

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Gudkov, Lev, and Boris Dubin. “Fernsehen inRussland am Ende der 1990er Jahre. DasMedium als Kommunikationsverfahren.” InKommerz, Kunst, Unterhaltung: Die neue

Popularkultur in Zentral- und Osteuropa,

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Mass Culture and Perestroika in the Soviet

Union. Special issue, Journal of

Communication 41, no 2 (Spring 1991).McNair, Brian. Glasnost, Perestroika and the

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———. “Piracy, Policy, and Russia’s EmergingMedia Market.” Harvard International

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———. Split Signals: Television and Politics

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Zasurskii, Ya., Vartanova, E., Zasurskii, I.,Raskin, A., and Rikhter, A., comps. Sredstva

massovoi informatsii postsovetskoi Rossii.

Moscow: Aspekt, 2002.


2Visual Culture

The Cinema

Feature Films

On 6 September 2003, the director Andrei Zviagintsev’s The Return

(Vozvrashchenie, 2003) received the Golden Lion for the best debut at theVenice International Film Festival. A few minutes later, Zviagintsev wascalled onto the stage again, and this time it was to receive the GoldenLion for the best film. The closing ceremony of the festival showered Rus-sia with more awards: Alexei Gherman Jr. received the award for “prom-ising debut” in the New Territories section for his film The Last Train

(Poslednii poezd), and Murad Ibragimbekov was given an award for bestshort film for his film Oil (Neft’). Three Russian films shown in the festi-val received a total of four awards. There could be no better confirmationof the fact that Russian art-house cinema was again competitive on the in-ternational market and had overcome the crisis of the 1990s.

A few months after the Venice success, the largest multiplex with ninescreens opened in Moscow. Meanwhile, the commercially released Anti-

killer 2 (released 25 November 2003) and Bimmer (Bumer, released 28June 2003) had grossed $2.7 and $1.6 million respectively. In 2003 thestate had supported 60 features, 400 documentaries, and 30 animatedfilms and was able to offer even more support for animation with its in-creased budget for 2004. The Russian box office figures were risingsteeply, from $112 million in 2002 to $200 million in 2003. When in July2004, Russia’s First Channel ORT launched the blockbuster Night Watch

(Nochnoi dozor), based on the fantasy thriller by Sergei Lukianenko, thefilm grossed $8.4 million in the first two weeks after its release. How didRussian cinema, which had hit an all-time low and produced just 20 fea-tures in 1996, none of which made a profit or a significant impact on in-ternational markets, get to this point?

The Film Industry: Production and Distribution Most discus-sions of Soviet and Russian cinema begin with Lenin’s acknowledgmentthat cinema was “the most important of all arts.” For almost seventy

years, cinema was controlled by the stateand used by the Communist Party for prop-aganda purposes in its role as a mediumthat could convey an ideological messagein the form of entertainment. Despite this,or because of this, the history of the Sovietfilm industry and the history of popularcinema remain usually beyond the scope ofscholarship and the film historian’s investi-gation. This chapter therefore first ad-dresses the issues of the film “industry”and popular films before exploring the col-lapse of Russia’s film industry in the mid-1990s and its recent revival.

The Soviet film industry had always re-lied on the state to finance and distributeits films. State-run film studios, such asMosfilm, Lenfilm, and the Gorky Film Stu-dios would employ screenwriters and di-rectors, actors, and technical personnel;

provide all the facilities for shooting andediting; produce the film; and take chargeof the distribution to state-owned cinemas.Audience considerations were not crucialfor the funding of a film, although until1983 state investments in the film sector asa whole were not only recouped throughticket sales but returns would exceed ex-penditure: the state made a profit. Many ofthe films made in the 1960s and 1970s at-tracted more than 50 million spectators,and “auteur” or art-house films could bemade without market pressures.

The climax of popularity for cinema asan art form lies between 1965 and 1980,when attendance at cinemas peaked, withan annual average of 20 visits per capita.The increase in television sets per house-hold, rising steadily after 1970, explains thesubsequent decrease in the attendance at


Gosha Kutsenko as Lis in Yegor Konchalovsky’s film Antikiller (2002). (Photo Courtesy of Iskusstvo

Kino)

theaters and cinemas in the 1980s and1990s to around eight visits per capita by1990.

Alongside the “natural” loss of interest incinema, which had been predictable sincethe late 1980s, the system of film produc-tion and distribution collapsed with the de-mise of the Soviet Union’s nationalized in-dustry. The large film studios graduallybroke up into small, independent produc-

tion companies. Goskino, the state Depart-ment for Cinematography, continued tosubsidize national film production. Despitethe crisis in production and distribution,and against all indicators speaking of asubstantial drop in the number of specta-tors in cinemas, the number of new filmsremained stable at approximately 150 peryear before rising abruptly to 300 titles in1990; these were largely funded by private

V I S U A L C U LT U R E 7 3

The Return tells the story of a father who re-turns after twelve years of absence to his wifeand his two boys, Ivan (aged twelve) and An-drei (aged fifteen). He takes the boys fishing,but along the way he has to complete an urgentjob and retrieve a coffer from an island. The fa-ther is strict with the children, and when theboys come back late, he hits the older brother.The younger boy threatens the father with aknife, but—frightened by his own aggression—runs away and climbs onto a makeshift obser-vation tower (although he is afraid of heights),threatening to jump if the father comes anycloser. The father follows him, but falls off thetower when a wooden plank becomes undone.The children pull the body to the boat and re-turn to the mainland; as they disembark, theboat drifts back onto the open sea and sinks.The boys return home.

The Return follows the cinematic traditions ofthe 1960s manifest in the films of AndreiTarkovsky and Michelangelo Antonioni, with allthe corresponding religious symbolism. The Re-turn is divided into sections, covering the sevendays of the working week, or the seven days ofGod’s creation of the world. This double signifi-cance immediately establishes the two mainlevels on which the film can be read: the every-day and the religious. On the everyday level the

film explores the relationship between fatherand son(s), a theme dominating several newRussian films (such as the debut film by AlexeiPopogrebsky and Boris Khlebnikov, Koktebel,2003). If the film is read as a family drama, thenthe father is an unjust and cruel man whoshows hardly any love for his children. He repri-mands the children, never praising them or en-couraging them. In this respect, Ivan’s rejectionof the father as a figure of authority and the en-suing disrespect are a most natural response,much more so than Andrei’s unfounded andunlimited admiration for the father and hisagreement with anything the father suggests.In modern terminology, Andrei is a creep, Ivan arebellious “difficult” child. On the religious levelthis father makes his first appearance as a risenChrist figure straight from Andrea Mantegna’sLamentation over Dead Christ. The boys rushinto the attic, where they search for a picture oftheir father, which they find in an old edition ofthe Bible, richly illustrated with etchings. Thenthey go to the dinner table, replicating da Vinci’sLast Supper, where the father shares wine andbread (here the chicken) with his disciples, orhis family. Visually, Zviagintsev creates a stun-ning sequence of images from art history to na-ture shots and cinematic quotations, which im-pressed spectators and jurors at Venice.

The Return

investors seeking to launder money. Filmproduction was thus an entirely artificialbranch of industry: more films were pro-duced than were in demand, and the filmsmade were not the sort of films that woulddraw audiences. The ensuing crisis in thefilm industry became evident in 1995, whenthe number of new films plummeted to anew low in the history of Russian and So-viet cinema, matched only by the lowsreached during the civil war and underStalin.

The sharp drop in film production by1996 reflects a crisis in the role and thefunction of cinema in a changing society.Although more than 300 films were pro-duced in 1991, Russian films almost van-ished from the repertoire of cinemas owingto problems with finance and distribution.The themes of films made after 1991 showa concern with the loss of values in a soci-ety that had become more and more con-sumer oriented and materialist. The Sovietstate had built huge movie theaters. Theseneeded to be refurbished, modernized,adapted, and fitted with Dolby systems.The old theaters attracted fewer and fewerpeople: between 1994 and 1996, the num-ber of spectators in Moscow dropped from3.8 million to 1.2 million, and screeningsdropped by half. Most cinemas wereclosed, and only six venues operated on areasonably profitable basis. The first Dolbysystem was installed in the Kodak KinoMir(Kodak Cinema World), which opened in1996 in a prestigious, trendy location for an“evening out.” The American Center in theRadisson Slavianskaya Hotel has a stageand a screen, showing films largely in theiroriginal language. The Pushkin Cinema(formerly Rossiya) has the largest screenin Eastern Europe (20 by 10 meters) andhas 2,500 seats. The Cinema Center

(KinoTsentr) and the Udarnik Theater re-furbished first the technical equipment andthen the auditorium. Finally, the House ofCinema served as a venue for premieres formembers of the Filmmakers’ Union. More-over, television deflected audiences awayfrom cinema and theater. Most films couldbe seen on television, and the old Sovietblockbusters proved especially popular:more than half of the feature films shownon television in the mid-1990s were Sovietfilms. Finally, the video market made anyfilm available for the price of a cinematicket or less—ticket prices ranged be-tween two and ten dollars, whereas a videofilm cost six dollars in 1996, and about halfof all households in Moscow are equippedwith a video recorder. Videopiracy becamea huge problem for the film industry, sincemost films were copied illegally, deprivingthe film industry of a return on productioncosts.

Goskino has maintained its existencewith the remit to support the national filmindustry, officially sustained by the newlaw on cinema in 1996. With its annualbudget of $10–15 million, it financesaround a dozen films fully and some otherspartly. The average cost of production is$700,000–$1 million. At the end of the1990s, the average return on a film was$80,000 from theatrical release, $200,000from video release, and $30–50,000 fromtelevision rights. Under such conditions,no film could repay.

Production companies and distributionagencies have established themselves inthe last decade. The major studios todayare Mosfilm (headed by Vladimir Dostal,later by the filmmaker Karen Shakhna-zarov), Lenfilm (Viktor Sergeyev), andGorky Film Studios (Sergei Livnev, laterVladimir Grammatikov, who was replaced


by Stanislav Yershov in 2002). Although thestudios have been partly or fully privatizedsince the collapse of the Soviet Union andof national film production, many new pro-duction and distribution companies haveappeared. The network of cinemas was re-furbished and expanded in the latter partof the 1990s and is partly owned by distri-bution companies (for example, Karo).Sergei Selianov’s Petersburg-based com-pany CTB produces a mix of art-house andcommercial cinema. Sergei Chliants’sMoscow-based company Pygmalion pro-motes young directors’ work. CineMax wasfounded by Roman Borisevich in 2000 andspecializes on debut films (Koktebel, 2003).The studio Slovo, headed by Yelena Yat-suro and Sergei Melkumov, specializes inart-house films. Vladimir Dostal’s DomFilm produces large commercial projectsand television serials. Sergei Gribkov’s TopLine produces young filmmakers, includingRuslan Baltser’s highly popular films Don’t

Even Think (Dazhe ne dumai, 2003; sequelin 2004). Mikhalkov’s TriTe, managed byLeonid Vereshchagin, prioritizes the pro-duction of Mikhalkov’s projects. Televisionchannels actively produce television seri-als and feature films: ORT’s film produc-tion arm is headed by Konstantin Ernst andAnatoli Maximov (Night Watch, 2004);RTR’s film production is run by Valeri To-dorovsky, and Igor Tolstunov is the head ofproduction at NTV/STS (Set’ television-nykh stantsii, Network of Television Sta-tions). The Return was made by a privatetelevision station REN-TV and produced byDmitri Lesnovsky.

In the early 1990s, festivals were the onlyreal outlet for art-house films. The mostimportant festival with a competition pro-gram was the Moscow International FilmFestival, held biannually until it moved to

an annual schedule in 1999. The KinotavrSochi Open Russian Film Festival (presi-dent Oleg Yankovsky, producer Mark Ru-dinstein, held in June) is the most impor-tant festival for Russian film; without it,some Russian filmmakers would neverhave been able to screen their films in themid-1990s. The festival is still an importantforum for Russian film in 2004. The Vyborgfestival Window on Europe is a relativelynew showcase for new Russian cinema,held in August. The Kinoshok festival inAnapa complemented the range of festi-vals, covering Commonwealth of Indepen-dent States (CIS) films also. The RussianFilmmakers’ Association awards each yearits Oscars, the “Nika” award (established in1990).

From 1996 onward, production pickedup, with television investing both in serialsand film production. By 2003 the numberof cinemas had risen again to a normallevel, with the first multiplexes opening inMoscow in 2000 and 2001, and the firstIMAX in 2003. The multiplexes opened onthe sites of old cinemas: MDM (Moskovskiidvorets molodezhi, Moscow Youth CulturePalace) in the Youth Palace on FrunzeStreet; Piat Zvezd (Five Stars) in an old cin-ema on Bakhrushchin Street; the Rolan(named in honor of Rolan Bykov) onChistoprudnyi Boulevard, with two screenswith a 200- and an 80-seat capacity; theStrela (Arrow); 35 millimeters on PokrovkaStreet; and the Khudozhestvennyi (Artis-tic). A similar practice of refurbishing wasadopted in other major cities; St. Peters-burg’s Kristall Palace and Neva have beenupgraded, and the Dom Kino shows a rep-ertoire of recent Russian films as well asEuropean art-house. The Karo distributionchain opened its cinemas in the Ramstoremalls, and the Formula Kino chain fol-


lowed suit with multiplexes in shoppingmalls. In 2004 the first vertically integratedproduction-distribution-exhibition com-plex, KinoPark, opened the largest multi-plex on Kaluzhskaya Street in Moscow,with nine screens. The project was backedby Vladimir Potanin’s ProfMedia’s sub-sidiary InterRos and Mikhalkov’s TriTe.

Soviet Blockbusters? Soviet film his-tory has largely been written around thosefilms that represented innovation and ex-periment, rather than mass appeal. SergeiEisenstein’s The Battleship Potyomkin

(1925) may have been “the best film of alltimes,” but it was no hit in the USSR. Thecommercial concept of the “blockbuster,”moreover, has, at first sight, limited valuein the context of the Soviet film industry,where profit appeared to be irrelevant. Yetthe Soviet film industry acknowledgedboth the cost of a film and the level of itslikely popularity, even if profit was not theultimate goal. After all, ticket sales in theSoviet Union were not related to the sale ofpopcorn and Coca-Cola, which constitutesa major income for U.S. cinema chains. Sowhat were the “popular” films seen by themasses?

In the 1930s the climate of film produc-tion changed drastically, when the party is-sued a directive to educate and enlightenthe masses, a task best carried out by So-viet film directors. Therefore, although for-eign film imports were much higher thanSoviet films produced in the mid-1920s, theproduction of Soviet films rose steadily af-ter 1928 and outstripped foreign imports.Boris Shumiatsky, the new head of the So-viet film industry, launched an appeal for a“cinema for millions.” He implemented arigid campaign that put a halt to the greatexperiments that had characterized Soviet

cinema of the 1920s. Preoccupied with amass audience, Shumiatsky exercised con-trol through mass distribution, saturatingthe distribution sector with Soviet filmswhile withholding foreign films.

The entertainment value of a film pre-sented suitable packaging whereby the ide-ological message would reach the masses.Popular elements, from the comic to themelodramatic genre, along with the promo-tion of stars and the inclusion of mass andfolk songs, were purposefully incorporatedinto official Stalinist culture. The popularfilms of the 1930s all relied on a simple nar-rative and conventional style, with a linearplot, reducing complex issues to a levelthat could be understood by the masses.The Stalinist musical comedies were lovedby the audiences for their glorified andglossy demonstration of life through thebeautiful, feminine characters played byMarina Ladynina and Liubov Orlova; theywere loved for showing the victory of thoseSoviet ideals that the population wasforced to believe in. They invariably pre-sented a love triangle, in which the lovingcouple was ultimately reunited and sup-ported by the collective after having madea contribution to society, whereas the vil-lain either became socialized or was ex-pelled from the community. The musicalwas intended to reach a maximum audi-ence by means of memorable tunes andmass songs. Most of the scores for GrigoriAlexandrov’s musicals were composed byIsaak Dunaevsky, the lyrics written byVasili Lebedev-Kumach (Veselye rebiata

[Jolly Fellows], 1934; Circus, 1936; Volga-

Volga, 1938). These sought to transfer theHollywood musical to Soviet film, dwellingon the superior quality of the domesticproduct. Thus, several films contain paro-dic allusions to foreign lands no longer ac-


cessible to the masses: in the Soviet Union,Marion Dixon was freed from the capitalistexploitation of Kneischitz by the blue-eyed,blond Soviet engineer Martynov; her sonJimmy was liberated from racial discrimi-nation in the United States by the great So-viet collective as embodied in the ethni-cally mixed circus audience. Soviet filmasserted that it could do without Americanstars such as Charlie Chaplin, HaroldLloyd, and Buster Keaton, as the introduc-tory frames to Jolly Fellows claimed, trum-peting the Soviet Union’s own stars in-stead, even if Chaplinesque features can befound in the portrayal of numerous Sovietcharacters.

After the turmoil of World War II had leftboth production and distribution at a lowebb, audience numbers rose only slowly inthe early 1950s. With the onset of the Thaw,cinema turned to the comic genre, whichmoved individual (personal) happinessinto the foreground. This change wasmarked by Eldar Riazanov’s Carnival

Night (Karnaval’naia noch’, 1956), whichtook first place in the charts for 1956 withalmost 50 million viewers and paved theway for the glorious return of the most suc-cessful genre of Soviet cinema, the com-edy. Carnival Night was a musical com-edy, with the debut performance ofLiudmila Gurchenko in the role of LenaKrylova. The love intrigue between Krylovaand Koltsov would have a happy end, butbefore that, she had to fulfill her duty tothe community. Carnival Night parodiedthe pettiness of the bureaucrats: Krylova’sattempts to freshen up the stuffy programof a New Year party were stifled by a bu-reaucrat, who was portrayed as the “en-emy” in an exaggerated manner and sub-jected to parody. Carnival Night is a NewYear classic of Soviet cinema, because of

the songs (the most popular being AnatoliLepin’s “Song about Five Minutes”), its car-nivalesque atmosphere, and its parody ofSoviet bureaucracy and officialdom.

The most popular comedies of the 1960sand 1970s were directed by Leonid Gaidaiand reached audiences of around seventymillion spectators at a time when the artform of cinema peaked in popularity (the1970s) before being superseded by the newmedium of television. Gaidai’s comedieswere popular, because they replaced thecoherent linear plots of earlier Soviet filmswith an episodic and fragmented worldthat corresponded more to reality than thevarnished fairy tales of Stalin’s cinema. In away, Gaidai laughed at the cracks that ap-peared on the varnished surface. Comediesclearly dominated the box office in the1960s and 1970s. Vladimir Menshov’s Mos-

cow Does Not Believe in Tears (Moskvaslezam ne verit, 1980) was one of the lastSoviet blockbusters, with eighty-five mil-lion viewers. Its plot stretches over 20years, from the 1950s to the 1970s. In goodsocialist style the heroine, Katia, is re-warded with personal happiness only aftershe has made her contribution to socialprogress. The film’s popularity is largelydue to the “feel-good factor,” which effec-tively shows that man can master his fateeven in the most adverse circumstances.

The blockbusters of perestroika still at-tracted significant numbers of viewers, butnot the levels of the 1970s and 1980s. Al-though many of the perestroika films areaesthetically and thematically worthy, theyoften owe their popularity also to politicalcircumstances: they were beacons of re-form. Vasili Pichul’s Little Vera (Malen’kaiaVera, 1988) attracted 55 million peoplewith a story about the hopelessness anddullness of everyday life. Other perestroika


blockbusters dealt with previously forbid-den topics, such as Tengiz Abuladze’s Re-

pentance (Pokaianie/Monanieba, 1986),which addressed the Stalin purges. Pere-stroika also saw the rise of a new genera-tion of filmmakers, who produced theirfirst “hits” by touching upon previoustaboo themes: the Stalin period, rock mu-sic, crime, prostitution, and drug dealing.Although comedy and adventure had domi-nated Soviet popular cinema, the initialyears of perestroika saw the interest shifttoward formerly forbidden themes and so-cial taboos, such as drug dealing, prostitu-tion, and alcoholism.

Russian Cinema in the 1990s: Reality

as Chernukha Soviet cinema producedentertaining comedies, or monumental,historical movies, but alongside existed amovement that made art-house films forthe (dissident) intelligentsia. All film pro-duction, entertainment and art-house, wasseen primarily as a means to raise the spiritof the people and to set moral standards,or at least show the possibility of improve-ment. Filmmakers such as Tarkovsky, Mu-ratova, Gherman and Alexander Sokurov,Klimov and Larisa Shepitko had assumedthe roles of prophets, setting moral stan-dards for a country where the state wasbusy showing reality in positive and brightcolors.

After the collapse of the Communist ide-ology, filmmakers rejected these demandsto varnish reality (state command) or actas prophets (intelligentsia expectations)and started portraying reality as they sawit, without the ideological constraints hith-erto imposed. And what they saw, in thelate 1980s and early 1990s, was a bleak pic-ture: beggars on the streets, impoverishedpensioners, economic chaos, street crime,

Mafia shootings, pornographic magazinesand videos, decaying houses and apart-ments, and the emergence of a new class,the New Russians, who adapted quicklyand learned how to make money in a soci-ety that was being reconstructed. The liter-ature and film, visual art and music, thatare set in this bleak reality and use it astheir only space are commonly called cher-

nukha (literally: that which is made black).The mainstream of Russian cinema of

the early 1990s (1990–1996) largely in-dulged in this bleakness, or blackness, andoffered neither alternative nor perspective.Filmmakers rejected their remit to act asprophets, to guide morally and aestheti-cally. The audience rejected in its turnfilms that offered no positive outlook orspiritual guidance in the chaos and turnedinstead to Latin American soap operasscreened daily on Russian television. Theissue of the function of cinema in the NewRussia dominated the debates of the early1990s. Could cinema offer what realitycould not provide: an aim, a goal for peopleto live up to at a time when politics andideology failed to provide directions?

Audiences mattered little to manyyounger Russian filmmakers, who dis-charged their creative energy into makingmovies for festivals. After all, this was theonly opportunity to get an award and repayat least partly the production cost, althoughmany investors, including Goskino, in-vested without the need to repay, makingfilmmakers even more independent of audi-ence taste. Although Soviet films wereclearly made for Soviet audiences (the needto reach the masses accounts for the popu-larity to the present day of the Soviet block-busters, from the musical comedies of the1930s to social drama of the Brezhnev pe-riod such as Moscow Does Not Believe in


Tears), many contemporary films failed tocapture the imagination of the people. FewRussian films of the 1990s were popularwith audiences. Few films offered a happyending. Dmitri Astrakhan’s Everything Will

Be OK (Vse budet khorosho, 1995) was oneof the first, and few, exceptions. And al-though Russian critics were complainingabout the lack of positive heroes and abright future in their national cinema, theyimmediately rose to criticize Astrakhan’soptimism. Similarly, Rogozhkin’s Peculiari-

ties of the National Hunt (Osobennostinatsional’noi okhoty, 1995) was one of themost popular films with audiences at thetime of its release, even though critics had ahard time defending its artistic merit andimposing an interpretation that justified thefilm’s success.

In the 1990s a number of directorsgained widespread popularity. These wereAlexander Rogozhkin, Alexei Balabanov,Sergei Bodrov Sr., and Pavel Chukhrai. Ro-gozhkin specializes in eccentric comedies,and Balabanov and Bodrov are concernedwith contemporary social issues. Chukhraiis a gifted director of films set in the post-war period. The work of these directors indifferent genres and on different themesprepared the ground for a number of newdirectors emerging in the new millennium:Yegor Konchalovsky and Petr Buslov unde-niably follow the path of the hero whostands above good and evil, as featured inBalabanov’s Brother. Ruslan Baltser, withhis Don’t Even Think (Dazhe ne dumai),maybe follows the path of the eccentriccomedy of Rogozhkin. These directorsmake popular and commercial films, andthey will be explored in further detail here.Directors such as Sokurov and Muratovamake very distinct art-house films that maybe shown on festivals and released in Euro-

pean distribution for art-house cinemas butthat rarely have a mass appeal.

The collapse of an ideological, social, po-litical, and economic system left both crit-ics and filmmakers wondering about thefunction of cinema. At the same time, audi-ences turned away from cinema as a forumfor debate and demanded entertainment. Itwas not until 1997 that cinema reemergedas an industry and art form. If the early1990s were dominated by gloomy cher-nukha films, then the mid-1990s saw a re-action against that with the comedies ofDmitri Astrakhan and Alexander Rogozh-kin. With the outbreak of the Chechen war,many filmmakers turned to the theme ofwar in general. Moreover, filmmakersshowed an interest in debating Russia’s na-tional identity; to this end many turned thepages of Russian history and explored dif-ferent period of the country’s past. Thesethemes serve as headings for the followingdiscussion, in which plot synopses of themost important films are provided in textboxes.

Comedy: From Astrakhan to Rogozh-

kin Dmitri Astrakhan was one of the firstdirectors to cater deliberately for what heperceived to be an audience taste. He madecomedies and films with “happy endings”rather than the artistically innovative andthematically engaging films that dominatedin the mid-1990s. Astrakhan’s early filmswere family melodramas with a happy end-ing, but it was with his film Everything

Will Be OK that he landed a “hit,” relativelyspeaking. It is a modern Cinderella tale: lo-cal beauty Olga is engaged to local boy Ko-lia when Smirnov, who had emigrated tothe United States a long time before, pays avisit to his hometown. With him arrives hisson Petia, a young mathematical genius


who has already won the Nobel Prize. AndPetia falls in love with Olga, who realizesthat she really does not love Kolia after all.Astrakhan’s film leaves everybody happy atthe end; social differences and problemswith alcohol are overcome. The bleaknessusually found in the portrayal of social re-ality has finally given way to a positiveview, to a world in which events are hilari-ously construed. Astrakhan continued inthis vein, but his later films were less popu-lar than Everything Will Be OK.

Alexander Rogozhkin had made somefilms engaging with history in the late1980s and early 1990s and was consideredan art-house director. His films about theoddities of the Russian national charac-ter—Peculiarities of the National Hunt in

Autumn (Osobennosti natsional’noi okhotyv osennii period, 1995), Operation “Happy

New Year” (Operatsiia “S novym godom,”

1996), Peculiarities of National Fishing

(Osobennosti natsional’noi rybalki, 1998),and Peculiarities of the National Hunt in

Winter (Osobennosti natsional’noi okhotyv zimnii period, 2000)—became nationalhits, however, and found numerous imita-tors (Peculiarities of National Politics,

Peculiarities of the National Bath-house).The films all have a fragmented structure,in which episodes are not held together bya stringent narrative. They rely on physicalrather than verbal humour and are cen-tered around one central comic presence(Alexei Buldakov, the ultimate parody of aRussian military man with his cigar smok-ing and vodka drinking and his indulgencein the Russian folk traditions, from thesauna to fishing to bear hunting).

Rogozhkin selects representatives of theNew Russian society, which is no longerclassless: apart from the military, there is


Alexei Buldakov as General Ivolgin in Alexander Rogozhkin’s Peculiarities of National Fishing

(1998). (Photo by Anton Verbin, courtesy of Miroslava Segida)

the New Russian, the state official, and thepoliceman. Beneath their social image,however, these characters hide their truefaces—the love of animals, the love of hu-mans, and the love of nature—that contra-dict the external, social image. Under theinfluence of vodka, they show their realfaces: the good and honest demeanor of aRussian folk hero, who kills no animal,who helps his fellow human beings, whocontemplates nature, and who loves water.Therefore, the general, “Mikhailych” Ivol-gin (Alexei Buldakov), deploys his skills toorganize a party or a hunt; the state official,Lev Soloveichik (Semen Strugachev), is apoor and pitiable creature when it comesto practical things; the policeman, Se-menov (Sergei Gusinsky), is always help-ful; the businessman, Sergei Olegovich(Sergei Russkin), has domestic problems,and the forester, Kuzmich (Viktor Bych-kov), meditates instead of clearing forestsand hunting animals. Rogozhkin removes

all negative attributes of these social“types” and replaces them with positivequalities.

Drinking may have no purpose, but it is ahabit that makes social and national differ-ences disappear, lifts temporal boundariesin bringing together past and present, andannihilates the borders between animalsand humans. The world returns to itspurest form, without any boundaries orlimits. As the eminent Russian critic andwriter Tatiana Moskvina commented: “Thefilm is as good for the soul as 250 grams ofvodka in good company.” What matters inthe hunt is the process and the time spentin good company, not the result.

Peculiarities of National Fishing is acontinuation of Peculiarities of the Na-

tional Hunt. Again, alcohol is responsiblefor the group of fishermen’s accidentallymooring on the Finnish coast when theyget lost on the Baltic sea because Kuzmichis drunk. When Kuzmich realizes that they


In Peculiarities of the National Hunt, the FinnRaimo (Ville Haapassalo), who is researchingthe traditions of the Russian hunt from the timeof the tsars to the present day, joins the groupof “hunters.” The excessive drinking bouts theRussians associate with hunting are, however,not what the Finn expects. He initially refuses todrink, and he dreams all the time of the imperialhunting party of the late nineteenth century,stylishly hunting down a fox with their dogs, ele-gantly riding horses, and, of course, conversingin French, while he, the non-Russian speaker, ismarginalized in the group. Russian reality andthe foreigner’s imagination do not match. Nei-ther do the stereotypes of society. The militaryand the police hardly reinforce order: military

aircraft are used to transport vodka and animalsand the police vans and staff to organize a tripto the prostitutes. Moreover, the breakdown ofsocial order in contemporary Russia is treatedwith self-irony. No animal is killed on this Rus-sian hunt: the cow—illegally transported on abomber plane to another forest area—is notdropped from the plane according to plan sincethe bribery of the pilots is discovered; the cowlater survives when shot at accidentally by thehunters; the baby bear gets drunk on vodka;and the fish that Raimo catches is thrown backinto the water. The hunt consists of baths in thesteam-house (banya), peasant-girl prostitutes,and vodka.

Peculiarities of the National Hunt: Plot

are outside Russia, he swiftly hurrieseverybody back onto the boat, leaving thevodka behind. Once they discover the ab-sence of vodka at Kuzmich’s, they set off tobribe the captain of a military vessel. Witha submarine they enter Finnish waters andretrieve the vodka. Indeed, Peculiarities of

National Fishing is a hunt for vodka.Peculiarities of the National Hunt in

Winter continues the adventures of thehunters, who are joined by two inspectionteams from the ministry: Yuri Kurtsov andIgor Rechnikov want to have fun for a fewdays, whereas the second team of inspec-tors, Olga Masliuk and Oleg Piatakov, wantto put an end to the hunt and protect theenvironment. On this hunt, too, no animalis harmed: Olga knocks out the “guy” wholooked into the toilet—and when realizingit was a baby bear, worries about the ani-mal; the boar tramples over the Jeep, butthe passengers escape unscathed; the hornused to attract the deer is echoed by atrain; and even the fish is set free, as it can-not be pulled out of the ice hole. Instead, aseries of minor mishaps brings the ratherdiverse characters together: after a longwalk they have to be defrosted in a largewooden barrel; and Soloveichik flies awayon a chair attached to some red balloons inan attempt to catch birds on the trees—only to be rescued by an army helicopter.

Each film of the Peculiarities cycle con-sists of a series of events connected to oneparticular situation: the hunt organized fora foreigner, fishing staged for a guest, andanother hunt performed for the inspectors.Each film includes a series of mishaps thatall end well, that happen because of thecomplexities of Russian reality, and thatend well because of the intervention of theRussian military and police forces. Ro-gozhkin combines the anecdotal style de-

ployed in earlier films with alcoholism. Hisfilms have no ending but appear to be a se-ries of gags. Under the influence of alcohol,things make sense: there may be no mean-ing, but there is a game to engage in, agame of which the rules are known. Ro-gozhkin combines Soviet heroism withRussian character: the general is head ofthe military (a monumental figure), but heis always drunk (the Russian folk hero).

As Rogozhkin turned to more seriousthemes in films such as Cuckoo (Kukushka,2002), other comedies appeared: RomanKachanov made a parody of the life of sol-diers with the film DMB (Demobilized,2000). Kachanov portrays the army serviceof the young recruit with the nickname“Pulia” (“bullet”) as a respite from his cred-itors and as an experience that offers a se-ries of jokes and gags, not unlike Ro-gozhkin’s Peculiarities. Kachanov’s cleveruse of a number of popular bands for thesound track heightened the mass appeal ofthe movie and led to the release of a sepa-rate CD. Ruslan Baltser produced a com-edy based on the adventures of threeyoung men: Don’t Even Think (2003) andthe sequel Don’t Even Think—The Inde-

pendence Game (Dazhe ne dumai II: Ten’nezavisimosti, 2004). Baltser’s films are ad-venture comedies, following three youngmen in their pursuit of success and happi-ness, using not always legal methods. In-deed, in the first sequel they are caughtstealing. Baltser deploys animation withinthe film, parodying the action of the heroesin the style of Run, Lola, Run (Tom Tyk-wer; Lola rennt, 1998). Both Baltser andKachanov follow the episodic structureand refrain from a coherent narrative, pre-senting instead a series of gags or adven-tures. These comedies, along with somecrime thrillers, were most popular in Rus-


sia in the years of their release, each gross-ing more than one million dollars at thebox office.

Lost Values and the Chechen War: Bo-

drov and Rogozhkin As the SovietUnion collapsed, so did the ideals of a fa-therland. This is a prominent theme infilms about regional wars, such as SergeiBodrov Sr.’s Prisoner of the Mountains

(Kavkazskii plennik, 1996), one of the mostpopular films of the time, nominated for anOscar in 1997.

Bodrov shows the traditions of the Cau-casian people firsthand, as the viewer trav-els with the camera around the mountainvillage. Abdul’s daughter Dina provides themain link between the Muslim world andthat of the prisoners. She looks after notonly her father but also the prisoners.

Zhilin attempts to accept the Muslim civi-lization with tolerance. When Dina releasesZhilin, knowing that Abdul would kill him,Zhilin even refuses to run away, aware thatDina would not be forgiven in the village ifit became known that she had helped hisescape. By contrast with Kostylin, Zhilindoes not kill, nor does he endanger Dina’slife. Kostylin is unscrupulous in his at-tempts to escape from captivity; however,he takes responsibility for his actions andfor the young recruit Zhilin.

Bodrov does not discriminate againstany culture. The personal history of thetwo captives is told with the same compas-sion as the history of Abdul’s family. TheMuslims are both victims and aggressors,and so are the Russians. Whereas Kostylinis active and fights, Zhilin surrenders. Andhe survives the war. At the end of the film,


Zhilin (Sergei Bodrov) and Kostylin (Oleg Menshikov) in Sergei Bodrov’s The Prisoner of the

Mountains, nominated for an Academy Award in 1996. (Photo courtesy of Birgit Beumers)

Zhilin reports on the events that have fol-lowed his captivity: he can no longer see indreams the people he once loved; the hu-man dimension of the war, the human lossis far more important than anything else.Bodrov places the personal above the po-litical. The film investigates the responseof men who are reduced to objects of thestate and deprived of political ideals.When man is reduced to an object, he is ei-ther subdued, and nonaggressive, or crip-pled by the system, forced to producemasks in order to hide the real self and actaggressively. Ideas may be the cause of theconflict, but the lives of individuals aremore important in a society that has lostits values and in a country that has lost itsideals.

If Bodrov shows the cultural conflict be-tween the indigenous population and theRussian soldiers, Rogozhkin shows the ab-surdity that underlies any war. Rogozhkin’srecent feature films deal with the wars of

Chechnya (Checkpoint) and the Russo-Finnish war during World War II (Cuckoo).Checkpoint (Blokpost, 1998) is an antiwarfilm set in the Caucasus. The lack of a gen-eral sense of the soldiers’ mission and theirpart in the overall strategy of the operationis reflected in the film’s composition, fo-cused on detail and episodic in structure.

The film is structured along the lines ofnotes taken during the war, with a chroni-cler-narrator telling the events as they hap-pen. A detachment of Russian soldiers hadraided a house in a local village where aboy was holding on to a mine that he set offas they entered. The men managed to es-cape before the house exploded, but theywere—mistakenly—thought to have causedthe explosion and attacked by a howlingand screaming crowd of local women, oneof whom starts shooting. A soldier shootsher in the leg in an act of defense. The de-tachment is taken to task for the incident,however, and “exiled” to a remote check-


The film tells the story of two Russian soldiersheld prisoner in the Caucasus to be exchangedfor a Caucasian hostage held by the Russianarmy. Bodrov passes no moral judgment butrather exposes the creative power of memory.Prisoner of the Mountains is based on Tolstoy’sstory of the same title. It offers a perspective onthe war in terms of individual human loss,rather than the clash of ideas or ideals. VaniaZhilin is a young recruit posted to the Cauca-sus, whose detachment comes under attack.Together with Sasha Kostylin he becomes aprisoner of Abdul, who wants to exchangethem for his son, who is held captive by theRussian military. The exchange fails, but Abdultries to get Zhilin’s mother involved. The prison-

ers eventually manage to run away, but they arecaught after Kostylin kills a shepherd to stealhis rifle and a shot misfires. Kostylin admits themurder and is executed, and Zhilin is takenback to Abdul. In the meantime, Zhilin’s motherhas almost arranged an exchange of prisoners,when Abdul’s son uses an opportune momentto run away and is shot. Abdul grieves over theloss when Dina, his daughter, who has grownvery fond of the kind recruit Zhilin, asks her fa-ther not to kill the captive, whom she had justbeen trying to let escape. Abdul takes Zhilininto the mountains and pretends to shoot him.As Abdul returns to his Muslim village, andZhilin returns to freedom, Russian helicoptersarrive to destroy the village in an act of revenge.

Prisoner of the Mountains: Plot

point on a road that leads only to a Muslimcemetery. Under pressure from the localcommunity to turn over the culprit, the mil-itary authority surrenders “Rat” (Krysa):they sacrifice one of their own men tomaintain the status quo. Rat’s body is re-turned to the checkpoint, wrapped in asheepskin.

Rogozhkin shows the everyday life andtrivial events of the war without glorifyingthe war or creating heroes. There is nosense of purpose in what they are doing, yetthey put on a brave face and play their rolesin this absurd war. Their life seems like rou-tine, but “mishaps” have drastic conse-quences in the real world. The soldiers haveno identity: they have nicknames only, andidentification badges are all they have totake pride in. They are oddballs in a remotelocation, because of the role they areforced to play in an absurd war against theMuslim community, with whom the soldiersmake deals but to whom the authoritiesbow in fear of escalation.

Cuckoo is set during the last days ofWorld War II in a remote location in north-ern Russia. Two soldiers arrive at the hut ofthe Saami woman Anni, who lives on herown since her husband has been draftedinto the war. The isolation, and the inabilityof the three people to understand eachother (Anni speaks Saami, Veiko speaksFinnish, and Ivan Russian) and the poten-tial danger from the outside (war) turnsmen into cranks. Ivan’s response to thequestion about his name is “p’shol-ty”(poshel ty: f*** off), so this is what Veikoand Anni call him: Psholty. Anni resusci-tates the injured Russian soldier, Ivan, andbrings back to life the Finnish soldier,Veiko, whom Ivan has shot in a rage. Annicalls him back from the dead in a pagan rit-ual she has learned from her grandmother:

she calls the dying Veiko with howling andscreaming, until he turns round on themountainous road into the kingdom of thedead. Anni represents the force of thosepeople who live in a close bond with na-ture, whereas the actions of Veiko and Ivanare futile. People are playthings of politicsand ideas, even if Ivan pretends he is still atwar. Cuckoo was commercially successful,with extensive runs in major cinemas, theachievement of numerous national filmawards, and an international release in sev-eral countries.

A number of other films of the Putin erawere concerned with the theme of conflictand war. Nikolai Lebedev’s The Star

(Zvezda, 2002) was the first Russian filmabout World War II that showed the brutal-ity of the war and used special effects inorder to shift a war film into the genre con-ventions of an action movie. Valeri Ogorod-nikov’s Red Sky (Krasnoe nebo, 2004) is setin the Urals in 1943. The evacuated citizensof Moscow and Petersburg arrive, amongthem the young and attractive woman Lida,who stirs up the men in the small town.She flirts with the men, but the personal ro-mantic drama acquires a different perspec-tive when the young men are drafted to thefront. Alexei Gherman Jr.’s Last Train

(Poslednii poezd, 2003) looks at the fate oftwo men who have failed to make the rightchoice (or a choice) at the right time ratherthan at a specific event of the war. They arethe victims of circumstances, of politics, ofregimes—which they have or have notelected. Gherman’s concern is with peoplein particular circumstances that are nottheir choice and how they cope with theseunwanted situations. A German militarydoctor, a man who vowed to help manrather than kill him, and a postman areGherman’s main characters. Doctor Fisch-


bach had seen the horrors of World War I;now he has been sent to a military hospitalat the front line. Although soldiers are be-ing evacuated from there when he arrives,he decides to stay and help the injured. Yetthe commanding officer, out of a sense ofduty, sends him into the forest as the en-emy advances. Fischbach is doomed to die:through the bullets of the advancing Rus-sian army or through adverse weather con-ditions.

The narrative of this film is presentedthrough the eyes of Fischbach, accompa-nied by the postman Kreutzer; togetherthey err in the fields in the search for salva-tion. It is a challenging move to have theGerman soldiers and the Russian partisansplayed by Russian actors, with most of thedialogue in German and rendered throughRussian subtitles. Kreutzer and Fischbachare human beings in the first instance:these men die without having entered thebooks of history for cruelty or heroicdeeds. They die, nameless and forgotten,without family and relatives. It is from thehorror of their absurd and vain attempts athumanitarian aid (medical or communica-tive) that they resign to their fates—anddie: their acts are meaningless in a world ofcruelty.

If it is surprising that a young directorlike Gherman could make such a fine andsubtle film about the war, the fact thatDmitri Meskhiev turned to the war themeafter having made successful television se-rials set in contemporary Moscow is evenmore surprising. For his film Ours (alsoknown as Friendlies or Friendly Troops;

Svoi, 2004), Meskhiev won the main prize(Saint Georgi) of the Moscow InternationalFilm festival in July 2004. His film is set in1941 when Soviet prisoners of war escapefrom captivity. The preoccupation of a

number of young filmmakers with thetheme of World War II is a reflection of theconcern with the ongoing wars, nationallyand internationally.

Stalinism Revisited: From Abuladze

to Mikhalkov Gorbachev’s politics ofglasnost and perestroika had an enormousimpact on the production and release offilms dealing with aspects of Soviet history.The 1930s in particular became the subjectof many works in film, theater, and litera-ture. Although Khrushchev in his SecretSpeech (1956) had addressed the terrorand the injustice of the Stalin regime, opendiscussion of the Soviet past did not ex-tend to areas of cultural life. The Thaw inthe arts (1956–1964) primarily allowed thediscussion of problems of contemporarylife, whereas any reassessment of the pastremained the privilege of the party officialsand those in charge of rehabilitation. Glas-nost and perestroika of the late 1980sopened the closed chapters of Soviet his-tory for reinterpretation and thus led to thepublication of literature dealing with So-viet history of the Stalin era. For the firsttime, the Stalinist era was explicitly dealtwith in many films, plays, and novels; thenewly available accessibility of archivalmaterial and documents relating to the pe-riod furthered this interest.

In the late 1980s, the concern with the1930s was reflected in an attempt to re-store in the people’s memory those pagesof Soviet history that had been blotted out.This was expressed through an appeal toremember the Stalinist era both for thehorror of the purges and for the humansacrifice afforded in the fight against fas-cism during World War II. In the 1990s, theinterest in the Stalinist period coincidedwith the active rewriting of the history of a


state that had at that point collapsed: docu-ments had been released, and history hadbeen discussed openly, explicitly, and sub-jectively. Now it was time to consider thelessons to be drawn from the 1930s; to lookfor parallels in the quest of both decades,the 1930s and the 1990s; to define a newnationhood. Issues of individual choiceand responsibility with regard to historyand politics are also treated differently infilms of the postperestroika and the post-Soviet periods.

Tengiz Abuladze’s Repentance (1984, re-leased 1986) became a cult film of the1980s. It was the first film to address thepurges of the 1930s, even if it did so in ahighly allegorical form. The film’s poeticlanguage and its complexity can partly beexplained by the use of Aesopian languagetypical of authors treating “forbidden”themes in the Brezhnev era and by theschool of Georgian filmmakers tradition-ally using a more symbolic film language.The film offers an utterly pessimistic per-spective on the relationship between his-tory and the individual and on the lack of afuture for either victims or oppressors.Keti is decorating cakes at the beginningand the end of the film. Her childhood

memories and her present occupation arethe only realities the film offers. Her resis-tance to terror (her exhumation of the dic-tator Aravidze’s body, the consequent trial,and her forgiveness) only happens in herimagination; in reality she lacks thecourage she wishes she might have. Repen-

tance paralyzes its characters in their imag-ination, and many other films of the 1990sdealing with Stalinist terror interpret thepotential for activity in the 1930s as an illu-sion. Keti’s reality is ruled by forgiveness,not repentance. This Christian message in-forms the reply of the old woman askingfor the way: any road will lead to thechurch; any path will eventually lead toGod, and He will pass the ultimate judge-ment. Keti is a victim of a collective historyin which individual action led to destruc-tion. Keti’s freedom and her potential foractivity are crippled by the force of history.The only morality that remains intact liesin the church. Such escapism, or with-drawal to religion instead of political activ-ity, would be rejected by filmmakers in the1990s: in Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun,

the road that in Repentance led to thechurch would lead to Moscow, represent-ing both Mitia’s and Kotov’s death.


Burnt by the Sun is set on a Sunday in June1936 when secret service (NKVD, Narodnyikomitet vnutrennykh del, People’s Committeefor Internal Affairs) officer Mitia (Oleg Men-shikov) accepts and carries out a special as-signment: the arrest of Red Army CommanderKotov (Mikhalkov) at his family’s dacha nearMoscow. Meanwhile, Kotov enjoys domestic lifewith his wife, Marusia (Ingeborga Dapkunaite),

and daughter, Nadia (Nadia Mikhalkova). Mitia,a friend of the family and Marusia’s first love,arrives and spends the day with the family, tak-ing Kotov with him back to Moscow in theevening. Upon his return to Moscow, Mitia suc-ceeds in his second suicide attempt (havingtried to shoot himself the day before): he cutshis wrists in the bath.

Burnt by the Sun: Plot

Even though the filmmakers of the 1990sremained interested in the Stalin era, theemphasis shifted to issues of culture ratherthan those of responsibility and memorythat had predominated in Abuladze’s film.Often, films concerned themselves withparodic references to Stalinist culture,turning history into a plaything, an artifact,a construct that had little to do with thecharacters in the film. Filmmakers of the1990s denied politics the right to play a se-rious part in their films. Examples of thismay be found in Ivan Dykhovichny’sMoscow Parade (Prorva, 1992) and SergeiLivnev’s Hammer and Sickle (Serp i molot,1993). Both films were important preludesto the last film to deal with Stalinism,Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun

(1994), which was awarded an Oscar forbest foreign film in 1995.

Moscow Parade exposed the immoralsexuality that underlay Stalinist culture.The film comments on the nature of highStalinist culture: the disciplined parades,monumental buildings, and muscle-controlled bodies are contrasted with thedecadent lifestyle of the heroine Anna(played by the German musical-star UteLemper). Decadence reigns behind theneat and tidy facades and parades of Stalin-ist culture. The film is concerned withdecadence and culture, with the break-down of morality in a world where only ap-pearances matter, and with the sexual per-versity of all aspects of life, almost inanalogy with the political perversion.Hammer and Sickle parodies and mocksthe myth making of Socialist Realism whileit constructs a new myth of the Stalinistpast. The film is about a state command in


Kotov (Nikita Mikhalkov), Nadia (Nadia Mikhalkova), and Marusia (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) in Nikita

Mikhalkov’s Academy Award winning Burnt by the Sun (1994). (Photo Courtesy of Pathe Cinema)

1936 that the country should have moresoldiers. Stalin’s aide masterminds an ex-periment whereby the female tractor driverYevdokiya Kuznetsova becomes the maleconstruction worker Yevdokim Kuznetsov.Evdokim becomes a successful modelworker in the metro construction brigade,is awarded a medal, and marries LizaVoronina, a model kolkhoz worker. Theyliterally become models for Vera Mukhina’sstatue of the Worker and the CollectiveFarmer and a model Soviet family: theyadopt a girl, Dolores, who has been or-phaned during the Spanish civil war. WhenYevdokim realizes his true feelings for an-other woman, who nursed him during theoperation, he meets Stalin and challengesthe leader’s control of his life: he attacksStalin and is shot. Paralyzed and unable tospeak, Yevdokim is turned into a hero oncemore: he has supposedly saved Stalin’s lifeand is exhibited as a museum piece. Hiswife controls his mind (she writes his bookHammer and Sickle), and she is also themaster of his body, which she uses to sat-isfy her lust.

Hammer and Sickle challenged the as-sumption that the individual carries any re-sponsibility for history: history is an artifi-cial construct. Liza and Yevdokim areartifacts, creations of a system: the modelworker and peasant. Ideally, all human be-ings will end like Yevdokim, in a museum,displayed to foreign visitors and pioneersas objects who will not change. Kuznetsovin the museum resembles Lenin in the mau-soleum as he is comfortably cushioned ona bed decorated with a hammer and sickle,reduced to total passivity and functioningas a mouthpiece for the state view. Livnevcreated a myth: he resisted the movementof eradicating the Soviet past and insteaderected again the monument of the Worker

and the Peasant, while mocking totalitar-ian values. Livnev’s film belongs totallywith the postmodernist movement. It was apopular and much talked-about film at itstime, when films could not get a commer-cial release because of the collapse of thedistribution system.

Mikhalkov: Burnt by the Sun Thefilm’s title draws on the 1930s tango “Utom-lennoye solntse” (“The Weary Sun”), chang-ing the grammatical correlation to “Utom-lennye solntsem”—“those worn out by thesun.” The title creates an assonance be-tween Burnt by the Sun and another grandnarrative of U.S. history, Gone with the

Wind (in Russian, “Unesennye vetrom”), at-tempting to appeal to a wide audience.

Burnt by the Sun operates within aclosed circular structure in terms of spaceand time: the story begins at 6 AM and endsin the early hours of the following morning;it begins and ends in Mitia’s flat in thehouse of the government, the House on theEmbankment. The film contrasts urbanand peasant life: the life of Marusia’s familywith an intellectual background, the dach-

niki, with that of Mitia, the representativeof the new order, who comes from the city.

The happy past is remembered in theform of a fairy tale narrated by Mitia; as hetells this story, a fireball emerges on theriver, enters the house, and makes the glasson a photograph burst. The fireball eventu-ally burns one tree in the wood, represent-ing the destruction of Mitia’s life for thefirst time. The second fireball effect ac-companies Mitia’s physical destruction: hissuicide. The effect is symbolic and not inte-grated into the overall realism of the film.It obtrudes as artificial, although it is re-ported in the newspaper article that Filippreads at the beginning of the film. It is also


unreal in that nobody notices the fireball,nor the effect it has on the picture (show-ing Kotov and Stalin).

The film distinguishes and intertwinesthe political and personal: Mitia is politi-cally successful, but his personal life hasfailed. Kotov has personal happiness andpolitical power, which he loses. Mitia com-mits suicide when he realizes the potentialpermanence of personal happiness as op-posed to the transience of political successwhen looking at the crushed face of Kotov.Burnt by the Sun underlines the personalaspect of history rather than the potentialcivil courage to sacrifice one’s personal lifefor a political cause.

Mitia is usually interpreted by Russiancritics as lacking strength and courage: heargues that he was forced to join the secretservice and there was no choice. Kotov hascourage and power, enjoying “paternal” pro-tection from Stalin. Once he realizes that achange has taken place and Stalin is now aprotector and father-figure for Mitia, Kotovcries like a child disappointed by his parent,deprived of paternal love. The phrase heused to reproach Mitia—there is always achoice—is tragically proven wrong: there isno choice for Kotov. The film raises thequestion of where the borderline lies be-tween victim and oppressor, between thevictim Kotov and the victim Mitia. Althoughone might argue at first sight that there is acrude line between the “goodies” and the“baddies,” between Kotov’s Soviet heroismand Mitia’s Western decadence (his Frenchpast), the film is much more complex thanthat. The fireball indicates that Mitia haddied a long time ago, when he lost his love,Marusia. Indeed, he tried to kill himself min-utes before accepting the mission to arrestKotov. He knows that, without love, he isspiritually dead.

Burnt by the Sun was premiered in thecompetition program of the InternationalFilm Festival in Cannes in May 1994, whereit was awarded the Grand Prix of the jury,the second most important award after thePalme d’Or, which went to Quentin Taran-tino’s Pulp Fiction. Moreover, Burnt by

the Sun won the Grand Prix jointly withthe Chinese film Living (Huozhe, 1994), byBin Wang and Xleochun Zhang. Mikhalkovwas appalled at getting only the secondprize and at having to share it when his am-bition had been to be the first Russiansince Mikhail Kalatozov in 1958 to take thePalm. Winning the Oscar a year later wasno bad achievement either, however. Thefirst scandal had begun: the Russian pressreported the failure of the film to win themain award and, instead of praising howwell a Russian film had done—at longlast—at an international festival, theyshouted “defeat.”

Russia’s Past Revisited In the late1990s the creation of historical films waspopular, but historical sets and costumeswere also costly. Once the film industryhad begun its ascent into the new millen-nium, however, a number of films havedealt with Russia’s history and have beenset predominantly in the nineteenth orearly twentieth century. The Romanovs

(Romanovy—ventsenosnaia sem’ia, 2000)was a lavish film made by Gleb Panfilovthat looked into the murder of the Ro-manov family in 1917. The Captain’s

Daughter (Russkii bunt, 2000) was anadaptation of Pushkin’s story. This interestin historical drama peaked in the produc-tion of a television serial of Fyodor Dosto-evsky’s Idiot, which was so successful thatit even spurred on book sales. The returnto the past here was motivated either by an


interest in the literary heritage or in thatmoment of Russian history when the impe-rial era came to an end.

The postwar Soviet years were anotherhistorical period that interested filmmak-ers. Pavel Chukhrai made his debut filmwith The Thief (Vor, 1997), which deals in amasterful way with the theme of fatherless-ness that has been so important for Sovietculture (the loss of fathers—men—duringWorld War II as well as the betrayal byStalin, who had elevated himself to the “fa-ther” of the nation). In The Thief, Chukhraifollows the path of a young boy, Sania,whose father died in the war. After the warhis mother lives with a thief, who tries toinspire in the boy “masculine” behavior butdeprives Sania of his mother’s love andprotection and betrays the boy when heleaves him in an orphanage after hismother’s death. This child, unloved, is seenat the end of the film as a military com-mander in a belligerent region: the father-less and unloved children of the postwarera are doomed. Chukhrai’s second film, ADriver for Vera (Voditel’ dlia Very, 2004), isset in 1962 and captures with immense pre-cision the Khrushchev Thaw, when politi-cally things seemed to loosen up but wheneffectively there was no scope for real re-form. Vadim Abdrashitov also explored thepast in his film Magnetic Storms (Magnit-nye buri, 2003), set in the early perestroikaperiod when the first deals were struckover factory management and ownership,leaving the workers literally in a gray zone.

Most significant in the revision of thepast, however, was Mikhalkov’s The Bar-

ber of Siberia (Sibirskii tsiriul’nik, 1998[1999]). If in Burnt by the Sun Mikhalkovhad explored the impossibility for the indi-vidual to change the course of events dur-ing Stalin’s terror, and remembered the

lifestyle lost with nostalgia, then hereMikhalkov returns to the nineteenth cen-tury with a restorative nostalgia for an ab-solute monarchy. He wishes to return to apast that he sees in a distorted manner.

Mikhalkov was a megastar in the emerg-ing new Russian film world. Winning an Os-car at the time when Russian cinema wasin the worst crisis ever enhanced his al-ready high reputation in the professionaland political world. This granted him theopportunity to realize a long-term projectwith an enormous budget for any film in-dustry—the immense sum of $45 million.The Barber of Siberia was to be Russia’sfirst blockbuster. If Burnt by the Sun wassubjected to a stunning marketing cam-paign in Russia, with the distillery Kristalllaunching the vodka brand KomDiv (Divi-


Tsar Alexander (Nikita Mikhalkov) and his son

in Nikita Mikhalkov’s The Barber of Siberia

(1998). (Photo by Igor Gnevashev)

sional Commander) with Mikhalkov’s pro-file as Kotov on the bottle label, then thepublicity campaign around The Barber waseven more carefully coordinated. Bannersand posters were positioned all over cen-

tral Moscow, a new brand of vodka, Rus-sian Standard, was launched as well as anew perfume range, Cadet No. 1 and CadetNo. 3. A shawl by Hermès, designed espe-cially for the premiere, was offered to se-


The Barber of Siberia tells the story of JaneCallaghan (Julia Ormond), an American womanwho travels to Russia in 1885 in order to helpthe Irish American inventor Douglas Mc-Cracken (Richard Harris) to secure funding forhis machine, the “barber,” which is designed tocut down the Siberian forests. McCracken, un-der pressure from his creditors, has hired Janeto charm General Radlov (Alexei Petrenko), thehead of the Military Academy, in order to gainthrough him the support of Grand Duke Alexei.Jane achieves this task by pretending to beMcCracken’s daughter and flirting with the vaingeneral, who proposes to her. In her business-oriented approach to life, Jane offers her abilityto charm for hire ever since she was abused asa child by her stepfather and forced to fend forherself. Then she meets the cadet Andrei Tol-stoy (Oleg Menshikov), who falls in love withher. The cadet Tolstoy has very high moral val-ues: he defends his feelings for Jane in a duel,he humiliates himself when he proposes toJane in front of the general, and he is preparedto abandon his career for Jane. She, however,continues her intrigues in order to fulfill hercontract and get McCracken’s papers signedby the grand duke. Unwilling to sacrifice herscheme for the sake of love, she spends a daywith the general at a Shrovetide fair and en-courages him to drink, seeking to compromisehim. When Tolstoy sees Jane flirt with the gen-eral in the theater just after she has spent thenight with the cadet, he attacks his rival with aviolin bow during a performance of The Mar-riage of Figaro in which Tolstoy plays Figaro. The

production by the Military Academy takesplace in the presence of the grand duke, andRadlov swiftly accuses Tolstoy of an attemptupon the grand duke’s life. Thus Radlov se-cures promotion for himself by “preventing aterrorist act,” and Tolstoy is found guilty andsent to a prison camp in Siberia, without everattempting to defend his actions. Ten yearslater, Jane has married McCracken so that herson (Tolstoy’s child) will have a father. On theoccasion of the launch of McCracken’s inven-tion, Jane travels to Siberia. As the machine be-gins the massive destruction of the Siberiantaiga, Jane finds the house where Tolstoy nowlives with his wife, Dunia (formerly a maid inthe Tolstoys’ Moscow house), and their chil-dren. Jane leaves Russia.

The love story of Jane and Andrei Tolstoy isembedded in an English narration by Jane, who,in 1905, writes a letter to her son Andrew (theEnglish version of his father’s name, Andrei), arecruit at a U.S. military base. Time and again,we see her writing the letter while her voicereads parts of it, and we see Andrew at the U.S.base, as stubborn as his father and upholdingvalues and principles that he defends with hislife: he stands up for Mozart by refusing to re-peat a phrase denigrating the composer. Ratherthan obeying Commander O’Leary’s order to de-nounce Mozart’s talent, he wears a gas maskfor more than twenty-four hours. Andrew’s en-durance wins out, and the explanation for hisstubbornness comes from Jane, who shows thecommander a portrait of Andrew’s father, theformer Russian cadet Tolstoy.

The Barber of Siberia Plot

lect guests. Mikhalkov appeared for morethan a week on almost all television shows,and several channels screened retrospec-tives of his films. The premiere brought theinvited guests to the Kremlin Palace ofCongresses, specially fitted with a Dolbystereo system and a new projection screenfor this purpose.

The Barber of Siberia represented Mi-khalkov’s attempt to make a blockbusterand to offer moral guidance to an audienceat a time when the mainstream of Russianfilmmakers portrayed the bleakness, theabyss, and the degeneration surroundingthem. The Barber of Siberia shaped thevalues of the future by telling a story aboutRussia’s past, which elevated the traditionsof the East above those of the West. Thefilm used a historical setting for this ro-mantic plot with a positive hero to trans-port the moral values of the past into thepresent. In terms of box office, it was oneof the most successful films in Russia inthe 1990s, although its distribution in theWest did not bring the desired success.

The Barber explores the qualities of theRussian character and juxtaposes them tothe traits of Western characters. The wayTolstoy behaves toward Jane parallels thestubborn insistence upon principle dis-played by the recruit Andrew, and bothmen’s obsessive behavior is classified astypically Russian in the film. Jane is stillunable fully to understand Russia, implyingthat Russia “cannot be grasped by reasonalone.” The Western characters acknowl-edge success only in business or theachievement of goals, whereas most of theRussian characters surrender to a fatalisticvision of their life, accepting suffering andsolitude.

The film dwells on the absence of a fa-ther figure: Jane comes from a broken fam-

ily; after her father’s death she was abusedby her stepfather. Tolstoy’s family is bro-ken too: his mother lives with an uncle.Both army captains (Captain Mokin andCommander O’Leary) act like father fig-ures to their cadets. Life in the militarywith its discipline is idealized. In the ab-sence of intact family life and father fig-ures, the military community replaces thefamily, and the tsar replaces the father whois also represented on a lower level by themilitary commanders. In Mikhalkov’s vi-sion the whole of Russian society is trans-formed into one large family with a patri-arch at its head. And Tsar Alexander III isplayed by Mikhalkov himself.

As a political manifesto the film con-tained a strangely nationalistic statementfor the future of Russia, envisaging the res-urrection of order and discipline thatwould reinstate a value system and thusbenefit the Russian population. In thissense Mikhalkov preempted the stabilitybrought about by Putin’s rule after thechaos of the Yeltsin era.

Alexei Balabanov’s Brothers and Bo-

drov’s Sisters Although Rogozhkin wasconcerned with comedy, Bodrov with soci-ety and war, and Mikhalkov with the pastand Russia’s national identity, all these di-rectors belonged to the mainstream of Rus-sian culture and cinema. Alexei Balabanovchose to take another path: he wentagainst the current and deliberately cre-ated a hero who lacked moral values. Hethus prepared the ground for a new genera-tion of filmmakers to emerge with filmswhere psychology can no longer explainthe motivation for characters’ actions, asindeed is manifest in contemporary cinemain Gus van Sant’s 2003 Cannes Festival win-ner, Elephant.


Balabanov veered for a long time be-tween “auteur” cinema and blockbusters. Of

Freaks and Men (Pro urodov i liudei, 1998)investigated the amoral attitudes in Russiansociety at the beginning of the twentiethcentury and exposed the photo-camera asan instrument of commercial exploitation(the production of sadomasochistic andpornographic images and films). At thesame time Balabanov wrote and directedthe blockbusters Brother (Brat, 1997),Brother 2 (Brat 2, 2000), and War (Voina,2002). Sergei Bodrov Jr., who became a cultfigure through the role of Danila Bagrov(Brother), was supported by CTB in hisdirectorial debut, Sisters (Sestry, 2001),where he explored the relationship of twohalf sisters trying to survive in the criminalworld of the younger sister’s father.

The resurgence of the Russian block-buster came only in 1997 with Balabanov’sBrother and the sequel Brother, whichplayfully engaged with the action moviegenre. Brother is an example of a film-maker’s moving away from his “auteur” sta-tus toward the mass audience.

Brother defines a new type of hero, whoupholds no moral standards at all. On theone hand, Danila possesses skill, strength,and courage. He knows how to use guns, heis physically fit to fight, and his actions dis-play a sense of military logistics. He helpsthe poor (he defends an old man—Hoff-man, the German—on the street against aracketeer, helps the conductor collect afine from two Caucasians—“black arses”—traveling on a tram without a ticket, andshoots at his girlfriend Sveta’s violent hus-


Sergei Bodrov Jr. as Danila Bagrov in Alexei Balabanov’s Brother (1997), the first Russian

“blockbuster,” albeit in video releases only. (Photo courtesy of Sergei Selianov, CTB)

band). Yet he is ruthless to his enemies andis a man of action. In the tradition of the ro-mantic hero, he is a knight who keeps hisword. In the criminal world he is a killer. Hecombines within himself the contradictionsat the heart of the Russian idea: the right tojudge and the compassion to redeem. Bala-banov debunks the socialist myth, whichsees the hero as part of a historical process:Danila has no role in society at large. A truekiller, he is a loner, an individual, actingwithout a reason. Moreover, Balabanov re-jects the chernukha model, which per-ceives man as a victim of circumstance andtherefore essentially nonheroic. The newhero makes no choices but lives on the spurof the moment.

The title of the film parodied the conceptof a “brotherhood of people” (the collec-tive spirit of the Soviet people). Real“brotherhood” is further mocked when Vik-tor, the elder brother who replaces the ab-sent father, is protected by Danila: Danilasaves him from the Mafia bosses who havehired him as a killer after he successfullycarried out the killing that Viktor was paidfor. Danila reverses the relationship of au-thority and respect for his elder brother

and sends him back home to look after hismother.

Danila sets no model to follow. He offersneither a lead to the future, nor does hehave a past. If he does have a history, it isthe fictional biography of Bodrov’s previ-ous hero, the soldier of the Chechen war,Vania Zhilin. At the beginning of the film,Danila Bagrov has just returned home fromservice in the army, claiming that he hasmerely worked as a scribe in some office.It soon becomes clear that this is a myth:he has a very good knowledge of firearms,and his maneuvers are much too carefullyplanned. It is much more likely that Danilahas served in the Caucasus or Chechnya.Bagrov is a young man hardened to the re-alities of life by his experience of war. In-deed, Danila’s personality and backgroundare like a blank page, onto which any storycould be written. This is reflected in thetechnique of blackouts after each episode,which fragment the film and almost allowit to be reassembled in any order. Danila isdeprived of any psychological depth, andthe choice of a nonprofessional actor re-flects Balabanov’s need for a facade ratherthan a character.


Danila Bagrov returns to his provincial home-town from service in the army. When he getsinto trouble with the police, his mother sendshim to visit his elder brother, Viktor, in Peters-burg. Viktor is a killer, who engages Danila toshoot the “Chechen.” Carrying out the assign-ment, Danila realizes that his brother has be-trayed him, whereas an unknown woman tramdriver, Sveta, helps him. They subsequentlyhave an affair, but Sveta stays with her hus-

band, who beats her. Danila shoots the“Chechen” and bails out his brother when thelatter is in trouble. Danila is a professional killer,but he is also a knight who helps the poor, sup-pressed, and underprivileged (the GermanHoffman, Sveta, the drug-addict Kat, the farecollector in the tram, and his own brother).Having conquered the criminal world of Peters-burg, he leaves for Moscow.

Brother: Plot

Danila accidentally walks into the loca-tion of a clip for the rock group NautilusPompilius’s latest album “Wings” (Kryl’ia),and later he literally marches into leadsinger Butusov’s flat: he seeks to identifywith the group but fails to realize that theseare different worlds. In both cases, hecrashes back into reality: at the police sta-tion, bruised and beaten; and into a murderscene. Nautilus’s music functions as a leit-motif for Danila’s journey to St. Petersburg.The band is originally from Sverdlovsk butmoved to St. Petersburg in the 1990s;Danila, too, comes from provincial Russiaand arrives in St. Petersburg. where he fi-nally acquires a compact disc of “Wings.”Danila plays Nautilus most of the time onhis personal CD player. He lives in theworld of the music and only partly per-ceives the reality that surrounds him. Thesongs endow the film with a dreamlikequality. Bagrov’s movements are paced bythe rhythm of the music and thus appear asthough they were performed under a spellor under the influence of drugs, but not byan individual who reflects upon the sur-rounding reality. Nautilus’s songs are aboutanother reality, about daydreams, andabout the crippling effect of this reality; thewings that enable man to fly have been lostand all that remains are scars. The songsaccompany Danila’s arrival, his “new life,”the lead-up to the shootings at the marketand in Viktor’s flat. They are all from the al-bums “Atlantida” and “Yablokitai,” which,in fact, Danila fails to acquire in the musicshop. In other words, the film’s spectatorshear the music Danila wishes to hear on hisCD player but has actually not yet managedto acquire. The hero lives in the soundtrack of another world, in which he is im-mortal: the CD player saves his life when itdeflects a bullet.

Balabanov refrained from moralizingand preaching, a function that Soviet direc-tors had taken on for such a long time; heno longer provided ideals to be followedand no longer set moral standards. He didnot condemn or reject the amoral conductof his protagonists but portrayed a newtype. Balabanov’s approach to the protago-nist as a hero who sets no standards op-posed the mainstream of Russian cinema(such as the elevation of the cadet Tolstoyto hero status) and inspired other filmmak-ers, including Sergei Bodrov in his debut asfilmmaker.

The Last Hero: Sergei Bodrov Jr.

Sergei Bodrov Jr., son of the film directorSergei Bodrov, made his debut as an actorin 1996, playing the soldier Vania Zhilin inhis father’s film The Prisoner of the Moun-

tains. The casting of the nonprofessionalBodrov alongside Russia’s top film star,Oleg Menshikov, seemed risky at first, butBodrov and Menshikov complementedeach other perfectly in their approaches.The professional Menshikov played hischaracter through several layers of masks,whereas Bodrov created his role throughhis absolutely natural conduct in front ofthe camera. Jointly they received a majorRussian acting award for their perform-ance in this film. Bodrov’s Zhilin is an hon-est and quiet Russian soldier, who acceptsthe conditions of his captivity in a Muslimvillage in the Caucasus. He makes friendswith his captors and never risks their lives:he is not a man of action. Following thesuccess of The Prisoner of the Mountains,

Bodrov became the presenter of the talk-show Vzgliad on Russia’s First TelevisionChannel.

After his success as Zhilin, Alexei Bala-banov invited Bodrov to play the main part


in Brother and the later sequel Brother 2.

Here Bodrov created the new Russian hero:his character, Danila Bagrov, returns fromthe Chechen war and travels to Petersburg,where he acts like a professional killer inorder to rescue his elder brother from thegrip of the Chechen Mafia. In true heroicfashion, Danila kills the baddies and helpsthe goodies. He displays the features of aknight who helps the poor, while killing hisbrother’s “enemies” cold-bloodedly. Thiscombination of the assertive killer with thehumble romantic knight characterized thehero figure that the young generation of thenew Russia adopted. Bagrov-Bodrov estab-lished justice by turning into a killer: he fol-lowed the right aim by doubtful means, butmeans that required taking things into hisown hands rather than relying on the state.In Brother 2 Danila travelled to Chicago toget the brother of a fellow soldier out of thethralls of the American sports Mafia. Bo-drov’s characters almost always supportRussian ideals, echoing his repeatedlystated love for Russia.

Bodrov featured in many internationalprojects, such as Regis Wargnier’s East-

West (1999), in which he played the part ofa young swimmer who is refused traveloutside Stalin’s Soviet Union. Encouragedby the love of his neighbor’s French wife(Sandrine Bonnaire), he manages to swimto a vessel in the Black Sea outside Sovietwaters.

Bodrov built his image of the good andsimple guy through natural and leisurelyconduct: he never seemed to play-act butjust existed in front of the camera. It washis professionalism of seeming “unprofes-sional” and natural in front of the camerathat made his acting so unique. Similarly, inhis talk shows on Russian television he al-ways presented himself as if he were “just

himself,” creating the impression of aseemingly unprepared, unplanned discus-sion. At the peak of his career he gave uptelevision to devote himself to film, makinghis debut as a filmmaker with Sisters

(2001)—a risky move at a time when mostactors turned to television as a bettersource of income. Sisters tells the story oftwo girls, Sveta (Oxana Akinshina) and heryounger half sister Dina. Sveta dreams ofbecoming a sniper, whereas her youngerhalf sister is a spoiled little girl who playsthe violin and is the pride of her gangster-daddy. Suddenly Sveta has to protect her-self and her sister from some gangsterswho come after Dina’s father. Bodrov him-self appears in one scene as a kind-heartedgangster, offering Sveta protection. WithSisters, which won awards for the best de-but film in 2001, Bodrov paved the path forAkinshina’s career: she next starred in Lu-cas Moodyson’s Lilya 4ever.

Bodrov appeared in Balabanov’s War

(2002), where he played the injured CaptainMedvedev. Together with an English couple(Ian McKellen and Ingeborga Dapkunaite),he is held hostage by Chechen partisans.Their ultimate escape is possible thanks toMedvedev, who calls the army to evacuatethem once they have freed themselves. Bo-drov again plays a lovable soldier, who re-mains in good spirits in a dire situation andwho never loses faith in Russia.

On 20 September 2002, a glacier sliddown into the Karmadon Gorge in theNorth Caucasus. It buried the inhabitantsof the mountain settlement and the filmcrew of Sergei Bodrov Jr. under a thicklayer of ice and mud. Bodrov was shootinghis second feature film, The Messenger

(Sviaznoi). The loss of Russia’s “Last Hero”(the title of a television program he hosted)has left a gap that will not be easy to fill.


Thrillers, Killers, and Antikillers

The film Bimmer by Petr Buslov followsthe experiments in genre made by Bodrovand Balabanov. Buslov made a gangstermovie, where the title role is attributed to acar, a BMW 750 (bumer in Russian slang).Four men—Tomcat (Kot), Rama, Killa, andBurnt (Oshparenny)—have to flee Moscowbecause they are wanted by the Mafia.These petty gangsters are used to operat-ing within the Mafia circles of the capital,but out in the countryside they lack sur-vival skills and are rendered almost help-less. The film follows their escape in thestyle of a road movie, where the foreign caris unsuited for the Russian roads but supe-rior in technology. On a number of occa-sions the car saves them; on others it failsthem, just like a human being. Although theautomobile displays features of humanemotions (compassionately winking orgroaning), the four men behave like wildanimals, indeed like the hunted wolves de-scribed in Vysotsky’s legendary ballad ofthe “Wolf Hunt.” As in Balabanov’s films,there is no moral message in Buslov’s de-but. The viewer merely follows the gang-sters and their adventures while adopting aposition of ironic superiority, often know-ing better how to prevent trouble than thegangsters. The music to the film was com-posed by Sergei Shnurov of the bandLeningrad, which added to the popularitythat the film enjoyed at the box office.

Yegor Konchalovsky’s Antikiller and thesequel Antikiller 2 were also a consider-able success at the Russian box office (An-

tikiller 2 grossed $2.7 million), althoughthey have not been distributed abroad. An-

tikiller is based on the very popular novelby Danil Koretsky and set in the criminalworld. The former police lieutenant Ko-renev (nickname “Lis,” or Fox), played by

the very popular actor Gosha Kutsenko,has been set up and arrested for abuse ofpower. Having served his sentence, he is re-leased from prison and now tries to figureout the new constellation of power in thecriminal world in order to set the gangs upagainst each other. The criminal bossShaman (Alexander Baluyev) has orderedthe murder of Fox’s friend and former col-league. Shaman is a new player in the crim-inal world, not following the codes of theold Mafia bosses Father (Mikhail Ulianov),King (Alexander Beliavsky), and Cross(Sergei Shakurov). Into this Mafia war ofold and new clans erupts the violence ofthe gang of Ambal (Viktor Sukhorukov), abrutal gangster whose level of pain hasbeen reduced significantly since an opera-tion when parts of his brain were removed.Ambal has no values, no understanding ofthe order of the criminal “authorities” andknows only the force of his pistol. In manyways, Konchalovsky’s film is a continuationof the amoral killer of Brother, although of-fering a broader insight into the criminalworld. In the sequel Antikiller 2, Korenevhas returned to the police force and is mar-ried to Liuba. The unit of his colleague hascaught the Chechen commander Aduyev.By this arrest they bring about danger forthe city. Aduyev’s son Uzhak seeks revengeand prepares a terrorist attack. Liuba, whohas saved Aduyev Senior’s life, falls intocaptivity. Both films contain a number ofspecial effects, are professionally made,and offer a high standard of acting. Kon-chalovsky’s visual handling of the detectivestories raises the suspense level and cre-ates visually tantalizing sequences, whichexplain the films’ success.

As film production is increasing, Russianfilms are becoming box office hits, out-stripping new U.S. releases on the national


market. This is achieved once again, as inSoviet times, by films that are shown, butnot widely distributed, in the West. TimurBekmambetov’s Night Watch (Nochnoi do-zor, 2004) contains numerous special ef-fects, but most important it is based onLukianenko’s gripping fantasy (sci-fi)thriller and performed by fine actors. Thefilm addresses the issue of good and evil,the worlds of light and darkness. The liter-ary source actually consists of a trilogy,where Night Watch is followed by Day

Watch and Twilight Watch. Into the strug-gle before good and evil, which is ex-plained in a historical prologue, come for-tune-tellers, magicians, and vampires asrepresentatives of the good and evil forces.The plot revolves around Anton Gorodet-sky (Konstantin Khabensky) who ten yearsearlier had wanted to get rid of his wife’slover (and her unborn child). To this endhe had turned to a sorceress, but she wasprevented from casting the spell by the

forces of “light.” Now Gorodetsky fights onthe side of “light” and helps protectMoscow and its inhabitants from disaster,catastrophe, and evil. Night Watch con-tains all the ingredients of an American ac-tion movie (for example, Terminator)while expanding the fantasy component tothe level where it almost becomes parodic.Moreover, the difference between theworlds of good and evil, light and dark, isnever drawn in black and white colors butuses the gray shades rather than fallingback on absolutes and stereotypes. Thefilm is set to become Russia’s biggest boxoffice hit in decades.

Animation

In the early years of the Soviet period,many animators put their art at the serviceof the state: cartoons and animation werefrequently used for political propaganda.During the 1930s and 1940s, animation wasincreasingly considered as a tool for ideo-


Konstantin Khabensky as Anton Gorodetsky in Night Watch, the Russian mega blockbuster of 2004,

directed by Timur Bekmambetov. (Photo courtesy of First Channel Press Service)

logical instruction of the younger genera-tion and targeted at children. Many scriptsfor animation were written on the basis ofSoviet children’s literature and Russianfairy tales. It is interesting to note here thecontribution of many “banned” writers tothe genre of animation scripts, especiallythe satirist Nikolai Erdman, who, after hisarrest in the 1930s, subsequently refrainedfrom play writing but produced more thanfifty scenarios before his death in 1970.

Classic Animation In the 1960s, a newgeneration of animators emerged: RomanKachanov invented the Soviet equivalentsof Mickey Mouse: Cheburashka and Genathe Crocodile. From the late 1960s onward,animation moved into more sophisticatedterritory: some animators created films forthe sake of artistic expression and poeticreflection while addressing themselves toan adult audience. Ivan Ivanov-Vano, LevAtamanov and Leonid Amalrik, the Brum-berg sisters (Valentina and Zinaida), IvanUfimtsev, Fyodor Khitruk, and VladimirSuteyev became famous for films of Sovietand popular fairy tales. Their works werebased on Eduard Uspensky, Nikolai Nosov,Vladimir Suteyev, and Boris Zakhoder aswell as the classic Kornei Chukovsky.

In the last decades of the USSR, somewell-known animators, such as Yuri Nor-stein and Andrei Khrzhanovsky, emergedonto the international stage. They collabo-rated with contemporary writers, such asLiudmila Petrushevskaya in the case ofNorstein’s world-famous Tale of Tales

(Skazka skazok, 1979). With the artistFrancesca Yarbusova, Norstein createdsome of the finest drawn animation, mov-ing his cell objects on several layers ofglass in order to create a three-dimensionaleffect. Norstein’s films are poetic and not

made for mass consumption, unlike someof the cheaper animation for children. Hemade a trailer for the children’s programGood Night, Kids, which was removed al-most before he completed it. His work onGogol’s Overcoat (Shinel’) has been ongo-ing for more than ten years, and onlytwenty minutes of the film are complete.

Andrei Khrzhanovsky has a long historyas a filmmaker and a reputation for literaryand historical themes. Thus, he made ani-mated films about Alexander Pushkin andFederico Fellini. He has also made chil-dren’s animation, such as The Lion with

the Gray Beard (Lev s sedoi borodoi,1994). He heads the studio Shar, which as-sists young animators in their work. IrinaYevteyeva, too, makes hand-drawn anima-tion. She has made films on the poetVladimir Mayakovsky and the German ro-mantic writer Ernst Theodor AmadeusHoffmann, combining animation with doc-umentary footage, and thereby taking ani-mation into a new dimension. Her film Pe-

tersburg (2003), made to mark the 300thanniversary of the city, drew on a variety ofhighly sophisticated literary associationswhile creating an artistically innovativeview of the city’s cultural history. The

Clown is a film she made with Slava Po-lunin. Sergei Ovcharov initially came fromfilmmaking before creating a series of ani-mated myths, from antiquity to Russianfolk traditions. In Pharaoh, Ovcharov usesEgyptian drawings in which the charactersare animated. The result of their actions isoften funny, bringing out the erotic ele-ments underlying mythology. In Sochi-

nushki, based on Russian folklore, Ov-charov animated scenes from Russianlubok (woodcut) and folk drawings, paro-dying the old rituals of peasant life.

The animator Alexander Petrov has made

1 0 0 P O P C U LT U R E R U S S I A !

several films in his studio in Yaroslavl, in-cluding The Cow (Korova, 1989), which toldthe story of a cow and her calf, which wastaken away for slaughtering. Suffering fromgrief, the cow throws herself under a train.The film sets out Petrov’s main concern: therelationship between man and nature. Hisfilm Rusalka (1998) explored the theme of aRussian fairy tale and was nominated for anOscar, the highest possible recognition for afilm. Petrov’s animation is painted on glass,and it was his skill at this that won him aninvitation to work abroad. In the late 1990s,as funding became a massive problem foranimators who could not work in advertis-ing to finance their work, he was invited tomake a film in Canada. He made a hand-painted animation for the new IMAX for-mat: The Old Man and the Sea won the Os-car in 2000. The film again explores therelationship of man and nature, this timecreating most subtle and nuanced images ofthe sea and its life.

The studio Pilot was founded in 1988 andis financed through commercial activity. Itsdirector, Alexander Tatarsky, is the creatorof the Pilot Brothers series, made in the1990s; this was followed by the series ofFund of Legal Reforms. This series of filmsis largely based on a play with the currentsocial and political situation, providing asatirical gloss on contemporary life andpolitics. The Pilot brothers are two simplydrawn characters, whose main characteris-tic is their rolling eyes. The art director atthe studio is Mikhail Aldashin, whoseBukashka won the “Nika” award for bestRussian animation in 2003.

Garri Bardin founded his own studio,Staier, after the collapse of state subsidiesfor animation. After his successes at inter-national festivals with films such as Brake

in the 1980s, he made a New Year’s film,

Choocha (Chucha). Choocha is nonverbal,based only on the tunes of Glenn Miller.Using puppet animation, Bardin showed alittle boy in the midst of a party. The adultsdance and the boy sees only legs: the cam-era follows the child’s perspective. Utterlybored and neglected, he ties the adults’legs together under the table and leaves.He ventures into the attic and creates hisown “nanny” (a scarecrow, in Russianchuchelo), which he calls Choocha. Heuses cushions, pots and pans, braces, andother clutter stored in the attic. Choochabecomes alive and dances around theroom. Choocha climbs onto the roof, andtogether they play with the bats and the ici-cles. Then the boy goes to bed, withChoocha. When the adults enter the room,they too turn into little children. Bardin’sfilm is a parable for the adults’ lack of un-derstanding vis-à-vis children.

Russia’s animators are mostly knownthrough festivals, rather than to mass audi-ences. Sergei Ainutdinov works in Ekater-inburg. His animation is drawn and two-dimensional. In his films he parodies theerotic subconscious of the frustrated officeworker; he explores the dementia of peo-ple living in the modern world. His filmsare funny, cheeky, and point at the absurd-ity of human life. Natalia Dabizha has beenin animation since the 1970s. In the 1990sshe joined Christmas Films in the UK andmade The Tree with the Golden Apples.

Konstantin Bronzit from St. Petersburgcreates drawn animation, and his Frenchcoproduction, The House at the End of the

World (La Maison au bout du Monde,1999), was shown internationally. It is asimple story of people living in a house onthe top of a hill, and the difficulties associ-ated with this life, which are overcomewith a sense of lightness and ease.

V I S U A L C U LT U R E 1 0 1

Neznaika and Masiania The mostpopular children’s cartoon of the 1990s wasthe sequel to a 1970s film, Neznaika in

Sun City (Neznaika v solnechnom gorode,1976–1977), based on a popular children’sstory by Nikolai Nosov. The film had origi-nally been created as a puppet animationby Petr Murashov and others, making thecentral character a gentle boy with redhair. The post-Soviet sequel, Neznaika on

the Moon (Neznaika na lune, 1997–1999)was created as drawn animation by A.Liutkevich and Yuri Butyrin and became abestseller among videos. With the voice ofKristina Orbakaite and music by ValeriMeladze, the project was ostensibly com-mercial. This film explores the adventure

of the child, Neznaika, who learns thoughhis mistakes. Ultimately Neznaika’s rightand good acts are triumphant.

The hero of animation, however, has notbeen created manually: Masiania, the firstflash animation, which uses flash graphicsto create animation rather than the tradi-tional techniques of filmed drawings on-line, later appeared on television and onvideo releases. Masiania was launched inOctober 2001 by the St. Petersburg graphicdesigner Oleg Kuvayev on the site mult.ru(mult is a short word for multik, or multi-

plikatsionnyi fil’m, a cartoon). By 2002,Masiania had become a megastar and wasinvited onto NTV’s most prestigious newsprogram, Namedni. After the return to the


Web artist Oleg Kuvayev (left), with the Masiania puppet (right), attends the press conference of the

companies “Masiania” (right) and NTV television, agreeing to the televised broadcasting of the flash

animation cartoons. (Photo by Vasily Shaposhnikov/Kommersant)

Internet and numerous illegal sites usingand re-using the material of mult.ru, thesite moved temporarily to hrundel.ru anddisappeared from cyberspace, before re-turning to the old site mult.ru in early 2004.The new site also hosts projects byyounger animators, such as the series ofclips by Masha Yakunina about Jerzy andPetruccio, the clips about Mel by MashaStepanova, and the episodes of the rabbitBo and his cranky human friends.

Masiania is a character made up from afew strokes of a pen: two lines form armsand legs, a circle for her body and an ovalshape for her face. She is dressed in a redtop and a blue short skirt. She swears andsmokes and is promiscuous. She is hardlywell educated, but rather the “under-ground” outsider teenager of today. She isnot feminine at all, and were it not for a“nude” scene and reference to her menstru-ation, it would be difficult to pinpoint hergender. She is shameless and egocentric,and combined with her outright egoismthis strangely makes her rather charming.She is surrounded in the fifty or so epi-sodes by her boyfriend, Hrundel, by Lokh-maty, and Liaska, her Moscow friend. Theverbal puns in the clips make the dialoguehard to render in another language.

Masiania and her boyfriend, Hrundel,pose in the Worker and Farmer statue’spose that is the emblem of Mosfilm,crossed by beams of light that symbolizeLenfilm, to mark the opening logo of Mas-film. Masiania’s stories appeared in tenepisodes on the Internet. In the first partshe was sketched as a character: she triesto sing, watches telly, puffs cigarettes. Sheuses swearwords, annoys people on atrain, tells a joke that only amuses herself,and makes fun of her friends. In these earlysketches Masiania always appeared alone.

She came across as an immature and ego-centric person, who failed to see the bor-derline between play and seriousness—asign of her childishness. She is also sex-less, as she does not define herself as a girluntil the second part, in the mult “Birth-day,” when the character proper is born.

Masiania develops in the followingepisodes, indeed almost grows up and un-dergoes a process of maturation. She con-tinues to use vulgar language and contem-porary street jargon. It becomes clear,however, that her abusive language and heregoism cover a very lonely and delicatesoul. She is alone on her birthday; she triesto hitchhike and ends up in the same loca-tion as before, catching a cold; she isscared walking through the city on her ownat night, then boosts her confidence byscreaming at a beggar and being ready toscare others. She gains confidence throughher apparently aggressive behavior and herinventiveness. Yet in reality she is never su-perior: she falls down the stairs on herroller skates just like Lokhmaty; she isknocked off the boat just as Hrundel felloff a bridge. She is occasionally very de-pressed (“Depresniak”) and goes to theseaside to sing a song and find her happi-ness again while her friends worry abouther. She buys a rat after an argument withHrundel so that she won’t be alone, and al-though she commands the rat around sheis genuinely sad when it dies.

Masiania is not a model teenager,though: she drinks, she and her friends usedrugs, she is promiscuous, and she smokeslike a chimney. She has compassion for thepoor: she cares for the orphan boy in thebasement of a house, although he hasstolen her purse, and gathers the crowdswho wish the boy a merry Christmas(“Skazka,” 2003), or she is concerned for


the poor and talented musician Okolo-bakha (“Near-Bach”). Not all her acts aredriven by compassion, however. She alsoseeks attention. Her multiple appearanceson stage, trying to become a singer, endwithout success. She is beaten over thehead when dancing on stage during a rockconcert (“Spleen”); she is disappointedwhen she realizes that sex appeal mattersmore than talent (“Pops”); she is sad whena producer tells her that her figure is notgood enough for a pop star (“Show-business”).

Her boyfriend, Hrundel, first appears asa friend who makes advances: he tries totalk her into staying overnight; then heasks her out for a drink and she ends upwith a hangover; then they are in bed to-gether and she—with an air of embarrass-ment—asks him to use condoms. Theysupport each other: she gets him out of abad trip; he stops her from laughing hyster-ically. She bails Hrundel out of debt by sell-ing her car. When Masiania is ashamed ofdressing up as a dog for a pharmacy ad inthe street, Hrundel confesses to doing thesame job. Both Masiania and Hrundel havea streak of selfishness when they try tomake money: Hrundel by selling the musi-cian’s violin (“Okolobakha”), Masiania byreselling ice cream (“Ice Cream”). By thelast part of the series, Masiania and Hrun-del live together. Masiania no longer needsto prove she is part of the male world, norto be embarrassed or prove that she is asgood as or better than men. In that sense,she has matured. In another sense, she isstill up to naughty tricks and games: rest-ing in a coffin to be carried home; not be-ing able to get out of bed and work; beingso drunk that she puts Lokhmaty on a trainto Moscow instead of a German visitor.Nevertheless, Masiania is a figure who ap-

peals because of her charm with which shecombines those features criticized by soci-ety in the lifestyle of the young generation.

Visual Arts and Crafts

Visual culture is more prominent in theNew Russia than it was in the Soviet era,which had relied on the power of the word.As cinema struggled to find its feet in a mar-ket swamped with foreign films, advertise-ments, and television serials, the visual artswere fast to use new opportunities andpresent their installations, paintings, andposters in galleries and museums. Perfor-mance art gained ground in the Moscowgalleries, where Marat Guelman became akey organizer in events of “nonofficial” cul-ture on the 1990s, and in Petersburg activi-ties centered around Timur Novikov’s Neo-classical Academy. Art movements that hadpreviously been banned to an undergroundexistence suddenly had the opportunity notonly of exhibiting in private galleries butalso of selling their paintings. The auctionof contemporary painting held by Sotheby’sin Moscow on 7 July 1988 not only attractedthe attention of art dealers from all over theworld to contemporary Russian art but alsosurprised everybody with the high pricesRussian art was able to fetch.

Conceptualism and sots-art parodied So-viet culture, but they also fed into con-sumer culture through their appropriationof traditional, popular art forms. Thus, thedesign of popular crafts adopted the satiri-cal and parodic treatment characteristic ofsots-art, for example, in the distortion ofthe matrioshka to a patrioshka that repre-sents political leaders, reducing Russianand Soviet history to a series of toys. TheNew Russia thus acquired a number of vi-


sual arts forms that fall neatly betweennational heritage (high culture) and con-sumerism, between avant-garde experi-ments and kitsch. Objects of Russian craftsare handmade and designed, but they arealso made for (mass) consumption: porce-lain, wooden objects and toys, jewelry.

Urban planning responded quickly to theopportunity of using design to appeal to anew clientele, from the design of shoppingvenues to the construction of new apart-ment complexes. Moreover, the New Rus-sia has developed a unique relationship toits past in the creation of monuments, notas national heritage but as pieces createdseemingly for the consumer’s pleasure andentertainment. Architecture is of crucialimportance in particular in Moscow, whereLuzhkov’s rule as mayor has led to a recre-ation of the city’s identity by destroying theSoviet past and rebuilding it in pseudo-Stal-inist style but in better quality.

Art Movements

In the 1970s, many artists departed fromthe prescribed mode of Socialist Realism,moving either into a deliberately abstractand rational art or into parodying SocialistRealism (according to which the artistsshould portray Soviet life in a positivelight). As artists tried to exhibit their work,they were stopped by the authorities. Themost famous intervention is the so-calledbulldozer exhibition in the park Bitsa inMoscow in 1973, when bulldozers werebrought in to disperse the crowds and de-stroy the paintings. Subsequently manyartists emigrated.

Conceptualism flourished during 1970sboth in visual arts and poetry. Conceptual-ism based itself on exploring concepts andillustrating them, in an attempt to discoverthe original meaning behind words that

had been tainted. Its main exponent is IliaKabakov (b. 1933), who has had major in-ternational exhibitions since glasnost. Hecreated canvases with questions and an-swers, focusing on the word as object. Orhe would place objects of everyday life intothe frame to move them out of context,make them strange, and create new mean-ing (for example, The Fly or The Grater).In List of People Who Have the Right to Re-

ceive . . . (1982) he painted on canvas a listof names of people. In the heading “List ofPeople Who Have the Right to Receive. . . ,” the object is left blank, with a smallpocket for a piece of paper to be insertedso that the object may be changed whilethe list of people remains unchanged. Hedeconstructed the orders of Soviet authori-ties, allowing people to receive apartmentsor food product by a special order. Thegroup of the recipients of such benefits re-mains the same, only the favors or privi-leges change. Kabakov thus mocked thesystem and undermined its claims of demo-cratic treatment of the people by under-scoring that the group of the privilegednever changes. Dmitri Prigov (b. 1940) re-vised the concept of poetic creation by re-jecting poetry collection in favor of collat-ing poetry on index cards, allowingreshuffling. He also created installationsand paintings, such as a Graph of History,

where the vertical axis represented monthsand the horizontal axis listed the years in agraph to record party congresses. Thegraph, completely useless and dysfunc-tional, parodied the USSR’s obsession withand falsification of statistics but also pre-sented a curve of cardiac activity or tem-perature, making the Soviet Union appearlike a sick patient.

Although conceptualism presented rid-dles to the viewer for him or her to deci-


pher, sots-art simply parodied Socialist Re-alism. Sots-art artists elevated the individ-ual over the collective and mocked Sovietpractices, such as the creation of monu-ments or the obsession with banners, flags,and slogans. Boris Orlov (b. 1941) createdsculptures that mocked the Soviet obses-sion with banners, badges, and flags. HisBouquet in Triumphant Style (1988) wasmade of badges (znachki) and banners.General (1988) consisted of a bust createdfrom orders and flags, but without a face:Orlov pointed at the annihilation of individ-uality, the emptiness of the hero whoseform is created with symbols of the Sovietage. The artists Vitali Komar and AlexanderMelamid (b. 1943 and 1945) emigrated to

the United States in 1978 and are the mostwell-known representatives of sots-art.They painted themselves in Socialist Real-ist manner, appearing in a painting of pio-neers. They are adults, not young boys (aspioneers would be), and mock the politicaldrive to create collective heroes while theyindividualize the Socialist Realist composi-tion by placing themselves (in other pic-tures their relatives) into the image toprotest against the anonymity of the collec-tive system (Double Self-portrait as Pio-

neers, 1982–1983). In Skyscraper (1986–1987), Stalin’s bust serves as a plinth for theskyscraper composed of cubes. Each cubecontains a part of the human body (legsand lap that sit on Stalin’s head, bust, head)


Artist Ilya Kabakov in one of the ten rooms of his art installation “The Man Who Flew into Space”

at a SoHo art gallery in New York in August 1988. The work is based on the Moscow flat in which the

Russian artist grew up; seen in the center is the contraption that catapults the fictitious character

into space. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)

in a different style—abstract, expression-ist, and realist, providing as it were a jour-ney through forbidden art forms of the So-viet years. Grisha Bruskin (b. 1945) is a keyartist of sots-art, whose Fundamental Lex-

icon (1986) created a sensation when itfetched £220,000 at the 1988 Sotheby’s auc-tion in Moscow. The painting consists of agrid of cells, each containing a white figureholding an object or symbols of Sovieteveryday life, thus showing the annihilationof man in a society where only signs andsymbols count.

Alexander Kosolapov (b. 1943) also emi-grated to the United States in 1975, wherehe created a series of posters mocking U.S.and Soviet political symbols. Times Square

(1982) showed a Coca-Cola advertisement,with Lenin on a red backdrop and the sim-ple slogan, “Coca-Cola. It’s the real thing.Lenin,” mocking the Soviet obsession withthe word of Lenin and reducing his func-tion from a political theorist to an advertis-ing star. Two Flags (1989) showed theAmerican and Soviet flags, where the starswere covered by the emblem of hammerand sickle, and the Soviet flag decoratedwith a Lenin order with Mickey Mouse.Leonid Sokov (b. 1941) also emigrated tothe United States in 1980s. He used theRussian popular art of woodcutting, com-bining it with lubok (satirical and naiveprints from woodcuts) to parody the politi-cal and sexual alliances of Stalin: Stalin

and Marilyn (1985) and Stalin and Hitler

(1983), the latter as a seesaw toy with bothfigures hacking wood in the style of Bo-gorodsk toys (see the section “Matrioshkasand Patrioshkas”).

Although conceptualism remainedlargely part of high culture and was con-sumed by intellectual circles, the sots-artmovement greatly influenced popular cul-

ture, from literature to crafts, where tradi-tional craft objects were used to mock So-viet history. A further phenomenon of vi-sual culture that transgressed strictdefinitions, however, by venturing into po-etry, music, and film of the Leningradmovement was the Mitki, who appeared inthe early 1990s. The group used the lubok,the simplified portrayal typical for wood-cuts, together with the chastushka (ditty)that provided sarcastic and deadpan com-mentaries on the drawings. The Mitki werea group of people who were always in goodspirits and who saw each other as brothers(bratishki), a community of friendly indi-viduals formed largely after the collapse ofthe “underground” movement in the lateSoviet era. The group was formed by OlegGrigoriev and Alexander Florensky, andother artists joined later, including DmitriShagin, Olga Florenskaya, and VladimirShinkarev. The Mitki wear striped sailors’shirts, padded jackets (vatniki), and boots,and they love vodka.

In 1992, the Mitki created a calendarwith their drawings and ditties. The banalsituation of a husband and wife arguingwas depicted by two simple and plain fig-ures, with her pushing him back and kick-ing him (hitting him) in the face. The dittywas written on the sides of the drawing inlarge capitals: “H was chasing W / Grabbedher by the B / W got sore with her H /Kicked him in his F.” Another image forMay illustrated the Victory Day (9 May)with a prisoner who is the proud builder ofcommunism, holding a shovel and a crow-bar. “With shining bald heads / in zebra-striped clothes/ we are building commu-nism / with shovels and crows.” Anotherillustration parodied the widespread alco-hol problem, showing two men with bot-tles and glasses, who are so drunk that


they can’t even pick up the food on thetable. “Bottle after bottle we’re swilling / Inan endless swizzle-dazzle / Our tremblingforks unwilling / to pick the grub we’d loveto gobble.”

In 1995 they released a music album withBoris Grebenshchikov, entitled “Mitkov-skaya tishina,” with old bard songs and So-viet criminal songs (blatnye pesni) per-formed by the Mitki but also by the rockstars Viacheslav Butusov and Chizh. Theyhave released two further albums after thesuccess of the first and also made the ani-mation MitkiMayer (1992).

Crafts

Matrioshkas and Patrioshkas Thematrioshka is probably Russia’s singlebest-known art object (apart from the icon,which is an artwork and object of religiousveneration). The matrioshka is a woodennesting doll, first made in 1890 in Abramt-sevo, an estate outside Moscow famous forits crafts, and subsidized by the arts patronSavva Mamontov. Even before that, thereseem to have been matrioshkas made by aRussian monk in Japan. The nesting dollwas modeled on the wooden Easter eggsmade in Russia; the shape of the doll wasnew, and its appearance as the mother ofnumerous “children” (little dolls) gave itthe Latin name mater (mother), fromwhich the diminutive matrioshka derived.

The matrioshkas were made in SergiyevPosad (during the Soviet time Zagorsk), avillage near the Monastery of the Holy Trin-ity (Troitsa lavra), which was known for itscrafts. The dolls consisted largely of faces,not unlike icon painting, and little attentionwas paid to details of clothes. Matrioshkascould contain between two and 24 piecesinside. The other famous manufacture of

matrioshkas emerged in Semyonovo. TheSemyonovo dolls were more decorative instyle, and much more attention was paid tothe peasant dress (skirt, apron, headscarf),with rich ornaments on the wooden sur-face of the doll. The matrioshkas ofPolkhov Maidan (a village near Arzamas)were also brightly painted and decoratedwith large ornaments, but their base wasnever left untreated and instead was alsocovered in a base paint. The peasant styleand floral ornaments are characteristic ofthe Maidan dolls.

During the Soviet period everything wasproduction driven, and little attention waspaid to manual work. Therefore ma-trioshka production became industrializedin the Soviet period and transferred to toyfactories, although the distinctive design ofSergiyev Posad, Maidan, and Semyonovowas maintained. It was not until the 1990sthat matrioshkas were again made, oftendrawing on fairy tale themes, or indeed onpoliticians: the patrioshka (now derivedfrom the Latin pater for the male figuresthey represented) set of Gorbachev and hispredecessors as leaders of communism(Gorbachev, Brezhnev, Khrushchev, Stalin,Lenin, Marx) and the set of the coup lead-ers of 1991 were curious objects of politi-cal satire.

Traditional wooden toys were also madein Beresta, which continued the traditionof carving birds from a single piece ofwood, and Bogorodsk with its manufactureof the little seesaw toys with Russianbears.

Lacquer Boxes Lacquer boxes have along-standing tradition in Russian history.They are made from papier mâché to forma firm base for the boxes (a technique usedfor the Braunschweig tobacco boxes). The


boxes are then treated and painted withgouache or tempera, before being var-nished. The motifs most often are derivedfrom fairy tales. In the Soviet period theyoften reflected Soviet themes of work andindustry, and in the New Russia they oftenrepresent motifs of the new Russian world.

The style of the lacquer box is deter-mined by the school. There are four main“schools” where the technique is applied:Palekh, Mstera, Kholui, and Fedoskino. Fe-doskino is in the Moscow region, and lac-quer box painting started there in the lateeighteenth century and competed withminiature boxes from Persia and Japan.Fedoskino characteristically drew on peas-ant and rural themes and the use of gray,green, and brown shades as well as motherof pearl. Whereas Fedoskino started out aslacquer art, the other three schools all de-veloped from icon painting and turned to

lacquer art after the Revolution, when iconpainting was no longer a state priority.Palekh, in the Ivanov region, had been acenter of icon painting and moved intominiature painting in tempera in the 1920s.Palekh motifs represent fine figures on ablack background. Often the theme of thecentral part of the box is developed on thesides. Palekh prefers Russian fairy tales asthemes for illustrations. Kholui, in theVladimir region, shifted to lacquer in the1930s. Kholui uses bright colors for itsscenes set on a colorful backdrop. Msterais also in the Vladimir region and turned tolacquer in the 1920s. Mstera drew both onfairy tales and themes of everyday life, his-torical and architectural monuments andused the colors blue and yellow predomi-nantly. Mstera’s backdrops are always of afairy tale–like beauty and set in rich orna-mentation. Of the four, Palekh is consid-


Matrioshkas (Russian dolls) representing Russian president Vladimir Putin in front of the Savior

clock tower above the fortifications facing Red Square. (Michel Setboun/Corbis)

ered the most prestigious, because it is theoldest center. Lacquer boxes as well asbrooches made a very valuable present inSoviet Russia.

Other wooden products of less value arethe wooden objects made in Khokhloma,near Nizhny Novgorod. These are woodenjars, bowls, spoons, tables, vases, andother utensils painted in black with red andgolden ornaments.

Porcelain and Glass Gzhel is the mostfamous and most widespread porcelainmanufacturer, making blue-on-whiteporcelain. Gzhel is located about sixty kilo-meters from Moscow. Until the seven-teenth century, the city produced majolicaand ceramics, largely using white enamelas a base. Only in the nineteenth centurydid Gzhel begin to make semifayence andlater porcelain. In the 1970s, the six work-

shops produced new molds for the prod-ucts, which are all hand painted in cobaltblue. The range consists of vases, stat-uettes, figurines, plates, and cups, andGzhel is a most traditional Russian style ofeveryday tableware.

The Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (LFZ)in St. Petersburg is one of the oldest porce-lain manufacturers in the country. LFZ wasfounded in 1744, after D. Vinogradov hadbrought the technique for making porce-lain to Russia. The factory belonged to theemperor’s family, the Romanovs, for morethan 150 years and supplied largely for theemperor and the aristocracy. LFZ creatednot only plates and cups but also figurinesand vases. In the nineteenth century, de-signers from the French Sèvres workshopswere invited to develop the designs of LFZ.After the Revolution, the factory producedfor a time optical glass and military sup-


A woman paints porcelain dishes at the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia.

(Steve Raymer/Corbis)

plies. In 1925 it was renamed the Lomo-nosov Factory and continued to producechina. By the 1960s, LFZ had launched afine range of bone china, fully reviving itsporcelain manufacture. LFZ produces setsof china in different shapes, of which themost popular is the design called cobalt net(kobal’tovaia setka). The bone china setscome in white with gold or with fine flowerdesigns in delicate forms and colors. Theporcelain range includes different designsin the house-style blue, such as Blue Bird,Singing Garden, Bells (onion domes andbells in blue and gold), the dark blue withgold inlay Winter Evening, and Snowflake,a blue net with fine ornaments. The col-ored range includes Russian lubok, withtraditional red-blue themes.

Dulevo china is a more sturdy porcelainfor everyday use. In the 1830s, the Gzhelentrepreneur Terenti Kuznetsov bought theDulevo factory, neighboring onto theSmirnov textile factory in Likino. By the1930s a technical college was added, andDulevo produced a good amount of china,largely with bright colors. Dulevo was rep-resented at the Paris and New York exhibi-tions of 1937 and 1939. After the war, thevillages became a major industrial complexwhen the automobile plant ZIL (Zavod im.Likhacheva, Likhachev Factory) opened abranch in Likino.

Gus-Khrustalnyi was the first crystalmanufacturer, founded in 1756 by the Malt-sev family near Orel (between Moscow andthe Urals). To the present day Gus Crystal,a coarsely cut glass, trades on the Russianmarket alongside glass from Bohemia.

Jewelry There are two major forms oftraditional Russian jewelry. The first isFinift, a fine miniature painting on enameland framed in silver, made in Rostov-on-

Don. Finift produces boxes, jewelry, pen-dants, bracelets, rings, earrings, and otherfine objects. The white enamel base is dec-orated with a miniature design or painting.The technique of painting on porcelain isused on a white enamel plate that is thenembedded in the silver fitting. The secondwell-known type of jewelry is the black sil-ver from the northern town of VelikyUstiug. The silver and gold inlays areplaced into blackened silver (chern’) tomake jewelry and small objects, such asnapkin rings, goblets, or spoons.

The firm Jenavi was founded in St. Pe-tersburg in the 1990s, taking up productionat the former Etalon factory (label JenaviEtalon). They have created an affordablerange of modern silver jewelry that usesSvarowski crystal to very great effect.

Another industry is the production ofshawls. There is, on the one hand, thefeather-light and very warm Orenburgshawl, knitted or woven from goat’s hair.The more common type is the PavlovoPosad woollen shawl with large, colorfulflowers printed on them and fringes.Vologda linen and lace are also famous.

The World of the New Russians TheWorld of the New Russians (Mir novykhrusskikh) is a shop that opened initially inOkhotny Riad shopping mall, and later onArbat Street in the mid-1990s. The shop,founded by Grigori Baltser, specializes inproducing objects that parody the taste-lessness of New Russians while cateringfor them. They sell designer objects thatuse the traditional Russian crafts ofKhokhloma wooden painting, lacquer art,and Gzhel to make objects that in form be-long to the old Russia but portray the an-tics of the “new Russians,” the rich andbored businesspeople. The shop offers, for


example, lacquer boxes depicting not fairytales but the New Russians playing tennisor driving a Western car. A Gzhel figurinerepresents a diver, a skier, or a water-cy-clist; a hunter or a man in love; a troika,consisting not of three horses but of threebusinessmen. The Khokhloma range in-cludes a jar for savings, parodying the as-sonance of banka (jar) and bank. Thewooden range also includes symbols of thesporting interests of the New Russian,where the brand is most important: aweight from Kettler, a set of skis from Fis-cher, a rugby ball, bowling balls and pins,as well as a baseball bat. The New Russianhousewife may be attracted to the Gzheljars for khren (horseradish; also the slangword for sod), the porcelain bottle forEvian, the Khokhloma wooden spoons forcaviar, the wooden plate with Versace in-scription, or the wooden decorated chop-sticks. The New Russian may also desirethe Gzhel condom plate or the little jar forViagra.

The World of the New Russians is a shopthat parodies and mocks the lack of taste ofthe New Russians, even though the pricerange makes the products affordable onlyto them. Russia’s crafts—porcelain, jewelry,wooden objects, or shawls—are popularboth among foreign visitors and Russians.

Architecture

Urban Design

If we remember Eisenstein’s film October,

commemorating the October Revolution of1917, one of the most striking scenes in thefilm is the toppling of the monument to thetsar, the careful removal of head and bodyparts in the process of the monument beingdismantled.

The Fall of Monuments Monuments,their creation, but also their location, indi-cate popular sympathies. As the Soviet erawanted to erect monuments to its heroes,many monuments to thinkers, writers, andemperors created in the nineteenth andearlier centuries were removed, or else theSoviet regime created its own monumentsto revered writers and politicians. Duringthe Soviet era, monuments to poets, writ-ers, and politicians were erected. The mon-uments to the great Russian writers of thenineteenth century such as Pushkin, Gogol,and Dostoevsky dominated the landscape.The first monument to Pushkin, erected in1880 by Alexander Opekushin, was movedto the other side of Pushkin Square (onTverskaya Street) in 1937 in the process ofwidening the street to forty meters. Push-kin Square was, and still is, a popular meet-ing place, both for amorous couples andfor dissidents. There are few monumentsto Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg; indeed,the first monument to the writer was posi-tioned near Kuznechny Lane (where thewriter lived) outside a pub in the late1990s, representing the writer in a seatedposition. Gogol’s monument created byNikolai Andreyev in 1909 was removedfrom the Gogol (Prechistenka) Boulevardbecause he looked too meek and worried:the sculptor had depicted the writer just af-ter the burning of his novel Dead Souls.

During the Soviet era, the monument wasmoved into the courtyard of the Literary In-stitute on Tverskoi Boulevard and anotherone commissioned for the exposed spaceon the boulevard. This second monumentwas created in 1952 by Nikolai Tomsky andshows Gogol in a majestic mood.

Moreover, statues were created to honorthe great achievements of Soviet politi-cians, and streets, metro stations, even en-


tire cities were renamed to mark the Com-munist heroes. Between the Revolution of1917 and the mid-1920s, Ekaterinburg be-came Sverdlovsk, Petersburg becameLeningrad, and Lenin’s birthplace Simbirskturned into Ulianovsk in 1924 (Ulianov wasLenin’s real name). Volgograd became Stal-ingrad in 1925 in honor of Stalin, who hadbeen stationed there during the civil war;in 1961, after Stalin’s cult was exposed, itreverted to Volgograd. The capital of theKyrgyz Republic (now Kyrgyzstan),Bishkek, was named Frunze, in honor ofthe revolutionary Mikhail Frunze whocame from there. Nizhny Novgorod wasnamed Gorky after the revolutionary writerMaxim Gorky (whose real name was AlexeiPeshkov). Tver was named after MikhailKalinin (USSR head of state [chairman ofthe Council of Ministers] from 1938 to1946) in 1931. Those Moscow metro sta-tions completed in the 1940s and 1950swere named after politicians: Frunzen-skaya, Kalininskaya, Sverdlov Square(Yakov Sverdlov was the first head of theRSFSR). Street names were also “adapted”:Tverskaya Street became Gorky Street in1932; Hunter’s Row (Okhotny Riad) be-came Marx Avenue; Vozdvizhenka Streetbecame Kalinin Avenue; Bolshaya andMalaya Dmitrovka turned into Pushkin andChekhov Street; Miasnitskaya Street be-came Kirov Street. All these street and lo-cation names that were derived from revo-lutionaries and communist leaders changedback to their original names after the col-lapse of the USSR.

Monuments were erected to Communistleaders, too. Felix Dzerzhinsky had a monu-ment outside the Lubianka (headquarters ofthe KGB), erected by the monumentalistYevgeni Vuchetich in 1926. There were nu-merous monuments to Lenin, at least one in

the central square of every Soviet city (in-deed, in most cities the main artery wascalled Lenin Street or Lenin Avenue). Thesemonuments were “shoved around” accord-ing to political correctness and oppor-tunism. When Stalin was disclosed as atyrant during the Khrushchev Thaw, hisbody was removed from the mausoleumand buried in the Kremlin wall. Lenin’s bodywas embalmed and is still on display in theLenin Mausoleum. The Soviet regime alsopaid tribute to the classical writers: a monu-ment to Alexander Ostrovsky was designedby Nikolai Andreyev in 1929 and positionedoutside the Maly Theater, where Ostrovskyworked. A monument to the composerPyotr Tchaikovsky, designed by VeraMukhina (author of the famous “Workerand Farmworker”), was completed in 1954and placed outside the Conservatory.

When the USSR collapsed, numerousstatues of Communist heroes fell: Stalin,Dzerzhinsky, Sverdlov, and others were lit-erally dumped in the garden of “fallen stat-ues” behind the former Central Artists’House, now the branch of the TretiakovGallery on Krymsky Val. Later, the fallenmonuments were neatly arranged for visi-tors to the garden. The relationship tomonuments reflects, on the one hand, peo-ple’s attitudes to the past, their politicaland cultural heritage. It also continues toecho popular taste: the heroes of the peo-ple are commemorated in monuments (forexample, Vladimir Vysotsky), whereas thecity administration and the politicians havetheir own agenda in creating an urbanspace that, in their minds, will please thepeople.

Luzhkov’s Moscow In the post-Sovietstate, monuments therefore continued toplay an important role. The monuments to


political leaders were removed and ceasedto form part of everyday life. Nevertheless,the portrait of the president would stillhang in official premises. A more flippantattitude to politics emerged, however, inthe creation of cardboard figures of Yeltsinand Gorbachev, which were used fortourists to pose for a photo with them. Sim-ilarly, they, together with other political fig-ures of the past and present, were immor-talized in sets of matrioshka dolls. Officialart took a different turn, at least inMoscow. The chief designers of Luzhkov’sMoscow were the architect MikhailPosokhin and the designer Zurab Tsereteli.

The Moscow architecture of the 1990shas been termed “Luzhkov style” and ischaracterized by monumentalism com-bined with a frilly, yet majestic, decorumand ornamentation. Examples of this archi-tectural style abound, but the most strikingones shall be explored here. The Moscowzoo, founded in 1864 and in a desolate con-dition in the late Soviet period, but evenmore so with the onset of capitalism in the1990s, was revamped completely. This con-cerned the appearance of the zoo ratherthan the range of animals it could maintain.Tsereteli was invited to design the main en-trance, consisting of an artificial set ofrocks, inviting the visitor into a cavelikestructure decorated with bronze figures ofanimals. Water, an essential ingredient inall Tsereteli’s work, was bursting fromfolds in the rock to offer a sense of freshair in the summer.

The monument to Peter the Great was amore controversial project than the zoo.Tsereteli’s monument to the founder of St.Petersburg seemed misplaced in Moscowin any case. Moreover, the massive bronzesculpture represented Peter as a ship-builder and traveler, positioned against a

sail and a mast, so that the statue had tofloat. It was eventually anchored on theMoscow River opposite the Cathedral ofChrist the Savior, another monument ofLuzhkov’s Moscow. The Cathedral of Christthe Savior had been built by Konstantin Tonand completed in the 1880s. In 1931 it wasdestroyed on Stalin’s order to create on itsterritory the Palace of Soviets, the tallestbuilding in Moscow, which would towerover the new Soviet land. The projectturned out to be too heavy for the boggypatch of land, however, and the area laybarren until the 1960s when Brezhnev, inthe hype of physical culture programs, de-cided to build an open-air swimming pool,the Bassein Moskva. Luzhkov decided toresurrect the cathedral, and Posokhin im-plemented the project of revival.


Entrance to the Moscow Zoo, designed by

Zurab Tsereteli. (Photo by Birgit Beumers)

Another controversial project was theconstruction of the Manège Square. TheManège, the building of the former RidingSchool, had been revamped as an exhibi-tion space in the Soviet period. The squareoutside the Manège, between the HotelsMoskva and National and the Kremlin wall,was a traffic knot, however. Luzhkov de-cided to build a shopping mall here, follow-ing the location of the old nineteenth-century trade rows. The project was builtby Mosproekt-2 under Mikhail Posokhin.The mall was built underground, with fivelevels of subterranean galleries much alongthe lines of the project Les Halles in Paris.Instead of an open central court, however,Luzhkov’s central area would be coveredby a cupola representing the globe. Out-

side, the transition from the mall to Alex-ander Garden was designed by Tsereteli:he placed Disney-like fairy tale figures—frogs, bears, and goldfish—in fountainsand artificial ponds and rivulets, evokingchildhood memories at best. The fountainsare encircled by white marble railings. Theengineer Nodar Kancheli projected a glasschapel on Manège Square, which has so farnot been implemented.

Other projects of Luzhkov’s Moscow arethe reconstruction of Gostinyi Dvor (an oldshopping center), which was redesigned asa shopping mall and exhibition space. The“city” outside the Krasnopresnenskaya Em-bankment with the International TradeCenter is still under construction. The cityis linked to Kutuzov Avenue by the Bagra-tionov Bridge, a modern bridge-shoppingcenter. The opera singer Galina Vish-nevskaya’s Center on Ostozhenka was alsocreated by Posokhin, in neoclassical stylewith a richly decorated facade. The war me-morial on Poklonnaya Gora is also de-signed by Tsereteli, and this monument bor-ders on kitsch with its colored fountains.

For the 850th anniversary of Moscow(1998) and the 200th anniversary ofPushkin’s birth (1999), a number of proj-ects were rushed to completion. These in-cluded the erection of monuments toPushkin and his wife on the Arbat; therestoration of Pushkin’s wedding church;the completion of Christ the Savior and ofthe Manège complex.

The “Moscow style” or “Luzhkov style”also characterizes the remainder ofMoscow’s cityscape. The style bears wit-ness to a restorative nostalgia: it reworkselements of Stalin’s monumentalism andneoclassicism while also reviving thesplendor of nineteenth-century grand style.A “modern” feature of the style is the cre-


A view of the sculpture of Peter the Great by

Zurab Tsereteli on the Moscow River. (Photo

by Pavel Kassin/Kommersant)

ation of pyramid-shaped empty glass cupo-las on buildings, first implemented in thebuilding of Toko Bank on the Krasnopres-nenskaya Embankment. The empty glasspyramids represent the void—the absenceof a meaning in this architectural style, aswell as the emptiness of the form, replicat-ing merely the aspirations of Stalinistutopias by building higher and higher, as inthe case of the Stalin Teeth, the seven high-rises built in the 1950s, including the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs on Smolenskayaand the Moscow State University on Spar-row Hills as well as two apartment blockson Taganskaya and Barrikadnaya and theHotel Ukraine. Most of Moscow’s architec-tural projects are designed by MoscowPlanning Bureaus (Mosproekt) in close col-laboration with Luzhkov’s city planners.

Petersburg and Its 300th Anniversary

Petersburg has not undergone such radicalchange as Moscow, but it too was restoredfor its 300th anniversary in 2003. Peters-burg’s architectural history does not allowmuch room for large-scale change anddemolition, since most of the city centerconsists of listed buildings constructed byItalian architects in the eighteenth andnineteenth centuries. On 27 May 1703 (theofficial date of the foundation of the city),building of the Peter and Paul Fortresscommenced under Domenico Trezzini. Af-ter a building boom in the early eighteenthcentury, more attention was paid to publicspaces between the baroque buildings ofTrezzini and Bartolomo Rastrelli and theclassical designs of Giacomo Quarenghi.Carlo Rossi’s ensemble of the Alexandrin-sky Theater, the library, and the street be-hind the theater leading to Fontanka canalis, in its completeness, a unique architec-tural composition. In the nineteenth cen-

tury, monumental projects, such as theKazan Cathedral, the Exchange, and St.Isaak’s Cathedral, were inserted into thecityscape. Partly because of its history andpartly because of the marshland, the centerof Petersburg has no high-rises. Stalinistarchitecture is limited to the outskirts andsuburbs and especially prominent onMoskovskii Prospekt. Many of these his-toric monuments have been restored, in-cluding St. Isaak’s Cathedral and the Sav-ior’s Cathedral, which was built in Russianstyle in the 1880s to commemorate the as-sassination of Alexander II.

Consumer City An old Soviet sayingexplains: there is never anything in theshops, but everything is on the table. MostSoviet shops had very few desirable prod-ucts on offer. Instead, there were a lot ofunwanted or unattractive goods. Thus, forexample, there were Soviet-made technicalappliances on sale, but people knew theywould neither last long nor function prop-erly; instead, they wished to purchaseWestern-made appliances. Soviet foodstuffwas hard to come by. Most people orderedtheir food products through work if a spe-cial supply service was available. Further-more, there were hardly any self-servicestores, or supermarkets as we know them.Instead, people had to queue, have meat orcheese weighed, be told a price, and thenpay before returning to receive the goods.If goods were on display, the customer hadto add up the prices and pay at the till andthen present the receipt in order to receivethe goods. Many goods were purchasedthrough the workplace in the Soviet daysand not accessible to the consumer in theshop.

Until 1991, however, all prices werefixed by the state. Many goods were only


available on ration cards in the later pere-stroika years, such as sugar, vodka, andother consumer goods. When the SovietUnion collapsed, the price-fixing ended inorder to allow a transition to a marketeconomy. From January 1992 on, almost allproducts disappeared from the shelves—people had bought and stored whateverthey could, expecting prices to soar. Andthey did. Inflation made the dollar go from80 rubles in 1991 to a value of 1,000 rubleswithin two years.

Consumer Temples: Markets and

Malls The state shops offered little tosatisfy customer needs in the Soviet era. Inorder to purchase meat, dairy products, orfruit and vegetables, the better-off Rus-sians and foreigners went to private mar-kets, where kolkhoz farmers offered theirproduce: fresh, but at a price. These mar-kets continue to exist in the present, andfresh and domestic produce is best pur-chased there. The main markets in Mos-cow are the Danilovskii market near Tul-skaya, the market on Tsevtnoi Boulevard,and the Novye Cheremushki market, orKuznechnyi Lane market in St. Petersburg.Many markets appear along end-of-the-linemetro stops, where traders offer goods, es-pecially during the evening rush hour.Alongside such food markets there alsoemerged markets where people offeredclothes, secondhand or cheap Asian im-ports. Such veshchevoi (things) marketsare mostly organized in the open air. TheRizhskii and Tishinskii markets were suchtrade points, and both were demolished inthe mid-1990s when Moscow’s cityscapewas tidied up before the 850th anniversaryof the city, to make way for more expen-sive shopping malls that replaced the oldcheap trade stalls. Tishinskii and Rizhskii

made room for roofed trade centers. Onthe Olympic arena (Prospekt Mira), booktrade takes place on weekdays, whereas inPetersburg this is at weekends in the DKKrupskaya. The shabby street marketshave, however, given way to more elegantshopping centers.

A few of these markets have survived,however. One is Apraxin Dvor on SadovayaStreet in Petersburg, in existence since theeighteenth century, with lines of old build-ings accommodating less smart shopswhile vendors also trade in front of thebuildings and on the street. In Moscow, themost extraordinary market has been theGorbushka, organized in the park sur-rounding the Gorbunov Culture Club in thewest of Moscow and trading on Saturdaysand Sundays with video and audio mate-rial. The Gorbushka was threatened sev-eral times with closure, partly because ofthe pirated videos that could be purchasedthere. In 2002 it moved into the abandonedfactory halls of the electronics companyRubin on the other side of the metro line,where the video trade continues, as well asthe sale of digital video discs (DVDs), CDs,computers, and accessories. There is also acomputer market at Mitino. The park of Iz-mailovo is known for its weekend tradewith souvenirs and crafts (Vernissage),cheap paintings, and antiquarian objects oflittle value. The Bird Market (ptichii

rynok) works also at weekends and offersanimals of all names and descriptions forsale.

Indeed, the conversion of old marketsand trade rows into shopping centers is notunique to the twentieth century, nor toMoscow. The street market in Paris wasconverted into the shopping center LesHalles in the 1970s; Covent Garden waslargely converted into a center for elegant


boutiques and shops at around the sametime. In Moscow, too, Hunters Row(Okhotny Riad), the old trade rows nearthe river Neglinka, was demolished at theturn of the nineteenth century, when theriver Neglinka was channeled into a tunneland hidden from the surface. Around thesame period the Manège was built to markthe fifth anniversary of the victory overNapoleon and used for the tsar’s inspectionof troops. In 1883 the Historical Museumwas added to the ensemble on the ManègeSquare, in 1892 the Duma was built, and in1903 the Hotel National flanked the north-ern side of the square. Plans for the recon-struction of the trading rows were neverimplemented. The Revolution interfered,and in 1932 the Hotel Moscow was built inthe center of the square. Only in the post-Soviet period has Moscow’s mayor Luzh-kov turned his attention again to the area

and decided to build an underground shop-ping mall. In 1994, Zurab Tsereteli beganthe creation of the fountains and surfacewater channels of the river Neglinka anddesigned the clock of the world in theshape of a glass cupola for the under-ground shopping center. The cupola turnsonce a day and indicates the time in differ-ent zones of the world. The Okhotny RiadMall (torgovyi kompleks) opened in 1997and consists of four levels of subterraneanshopping, largely exclusive shops and de-signer boutiques. In 2003 the reconstruc-tion of the Hotel Moskva began, reshapingpartly the facade; in March 2004 theManège Exhibition Hall burned down afteran alleged electrical failure, leaving onlythe facade intact and destroying the uniqueroof construction, which represented thelargest roof that required no supportcolumns.


Underground mall “Okhotny Riad” (Hunter’s Row) on Manège Square with the Hotel Moskva before

its demolition in 2004. (Photo by Birgit Beumers)

Similar projects were implemented inthe reconstruction of the Petrovsky Pas-sage (1993) between Petrovka and Neglin-naya Street, which consists of luxuriousand expensive boutiques. It was originallybuilt in 1906 by S. Kalugin, with the engi-neer Vladimir Shukhov, who also designedthe glass roof over GUM (Gosudarstvennyiuniversal’nyi magazin, the state depart-ment store), containing two lines withthree levels. It accommodates exclusiveshops and designer boutiques of Givenchy,Ricci, Kelian, Kenzo, Bally, the Belgianchocolate creators Godiva, and the per-fume store Rivoli. The Smolenskii Passagewas built as a shopping mall on SmolenskSquare, at the end of the Arbat Street, witha Kalinka Stockman department store aspart of the mall. The former House of theActor was reconstructed after a fire to ac-commodate business offices and a shop-

ping mall on underground and groundlevel, the Gallery Actor (Aktyor), with lux-ury boutiques. The Atrium (2002) is a newshopping mall in front of Kursk Railwaystation, initially planned as a multiplex cin-ema by Sergei Lisovsky. It now containsthe multiplex Formula Kino and a range ofexpensive shops, from the Parisian Agathabijouterie to a two-story Arbat Prestige.

In Petersburg, the Passage, first openedin 1848 as a gallery for fashion and perfumestores under a glass roof, was also recon-structed as a shopping mall. In Moscow,new, smaller malls emerged in the center,such as the French Passage near the GUMdepartment store, Baza 14 in StoleshnikovLane, the Berlin House on Petrovka, andNautilus on Nikolskaya Street. Malls are nolonger restricted to the center, or to exclu-sive and expensive stores, as more andmore trade centers are springing up in


Interior of the GUM department store, Moscow, during the Soviet era. (Peter Turnley/Corbis )

more remote quarters of Moscow, espe-cially with the emergence of Ramstore onthe Russian market. Ramstore opened itsfirst branch on Yartsev Street, which hassince been followed by four more Ram-stores (Sheremetyevskoye in 1999, Kashir-skoye in 2000, Beliayevo in 2002, and Ver-nadskii Avenue and Sevastopolskii Road in2004).

Moscow has 2.5 million square meters ofretail space. Most of this is located on theoutskirts, not in the city center. Indeed, re-tail space on the central streets (Tver-skaya, Nikitskaya, Kuznetskii Most, and Pi-atnitskaya) is expensive at a rental pricefrom $1,000–5,000 per square meter and asale price of $3,000–20,000. Therefore,most investors in shopping centers locatetheir centers on the outskirts and conven-ient road junctures: the Swedish home fur-niture store IKEA and the German-baseddo-it-yourself store OBI are located on thenorthern and southern intersections of amain carriageway with the Moscow Orbital(MKAD, Moskovskaya kol’tsevaya avtomo-bil’naya doroga). At the same time, smallermalls and retail centers replace the streetstalls near metro stations and are clearlyaimed at a less well-off consumer who usesthe metro (rather than a car). The galleryAeroport near the metro stop of the samename is such an example, where the old in-frastructure of street traders has been re-placed by a shopping pavilion. Many metrostations are surrounded by makeshift hutswith twenty-four-hour shops. Retail parksare still under discussion, and the problemthat remains is matching shops with thetarget customer.

The old, exclusive department storescontinue to exist. GUM was built whereoriginally there were trade rows. At theend of the nineteenth century a large shop

was created, arranged in three rows, withelectrical supply and glass roof. The archi-tect was Alexander Pomerantsev. The rowscreate a space for three lines of streetswith separate shops on three levels, lo-cated between Ilyinka Street, Red Square,and Nikolskaya Street. GUM, restored in1997, accommodates shops of Max Mara,Rinaldi, Joseph, Benetton, and Sisley. Gos-tinyi Dvor in Moscow, located behindGUM, was originally designed between1791 and 1830 by the Italian architect Quar-enghi, who duplicated the design for thePetersburg Gostinyi Dvor. The design wasintended for a flat square space, whereasthe plot in Moscow was on a slope andnonrectangular. The building was imple-mented by the architect of the Bolshoi The-ater, Osip Bove, and acquired rounded cor-ners, leaving the inside courtyard intendedfor deliveries fully intact. The complex wasdivided up between a number of organiza-tions in the Soviet era and completely re-constructed in the 1990s as a shopping malland exhibition area. A similar structure ofmanagement applies to the shopping ar-cade Gostinyi Dvor in Petersburg, built ontwo levels and in the shape of a squarestretching almost a mile on each side.Gostinyi Dvor, originally built to Rastrelli’splans by the architect Vallin de la Mothe(1764–85) consists of a regular, classical ar-cade that occupies an area of almost asquare mile. It has been restored and sub-let to exclusive shops in the front onNevsky, but some cheaper parts remain inthe sidelines. Another well-known depart-ment store in central Petersburg is the DLT(Dom Leningradskoi torgovli, House ofLeningrad Trade), also with an art-nouveauinterior.

The Moscow Central Department Store(TsUM) was originally the shop Muir and


Merrilees, founded by the Scotsmen An-drew Muir and Archibald Merrilees, whotransferred their business from St. Peters-burg to Moscow in the 1880s. The store,built by the architect Roman Klein onPetrovka Street, contained elements of Eu-ropean gothic style and was completed inglass and concrete (1908–1910). At the be-ginning of the twentieth century, this wasthe largest store in Moscow, with elevatorsand electric lighting. The store was nation-alized after the Revolution and renamedTsUM. A new corpus was added at thenorthern side in 1974. In the late 1990s thestore was more democratic in its layout andmore affordable than GUM, but refurbish-ment has begun and brought more expen-sive retailers onto the premises. The topfloor is sublet to a megastore of the musicaland audio chain Soyuz. Other departmentstores in Moscow include the Moskva(Leninskii Prospekt) and the Moskovskii.

Western companies and especially de-signers have opened boutiques in Moscow.Such boutiques include Dolce and Gab-bana, Chanel, Yamamoto, Donna Karan,Versace, Krizia, and Escada. There are alsoexclusive fashion shops, such as Nostalgie,Podium, and Bosco di Ciliegi with a few de-signer labels only. Fashion shops are clus-tered on Tverskaya, Kutuzovskii Avenue,Kuznetskii Most, and in the Okhotny RiadMall, which are the epicenters of fashion inMoscow. There are also shops that sell theprevious season’s designer clothes(stokovye magaziny), as well as a host ofsecondhand stores. A number of cosmeticsand perfume shops have opened: ArbatPrestige, Articoli, L’Etoile, Rivoli. Japanesecosmetics such as Kanebo and Shiseidobut also the perfumes Matsushima, Ku-sado, and Annayake, which are very popu-lar among trendy Muscovites, can be found

in Arbor. There are also a number of YvesRocher shops as well as a shop of the Rus-sian cosmetics firm Linda on KuznetskiiMost. Many Soviet perfume brands such asKrasnaya Moskva (Red Moscow) and Per-sidskaya Siren (Persian Lilac) produced byNovaya Zaria and Svoboda have been dis-continued.

The Perlov House on MiasnitskayaStreet was used by a tea merchant to sellhis imports from China. The house, built byRoman Klein between 1890 and 1893, has afacade richly decorated in the Chinesestyle; the building is undergoing restora-tion. The Yeliseyev Shop (former KozitskiiHouse) was established in the 1790 build-ing, with a newly designed interior createdin 1898 by G. Baranovsky. This store wasthe most prestigious food store in Moscowand still retains its glamorous interior, al-though the space is now used as a super-market. Tverskaya No. 10 is occupied bythe Filippov Bakery, now accommodatingalso a Coffee Bean. The baker Ivan Filip-pov was well-known in the nineteenth cen-tury and supplied to the tsar and the Mos-cow governor. There is a famous episodethat relates how a cockroach ended up in abread-roll that was served to the governor.When summoned, Filippov—trying to savehis head—claimed this was a raisin, tookthe cockroach, and swallowed it. The nextday rolls with raisins were launched as aninnovation in his bakery.

As far as food stores were concerned,the most lavish store was Yeliseyev’s,which also had a branch in Petersburg. Thestores were decorated with a lavish inte-rior, with carved wooden counters andstained glass and crystal chandeliers; theymaintain this design to the present day.The largest children’s store in Moscow re-mains Detskii Mir (Children’s World), lo-


cated opposite the Lubianka (former KGB,therefore nicknamed Adult World), whichsells everything for children, from toys toclothes, furniture to games, on five floors.

Furniture was standardized in the SovietUnion. After the collapse of the SovietUnion, when people began to build theirown dachas and to refurbish their apart-ments, which had been privatized andtherefore were worthy of investment, therewere no furniture supplies. When IKEAopened a store in 2000 in the north ofMoscow, people came in such crowds thatthe store ran out of pencils and shoppingbags on the opening day—every customerwanted to take these items away withthem. There were a number of items thatsold out on that first day; another store inthe south of Moscow opened in 2001.

The lingerie chain Wild Orchid (Dikaya

orchideya) started in 1993 and spread fromMoscow across Russia. The chain sellselite labels of lingerie and added swimmingsuits to its range in the late 1990s. Since1999, collections have been shown in fash-ion weeks. There are seventeen shops inMoscow alone.

The jewelry business picked up in Russiain the mid-1990s. Although there are West-ern jewelry designers with branches inRussia, the majority of jewelry is producedin Russia, both silver and gold. It is usuallyfashion jewelry that is imported, althoughthe company Etalon-Jenavi, founded as afamily business in St. Petersburg in 1991and located in the old Etalon factory,makes affordable jewelry from crystal andsurgical silver. The Petersburg-based firmRosSilver also creates silver jewelry, usinga technology that makes large silver pieces


The interior of the famous Yeliseyev food store on Tverskaya Street before restoration in 2002. (Photo

by Andrey Stempkovsky/Kommersant)

of light weight. A chain of jewelry shops isCenter-Jeweler (Tsentr-Yuvelir, Samo-tsvety), which sells gold jewelry, and thereare also designers, such as Andrei Ananovin Petersburg (Nevsky 36). His businesswas set up in 1989 and has since receivednumerous awards. Ananov creates exclu-sive and expensive jewelry, inspired byCarl Fabergé. The house Petr Privalov inMoscow, managed by Marina Korotayeva,is a design company specializing in decora-tive art objects. Both Ananov and Privalovhave created awards for festivals (such asprizes for the Kinotavr film festivals).

Bookshops converted swiftly in the lat-ter half of the 1990s to self-service storesrather than the old-fashioned layoutwhereby customers would have to ask thesalesperson for a book for inspection. Thelargest stores are Biblio Globus on Lu-bianka, Dom Knigi on the New Arbat,Moskva on Tverskaya Street, and Progressfor dictionaries. There are also a number ofspecialized bookstores and outlets in pub-lishing houses. In Petersburg, the DomKnigi occupied the house of the Singersewing-machine makers (built in 1902) un-til 2003, when the former owners re-claimed the property, and the bookshopmoved to a different address on NevskyProspekt. The video and entertainmentchain stores Titanik and Soyuz can befound in most major cities.

The old apteka, the chemist’s shop orpharmacy, has also been largely replacedby modern drugstores, with chains such as36–6 and Chudo Doktor (Miracle Doctor)dominating the market for pharmaceuti-cals. Most of these drugstores sell not onlymedicines but also cosmetics and homeo-pathic remedies.

The face of major cities has changed notonly because of the appearance of malls

and the revamping of department storesbut also because of the trade points in theunderground passages, which offer acheap range of products, from videos tomobile phones, fashion to shoes, batteriesto foodstuffs.

Churches and Icons

Churches Under Soviet rule, a greatnumber of churches were destroyed or elseturned into museums, cinemas, and ware-houses. Only a few churches remainedopen during the Soviet regime, and thisonly after concessions were made by Stalinduring World War II, when the churchgreatly assisted the regime in its fightagainst fascism. Famous museums werehoused in the Kazan and St. Isaak’s Cathe-drals in Petersburg and St. Basil’s inMoscow.

Moscow’s main church is the CathedralChurch of the Epiphany (Bogoyavlenie) inYelokhov (Yelokhovskii sobor). It was builtin 1835–1848 by Evgraf Tiurin, and it is themain Orthodox church and burial place ofmany patriarchs and metropolitans, includ-ing Alexei I (1378). The Cathedral of Christthe Savior (Khram Khrista Spasitelia) wasfounded on 10 September 1839 to mark thevictory over Napoleon. On 5 December1931, it was blown up upon Stalin’s orderto make room for the never-built Palace ofSoviets. It was reconstructed between 1994and 1999. The Kremlin cathedrals belong tothe oldest parts of Moscow architecture.The Assumption Cathedral (Uspenskii so-bor) was built in 1475–1479; the Cathedralof the Annunciation (Blagoveshchenskiisobor) in 1484–1489; the Archangel Cathe-dral (Arkhangelskii sobor) in 1505–1508.The Cathedral of St. Basil’s (Sobor VasiliyaBlazhennogo) was built between 1555 and


1561. All these churches served as muse-ums during the Soviet period.

The oldest monasteries in Russia are thelaura (lavra, a monastery of highest rankthat is directly subordinated to the HolySynod). The Peshcherskaya Lavra in Kiev(1598) is the oldest, along with the TrinitySt. Sergius Lavra-Monastery near Moscow(1744) and the Alexandro-Nevsky Lavra-Monastery (1797) in Petersburg, as well as the Pochayevo-Uspenskaya Lavra-Monastery (1833). Monasteries are numer-ous in Moscow and elsewhere. The DanilovMonastery is one of the oldest, founded inthe thirteenth century; the Vysoko Petro-vskii, Sretenskii, and Rozhdestvenskiimonasteries were all built in the fourteenthcentury. The Andronnikov Monastery, be-

gun in the fourteenth century, contains nu-merous icons by the famous icon painterand saint, Andrei Rublyov. The NewMaiden’s Convent (Novodevich’e mona-styr’) was founded in the sixteenth century.Its cemetery is the burial place for manyartists, writers, and intellectuals. Manychurches were closed in the 1920s. TheChurch of the Resurrection in BriusovLane (Moscow), headed by Pitirim Metro-politan of Volokolamsk and Yurevsk, oneof the few churches that remained openduring the Soviet period, has traditionallyattracted the artistic world. Other centralchurches include the Ascension Church inKolomenskoye, the Church of the Assump-tion near Taganka Square, the Church ofthe Birth of the Blessed Virgin in Putinki on


Zurab Tsereteli (left), sculptor and artist, president of the Russian Fine Arts Academy, attends the

opening ceremony of the pedestrian bridge across the Moscow River linking Christ the Savior

Cathedral and Yakimanka Street, March 2004. (Photo by Alexander Miridonov/Kommersant)

Malaya Dmitrovka, and St. Nicholas Churchon the Ordynka Street. Today, mostchurches are active and restored to theirformer glory. The main Church of the Old-Believers (staroobryadtsy) is PokorovskiiCathedral in Rogozhin Cemetery in thesoutheast of Moscow.

Churches were traditionally built in theshape of a ship, the ark, with the altar al-ways pointing toward the east. Manychurches in the countryside are located onelevations to make them visible to a widecommunity. Indeed, many people continueto make the sign of the cross when theypass a church. The church consists of anentrance hall, the main area, and the altar.The iconostasis separates the secular fromthe heavenly space, so that people face theicons, which represent God. The royalgates (tsarskie vrata) of the iconostasisopen up onto the space behind the altar,which is reserved for priests. The gatesopen at certain times during mass to allowa glimpse of the other world. Women arenot allowed in the altar. The icons in theiconostasis are arranged in a certain order:on the side there are the archangelsGabriel and Michael. On the lower row thelocal saints are positioned, further up theevangelists; and on the top level, Christ,Mary, and John the Baptist. If there aremore rows, then the upper levels would befilled with prophets and figures of the OldTestament.

The rules of visiting churches stipulatethat women should not wear trousers orshort skirts, and they should cover theirhead with a scarf. No sports or leisurelydress is allowed, nor are short sleeves.People cross themselves three times uponentering the church. An Orthodox believercrosses himself with three fingers (thumb,index, and middle finger) for the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the re-maining fingers representing the world andheaven folded on the palm. The fingerstouch forehead, chest, right and left shoul-ders. Russian churches are usually full ofcandles that, it is believed, through lighthelp to transmit prayers. There are morn-ing, day, and evening services in churches,and the liturgy with communion is usuallyin the evening.

The Orthodox church knows sevensacraments. Baptism (kreshchenie) andchrismation (miropomazanaie) are admin-istered together, on the 8th or 40th day afterthe birth of a child. Children are christenedby triple immersion, after which they arehanded to the godparent. Communion(prichashchenie), and confession (poka-

ianie or ispoved’) can be administeredfrom the age of seven on. Marriage (brak)consists of exchanging rings and a blessing(obruchenie and venchanie). The bride-groom and bride hold candles and wearcrowns during the ceremony; they drinkwine from a common cup and walk aroundthe church three times, before receivingicons of Christ and the Blessed Virgin fromthe priest. A civil ceremony at the registryoffice (ZAGS, otdel zapisi aktov grazhdan-skogo sostoianiia) must precede the churchservice. No marriages are concluded be-tween Christmas and Epiphany (7–19 Janu-ary), during Shrovetide, during the weekbefore Easter, and on 11 and 27 September.The unction, or anointing of the sick (eleos-

viashchenie), is administered by sevenpriests in church or at home for the verysick. The seventh sacrament is priesthood.

Icons Icons play a very important role inOrthodox faith and in everyday culture.The icons of the Mother of God are oftenendowed with special power and signifi-


cance and are believed to have miraculouspowers. Icons are created from templates,not from the real world or a living model;there are pocket-size icons, icons for dis-play at home of a large book size, and iconsfor display in an altar, which have the sizeof a painting. They are not decorative, aswas advocated by Charlemagne (whose po-sition led to the breakaway of the Catholicfrom the Orthodox church), but they haveequal status to the Bible, with the only dif-ference being the means of expression,word and image. Icons facilitate address-ing God through line and color. Therefore,although an icon may have certain divinepowers, its copies can also assist in a simi-lar way. Icons were painted in monasteries,and their masters are not usually namedartists. The golden background representsthe heavenly light, which penetrates thefigure represented and therefore precludesany shadow. There is no perspective, sinceit was deemed that man’s vision is imper-fect and icons are narrative in character,opening a window into the sacred world.Believers cross twice before an icon, bowand cross again; they may kiss the hand orfeet of the icon but never the icon’s face.The Russian Orthodox church reveres sev-eral icons of the Mother of God, whichhave a distinct role and history, especiallyas helpers in defending Russia against in-vaders of another faith.

The most common representation is thatof the Virgin Mary holding the infant. Suchrepresentation is found on the icons ofVladimir, Tikhvin, Kazan, and Feodorov,whereas the Ivesk icon shows the Ma-donna cradling the infant. The VladimirIcon is believed to have been painted bythe evangelist Luke and shows the Motherof God holding the Child. In 1131, it wasgiven to the Kievan grand prince Yuri Dol-

goruky, who placed it in a Kievan mona-stery. When Yuri’s son Andrei went toVladimir, he took the icon for protection.On the way Andrei had an apparition at Bo-goliubovo. The Vladimir icon survived sev-eral wars and fires, and three times helpedMoscow to be freed from the Tatar yoke.First, when Tamerlane had a vision of theMother of God in a circle of fiery swords,he turned back (8 September). Second, theicon assisted the defense of Moscowagainst the Tatars in 1480 under Ivan III (6July). And finally, in 1521 it helped Moscowto be liberated from the Tatars (3 June). Itis before this icon that Russian tsars andsoldiers took the oath to the fatherland. Itis kept in the Tretiakov Gallery.

The Tikhvin Icon shows Mary holding herChild and is also thought to have beenpainted by Luke. In 1383 it was broughtfrom Constantinople to Russia and ap-peared on Lake Ladoga, and later in Tikhvinnear Veliki Novgorod. In 1560 a monasterywas founded, and the icon helped to defendthe country against the Swedes in the sev-enteenth century. It is supposed to havehealing powers. During World War II, it wasseized and eventually taken to the UnitedStates via Riga by the Orthodox bishop Ja-nis Garklavs in 1949. It was returned to theTikhvin Monastery on 9 July 2004.

The Kazan Icon portrays the Mother ofGod holding the Child, but not cradling it.The icon was discovered in Kazan in 1579after a girl had had a dream about an iconthat had been hidden away from the Tatars.The icon supported and inspired Moscowwhen it was under threat from the Poles in1648. The icon protects the country andwas kept in the Cathedral of the Epiphanyuntil it was taken to Rome in the twentiethcentury. The icon has been returned toRussia by the Vatican in an attempt to


smooth the relationship between theCatholic and the Orthodox churches in Au-gust 2004.

The Feodorov Icon is celebrated on 27March (and 29 August). It is believed thatthe icon was painted by the evangelistLuke. It shows the Mother of God holdingthe Infant. It was found near the monasteryof Fyodor Stratilat (hence the name) andbrought to Kostroma after a Tatar attack,where it defended the town by blinding theattacking Tatars with its light and forcingthem to retreat. The mother of the first Ro-manov tsar presented her son to the icon;the Feodorov icon has been the symbol ofthe Romanov dynasty. People pray to itwhen they need to relieve themselves of aburden or before giving birth.

The Iversk Icon shows the Mother ofGod cradling the child. The icon belongedto a widow; when warriors slashed it,blood ran across the face. The widowfloated the icon in the sea to remove itfrom the invaders, but it hovered over thewaves. The widow’s son founded a mona-stery where the icon appeared. A copy ofthe Iversk icon is in the bell-tower of theIversk Gates in Moscow. The icon is be-lieved to perform extraordinary acts in theweek before Easter. The icon was kept inIveria (old name of Georgia) in the mona-stery on Mount Athon (in Abkhazia).

Other icons show the Madonna preach-ing, as a companion, or guiding. The Bo-goliubov Icon shows the Virgin Mary in theunusual position of a preacher and without


Russian president Vladimir Putin bows before the Tikhvin icon of the Virgin, 2004. (Rodionov

Vladimir/ITAR-TASS/Corbis )

the infant Christ. It was painted in 1157.Prince Andrei Yurievich, the founder ofRussia, was traveling to Vladimir; on theway the prince had a vision, which madehim build a monastery at that place, calledBogoliubovo. He had an icon painted withthe image of Our Lady as she appeared tohim in his dream. The icon has the powerto heal and to fight epidemics, such asplague and cholera. The Pochayev Iconshows Mary with the Child, but at the bot-tom of this icon there is a rock with a foot-print. In 1340 Mary appeared on a hill andleft a footprint, where a spring surged up.In 1597 the icon was given to the land-owner, whose blind brother gained his abil-ity to see. The icon helped to defend theUspensko-Pochayev Monastery (lavra)against the Turks in 1675. The icon is partof the iconostasis presented to the mona-stery by the tsar, and it is lowered espe-cially for veneration. The Smolensk Icon isan odigitreia (companion), showing theMadonna and Child. It is believed to havebeen painted by Luke. The icon accompa-nied Anna, the daughter of the Byzantineemperor, when she went to marry a Cher-nigorsk prince in 1046. Her son Vladimir(Monomakh) took the icon to Smolensk,where it helped to defend the town againstthe Tatars in 1238. In the fifteenth centurythe icon was briefly brought to Moscow toprotect the city but returned to Smolensk.In 1524 the tsar, grateful for the victoryover the Lithuanians at Smolensk, foundedthe Novodevichye (New Maiden’s) Mona-stery in Moscow. Before the battle ofBorodino, the icon was also brought toMoscow but returned to Smolensk, whereit remained until 1941.

The Kursk Icon of Mother of God is cele-brated on 21 September and 5 August. TheMother of God is represented in the rare

form “of the banner” (znameni). She doesnot hold the child, but the child is in herwomb as she stretches her arms (making asign, hence “banner”). The Kursk icon isalso called the icon “of the root,” as it wasfound by the root of a tree on 8 September1295 (old style) after the destruction ofKursk by the Tatars. It was cut in half andpieced together, and many times surviveddestruction. In the 1920s it was taken outof Russia and is now kept in the UnitedStates.

A to Z

Astrakhan, Dmitri: b. 1957. Graduatedfrom the Leningrad State Institute for The-ater, Music and Cinema in 1982. Artistic Di-rector of the Sverdlovsk Theater of theYoung Spectator from 1981 to 987. From1987 to 1990 staged plays at theaters inLeningrad and abroad. His films, You Are

My Only One (Ty u menia odna, 1994) andEverything Will Be OK (Vse budetkhorosho, 1995), were the most popularfilms with the Russian audiences in theiryears of release. Astrakhan makes com-mercial, rather than art-house film, andworks for television.

Balabanov, Aleksei: b. 1959. Graduatedfrom the Foreign Languages Institute inGorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) and servedin the Soviet Army. Graduated from theHigher Courses for Scriptwriters and Di-rectors in Moscow. Since 1990 he has livedin St. Petersburg, where he founded, withSergei Selianov, the studio CTB. [www.ctb.ru] His first films, Happy Days (Schast-livye dni, 1991) and The Castle (Zamok,


1994), were based on Samuel Beckett andFranz Kafka and belong clearly to the art-house films. He then made blockbusterswith the film Brother (Brat, 1997) and thesequel Brother 2 (Brat 2, 2000) [http://brat2.film.ru], starring Sergei Bodrov Jr. asthe killer and savior of the poor and humil-iated, Danila Bagrov. His film Of Freaks

and Men (Pro urodov i liudei, 1998) ex-plored the exploits of the camera forpornographic purposes at the beginning ofthe twentieth century. His film War (Voina,2002) juxtaposed the attitude of a Russiansoldier and a British man held hostage byChechen rebels toward issues of morality,of right and wrong, of means and ends.

Bardin, Garri: b. 1941. Graduated as an ac-tor from the Moscow Art Theater School in1968. Bardin came to animation by writingfor the Obraztsov Puppet Theater. Since1975 animator, now a leader of Russian an-imation. The Flying Ship (Letuchii korabl’,1979), based on a Russian fairy tale; Brake!

(Brek, 985), a plasticine animation parody-ing moves of boxers; The Banquet (Banket,1986), puppet animation, satirizing dinnerparties; The Gray Wolf and Red Riding-

Hood (Seryi volk end krasnaia shapochka,1990). Since 1991 has run his own studio,Staier. Here he made Choocha (Chucha,1998) and the sequel Choocha 2 (Chucha 2,2001), which tell the story of a little boywho models his own nanny. [www.anima-tor.ru/db/]

Bodrov, Sergei, Jr.: (1971–2002). Born inMoscow and son of the film director SergeiBodrov. Bodrov studied history at MoscowState University, graduating in 1993. De-spite his fast-moving career in televisionand film, he completed his Master’s degreein history in 1998. A nonprofessional, he

starred in Prisoner of the Mountains (Kav-kazskii plennik, 1996), Balabanov’s filmBrother (Brat, 1997), and the sequel Brother

2 (Brat 2, 2000). He made his first featurefilm, Sisters (Sestry, 2001), and prepared anew film, called The Messenger (Sviaznoi),which he began to shoot in September2002. He and his film crew died on 20 Sep-tember 2002, when a glacier slid into a val-ley in the Caucasus mountains on the thirdday of shooting. [http://s-bodrov.narod.ru]

Bodrov, Sergei, Sr.: b. 1948. Graduatedfrom the Script Department at VGIK(Vserossiiskii gosudarstvennyi institutkinematografii, All-Russian State Institutefor Cinematography) in 1974. Special cor-respondent for the satirical weekly Croco-

dile from 1975 to 1980. Scriptwriter formore than 20 films. Author of stories andsatirical sketches. Since 1984 has workedboth in Russia and abroad. Lives partly inLos Angeles, partly in Moscow. His experi-ence as a scriptwriter in the United Stateshas taught him the principles of successfulstorytelling, as demonstrated in his Pris-

oner of the Mountains (Kavkazskii plen-nik, 1996), which fared well abroad and inRussia. Bodrov’s film The Kiss of a Bear

(2002) is set in a circus. His films include:Freedom Is Paradise (SER: Svoboda—etorai, 1989); The Swindler (Katala, 1989);White King, Red Queen (Belyi korol’, kras-naia koroleva, 1992); I Wanted to See An-

gels (Ia khotela uvidet’ angelov, 1992).

Cathedral of Christ the Savior (KhramKhrista Spasitelia): The foundation to thecathedral was laid on 10 September 1839 tomark the victory over Napoleon. It was de-signed by Konstantin Ton. On 5 December1931 the cathedral was blown up uponStalin’s order to make room for the Palace


of Soviets, which was never built, as theground turned out to be too boggy for theambitious projects of Stalin’s architects.The area lay idle until Khrushchev decidedto build there an open-air swimming pool.The pool attracted many swimmers butalso numerous angry voices as the steamfrom the heated pool affected adverselythe storage areas of the nearby PushkinMuseum. The pool was closed in the early1990s, and between 1994 and 1999 thecathedral was reconstructed under the su-pervision of Moscow’s mayor, Yuri Luzh-kov. It is the main landmark of Moscow’scityscape and also Moscow’s main church,although the older generation continues tofrequent the former central church, theYelokhov cathedral.

Fedoskino: center of lacquer box manufac-ture in the Moscow region. Fedoskinoboxes are decorated with themes frompaintings, reproduced in subdued colorsand often using mother-of-pearl for inlays.[http://fedoskino.nm.ru]

Gostinyi Dvor: (Petersburg) Departmentstore and shopping mall, built in the lateeighteenth century and projected by the ar-chitect Quarenghi on two levels in a squarewith an inner courtyard for deliveries. Re-stored in the 1990s. (Moscow) Duplicate ofthe Petersburg Gostinyi Dvor, projected byQuarenghi but implemented by Osip Bove,to fit into the sloped and rectangular plotbehind Ilyinka Street. [www.bgd.ru]

GUM (Gosudarstvennyi universalnyi mag-azin, or State Department Store): main de-partment store, built 1889–1893 to replacenineteenth-century trade rows. It is locatedbetween Ilyinka Street, Red Square, andNikolskaya Street. Designed by Osip Bove

(architect of the Bolshoi Theater) andAlexander Pomerantsev, the building wasmade of granite, marble, and sandstone.There is an upper GUM, described above,and a “middle” complex, designed by archi-tect Roman Klein. The main complex con-sists of three lines or rows reaching overthree levels. The rows stretch more than250 meters in length and are covered by ametal and glass roof by the engineer V.Shukhov. The building implemented amodern idea combined with Russian de-sign. The store was closed during the civilwar and from 1937 to 1952. GUM was re-stored in 1997. [www.gum.ru]

Gzhel: village and craft center in theMoscow region. Gzhel is famous for itsblue on white handmade ceramics. Gzhel issimilar to the Dutch Delft chinaware incolor, although the design draws on typi-cally Russian themes. Gzhel deploys atechnique of white enamel on the ceramics(made from plaster molds), which are thendecorated with blue motifs. [www.gzhel.ru]

Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (LFZ,Lomonosovskii farfornyi zavod): oldestporcelain manufacture in Russia, estab-lished in Petersburg in the mid-eighteenthcentury to supply porcelain for the tsar andcreate china in the style of Sèvres. Re-named to LFZ after the Revolution, whenproduction was concentrated on opticalglass. In the 1960s, again production ofporcelain and bone china. LFZ is famousfor its use of cobalt and gold designs, suchas the Cobalt Net for the sets of tea andcoffee china. [www.lomonosov.ru]

Manège (Moscow): Built between 1817and 1825 by architect Osip Bove to markthe fifth anniversary of the victory over


Napoleon. The hall was used for the tsar’sinspection of troops, concerts, riding, andcycling. Under Stalin it served as a garageand was divided into two levels. The ex-traordinary architectural feature was aroof that stretched more than 45 meterswithout support columns, created by theengineers I. Betancourt and L. Carbonier.The Manège served as an exhibition hallfor contemporary art and other exhibits. InMarch 2004 a fire destroyed the building,leaving only the facade intact.

Masiania: b. 2001, St. Petersburg. Flashanimation figure. Masiania was created inOctober 2001 by the Petersburg designerOleg Kuvayev on the site www.mult.ru. Shequickly became the most popular figure ofRussian cyberspace, and the cartoons werelater shown on television.

matrioshka: nesting dolls made fromwood and painted. Matrioshkas were firstmade in Abramtsevo (an estate outsideMoscow) in the late nineteenth century.The main centers for manufacturing ma-trioshkas were in Sergiyev Posad (Zagorsk,in Soviet times), a school that focused onthe doll’s face. The dolls made in Semyo-novo and Maidan were more decorative,and emphasis was placed on the dress andheadscarf, with bright colorful flowers.During the Soviet period, most matriosh-kas were machine made. In post-SovietRussia, hand-painted matrioshkas can befound in art and souvenir shops and mar-kets. A popular variety is sets of matriosh-kas with different themes, from fairy talesto faces of politicians.

Mikhalkov, Nikita: b. 1945, son of the poetand children’s writer Sergei Mikhalkov,who wrote the text for the Soviet national

anthem. The most well-known director ofcontemporary Russian cinema, who wonan Oscar award for Burnt by the Sun. Hehas his own studio, TriTe, and excellentconnections with the French film industry(Michel Seydoux). His Barber of Siberia

(Sibirskii tsiriul’nik, 1999) had a budget of$45 million and was the most expensivefilm ever made in Russia. His films includeA Slave of Love (Raba liubvi, 1976); Unfin-

ished Piece for a Mechanical Piano (Neo-konchennaia p’esa dlia mekhanicheskogopianino, 1977); Oblomov (1979); Dark Eyes

(Oci chernye, 1987); Urga (1991); Burnt by

the Sun (Utomlennye solntsem, 1994).

Mstera: village in the Vladimir region andsecond-best-known center for lacquer boxproduction. Mstera boxes produce themesof fairy tales and history on a richly deco-rated background.

Norstein, Yuri: b. 1941. Internationallyknown animator who has worked in anima-tion since 1961. Norstein invented a uniquetechnique of multilayered cell animation.Numerous awards at international festi-vals. The Fox and the Hare (Lisa i zaiats,1974), The Heron and the Crane (Tsaplia izhuravl’, 1975), The Hedgehog in the Fog

(Ezhik v tumane, 1976), and Tale of Tales

(Skazka skazok, 1979) won him fame, thelast film being named the best animatedfilm of all times. Since the 1980s Norsteinhas been working on The Overcoat, basedon Gogol’s story. The film is still in produc-tion; 20 or so minutes of it are complete.[www.animator.ru/db/]

Okhotny Riad (Hunters Row): The old traderows in Moscow near the river Neglinkawere demolished at the turn of the century.The Neglinka was channeled into a tunnel.


In 1930 the square was flattened. Plans forthe reconstruction of the trading rows in abetter construction were never imple-mented. In 1994, Zurab Tsereteli createdsurface water channels of the Neglinka,and the Okhotny Riad Mall opened in 1997.It consists of four levels of subterraneanshopping areas, built by Mosproekt 2 (M.Posokhin, D. Dukaev, O. Steller, V. Orlov).[www.or-tk.ru]

Ovcharov, Sergei: b. 1955. Graduated fromthe Moscow Institute of Culture and in 1979from the Higher Courses for Directors andScriptwriters. Ovcharov began to makefilms with a strong folk character, such as AFantastic Story (1983); Lefty (Levsha,1986); It (Ono, 1989); Drum Rolls (Baraba-niada, 1993). Then he made animated films,based on antique and traditional folk art.He animated paintings and drawings repre-senting such myths and legends and ani-mated them with a touch of humor: The

Pharaoh (Faraon, 1999), Myths. Heracles’

Feats (Mify. Podvigi Gerakla, 2000), andSochinushki (2000) were the first films inthis project. [www.animator.ru/db/]

Palekh: village in the Ivanovo region that isfamous for its lacquer boxes. A former cen-ter of icon painting, the Palekh mastersused their skills on lacquer boxes after theRevolution. Palekh designs are always on ablack background, the scenes from Rus-sian fairy tales finely drawn and often con-tinued on the side of the box. Palekh is oneof the oldest centers of painting, and itsboxes are most valuable. [www.palekh.netand www.remesla.ru]

Petrov, Alexander: b. 1957. Animator fromYaroslavl. Since 1983 works as animator

and director. The Cow (Korova, 1989)gained him an Oscar nomination for a storyabout a cow whose calf is taken away to beslaughtered, upon which the mother cowcommits suicide out of despair. Rusalka

(The Mermaid, 1996) is based on a Russianfairy tale; it won Petrov another Oscarnomination. In 1999 he completed the first-ever drawn animation for IMAX format,working in Canada. The Old Man and the

Sea, based on Hemingway’s story, exploresvisually with extremely fine drawings onlarge format the relationship between manand nature. The film finally won Petrov theOscar in 2000. [www.animator.ru/db/]

Rogozhkin, Alexander: b. 1949. Prolificand successful scriptwriter, director. Hisearly films include The Chekist (1991) andLife with an Idiot (Zhizn’ s idiotom, 1993),which explore the absurd conditions of hu-man life in Russia, present and past. Hismajor breakthrough came with the film Pe-

culiarities of the National Hunt (Osoben-nosti natsional’noi okhoty, 1995), which isa parody of the Russian hunt transformedinto a series of drinking bouts. Rogozhkinmade several sequels to the film.

sots-art: An art movement that emerged inthe underground in the 1960s. It derived itsname in an analogy with “pop-art.” If pop-art parodied popular, consumer culture,then sots-art parodied the Socialist Realistcanon prescribed by the Communist Partyin the 1930s for all forms of artistic expres-sion: Any work of art should show the de-velopment of the Soviet people towards abright future. This concept was mocked,first unofficially by underground dissidentartists, and after glasnost openly, both invisual arts and in literature.


Tsereteli, Zurab (real name Tsulukidze):b. 1934. Artist from Georgia. Studied inTblisi from 1952 to 1959. Created monu-mental and decorative works, such as pan-els and mosaics, as well as sculptures,which usually connect the work with thearchitectural ensemble. Uses bright colors,stark forms, and a variety of materials.Southern style particularly suited for hiswork in Georgian spas. In the 1970s deco-rated the railway station in Tbilisi, a chil-dren’s complex in Adler/Sochi, the spacomplex in the Black Sea resort Pitsunda,as well as the Soviet Embassy in Brazil. Inthe 1990s became a favored designer forthe new Moscow urban planning under theMayor Yuri Luzhkov.

Bibliography

Beardow, Frank. Little Vera. Kinofile FilmCompanion 8. London: I. B. Tauris, 2003.

Beumers, Birgit. Burnt by the Sun. KinofileFilm Companion 3. London: I. B. Tauris,2000.

———. “Cinemarket, or the Russian FilmIndustry.” In “Mission Possible,” Europe-

Asia Studies 51, no. 5 (1999): 871–896.———. Mikhalkov. KinoPeople. London: I. B.

Tauris, 2005.———. “Mikhalkov: The Barber of Siberia.” In

European Cinema, ed. by Sarah Street andJill Forbes, 195–206. London: Palgrave, 2000.

Beumers, Birgit, ed. Russia on Reels. The

Russian Idea in Post-Soviet Cinema.

London: I. B. Tauris, 1999.———. “Soviet and Russian Blockbusters.”

Slavic Review 62, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 441–454.BFI Companion to Eastern European and

Russian Cinema. London: British FilmInstitute, 2000.

Boym, Svetlana. Common Places. Mythologies

of Everyday Life in Russia. Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1994.

Brashinsky, M., and A. Horton. Russian Critics

on the Cinema of Glasnost’. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Condee, Nancy, ed. Soviet Hieroglyphics:

Visual Culture in Late Twentieth-Century

Russia. Bloomington, Indiana, and London:Indiana University Press British FilmInstitute, 1995.

Freidin, Gregory, ed. Russian Culture in

Transition. Stanford Slavic Studies 7.Stanford: Department of Slavic Languagesand Literatures, Stanford University, 1993.

Gillespie, David. Russian Cinema. Harlow:Longman, 2003.

Horton, A., and M. Brashinsky. The Zero Hour:

Glasnost and Soviet Cinema in Transition.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.Kelly, Catriona, and David Shepherd, eds.

Russian Cultural Studies: An Introduction.

New York and Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 1998.

Larsen, Susan. “In Search of an Audience: TheNew Russian Cinema of Reconciliation.” InConsuming Russia. Popular Culture, Sex

and Society since Gorbachev, ed. by AdeleBarker, 192–216. Durham, NC: DukeUniversity Press, 1999.

Lawton, Anna. Kinoglasnost: Soviet Cinema in

Our Time. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1992.

Shalin, Dmitri, ed. Russian Culture at the

Crossroads: Paradoxes of Postcommunist

Consciousness. Boulder, CO: WestviewPress, 1996.

Shlapentokh, Dmitry, and VladimirShlapentokh. Soviet Cinematography

1918–1991: Ideological Conflict and Social

Reality. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1993.Youngblood, Denise, and Josephine Woll.

Repentance. Kinofile Film Companion 4.London: I. B. Tauris, 2001.


3Performing Arts

The Theater

Russian theater is traditionally known for its “high” standard. Ballet andopera are first and foremost known in the West, especially the BolshoiTheater and the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Theater (still largely touringunder its old name, the Kirov Theater). Thanks to such internationallyknown stars as Valeri Gergiev, conductor of the Mariinsky, or the balle-rina Maya Plisetskaya, the international reputation of these art forms hasremained at a very high level since the collapse of the USSR. The USSRpitched culture very high to raise the level of educatedness of the massesand create a genuinely “cultured” population. Forms of popular enter-tainment, such as boulevard theaters, musicals, street theater, practi-cally did not exist in the Soviet era and were therefore underdevelopedafter the collapse of the socialist system when compared with similar artforms in the West. In the performing arts, this higher pitch still applies tothe present day and explains a relative delay of genuinely commercial artforms to conquer the Russian market. As a result, the musical estab-lished its popularity only in the late 1990s. In the circus, artists joined in-ternational troupes in the early 1990s when the circuses were strugglingfor survival, making a strong impact on the international stage but leav-ing Russian circus somewhere behind. As far as theater is concerned,popular entertainment remains the stepchild of Russian theater and aminor part of the theater landscape. Even ratings in Afisha, the Moscowentertainment guide, rank productions at established theaters in the topten, whereas independent projects are rarely featured, and hardly everdoes Afisha include commercial projects that draw on star actors andare hastily put together to draw large audiences with low-quality per-formance. Therefore, some of the drama productions discussed herewould not be considered “popular” forms of entertainment in the West,but they remain popular in the former Soviet Union, where taste remainsconservative in an entertainment sector that puts high prices on the newforms of entertainment.

Drama Theater

Soviet Theater The conventions of Rus-sian theater of the twentieth century weredominated by the so-called method (or sys-tem) of Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863–1938), the founder of the Moscow Arts The-ater. Stanislavsky worked on the basis ofpsychological realism, aiming for the stageworld to create a perfect illusion of reality,in which the actors would live through theemotions of their characters and evoke aresponse in the audience, clearly separatedfrom the stage world. His concept of emo-tional experience (perezhivanie) wasopposed by the concept of theater asdemonstration (predstavlenie), especiallyprominent during the avant-garde move-ment of the 1920s. Vsevolod Meyerhold(1874–1940) had perceived theater as amagnifying glass that could enhance cer-tain fragments or episodes from reality andhighlight critically those aspects of societythat needed improvement. Meyerhold frag-mented the narrative of plays in order tochallenge the audience intellectually. Thesets and costumes for Meyerhold’s produc-tions were often created by the leading con-structivist artists of the time and shapedlike mechanical compositions. Meyerholdused placards for locations, citations fromdocumentary sources, and cinematic fea-tures such as screens, slogans, and projec-tions to draw parallels with real life. His ac-tors were trained in “biomechanics” (thescience of rational movement), so thatmovements on stage would be choreo-graphed rather than motivated by psycho-logical identification and bring man closerto a perfect, machine-like state. Betweenthese two directors, traditionally perceivedas polar opposites, stood the approach ofYevgeni Vakhtangov (1883–1922), one of

Stanislavsky’s pupils. He sought an imagi-native interpretation of the text and empha-sized the grotesque features of reality,drawing on the Italian commedia dell’arte.His “fantastic realism” is embedded in his1922 production of Princess Turandot,which has been preserved to date in theVakhtangov Theater’s repertoire. Meyer-hold and his theater were suppressed dur-ing the 1930s, whereas Stanislavsky andVakhtangov were the dominant figures whoinfluenced Soviet theater, not only in termsof teaching (the theater schools of theMoscow Arts Theater and the ShchukinSchool) but also by the theaters theyfounded, the Moscow Arts Theater and theVakhtangov Theater. The only other, older,theater that had a school attached was theMalyi Theater, founded in the nineteenthcentury and named after its leading play-wright, Alexander Ostrovsky.

Experiments in theater came to anabrupt halt in the 1930s when Socialist Re-alism became the only acceptable form ofartistic expression. Artists had to expressthemselves in a realistic way and show So-viet society as an ideal, socialist land.Drama, built upon conflict, had to showprogress from good to better but form it-self without a conflict to trigger this better-ment. Consequently, the level in dramaticwriting dropped sharply, and numerous di-rectors left the USSR or fell silent. Some,including Meyerhold, were arrested as “en-emies of the people” and executed. The ob-session with realism crippled the perform-ing arts. It leveled artistic creation and wasapplied to drama and puppet theaters aswell as the circus. The second importantaspect was that theater was seen as a toolfor education and thus for political propa-ganda. Even during the periods of the so-called liberalization in the arts under

P E R F O R M I N G A R T S 1 3 5

Khrushchev (1956–1964) and Gorbachev(1985–1991), the theater served largely as atool for propaganda. It exposed moral er-rors, criticized human conduct in order toimprove the behavior of man in a socialistsociety, or highlighted areas of social real-ity that were subjected to review, such asthe sacrifice of the individual during thewar, Stalin’s crimes, or youth problems.

The cultural policies of the Thaw af-fected the theater in terms of its manage-ment and organization. In 1953, the Min-istry of Culture took over repertoirecontrol but delegated responsibility formunicipal theaters to the Moscow CityCouncil. In the following years, a numberof reputable theaters in Moscow andLeningrad were handed over to young, ac-tive, and engaged theater directors. MariaKnebel, a pupil of the great actor MichaelChekhov, became director of the CentralChildren’s Theater, where she helped OlegYefremov and Anatoli Efros make theirstage debuts as actor and director. GeorgiTovstonogov became head of the BolshoiDrama Theater (BDT) in Leningrad. Ana-toli Efros was given the Theater of theLenin Komsomol, and Yuri Liubimov wasappointed artistic director at the TagankaTheater. Oleg Yefremov, together with agroup of young Moscow Arts School gradu-ates, founded the Sovremennik (Contem-porary) Theater. These new appointmentshad a huge impact on Soviet theater untilthe Gorbachev era, when the performingarts were revived by placing theaters undernew management.

The Sovremennik Theater was ex-tremely popular among younger audiencesin the postwar Soviet Union. In creatingthe repertoire of the new theater, OlegYefremov (1927–2000) mainly chose textswith young protagonists and by young

playwrights, so that both actor and audi-ence could identify with the characters.Yefremov rejected makeup, costume, orelaborate sets and relied instead on the ac-tor to bring his personality into the role.The actors shared experiences with the au-dience, with whom they formed psycholog-ical bonds.

In Leningrad, the postwar theater scenewas dominated by Georgi Tovstonogov(1913–1989), who headed the BolshoiDrama Theater from 1957 until his death.Not unlike Yefremov, he mixed authenticperformance techniques with stylization ofthe set. Tovstonogov favored nondramaticliterature and treated the text as a musicalscore while also deploying cinematic de-vices, such as cuts and voice-overs. In 1975Tovstonogov staged, with his assistantMark Rozovsky, Tolstoy’s Strider—TheStory of a Horse (Kholstomer), reading thecondition of the exploited horse as a tragicmetaphor for human life, refraining fromexplicit social criticism. This productionbecame the flagship for the BDT.

Anatoli Efros (1925–1987) played a cru-cial role in investigating the theme of chil-dren on their way to adulthood, as he cen-tered his repertoire on contemporarydrama. For Efros, the actors’ movementsmade inner psychological changes visible.This is best captured in the movement ofcutting into the air with a saber—a gesturethat expressed the hero’s wish to demolisha piece of furniture, symbol of a bourgeoislifestyle (Viktor Rozov, In Search of Joy [Vpoiskakh radosti], 1957). Toward the endof the 1960s, Efros’s interpretations of twoof Anton Chekhov’s classics proved so con-troversial that Efros was dismissed fromthe Theater of the Lenin Komsomol. TheSeagull (Theater of the Lenin Komsomol,1966) was condemned for its unorthodox


interpretation of Chekhov in terms of “lackof communication” (reserved for the the-ater of the absurd, which was taboo in theSoviet Union). The characters were de-prived of a meaning in life (unthinkable un-der socialism), and relationships weredominated by the impossibility of commu-nication. Efros thus challenged the as-sumption of Socialist Realism that man bydefinition has a meaning in life. Similarly,in Three Sisters (Malaya Bronnaya The-ater, 1967), bitterness and disappointmentpervaded the characters, who experiencedexistential despair. The set repeated in theRussian “style moderne” the ornamenta-tion of the Moscow Arts Theater, thus mak-ing an ironic reference to the outmodedArts Theater productions of Chekhov.

The last of the four most popular post-war directors is Yuri Liubimov (b. 1917),who was also its enfant terrible. After animmensely successful student productionof the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht’sThe Good Person of Szechwan (1964), Liu-bimov was put in charge of the TagankaTheater of Drama and Comedy. Althoughcombining devices from Brecht’s epic the-ater (placard and song) with Meyerhold’sstylization and Vakhtangov’s fantastic real-ism into a mélange, Liubimov perceived so-ciety as a generator of social and politicalchange. He created his own “scenarios”from poetry, prose, drama, and factual doc-uments and imposed his personal interpre-tation on the production. Liubimov alwaysstressed the theatricality of his produc-tions, making the spectator aware that he isin the theater and demanding that the actorshould not pretend to play a part but shouldreact both to the role and to the audience.The range of theatrical devices available toLiubimov was fully displayed in Ten Daysthat Shook the World (1965), a spectacle

loosely based on John Reed’s account ofthe October Revolution, in which Liubimovdeployed mime and shadow-play, musicalinterludes and circus numbers to create agenuine theatrical festivity. A “light curtain”(light projected from the stage floor to thebalcony) distanced stage events andmarked scene changes as cuts do betweencinema scenes. Brecht’s alienation devices,such as songs to comment on the action,projections of Lenin, placards to indicatethe place of action, abounded. The audi-ence was part of the festive revolutionaryatmosphere and even participated in thespectacle by casting their vote at the end.History was brought down to the level ofeveryday life and made tangible to the ordi-nary citizen. Later, during the period ofstagnation, Liubimov’s productions focused


Yuri Liubimov rehearsing The Good Person of

Szechwan. (Photo by Birgit Beumers)

on the individual as tragically alone in ahostile and evil society and on the isolatedindividual and his conscience. The Tagankatheater was one of the most popular the-aters in Moscow, attracting the dissident in-telligentsia, often people who had servedprison sentences on political grounds. Thetickets were an object of trade on the blackmarkets, but also for theater staff, whowere entitled to free tickets, which theytraded for special services (medical treat-ment and other “favors”). Many Taganka ac-tors were active in literature, film, or musicas well as the theater, but the Taganka’s starwas the bard and actor Vladimir Vysotsky(1938–1980), who was best known as a gui-tar poet and whose songs were illegally cir-culated on tapes (magnitizdat) throughoutthe USSR.

During the late 1960s and 1970s, theatri-cal life stagnated: no new theaters emergedon the theatrical map of the major cities.Censorship interfered heavily with the cre-ation of repertoires, especially in the late1960s, when during the 23rd Party Con-gress (1966), several controversial produc-tions were banned and the editor of thejournal Teatr was relieved from his dutiesafter he had published a series of positivereviews on controversial productions.Young directors had almost no opportunityto work in the established theater. In orderto remedy this situation, some large the-aters opened “small stages” (former re-hearsal rooms) in the late 1970s for experi-mental work.

The productions of the “great four”—Efros, Yefremov, Tovstonogov, and Liubi-mov—dominated Soviet theater after theThaw, and their theaters belonged to themost popular theaters in the Soviet Union.People would queue for hours to obtaintickets to see one of the “scandalous” pro-

ductions of the Taganka Theater, the newstyle of the Sovremennik, the contempo-rary interpretations of the classics byTovstonogov, or the fine psychologicalanalysis of Efros. The popularity of largelyconventional dramatic theaters must beseen in the context of the Soviet attempt tolevel the arts, to make them accessible tothe masses while maintaining high artisticstandards. This attempt to water down thedivide between high and low culture de-stroyed the concept of theater as entertain-ment, stifled the work of puppet theaters,and institutionalized the circus. It removedmusicals from the real stage to the silverscreen, where the musical comedies of the1930s and the vital role of popular music inSoviet blockbusters of the 1960s manifestthis tendency. The stepchild of the per-forming arts, the estrada—the “small”stage for popular entertainment—had noclaim on “high” culture but at least allowedpopular music to flourish in the stagnationperiod.

Theater and Glasnost In the transitiontoward a new cultural system, the theaterwas confronted with the need to emergefrom the high culture to which it had per-tained under the Soviet system and find itspath toward a culture that saw the functionof theater as entertainment, based on com-mercial principles. This transition was farfrom straightforward, since the processwas initiated from above and aimed at us-ing theater once more as a propagandatool, only this time to announce the newartistic (and political) freedom.

When Gorbachev came to power, thecontrol exercised by the state and party ap-paratus over cultural production was un-dermined. In 1986, the All-Russian TheaterSociety (VTO, Vserossiiskoe teatral’noe ob-


shchestvo) was disbanded on the initiativeof the Moscow Arts Theater’s director,Oleg Yefremov, and reconstituted as theTheater Workers’ Union (STD, Soiuzteatral’nykh deiatelei). For the first timeleading actors—rather than functionar-ies—stood at the head of the unions: theLeningrad actor Kirill Lavrov took over theSoviet Theater Union, and the Russianbranch was headed by the actor MikhailUlianov. The Theater Union removed thepower of control over the theaters from thecity council by assuming the authority toblock any unfounded bureaucratic deci-sion interfering with the artistic process ofany theater. Only propaganda of violenceand pornography remained prohibited, inline with the Soviet constitution.

From January 1987 on, 83 Soviet the-aters took part in an administrative experi-ment: the testing ground for a new law ontheater organization. In this experimentthe theaters were still financed by the mu-nicipal authorities, but the subsidy wasfixed and enabled the theaters to run theirown budgets. Moreover, the power of con-trol would rest in the hands of an electedartistic council, composed of actors andtheater staff. The statutes of the experi-ment granted the theaters financial andartistic independence and the right tomake direct temporary contracts with ac-tors and playwrights, but still perceivedideological instruction as the key functionof theater.

The first unexpected side effect of thisexperiment was that differences of opinionamong the members of artistic councils ledto the splitting of entire companies. In1987, the Moscow Arts Theater split whenits artistic director, Oleg Yefremov, pleadedto reduce the size of the enormous troupe(catering for three stages simultaneously)

in order to allow for a more creative andless managerial approach to the perform-ing arts. His proposal was sharply rejectedby those actors who had not played a rolein years and were at risk of losing theirjobs. The opposition was led by the actressTatiana Doronina: she and about half of theactors left Yefremov’s group, dividing thestaff, the repertoire, and the two buildingsbetween the two new companies. Thereare now two Moscow Arts Theaters: theChekhov Moscow Arts Theater resides inthe theater’s original building in Kamerger-skii Lane and the Gorky Moscow Arts The-ater in the new building on Tverskoi Boule-vard. The building on Petrovsky Lane(formerly Moskvin Street) underwentrestoration and—even while the buildingwork was still going on—reopened as theTheater of Nations, to offer a base for toursby companies from within the former em-pire. A similar situation arose at theTaganka Theater, where differences ofopinion over the introduction of a contractsystem led to a dividing of the theater in1991 into the Fellowship of Taganka Ac-tors, headed by Nikolai Gubenko, and Liu-bimov’s Taganka Theater.

The main targets of the experiment werethe studio theaters. A small number of stu-dio theaters had existed since the 1960sand 1970s, notably the Moscow State Uni-versity Theater Nash Dom (Our House),Mark Rozovsky’s U Nikitskikh Vorot (Atthe Nikitsky Gates), and Valeri Beliako-vich’s Na Iugo-Zapade (South-West). Nowthese and other collectives were able to ob-tain official status (independent of whetherthe actors were professional or amateur)and claim a subsidy from the city; conse-quently, their number grew rapidly. Withthe beginning of the experiment in 1987,only three studios stayed solely on state


subsidy: Anatoli Vasiliev’s School of Dra-matic Art, Oleg Tabakov’s Studio Theater,and Svetlana Vragova’s Theater on Spar-takov Square (now Theater Moderne). Thestudios enjoyed enormous popularity dur-ing the initial years of glasnost and pere-stroika, outdoing in spectator numbers theestablished theaters and partaking morethan the established theaters in interna-tional tours in the late 1980s and early1990s.

The number of theaters and studios grewrapidly in the years of perestroika, reach-ing 250 in Moscow. This rise occurred

mainly in the years immediately followingthe introduction of the experiment of 1987and stagnated during the 1990s. During theearly 1990s, the first private enterprisesalso emerged, which represented a largeproportion of theaters. With an ever-growing number of theaters, the early1990s witnessed a sharp drop in the num-ber of spectators generally but especiallywith regard to the established theaters.Even though the number of theaters (andtherefore the total of performances) rosesteadily, a constantly decreasing number ofspectators were distributed over more ven-


Artistic director of the Chekhov MKhAT Oleg Tabakov (left) and artistic director of the Lenkom

theatre Mark Zakharov (right) at a reception on the occasion of the premiere of Uncle Vanya. (Photo

by Valery Levitin/Kommersant)

ues than ever before. The experiment wasgradually transformed into a new law ontheater organization. The new statuteswere finalized in the Council of Ministers’resolution of May 1991, which allowed thetheaters to find private sponsors and openforeign currency accounts and enabledthem to rent out premises while retainingthe rent. Most theaters in central Moscowstarted to rent out a part of their premisesto business, especially clubs and restau-rants. Although this is often at the expenseof the small experimental stages, it enablestheaters to remain largely independent ofbox office. The theaters control the reper-toire, appointments and dismissals, andticket prices. The actor receives a fixedsalary and special remuneration for hisroles; he has to compensate the theater ifhe disrupts the repertoire by long absences(shooting films or failing to appear for a re-hearsal or a show, especially because ofthe frequent insobriety).

Theaters gained financial independenceand ideological freedom. Some of the stu-dio theaters and independent groups inparticular have contributed to the mainte-nance of the high level of tradition and in-novation in Russian theater. Although thetransition to a different economic systemwas difficult for the theaters in the initialyears, the introduction of new legislationhas made it possible for the theaters to ex-ist with or without sponsors. The state hasrecognized its responsibility to subsidizethe arts in a market economy. Commercialand independent theaters have benefitedfrom the changes, as have some selectedtheaters in the capitals and provinces thatare under an extremely competent man-agement. Again and again such competentmanagers have clashed with the old-guardartistic directors, however: the director-

manager Maria Reviakina had successfullytransformed the Novosibirsk Globe The-ater before being appointed to the MoscowArts Theater; she left her post after twoyears owing to disagreements with the ArtsTheater’s artistic director, Oleg Tabakov.Boris Mezdrich revived the Omsk DramaTheater; after conflicts in artistic affairswith the artistic director, Vladimir Petrov,the latter resigned, and Mezdrich was re-moved from his post by the local authori-ties. The conflict also occurs in the otherdirection: a commercially oriented directormay clash with an old-guard director-man-ager, as in the case of the Malaya BronnayaTheater, whose Ilia Kogan dismissed bothSergei Zhenovach and Andrei Zhitinkin; orBoris Erman at the Sovremennik, clashingfrequently with young staff directors. Theartistic leadership of the Lenkom andSatirikon Theaters in Moscow has demon-strated its competence in securing spon-sorship and municipal support. There isalso some danger inherent in any involve-ment with property in the center ofMoscow, now valued very highly. AnatoliVasiliev was threatened with having hispremises on Sretenka Street removed aftercontinuous delays with the formal ex-ploitation of the new building. Oleg Lerner,who managed the financing of the newbuilding that accommodates, among otherinvestors, the Meyerhold Center and whoset up a similar arrangement for the newCultural Center of the STD, was shot in2003.

The Studio Boom (1986–1993) Theimpact of the studios is vital as a backdropfor the new theater scene. Many directorsof the 1990s benefited from the experienceof the studio movement. Amateur theaterstudios that had existed long before 1987


emerged from their underground exis-tence. They were often associated withtechnical institutes and performed inhouses of culture (DK), or they weregroups of people who met during theirleisure time. The importance of the space,the premises, the “house” explains both thecommitment that various troupes dis-played in furbishing their new homes andthe fact that so many theaters named them-selves after their new address.

As “alternative” theaters, the studios hadbeen attractive to audiences; once theywere official and had become part of themainstream, they had become aboveground. Many people had seen under-ground performances. Now some lost in-terest in these theaters and instead experi-enced the intimacy of the studio space inestablished theaters, where increasinglythe small stages were opened for publicperformances. As a result, most studiosdisappeared in the early 1990s, and only“the fittest” survived—those that had fund-ing or an artistic program that pulled in au-diences.

The collectives of the late 1980s cer-tainly performed with great enthusiasmand brought to the Soviet Union a wholerange of plays from the theater of the Ab-surd (Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter,Samuel Beckett), especially suited forsmall spaces. These plays were extremelypopular during glasnost, the sensation be-ing that is was possible to see, hear, andexperience what had been censored anddriven into the underground before. Over-all, one was left with a feeling of excite-ment for glasnost, not knowing how longthis new openness would last, and with asense that these productions were remark-able for what they expressed rather thanhow they said it. Their invitations to inter-

national festivals in Munich, Paris, andother European cities largely reflected thedesire of international festivals to supportGorbachev’s political course rather thanthe artistic program of a particular direc-tor. There is one production from thoseyears that left a deep impression solely forits artistic merit: Anatoli Vasiliev’s Cerceau(1986), which toured Europe between 1987and 1991. It was, however, not part of themainstream popular theater but paved theway for a new theory of performance to bedeveloped in Vasiliev’s later work, thus re-viving the concern with theater theory sev-ered in the early twentieth century.

The studios of the “boom” fall into threegroups: first, the studios that had existedon an amateur basis before; second, thestudios that were founded as professionaltheaters (Vragova, Vasiliev, Tabakov); andthird, those established by student collec-tives immediately after the experimentstarted, more or less jumping at the possi-bility of obtaining official status.

Leningrad’s Mimes The studio boomin Leningrad happened not only on asmaller scale than in Moscow, but also ayear later. By the end of 1989 there were166 studios in Leningrad, including a num-ber of children’s and musical theaters aswell as a large number of shows and vari-ety performances in restaurants. TheLeningrad studios were therefore immedi-ately hit by the economic crisis of 1991when prices were freed. Moreover, audi-ence numbers dropped owing to a lack ofinterest in the theater in the early 1990s.

The groups of mimes and clowns of plas-tic theater were particularly well repre-sented in Leningrad. The group Litsedei(Actors/Hypocrites) was founded by Via-cheslav Polunin and engaged in clownish


mime shows that revived circus traditionsas well as elements of street theater per-formance. Viktor Kramer, director of Pol-unin’s shows, started up his own mime the-ater Farces in Leningrad. With the group,Kramer produced Six Persons in Search of

Wind (Shest’ personazhei v poiskakh vetra,1996), a pure mime performance, beforeventuring into spoken theater with a showbased on Ivan Turgenev’s A Conversationon the Highway (1997) and with a produc-tion of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1998).


The Theater South-West (Na Yugo-zapade)started in 1974 as an informal theater groupwith meetings in a library. In 1977 the districtcommittee allowed the group to use a basementin a housing block in the southwest of Moscow.In 1980 the theater’s director, Valeri Beliakovich,completed his professional training. By 1987 theensemble already had 24 titles in its repertoireand had given more than 2,000 performances.In 1988 the studio adopted independent finan-cial management and in 1991 gained the statusof the Moscow theater in the southwest. Thetheater, with an audience capacity of 110, de-rived its name, as so many studios, from its lo-cation in the outskirts of Moscow.

In the beginning, the theater appealedmainly through its thematic concerns with po-litical issues, such as the themes of lies andtruth, or the relationship between the individualand the system. Beliakovich himself directs allthe productions at his theater, where he hasworked since the late 1970s with his collectiveof actors, from which some genuine talentshave emerged, such as Viktor Avilov or SergeiBeliakovich. Valeri Beliakovich’s style is verytheatrical, using all the devices the theater hasto offer, from music and lighting down to fogmachines and other special effects. The pro-ductions are all very lively, and the music oftenserves to generate the rhythm of the productionand accelerate the pace. Indeed, most criticalreviews of the theater’s productions concernthe themes of the repertoire and the livelinessof performance. Yet although the productions

are well paced and well acted, the pattern un-derlying each production—rhythm providedthrough music, expressive gestures, energeticacting—is repetitive and remains essentially un-changed. The space of the studio is very lim-ited; it is decorated with a minimum of objectsfor each production.

Beliakovich’s standardized grid of theatricaldevices that he imposes onto any play appearedinnovative in the 1980s, but it came across asstale and artificial in the 1990s. The expansionof the repertoire went at the expense of content.The theater remains popular with those whoseek—and find—there the lost community spiritof the 1980s. The studio offers a sense of be-longing to the generation of people brought upin the late 1960s and associated with the under-ground movements. This desire to share thecommon past with a collective of “confederates”or “accomplices” (edinomyshlennik, somebodywho holds the same views) reflects a wish to re-turn to the golden past. Indeed, the root of theterm edinomyshlennik itself reflects the unity ofopinion usually emphasized in Communist Partyconferences (and opposed by Gorbachev’s plu-ralism) when votes were always “unanimous”(edinoglasno). Such a longing for the (Soviet)past and the unity that bonded those opposingthe system can also be observed in the cinema,where statistics have proven the greater popu-larity of films of the Soviet period (especially the1960s) over contemporary films. A similar phe-nomenon can also be noted in connection withthe studio of Mark Rozovsky.

Case 1: The Theater South-West

Kramer clearly has a great comic talent anda very creative mind, as he has been invitedto direct opera productions both at the Bol-shoi Theater (Ruslan and Liudmila, 2003)and the Mariinsky Theater (Tsar Demian,2002; Boris Godunov, 2002). The ComicTrust is run by Vadim Fisson and is a poeticclowns’ theater. The White Story (Belaia is-

toriia, 2002) is based on Dead Can Dancemusic and tells of the fairy tale themes of awhite kingdom.

The mime group Derevo of AntonAdasinsky is very well known abroad buthad no premises in Leningrad and there-fore toured most of the time. Establishedin April 1988, they stayed in Leningrad for


The theater At the Nikitsky Gates (U Nikitskikhvorot) was formed under Mark Rozovsky, offi-cially opening on 27 March (International Dayof Theater) 1983 with a performance of DoctorChekhov at the House of Medics on HerzenStreet. When the studio gained official status in1987, it had given some 500 performances of itsseven productions in repertoire. The theaterplayed under the auspices of the House of Cul-ture for Medical Workers, like many under-ground and amateur studios that had formedunder the wings of technical institutes, and at-tracted physicists, medics, and mathematiciansto the stage. In fact, they were lucky, since theydid not have to equip the stage themselves, asso many other studios did in the years of theirunderground existence.

Rozovsky had studied journalism at MoscowState University (having been rejected at theTheater Institute on grounds of his “appear-ance”—a euphemism for his Jewishness). In1958 he founded the student theater of Mos-cow University, Our House (Nash dom), whichhe headed until it was closed by the authoritiesin 1969. Then he worked in a number of provin-cial theaters before becoming an assistant di-rector to Georgi Tovstonogov at the BolshoiDrama Theater in Leningrad, where he pre-pared and rehearsed Tovstonogov’s legendaryproduction Strider: The Story of a Horse (1975),based on Lev Tolstoi’s story. Upon Rozovsky’sreturn to Moscow he started, with amateur ac-

tors, the theater studio At the Nikitsky Gates inthe House of Medical Workers. Here, theywould continue to perform until they movedinto their new theater on the corner of HerzenStreet and Nikitsky Boulevard, a small, narrowvenue seating approximately 80 spectators.

The borderline between theater and boule-vard entertainment in Nikitsky Gates wasblurred right from the outset. The dilettantismand amateur quality of the productions overall(not individual performances) may have beenacceptable in a studio, but not in a theater. Ro-zovsky’s own reading of the Russian classics,his collages of works, his productions in hom-age to Meyerhold or Vysotsky became thetrademark of his theater. Rozovsky turned thetheater into a place where the classics weremade accessible by reducing them to the es-sential, by enacting text to a narrator’s account,by setting them to music. This made the clas-sics widely accessible (as though this had notbeen the case in the Soviet Union) and reducedthem to mass culture, “domesticated” themthrough a performance in a theater that occu-pied a former communal flat. Rozovsky’s preoc-cupation with song and music has triggered thecreation of a series of musical recollections,such as Songs of Our Courtyard (Pesni nashegodvora, 1996) and Songs of Our Communal Flat(Pesni nashei kommunalki, 1999), that feedagain the hunger of older generations for thegolden Soviet times and their culture.

Case 2: The Theater At the Nikitsky Gates


The Theater of Oleg Tabakov was formed in1974 and emerged as an official, state-subsi-dized theater studio in 1987. It has resided in abasement in Chaplygin Street since 1977, andalthough the building has been refurbished, thesize of the auditorium remains limited to some120 seats. The theater, nicknamed the Tabak-erka (snuff-box), is one of the most popular ad-dresses in Moscow. This is largely due to theacting ensemble rather than the directors whohave worked here or the kind of plays that formthe repertoire.

Tabakov’s theater started out with a group ofstudent actors, and the ensemble has since re-cruited new actors and actresses fromTabakov’s courses at the Moscow Arts TheaterSchool, which he heads. In the perestroikayears, the Tabakerka made its reputation withlively performances of hitherto forbidden plays,such as Barrie Keefe’s youth drama Gotcha(Prichuchil), directed by Konstantin Raikin in1984, or Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Crazy Jourdain(Poloumnyi Zhurden, staged 1985), starring thecomic actor Avangard Leontiev. Tabakov wasquick to include works that had been releasedfrom the censor’s shelves only during the glas-nost period into his repertoire, such as VasiliAksyonov’s Surplused Barrelware (Zatovaren-naia bochkotara, staged 1989) or AleksandrGalich’s scandalous Seaman’s Silence (Ma-trosskaia Tishina, 1990), banned in an infamousaffair in 1956 as the opening show for the newSovremennik Theater, in which Tabakov hadhimself participated. The affair is rendered withgreat poignancy in Aleksandr Galich’s novelThe Dress Rehearsal. Tabakov also included inhis repertoire such plays as Neil Simon’s Biloxi

Blues (staged 1987) or Jean-Paul Sartre’s HuisClos (staged 1992), but most important fromthe 1990s onward was his attempt to draw thebest actors to his theater while never forgettingthe need to give young directors a chance. Inthis way, some of his own actors (AlexanderMarin, Vladimir Mashkov) began as directors inthe Tabakerka, and other now well-known di-rectors also worked in the theater: AndreiZhitinkin, Valeri Fokin, and Adolf Shapiro wereall invited to the stage exactly at those points intheir career when they were in difficulty: Fokinwas waiting for the completion of his theatercenter; Zhitinkin was seeking a permanent ap-pointment; Shapiro had been dismissed fromhis theater in Riga. The actors are the realtrump card of the theater, and after Tabakovtook on the artistic leadership of the MoscowArt Theater in 2000, many of them performedboth at the Tabakerka and the Arts Theater.Yevgeni Mironov is a brilliant stage actor andhas starred in a number of Russian films; hehas played the impostor Dmitri in Declan Don-nellan’s Boris Godunov (2000) and the title rolein Peter Stein’s Hamlet (1998). Evdokiya Ger-manova stars frequently in films. VladimirMashkov is a film star and considered to beRussia’s sex symbol. Sergei Bezrukov has madea reputation for himself with a couple of stun-ning roles, including Felix Krull. He frequentlyappears in rather trashy films and also in boule-vard theater shows. Alexander Marin has takenon the full-time task of staff director. AndreiSmoliakov is one of Tabakov’s star actors bothon stage and in film. Maria Zudina is a well-known actress and Tabakov’s wife.

Case 3: The Tabakerka (Tabakov Theater)

the first season, and since 1989 havemostly played abroad, facilitated by thefact that theirs is a nonverbal art. They useprinciples of immersion and meditationand are strongly influenced by Kazuo Onoand Tazumi Hijikata and the buto, whichenvisages the revelation of the soulthrough a meditative approach to theater.Adasinsky himself first trained in engineer-ing, abandoned his studies to travel to Asia,returned and started a course in photogra-phy, gave that up to work with the clownand mime Viacheslav (Slava) Polunin, andmade clips for the rock group Avia. WithPolunin he founded Litsedei but left to setup his own group in 1990, working mainlywith producers in Prague, and later Italyand Germany. The group’s theater uses ameditative approach to mime, claiming toreturn to the roots. It appeals largely to anontheatrical audience of the young gener-ation. Its work lacks connections betweenepisodes, which gives the work a certainincoherence, even though it often has atherapeutic (or the opposite) effect on thespectator. The group is clearly surroundedby a myth, rather than reputation, and re-mains popular among the young genera-tion. Its performances during Russian the-ater festivals in recent years have alwaysbeen sold out.

Andrei Moguchy started off with streettheater in the early 1990s. His Formal The-ater’s performance of Treplyov: People, Li-ons and Eagles . . . (Treplev: liudi, l’vi ikuropaty, 1992) was based on Chekhov’sSeagull and took Nina’s monologue into thestreets and courtyards of Leningrad. Hislater productions brought the theater to theconventional theater stage while consis-tently breaking the boundaries betweenstage and auditorium: in The Bald Singer(1990) he teased the audience verbally and

psychologically, locking them into the sameroom as the characters; in Orlando Furioso(1993) he opened the fire wall at the backof the stage for a bonfire; in Hamlet Ma-chine (1996) he played physical tricks onthe spectators, (mis)leading them throughsome performance spaces before allowingthe audience to take a seat in a conven-tional performance space for the secondpart of the production. Although Moguchy’searly works were clearly experimental, hisSchool for Fools (Shkola dlia durakov, 1998)toured internationally and won majorawards. In 2001 he collaborated with Yev-geni Grishkovets on an original perform-ance, before venturing into a new area. In2004 he staged the circus performanceKrakatuk, based on E. T. A. Hoffmann’sNutcracker, involving acrobatic acts, videoprojection, and computer graphics in astunning show where acrobatic acts werethematically united through a story.

At the end of the studio boom, theLeningrad studio movement had allowedsome young directors to be discovered: theFormal Theater under Andrei Moguchy andthe Farces under Viktor Kramer had bothbeen internationally recognized. But mostimportant was the impact the studio boomhas had on the clowns and mimes, which isdiscussed in more detail in the section“The Circus.”

A Catapult for Commercialization:

Mirzoyev and Viktiuk In 1988 the The-ater Union channeled funding into the Cre-ative Workshops (VOTM). In effect thiswas a generous, but utopian, “grand plan”for the construction of a mechanism thatwould allow young artists to emerge andintegrate into existing structures in theworld of theater. Like many grand plans ofthe Soviet system, it did not work; but it


achieved something else, namely to createa basis, if only temporarily, for some direc-tors to find their feet and work with an en-semble before the groups disbanded. Al-though some directors found their way intoestablished theaters, others did not.

The first groups formed under the VOTMwere numerous. They included Domino ofVladimir Mirzoyev, who emigrated toCanada in 1989 and left the group to Klim(Vladimir Klimenko); Even-Odd (Chet-Nechet) of Alexander Ponomaryov, whonow successfully directs at the CentralChildren’s Theater; and the group of YuriYeryomin, who later took over the artisticleadership of the Pushkin Theater for a pe-riod. Others were the group of Roman Vik-tiuk, who would soon thereafter set up hisown Fora Theater; the Workshop ofMikhail Mokeyev, who staged both at the

Moscow Arts Theater and internationallyin later years; and the group of VladimirKosmachevsky, who later emigrated. Fi-nally, there was the group of Sasha Tikhy,following in the footsteps of the Almanakhgroup of the conceptualist poets DmitriPrigov and Lev Rubinstein, that dissolvedinto the RussianImpostureMasterclass un-der the former designer Jacques (VadimZhakevich) and created highly abstract andconceptualized live installations in the late1990s (such as Gogol’s Overcoat # 2434.5,shown in 1999 and based on the calcula-tion that all the numerals in Gogol’s shortstory added up produce the sum of 2434.5).Both Mirzoyev and Viktiuk have thus usedthe VOTM as a base.

Vladimir Mirzoyev is probably the mostsuccessful of the former VOTM directors inthe commercial and established structures


Theater director Roman Viktiuk, the “enfant terrible” of Russian theater of the 1990s. (Photo by Pavel

Smertin/Kommersant)

of Moscow’s theatrical life. His time withthe VOTM was cut short by his emigrationto Canada, however, where he continued towork in the theater before returning toMoscow in the late 1990s. He has since di-rected productions in established and com-mercial theaters with huge success. In theworkshops, he began in November 1988with a production of Roberto Atayad’sMadame Margarita, in which the audienceis mocked by a fascist sex-maniac teacher.The teacher takes the audience for herclass and locks them in the room, so thatthere is no escape. The tone of the per-formance, combined with the provocationof the entrapped audience, caused a stir intheatrical circles. In August Strindberg’sMiss Julie, staged in the same season, Mir-zoyev incorporated a scene from Che-khov’s Uncle Vania. He presented the dia-logue between Yelena Andreyevna andSonia as a meeting between two lesbians inorder to implicate a parallel to Julie prefer-ring Cristina’s company. Mirzoyev clearlyrevealed his taste for the provocative andsensational in the sexual references hechose to highlight in the texts.

After his return from Canada, Mirzoyevstaged Gogol’s The Marriage (1994) at theStanislavsky Theater, working with the de-signer he knew from VOTM, Pavel Kaple-vich, now also a producer of commercialprojects. This was followed by Gogol’scomedy The Government Inspector (Revi-zor, 1996). Mirzoyev’s productions invari-ably star Maxim Sukhanov, then a risingstar of the Moscow stage: tall, chubby, andbald, he has an unusual physiognomy withgentle and muscular features at the sametime. Mirzoyev worked at established the-aters in the following years, creating a se-ries of interpretations of the classics in amodern and very bold spirit, such as Jean-

Baptiste Molière’s Amphitryon (1998),where people fool each other with masks,and the Shakespearean comedies The Tam-ing of the Shrew (1999) and Twelfth Night(1999), which are read as comedies ofmasking and playing roles. He took over theartistic management of the StanislavskyTheater after a series of hapless attempts toappoint a new artistic management to thattheater. Mirzoyev is best at directing com-edy, when he visually underlines the comicsituation and makes great use of extrava-gant costumes. He mostly relies on the starappearance of Maxim Sukhanov, some-times also the film star Sergei Makovetsky,both displaying in their acting a certain de-gree of sexual ambivalence. Mirzoyev’s pro-ductions attract young and old, intellectualand middle-class audiences alike, as he of-fers a highly professional approach to the-ater and a bold interpretation of the text,verging on the sensational.

The Theater of Roman Viktiuk was oneof the first successful commercial (as op-posed to subsidized) theaters in Moscow.Viktiuk was the first artist to out himself asa homosexual, taking part in rallies andconferences organized by the gay commu-nity. At the same time as working in experi-mental, unofficial studio theaters, he con-tinued directing by invitation at a numberof prime addresses in theatrical Moscow(and not only Moscow), such as the Vakh-tangov and Mossovet Theaters. His numer-ous engagements were, and still are, one ofthe myths surrounding Viktiuk: he oftenworks on six to eight productions simulta-neously, with the consequence that someproductions are simply bad, and the overallprofile is uneven. Viktiuk had worked as adirector in the provinces until, in the mid1970s, he took over the Theater of MoscowState University, where he directed Liud-


mila Petrushevskaya’s Music Lessons(Uroki muzyki, 1980). Already in this muchacclaimed, but banned production, hedemonstrated his interest in theatricalityand the inversion of reality. It was not untilthe onset of reforms in the arts that Viktiukcould develop his own style to the full,mixing elements of dance, music hall, andcabaret. His is a magic theater, a place thatleads performer and spectator into dream-like states where the borderline betweendream and reality is effaced.

In pursuit of the theme of role-play anddisguise in the world of theater explored inThe Maids, Viktiuk staged David Huang’splay M Butterfly (1991), in which the pro-tagonist Song Liling was played by thecountertenor Erik Kurmangaliev (alsoknown as Erik Salim-Meruet). Song Liling isan actress of the Chinese opera with whomRéné Gallimard (Sergei Makovetsky) fallsin love. He forgets, however—as we do inthe performance—that female roles in theChinese opera were always played by men.The change of sex is manifest in the ki-mono dress of Song Liling and Kurman-galiev’s soprano voice. Gallimard, a youngdiplomat and admirer of Puccini, is sup-posed to supply the embassy with informa-tion from Song Liling, who, instead, usesGallimard for her own espionage. After thecultural revolution, Gallimard finds himselfback in Paris and under arrest. Viktiuk pro-vided a subtle analysis of the impact of role-play and disguise on Gallimard by express-ing emotions, dreams, and fears throughchoreographed movement and images.

During the 1990s, Viktiuk chose texts forhis productions that enabled him to iden-tify social constraints as a cause for role-play and to investigate the crippling effectsof role-play. Although the underlying prin-ciple is almost always one of suppressed

sexuality, this does not necessarily reflectin the images that dominate the produc-tion. An example of this is VladimirNabokov’s Lolita (1992), where Viktiukdwelled not on the pedophiliac tendency ofthe main character, Humbert Humbert, buton his dual personality: a man tries to killhis double. Lolita (played by the ballet starNatalia Makarova) functions merely as alitmus test for Humbert’s personality. Thechoice of Marquis de Sade’s diaries for aproduction entitled Boudoir Philosophy(Filosofiia v buduare, 1996) proved Vik-tiuk’s recognition of aesthetics and ethicsas separate entities. Along with de Sade,Viktiuk advertised the joy of pain and poet-icized the sodomic setting in the Charentonclinic where de Sade forced a young girl toreject the values of her bourgeois upbring-ing in exchange for “sadistic” pleasures.The polished surface of Viktiuk’s artisticreality was exhausted, and cracks began toappear in the mask he had created. InBoudoir Philosophy the costumes revealthe actors’ naked torsos, with some deco-rated in the relevant places with slack orerect penises or tiny conical caps with tas-sels to emphasise their sexual role. Micro-phones ensure the full translation of the ac-tors’ heavy breathing. Viktiuk sacrificedform for content, polishing sound, move-ment, and music to a perfect surface be-neath which a perverse enjoyment of suf-fering reigned. At the same time, hedefended the values of education, family,and love in an overtly didactic manifesto.The production caused outrage among the-ater critics, which indicates that the prom-ulgation of sadism is not tolerated; in thisproduction Viktiuk overestimated the tol-erance level of Moscow audiences.

Most theatrical devices and themes cho-sen by Viktiuk are not new but were simply



Viktiuk’s most renowned production, JeanGenet’s The Maids (Les Bonnes, 1988; revived1992), was created by the set designer VladimirBoer, the costume designer Alla Kozhenkova,and the circus choreographer Valentin Gneu-shev (see the section “The Circus in Moscowand Leningrad”). Both the director, Viktiuk, andthe author of the play, Jean Genet, share theirperception of society in that they both take theperspective of a social outcast because of theirhomosexuality. Provoked by Genet’s remarkthat men should play in The Maids, Viktiuk castmen for all the parts: Konstantin Raikin, theartistic director and actor of the Satirikon The-ater, and Alexander Korzhenkov played themaids Solange and Claire. The controversy overthe casting added to the popularity of the pro-duction, which was revived in a new versionwith a different cast in 1992.

The setting was reminiscent of a dance classwith art nouveau mirrors and railings limitingthe stage. This set symbolized the closed worldof the two maids, from which there is no es-cape. The railings could also be used as exer-cise bars of a rehearsal room. The actors ap-peared in trousers before putting on skirts: ared one for Claire, a black one for Solange, anda white one for Madame. This transformationtook place in front of the audience so that thespectator would be perfectly aware of the dis-guise. At the same time, Genet’s voice pro-claimed: “I wanted men to play the maids . . . .”Viktiuk dwelt in his production on the aspect ofrole-play contained in the text: Solange playsClaire, and Claire plays Madame in their re-hearsal to poison the real Madame so that theywould be free; the passion for the ideal of free-dom leads to a potential, and real, crime. In thecourse of their role-play, Claire (that is,Solange) kills Madame (that is, Claire) because

they failed to kill the real Madame; thereforethey have to realize their liberation in anotherreality, where Solange kills Claire. The fact thatViktiuk had men play women added yet anotherdimension to the role-play. One reality is dis-torted by the creation of other realities, so thateventually any reality becomes deceptive: whenSolange poisons Madame, she poisons the per-son she imagines Claire to be. Role-play isshown to be a dangerous game, since it simu-lates false worlds; it creates imaginary realities,dream worlds, that are more real and more vividthan reality. This deception and distortion are il-lustrated through choreographic scores per-formed to the lulling songs of Dalida. Only atthe point of the murder does Viktiuk set a musi-cal counterpoint with the “Dies irae” fromGiuseppe Verdi’s Requiem. At the end, Viktiukgradually leads his actors out of their parts,bringing them back to reality in a music-halldance finale that emphasizes the show ele-ment. He thereby also introduces a positive ele-ment into the world of evil shown in the playand reestablishes a balance between good andevil, illusion and reality.

Viktiuk adheres to the decadent movementof the late nineteenth century, to the spirit ofthe fin de siècle, where the artist distinguishesbetween art and life as separate realities. Theartist withdraws from a reality in which he isunable to live, creating for himself a different(sexual) identity, a mirror image that containsthose features that the real person dare not re-veal, not unlike Oscar Wilde’s Portrait of DorianGray. Beneath the polished surfaces of the bal-let-class railings and the mirrors lurk amoralbehavior and perversity: a world deprived of lifeand stylized to a mere artistic reflection lacks amoral value system.

Case Study: The Maids

prohibited in the Soviet Union for a varietyof reasons. Viktiuk released formerly sup-pressed potentials: aestheticism where theparty had required a clear political andmoral content; themes of homosexualityand transvestism where there had been ataboo on pornography and sexuality. Vik-tiuk’s theater was extremely popular forbreaching the taboos of conventional So-viet theater in the 1990s. His many otherproductions, however, deploy the same de-vices and apply the same kind of interpreta-tion to a number of different texts. Viktiukhas abandoned entirely the established the-aters and works in commercial structuresonly, and critics and spectators have gonequiet over his name and have lost interestin an ever-repeating approach to theater.

The Popularity of Soviet Directors Afew theater directors who had begun in theSoviet period remain popular to the presentday, both with young and older audiences.The two most important names that havecome across from the Soviet period areMark Zakharov and Lev Dodin. Mark Za-kharov (b.1933), artistic director of the The-ater of the Lenin Komsomol (Lenkom) inMoscow since 1973, has created a wide-ranging repertoire and built up an ensemblewith many actors known for their work inthe cinema. He was the first to stage a rock-opera, Perchance (Iunona i Avos’, 1981) bythe poet Andrei Voznesensky and composerAlexei Rybnikov, which attracted largecrowds to the theater. Zakharov was highlyregarded for his political engagement in theearly perestroika period when he was oneof the first directors to catch the spirit of re-form, challenging in his articles the interfer-ence of bureaucrats. In his productions hetackled historical issues with a hitherto un-known openness, as in Mikhail Shatrov’s

The Dictatorship of Conscience (Diktaturasovesti, 1985), which became a hallmark ofperestroika because of its mention of suchsuppressed political figures as Bukharinand Trotsky, who had been banned fromSoviet history books. Zakharov’s troupeboasts some of the most popular film ac-tors, including Inna Churikova, AlexanderAbdulov, and Oleg Yankovsky as well as thetelevision serial stars of the late 1990s,Nikolai Karachentsov and Dmitri Pevtsov.

Lev Dodin (b. 1944) graduated from theLeningrad Theater Institute in 1965 and in1982 was appointed chief artistic directorat the Maly Drama Theater (now Theater ofEurope) in Leningrad/Petersburg, wherehe has created a fine repertoire, initiallyadapting prose for the stage. His adapta-tions of the trilogy based on FyodorAbramov’s village prose The House (Dom)and Brothers and Sisters (Brat’ia i sestry,1980–1985) caused a stir at the time be-cause of the outspoken treatment of hu-man suffering during Stalin’s purges of the1930s, when those who allegedly resistedthe forced collectivization of farms werearrested and often executed. The produc-tion won him international acclaim. He notonly returned a part of the Soviet past butalso researched with ethnographical preci-sion the local folklore of the northern re-gions of Russia. His 1987 production ofAlexander Galin’s Stars in the MorningSky (Zvezdy na utrennem nebe) under-scored the theater’s role as an advocate ofglasnost in choosing a play about Moscowprostitutes, evacuated from the city toclean it up for the 1980 Olympics. His pro-duction of Dostoevsky’s The Devils (Besy,1991) was based on études with students,but it brought onto the stage one of Dosto-evsky’s novels that had been banned duringthe Soviet era. Some of Dodin’s produc-


tions of the late 1980s resembled in stylethose of Liubimov; especially the Abramovtrilogy drew heavily on the very plain andyet poetic set that had originally been de-signed for a production by Liubimov (alsobased on village prose and set in northernRussia) that had been banned in 1968. Inthe 1990s, Dodin took on a new group ofactors from the Petersburg Theater Insti-tute. In Claustrophobia (Klaustrofobiia,1994), based on études and improvisationsof contemporary prose, he demonstrated avisual and choreographic interpretationthat functions not as illustration of thetext. The Cherry Orchard (Vishnevyi sad,1995) showed his skillful psychological ex-ploration, but his directorial work was lim-ited to individual scenes and episodes ofthe play rather than the overall composi-tion. Chekhov’s Platonov (Play without aTitle; P’esa bez nazvaniia, 1998) and Plato-nov’s Chevengur (1999) revealed Dodin’spreoccupation with mechanical stage con-

structions rather than poetic images. Theomnipresence of water in these works pro-truded, and it seems that the directorwanted to submerge the individual, boththe actor and the character. Dodin’s theaterhas enjoyed a general popularity amongtheater audiences in Russia as well as onthe international festival circuit, whereDodin seemed to be the only theater thatcould represent Russia.

The popularity of Dodin and Zakharovruns well into the post-Soviet period, andtheir work belongs to a different class ofsociety already: their shows remain popu-lar not just among the intelligentsia butalso with middle-class and foreign audi-ences in the post-Soviet period. By con-trast, theaters such as the Taganka, theSovremennik, and the Moscow Arts The-ater have to succumb to more commercialapproaches in order to attract audiences.

Several other directors deserve a briefmention here, although they do not make“popular” theater or cater for the “masses.”They have made an important contributionin one way or another, however, to the de-velopment of theater and acting in the pe-riod of transition. Petr Fomenko (b. 1932)moved from Moscow to Leningrad after thebanning of several productions in 1968. Hereturned to Moscow in the 1980s to teachat the State Institute for Theater Arts (GI-TIS/RATI). His work as a pedagogue is asoutstanding as are his productions in theprofessional theater. He has set up a work-shop (Masterskaya Petra Fomenko), wherehis former students produce excellentwork in a realistic vein. Fomenko’s workwith his former students, now of three gen-erations, is remarkable, and the small audi-torium of the theater can never accommo-date the number of those wishing to seethe productions. Fomenko’s productions


Artistic director of the St. Petersburg Maly

Drama theater Lev Dodin. (Photo by Sergey

Semyenov/Kommersant)

show his masterful accomplishment of afine psychological analysis of the play inthe best traditions of the Moscow Arts The-ater. In this sense his work may not be“popular,” but his actors have made a hugecontribution to art-house and popular cin-ema, starring in numerous films: the twinsisters Polina and Xenia Kutepova, SergeiTaramayev, and Kirill Pirogov, to name buta few.

Valeri Fokin worked for many years atthe Sovremennik Theater (1971–1985),where he directed numerous contemporaryplays. In 1986 he became artistic director ofthe Yermolova Theater, where the produc-tion of a political play, Valentin Ovechkin’sSpeak! (Govori, 1986), underscored hiscommitment to Gorbachev’s reforms. In1991 he created the Meyerhold Center,which initially functioned as a productioncompany for experimental theater, such asKafka’s Metamorphosis (Prevrashchenie,1995) and A Room in a Hotel in the City ofN (Numer v gostinitse goroda N, 1994,based on Gogol’s Dead Souls), set in thespace of a small hotel room. Now, with thenew premises on Novoslobodskaya Street,it serves as a creative theater center that or-ganizes productions, lectures, and work-shops. Fokin’s center is, like Anatoli Vasi-liev’s School of Dramatic Art, hardly apopular theater, but these two centersshow the most experimental work and arethe only institutions engaged in theater the-ory and research. The school occupiesuniquely designed premises on SretenkaStreet and belongs to the group of Theaterof Europe. The school is not a popular the-ater, but an experimental one that works onRussian and world classics and developsnew acting methods.

Finally, the Satirikon Theater under Kon-stantin Raikin deserves a mention as one of

the most popular theaters. It is run, how-ever, by a director neither of the old nor thenew generation, but by the actor Konstan-tin Raikin, son of the famous estrada artistArkadi Raikin. The theater, far from offer-ing light estrada-type entertainment, com-prises a number of reputable artists in itsensemble and offers a repertoire of classi-cal theater, directed by some of the star di-rectors of contemporary theater, includingsuch names as Roman Viktiuk, Valeri Fokin,the Georgian director Robert Sturua, andthe Petersburg director Yuri Butusov.

Stars of the New Russian Stage Afterthe crisis in audience numbers had endedand people returned to the theaters in thesecond half of the 1990s, the studios losttheir role as the most popular venues. Theinterest in seeing what was only just ac-cepted into official culture that had giventhe studios a hype in the late 1980s wasnow over, and there was no interest of themasses in the former “underground” aes-thetics and themes. Instead, the crowdswanted to see stars and often made theirchoices of shows based on the appearanceof their “idols,” whose status was enforcedby their appearance in film and in the late1990s increasingly in television serials.They included Mikhail Trukhin and Kon-stantin Khabensky from the Lensovet The-ater in Petersburg, both appearing in Cops(Menty), or Nikolai Karachentsov from De-tective Dubrovsky’s Dossier. Alongside, anew generation of directors entered thetheaters and created a reputation as pro-fessional, efficient directors. They had a vi-sion that they could implement on stage ina specified time frame, something that theolder generation of directors had clearlygreat difficulty doing after years of workwithout pressure to premiere a new


production in the old repertoire theatersystem.

In dramatic theaters, a number of youngdirectors, such as Leonid Trushkin andBoris Milgram, ventured into commercialtheater production. Commercial enter-prises produced on the one hand showswith a star cast that would draw an oldergeneration audience, who wanted to lookat their “heroes” of the Soviet stage: InnaChurikova, Valentin Gaft, Valeri Garkalin,Tatiana Vasilieva, Liubov Polishchuk, Liud-mila Gurchenko. Or else they appealed to ayounger generation through younger stars,such as Chulpan Khamatova, Gosha Kut-senko, and Nikolai Fomenko. The MoscowArts Theater even resorted to hiring the Pe-tersburg television star Konstantin Kha-bensky to boost audience numbers.

In the process of a preoccupation withstar names on the playbill, the name of thedirector has somewhat been relegated to

second rank. A remarkable exception isKirill Serebrennikov, who came fromRostov-on-Don and made his debut in filmand television serials (Rostov-Papa, 2000,and Diary of a Murder, 2002), before heventured into the Moscow stage world. In2001 he directed the first play of the play-wright Vasili Sigarev, Plasticine (Plastilin).Sigarev has since proven a shooting starnot only in Russian theater but also inter-nationally, with plays in a number of Euro-pean theaters. Serebrennikov, who preferscontemporary plays (Mark Ravenhill’s Ex-plicit Polaroids [2002], Sigarev’s Plas-ticine, the Presniakov brothers’ (Oleg andVladimir) Terrorism in 2002), refrains fromillustrating the text with its more than of-ten vulgar language. Instead, he creates aseries of situations that underscore the ori-gin for this vulgar discourse and finds it inthe harsh and bleak circumstances of so-cial reality, in Russia or elsewhere. For


Plasticine, a play by the Presniakov Brothers, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov in Moscow in 2001.

(Photo by V. Bazhenov, courtesy of Centre for Drama and Directing)

Serebrennikov, the social and political cir-cumstances directly contribute to man’sdegradation, reflected in his vulgar lan-guage. His discovery of a key to these newdramatists has been instrumental in ensur-ing the international success of Sigarev andthe Presniakov brothers.

Nina Chusova, a master of the comic, hadstaged a number of small stage productionsbefore being invited by Pavel Kaplevich toindependent projects, such as The RubberPrince (2003) and IMAGO (Maxim Kuroch-kin’s version of Pygmalion, 2002). At theSovremennik Theater, she staged BiljanaSrbljanovic’s A Belgrade Family (perform-ance title Mumdadsondog [Mamapapa-synsobaka], 2003), starring the film actressChulpan Khamatova. The show exploresthe life of an ordinary family and the educa-tion of their children while making clown-ish gags about the children’s disobedience.Her interpretation of Ostrovsky’s Storm(Groza, 2004) with Chulpan Khamatova asKaterina and television star Yelena Yakov-leva as Kabanova draws audiences and isvisually effective with a clever set and in-ventive costume design. The comic inter-pretation of the play, however, is based onthe assumption that Katerina is mad fromthe start, leaving the actress hardly anyscope for character development duringthe three-hour performance.

Yevgeni Grishkovets is a star of a differ-ent kind. Originally working in an amateurtheater in Kemerovo (Siberia), he made hisstage debut with a composition of his own,which he performed solo: How I Ate a Dog(Kak ia s”el sobaku, 1999). In this showGrishkovets remembered, not with nostal-gia but with an air of mockery and parody,his Soviet childhood and how useless andvain these recollections now sounded inthe New Russia of the late 1990s. This was

followed by Simultaneously (Odnovre-menno, 1999), based on similar principles.Then he embarked on plays for more ac-tors: one of these was Winter (Zima, 2000),about two men, maybe soldiers, trying topass their time in the trench. Winter hasbeen successfully staged by a number oftheaters, including the Voronezh ChamberTheater, where director Mikhail Bychkovorganized a season of new drama in 2002–2003. The Town (Gorod, 2001) became a hitwhen staged by two of Moscow’s leadingstudio theaters (Tabakov Studio and Schoolof Contemporary Play), with the televisionstar and presenter Julia Menshova playingthe lead in the latter. Grishkovets workedwith verbatim techniques in order to createa text that brought back to the Russian au-diences their memories of a Soviet child-hood. He struck a chord with the middle-aged generation, whereas his ironicdistance from the Soviet past allowed theyounger generation to recognize their child-


Scene from Biljana Srbljanovic’s A Belgrade

Family, directed by Nina Chusova at the

Sovremennik Theatre in Moscow in 2003.

(Photo by Irina Kaledina)

hood experiences in Grishkovets’s texts.Grishkovets experiments in ways of creat-ing his texts: The Siege (Osada, 2003) wasbased on Joint Stock work with actors ofthe Moscow Arts Theater and explored thetheme of war, now and in the past. Grish-kovets has performed abroad and hasreached a high level of popularity and pres-tige in Russian culture.

One of the most cherished stars of audi-ences of all ages and classes is Oleg Men-shikov, who graduated in 1982 from the Ma-lyi’s Theater School in Moscow. He workedin a number of repertoire theaters inMoscow before beginning to work free-lance in the early 1990s. He made a reputa-tion in the theater for his roles as the dicta-tor Caligula (1991) in a production directedby Petr Fomenko. N (1993) was producedby the theatrical agency BOGIS with the ac-tors Oleg Menshikov and Alexander Feklis-

tov. It was based on the diaries of the early-twentieth-century ballet dancer Vaclav Ni-jinski and was staged in the Musical Schoolon Prechistenka Street, which later becamea popular theatrical venue. The windowson either side of the stage were instrumen-tal for Nijinski’s final jump—out of the win-dow. Nijinski’s mental world, his split char-acter come to life on stage—a puppetrepresents the other half of his dual person-ality. The spectator was taken into the men-tal world of the character as though therewas none besides this. Menshikov playedthe poet Sergei Esenin in the London pro-duction of When She Danced . . . (1992),where he performed alongside VanessaRedgrave. In 1998 he made his directorialdebut with a production of Alexander Gri-boyedov’s Woe from Wit, in which he alsoplayed Chatsky. This was followed in 2000by a production of a specially commis-sioned play, written by the winner of theAnti-Booker Prize for drama, MaximKurochkin, entitled Kitchen. The play ex-plored contemporary relationships throughthe Nibelungen myth. Despite the use ofclassical texts as literary references, Men-shikov’s theater is popular and appeals tothe masses.

Vladimir Mashkov is one of the mostpopular film actors in Russia. He works atTabakov’s studio theater, where he has alsodirected a number of performances. OlegAntonov’s play A Fatal Number (Smer-tel’nyi nomer, 1994) features a clown whofalls off the rope and breaks into pieces:these become four different clowns, whoall show their “special numbers” in thecourse of the play, ranging from illusionsand clown numbers to song and dance.Eventually they realize that they cannotmake a living with the bits and pieces theirabilities represent, and they need to unite


Evgeni Grishkovets in his most famous theater

performance, How I Ate a Dog (1999). (Photo

by Irina Kaledina)

their forces again to resurrect the “greatclown.” The theme of collective spirit isemphasized after the collapse of socialstructures in the play, and the performancereflects on the medium of circus, which isbrought into the context of the theater. Thetheater spectator travels into the illusion ofbeing at the circus, and the theater onceagain has recourse to the circus art to re-vive its appeal to the masses. Brecht’sThreepenny Opera, directed by Mashkovin the autumn of 1996, stirred the theaterworld more because of ticket prices thanbecause of any artistic achievements: tick-ets were selling from $75 up. The produc-tion parodied the Mafia style and under-ground behavior. Using the latesttechnology (laser projection) and a con-structivist set, Mashkov created a typicalpostmodernist show.

New Drama In 2002 the Golden Mask,the main organizer of theater festivals inRussia, started up a new festival, the NewDrama. This move reflected the rise of anew generation of dramatists and the intro-duction of a new wave of drama into theRussian theater landscape. Nikolai Koliada(b. 1957) is one of the most popular play-wrights, with his plays running at presti-gious theaters in Moscow as well as abroad.He trained as an actor at Sverdlovsk (nowEkaterinburg) Drama Theater, which hequit when defending an elderly actress whowas sacked for alcohol abuse; he latergraduated from the Moscow Literature In-stitute. Koliada is interested in exoticthemes, eccentric characters, and marginalsocial groups, such as prostitutes, homo-sexuals, transvestites, and alcoholics, andfocuses on the guises people adopt to live


Oleg Menshikov in N, a performance created by the independent agency BOGIS in 1993, based on

Vaclav Njinski. Here he dances with a puppet (representing Nijinski). (Photo courtesy of BOGIS)

with a reality they do not really want to ac-cept and who withdraw into an imaginaryworld.

Reality and the imaginary merge, thepast fuses with the present. In Oginski’sPolonaise (Polonez Oginskogo, 1994) thememory of the past forms the backdrop forthe events. Tania, an ambassador’s daugh-ter, defects to the United States when herparents die in a car crash. She returns toMoscow after the collapse of the SovietUnion to find the old family apartment con-verted into a communal flat. Dima, hernanny’s son, whom she used to be fond ofas a child, now lives there together withthe former servants of the diplomats’household. Dima earns a living by playingone of Michal Oginski’s (Polish composer,1765–1833) polonaises, entitled “Farewellto the Fatherland,” in an underground pas-sage. Tania is unable to confront reality:she fails to accept the byt (circumstancesof everyday life) of contemporary Russia.She even refuses to use the metro to visither parents’ grave. Instead, she withdrawsinto an imagined and idealized world, onethat corresponds neither to the reality ofher life in the United States, where sheearned a living as a prostitute, nor to herlife in Moscow. Koliada drew her detach-ment from reality very vividly: she fails tocommunicate with the other characters,and she never considers Dima’s feelings,but speaks only of her love for him. She isself-centred and has withdrawn into aworld of her own.

Koliada teaches at the Theater Instituteof Ekaterinburg, preparing new playwrightsfor their careers. As editor of the literaryjournal Ural, he has the opportunity of pub-lishing first plays and regional prose works.He also directs at the Drama Theater andhas recently established his own theater,

Koliada Teatr. In this way, Koliada hastaught and brought to publication the firstplays of Oleg Bogayev and Vasili Sigarev,who both found their way into prestigiousMoscow theaters. Sigarev’s Black Milk(written in 2002) was staged at the GogolTheater and Plasticine (written in 2000) atthe Center for Drama and Playwriting in aproduction by Kirill Serebrennikov. Bo-gayev’s Russian National Post was stagedby Kama Ginkas with the people’s darlingactor (and head of the Moscow Arts The-ater) Oleg Tabakov in the lead.

Ivan Vyrypayev created a hit in Moscowin October 2002 with Oxygen (Kislorod). Itis a performance à la Grishkovets, wherethe playwright also acts as a performer.Grishkovets draws on a common past ex-perience, whereas Vyrypayev is of ayounger generation and makes fun of hisown life and the present, using contempo-rary material. He structured his perform-ance in ten episodes, as if they were tencommandments. Yet his performance re-jects any moral implications of the testa-ment and instead subjects all his actiononly to the need for oxygen.

Originally from Ekaterinburg, the Pres-niakov brothers first conquered the Mos-cow theater with a production of Terror-ism (2002) at the Moscow Arts Theater byKirill Serebrennikov. This play is frag-mented and consists of scenes from every-day life that all revolve around the threat ofterrorist attacks: there is a bomb scare atan airport, a suicide attack, a woman whoplots a murder. The fragments are discon-nected, the characters have nothing incommon; unity is achieved thematically bythe threat of a terrorist attack that perme-ates every aspect of our lives, infiltratinginto the domestic and political spheres.Terrorism has since been staged at the


Royal Court Theater, London, to great ac-claim; the Royal Court commissioned aplay, Playing the Victim (Izobrazhaiazhertvy), from the Presniakov brothers.

As mentioned earlier, Vasili Sigarevmade his debut on the Moscow stages in aproduction of Plasticine directed by KirillSerebrennikov, who specializes in moderndrama. This time, however, the show pre-miered in a small theater center that is de-voted to experiment. Yet most of theseexperiments have the potential for com-mercial success, had it not been for thesmall size of the stage and the auditoriumlimited to some 80 seats in the rentedspace of the Vysotsky Museum. Sigarev’splay evolves in a provincial town, where ateenage boy dies. His friends from schooltry to cope with the loss, but his friendMaxim is deeply upset and begins to see

everyday life as hell, both repulsive and en-joyable. He plays tricks in an attempt toshow his contempt for the false orderlinessof school life, he tries to behave like anadult and learns about the horrible sides oflife (crime, sexual abuse, drugs), and heexperiences the seeds of love. Yet his pro-cess of maturing is hampered by the envi-ronment, which ultimately destroys his stillunprotected and unformed personality.

Both the Presniakov brothers andSigarev share a portrayal of the world as agrim and hostile environment, ridden withcrime and abuse, which is reflected in theiruse of vulgar language, slang, and nonnor-mative words. Both, however, leave occa-sional room for laughter that arises fromthe clumsiness of the characters, which isfunny despite of or because of the tragicsituation. Maxim Kurochkin is a historian


Ivan Vyrypayev created a hit in Moscow in October 2002 with his play Oxygen (Kislorod), in which he

also performs. (Photo courtesy of Golden Mask Festival)

by training. His plays are dominated by thetheme of war, which haunts civilizationfrom the past to the future. Kurochkin useslanguage skillfully, with local dialects un-derscoring historic or regional authenticity.In 1995 he made his debut with The De-stroyer of the Class Medea (Istrebitel’klassa “Medeia”), where a war is ongoingbetween an internationally united maleforce being attacked and undermined bytheir female counterparts. In Steel Will(Stal’ova volia, 1999), the Polish gentryfight with the help of the computer stationSteel Will.

New Russian drama has made an impacton British theater with the Charles WintourAward for the most promising playwright2002 to Sigarev’s Plasticine and the nomi-nation of the Presniakov brothers’ Terror-ism for the 2003 TMA (Theatrical Manage-ment Association) award for best new play.Both have had their plays produced at the

Royal Court, followed by national tours.Translations of new Russian plays are be-coming available in English and other Eu-ropean languages, thus finding their wayinto European and world theater.

Puppet Theater

Puppet theater in Russia has a long-stand-ing tradition and is an important part ofcontemporary popular and children’s cul-ture. Because of the size of the audiencefor puppet theater, it is not for the massesstrictly speaking, but it reflects genuinepopular forms in the historical sense andappeals to a wide audience in Russia today.

From Petrushka to the State Puppet

Theater Puppet theater worldwide hasa long-standing tradition as a form of popu-lar entertainment. The tradition of puppettheater in European culture reaches backwell into the medieval period. Indeed, thestock character Pulcinella appeared for thefirst time in fifteenth-century Italy. In me-dieval times, puppet performances weremost commonly put on in a cardboard boxthat formed a little theater; the puppet washeld on the hand (glove-puppet or finger-puppet) and moved by the so-called burat-tini (puppeteer). The marionette, held andmoved by strings from above, appearedonly in the seventeenth century and wasbrought to Russia under the Empress AnnaIvanovna (1730–1740), who also importedthe commedia dell’arte with its masks tothe Russian court. Marionettes were thuspart of court culture, whereas handheldand glove or finger puppets were part offolk traditions and had their place amongthe people. A third type of puppet camefrom Asian culture, where puppets formedpart of rituals of worship; these were stickor rod puppets (trostevye kukly) that can


Stage director Kirill Serebrennikov. (Photo by

Victor Bazhenov/Kommersant)

be moved by three or more actors, depend-ing on the difficulty of the movement, andare between 40–120 centimeters tall.

In popular and street theater, the puppetarrived in Russia only in the nineteenthcentury. The most popular was the glovepuppet (kukla na perchatkakh), which wasalso called Petrushka, after the stock char-acter of Russian puppet theater. Moreover,stick-puppets were used to enact the nativ-ity plays and Christmas cribs in their Rus-sian equivalent: the vertep.

The main male stock character of puppettheater varied from country to country: hewas called Pulcinella in Italy, Polichinellein France, Kasperle in Germany, and Punchin England. The Russian Punch figure wascalled Petrushka: a trickster and a rebelhero, he dished out beatings with his club(the dubinka) to those who cheated him orwho were treating others unjustly; as such,he exerted moral justice. Yet Petrushkawas also socially inept: he would beat hiswife or fiancée, he could not ride the horsehe bought, and he argued with the devil.Petrushka was a character who waslaughed at and whose texts were satiricalof social stereotypes. Petrushka greeted theaudience with his squeaky voice, beforecarrying on with his text; sometimes hewould have responses from the musician,normally an accordion player, who re-peated his phrases so that they could bebetter understood. Petrushka was not beau-tiful or of noble birth; he had a hunchbackand a long nose, as well as other physicalabnormalities. He sported a red peasantshirt and a cap of some sort and was usu-ally accompanied by his dog, Barbos. Theplot of the performances repeated certainkey scenes, although not always followingthe same pattern, yet at the end Petrushkawould inevitably be dragged off by Barbos.

In the nineteenth century, the perform-ances of Russian puppet theater toured theamusement parks and fairgrounds anddominated the street life in provincialtowns. The shows were cheap and accessi-ble to the lower, subordinate (serf) classes,and they also attracted children. Such pop-ular entertainment in the form of streettheater came to an end after the Revolutionand the civil war. The Bolsheviks at-tempted to raise the level of culture and ed-ucate the people and therefore suppressedall form of popular, mass culture. Puppetperformances became part of high culture,and therefore both the creation of puppetsand the performances had to be sophisti-cated. Before the Revolution, however, Ju-lia Slonimskaya and Pavel Sazonov formedthe first puppet theater, creating at thesame time artistically sophisticated and el-egant puppets—as opposed to the robust,wood-carved Petrushka. Moreover, duringthe early years of the Soviet state manyavant-garde artists, filmmakers, and actorswere interested in puppets for use on stageand in film. The puppet could be a symbolfor the human condition: a fragile being,subjected to the rule of fate. By the 1930s,a state-run union (the State Department ofMusic Hall, Variety Theaters, and Circus;GOMETs) not only controlled all circus, va-riety, and music hall performances, but thepuppet theaters were forced out of thestreets into established theater venues.Puppet theater became a means of enter-taining children only, and puppets were nolonger part of touring funfairs (now re-placed by leisure parks) or used by wan-dering troupes in the streets (but instead instationary theaters). Puppetry acquired anagitational function, and puppet theaterwas largely perceived to target children asits primary audience.


One of the most significant figures forcontemporary puppet theater was SergeiObraztsov (1901–1992). He organized theState Puppet Theater in 1931, opening withA. Globa’s Jim and Dollar, a play that toldthe story of a little Afro-American boy whofound refuge in the USSR. This was fol-lowed by a series of other shows of a pro-pagandist nature that portrayed life in theSoviet Union as positive. He also devised anumber of folk and fairy tale shows, suchas To the Pike’s Command (Po shchu-chemu veleniiu, 1936) and Aladdin’s MagicLamp (1940). Obraztsov’s performanceswith glove-puppets and finger-puppets orobjects, such as a bear, the puppet Tyapa,or balls, became his trademark in the 1940sand 1950s. The (Un)Usual Concert (1946)opened the path for the satirical and paro-dic use of puppets. The theater’s repertoirealso included the Russian classics, such asChekhov’s Kashtanka, a tale about a home-less dog; Hans Christian Andersen’s andRussian fairy tales; and the works of Sovietchildren’s authors, such as Kornei Chukov-sky, Agniya Barto, Sergei Mikhalkov, andSofia Prokofieva. The theater also adaptedthe heroes of Soviet children’s animatedcartoons for the stage and created puppetsfor Cheburashka and Moidodyr. The the-ater had occupied a building on Mayakov-sky Square since 1936, but in 1970 it movedinto new premises on the Ring Road.Obraztsov’s Puppet Theater is famous forthe clock that decorates the facade of thenew building, which was created by DmitriShakhovsky and Pavel Shimes: each houris decorated by a little house with a doorthat opens for an animal from a fairy tale toappear to the tune of a Russian folk song.Under Obraztsov, the puppet theater fo-cused on the literary sophistication of theplays. The puppets played their roles as if

to express emotion, in line with the realismthat dominated dramatic theaters at thetime. Puppets no longer caricatured andsatirized and moved away from the poeticand grotesque potential inherent in a pup-pet. The crisis for puppet theater effec-tively began in the 1950s, when puppets be-came like humans in their movement andtheir emotions. The puppet theater mainlyused stick-puppets or glove-puppets, notmarionettes. Once institutionalized, thepuppet theater lost its spontaneity, its po-tential for carnivalization and festivity. Itsaudiences were no longer the masses, butpeople of all ages and backgrounds.

During the Soviet era a number of pup-pet theaters were set up in other Russiancities, including the Leningrad DemmeniPuppet Theater and the Fairy Tale Theaterand theaters in the provincial towns ofYaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky),


Sergei Obraztsov, director of Moscow Puppet

Theater, with one of his puppets. (Yevgeny

Khaldei/Corbis)

Samara, Rybinsk, Arkhangelsk, Ivanovo,and Rostov. Moreover, the national andethnic traditions of some regions and re-publics made them very strong puppet the-ater performers. Georgia in particular wasfamous for its marionette theater. TheKhakassian town of Abakan formed a well-known puppet theater after World War II.Finally, puppet theater became part of thestate’s training programs when a puppetdepartment was created at the LeningradInstitute for Music, Film and Theater(LGITMIK) in 1959, and Obraztsov becamea professor at the Moscow Institute forTheater Arts (GITIS/RATI) in 1973. Thepuppetry section at RATI has been vacantsince his death in 1992.

Puppet Theater of the New Russia

During the Gorbachev era, experiments be-gan that were designed to integrate thepuppeteers into the performance and at-tribute specific roles to them. Moreover,human actors played puppets that weremoved by puppeteers, so that variety wasintroduced into the relationship betweenthe puppeteers and the puppet. Puppetsalso appeared as characters in traditionaldrama theaters, as for example at the The-ater of the Young Spectator. In KamaGinkas’s version of Pushkin’s Golden Cock-erel (Zolotoi petushok), a puppet of thecockerel is made up in front of the audi-ence and becomes an object for the actors’play. The theater director Igor Larin madeuse of porcelain dolls for the characters ofChekhov’s The Cherry Orchard in a pro-duction in Magnitogorsk, in which onlyLopakhin is a real character. After purchas-ing the estate, Lopakhin (played by Larin)accidentally smashes the glass display withthe puppets. It is as though his act, whichcontributes to the demise of the Russian

gentry, was not deliberate; in any case thegentry is immobile and immortal: they aredolls that serve as a mere decoration.

Only in the 1990s did the New Russia be-gin to return the puppets and dolls to thepeople. In 2000 an exhibition of dolls andpuppets made by stars from film, theater,and television was organized by the Mu-seum of Architecture in Moscow, showingthe approach of artists and designers to theobject. Puppet theater has gradually freeditself from the constraints of realism, fromthe aversion against marionettes, and fromthe need to cater for children only. “Noth-ing and nobody can replace man on earth;without him, the gods, clowns and puppetshave nothing to do,” as the critic IrinaUvarova commented on the state of post-Soviet puppet theater. Puppets have begunto appear in conventional theater. More-over, the puppeteer has acquired a newrole: he may be a visible character, whomoves within the set and is clearly the ma-nipulator of the puppet’s movements. Anew range of approaches to the puppet the-ater has been explored, such as the integra-tion of shadow theater, the use of the hu-man body as a puppet, and the use ofordinary toys. Texts are often speciallycomposed for the puppet theater ratherthan adapted for it.

The puppet theaters of the regions, suchas Ekaterinburg, Abakan, and Arkhan-gelsk, have developed a sound repertoire,including children’s and adult shows. Theydraw on local traditions in the specific useand creation of their puppets. The PuppetTheater of Ekaterinburg, which employsthe best-known puppet makers in Russia,is headed by Alexander Borok. The theaterdresses the actors in costumes and placesthem onto the stage, from where theymove the puppets in the set. His Pictures


of an Exhibition (Kartinki s vystavki,1996) was a contemporary version of Mod-est Mussorgsky’s piece in a new musicalversion by the theater’s house composer,Sergei Sidelnikov. He also wrote the scorefor The Nightingale (Solovei, 2000), a chil-dren’s fairy tale.

The Khakassian Puppet Theater FairyTale from Abakan uses traditional woodencarved dolls for their performances, usu-ally based on biblical themes: Judas Iscar-iot (1998) and Jacob Jacobson (2002) wereboth nominated for the national theateraward, the Golden Mask. The theater’s di-rector, Yevgeni Ibragimov (b. 1967), gradu-ated from LGITMiK and has headed thetheater since 1998. The Arkhangelsk Pup-pet Theater is directed by Dmitri Lokhov(b. 1950), also a graduate of LGITMiK, anddraws on ethnographic traditions for the

creation of its puppets. As the chair in pup-petry at the Moscow Theater Institute re-mains vacant, it is the Petersburg TheaterAcademy (formerly LGITMiK, now the St.Petersburg Academy of Theater ArtsSPATI) that produces a new generation ofpuppeteers.

Although traditional puppet theaterscontinue to exist, the most innovative andpopular puppet theaters of the New Russiaare the theater Potudan in Petersburg; theTheater Ten’ (Shadow) in Moscow; and—although this is not Russian by origin—thepuppet theater of the Georgian artist RezoGabriadze.

Theater Potudan, St. Petersburg

This theater, formed in 2000, was named af-ter its first production, Potudan, based onAndrei Platonov’s eponymous story. Potu-


The Khakassian Puppet Theater’s Jacob Jacobson (2002) was nominated for the Golden Mask

national theater award. (Courtesy of Golden Mask Festival)

dan consists of a group of graduates ofSPATI who had studied under Grigori Koz-lov. Kozlov himself trained in that depart-ment but has since moved to drama the-aters and currently holds the post ofartistic director of the Theater of the YoungSpectator in St. Petersburg. Potudan waspresented in 2002 at the Baltic House The-ater, in a coproduction with the film studioDarfilm under Valeri Ogorodnikov. Potu-dan’s director is Ruslan Kudashov (b.1972), who graduated from SPATI in 1999.The production is not just an adaptation ofPlatonov’s story, but it is the deliberatechoice of a specific text whose fragile char-acters are suited for representationthrough puppetry. The sand and snow formelements of the story and the production,very reminiscent of the use of sand inGabriadze’s Song on the Volga, culminatingin the final image of the war as a river thatsweeps away the sand. The story dealswith the universal theme of love in a worldthat makes man a fragile object and tosseshim about.

In May 2002, Potudan presented its sec-ond show, Nevsky Prospekt, based onGogol’s famous story about the phantas-magoric aspect of life in nineteenth-cen-tury Petersburg. Nevsky Prospekt madeuse of different kinds of marionettes—dolls, cardboard figures, body parts, andwooden puppets—to recreate the eccen-tricity of Gogol’s world. The parade oftypes and social classes on NevskyProspekt (Petersburg’s main artery), withwhich Gogol begins his story, presents avariety of marionettes: the foreigners arecardboard figures, whereas wooden dollsare used for the bureaucrats. Each class isrepresented by a corresponding kind ofpuppet that immediately characterizes it.The protagonists, Piskarev and Pirogov, ap-

pear first as shadows, whose stories mirroreach other. The backdrop for the perform-ance is a reproduction of an etching byVasili Sadovnikov, showing the city of St.Petersburg. The choice of puppets for thisshow is deliberate: only puppets make itpossible to differentiate between flat andthree-dimensional figures, to label womenas “dolls” and men as shadows, and to rep-resent instead as full-blown “characters”the main actors of Gogol’s world: noses,lips, and moustaches, which make up thephantasmagoric city. Another ingeniousmove was the representation of Piskarev’ssuicide, when a hand in a glove cuts thestrings of the marionette, terminating thepuppet’s life. The entire performance takesplace behind a glass pane; at the end, waterpours down the pane as if it were raining,washing away the image of the city andmaking room for a new one.

Potudan is popular not among children,but adults. The director makes every at-tempt to move puppet theater away fromthe dead end in which it found itself afterthe Soviet era, trying to compete with dra-matic theater instead of finding, and re-defining, its own poetic texts and images.

Shadow Theater (Teatr Ten’), Moscow

The Shadow Theater, which essentially re-names itself for each new production orproject, was founded in 1989 by MayaKrasnopolskaya and Ilia Eppelbaum. Since1991, it has been a municipal theater andoccupies an apartment in a house onNovoslobodskaya Street.

In 1996 the Shadow Theater presentedthe project The Russian Tour of the GrandRoyal Lilikan Theater of Drama, Operaand Ballet (Gastroli lilikanskogo bol’shogokorolevskogo teatra dramy, opery i baleta vRossii; Lilikan is a mixture between


liliput and velikan, the lilliput and the gi-ant), which is continued in the project ofthe Lilikan Museum (2002–2003) and inRuslan and Ludmila: A New Year’s Per-formance (2003–2004). In the Lilikan The-ater, the directors create not so much aperformance as the conditions for it: theyplace miniature puppets into a dolls’ house(a replica of the Bolshoi Theater) and in-vite the spectators to observe the move-ments through the windows of the theater.A maximum of five spectators can there-fore watch each performance. Ruslan andLudmila: A New Year’s Performance paro-dies conventional forms that cripple per-formances of the classics. On the Bolshoi’sstage, a Christmas performance takes

place. The clash between a yolka (Christ-mas tree, also the word for the visit ofSanta Claus to deliver the presents)—in it-self a popular form of performance, usuallywith Father Christmas (Ded Moroz) andhis assistant Snowflake (snegurochka) de-livering the presents to a group of chil-dren—and the most conventional, lavishinterior of the Bolshoi Theater preparesthe ground for parody. The action ofPushkin’s classic romantic tale now be-comes the story of a Christmas tree flyinginto space; the design deliberately andclumsily repeats the setting of Viktor Vas-netsov’s fairy tale theme painting, whichevery child knows from school visits to theTretiakov Gallery.


At the Lilikan theater the directors Ilia Eppelbaum and Maya Krasnopolskaya place puppets into a

miniature replica of the Bolshoi Theater. (Courtesy of Ten Theater)

As Theater Shadow-Opera (Ten’ opery),Krasnopolskaya and Eppelbaum presentedSwan Lake. An Opera (Lebedinoe ozero.Opera, 1998). The directors parodiedTchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, claiming it wasintended and conceived as an opera andnot a ballet. The actors here play puppetsthat are moved by other actors. Effectiveuse is also made of shadow theater.

As the Theater of the Father’s Shadow(Teatr Ten’ ottsa), the directors presented ashow based on Hamlet (2001), where nor-mal toys were used instead of puppets in ajourney through a variety of theatrical gen-res, from opera and operetta to tragic andcomic drama. The performers introduce thechildren to the theater: they explain tothem the seating, the interval, the program;and they show them how the actors dressup in a costume and how they use masks.Therefore, the actors stand on stage andplay, as it were, with the toys, explainingtheir function in each episode. The bearplays the classical characters from Push-kin, Mikhail Glinka, Molière, and Chekhov:Eugene Onegin, Ivan Susanin, Don Juan,and Konstantin Treplyov; a simple ball isLeporello and Lensky (ingeniously Lensky’sdeath in the duel is represented by the ballbeing deflated). A little excavator plays thestatue of the commander, whom Don Juanchallenges in an attempt to win Dona Anna.

The Shadow Theater is not only one ofthe most innovative and experimental pup-pet theaters in Russia but also a most popu-lar theater. Largely owing to the small num-ber of places available, it is difficult to get aticket; the company also tours extensively.

Rezo Gabriadze Gabriadze is probablythe best-known puppeteer of the formerSoviet Russia but also a poet and painter.He makes poetic use of the puppet, which

he employs not to tell a story and illustratethe character’s emotions but to create im-ages and metaphors for universal themesand eternal values, in particular the themeof love: its birth, pain, and death.

In Alfred and Violetta (1986/7) he ex-plored the birth of love. Alfred, an astro-physicist, falls in love with Violetta on theeve of his departure to Venice on a re-search trip. His father opposes the son’slove for a girl who is not of his standing. Vi-oletta is ill. They travel to Venice, whereshe will die. Alfred names a star after her,while she names a falling autumn leaf afterhim. The permanence of the star immortal-izes their love, whereas the transience ofthe leaf implies the cyclical and regenera-tive force of nature.

Autumn of Our Spring (Osen’ nasheivesny, 1989) creates a powerful image forthe pain that love can inflict. The ptero-dactyl Boria loves the woman Ninel, who ismarried and pregnant. She chases himaway when he sings for her, so that she maynot be seen to be in love with a bird andthen attract the rage of her husband, whowould shoot Boria. Yet Boria sings and diesfor Ninel. But Boria’s romance is only anepisode in his adventurous life. He liveswith an elderly couple, Domna and Varlam.Varlam dies in World War I, and Boria takesit upon himself to look after Domna, whoworks hard and is always short of money.The mischievous and flirtatious bird flirtswith the statue that guards the local bankand steals a large sum of money. He tries touse this to support Domna, who is suspi-cious of the large sums he offers. When hefeels that money is not what helps and in-terests Domna, he loses sight of the impor-tant things in life and leads a debauchedlife. He is arrested and serves a sentence inprison, and Domna dies. After his release


he too dies and joins Domna and Varlam fora happy reunion in the other world. Withthe simple wooden bird that only rolls itseyes and opens its beak, Gabriadze createda puppet that conquered the hearts of manyaudiences.

The Song about the Volga (also known asThe Battle of Stalingrad [Pesnia o Volge],1996) deals with the theme of love anddeath. It was inspired by reports thatGabriadze read about the corpses of horsesthat filled the battlefields after Stalingrad.The action takes place during the war, out-side Stalingrad. The performance is set toDmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony.The Song about the Volga treats the love oftwo horses for each other as a symbol forhuman love. Alyosha and Natasha fall inlove—like humans—and they die like hu-

mans. Alyosha dies in battle, but his love isso strong that he rises and followsNatasha. Only when he finds her killed inbattle does he die too. Gabriadze enhancesthe transience of life, human or animal,through the interchange of elements suchas sand and sugar, which run through one’sfingers faster than we can think, thus im-plying that life slips away without us notic-ing it, whereas love has the power of mak-ing Alyosha immortal, until the object ofhis love dies.

Gabriadze not only tours internationallywith his puppet theater, but his perform-ances in Russia are immensely popularwith the people, whether educated or not.They genuinely appeal to all classes andages.

Puppet theaters in contemporary Russiahave—after almost 70 years of a pseudo-competition with drama theaters and anexistence in an alien cultural sector (estab-lished rather than wandering)—finallymanaged to come to grips with this predic-ament. Young directors are emerging, no-tably from the St. Petersburg puppetry de-partment, who return to the traditionalforms of puppets and use them to createpoetic images. The return of the originalPetrushka figures is unlikely to happen,however: the time for puppet theater mayindeed have faded away in other Europeancultures in a natural way. Gabriadze hasbeen at a number of international festivals,including London’s BITE (Barbican Inter-national Theatre Events), and the ShadowTheater has visited Europe.

Estrada and Popular Entertainment

The term estrada applies mainly to EasternEuropean cultures. It was used in the for-


Rezo Gabriadze’s puppets Domna and Boria

from Autumn of Our Spring. (Photo from

production press kit)

mer socialist countries to describe the con-certs and shows that, in the commercial-ized world, would fall under the category“show-business.” Indeed, the term has be-come less used since the collapse of social-ist systems and has given way to the termshow.

The word estrada comes from the Italianand means “raised floor,” a raised stage.Estrada combines the performance of mu-sic, dance, circus, song, speech, and pup-petry, including transformations and acro-batic acts. It seeks direct contact withaudiences and appeals to the masses, al-though it is usually a “small form,” in that itis shown on a stage from which the audi-ence is directly addressed and spoken to.The estrada show presents short, attrac-tive, and eccentric numbers and sketches.In its origins estrada is part of urban folk-lore, drawing on traditions of the balagan(fairground booth), the frivolous and cir-cus-like entertainment of pre-Revolution-ary times. In pre-Revolutionary Russia,estrada shows were performed in the openair, in cabarets and variétés (variety per-formances). This bourgeois culture wasnot supported by the new regime, however,which transformed estrada into state-man-aged “miniature theaters.”

Staged Estrada

Most of the shows are difficult to detachfrom the Soviet context, and many estradaartists never reached recognition beyondthe boundaries of the USSR. Whereas theearly estrada shows were presented by aconférencier (master of ceremonies) andconsisted of a variety of numbers, in the1960s solo shows became the rule. In the1960s the KVN clubs (Klub veselykh inakhodlivykh [Club of the Cheerful and In-ventive]), which organized competitions

between student groups, appeared on tele-vision and subsequently a number of KVNssprang up across the country. In 1972 theKVNs were stopped by censorship and re-vived in 1986 in a commercialized form.

The greatest star of Soviet estrada wasArkadi Raikin (1911–1987). Havingfounded the Leningrad Theater of Minia-ture just before World War II, Raikin cre-ated the so-called feuilleton, where theperformer delivers a monologue with com-ments on a particular event. In the courseof his numbers, Raikin used puppets anddeployed all the other components ofestrada art, from parody to dance, mime,and song. Many of the phrases he createdwere appropriated and entered commonRussian usage, such as the word avoskawhich appeared in Raikin’s repertoire inthe 1940s to describe a string shoppingbag. The word derived from the term avos


Arkadi Raikin, estrada artist and founder of the

Satirikon Theater in Moscow. (Photo by Irina

Kaledina)

(off chance; perhaps); the avoska is the bagfor the products found “perhaps” by the lit-tle man who carries this shopping bag onthe “off chance” of finding some productsin the shops, alluding to the chronic short-age of goods in the USSR. Later he createdthe stock character Lyzin, a lazy alcoholic,who is ruled by envy. Lyzin thinks he canboss everybody around, so that the charac-ter turns into a frightening image of thepower image and jealous Soviet nachalnik(line manager). Raikin always sought di-rect contact with his audience, performinghis monologues as if he were thinkingaloud. Later he would also change costumeand character during the show, steppingfrom one image into another. Raikin’s per-formances always defended the “littleman,” the vulnerable average Soviet citi-zen. Raikin’s contribution to the Sovietestrada was enormous, but more importanthas been his influence on everyday speech,which has adopted many of his stockphrases.

Another famous estrada artist was Mik-hail Zhvanetsky, an admirer of Raikin’sfrom Odessa, who joined the LeningradTheater of Miniature in the early 1960s andwrote some of the texts for Raikin’s per-formances, such as Traffic Light (Svetofor,1967). In the 1970s Zhvanetsky began toperform his own texts, working both inMoscow and Odessa as well as touring thecountry with his shows. Zhvanetsky’s greatskill lay in the texts, where he forced thetruth about Soviet everyday life into a for-mula that sounded convincing and easy,making people laugh at the absurdity ofSoviet reality and thus making their strug-gle seem normal. Some of Zhvanetsky’sphrases also entered the spoken language:“the country of ever green tomatoes”(strana vechno zelenykh pomidorov) re-

ferred to the lack of vegetables on Sovietmarkets; if vegetables did appear, theywere either not ripe or foul. He coined thephrase “solve problems as they enter theshop” (perezhivat’ nepriiatnosti po mereikh postupleniia), meaning people shoulddeal with problems one after the other andnot worry about everything at once. At thesame time Zhvanetsky mocked the lack ofa regular food supply in Soviet shops,where abundance was never a real issue.Another phrase was the “continuous im-provement that leads to a deterioration”


Mikhail Zhvanetsky performs during the

concert dedicated to the anniversary of the

great artist Arkadi Raikin (October 2001).


(nepreryvnoe uluchshenie privodiashcheek ukhudshcheniiu), mocking the Soviet-speak of the press that always praised thecountry, whereas in reality things were get-ting worse and worse.

Although Raikin and Zhvanetsky werethe leaders of Soviet estrada and made animmense impact not only on Russian lan-guage but also on the tradition of mockingSoviet reality, other estrada artists gainedgreat popularity with their shows. The co-median Gennadi Khazanov first created thecharacter of the streetwise simpleton, astudent of the culinary institute. He laterincluded musical sections in his shows,presenting parodies on Alla Pugacheva andother singers. Khazanov’s texts tended totarget politics rather than everyday life (as

Raikin and Zhvanetsky had done), and in1984 he was banned from the stage. In 1987he came back with spectacular and theatri-calized shows and made his debut on thedramatic stage and in film. Mikhail Zador-nov is primarily a writer of satirical mono-logues but also a performer. He boldlyparodied political leaders and gave stun-ning impersonations of Gorbachev whilealso targeting celebrities in his satiricalsketches. Such mockery of politicians hadbecome acceptable by the perestroika pe-riod. Yefim Shifrin (b. 1956) gained famewith his numbers where his character, aninfantile little man who evokes laughterand compassion, holds telephone conversa-tions with the imaginary girl Lucie (Liusia).

Estrada is and was an important part oftelevision programming. Indeed, the televi-sion show Old Songs about the Main Thing(1996–1998), conceived by Leonid Parfyo-nov and Konstantin Ernst, was staged in thebest estrada traditions. The artist YevgeniPetrosian (b. 1945) hosts the show Smekho-panorama (Laughterpanorama) on televi-sion, where he presents old estrada clips,tapping once more into the retro mode anddwelling on the popular estrada shows ofthe 1960s and 1970s.

Boulevard Theater In the 1990s a num-ber of commercial enterprises sprang up,offering theater for entertainment, orrather drawing on star names to attract au-diences. Trushkin and his Chekhov theaterdrew on much-loved actors, and Viktiukused both star names and sexual ambiguityto attract audiences. These stars of Sovietstage and screen included artists of highculture, including such figures as OlegTabakov, now artistic director of theMoscow Arts Theater. In commercial the-aters the stakes are set on actors rather


Gennadi Khazanov, artistic director of the

Moscow Estrada Theater. (Photo by Irina

Kaledina)

than directors, largely of the older genera-tion, to appeal to the audience. Many reper-toire theaters invite directors or actors ofreputation to create attractions in theirrepertoire: Hamlet stars Valeri Garkalin atthe Stanislavsky Theater; Petr Mamonovfeatures in two shows at the StanislavskyTheater. The Moscow Arts Theater has re-alized also a lack of star names and recruitslargely from the Tabakov Studio for its pro-ductions. Film actors are invited to appearon the theatrical stage to attract numbers:Alexei Buldakov, the general of AlexanderRogozhkin’s film cycle National Peculiari-ties . . . (1996–), the Antikiller star GoshaKutsenko, or Marat Basharov are invited tocommercial projects. The Pushkin Theaterhas recruited the actors Andrei Panin andNikolai Fomenko, who are famous for theirfilm and television work.

Although theaters put their stakes onstar names, actors leave the theater be-cause of the working conditions (low pay,rehearsals). The Lensovet actors MikhailTrukhin and Konstantin Khabensky havequit the theater because they could not co-ordinate acting on stage with the filmingschedule for the television series CriminalPetersburg. Mark Zakharov at the LenkomTheater has a privileged theater that ishome to a number of film stars: DmitriPevtsov, Alexander Abdulov, Oleg Yankov-sky, Nikolai Karachentsov, Alexander Laza-rev, Inna Churikova. He apparently hasmanaged to work out a repertoire and re-hearsal schedule that allows them to ap-pear on the silver and blue screens, whichin turn makes them even more sought-afterstars when they do appear on stage. TheSovremennik theater can boast of the staractors Marina Neyolova, Avangard Leon-tiev, Igor Kvasha, Sergei Gazarov, Sergei

Garmash, and Olga Drozdova, all admiredby a more middle-aged to older generation;Chulpan Khamatova pulls in younger audi-ences. A number of theaters that providepure entertainment have recently appearedon the Moscow map, most notably QuartettI (Kvartet I), a group of four actors withamateurish and clownish performances,and L’A Teatr, with a similar agenda.

Boulevard theaters chose a variety ofplays, but more recently a trend has mani-fested itself here: Agatha Christie’s TheMousetrap (starring Alexei Buldakov)stands next to comedies, such as Silvia(starring Chulpan Khamatova, YevgeniyaSimonova, Georgi Taratorkin) and Pinter’sLover (with the same Yevgeniya Simonovaand Sergei Makovetsky). Aldo Nikolai is apopular playwright in boulevard produc-tions: The Temptation features SergeiBezrukov, Boris Shcherbakov, and LiubovPolishchuk. Most recently Roman Kozakhas directed a commercial production ofYosef Bar-Yosef’s Gold with the ever-popu-lar Tatiana Vasilieva, Vladimir Garkalin,and Alexander Feklistov.

Although there are a number of privatetheater companies and a number of boule-vard theaters, the interest in this form ofculture has been unable to sustain lastingsupport from the masses, for which itseems to have been intended. Russian au-diences, treated as “educated” classes de-spite their background in the unifying andleveling approach of the Soviet state, havemaintained rather high theatrical standardsand a refined taste. Popular theater in Rus-sia is not synonymous with popular theaterin the UK or the United States, and there isno Broadway or West End in Moscow or St.Petersburg. Instead, there are stars of theolder generation and idols of the younger


generation whom the respective fans flockto admire.

Anecdotes and Jokes

The Soviet Union was famous for its nu-merous anecdotes and jokes. In anecdotes,Soviet life seemed much more believableand realistic than the absurd reality of So-viet life. The joke is part of oral culture andtakes its root in some social or politicalevent. In a sense, jokes are safety valves,but in the Soviet period they were morethan that: by describing accurately the real-ities of Soviet life, they highlighted the ab-surdity (the anecdotal character) of reality.In the anecdote, Russians turned their ownhistory into a spectacle and the present lifeinto a performance. The anecdote helpedunderstand everyday life and politics as aroutine, a ritual, rather than real life, whichcould be shaped. Man always features asan object, a plaything, or victim, never asan agent, in these jokes.

In the 1970s and 1980s in particular, theanecdotes on Russian life and politicsrewrote the entire Soviet history. When thesatirical weekly Krokodil began to print an-ecdotes in the 1990s in order to boost itspopularity, jokes were commercially usedand lost their function in oral culture. TheInternet nowadays is a great source of Rus-sian anecdotes while offering a way of peo-ple telling anecdotes to each other.

The first major group of anecdotes isconcerned with Russian history. Here,jokes about Soviet history and its leadersare most common. Many jokes parody thebanality of “Soviet-speak,” the official So-viet discourse. They confront high-browwords and the emptiness of the real world.Other jokes rewrite Soviet history, tellingthe listener what really happened that led

to such ridiculous, devastating, and embar-rassing results. The Radio Yerevan jokes(Armenian Radio) exposed the utter non-sense of politics by asking questions andproviding the logical answer.

Lenin and the Revolution VladimirIlyich Lenin was the founder of the Sovietstate and the leading revolutionary. The al-leged support of the people for the Commu-nist movement is exposed as exaggeration,however: only Lenin (real name Ulianov)supported the Communist cause. The Revo-lution, set off by a gunshot from the battle-ship Aurora, is described as more devastat-ing than a nuclear bomb, and Lenin’s namehas penetrated the most trivial aspect oflife. The slogan “Lenin is with us” (Lenin snami) gave rise to a whole host of anec-dotes when people imagined situations inwhich the leader would be with them at alltimes, even in bed when making love.

Lenin said: “There are only three genuine

communists in the Party: Ulianov, Lenin

and I.”

—What is more terrifying than the nuclear

bomb?

—A salvo from the Aurora: one blank shot

and 70 years devastation.

Special products: Draft Beer Lenin, Sau-

sages Member of the CPSU, perfume Lenin’s

Spirit, face powder Ilyich’s Ashes, and the

new model: triple bed Lenin is with us.

Stalin Stalin was a much-feared leader.During the purges of the 1930s, many Bol-shevik leaders who had worked with Leninwere annihilated (arrested, exiled, exe-cuted).


—Why are you running, rabbit?

—They are shooting camels.

—But you are a rabbit!

—Once they’ve shot you, you try and prove

that you’re not a camel.

Gorbachev meets Stalin.

Stalin: “Comrade Gorbachev, I heard you

have difficulties. I advise you: first,

arrest all the members of the Central

Committee. Second, destroy the church of

St. Basil’s.

—Comrade Stalin, but why the church?

—I am glad we have no difference in

opinion about the first point.

Khrushchev and the Thaw There aremany anecdotes about Nikita Khrushchevand his uneducated, peasant background,his campaign to grow sweet corn (kuku-ruza). A rich target for mockery during histerm of government was the minister ofculture, Ekaterina Furtseva, a textileworker by profession, who had littleknowledge of the world of culture.

An exhibition of Picasso opens. The ticket

controller asks:

—Your ticket.

—But I am Picasso!

—Prove it.

Picasso paints the dove of peace and is ad-

mitted. Behind him comes Furtseva, also

without a ticket. The controller asks:

—We admitted Picasso and we’ll let you

pass if you can prove that you are the

minister of culture of the USSR.

—Who is Picasso?

—Please go through, Comrade Furtseva.

Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev ruledthe country for almost 20 years. During histerm of office the members of the Polit-

buro and the Central Committee grewolder and older without retiring. The senil-ity and physical disability of the partybosses were mocked in numerous jokes.

Brezhnev meets the old lady of the Russian

Revolution.

—Hello, Leonid Ilyich. You probably don’t

remember me. I am Nadezhda Konstanti-

novna Krupskaya.*

— Of course, of course.

—And do you remember my husband

Vladimir Ilyich?

— Of course, Vladimir Ilyich Krupsky, a

very good man indeed.

Brezhnev asks from the other world:

— Who is ruling after me?

—Gorbachev

—Do the people support him?

—No, he walks on his own.

The Politburo decided to improve working

conditions and replace the chairs and tables

in the conference room. A worker: “In my

youth I was in a brothel, but they changed

the whores, not the beds.”

Gorbachev The Gorbachev era lent itselfto mockery and parody. Mikhail Sergeye-vich Gorbachev did things differently fromthe previous leaders. Yet in the eyes of thepeople he did not push the changes farenough, and an especially sore issue wasthat of the privatization of the land. The in-decision of the reform course was parodied.

The chairman announces:

— Comrades! Deputies! Those in support of

socialism, please sit on the left; those for

capitalism sit on the right.


*Krupskaya was the wife of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

One deputy hovers around.

—And you, Comrade?

—I am for socialism, but want to live like

in capitalism.

—But Comrade, then your place is in the

presidium.*

—Mikhail Sergeyevich, the German aviator

Rust has crossed the border illegally and

landed on Red Square.

—And what do you want me to do—go and

greet him?

Indeed, the landing on Red Square in May1988 of a Cessna aircraft piloted by MathiasRust led the president of the Moscow Inter-national Film Festival in July 1988 to greethis international guests in the Hotel Ros-siya, adjacent to Red Square, with an apol-ogy for the detour to Sheremetievo II (theinternational airport), rather than landingon Sheremetyevo III, as Red Square was jok-ingly referred to for awhile after the event.

The Mausoleum Moscow is the onlyplace in the world where the central squareis occupied by a dead man: the leader ofthe Communist movement, Lenin, lies in amausoleum on Red Square. It is also an in-dication of the treatment of the leader as ifhe were a saint. In the 1980s, after almost20 years of Brezhnev’s rule, three leaderssucceeded each other within three years,all requiring a burial space (Brezhnev, An-dropov, and Chernenko).

A man comes to Chernenko’s funeral.

— Your ticket?

—I have a subscription to these shows.

Lenin and Stalin lie in the mausoleum.

Noise on the street. Lenin to Stalin: “Iosif

Vissarionovich, go and have a look what’s

going on.” Stalin goes out and comes back:

“Again that Khrushchev with his camp bed.”

A Georgian comes to Moscow and goes to

Red Square. He asks the guards:

— My dears, I would like to see Lenin.

—The Mausoleum is closed.

The Georgian stacks some banknotes on the

bayonets of the guards and, opening the

gates, they ask: “Will you go inside or shall

we bring him out?”

A man from the provinces comes to

Moscow. All his friends ask him to bring

back presents for them. When he asks where

to shop, they tell him to go wherever he sees

the longest queue. Upon his return, he has

no presents. His friends ask what hap-

pened, and he explains:

— As you told me, I went to the place with

the longest queue. And I waited and

waited, and when my turn came, the

salesman was lying there, dead.

Soviet Politics Soviet politics were pre-sented in anecdotes as a series of haphaz-ard events, almost accidents, rather thanan implementation of a planned and clearlythought-through policy.

The Soviet troops moved into Czechoslova-

kia. Friendship knows no borders.

—Why did they send our troops to

Afghanistan.

— They began with A.

A soldier on duty falls asleep over the con-

trol panel of some strategic missiles. When

the commanding officer enters he jumps

up, stands to order, and reports:


*The Presidium is the committee, whose membersget numerous privileges.

— Comrade Lieutenant, nothing to report.

—Nothing to report . . . And where is Bel-

gium, hell? Two missiles!!!

The Press The press and the media wereknown not for supplying information butfor “disinforming” people, covering up dis-asters, and avoiding the important issues.The media were perceived as telling lies.The only reliable (but forbidden andjammed) media were foreign radio stations.

—What is the difference between Russian

and Soviet fairy tales?

—Old Russian fairy tales begin with the

words: “Behind the sea and the hills,

behind the forests and rivers . . ..” Soviet

fairy tales begin with the words: “TASS*

reports.”

— What is the difference between Pravda

(Truth) and Izvestiya (News)?

—There’s no news in Pravda and no truth

in Izvestiya.

Gorbachev went out onto the balcony to

have a cigarette. His wife, Raisa Maxi-

movna, calls from the inside:

— Misha, are you again smoking in secret?

—Yes, but how do you know?

— They’ve just said so on the BBC.

Education Sex was a taboo subject inSoviet culture. In the style of George Mikessaying that “The English have no sex; theyhave a hot water bottle,” the Russians hadno sex, but they had the Communist Party.There was certainly no sex education. In-stead, the constraints on living space re-

duced sex to a sport of finding a quiet cor-ner for lovemaking. Therefore, all talk aboutsex was reduced to the private sphere.

In the sixth form a new subject was intro-

duced: sexology. The teacher: “The love be-

tween man and man or between woman

and woman is a sexual perversion, which

we will not study. About the love between

man and woman you know enough without

me. The fourth and fifth kinds of love are

the love of the Party for the people and the

love of the people for the Party. This is what

we shall study during the course of the

year.”

Strategic Control The state and partycontrolled everything. Spying and controlwere abundant in every sphere of life. Atthe same time chaos reigned everywhere.The “happy coincidences” that saved dissi-dents from raids and spies from beingcaught are described in numerous memoirsof the Soviet era. While the country wasruled by chaos, the citizens learned to liveby the rules of the unpredictable. Obtain-ing “deficit” products of low supply andhigh demand was a skill that demandedmuch more expertise than spying. Obtain-ing toilet paper in Moscow led some for-eigners to theft: they pinched it from em-bassies and large Western-style hotels towhich they had access thanks to their for-eign passports. Others knew that toilet pa-per would be on sale toward the end of thequarter, when certain shops had to fulfilltheir plans and release the goods they hadstacked away to sell on the side.

Ivanov, a lonely old man complains to his

friend:

—I am sick, I can’t dig up the garden any

more, nor can I chop wood.


*TASS was the Soviet news agency.

—OK, I shall help you, said the friend and

rang the KGB: it seems that Ivanov has

hidden foreign currency in his garden

and some microfilms in the logs.

The next day they meet again:

—Thank you, my friend, They thoroughly

dug up the garden and hacked all the

firewood.

A foreign spy is sent to a large Soviet com-

pany. Soon he reports:

— The secrecy is such that you can’t figure

out anything. They say one thing, think

another, and do something totally

different.

A provincial man comes to Moscow and

catches a cab. He tells the driver to take him

to the department store Principle. The

driver frowns, trying to remember, but in

the end says:

—Sorry, but there is no such store.

— But how is that? My friend tells me that

there is nothing at all in Moscow, but in

“principle” you can buy everything.

Emigration In the postwar Soviet eramany people wished to emigrate, and manydefected during trips to the West. A num-ber of anecdotes tell about the desperateattempts of people to leave the country,and they all stress that really nobodywanted to stay.

Kosygin*: I ordered the borders to be

opened.

Brezhnev: Have you gone mad. There will

be only two people left.

Kosygin: Who is the second?

Leningrad airport. An aircraft bound for

Tallinn (Estonia) takes off. A young man

enters the cockpit and pulls out a pistol:

— Change direction.

—I can’t.

— Turn to London, or I’ll shoot you.

—I can’t. But talk to the girl with the bomb

in the first row; she ordered us to fly to

Stockholm.

A metro train is hijacked. The hijackers de-

mand that the driver take them to Copen-

hagen. The driver explains: “But guys, this

is the metro.” The hijackers insist. The

driver explains: “Even worse, guys, this is

the circle line.” The hijackers insist, further

threatening the driver. Eventually the

driver sighs, switches on the speakers, and

announces: “Mind the closing doors. Next

stop: Copenhagen.”

Radio Yerevan The questions asked byArmenian Radio were naive, whereas theanswers provided a gloss on the absurdityof Soviet politics. The following three ques-tions address the succession of leaders inthe 1980s. Konstantin Chernenko was veryold and sick when elected general secre-tary. He succeeded Yuri Andropov and pre-ceded Mikhail Gorbachev. The Ruriks werethe dynasty that laid the foundation of theRussian Empire.

Armenian Radio:

— Why does Chernenko appear before

several microphones?

— He holds on to one microphone, another

supplies oxygen, and into the third they

whisper his prompts.

Armenian Radio:

— How will Russian history be written

under Andropov?


*Kosygin was a minister of Brezhnev’s government.

— From Rurik to Yurik.

Armenian Radio:

—What was the funeral of Andropov?

— A dress rehearsal for Chernenko’s

funeral.

There were also jokes about “nationali-ties,” about the Jews, Ukrainians, and Cau-casians, mocking their national character-istics in the same way that any nation hasits target group for mockery. As the thickand dumb people for the British are theIrish, and for the Germans they are theEast-Friesians, so for the Russians the “id-iot” was embodied by the chukcha, the in-digenous peoples of the Chukotka. At thesame time the Russians would make them-selves out as the “holy fools” among theworld nations, not so rich in material termsbut rich in their soul.

Chukcha The jokes about the chukchaexpose these people as stupid and naive, aquality attributed to them for their remotelife in the tundra, which leaves them unac-customed to modern urban civilization.

A Russian, a Frenchman, and a chukcha

undergo a hunger experiment in individual

cells that are equipped with telephones so

they can call an end to their hunger term.

The Frenchman calls after three days and

asks for food. The Russian calls after four

days. A week passes by, two weeks. They

look in on the chukcha as he sits in front of

the telephone and taps the phone with his

fingers, exclaiming: “telephone, telephone,

chukcha wants eat.”

Chukcha goes along the platform and

knocks his head against each car.

—Why are you doing that?

—It says on my ticket the car is soft*. So I

am checking.

Chukcha travels on the train. He goes to the

restaurant car and, when returning, can’t

find his compartment.

The conductor asks: “Can you remember the

car?”

— No, but I can remember that there were

lots of birch trees outside the window.

Chukcha brings his novel to the editor of a

journal. The editor reads it and says:

—You see, it is a little weak. You should

read some of the classics. Have you read

Turgenev? Tolstoy? Dostoevsky?

—However, not. Chukcha is no reader,

chukcha is a writer.

Chukcha bought a car. He drives along the

road and hits a tree. He gets out of the car,

climbs under the hood, and picks up a head-

light: “Such big eyes and can’t see a

thing . . .”

Russians and Other Nationalities Intheir anecdotes, Russians always perceivetheir inferiority and naïveté vis-à-vis theWest, thus debunking Russia’s ambition todemonstrate its uniqueness and superiorityin all areas. The Russian tends to react in anonstandard way, concerned with his bellyrather than his reputation and with goodcompany rather than money. The Russianis educated in the party spirit and thereforeresponds accordingly, even in extreme sit-uations.

Men of different nationalities when they

catch their wife with a lover:


* A soft car is a wagon-lit (miagki vagon).

The Englishman (coldly): Lady, may I ask

you kindly to leave my house.

The Frenchman: Oh, pardon, Monsieur. It

seems I have come at an inconvenient

moment.

The Russian: You whore! You are lying

around, and they’re selling herring

round the corner.

A Russian, an American, and an English-

man in the desert. They are losing their

strength, and the Russian suggests that they

drink some vodka before they die. From the

empty bottle emerges the genie of the bottle.

— You have two wishes each.

The American asks for a million dollars

and to return home. He disappears. The

Englishman asks for a million pounds and

to return home. He disappears. The Rus-

sian waves his arms in despair.

— We started off so well . . . a case of

vodka and the guy’s back.

Two men and a woman on a desert island.

If they are English, they’ll fight a duel for

the only woman around. If they are French,

they set up a menage-à-trois. If they are

Americans, they fight over the woman. If

they are Russians, they set up a kolkhoz:

one man is the chairman, the other the

party secretary, and the people (the

woman) are sent into the fields.

What is sex?

French sex is when a Frenchman locks

himself up in a room with a French woman

and does with her what he wants.

Italian sex is when a Frenchman locks


and does with her what he wants while the

Italian watches through the keyhole.

American sex is when two Americans

write a novel about how a Frenchman locks


and does with her what he wants while be-

ing watched by an Italian through the key-

hole.

Russian sex is when the party office dis-

cusses a young Communist who has read

the novel of two American writers about a

Frenchman who locks himself up in a room

with a French woman and does with her

what he wants while being watched by an

Italian through the keyhole.

Film and Everyday Language Block-busters have had a huge impact on lan-guage. A number of phrases have enteredeveryday speech in a variety of situations.Most of these phrases come from the fewgenuine blockbusters of the 1960s and1970s, the comedies of Eldar Riazanov andLeonid Gaidai. However, quotations fromChapayev are almost more frequent ineveryday speech than the jokes about him.The remark “Yes, a merry discussion this!”(Da, veselyi razgovor!), refers to a situationthat is taking a bad turn. “Quiet, people,Chapayev will think” (tikho, grazhdane,Chapaev dumat’ budet) is an ironic com-ment asking for silence while mockingChapayev’s talent as a “thinker” (which hewas not). The phrase “are you mockingChapayev?” (ty chto, nad Chapaevym izde-vatsia?) is used, however, to eliminate anydoubt about the person in question: Cha-payev may not be a thinker, but his supportfor the cause (the Revolution) is beyonddoubt.

Other phrases have taken their place ineveryday speech without people necessar-ily being aware of their origin. Somebodywho frequently says “I think” may be com-mented upon with the word “Try to thinkless” (A ty men’she dumai), a citation fromRiazanov’s Welcome! The phrase “he has


five minutes to go before his doctorate”(on bez piati minut kandidat nauk), fromthe film When September Comes, is used tosay that somebody is about to defend hisdissertation but also to describe a veryclever person. Similarly, the phrases “Any-one here, hey!” (Liudi, au!) from CarnivalNight, asking where people are, or thephrase “Go to the sauna” (Idi v baniu) fromIrony of Fate, telling a person to clear off(“bugger off”), or the phrase “in the case ofa fire” (na vsiakii pozharnyi sluchai) fromDiamond Arm, saying that something isdone “just in case,” have all become part ofeveryday language without referring tospecific contexts of the films. There arealso phrases that refer more specifically tothe films’ contexts.

The Heroes Stirlitz and Chapayev

Jokes about cult figures as well as refer-ences in everyday speech that cite the lines

of Soviet blockbusters penetrated and stillpenetrate contemporary speech. The figureof Stirlitz, the resident Soviet spy in Hitler’sthink tank in Berlin during World War II,was the main character of the spy thrillerSeventeen Moments of Spring, first broad-cast in 1972 and repeated annually, usuallyaround Victory Day. The film used the de-vice of opening “files” on the main charac-ters to explain their role in the complicatedstructure of Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS);each file was usually preceded by thewords “information for consideration” (In-formatsiia k razmyshleniiu), a phrase thatis still a classic quotation in contemporaryspeech when ironically giving additionalbut meaningless information. The seriesmakes Stirlitz out as a brilliant spy, yetmost of the time he gains his knowledge bydoing nothing. Action is presented throughthe narrative voiceover, making the role ofthe spy look ridiculous for the modern


As one of my late friends said, “I knew toomuch” (Kak govoril odin moi znakomyipokoinik: “ia slishkom mnogo znal”): An ironiccomment on somebody who can’t be silent orkeep a secret. (Diamond Arm)

On the whole, they’re all dead (V obshchem,vse umerli): Ironic remark at the end of a dis-cussion, indicating that everything has beensaid. (Formula of Love)

They’re all running, and so am I (Vsepobezhali—i ia pobezhal): I’ll do as everybodyelse does. (Gentlemen of Success)

I am running, flying, rushing (Begu, lechu,mchus!): Ironic statement to say “I am on myway” when the speaker is not really rushing.(Hello, I Am Your Aunt!)

How about ironing your shoelaces? (Ashnurki tebe ne pogladit’?): You’re asking a bitmuch. (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears)

All clear; the wedding is called off (Vseiasno; Svad’by ne budet): You understand, with-out further explanation, that something is can-celed. (Swineherd and Shepherd)

Who can’t? (A kto ne mozhet?): Ironic re-sponse when people must do something to getout of danger. (Volga-Volga)

The East is a delicate matter (Vostok—delotonkoe.): A remark about a tricky issue. (WhiteSun of the Desert)

Any questions? No questions (Voprosy est?Voprosov net.): This is not subject to discussion.(White Sun of the Desert)

Quotations from Films

spectator accustomed to the hyperactiveJames Bond.

The other cult figure of Soviet cinema isthe character of Chapayev, the hero of the1934 film. Chapayev is an uneducated peas-ant who plays his dutiful role in the Revo-lution and civil war. Rather than underlinehis revolutionary heroism, as the film does,the jokes parody Chapayev’s idiocy. In thisway, both the Stirlitz and Chapayev jokesundermine the intelligence of the hero, rev-olutionary and spy.

The Soviet spy Stirlitz and the Revolu-tionary hero Chapayev feature in anec-dotes as simpleton. Much of the humor isdrawn from the flat, deadpan portrayal ofStirlitz in his heroic actions during WorldWar II. The film comments—often unnec-essarily—on things that are obvious fromthe actions.

Stirlitz goes into Muller’s office and sees

him lying on the floor. “Poisoned, poor

chap,” thought Stirlitz, touching the handle

of the axe sticking out of Muller’s back.

Stirlitz goes into the SS headquarters and

finds a sign on his door: “Residence of the

Soviet Intelligence.” “Glasnost (openness),”

thinks Stirlitz.

Stirlitz catches a mouse and injects petrol

into its vein. The mouse runs for two meters

and then drops dead. “Ran out of petrol,”

thought Stirlitz.

Stirlitz approaches Berlin. The city is

veiled in smoke from the fires. “Again forgot

to switch off the iron,” thought Stirlitz with

slight irritation.

Chapayev is a revolutionary hero, but anuneducated man, a man of the people. Thefilm was designed to show how, throughrevolutionary activity, Chapayev became amore educated man.

Chapayev goes to matriculate in the mili-

tary academy.

— Have you given (passed)* everything?

—Not everything, Petka. I have given blood,

I have given urine, but not maths.

Chapayev fails his matriculation exams.

—What went wrong, then, Vasili Ivanovich?

—Maths.

— What happened?

—You see, Petka, they asked: how much is

0.5 plus 0.5, and I felt that it is a litre,

but how to express that mathematically—

I don’t know!

New Russians As with all other nations,there is a whole range of Russian jokesabout lovers and mistresses, about thearmy, and about hunting and fishing. Themost recent target of Russian anecdotesare the New Russians (novye russkie): theuneducated but rich, illiterate but powerful,inarticulate but good-natured Russians whomade a lot of money illegally and live ingreat wealth while the rest of the country isstruggling for survival.

The jokes about the New Russians crys-tallized the characteristics of this group asa new social “class” and not only mocked,but defined it. The New Russian is por-trayed as benevolent but thick. The jokesthen create an image of a powerful groupin society that makes them appear inferiorto the intelligentsia.

A New Russian stops his Mercedes 600 at a

red light. With screeching brakes a Zaporo-

zhets† approaches and rear-ends it. The


*The word for “give blood” and “pass an exam” usesthe same verb, sdavat.

†an old Soviet car

New Russian gets out of his Mercedes and

approaches the Zaporozhets. Behind the

wheel is a meek little man, looking in great

fear at the New Russian.

—“Don’t be afraid,” says the New Russian,

“just tell me one thing: how do you stop

at the light when I am not there?’

A journalist comes to a New Russian and

notices four mobile phones on the table.

—“What is this for?”

— International calls.

—And this?

—Intercity calls.

— And this?

—Local calls.

—And this one?

—Well, you can ask questions, internal

calls!

New Russian to his wife:

—Our tamagotchi [virtual reality pet] is

pregnant. Look.

He gets out a gadget and presses a button.

The line appears: “I am pregnant.”

—You idiot, this is your pager.

A New Russian is racing around Moscow

in his Mercedes and hits a number of pedes-

trians. The police stop him. What are you

hitting people for? And what do you think I

should do? Why else do I have a sight* on

the bonnet?

A New Russian at a funeral:

— How did Kolya die?

—He wanted to send a letter bomb, and

then he thought that would take too long

and tried to fax it.

The Circus

A History of the Circus

Today, as in the past, people across theworld still flock to see the Moscow StateCircus. The Russian circus today is only apale reflection of its former, Soviet self,however. Most artists train in Russia, begintheir career there, and then move on to in-ternational companies in order to earn adecent living. Contemporary circus takesplace less in Russia, as many artists per-form with international circuses. Today,some of the finest international artistscome from Russia but perform with CircusRoncalli, at the Berlin Wintergarten, withthe Canadian touring circus Cirque duSoleil, or other prestigious circuses.

The Circus Is Leaving Circus has al-ways been a form of popular entertain-ment, and this is also what it was in pre-Revolutionary Russia. Like most popularart forms, however, it was usurped by thestate to be elevated onto a higher level inorder to promulgate the new, high-pitchedcultural values of the new Soviet state.Therefore, it suffered a fate similar to thatof the puppet theater during the Soviet pe-riod, when it was nationalized and largelyturned into a stationary establishment.

Circus originally involved the perform-ance of trained horses; it was an equestriantheater of the style nowadays run by theFrench director Bartabas and his ensembleZingaro, emphasizing a style that is still vi-brant in contemporary France and repre-sents a popular form of entertainment.Only later did the circus appropriate theso-called intermedia: sketches and diver-tissements originating often from the streetand puppet theater, or the balagan, and in-volving amusement park artistes and


* pritsel, referring to the Mercedes star.

clowns who would participate in the circusperformance and bring with them carnivalelements. In many ways, the circus waspart of street entertainment, offering itsperformance only temporarily to a particu-lar region, and often associated withamusement parks, thus being part of thenarodnoe gulianie, the “people’s walks”around such street carnivals and amuse-ment parks.

In the twentieth century the circus be-came stationary, and performances weretheatricalized and sanitized. Popular cul-ture became part of high culture, althoughin reality many avant-garde artists were us-ing elements of low culture in their works.The highly renowned theater directorVsevolod Meyerhold had used circusartistes in Mystery Bouffe; the famousdramatist Nikolai Erdman had writtensatires and sketches for the music hall andcircus. Yet Soviet propaganda wanted ahigh level of culture and education andraised levels of popular mass culture in the1930s rather than using its appeal to reachthe masses. In the Soviet view, the art ofthe circus was coarse and needed to be-come sophisticated. Therefore, in the firstinstance people from the “high” culture ofthe ballet were entrusted with circuses.Alexander Gorsky (1871–1924), a balletmaster of none other than the Bolshoi The-ater, was drawn in to polish the circus per-formance. He used monumental sets andclassical music in his productions, withgreetings and overtures at the beginning towelcome the audience. His shows wereconstructed like a chess game betweenRussian and European literary and dra-matic characters, thus appealing to an edu-cated, sophisticated audience. KasianGoleizovsky (1892–1960) deployed moreeccentric devices in his shows, which in-

cluded acrobats, stylized sports, and politi-cal caricature. His spectacular shows re-sembled more the Harlequinade of thenineteenth century, with jugglers, eques-trian numbers, and clowns. Among theclowns, the famous Vitali Lazarenko(1890–1939) was outstanding. Lazarenkowas a satiric clown from the balagan tradi-tion, who performed virtuoso jumps, suchas a salto over three elephants that wasrecorded on film in 1914 by the cameramanof Pathé Films. Lazarenko took part inMeyerhold’s Mystery Bouffe (1921), thusdemonstrating the influence of circus per-formers on avant-garde art. Indeed, in the1920s many circus numbers were scriptedby Vladimir Mass and Nikolai Erdman, rec-ognized writers and playwrights whofounded the Theater of Satire in 1924.

After the nationalization of the circuses(1919), the first and second state circuswere created in Moscow, and later otherSoviet towns followed suit. By the 1930sthere were 23 stationary circuses. This co-incided with the formation of a Central Ad-ministration of State Circuses (TsUGTs) toensure that there would be a smoothchange of artistes in circuses all acrossRussia; in 1931 this became GOMETs. Inthe late 1920s and 1930s the attempts totheatricalize the circus performance wereparticularly evident. The potential to usecircus for agitation and propaganda wasrecognized, but circus should be pitchedhigher to raise the level of educatedness ofthe masses. The circus began to integratephysical culture (sports and acrobatic per-fection) into the performance. Attemptswere made to create a thematically or sty-listically unified performance to achieve asense of linearity and narrative. Particu-larly important in this respect was the fig-ure of Boris Shakhet (1899–1950), who had


begun his work with the Blue Blouses inthe 1920s before turning to the circus. Cir-cus directors became director-choreogra-phers, and they often had theatrical ratherthan acrobatic training. The circus wassupposed to offer relaxation and fill theworker with new energy, to advertise andincite physical culture, and to serve thepurpose of propaganda.

While the Soviet circus was trying tounify its artistic presentation the popular-ity of foreign numbers rose, and many ofthem were copied into the Russian reper-toire. During and after World War II, thecircus suffered from a lack of sufficientlytrained acrobats, an issue addressed by theformation of a circus section in the TheaterInstitutes. After the war the circus num-bers fell, and so did spectator numbers.The unsatisfactory preparation of artistswas to blame for the former; it transpired(although not to policymakers) that with-out family traditions and artistic familiesthe circus cannot survive, not even if thestate runs its finances and offers the train-ing. In the 1970s the Moscow Institute forTheater Arts (GITIS) set up a course forcircus directors, which was led by MarkMestechkin (1900–1981), who had workedin the estrada and in acrobatics. In 1948 heheaded the union of circuses, and after1954 he was artistic director of the circuson Tsvetnoi Boulevard, where he appearedas a clown. In 1966 he chose students forthe GITIS course, where he was professorfrom 1977 on.

The Circus in Moscow and Leningrad

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union,Moscow had two stationary circuses,Leningrad one. In Moscow the circus hadalways been part of the space in the citycenter. The seventeenth-century sko-

morokhi had performed in central Moscow;amusement parks took place in centralparks (Devichye Pole [Maiden Field];Novinskii Boulevard; Sokolniki; MaryinaRoshcha); touring circuses took residencein Neskuchny and Hermitage Gardens. Thefirst stationary circus (Novosiltsev) openedin 1853 on Petrovka Street (the location ofthe present Central Department Store,TsUM). In 1869, Karl Ginne’s circus openedon Vozdvizhenka Street, opposite the Krem-lin. More honor came to the circus when inMay 1883, on the occasion of the corona-tion of Alexander III, a celebration was heldon Khodynskoye Field, where Albert Sala-monsky (1839–1913) appeared with hishorses. In 1880, Salamonsky opened anequestrian circus in a brick building onTsvetnoi Boulevard, to which a stable wasadded. The shows of Salamonsky’s circusincluded themes of the Nibelungen myth,the Ukrainian historical figure Mazepa, andCinderella. In 1886 the Nikitins acquired thepremises of the present cinema Mir, justdown the road from Salamonsky, andstarted a rivalry between the two circuses.The Nikitins were three brothers—Dmitri(1835–1918), Akim (1843–1917), and Petr(1846–1921)—who had started off asbuskers and acrobats. They went on to es-tablish the first stationary circuses in anumber of Russian cities. Salamonskyeventually closed his establishment. In 1911the Nikitins’ circus moved into a new build-ing, with a moving arena and a pool on thesite of today’s Satire Theater on Mayakov-sky Square. After the Nikitin Brothers’deaths, the circus was taken on by the jug-gler Nikolai Nikitin (1887–1963). In 1919,both the Nikitin and Salamonsky circuseswere nationalized. In 1944 the circus onTsvetnoi Boulevard (formerly Salamonsky)reopened. From 1983 to 1997 it was di-


rected by the clown Yuri Nikulin, and sincehis death by Mikhail Nikulin. It was closedfrom 1985 to 1989 for refurbishment. It is amodern and experimental circus, which isreflected in the creation of a studio by thechoreographer Valentin Gneushev.

The circus on Vernadskii Prospekt wasbuilt in 1971 to house a larger number ofspectators (3,350 seats). It is equipped withhydraulic devices to lower the arena for athree-meter-deep pool or to elevate it tocreate an ice rink. The show Lights of theNew Circus (1971) opened the new build-ing. The circus was directed by Yevgeni Mi-layev (1910–1983), a tightrope acrobat and“white” clown; and since 1984 by LeonidGostiuk.

Another important artistic dynasty of thenationalized Soviet circus was the Durovs.Vladimir Durov (1863–1934) worked withSalamonsky in Moscow as a clown, satirist,

and trainer of animals. His wife, Anna, alsotrained animals; their daughter, Anna, re-created the Durov Circus of Animals in1943. Their granddaughter, Natalia (b.1934), worked in the state circus andtrained sea lions, before forming in 1978Granddad Durov’s Theater of Beasts, ofwhich she has been general director since1992.

In Leningrad, Yevgeni Kuznetsov madean important contribution to the strength-ening of the technical side of the circusduring the 1930s and 1940s. He choreo-graphed the shows and used effective light-ing, making them look like music hall per-formances with a corps-de-ballet to unitethe show. Georgi Venetsianov (1886–1965),who had headed the music hall and theestrada theater, brought even more chore-ography to the Leningrad circus, changingthe genre and the tone of individual num-


A circus number in the Nikulin circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard. (Photo by Roman

Mukhametzhanov/Kommersant)

bers set to the tunes of Isaak Dunayevskyand other film music. Venetsianov createdthematic-oriented spectacles, but most im-portant, he advanced the technology in cre-ating a circus on water and on ice (Holidayon Water [Prazdnik na vode], 1952; Carni-val on Ice, 1952). Circus of Bears trans-formed the entire arena into a parody ofthe circus itself, with bears playing theparts of jugglers, acrobats, and clowns.

After the collapse of the USSR, Ros-tsirk(Ros-gos-tsirk after 1995) took over themanagement of circuses. The collapse ofthe Soviet Union meant the loss of the re-publics’ stationary circuses as well as re-publican national groups. That, togetherwith the growing emigration of circusartistes in an economically unstable periodof transition, in which foreign tours werethe only financial salvation, left the circusstruggling for survival. By the end of the1990s, the Great Moscow Circus (Vernad-skii Prospekt), the Leningrad/St. Peters-burg circus on Fontanka canal, and Niku-lin’s circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard hadsurvived as well as a number of regionalcircuses. In 1997, the year of Moscow’s850th anniversary, the Great Moscow Cir-cus staged the show My Dear Muscovites(Dorogie moi moskvichi), paying homageto the city with popular tunes of the 1960sand 1970s, from the estrada and the bards,and remembering the capital’s history in anostalgic review.

If we take circus performances to meana large body of people attending, then Pol-unin’s clown shows are the only circus per-formances outside the circus of Nikulinand the Petersburg circus on Fontanka.The Great Moscow Circus on VernadskiiProspekt caters largely for visitors; Mus-covites take their children to Nikulin’s cir-cus. It is only thanks to the clowns, Nikulin

and Polunin, that the circus has survived.The maintenance of circuses, the reper-toire problems aside, leaves the circusmanagement with the gigantic task of feed-ing and maintaining the animals, not tomention the salary of artistes. It wouldseem that the departure of so many tal-ented circus artistes abroad has left a gapin the world of the Russian circus that willbe difficult to patch up.

Choreographed Acrobatics

and Clowns

The Choreography of the Act In the1980s more attempts were made to create athematically unified show, often by defin-ing the genre of the numbers and dramatiz-ing them. Numbers were held together bycostumes and music as well as the per-formance of tricks in a given situation.Thus, for example, Dana Kaseyeva per-formed her hula hoops number in a dance,with only one hoop.

The contribution of Valentin Gneushev ismost important for the development of thecircus on the threshold of a new era. Gneu-shev (b. 1951) graduated from the State In-stitute of Circus and Variety Theater (GUT-sEI) as a clown, having been taught byRoman Viktiuk. He then graduated fromthe State Institute of Theater in 1986 as di-rector of circus performance and workedin the theater and the circus. From 1996 to1998 he was director of the circus on Tsvet-noi Boulevard, where he created the Fun-fair of Miracles (Yarmarka chudes, 1996),a circus show focused on the visitor of asheikh, who is shown old Russian-style cir-cus and street theater, beginning withPetrushka. A master of choreography, forthe circus or the theater, Gneushev was thefirst choreographer to incorporate ele-


ments of break dancing into his work, andsubsequently into circus performance. In“Red Harlequin” (modeled on Pablo Pi-casso’s “Harlequin” painting), the jugglerVladimir Tsarkov (b. 1963) performed histricks in Harlequin costume to the rhythmand movement of break dance. Similarly,Gneushev assisted the Odintsov equilib-rists by creating for them the choreographyof a working brigade, dressing them inworking overalls and helmets for theirnumber “The Builders.” He devised a rhyth-mical pattern for the movements of YelenaPanova, when she had to gain height on thetrapeze for her numbers. For the tigertrainer Nikolai Pavlenko, Gneushev in-vented the image of the conductor-trainer,dressing Pavlenko in a tailcoat with a con-ductor’s stick (the rod he used on thetigers); Pavlenko was subsequently labeled

the “Karajan of the circus” (in analogy tothe great twentieth-century conductor Her-bert von Karajan).

In the early 1990s many internationallyrenowned artists had their numbers chore-ographed by Valentin Gneushev. This istrue for the aerial artist AlexanderStreltsov, who initially trained in Moscowand received the Future award at theCirque de Demain festival in Paris in 1991,when aged only 12. The Zemtsovs, a groupof Russian pole acrobats, received theGolden Prize of the Cirque de Demain in1993. The monocycle number by DianaAlechenko and Yuri Chavro, choreo-graphed also by Gneushev, received theGolden Prize of the Cirque de Demain in1996, and in the same year the Popovs’trampoline number took the Silver Prize. In1994, the Silver Prize of the Cirque de De-


Valentin Gneushev, choreographer and artistic director of the circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard, and the

clown Yuri Nikulin. (Photo by Roman Mukhametzhanov/Kommersant)

main went to Yelena Larkina for her hulahoop number, choreographed by Gneu-shev. The hand-balancing act of YelenaBorodina, performed on a white cube un-der the title “Silencio,” received the SilverPrize of the Cirque de Demain in 2001.Borodina has since performed at the Win-tergarten in Berlin, a stationary variety the-ater, and with the Circus Roncalli.

Although Moscow circus numbers wererefined in their choreographic presentationand “aestheticized” by Gneushev, inLeningrad circus matters took a differentturn. In the studio boom of the late 1980s,the Leningrad studios concentrated on thedevelopment of the art of mime (ratherthan exclusively dramatic performance). Intheir midst emerged the group of theFarces, initially a nonverbal theater di-rected by Viktor Kramer; Derevo, the groupof Anton Adasinsky, who was inspired to anonverbal, theatrical performance by tradi-tions of buto theater in studio conditions;and the experimental mime theater ofAlexander Pliush, staging classical dra-matic texts through expressive move-ments. If Petersburg had many studiosworking with mime, then Moscow couldonly boast of BlackSkyWhite (Cherno-NeboBeloye) run by Dmitri Ariupin and hiswife, the mime Marcella Soltan, who haswon prizes at theater and mime festivals.Her solo shows are thematically unified.Imitator Dei (Kosvennoe dokazatel’stvozhizni na zemle), Bertrand’s Toys (IgrushkiBertranda), and Here Was the USSR (Zdes’byl SSSR) are all set in a small space so asto ensure the visibility of Marcella’s mim-icry and facial expression. The intimacy ofthe experience of the show is essential. Ar-iupin creates powerful associative imagesabout the past, childhood, the relationshipbetween man and the world. These are,

however, not circus, but mime theater per-formances.

Clowns Clowns have always played anintegral part in the circus, and also in theSoviet circus, although clown numbers toowere threatened by the stifling culturalprocess in the immediate postwar years.The clown Carandache (Mikhail Rumiant-sev, 1901–1983), who took his name fromthe pencil makers Caran D’Ache, played acaricaturist in the mask of Chaplin. He wasa small man with inadequate behavior, whoinvariably appeared with his Scottish ter-rier Kliaksa (the blob) and provided a uni-fying element in the circus shows. YuriKuklachev (b. 1949) is a folk clown (alsoknown as Vasilyok), a man from the peo-ple, a jolly guy and simpleton. In 1985 hewas awarded the Silver Clown at the MonteCarlo International Circus Festival. Helater worked with cats, and since 1990 hehas run his own theater with trained cats ina former cinema in Moscow. It is the onlycats’ theater in the world, known as TeatrKoshek. Boris Viatkin (1913–1994) was aclown from Novosibirsk, who worked inLeningrad in the postwar years. There hecoined his character: a mask of Chaplin,which he wore as he walked the tightrope.He sported a leisure suit and was accompa-nied by his dog, Maniuna. Probably thebest-known Soviet Russian clown in thewest is Oleg Popov (b. 1930), who plays anIvan the Fool–type character. He is knownas “the sunny clown,” with straight redhair, a red nose, striped trousers, and ablack jacket with a red bow tie. He becamethe Soviet Union’s clown-laureate in the1970s and is the winner of numerous inter-national awards, including the GoldenClown of the Monte Carlo InternationalCircus Festival in 1981. Popov is a “red


clown,” a phlegmatic character, a simple-ton—as opposed to the “white clown,” whois a comic figure, often an acrobat or ani-mal trainer, in short trousers with a jacketand a white face, modeled on Pierrot. Thepair of the red and the white clown oftenappeared as a duo, such as Yuri Nikulin(1921–1997) and Mikhail Shuidin (1922–1983), with their buffoon numbers creatinga unique rendering of the classical duo.Other such duos were the buffoons Mikand Mak (Nikolai Kormiltsev and AndreiSharnin): Mik was the white, elegant, andsupple clown, opposed to the red clownwith his stroppy and stubborn character. Inone of their numbers, they presented a par-ody of Anna Karenina and her suicide andmocked other classical literary and circusthemes in their numbers. Dolly andDomino (Lada and Alexander Sarnatsky)played a pair of everyday characters: he abit retarded, she elegant and dominant,with her huge bust made by melons.

Andrei Jigalov is a major internationalcircus clown. He trained in Moscow and re-ceived his first major international awardwith the clown Alexeyenko in 1992: theGolden Prize of the Cirque de Demain. Histrademark is a jacket that sits far tootightly over a pair of trousers that aresloppy and far too large. He performs forRoncalli with Peter Shub, the Americanclown with the trademark trench coat,photo camera, and hat, creating the imageof the eternal tourist. In 2003, Jigalov, withhis partners Konstantin and Csaba in a newclown number, received the Silver Clownat the International Monte Carlo CircusFestival. Also recognized in Monte Carlo in2002 was the clown duo Emelin andZagorsky, specializing in parody. None ofthem, however, can match the poetic styleand idiosyncrasy of Slava Polunin.

The Litsedei Polunin The groupLitsedei (Hypocrites, Actors) was formedby Slava Polunin in 1979. Polunin (b. 1950)graduated from LGITMiK and formedLitsedei as the first mime group in Lenin-grad, where they worked until 1992. Hestaged the show Asisyai, which createdPolunin’s prototype, a clown with red fluffyslippers and yellow rompers. Litsedei tookpart in the Caravan of Peace organized byPolunin in 1989: it was a huge internationaloperation, a festival of street theaters thattraveled across the Soviet Union and East-ern and Western Europe. After the caravan,Polunin wanted to run a series of festivalsand formed the Academy of Fools inLeningrad (1992–1993), which soon ran outof funding. Four of the Litsedei split offfrom the original group, calling themselvesLitsedei Minus Four. They presented theirfirst show, Bezsolnitsa (a mix of the words


The clown Slava Polunin in his red and yellow

costume of Asisyai, the character he invented

for the Asisyai show. (Photo by Irina Kaledina)

insomnia and lack of sun), in 1993. With-out support from the state for experimen-tation, Polunin left the country and spenttwo years in the United States, then twoyears in France; since 1997 he has beenbased in London. He has undertaken anumber of international tours with SnowShow, which premiered in St. Petersburg in1993 and follows on from Asisyai. SnowShow has had runs in Edinburgh and Lon-don and has toured world wide.

In Snow Show, Polunin-Asisyai (theclown in the yellow suit with red fluffy slip-pers) enters with a rope, possibly a dog’sleash. But there is no dog; instead, a sec-ond clown follows, this one dressed ingreen. The yellow clown contemplates sui-cide and is deterred when his partner triesto use the other end of the rope for thesame purpose. The show is set on a snowy,white stage, emphasising solitude in theArctic, where man faces the adverse ele-ments and is eventually swept away by ablizzard. Polunin dances with an emptyovercoat: there is no other human soul. Heleads a tragic, lonely existence. From hissuitcase he takes a yellow balloon, whichtragically pops after he has managed tohold a conversation with it by means of awhistle, to which the balloon seemingly re-sponds. Through his cheerful comport-ment and his invitation to the audience toplay, he underlines the (Beckettian) ab-surdity of life as a condition for the clown’sexistence. The “other” clowns, in greenjumpsuits with large, flapping ears, live in aclan and wreak havoc, both on stage and inthe auditorium. A telephone conversation,cited from the earlier show Asisyai, is in-serted into the second part of the show:Polunin speaks as it were with his alterego, thus strengthening again the sense ofthe clown’s loneliness. Before the interval

the audience is wrapped in the web of thepadding pulled from the sheets that formthe stage wall; these represent either snow(white) or the night (dark blue). Polunincreates a powerful image of a lonely man,who never surrenders to his loneliness.Polunin was awarded the prize Triumph(established by the tycoon Boris Bere-zovsky) in 1999 and subsequently returnedto Russia with Asisyai in 2002–2003 andwith Snow Show in 2003. Polunin’s interestin the borderline between life and play/game and his perception of the clown’s ex-istence as a permanent condition of carni-val make him one of the most outstandingclowns of his age.

Polunin’s shows attract crowds. He hasparticipated in the work of the Cirque duSoleil, whose popularity in Russia sur-mounts that of Polunin. Their shows toohave a unifying theme and develop a uni-versal, mythical or legendary, story. In thefirst show they explored the opposition be-tween circus people and ordinary humanbeings. Later they dwelt on Chinese leg-ends or fantastic spirits or on historical fig-ures to inspire their performances and setthe style and rhythm for each show. Chore-ography, music, numbers, and special ef-fects create a total performance, indeedmuch as in Polunin’s shows (only withfewer artistes). Cirque du Soleil wasfounded by Guy Laliberté in 1984 in Que-bec and has since conquered the worldwith four or five shows running simultane-ously in international tours while two arestationary in the United States. Many cir-cus artistes of the former Eastern Europe,including Russia and Ukraine, are part ofone of the collectives of Cirque du Soleil.

The International Arena The Cirquedu Soleil has incorporated a number of


Russian acrobats into its shows. Seriouscollaboration began in the show Alegria(1994), when the famous clown Slava Pol-unin devised a number that he would laterdevelop into his own, full-blown show, theSnow Show. Its was performed by theclown Yuri Medvedev, with Sergei Cha-chalev. The two clowns entered onto thestage, observing a puffing miniature trainon the stage that was gradually covered insnow (paper flakes). Medvedev would siton a suitcase, which he carried, opening itto retrieve some bright yellow balloonswith red ribbons, reminders of Polunin’soriginal Asisyai costume. The clown islonely in the snow, in an act performed tothe “Nocturne” that highlights man’s soli-tude. In O (1998), Valeri Keft and LeonidLeikin, former Litsedei actors, took on theclown numbers. In La Nouba (1998), theclown Sergei Chachalev appeared in a solosketch.

In terms of acrobatics, the Soleil drawsregularly on Russian acrobats. Igor Arefievperformed on the high wire in La Nouba,before offering an aerial pas de deux withColette Morrow (UK) in Dralion (1999).The Ukrainian-born gymnast and graduateof Kiev’s circus school, Viktor Kee, per-forms a juggling act combined with bodycontortion in the same show. He has alsoappeared in other shows in Paris and LasVegas. In Saltimbanco (1992), Maria Mar-kova presented a juggling act. In the mostrecent show, Varekai (2002), Anton Chel-nokov presented the “Flight of Icarus,” anaerial act, in which he—failing to fly—fallsinto the net—a forest—where he meets abeautiful spirit. This is Olga Pikhienko withher hand-balancing act, whom he joins foran aerial contortion act. The number, di-rected by Chelnokov’s father, Nikolai, haswon great acclaim. Both artists have re-

ceived awards: Olga Pikhienko receivedthe Future award of the Cirque de Demainin 1992 for an “Adagio” in an earlier Cirquedu Soleil performance; Anton Chelnokovwon the same award for aerial net in 2001.

The recognition of circus artistes ismeasured in international terms by theawards of the Cirque de Demain festival inParis and the Monte Carlo InternationalCircus Festival. Russia itself organized afew national and international circus festi-vals also in the 1990s, notably the All-Rus-sian Circus Festival, which took place inYaroslavl in 1997 and in Saratov in 1999.Moscow held a World Circus Festival in1996, on Red Square, in which, for the mostpart, artistes from the former Soviet coun-tries and China participated.

It is in the world of acrobatics that Rus-sia takes the lead both nationally and inter-nationally, however. In 1992 the trapezeartist Yelena Fomina won the Silver Prizeat the Cirque de Demain. Fomina todayteaches trapeze at the Montreal CircusSchool. In 1994 Vitali Jouravel won theGolden Prize at the Cirque de Demain forhis gymnastic performance on fixed bars;he has since worked with Circus Althoff.The Kurbanovs won in the same year theFuture award for their motorcycle numberof “Icarian acrobatics.” In 2003 they per-formed their new number of motorcycleacrobatics in rocker-style choreography inMonte Carlo. Sergei Tayekin and OlgaBudziovich were awarded a Golden Prizeat the Cirque de Demain in 1995 for theirgymnastics. They went on to the circusRoncalli. The Kuznetsovs are gymnastswho work on Russian bars; they receivedthe Golden Prize at the Cirque de Demainin 1996. In the same year, Oleg Izosimovwon recognition in Monte Carlo for his bal-let-styled act of hand-balancing, which he


has since shown both at the Wintergartenand Roncalli. Natalia Jigalova received aSilver Prize at the Cirque de Demain in1996 for her work on the trapeze, followedby her colleague Yelena Popova, who re-ceived an award in the same discipline in2001. Two of the most prestigious awards,the Golden Clowns of Monte Carlo, havegone to teeterboard artists: to the Cher-nievsky troupe in 2000, and to the Puzanovigroup in 2003. The Puzanovis developedtheir number in the style of Russian folk-lore. Another Golden Award at the Cirquede Demain 2003 went to the Rokashkovs.Sergei and Natalia Rokashkov perform aer-ial gymnastics on a fixed bar to Latin Amer-ican music, in a number choreographed byAlexander Grimailo. They work with Ron-calli. Most internationally recognizedartistes thus move to European circus en-sembles at the first opportunity.

A to Z

Chapayev, Vasili Ivanovich: 1887–1919;came from a peasant family. He fought dur-ing World War I and joined the revolution-aries. He was a hero of the civil war. He isportrayed and immortalized in the 1923novel by Dmitri Furmanov (1891–1926)that served as the basis for a film made in1934 by the Vasiliev brothers. Furmanovhad studied philosophy and joined the Rev-olutionary movement in 1917; he was com-mander of Chapayev’s division in Kaza-khstan. This encounter and the battlesprovided the backdrop for the events cov-ered in the novel and the film. Chapayev’sheroism and his fervent support of the Rev-olution are combined with his lack of edu-cation. Through the Revolutionary cause

and the admiration for the figure of thecommander Furmanov, Chapayev’s wish tobecome more educated was awakened. Hethus served as a model for Communist cul-ture, which aimed to raise the level of liter-acy and education among peasants.

Cirque du Soleil: founded in 1984 inGaspé, Quebec, by Guy Laliberté. Creativedirectors are Guy Caron and Gilles Ste.-Croix. Shows have included We Reinventthe Circus, 1987; Nouvelle Experience,1990; Fascination, 1992; Saltimbanco,1992; Mystere, 1994, at a stationary theaterin Las Vegas; Alegria, 1994; Quidam, 1996;O, 1998, at a permanent base in Las Vegas;La Nouba, 1998, at a theater in Orlando;Dralion, 1999; Varekai, 2002; Zumanity,2003, at a theater in Las Vegas. Cirque duSoleil’s shows are thematically arrangedand lavishly designed, with a precise cho-reography to lend coherence to the showand emphasize each number. The Cirqueworks with international artists. [www.cirquedusoleil.com]

Derevo: mime group founded by AntonAdasinsky, who left Litsedei with TaniaKhabarova, Lena Yarovaya, and AlexeiMerkushev in April 1988 (Leningrad). Since1989, mostly abroad, practically based inGermany. Their shows have included RedZone (1988); The Rider (1992); Once(1997); Islands in the Stream (2003).[www.derevo.org]

Dodin, Lev: b. 1944; graduated from theLeningrad Theater Institute in 1965.Worked at the Leningrad Young Spectator’sTheater. Chief artistic director to the MalyiDrama Theater (now Theater of Europe) inLeningrad (now St. Petersburg) since 1982.Repertoire includes numerous prose adap-


tations, including the world-famous trilogybased on Fyodor Abramov’s village prose(The House, 1980, and Brothers and Sis-ters, 1985). Other adaptations have in-cluded William Golding’s The Lord of theFlies (1986), Yuri Trifonov’s The Old Man(1988), Sergei Kaledin’s prose (Gaudea-mus, 1990), and Dostoevsky’s The Devils(1991). His 1987 production of AlexanderGalin’s Stars in the Morning Sky, a playabout Moscow prostitutes during the 1980Olympics, made a furor on the waves ofglasnost. Productions of the 1990s in-cluded Claustrophobia (1994), based onthe contemporary prose of VladimirSorokin and Liudmila Ulitskaya; Chekhov’sThe Cherry Orchard (1995), Ivanov (Playwithout a Title, 1998), and Uncle Vania(2003); and Andrei Platonov’s Chevengur(1999). [www.mdt-dodin.ru]

Fomenko, Petr: b. 1932, worked inMoscow until 1974, when he moved toLeningrad, where from 1977 to 1981 heheaded the Theater of Comedy. In 1984 hereturned to Moscow; Fomenko teaches atGITIS/RATI and set up his own theater, theWorkshop Petr Fomenko, with graduatesfrom his courses. His own directing style isa visually expressive, but psychologicallyfine reading of the text. [www.teatr.ru]

Grishkovets, Yevgeni: b. 1967 and lived inKemerovo, Siberia, where he founded theLozha Theater. In the late 1990s presentedsolo performances of his own texts, How IAte a Dog (Kak ia s”el sobaku) and Simul-taneously (Odnovremenno). Later wroteplays: Winter (Zima), The Town (Gorod),and—in joint stock method with the ArtsTheater—The Siege (Osada, 2003). [www.odnovremenno.ru] and [www.grishkovets.com]

Khazanov, Gennadi: b. 1945. Comedian ofthe estrada, whose career started as con-férencier for Leonid Utesov’s jazz band inthe 1960s. Because of his political text, hewas banned from the stage in 1984. In 1987his show was directed by Viktiuk. In the1990s he appeared on the stage of dramatheaters and in films. Since 1997 he hasbeen artistic director of the MoscowEstrada Theater.

Koliada, Nikolai: b. 1957. Major playwrightof the 1990s, actor at the Drama Theater inEkaterinburg. Later began to direct on hisown and founded his own theater. Editorof the journal Ural, where he published anumber of new writers and playwrights.Teaches at Ekaterinburg’s Theater Insti-tute; some of the most talented writersemerged from his classes; he often pub-lishes their works at his own expense. Hisown plays—The Catapult (Rogatka), Ogin-ski’s Polonaise (Polonez Oginskogo), WeGo and Go (My edem, edem, edem)—playat Moscow’s largest theaters and many ofthem have been translated into several lan-guages. [http://kolyada.ur.ru]

Kozak, Roman: b. 1957; graduated fromMoscow Arts Theater School. Kozakworked in the studio movement, where hebecame famous for a production of LudmilaPetrushevskaya’s Cinzano, written in 1973but previously banned from the stage for itstreatment of alcoholism. He is married tothe choreographer Alla Sigalova. He wasassociated with Moscow Arts Theater untilhe took over the Pushkin Theater in 2000.

Kurochkin, Maxim: b. 1970. Playwright,who graduated from the History Depart-ment of Kiev University. The Destroyer ofthe Class Medea (Istrebitel’ klassa


“Medeia”, 1995) and Steel Will (Stal’ova vo-lia, 1999) demonstrate his technique ofblending a historical plot with a contempo-rary setting into a science-fiction-typedrama. The Kitchen (Kukhnia, 2000) wascommissioned and directed by Oleg Men-shikov. [www.newdrama.ru/authors/]

Litsedei: (Actors, or Hypocrites). Litsedeiwas founded by Viacheslav Polunin. Theyperformed clown and mime shows andtook part in street theater festivals. Thegroup split several times. Litsedei MinusFour—Leonid Leikin, Anvar Libabov, VasiliSoboliev, Valeri Keft, and Anna Orlova—presented Bezsolnitsa (1993).

Makovetsky, Sergei: b. 1958. Graduatedfrom the Shchukin Theater School in 1980.Actor of the Vakhtangov Theater and, since1989, of the Theater of Roman Viktiuk; per-formed in Masterclass (1989), M Butterfly(1990), Lolita (1993), The Catapult (1993).Honored Artist of the Russian Federation,1992; NIKA Award of the Russian FilmAcademy in the category best actor forMakarov, 1994.

Mashkov, Vladimir: b. 1963, actor at theTabakov Theater. Mashkov has played innumerous films and been cast for interna-tional projects as well. Since the mid-1990shas directed (A Fatal Number, 1994, BertoltBrecht’s Threepenny Opera, 1996, and RayCooney’s Out of Order [stage title No. 13 ],Moscow Arts Theater, 2001). He has alsoembarked on work as a film director (Papa,2004). Mashkov is a sex symbol and a Rus-sian megastar on stage and screen.

Menshikov, Oleg: b. 1960. One of the topfilm and theater actors in Russia. Men-shikov graduated in 1982 from the Shchep-

kin Theater School. His parts as Caligula(1991), and the dancer Nijinski (1993) cre-ated his reputation. He played the poetSergei Esenin in the London production ofWhen She Danced . . . (1992, with VanessaRedgrave). In 1998 established his own the-ater company, Tovarishchestvo 814, wherehe directs and acts. Work as director hasincluded Woe from Wit (1999), Kitchen(2000), The Gamblers (2002).

Mirzoyev, Vladimir: b. 1957, graduatedfrom the circus department at GITIS in1981. From 1987 to 1989 worked in theVOTM. From 1989 to 1993 lived andworked in Canada. In 1993 returned to Rus-sia. Has worked at the Stanislavsky The-ater and other established theaters inMoscow and usually casts the actor MaximSukhanov in his productions, which enjoyhuge popularity. Productions have in-cluded The Marriage (1994); Khlestakov(1996); Amphytrion (1998); Two Women(A Month in the Country) (1998); TheTaming of the Shrew (1999); Twelfth Night(1999); Pinter’s Collection (2000); Cyranode Bergerac (2000).

Moscow Arts Theater (MkhAT): foundedin 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavsky andVladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, this the-ater is one of the oldest and most presti-gious theaters in Moscow. After 1970 it wasunder the leadership of Oleg Yefremov. Af-ter his death in 2000 it was taken over byOleg Tabakov. [www.mxat.ru]

New Russian (novyi russkii): The termused for a new “class” of Russian societythat emerged after the collapse of the So-viet Union. In the 1990s many opportuni-ties opened up that allowed people tomake a lot of money; not all these opportu-


nities were legal. At the same time, busi-ness opportunities were followed up bypeople of the younger generation with agreat deal of initiative, leaving the intelli-gentsia in the role of the poor beggar at themercy of those who had managed to dobetter than they. Writers, academics,artists, and other groups who belonged tothe intelligentsia that had always formedthe “think tank” for the state, whether asdissident voices or as supportive of Gorba-chev’s reforms, had suddenly lost their in-fluence, status, and income. The intelli-gentsia, educated and cultured, mockedthe habits of the new rich class in numer-ous jokes. The shop The World of NewRussians also exposes mockingly the atti-tude of the older generation toward theclass that now influences Russia’s econ-omy and politics. The New Russian is al-legedly uneducated and rude, but rich.[www.newrussian.net]

Obraztsov, Sergei: (1901–1992). Trainedas a painter and designer, then went to theMoscow Arts Theater studio, later at theMkhAT 2 studio. After 1920, worked withpuppets on the estrada. He organized theState Puppet Theater in 1931, on Mayakov-sky Square. In 1970 the theater moved intonew premises on the Ring Road. After 1973was professor at GITIS. Headed the puppettheater and set the dominant tone for theo-ries on puppet theater for most of the Sovietperiod. Different approaches to puppet the-ater not until after his death. Famous for hispuppet Tiapa. The repertoire included clas-sical texts rendered suitable for children,Soviet children’s literature, and figures ofanimation for the stage. [www.puppet.ru]

Polunin, Slava: b. 1950. Clown, based inLeningrad/St. Petersburg; later in London.

Polunin created a Mime Parade (1982) andin 1987 founded the Listedei Litsei(Lyceum of Hypocrites); in 1988 organizedthe Congress of Fools; in 1989 launchedthe Caravan of Peace, touring most of theworld over the following year. In 1992 setup the Academy of Fools, before leavingRussia in 1993. His shows Asisyai andSnowShow have toured the entire world.He has worked with Cirque du Soleil; in2001 he organized the street theater pro-gram for the Theater Olympics in Moscow.[www.slavasnowshow.com]

Popov, Oleg: b. 1930. A “sunny clown,”with straight red hair, a red nose, stripedtrousers, and a black jacket with a red bowtie. Golden Clown award of the MonteCarlo International Circus Festival in 1981.

Potudan Theater: Puppet theater formedin 2000 by graduates of the Petersburg The-ater Institute (SPATI) from Grigori Kozlov’scourse. Headed by Ruslan Kudashov (b.1972), a graduate of SPATI. Named afterPotudan, a show based on Andrei Plato-nov’s story. Nevsky Prospekt opened 2002.Innovative use of puppets while followingthe poetic tradition of puppet theater.[www.potudan.ru]

Presniakov, Oleg and Vladimir: b. 1969and 1974 in Sverdlovsk. They created theirown theater at the Ural State Universitywhere they were students of philology.Their play Terrorism has been translatedinto several languages. Playing the Victimopened at the Royal Court London in 2003.[www.newdrama.ru/authors/]

Raikin, Arkadi: (1911–1987). Raikin stud-ied at the Leningrad Theater Institute. In1939, created the Leningrad Theater of


Miniature. His contribution to the develop-ment of estrada as a cabaret and entertain-ment genre cannot be underestimated.Raikin gave a great number of perform-ances in Leningrad and all across Russia,and in 1987 he moved to his own theater,the Satirikon in Moscow. His son, Konstan-tin Raikin, an actor and director of dra-matic theater, took on the artistic manage-ment of the Satirikon and made it one ofthe finest drama theaters in Moscow.

Serebrennikov, Kirill: b. 1969 in Rostov-on-Don, where he studied theater. After mak-ing a little-known film, he moved toMoscow in the late 1990s. He made the tel-evision serials Rostov-Papa and Diary of aMurder. His Moscow stage debut was withVasili Sigarev’s Plasticine in a small experi-mental theater. Specializes in contempo-rary plays, including Ravenhill’s ExplicitPolaroids, Sigarev’s Plasticine, the Presni-akov brothers’ Terrorism. Has also stagedcommercial productions at established the-aters, including Lermontov’s Demon withOleg Menshikov (2003) and TennesseeWilliams’s Sweet Bird of Youth with MarinaNeyolova (2002) at the Sovremennik.

Sigarev, Vasili: b. 1977 in Nizhny Tagil,Urals. Studied under Nikolai Koliada. Plas-ticine (Plastilin) was read at the Liubi-movka festival in Moscow and staged in2001 by Kirill Serebrennikov. Black Milkfollowed in 2002. His plays have beentranslated into several languages. [http://sigarev.narod.ru]

Stirlitz: The best-known figure of Russiancinematic history. He is the protagonist ofthe television serial Seventeen Moments ofSpring, based on Yulian Semyonov’s spynovel and filmed by Tatiana Lioznova in

1972. The part of Stirlitz was played by Via-cheslav Tikhonov. The twelve series are re-peated frequently on Russian televisionand remain popular. The series deals withthe role of a Soviet resident spy in Hitler’sSS headquarters during World War II. Stir-litz tries to understand the moves of theGermans and communicate the informa-tion to Moscow, awaiting instructions fromthere how to proceed. He also has to travelto Switzerland on a special mission. Thefilm presents a Soviet spy who works withhis mind rather than his muscles, unlikeJames Bond.

Tabakov, Oleg: b. 1935; graduated from theMoscow Arts Theater School; acted at theSovremennik under Oleg Yefremov; left theSovremennik in 1983 to join Yefremov atthe Moscow Arts Theater. Since 1987, deanof the Moscow Arts Theater School; since2000, artistic director of the Arts Theater.

Tabakov Theater (Tabakerka): founded in1974 with student actors. Since 1987 thestudio operates as theater on ChaplyginStreet. The repertoire of the Tabakov The-ater has included Gorky’s The Last Ones(Poslednie, 1995) and The Lower Depths(Na dne, 2000), both directed by AdolfShapiro; Oleg Antonov’s The Fatal Number(Smertelnyi nomer, 1994), directed by Vlad-imir Mashkov (1994); Anecdotes (based onDostoevsky and Alexander Vampilov,1995), starring Vladimir Mashkov; Nabo-kov’s Camera Obscura (1997); A Room ofLaughter (Komnata smekha), by the Anti–Booker Prize winner Oleg Bogayev, di-rected by Kama Ginkas (1998). [http://tabakov.theatre.ru]

Ten’ (Teatr Ten’): The Shadow Theater, lo-cated in Moscow on Novoslobodskaya


Street, was founded in 1989 by MayaKrasnopolskaya and Ilia Eppelbaum. Therepertoire includes puppet shows for chil-dren; shadow theater; puppet/shadow the-ater for adults with parodies of classicalforms. A unique feature of the theater is itsLilikan Theater (1996), a miniature replicaof the Bolshoi Theater, in which parodicperformances are enacted with puppets.

Viktiuk, Roman: b. 1936; graduated fromGITIS in 1956. Between 1965 and 1968 inLvov, from 1968 to 1970 in Kaliningrad;from 1971 to 1977 director of the RussianDrama Theater, Vilnius. From 1977 to 1979at the Moscow State University Theater,where he staged Music Lessons, by Petru-shevskaya, 1980. Then productions at vari-ous Moscow theaters, including AnnaKarenina (Vakhtangov Theater 1983) andColombine’s Apartment by Petrushev-skaya (Sovremennik, 1986). His productionof The Petty Demon by Sologub, at theSovremennik Theater in 1988, stirred acontroversy over his art because of itsopen homoeroticism, tending more andmore toward an open homosexuality. WithThe Maids by Genet, at the Satirikon The-ater, in 1988 and revived in 1992, he outedhimself. Later productions commerciallyexploited the hitherto taboo theme of ho-mosexuality: Masterclass, by DavidPownell, Vakhtangov Theater, 1990; Lolitaby Nabokov, 1992, and Two for the Seesaw,by William Gibson, 1992, both at the ForaTheater. Then he founded his own theater,Viktiuk Theater, for the shows The Cata-pult and Oginski’s Polonaise by Koliada(1993–1994); Salome by Oscar Wilde, 1998;Spring Awakening by Franz Wedekind,1999. Boudoir Philosophy, based on theMarquis de Sade, was shown at theSatirikon Theater in 1996.

Zadornov, Mikhail: b. 1948 in Riga.Estrada artist who moved to Moscow in1968 after having worked at the KVN inRiga. In 1974 graduated from the AviationInstitute. Zadornov writes satirical mono-logues and intermedia: Who’s Louder (Ktogromche, 1975) for the duo AlexanderLivshits and Alexander Levenbuk. Zador-nov is famous for his impersonations ofGorbachev and other celebrities.

Zakharov, Mark: b. 1933; artistic directorof the Theater of the Lenin Komsomol,Moscow, since 1973. Developed a contem-porary repertoire, including plays by Grig-ori Gorin, Mikhail Shatrov, Liudmila Petru-shevskaya. The ensemble includes stars offilm and television: Inna Churikova, Alex-ander Abdulov, Oleg Yankovsky, DmitriPevtsov. In 1981 staged the now legendaryrock opera Perchance (Junona and Avos)with a libretto by the poet Andrei Voznesen-sky and the music composed by Rybnikov.

Zhitinkin, Andrei: b. 1960; graduated in1982 as actor, in 1988 as director from theShchukin School. From 1988 to 1991 at theYermolova Theater; since 1991 at theMossovet Theater, where he created furorwith a production by the gay playwrightMikhail Volokhov, Igra v zhmuriki(Mossovet 1993). Other productions at theMossovet included The Promise by AlexeiArbuzov, 1995; He Came by J. B. Priestley,1996; The Merchant of Venice by WilliamShakespeare, 1999. Also challenging werehis productions at the Tabakov Theater:The Crank by Alexander Minchin, 1995,and The Adventures of Felix Krull byThomas Mann, 1998. From 2001 to 2003, artdirector at the Malaya Bronnaya Theater,where he staged Nijinski by Glenn Blum-stein, 1999, and Portrait of Dorian Gray


by Wilde, 2001, before being sacked by theconservative director Ilia Kogan for hisovertly homosexual productions.

Zhvanetsky, Mikhail: b. 1934 in Odessa.Started his career with Roman Kartsev inthe local Odessa theater club. In 1963moved to the Leningrad Theater of Minia-ture to work for Arkadi Raikin. As dra-maturge, he wrote the show Traffic Light(Svetofor, 1967), before beginning to per-form his own texts: Plus Minus (1970). In1969 left the theater and created a Theaterof Miniature in Odessa at the local Philhar-monic Orchestra, which he ran from 1970to 1979. Shows included How to Get to De-ribasov Street (Kak proiti na Derbasov-skuiu) and Been and Gone (Vstretilis’ irazbezhalis’). In 1973, staged the show RedArrow (Krasnaia strela) at the Moscow Mu-sic Hall. Performed at the Hermitage The-ater Moscow (then Miniature Theater):When We Relaxed (Kogda my otdykhali,1979), Bravo, Satire (Bravo satira, 1984),and the political cabaret Bird Flight(Ptichii polet). In 1988 he opened his ownMiniature Theater of Zhvanetsky.

Bibliography

Beumers, Birgit. “Commercial Enterprise onthe Stage: Changes in Russian TheatreManagement between 1986 and 1996.”Europe-Asia Studies 48, no. 8 (1996):1403–1416.

———. Yury Lyubimov at the TagankaTheatre 1964–1994. Amsterdam: Harwood,1997.

Costanzo, Susan. “A Theatre of Their Own: TheCultural Spaces of Moscow and LeningradAmateur Studios 1957–1986.” CanadianSlavonic Papers 36, no. 3–4 (1994): 333–347.

Freedman, John. Moscow Performances. TheNew Russian Theatre 1991–1996.Amsterdam: Harwood, 1997.

———. Moscow Performances. The 1996–1997Season. Amsterdam: Harwood, 1998.

Kelly, Catriona. Petrushka: The RussianCarnival Puppet Theatre. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Kelly, Catriona, and David Shepherd, eds.Russian Cultural Studies: An Introduction.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Kennedy, Dennis, ed. Oxford Encyclopedia ofTheatre and Performance. Oxford and NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Krylova, Anna. “Saying ‘Lenin’ and Meaning‘Party’: Subversion and Laughter in Sovietand Post-Soviet Society.” In ConsumingRussia. Popular Culture, Sex and Societysince Gorbachev, ed. by Adele Barker,243–265. Durham, NC: Duke UniversityPress, 1999.

Leach, Robert, and Viktor Borovsky, eds. AHistory of Russian Theatre. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Markova, Elena. Off Nevsky Prospekt: StPetersburg’s Theatre Studios in the 1980sand 1990s. Amsterdam: Harwood, 1998.

Shevtsova, Maria. Dodin and the Maly DramaTheatre. London and New York: Routledge,2004.

Smeliansky, Anatoly. The Russian Theatreafter Stalin. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1999.


4Music and Word

The phenomenal success of the Russian duo t.A.T.u, which topped theBritish charts in the summer of 2002 with their album 200kmh in the

Wrong Lane, placed Russian pop music on a firm footing internationallyfor the first time. Although there had been occasional releases in theWest and tours of Russian pop and rock bands in Europe and the UnitedStates, to actually reach a place in the charts was unheard of. Even Al-sou, the discovery of 1999 who lives and studies in London, had notreached that level of success in the West.

Before dealing with the manifestations of contemporary pop music inRussia, this chapter explores its homegrown origins, which lay on theone hand in the official Soviet pop culture of the 1960s and 1970s(estrada) and on the other hand in the underground bard and rock move-ment that surfaced eventually in the late 1980s during Gorbachev’s pere-stroika.

Jazz and Rock

The Beginnings of Jazz and Rock Music

After the Revolution, popular musical expression was controlled so as toremain accessible to the masses and ideologically acceptable. The “masssong” was developed, and marches and secular anthems remainedprominent. Folk songs were also popular, but more in their kitschy andarranged orchestrated versions for public performance than as a contin-uation of ancient rituals (fake lore). Western popular music, on the otherhand, became suspect: jazz and the fox-trot were labeled decadent, andjazz in particular was controversial because it was perceived as danger-ously democratic and uncontrollable, since it relied on improvisation.Furthermore, it was an art of the black people. This made it especiallydifficult to deal with from an official point of view: produced by the op-pressed of the capitalist world, jazz was supposedly silenced. In 1928,the fox-trot and tango were declared harmful, largely because of theirsexually arousing movements; the fox-trot in particular was associated

with homosexuality, drugs, and eroticism(according to Maxim Gorky). The vitrioliccampaign against Western music wasscaled down somewhat in the 1930s, whena sanitized form of jazz and tango createdby Soviet composers gained popularity.Only such sanitized forms were popular inthe West, and free from censorship.

Jazz Music Leonid Utesov (1895–1982)and Alexander Tsfasman (1906–1971) werethe two most famous jazzmen of the 1930sand 1940s, who produced an equivalent ofbig band swing for dancing. Both providedentertainment at the front during the war.Utesov also wrote the music for a numberof films made during the 1930s, includingthe musical Jolly Fellows. He became oneof the most popular composers in theUSSR. Oskar Strok (1893–1975) was per-haps lesser known, but he was the Sovietking of the tango.

At the end of the war, jazz again cameinto the firing line of ideology when thesecretary for ideology, Andrei Zhdanov, at-tacked jazz music as hysterical and ca-cophonous. He ordered the arrest of jazzmusicians, such as Eddie Rosner andLeonid Piatigorsky, and also the “arrest” ofsaxophones. This ban was lifted only in themid 1950s under Khrushchev, but eventhen jazz remained an alien musical style,until the performance of foreign jazz androck at the Sixth International Youth Festi-val in Moscow in 1957.

During the 1950s another phenomenonoccurred in Soviet culture: the appearanceof stilyagi (style hunters), people who imi-tated Western dress and style. On the onehand they represented the dandy, con-cerned only with the consumer culture ofthe West; at the same time, the stilyagi of-fered a revolt against the stifled dress

habits in the Soviet Union. The state an-swered this trend with a campaign againstWestern influences, exposing the antics ofthe stilyagi to satire: they had “cocktailhours,” loved jazz music, wore colorful tiesand tight suits, representing all the worstfeatures of Western consumerism. Music—both jazz and rock—was seen as a bad in-fluence on young people. The chuvikha

(youth slang: girl, “bird”; sometimes thereis also a masculine form, chuvak) was thefemale version of the stilyaga, a womansporting short hair and skirts and blousesinstead of the traditional long hair andpinafore dress. The shtatniki (shtaty meanthe United States) donned Italo-American-style suits and the beatniki appeared injeans and sneakers. Glenn Miller’s “Chat-tanooga Choo Choo” became the anthemof the jazz movement. In 1955 the jazzopera Porgy and Bess was shown in Mos-cow. In 1962 Benny Goodman toured theUSSR. On the home front, improvised jazzconcerts took place on Mayakovsky Squarein the late 1950s, and the first history ofjazz was published in 1960, indicating theincreasingly official acceptance of the mu-sic. Dixieland bands performed in restau-rants, even if there was no dance floor andthe repertoire was tightly controlled by thestate. Jazz cafes were organized to get agrip on Soviet youth and control those thathad gone out of control. By 1966 the staterecord firm Melodiya was releasing jazzand pop records, giving further proof of arelaxation.

Although jazz had been more or less ac-cepted by the mid-1960s when Brezhnevcame to power, the real thing for the newgeneration was by then pop and rock. Jazzremained of interest to the cultural eliteand the intellectuals, but not the masses.Jazz remained an important factor in the


development of rock music in the USSRbut also as a movement that broke the wallkeeping musical influences from the Westfrom having an impact on popular Sovietculture. Voice of America’s broadcasts ofWestern jazz and pop music were crucial,however.

Soviet jazz musicians and groups weremore or less respectable. Important jazzmusicians were Igor Brill (b.1944), a pi-anist who participated in a number of jazzgroups in the 1960s, including a band withthe jazz musician Yuri Saulsky (b.1928). Inthe 1990s Brill still had his own band andplayed occasional concerts, spending therest of his time as teacher at the Gnesin In-stitute for Music. The Ganelin Trio (1971–1986), composed of Viacheslav Ganelin,Vladimir Chekasin, and Vladimir Tarasov,was one of the most respected jazz bandsin the 1970s, playing avant-garde jazz thatfused different styles and offered a theatri-cal performance. Finally, Sergei Kuryo-khin’s (1954–1996) band Popular Mechan-ics, founded in 1985, became famous for itsmixture of jazz, rock, and other musicalforms in the 1980s, with saxophone playerAnatoli Vapirov. The band and Kuryokhinperformed abroad and were featured in theBBC series Comrades (1986).

Jazz and Rock “on the Bones” Fromthe mid-1960s onward, the thorn in theflesh of the authorities was called rock androll. Rock music reached the USSR via jazzbands and in some ways was more accept-able than jazz, as it seemed to appeal to thelower, proletarian classes as well as to adifferent, younger, generation. In a sense,jazz had paved the way for rock music.

In 1961 a decree on parasitism had beenpassed, however, obliging every Soviet citi-zen to have a workplace. This created, in

the long term, the phenomenon of the “gen-eration of janitors and night watchmen,”those who sought a fake employment thatleft them free time to do what they wantedto do: paint, compose, sing. In 1962, Khru-shchev’s attacks on modern art, especiallythe young, abstract art movement, had fur-ther undermined a potential for the devel-opment of a culture that would interest theyoung generation. Another complication inthe spread of rock music was the absenceof a homegrown production facility forelectric guitars, which were made only inPoland and East Germany.

The impact of Western rock music on theSoviet scene cannot be underestimated.The Sixth International Youth Festival(1957) had brought musical groups fromthe entire world to Moscow. Moreover, theinvention of the vinyl that could be printedonto any piece of plastic led to the appear-ance of pirated recordings of Western rock,which were available from the 1950s on inthe form of roentgen-izdat (“music on theribs” or “music on the bones”): recordsprinted on X-ray plates. Later this activitywas linked to crime (the state was notmaking a profit from this “business”) andmade illegal. In the 1960s, some X-rayrecord makers were even arrested.

Although Elvis Presley had a relativelysmall impact, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, andthe East German bard (Liedermacher)Wolf Biermann were popular, underscoringthe strong tradition of the word in Sovietculture. The public recital of poetry forlarge audiences had a long-standing tradi-tion, going back to Vladimir Mayakovsky inthe 1920s and ending with the mass per-formances of Yevgeni Evtushenko and An-drei Voznesensky in the 1960s and 1970s.Therefore, the recital of poetry to a melodicaccompaniment from piano or guitar was

M U S I C A N D W O R D 2 0 1

only a small step away from this tradition.Here the so-called bard movement sprangup, with the poet composing and perform-ing his song (the avtorskaya pesnia, theauthor’s song).

The Bard Movement

The main exponents of the bard movementhave been Bulat Okudzhava, AlexanderGalich, and Vladimir Vysotsky, althoughother names may be associated with themovement as well, especially Yuri Vizbor(1934–1984). The bard song remains impor-tant both for the development of Russianrock in its emphasis on the lyrics ratherthan the tune and for contemporary Rus-sian culture. Bard songs continue to beperformed and remain very popular in theperformance of other singers, such as Ye-lena Kamburova (b.1940), who has ap-peared on the Moscow stages since the1960s. Although the bard songs were ini-tially performed only for a small circle offriends, the appearance of reel-to-reel taperecorders, which replaced the X-ray platevinyls, allowed the recording of the per-formances and their copying and distribu-tion in what came to be known as magnit-

izdat (publishing on magnetic tape, a wordformed in allusion to samizdat and tamiz-

dat, the—illegal—publication of books ascarbon copy or abroad). Indeed, by 1960there were more than 100,000 taperecorders available, and production was in-creased further.

Many of these bard songs were critical ofthe heroic manner with which Soviet histo-riography dealt with the victory in WorldWar II, ignoring the sacrifice of the individ-ual to achieve that victory. Others dealtwith the horror of the Stalin era (still muchof a taboo despite the 20th Party Congressand Khrushchev’s Secret Speech on Stalin’s

crimes) or touched upon the lonely andisolated individual, estranged from thestate and society.

The first songs were performed in thelate 1950s and 1960s by Bulat Okudzhava,dealing with themes of love and the horrorof war. Okudzhava avoided direct refer-ence to Stalin but created allegorical refer-ences to Stalin as a “black tomcat” (“TheBlack Cat” [Chernyi kot]). Galich’s songsdealt with the gulag and the suffering of thepeople more poignantly and directly, turn-ing the statue of Stalin into a vampire(“Night Watch” [Nochnoi dozor]). Yet eventhe bard movement, requiring no officialacknowledgment or support from party orstate (since performances were private andso was distribution), aroused the wrath ofthe state, which tightened up cultural poli-tics in preparation for the 50th anniversary


Vladimir Vysotsky, actor and bard, reciting

Boris Pasternak’s poem “Hamlet” to the guitar

at the beginning of Hamlet, directed at the

Taganka Theater by Yuri Liubimov in 1971.

(Photo by Valeri Plotnikov)

of the Revolution in 1967. In 1968 the me-dia launched a massive attack on Vysotsky,who was later also accused of profiteering;in 1971 Galich was expelled from the Writ-ers’ Union, and he emigrated in 1974.Okudzhava was suspended from the Writ-ers’ Union in 1972. Of the three, Vysotskywas best positioned in the Taganka Theater(where he was employed as an actor) toperform his songs and to record them inFrance.

The bard movement was really begun byBulat Okudzhava, who began to recite hispoems in a modest, nondeclamatory wayand to accompany himself on the guitar.Galich and Vysotsky joined this traditionlater, engaging more in Muscovite jargonand the underground and back streets;Okudzhava remained largely within a clas-sical, nineteenth-century tradition.

Bulat Okudzhava was born in Moscow.His father was executed during the purgesof the 1930s; his mother was arrested andreleased only in 1955. He volunteered forthe army and served at the front and thusdrew on his first-hand experience of thewar in his lyrics. He was a novelist, memberof the Writers’ Union, and poet-bard. Okud-zhava began performing in the mid-1950s,and the songs were distributed throughtape distribution (magnitizdat) and not offi-

cially released on record until the 1980s. Heused a simple vocabulary and plaintivemelodies, focusing on traditional themes:women, love, war, and the city of Moscow.

His treatment of these themes was al-ways unconventional. When dealing withthe war in such songs as “Paper Soldier”(Bumazhnyi soldat, 1959) or “A Song aboutSoldiers’ Boots” (Pesnia o soldatskikh sa-pogakh, 1956–1958), Okudzhava never glo-rified the war but emphasized instead theloss of individual life. This was very muchagainst the official war ethos in the SovietUnion, which celebrated Victory Day withparades and reminded the nation of thehard fight the country had put up againstfascism. The emphasis on individual lives,on the other hand, was very much in linewith the ethos of the Thaw. During the1950s, artists had begun to stress the indi-vidual’s heroism rather than the collectivefeat, so that in this sense Okudzhava tappedinto the cultural context of his time. “PaperSoldier” illustrated the fragility of life andthe heroism of the individual displayed dur-ing a war in which so many perished.

His Moscow songs were hymns to theold city, singling out the different transportsystems (the metro and the trolleybus), aswell as his native Arbat district (now apedestrian zone) in such songs as “Song


The bronze statues go back where they camefrom,

But the alabaster ones lie hidden away.Maybe they’re crippled for the time being,But even their dust retains its shape,These alabaster ones just need some human

flesh,

And once more they’ll acquire their greatness!And the drums will beat!The drums will beat,Beat, beat, beat!

—translation by G. S. Smith

Galich, “Night Watch” (Nochnoi dozor) excerpt

about the Arbat” (Pesnia ob Arbate, 1959),“The Last Trolleybus” (Poslednii trolleibus,1957), and “The Moscow Ant” (Moskovskiimuravei, 1956–1958). His “Moscow Metro”(Moskovskoe metro, 1956–1964) ironicallyechoed with its refrain “Stand on the right,pass on the left!” the command given bythe escalator guards on the Moscow metroduring peak hours while commenting, byextension, on the attempt of the Soviet sys-tem to regulate absolutely everything. Inhis love songs, he always glorified women,elevating them to the level of an adoredicon. One of his best-known songs is “TheBlue Balloon” (Pesnia o golubom sharike,1957), which touched upon folk traditionsin its simplicity and brought out the lyricaltone characteristic of Okudzhava’s treat-ment of the theme of women.

Okudzhava’s songs never contained apositive, socialist hero. They were sung ina melancholic voice to a guitar accompani-

ment. His songs are an integral part of ur-ban popular song culture and feature in nu-merous references to urban culture on thetelevision and cinema screen as well as inthe theater. His songs are frequently per-formed by stars of popular music.

Vladimir Vysotsky was an actor by train-ing and joined the company of the TagankaTheater, where he created his reputation asa stage actor. In 1966 he married the Frenchactress Marina Vlady (Poliakova), which al-lowed him to travel abroad and enabledhim to record several albums in France.Vysotsky grew up in the back streets of cen-tral Moscow, which exerted a long-lastingeffect on his later career: he would alwaysremain loyal to colloquial language, under-ground jargon, and alcohol. While trainingas an actor, Vysotsky began to write poems,which he sang to his own guitar accompani-ment. He was one of the bards or “guitarpoets,” to use the phrase coined by G. S.


But once there was a soldier boy,And he was bold and handsome,But he was just a children’s toy,He was a paper soldier.

He wanted to remake the world,So everyone would be happy,But he was hanging on a string,He was a paper soldier.

For you he would be glad to dieIn fire and smoke twice over,But all you did was play with himHe was a paper soldier.

And you would never share with himYour most important secrets,And why was that? It was becauseHe was a paper soldier.

And he would keep cursing his fate,No quiet life he wanted,And he kept asking: Fire, fire!Forgetting he was paper.

Fire? I don’t mind. Go on! You’ll go?And one day he went marching.And then he died for nothing, forHe was a paper soldier.


Okudzhava, “Paper Soldier” (Bumazhnyi soldat)

Smith in Songs to Seven Strings, and hishoarse voice became his trademark. Vysot-sky’s songs dealt with themes incompatiblewith socialism: alcoholism, Stalinism,street life, prostitution, crime, and quitesimply everyday Soviet life. He addressedthe people and their problems and there-fore received popular veneration. He wasnever officially recognized as a poet duringhis lifetime, however.

Vysotsky started performing his songsaround 1960, initially to friends, and onlylater to a large audience. He dealt with dif-ferent themes: “street” or “crime” songsstylized his own experience of life in theMoscow streets. He explicitly referred tothose aspects of Soviet life that were taboosubjects: eroticism and promiscuity in“The Lady Nark” (Ninka, or “Navod-chitsa”), prostitution and theft in “Sad Ro-mance” (Grustnyi romans), or alcoholismin “Militia Report” (Militseiskii protokol).He used colloquial language, right down tothe vulgar slang of Moscow’s streets, andparodied fairy tales and folk legends.

A number of Vysotsky’s poems con-cerned everyday Soviet life. He mockedlifestyles, past and present: “Dialogue inFront of the TV” (Dialog u televizora) wasan understanding, yet parodic report of aneveryday conversation of a couple in frontof the television set, which he sang parody-ing the speakers’ voices. In “Tender Truth”(Nezhnaia Pravda) he attacked the pseudo-objectivity of the Soviet press, echoing theunjust and uninformed campaign a Sovietpaper (Sovetskaya Rossiya) had launchedagainst him in 1968. He investigated theproblems of everyday life: the delays andcancellations of internal flights, the formal-ities and surveillance associated withtravel abroad, overcrowded transport, dis-cussions with the telephone operator.

There were also several songs about sport,which offered an ironic perspective on theSoviet obsession with fitness and physicalexercises, such as “a.m. P.T.” (Utrenniaiagimnastika) with its mockery of the dailymorning exercises on radio, or “The Senti-mental Boxer” (O sentimental’nom bok-sere), where the movements of the boxercarry political undertones.

Songs about the war formed an impor-tant part of Vysotsky’s work: although hehad no first-hand experience of war, hissongs revealed a deep understanding of in-dividual suffering. He expressed an un-orthodox attitude to the war by rejectingthe heroic tone prevailing in descriptionsof the great patriotic war (World War II) infavor of an emphasis on the individual andhuman sacrifice. In “Seriozha Fomin” hechallenged the heroic principles of the So-viet Union when he reported that Fominhad been made a Hero of the Soviet Unionalthough he avoided the draft and neverfought during the war, whereas the littleman goes without any reward. In “HeDidn’t Come Back” (On ne vernulsia izboia) he mourned the death of a friend dur-ing battle, underlining the feeling of per-sonal loss. In “In No-Man’s Land” (Naneitral’noi polose) he described the at-tempt of a Soviet and a Turkish frontierguard to pick flowers for their belovedones on neutral land and asked why bor-ders exist at all. Vysotsky’s songs aboutwar were descriptive and mournful, sadbut without explicit reproach. His stance,nevertheless, was essentially a pacifist one.

A major theme throughout Vysotsky’s ca-reer was the role of the poet in society: hisdelicate and fragile position, his loneliness,and his responsibility were reflected bestin his most famous song, “Wolf Hunt”(Okhota na volkov). Here he identified


with a wolf, doomed to be hunted by thehuntsmen (the Soviet system), but finallybreaking with all conventions and escap-ing. This song reflected a poem by SergeiYesenin in which the latter also identifiedwith a hunted wolf—who is killed. Its onlyhope is that somebody will write a songabout him; Vysotsky fulfilled that request;and he replaced Yesenin as Russia’s mostgenuinely popular poet.

Alexander Galich was an accomplishedplaywright before he began writing poems,which he sang to the guitar. With a largeamount of political bitterness, Galich sati-rized the system, its victors as much as itsvictims. In “Episodes from the Life of KlimPetrovich Kolomiitsev,” both the workerKlim and the party official are ridiculed:

Klim for reading the wrong speech, theparty official for not realizing the mistake.Galich investigated the grind of everydaySoviet reality, such as sexual exploitationfor social advancement (“Tonechka”) oradultery and subsequent denunciation(“The Red Triangle”).

Galich regarded himself as belonging tothe “generation of the doomed”—survivorsof the purges and of campaigns against“cosmopolitanism,” who preferred, how-ever, to immerse the memory of those daysin oblivion. He acknowledged a collectiveguilt, which to him lay in silence about thepast. “Petersburg Romance” and “Goldmin-ers’ Waltz” were full of self-reproach for hisown lack of outspokenness at the righttime. His song “When I Return” reflected


I’m straining my utmost, every sinew,But yet again, today like yesterday,They’ve surrounded me, surrounded me,And they’re merrily herding me in to do my

tricks.

The shotguns are busy from behind the sprucetrees,

The hunters are hiding in their shadow,And the wolves go head over heels in the snow,Turned into living targets.

The wolf hunt is on, the hunt is on!For gray prowlers, old ones, and cubs;The beaters shout, the dogs howl themselves

sick,There’s blood on the snow and the red spots of

flags.

Our legs and jaws are swift.Why, pack leader, answer us,

Do we turn toward the shots as if doped,And never try to go beyond the prohibitions?

The wolf cannot and must not do otherwise . . .And now my time’s coming to its end!The man I’m destined forHas smiled and lifted his gun . . .

The wolf hunt is on, the hunt is on! etc.But I’ve transgressed my obedience and goneBeyond the flags the thirst for life was stronger!

And behind me I heard with joyThe amazed cries of the people.

I’m straining my utmost, every sinew,But today’s not the same as yesterday!They’ve surrounded me, surrounded me,But the hunters have been left empty-handed!


Vysotsky, “Wolf Hunt” (Okhota na volkov)

both the desire and hope to return and theneed for the Russian soil, culture, and audi-ence. His language combined refinementwith street jargon, as his style combinedhigh culture with prison manners.

If Galich has always been better knownas playwright than as bard, and knownamong the intellectual circles, then Vysot-sky and Okudzhava were both popular he-roes for their civic courage in singing aboutthemes that were not part of the official dis-course and, in Vysotsky’s case, for mock-ing, parodying, and ridiculing Soviet life.

Rock Underground

Although the bards were a significant influ-ence on the importance of the lyrics, themain source of inspiration for the rockmovement of the 1960s was the Beatles.Their popularity from 1964 onward was un-broken, despite the press attacks on thegroup, despite derision in the satirical mag-azine Krokodil, and despite accusationsthat the band played into hands of capital-ism. In the early 1960s, rock musicals werebanned, and the first rock groups were ar-rested. The authorities then co-opted thebands, however, in order to keep tabs onthem and ensure proper monitoring. Clubswith dance facilities and vocal instrumentalensembles (VIAs) were permitted in themid 1960s and placed under official control.The most important of these clubs were theVremena Goda (Seasons) in Gorky Parkand the Molodezhnoye (Youth) Café.

Illegal Rock: The Beginnings of Soviet

Rock (1970s) In 1963 Alexander Grad-sky, at the age of 14, performed some Pres-ley tunes in a school concert. He formedthe band Tarakany (Cockroaches), whichimitated Beatles songs. Then Gradskyplayed with Mikhail Turkov, the grandson

of Nobel Prize winner Mikhail Sholokhov,for Slaviane (The Slavs, 1965–1966), whichwas the first proper Soviet rock band.Here, and with his subsequent band, theSkify (Scythians, 1966), Gradsky sang inEnglish. Subsequently he set up the bandSkomorokhy (1966–1976), which sang inRussian. Gradsky’s classical bel canto tenoris an excellent voice for the rock band butalso for solo performances, which he stillgives to audiences of the New Russia.

In 1969 a rock festival was organized inYerevan; it was held annually until 1972,when the organizer was arrested for em-bezzlement. There were few internationalconcerts in the 1960s and 1970s that wouldhave enabled Soviet rock fans to see liveperformances: in 1967 the Rolling Stonesvisited Warsaw. In 1968 the planned Dono-van tour was canceled because of the So-viet invasion in Prague. Between 1968 and1970, a campaign against hippies led to ar-rests and the shaven heads of Soviet hip-pies. In 1975, Cliff Richard was the firstWestern pop star to visit the USSR, fol-lowed by Elton John in 1979. The latterperformed the Beatles hit “Back in theUSSR” at the last concert, despite officialprohibition.

An important development in the accept-ance of rock music was the creation of sev-eral rock musicals, with an orthodox so-cialist plot but rock music. In 1975 the rockopera Orpheus and Eurydice by Alexan-der Zhurbin (b. 1945) was directed by MarkRozovsky in Leningrad. A guitar ensembleaccompanied the performance that fea-tured Orpheus as a rock star. The soundtrack of Jesus Christ Superstar was popu-lar and performed publicly in 1973 by theband Arsenal at the Central Writers’ House(TsDL) in Moscow. Arsenal had emergedfrom an official Soviet jazz group under the


saxophonist Alexei Kozlov (b. 1935). Theband had performed jazz and rock music inthe Molodezhnoye Café before Kozlovjoined a band with Yuri Saulsky. The groupcontinues to play to the present day, butnow at the Moscow Philharmonic with aclassical repertoire, providing another ex-ample of the gradual acceptance of jazzmusic into official culture. The composerAlexei Rybnikov (b. 1945) created the rockopera The Death and Radiance of Joaquin

Murietta, based on Pablo Neruda’s play,staged at the Moscow Theater of the LeninKomsomol in the 1970s. His rock operaPerchance, based on the long poem by An-drei Voznesensky, created the megahit “IWill Never Forget You” (Ia tebia nikogda nezabudu).

At the same time the disco wave of the1970s hit the Soviet scene, and—strangely

enough—it appealed to Soviet officials. Es-pecially the image of John Travolta in Sat-

urday Night Fever, with short hair and atidy suit, was found attractive. The tunes ofthe Swedish band ABBA were popular andofficially accepted. In 1978 a British com-pany was hired to equip a number of discosin the USSR in an attempt to make thedisco an attractive venue for the young gen-eration. The Metelitsa (Blizzard) disco onKalinin Avenue (now New Arbat) became aprototype of disco with strobe lights andmirrored walls. In 1978 the West Germanband Boney M was invited, although theirsong “Ra-Ra-Rasputin”—rhymed with lovemachine—was banned from the concert on19 September. In 1977 the Soviet labelMelodiya (after a deal with EMI records)released Paul McCartney’s album with theWings, “Band on the Run.” The Bee Gees,


Alexander Gradsky performs during his concert at the Central Concert Hall Rossiya,

2001. (Photo by: Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

Rolling Stones, and sporadic Beatles songswere finally released on vinyl.

The 1970s saw a number of importantrock groups being formed, most of whichfed directly or indirectly into the rock sceneof the 1990s. These were unofficial groupsand they remained underground, with theirmembers performing fake jobs as janitorsand night watchmen in order not to attractthe attention of the authorities as “para-sites.” Many Soviet rock groups imitatedthe Western style rather than creating anddeveloping their own. Only in the mid-1980sdid the rock groups begin to develop theirown style and become more popular andmore widely circulated on tapes than for-eign rock bands. They now addressed is-sues of Soviet reality and Soviet life thatmattered to their audiences.

The first major rock band was AndreiMakarevich and Mashina Vremeni (TimeMachine), formed in 1968. This—unoffi-cial—band mocked official stars, makingstyob, the satirical and parodic reference tothe official canon, one of the key character-istics of rock music. Makarevich exploitedsimilar themes to those of the bard songsbut used rock language instead of a plainmelody. With his stilted manner and nasalvoice, he tackled issues of time and exis-tence, remaining apolitical. Makarevich ex-pressed an underlying indifference towardthe system. The song “Battle with Fools” la-beled all Soviet people fools. “Masks” as-serted that the only way to be yourself wasto wear a mask. In 1979 the band was takenunder the wings of the state concert agencyand allowed to give official concerts. Ittook part in the Tblisi rock festival in 1980and won the main prize. Time Machine wasthe voice of youth.

In 1972 the art-rock group VysokosnoyeLeto (Leap Year Summer) formed under

Alexander Sitkovetsky. Stas Namin, thegrandson of a high-ranking Soviet party of-ficial, played in school and universitybands in the late 1960s and 1970s beforesetting up the band Tsvety (Flowers), per-forming romantic and lyrical songs on thealbum Flowers Have Eyes (Est’ glaza utsvetov), launched by Melodiya. The bandwas dissolved by decree in 1975 as a hippieband, but by that time Namin had managed(as the first rocker) to join the Union ofComposers. In 1978 Namin revived hisgroup for concerts but became actively en-gaged in the “rock for peace” movementand later created a center for the promo-tion of Soviet rock that produced the bandGorky Park (1988) as a flagship for Russianrock music for the United States. GorkyPark was designed to sell Soviet rockabroad, with the symbol of a hammer andsickle and using for its name the title ofMartin Cruz Smith’s thriller. The metal rockgroup produced clips on television andgave concerts in 1988–1999 before movingto the United States. Their second album,Moscow Calling (1993), was not a hit, andthe members of the group moved back toRussia as the group gradually fell apart.

The most significant formation of the1970s was the band Aquarium by BorisGrebenshchikov (BG), formed in 1972. TheLeningrader Grebenshchikov had indulgedin Beatles songs in the 1960s and per-formed them in English. In forming theband Aquarium, he combined rock, theater,and Eastern philosophy. The band wasnamed Aquarium—by analogy with thefeeling of a fish in an aquarium—to conveytheir isolation in society. The group in-cluded Seva Gakkel, Andrei (Diushka) Ro-manov, and Mikhail Vasiliev (Fainstein).The instruments were unusual for a rockband, sometimes including a violin and a


cello. In the late 1970s the influence of BobDylan made itself felt, and around 1980 theband had a brief punk phase with disso-nant sound. During one rock festival inTblisi, Grebenshchikov rolled on the floorclutching his guitar while the cellist wasstanding above him. This was interpretedas a sexual act, and the officials left. Afterthe Tblisi concert, BG was expelled fromthe Komsomol and lost his job. All theother band members began working in proforma jobs (night watchmen) but spenttheir time making music. The band contin-ually sought new ideas and experimented.They attracted several leading sax playersfor their albums and recorded three al-bums (1981–1984) with the pianist Sergei

Kuryokhin, who provided an ironic coun-terpoint that disappeared when he left theband.

Although at first Aquarium’s lyrics re-flected the typical stagnation attitude of in-difference and lack of belief in any system,later lyrics were inspired by ideas takenfrom J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings,

populating the songs with gnomes andknowledge of the center of the earth.Grebenshchikov hovered between ortho-dox and pagan imagery, divided betweenanguish and hope for Russia and its poten-tial. His moods changed from despondencyto lamentation, anger to darkness. In the1990s he increasingly turned to Easternphilosophy. Aquarium’s most political song


Front man Boris Grebenshchikov of the Aquarium rock band is interviewed at the press conference

launching the band’s first DVD, 25 Years of Aquarium, at the President Hotel, Moscow, in 2001.

(Photo by Sergey Ponomarev/Kommersant)

was the 1988 title “Train on Fire” (Poezd vogne) with a video clip where the bandmembers were dressed as revolutionarysoldiers, led by the Gorbachev-type figureColonel Vasin. Soviet history was reversed,the Revolution turned back, but at thesame time the entire planet was turned up-side down. Politics never remained on thelevel of simple satire but were always em-bedded in larger existential or spiritual pat-terns. An anthem of their generation wasthe song “Generation of Janitors” (Pokole-nie dvornikov), which bemoaned the fateof those who once abandoned their socialstatus for independence from a system thatbegan to put up everything for sale, idealsand property. Indeed, the role of the rock

musician as a prophet and an idol of a dif-ferent alternative lifestyle had become out-dated: “the generation of janitors and nightwatchmen have lost each other in endlessspace.” Ultimately, they have “no hope, butthis is our way.” Grebenshchikov accu-rately described the predicament of hisown role as musician and poet, whosevoice became redundant in the new con-sumer-oriented Russia.

Musically Grebenshchikov combinedWestern and Soviet traditions and styles.The influence of the Beatles and Bob Dylanwas clear in the 1970s songs. In 1988, BGwas offered a contract by the ColumbiaBroadcasting System (CBS) for recordingRadio Silence, but he returned disap-


The generation of janitors and night watchmenhas lost each other:in the endless space of the eartheverybody has gone home.In our time every third person is a hero:they don’t write articles,they don’t send telegrams.

They stand like flights of stepswhen the burning oillashes down from one floor to the next.And from somewhere they hear singingYet who am I to tell them that this is a mirage?

We were silent like fishwhile everything you could think ofwas up for saleincluding our children.And the poisoned rainwas pouring down into the rotting gulfAnd we still watch the screenAnd we still wait for the news.

And our fathers never lie to us—they don’t know how to lie,like a wolf does not know how to eat meat,like birds do not know how to fly . . .

Tell me what I have done to you,why there is that pain,which has no explanation;it runs apparently in the blood.But I kindled the fire myself, which is burning

me from inside,I digressed from the law,but did not reach love.

But pray for us,pray for us, if you can.We have no hopebut this is our way.And the voices sound nearer and louderAnd may I be cursed, if this is a mirage.

—translation by Birgit Beumers

Aquarium and Boris Grebenshchikov, “The Generation of Janitors”

pointed with the album. He has written mu-sic for the films of Sergei Soloviev thathave enhanced his popularity and that ofthe films, especially ASSA. Since 1998 BGgives concerts only solo or with speciallyassembled musicians (pick-up groups),and Aquarium has been disbanded. Gre-benshchikov, although a phenomenally tal-ented composer who has made a massiveimpact on Soviet and Russian rock music,has ultimately surrendered to the impossi-bility of matching the former unofficial un-derground status of his band, his status,and his lyrics with the world of commercialrock music in the New Russia. Indeed, inthe 1980s when his band was officially ac-knowledged, he was one of the few peopleto be anxious about the implications of thischange.

From Clampdown to Freedom (1980s)

Although many rock groups were recog-nized officially in rock concerts in the early1980s, the years between the death of thehead of ideology, Mikhail Suslov, in 1982and the arrival of Mikhail Gorbachev in1985 were three terrible years for under-ground culture. After Suslov’s death, Kon-stantin Chernenko was put in charge ofideology. He attacked the lax ideologicalsupervision and was very critical of discosound. By 1984 he had ordered the compi-lation of a list of unacceptable bands. Be-tween 1982 and 1984, numerous raids werecarried out to confiscate illegal tapes andequipment. Furthermore, the political cli-mate—under the impact of the Soviet inva-sion in Afghanistan and the subsequentanti-Western campaigns—had a detrimen-tal effect on the rock scene, which becameincreasingly demoralized. After 1985, whenGorbachev came to power and reformedthe Central Committee posts of ideology

and propaganda, the state interfered verylittle in musical culture. Indeed, in 1987 theUnion of Composers admitted both thecomposer Rodion Shchedrin and the jazzmusician Yuri Saulsky. Despite the initialclampdowns, the 1980s saw a proliferationof rock bands, some temporary features ofthe scene, others lasting well into the eraof the New Russia. By the Gorbachev era,rock music had become acceptable, al-though it was still despised by the intellec-tuals and some of the party elite for thevulgarity they perceived as inherent in anyform of mass culture. Soviet rock musictackled existential issues and explored themeaning of life for a generation of peoplewho had felt indifferent to the state and so-ciety, who had marginalized themselvesfrom that society and established for them-selves an alternative (underground) life-style. Once this alternative style becameaccepted and merged into the mainstream,the special role played by many of thesegroups in the 1980s vanished, and thosewho failed to redefine themselves and findtheir own style disintegrated.

The influence of the bard tradition con-tinued in the 1980s, with the popularity ofVysotsky increasing after his death. Theemergence of a new bard, however,stressed once again the predominance ofthe word for the rock movement. Thebiggest rock star of the 1980s generationnever performed with a band, only with hisacoustic guitar; he never gave concerts be-yond the scope of a theater, avoiding largearenas that were popular among the bands.Yet his voice and his songs remain treas-ured to the present day. Alexander Bash-lachev (1960–1988) was the first rockerwith authentic poetry. He led rock out ofthe antisocial satire mode and the styob at-titude that were predominant in groups


such as Mashina Vremeni. His song “Timeof the Little Bells” (Vremia kolokolchikov)became the anthem of the rock movement.Bashlachev wrote his songs easily, drawingon pagan Russian imagery and on Russianfolk rhythms (such as the pace of the

troika), creating a network of emblems andsymbols while taking the listener on a jour-ney through history: not official history butthat of the Russian people. His images ofRussia and its people reflected a profoundunderstanding of the spiritual strength, the


For a long time we had sultriness and frost.All were removed and set free.We gobbled the snow and the birchand grew as tall as the bells.

When lamenting we did not spare salt.When having a feast we did not spare

gingerbread.The bell-ringers with black blisterspulled the nerve of the brass dynamics.

But with every day times change.The cupolas lose their gold.The bell-ringers loiter about the world,The bells are broken and smashed.

What are we beating around the bush for nowlike underground men in our own field.If nobody cast us a bellthat means the time is for little bells.

The heart is ringing under the shirt.Ravens scatter in haste, in all directions.Hey, bring the shaft-horses out with their tracesand all their four hooves.

But how many years have the horses not beenshod

wheels have not been oiled,there are no lashes, the saddles are brokenand all knots undone.

But in the rain all roads are rainbows.We are in no mood for laughter.

But if there is a little bell under the arc,that’s it. Get ready and let’s go!

We whip them, whistle and urge them on,struck to the bones, to the marrow.Hey, brothers, can you sense with your liversthe threatening laughter of little Russian bells?

For centuries we chew the curses and theprayers

For centuries we live with our eyes gouged outWe sleep and drink—day by day, litre by litreWe sing no more—we are unable to . . .

We waited. We wait. Everybody was filthy.Therefore we all looked alike.But under the rain it turned out we were all

different.The majority—honest and good.

May the Big Bell be broken to pieces.We have come with our black guitars.Big Beat, Blues and Rock ’n’ RollHave enchanted us with their rhythmical spell.

In our hearts—sparks of electricityHats in the snow. And turn up the volume!Rock ’n’ Roll is the pagan religion—I love the time of the little bells!


Bashlachev, “Time for Little Bells” (Vremia kolokolchikov)

vastness of space that knows no measure.In this song he advocated the need for abell (a voice, a spokesperson), which is notavailable. Therefore he called for thepolyphony of several bells (voices). Politi-cally, he asserted the strength of the peopleas opposed to a single-person leadershipwhile also alluding to the return to nature(kolokolchik is also a bluebell). Bashlachevcombined poetry and rock music in aunique way. He left his hometown of Cher-epovets in 1984 and performed his songsand ballads in the bard tradition, tellingstories of Russia and its roots, parodyingRussia’s decline, and uncovering the darkpages of Stalinism and fascism. Bash-lachev’s song “Vaniusha” was about the res-urrection of the Russian soul and typifiedthe always optimistic and hopeful endingsof his songs. He performed and traveled agreat deal and married a Leningrad girl toget permission to live in Leningrad (pro-

piska). He committed suicide in 1988.

Rock and Film The cinema of the late1980s had a huge impact on spreading rockmusic, offering the musicians an opportu-nity both for background music as well asfor roles in the films. Many films featuredperformances of rock bands, creating, as itwere, free music clips for the bands. Thefilmmaker Sergei Soloviev (b. 1944) made anumber of films, including adaptations ofclassical literature and films dealing withyouth problems. Particularly significantwas the film ASSA (1988), starring figuresof the Leningrad underground movement,including Sergei Bugayev, Timur Novikov,Irena Kuksenaite, Viktor Tsoy, BorisGrebenshchikov, and Zhanna Aguzarova.In ASSA, rock music stands in the center,offering a different, alternative lifestylerather than being the source of destruction

and unrest, as in Iuris Podnieks’s documen-tary Is It Easy to Be Young? (Legko li byt’molodym?, 1986), about the demolition of atrain after a rock concert in Oger, Latvia, inJuly 1985. The documentary had for thefirst time shown a rock concert in the So-viet Union. It had explored the problems ofthe young generation, who were fans of theforbidden fruit of rock music, who lackedconfidence, who rejected materialism, whofelt they were not needed, who had noplace in the society that surrounded themand could not identify with its values, whoused drugs and alcohol to escape from areality to which they had no relation, andwho sought their place in life. The film didnothing outstanding by today’s or Westernstandards, but for the Soviet Union of 1986this was an outrageously open statementabout a young generation that felt superflu-ous to society. The lyrics of rock musiccommented on the false ideals suggestedby official culture and supported an escapeinto a dream world. The band leaders soonbecame role models, ideals, heroes.

The Russian rock scene had many such“heroes” to offer, and ASSA was not thefirst film to star rock musicians, but thefirst to show them in a positive light and asa positive influence: Valeri Ogorodnikov’sBurglar (Vzlomshchik, 1986) had under-scored the negative influence of a rock mu-sician, inciting his younger brother to steala synthesizer for him. Both in Little Vera

(Malen’kaia Vera, 1988) and Is It Easy to

Be Young? the rock concerts were crushedby the police. In this sense, ASSA repre-sented a strong change in the perception ofunderground culture in general and rockmusic in particular. Bananan (played bythe Leningrad artist Sergei Bugayev,known as Afrika) is a nonviolent and in-nately good character, who stands apart


from the others because of his behaviorand his appearance (he has one earring).He is juxtaposed to the “Soviet” officialKrymov, played by the documentary film-maker Stanislav Govorukhin—a represen-tative of the establishment—who holdspower over his mistress Alika (TatianaDrubich). He may possess the power tohave Bananan killed, but Alika becomesaware of the plot and kills Krymov. Ba-nanan is a romantic hero, who triumphs—even if in death. In the finale a concert byViktor Tsoy takes place against all the rulesand regulations, and the song “I WantChange” (Ia khochu peremen) expressesdissatisfaction with a world where happi-ness is possible only through escapism intoa dream world.

As the Soviet Union collapsed, SergeiSoloviev set up a course at the Moscow

Film Institute VGIK (Vserossiiskii gosu-darstvennyi institut kinematografii, All-Rus-sian State Institute for Cinematography)consisting of a group of students who camefrom Kazakhstan, including Rashid Nug-manov, Darejan Omirbaev, and Serik Apry-mov, who would become the leading talentsof Kazakh cinema in the 1990s. ASSA

marked a watershed in the representationof rock music and also greatly influencedthe first and most important film of the1980s by one of Soloviev’s Kazakh students:Rashid Nugmanov’s The Needle (Igla, 1988).

Nugmanov’s Needle was the first film toopenly address the issue of drugs. As inASSA, the hero—Moro—is played by a rockstar: Viktor Tsoy. Moro returns to his home-town Alma-Ata to collect debts from Spar-tak (Alexander Bashirov), visits his formergirlfriend Dina, and finds she is on drugs.He tries to get her clean, taking her to a de-serted aul (village) by the dried-up AralSea. When Moro discloses the dealer’s iden-tity (the freaky doctor is played by anotherrock star, Petr Mamonov) and prepares toleave with Dina, he is stabbed by the dealeron a wintry road. Heroes never die, how-ever: Moro lives on, walking down thesnow-covered road with his blood leavingred dots on the white surface to the tune“Blood Type” (Gruppa krovi). The positivemoral values are perpetuated as he contin-ues to live, but only in a world of dream andescape, whereas the drug dealer triumphsin reality. Nugmanov had no illusions aboutreality but instilled such illusions in hisviewers. In this sense he followed histeacher’s solution offered in ASSA, whererock music offers salvation from a realitythat has no room for honesty and change.

Nugmanov’s film revealed not only themeaninglessness of life (drug addiction,debt collection, drug dealing) but also the


Zhanna Aguzarova, the stunning performer

who has always sought new ways to outrage

and shock her audiences. (Photo by Irina

Kaledina)

barrenness of the land, symbolizing the ab-sence of a future. If there is a future, it lieson the snow-covered road that leads to theland of illusions and dreams. The Needle

also raised the issue of country and city:life in the city is corrupt and flawed. It is inthe desert by the Aral Sea that Dina comesclean and finds her way back to Moro. Ur-ban civilization may mean progress, butpurity lies in a return to one’s roots.Soloviev inspired his pupils to address theproblems of the young generation and, inputting their faith in rock stars, to expressdissent with the system.

Moscow Rock The 12th InternationalYouth Festival was held in Moscow in 1985and had an effect similar to that of theyouth festival of 1957: many Western rockstars, including Udo Lindenberg and BobDylan, visited the USSR and influenced the

domestic rock scene. In 1986 Melodiya fi-nally released the first Beatles album in theUSSR. In October 1986 the band UB40 gavea concert in Moscow, and numerous visitsby Western pop and rock stars followedduring the glasnost years. Moreover, do-mestic rock music was also recognized andofficially distributed, and in 1987 Melodiyareleased the first Aquarium album. TheWest’s interest in Russian rock was equallygreat, however, and thus Artemy Troitsky’sbook on the rock movement in the USSRwas first published in English in 1987, andthe American producer Joanna Stingray re-leased the first major collection of Sovietrock (the album Red Waves) in 1986.

The rock scene in Moscow developedduring the late 1980s and fed into the for-mation of the musical taste of the audi-ences for both pop and rock music. Al-though Moscow was the center for music


A warm place, but the streets await the stampof our feet

the stardust on our bootsThe soft chair, the chequered plaid, the

cigarette put out too late.A sunny day in blinding dreams.

The blood group on the sleeveMy ordinal number on the sleeveWish me luck in the fightWish meNot to remain in the grassNot to remain in the grassWish me luckWish me luck

I have money to pay but I do not want to win atany price

I don’t want to put my foot on anyone’s chestI would like to stay with youSimply stay with youBut a star high up in the sky guides me onto

my way.

The blood group on the sleeveMy ordinal number on the sleeveWish me luck in the fightWish meNot to remain in the grassNot to remain in the grassWish me luckWish me luck


Kino and Viktor Tsoy, “Blood Type” (Gruppa krovi)

production and business, the Leningradrock scene brought forth the more experi-mental and innovative groups, maybe lesspopular with large audiences but appreci-ated by music lovers. The rock scene inMoscow gradually gathered around variousclubs and concert halls, but mainly theGorbunov House of Culture (DK Gor-bunova) in the northwest of Moscow. Mostfamous rock groups gave concerts thereand do so to the present day. Moreover, amarket developed around the concert hallfor the trade of musical releases. Many ofthese were pirated copies, and there is ahistorical reason for such widespreadpiracy. The official prohibition of rock andjazz music in the 1960s and 1970s had ledto a homegrown, illegal production ofrecords (“on the bones”) and tapes (magni-tizdat). Most of these tapes were not onlytraded for money but also exchanged forother recordings in the 1960s and 1970s,and this pattern laid the foundation for theproduction and distribution of rock albumsin the same way. In any case, only the state,which had initially forbidden their officialrelease, was losing money in this opera-tion. Rock bands would record their al-bums and release them on tape, often sup-plying insufficient copies to satisfydemand, and pirates copied the tapes andlater the CDs to satisfy the demand and selltheir releases at lower prices. This busi-ness spread substantially in the mid-1990s,when the park around the Gorbunov Housetransformed into a video and audio market.Films suffered the same fate of beingcopied illegally and sold at a lower price onthe Gorbushka. The concept of piratedproducts preventing the producer (and theband) from recouping the money investedin the release was alien for the ex-Soviet“consumer,” who was used to dealing only

with the state as producer, supplier, anddistributor. And there was no harm per-ceived in deceiving the state, hence theblooming “shadow economy” in the Sovietera, where a minimal segment of the pro-duction sector was private, yet producedmore steadily than the state-run enter-prises (for example, vegetable producefrom private gardens). The clampdown onvideopiracy began when the American Mo-tion Picture Association complained to theWorld Trade Organization, as it was losinglarge sums of money through the illegaldistribution of U.S. films. Piracy of com-puter programs continues, as does piracyof music. The Gorbushka moved from theopen-air park to the former television fac-tory Rubin in 2002 and now sells largely li-censed VHSs and DVDs. The range of CDsavailable at the Gorbushka is huge, but thepercentage of pirated disks is probably stillmore than half of the products on offer atthe market.

Initially, a number of bands populatedthe Moscow rock scene. The group Cruisewas one of the first hard rock bands,formed in 1979 under a VIA. Voskresenie(Sunday), set up in 1979 with ex-membersof Mashina Vremeni, performed many bardsongs, exploiting the theme of the lyricalhero who, despite a hard life, has not beenbroken by the system. Both bands disinte-grated in the 1980s when their “under-ground” themes were no longer in demandand became part of official discourse.

The art-rock group Avtograf (Autograph)was formed in 1979 with members from theband Vysokosnoye Leto (see above) withAlexander Sitkovetsky and the sax playerSergei Mazayev. It won second place at theTbilisi rock festival in 1980. The band wasvery popular in the 1980s and became espe-cially well known as the first Russian band


to participate in the concert Live Aid forAfrica in July 1985, with two songs broad-cast live to the concert arena. They alsotook part in the benefit concert for the vic-tims of Chernobyl on 30 May 1986 in theOlympic Stadium Moscow, run under the ti-tle “Account 904” and organized by Alla Pu-gacheva and the rock critic Artemy Troit-sky. Avtograf turned to pop rock in the late1980s and produced an album in the UnitedStates (Stone Border, [Kamennyi krai],1990). Soon after it dispersed in the UnitedStates, but most of its members returned toRussia later. The role of rock bands in thepeace movement of the 1980s was a veryimportant one, and it fed into the officialpolitical agenda of the new Soviet leader-ship that sought nuclear disarmament.

A massive impact, however, was made bythe new groups formed in the mid-1980s.The group Bravo, established in 1983, isone such example. Bravo’s leader, YevgeniKhavtun, was looking for a lead singerwhen he was contacted by a woman calledIvana Anders from Moscow, who had an ex-travagant performance style. Ivana claimedto reside in a large apartment of her diplo-mat parents in central Moscow while theywere working abroad. A year later Ivanawas the star singer of the group, but shewas arrested for falsifying documents andimprisoned for eight months with a periodof “exile” in her Siberian hometown nearNovosibirsk. In order not to be labeled a“provincial” girl and to avoid problems witha Moscow residence permit (propiska),Zhanna Aguzarova had “borrowed” thepassport of a friend, Ivan Anders, after hav-ing failed to enter the Moscow Theater In-stitute (which would have given her theright to reside in Moscow), since she wasdeemed too capricious, with likely bouts oflaziness and excesses of stardom. Aguza-

rova impressed with her colored hair, herminiskirts and trouser suits, and a varietyof costumes and makeups she created forherself. Bravo’s music was easy-going andstylish, and the rest of the band was welldressed, so that it was quite distinct fromthe other underground rock bands. Thesong “Yellow Shoes” (1984) was a megahit,as were other tunes from the first Bravo al-bum. As an innovative and stunning per-former, Zhanna was always seeking newways to outrage and shock her audiences.She left the band in 1989 for a solo career,and Bravo hired Irina Yepifanova as theirlead singer. Aguzarova spent several yearsin the United States with the band NightyNighties and upon her return to Russia in1996 turned toward techno music. She per-forms regularly and remains one of the topsingers of the new Russian pop and rockscene.

Heavy metal music was represented bythe band Ariya (Aria, 1984), organized onthe basis of the VIA Singing Hearts (Poiu-shchie serdtsa) under Viktor Bekstein. Itsalbum Megalo-Mania (Maniia velichiia)sounded pretty much like the tunes of theIron Maidens. The band underwent severalsubstantial changes and crises in the late1980s, turning to simplified and American-style tunes. They continued to perform inthe 1990s with successful concert toursand new albums, and their popularity rosesubstantially with their image-maker andsponsor, Harley Davidson. The hit “Care-free Angel” (Bespechnyi angel) served as apromotion tune for the motorcycle design.

The band Crematorium (1983) was orga-nized by the Moscow students ArmenGrigorian and Viktor Troyegubov. At firstthey played tunes with existential themes,and the song “Koma” made them widelyknown, with the clip “Waste Wind” (Mu-


sornyi veter) shown on the television youthprogramme Vzgliad. They have since re-leased a range of albums and remain one ofthe most popular rock bands in the NewRussia, with regular concert tours. VaBanque (1986) was founded by AlexanderSkliar in Moscow, playing hard orthodoxrock and punk. Skliar’s hoarse voice lent it-self to that type of music. The band touredin the late 1980s, both within Russia and be-yond, and recorded an album in English.They experimented with the creativeprocess, recording the album na kukhne lit-erally “in the kitchen,” with an accidentalaccordionist picked up in an undergroundpassage participating in the improvisedplay. The hit “Black Flag” (Chernoe znamia)bemoans the deception of the Russian sim-ple man by the authorities in a parablewhere bandits, stealing the black flag, be-tray the people while they are beingwatched by a commissar and a general. Thesong effectively deploys an accordion to un-derscore the gypsy and folk tunes that formthe basic melody for the song. Thus the textstrips the situation of the Russian people byparodically using a Russian folk tune, as ifthe predicament of the people were normal.A further example of the parodic use ofconventions is the association of spring notwith bright colors and romantic feelings butwith the drunken housekeeper sweepingthe courtyard (“Spring” [Vesna]). Demon-strating once again the close relationshipbetween text and music in Russian rockmusic, they released an album in 1999, enti-tled Lower Tundra (Nizhniaia tundra), in-spired by the fashionable and popular post-modernist writer Viktor Pelevin.

The group Mongol Shuudan may not beone of the most popular rock groups inRussia but has reached a wide interna-tional audience with their participation in

Sergei Bodrov’s film I Wanted to See An-

gels (Ia khotela uvidet’ angelov, Russia/United States, 1992). The band was formedaround Valeri Skoroded and Igor Toropovin 1988. Mongol Shuudan plays anarchicrock and thus occupies a rare niche in theMoscow rock scene. Moreover, they com-bine rock compositions with folk intona-tion and quotations from Cossack songs orditties from the period of the civil war.Their hero is Batka Makhno, a rock heroand Cossack chief, whose story is told toracy rock melodies with jazz saxophone in-terludes, parodying the heroic narrative.

A phenomenon exclusive to the Moscowscene is the appearance of performers.Petr Mamonov is the best example of sucha performer. A Moscow street urchin, hewas brought up in the same area as Vladi-mir Vysotsky, on Karetnyi Riad. Withoutcompleting his education, he tried a num-ber of jobs and careers, but failed. In 1982he began to write songs and perform themin a sexy and obscene, aggressive manner.In these songs Mamonov recounts his ownlife. In 1983 he formed the band Zvuki Mu(Sounds of Mu, where Mu stands for thefirst two letters of “music” or as the “moo-ing” of cows), sponsored and organized bythe bored son of the general secretary’s of-ficial English interpreters, Sasha Lipnitsky.In 1988 Mamonov debuted as an actor inNugmanov’s cult film The Needle, and hisacting continued in a number of top filmsof the 1990s. His musical illiteracy makesthe songs sound unlike the typical tunes ofthe rock scene, which led Brian Eno tochoose this group for a recording in 1987.The songs witness the hero’s lack of in-volvement with reality (for example, “So-viet Press”). In the 1990s Mamonov re-leased further albums as Mamonov andAlexei, having abandoned Zvuki Mu. At the


same time he began to perform on thestage of the Stanislavsky Theater, wherethe productions Bald Brunet (Lysyibriunet), based on a play by Dana Gink(published in English), and Nobody Writes

to the Lieutenant (Polkovniku nikto nepishet) allowed his stage talent to developto the full. His eccentric antics provide thedriving force for the productions, whichare essentially shows of Mamonov, onlywith an underlying dramatic text. This dra-matic foundation was abandoned in theshow Is There Life on Mars? (Est’ li zhiznna Marse?) and subsequent shows of Ma-monov staged at the Stanislavsky Theater,which draw a full house.

Another performer is Igor (Garik) Suka-

chev. He initially formed the band BrigadaS (1986) and established his bandit-likeconduct as the group’s leader. In the mid-1990s Sukhachev formed the group Bots-man i Brodyaga (Boatswain and Vagrant,1995–1996) for a project with AlexanderSkliar, in order to create an album of the fa-vorite songs of Soviet times, includingsongs composed by Vysotsky and Utesov.At around the same time he disbandedBrigada S and created the band Neprikasa-yemye (Untouchables). More important isSukachev’s input into the cultural scenewith his films Midlife Crisis (Krizis sred-nego vozrasta, 1997) and the autobiograph-ical account of his childhood, The Holiday

(Prazdnik, 2001).


Actor and rock musician Petr Mamonov performs in the stage play Pushkin of Chocolate, staged in

the Stanislavsky theater, 2001. (Photo by Dmitry Lekay/Kommersant)

Numerous bands arrived on the Moscow(and Petersburg) stage from the provincesin the late 1980s and 1990s. The Uralsproved a genuine cradle of rock music:Alexander Bashlachev came from there,and the city of Sverdlovsk represented a vi-brant center. Indeed, the composer Alexan-der Pantykin played an important role inthis development, not only as leader andfounder of the band Urfin Dzhuis (UrphinJuice), which earned him the title Grand-dad of Ural rock (dedushka Uralskogoroka), but also subsequently as a composerand producer of rock music. Pantykin as-

sisted in the discovery and promotion ofyoung regional talents with his recordingstudio and the record label Tutti Records.Thus, Pantykin helped the group NautilusPompilius to record their first album longbefore they moved to Petersburg.

The band Agata Kristi (Agatha Christie,1985) emerged from the Urals with an al-bum Second Front (Vtoroi front, 1988) thatmixed postpunk with elements of chambermusic. The group, like so many of the1980s, represented the indifference andnonconformism of their generation. In the1990s they moved to Moscow, where they


Rock band Agatha Christie performs on the stage of Luzhniki Sports Complex. The 2003 concert

marked the band’s fifteenth anniversary. (Photo by Ilya Pitalev/Kommersant)

were produced by Sergei Lisovsky’s com-pany, and released the album Opium

(1992). Further albums that followed indi-cate the band’s move toward more psyche-delic pop. Of the album Main Kaif (paro-dying Hitler’s Mein Kampf with thesubstitution of kaif, meaning pleasure) in2000, only the song “Secret” made it ontoradio. Although Agata Kristi remain popu-lar, they produce sombre and heavy musicwhere the sound drowns the melodies.

The group ChaiF (1984) also stems fromSverdlovsk. The title of the band combinesthe word chai (tea) and kaif (pleasure,high). It was established by Vladimir Sha-khrin and Vladimir Begunov, who initiallycomposed songs for themselves beforethey gave stage performances with drumand trumpet accompaniment to their gui-tars. Gradually, the group expanded andpresented a tour of a dynamic rock show.By 1992 they had reached national famewith their Beatles-style songs that invitedthe audience to join into the refrain andthat abstained from the parodic and satiri-cal tones of many other rock bands.ChaiF’s “Don’t Hurry” (Ne speshi) remindspeople to enjoy life, and the hit “17” is a ro-mantic song where the singer reminds hiswife of the days when they were young(when she was 17) and promises to do thesame things he used to do for her whenthey were first in love: buy flowers andwrite songs. Thanks to their melodic tunesand the universal and general themes tack-led in the songs, ChaiF enjoys wide popu-larity among all ages.

Sektor Gaza was formed in Voronezh in1987 by Yuri Klinsky. It followed the punkstyle of the Sex Pistols but created moremelodic songs that were “punk for the peo-ple.” Their use of slang and vulgar language(especially in the album Gas Attack [Gazo-

vaia ataka]) made their songs rare on ra-dio, from which they were censored. Thegroup disbanded in 2000 when Klinsky diedof cardiac arrest.

Leningrad Rock In Leningrad the rockclub on 13 Rubinstein Street, formed in1981, became the chief venue for new rockbands to appear. Indeed, in many ways the“northern capital” overtook Moscow in thenumber and proliferation of rock bands,and festivals were held largely in the Cau-casian capitals Yerevan and Tbilisi in the1970s and 1980s, and later in the Baltic re-publics, thus away from the tight controlexercised in Moscow. The Leningrad caféSaigon (on the corner of Nevsky Prospektand Liteinyi Avenue) served as a majormeeting place and later as the main musicstore. In the late 1990s the shop wasclosed, and the building converted into theRadisson SAS Hotel.

The group Zoopark (Zoo, 1981), formedby Mikhail “Maik” Naumenko (1955–1991),became an immediate success at the rockclub. Naumenko was the ideal rock starhero, following the street aesthetics ofVladimir Vysotsky and creating the imageof the gentle rebel. He broached formerlytaboo themes in his songs, such as the is-sue of sex, best illustrated in his song“Sweet N” (Sladkaia N), which openly ad-dressed a debauched lifestyle that includedprostitution and alcoholism. Naumenkoand Zoopark gave numerous concerts inLeningrad and beyond the city, but sadlythe group dissolved with the untimelydeath of Naumenko.

Another tragic rock hero was ViktorTsoy (1961–1990). He played in variousbands while a student at a design and craftschool (having been thrown out of the ArtAcademy after an “ideological” conflict),


before forming a duo in 1982 with AlexeiRybin. Their songs echoed the thirst forlove of a generation that felt unwanted,and the attempts to make sarcastic com-ments led only to tender and understand-ing notes. In 1984 Rybin and Tsoy werejoined by Yuri Kasparian, Alexander Titov,and Yuri Gurianov to form Kino. Their

1984 album Captain of the Kamchatka

(Nachal’nik Kamchatki) became an instantsuccess. Tsoy’s technique of evenly pro-nouncing the words meant that every wordwas clear, but it also struck the audience asa laconic statement. The notes of loneli-ness and despair still underlay the songs’melodies. Kino continued its massive suc-


I woke up in the morning, in my clothes,in an armchair in my closet within my own four

walls.I waited till dawn for you to come,and wonder Sweet N where you spent the

night.

I washed and brushed my teeth,thought about it, but decided not to shave.I stepped outside and followed my nose,it was light outside and the day had begun.

And on the bridge I met a manwho told me that he knew me.He had a rouble, and I had four,and therefore we bought two bottles of wine.

And he took me to the strangest place,Where people were dancing so the house was

rockingWhere people were drinking cocktails and

played diceAnd nobody thought about what would happen

after.

It was a typical attic scenefrom two speakers wafted Bach.Everyone thought of his own affairsone about six billion*, the other about six

roubles.

And someone as always was babbling aboutflying saucers

and someone as always was preaching aboutZen,

but I sat like a statue and wondered stupidlywhere you spent the night, Sweet N.

Not sharing the general high spiritsI forgot myself and sipped rum in the armchairPeople came and wentAnd again couriers were sent shopping

The ladies were particularly polite,and one tried to capture meI was silent in the corner and wondered myselfwhere you spent the night, Sweet N.?

I was angry at myself, angry at the eveningand could only find my boot with difficulty.And although I was asked to stayI decided to leave although I could have stayed.

And when I came home, you were asleepBut I did not wake you up to have an argument

with you.I thought to myself: “Is it really that important

with whom and whereyou spent the night, my Sweet N?”


Zoopark and Mikhail Naumenko, “Sweet N” (Sladkaia N)

*world population

cess, and Tsoy appeared in the films ASSA

and The Needle. The song “Blood Group”accompanied the final scene of The Needle

when the knightlike Moro wandered offinto the other world, having failed to real-ize his noble aims in this world. The tune “IWant Change” ended Soloviev’s film ASSA

(1988), where the alternative hippie life-style represented in the film by the charac-ter of Bananan finally triumphs—albeit af-ter Bananan’s destruction by the current,prevailing system—in a semi-forbiddenconcert. Tsoy died in a car accident whileon holiday in the Latvian Baltic Sea resortJurmala. His premature death turned himinto a genuine rock legend in Russia andabroad.

The group Auktsyon (1983) emergedfrom a series of attempts by Leonid Fyo-dorov to form a band at the Polytechnic In-stitute in Leningrad. Eventually he teamedup with the poet and DJ Oleg Garkushaand formed Auktsion (Auction), a bandthat played postpunk and new wave music.Later they became influenced by the ethnicmusic of southern Europe and CentralAsia. The group’s name was once mis-spelled as Auktsyon and thus they arrivedat their current name. They played, like somany bands, in the Leningrad rock club,with visually striking performances of theabsurd texts of Garkusha. Their costumeswere designed by the hip Leningrad de-signer Kirill Miller (“Killer Miller”). Theiralbums, released from 1987 onward, soldwell. In the early 1990s they worked withthe émigré poet Alexei Khvostenko fortheir albums Kettle of Wine (Chainik vina,1992) and Lodger of Heights (Zhilets ver-shin, 1995), with the latter drawing on theexperimental poetry of the 1920s writer Ve-limir Khlebnikov. Again, a rock band drewon “high” Russian culture and the literarytraditions of the early twentieth century forits lyrics. In the latter half of the 1990s, theband became less active, and Fyodorovproduced the band Leningrad.

In Leningrad in 1983, Sviatoslav Zadernyformed the band Alisa that, until 1985,lacked a successful lead singer; Zadernyfound such a singer in Konstantin Kinchevfrom Moscow. The band immediatelylanded a hit with “My Generation” (Moepokolenie), which became a youth anthem.The song bemoaned the reduction of an en-tire generation to silent witnesses of theirtime, who feared the light and lived with-drawn in the underground. Such a gloomyview of life in Russia is typical of Kinchev.Alisa alluded to the world of Lewis Car-


The rock star and actor Viktor Tsoy, whose

premature death in 1990 turned him into a

genuine rock legend in Russia and abroad.

(Henry Diltz/Corbis)

roll’s Alice in Wonderland and parodiedWestern rock music with inclusions of Rus-sian folk elements. Kinchev offered a pow-erful requiem to Alexander Bashlachevwith the album The End (Shabash). Alisacontinued to release albums during the1990s and remained very popular. Theirmusical styles moved from hard rock to

disco and techno sounds, and thematicallythe lyrics revealed an increasing preoccu-pation with spiritual elements, not unlikethe development of Grebenshchikov.Around the same time as Alisa, MikeBorzykin formed his group Televizor(1984), beginning like so many groups inthe Leningrad rock club. Borzykin had the


2013 moonsare given to the absurd game.The light of passing starsis still light.It’s so difficult to believe in your pathfrom this wall to that wall.Answer!Did you hear me or not?

Unfortunately I am weakas the witness to the events on the Bald Hill.I can foresee,but cannot foretell.But if you suddenly seemy eyes in your windowthen knowthat I have come to disturb your sleep.

This is my generation standing silent in thecorners

my generation dares not sing,my generation feels the painbut again puts itself under the lash.My generation looks down,my generation fears the day,my generation cherishes the night,and devours itself in the mornings.

A blue-green dayrose, once the thunderstorm was over.What an amazing event,

but we miss it.It’s so difficult for you to make up your mind,

you are usedto weighing up the pros and cons.UnderstandI give you a chance.

It is my job to be alive,it’s a cheek, but it runs in the blood.I know how to read in the clouds the namesof those who know how to fly.If everyou feel the pulse of great loveknowI have come to help you get up!

This is my generation standing silent in thecorners

my generation dares not sing,my generation feels the painbut again puts itself under the lash.My generation looks down,my generation fears the day,my generation cherishes the night,and devours itself in the mornings.

Hey, generation, answer.Can you hear me? Can you hear me?I am here.


Alisa and Konstantin Kinchev, “My Generation” (Moe pokolenie)

reputation of being a difficult child, whichlent itself to the formation of the image ofan egocentric and lonely rocker. He contin-ually broke rules and taboos, and an under-lying pessimism resounded from his songsand themes of teenage frustration domi-nated his early work. In 1986 two songswere forbidden for concert performance(but played nevertheless). “Get out of Con-trol” (Vyiti) dealt with the supervision ofevery aspect of daily life by the Soviet sys-tem and supported the need to break freeto “get out of these walls.” Of course, anycensorship intervention in the mid-1980sraised the profile of a group, and perform-ance despite the prohibition made Televi-zor the leading band in the mid-1980s. Inanother song they condemned the Stalinistgeneration and the system that still over-shadowed the present, creating—followingthe model of Bashlachev—a parallel be-

tween fascism and Stalinism in the song“Your Father Is a Fascist” (Tvoi papafashist). The band was barred from per-forming in Moscow until the summer of1988, very late into the Gorbachev period.

The Leningrad scene fed on its own ama-teur rock bands, but a number of bandsfrom the provinces also moved to that cityrather than to Moscow. Yuri Shevchuk wasborn and raised in Ufa (Bashkortostan)and formed a band there in the early 1980s,with whom he participated in a number offestivals. In 1987 he moved to Leningrad af-ter the authorities in Ufa forbade furtherperformances of his group. He instantlyformed a new group around him, calledDDT, and also found a musical style lean-ing toward hard rock, but using both violin-ists and saxophonists. Shevchuk’s lyricswere imbued with social concerns. “I GotThis Role” (Ia poluchil etu rol’) became the


We were watched from the days of kinder-garten

Sweet aunties and kind uncles found our softspots

And hit us there as if we were their livestock.So we grew up as an obedient herdWe sing what they want, we live like they wantWe look up to them with the eyes of slavesWe watch them beating us up . . .

Get out of controlGet out—and sing what you feelNot what is allowed—We have a right to yell!Get out of controlGet out of these walls!Get out—we were born to be freeGet out and fly!

We have become sly, have learnt how to hide,and new aunties, new uncleslook into our eyes and pat our headsasking us to disappear into the lower depths.But we stand, we are sick of falling down,tell us: what for?Who are we? Who provokes our bad dreams?Here we are, not easy to get on with.Hide the birches—there are not enough for

everybody.Today ten, tomorrow twenty.That’s the way it was, that’s the way it will be.


Televizor, “Get out of Control” (Vyiti)

new anthem of the rock movement.Shevchuk followed in many ways the tradi-tions of Vysotsky: a concern for social ills,the hoarse and emotionally charged voice,and a love for Russia and her past in-formed his songs. The album Actress

Spring (Aktrisa vesna, 1992) revealed amixture of Russian folk and rock styles. Asthe 1990s moved on, and the need for avoice of opposition gave way to a voicethat entertained, Shevchuk became less an-gry and challenging and more disillusionedwith the role of a rock poet in the NewRussia. Although DDT continues as a band,he has, in many ways, suffered a fate ofmarginalization from the mainstream simi-lar to that of Grebenshchikov.

The other “migrant” group was the bandNautilus Pompilius, formed in 1978 by Via-

cheslav Butusov and Dmitri Umetsky inSverdlovsk, who made their first album in1982 with Alexander Pantykin. The lyricswritten for the group by Ilia Kormiltsevrepresented a poetic world that was mostsuitable for Butusov’s fragile melodies. Af-ter some years of performing, Butusov dis-solved the group and moved to Petersburg,where he reinvented Nautilus in 1990. Thefollowing albums had a huge success inRussia and beyond, developing a style ofguitar-based rock compositions for lyricsthat dealt with the fragility of human lifeand that did not necessarily possess anypolitical or social resonance. By 1997 theband had disintegrated, however, and al-though the albums Yablokitai, recorded inLondon with electric music by Bill Nelson,and Atlantida still carried the name of the


Yuri Shevchuk, leader of the DDT rock group at a jubilee concert of his group at the Olympic Sport

Complex, 2000. (Photo by Dmitry Lebedev/Kommersant)

band, they were recorded by Butusov withfree-lance musicians. A genuine experi-menter, Butusov continues to composemusic and has collaborated with the bandDeadUshki (literally “dead ears,” or pho-netically “dedushki,” grandfathers, formedin 1998), which creates electronic music.Butusov features prominently in AlexeiBalabanov’s blockbuster Brother, wherethe opening of the film captures the herostumbling onto the set where the clip“Wings” (Kryl’ia) is being shot. He getsbeaten up and continues his search for thelatest album of “Nau” throughout the film,at one point accidentally walking into aparty at Butusov’s flat. The song exploresthe fragility of the human soul but uses theimage of wings that allow man to fly andthat have been removed from man’s back,

leaving a scar. The crippled individual, un-able to “fly,” is condemned to a profane ex-istence, so unlike Viktor Tsoy’s lines thatallow man to step with ease into the skies,guided by the “star high up in the sky” andstill carrying “stardust on our boots.” Bu-tusov’s lyrical heroes are condemned to asullen existence in the New Russia.

Pop Culture

Rock Meets Pop

The rock movement of the 1980s continuedwell into the 1990s. Some bands lost theirvoice of opposition, unable to find a role ina society that no longer relied on the un-derground to spell out truths. Others estab-lished themselves with a particular musical


Viacheslav Butusov with his new band Ju-Piter performing on the stage of the B-2 Club in Moscow in

2004. (Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

style, from punk to hard rock, techno, andjazz. At the same time, rock music had nowbecome official and moved into the publicarena, thereby mixing with popular music.

Boys and Girls (1990s) A new phe-nomenon occurred of managers and pro-ducers launching and promoting rockbands. The composer Igor Matvienkolaunched a project with the vocalist Niko-lai Rastorguyev and formed the groupLiube (1989) after a successful concert inIzmailovo. He promoted the band throughan album and a film (Liube Zone, [ZonaLiube, 1994]). At concerts the group pre-sented itself in black T-shirts and checkedtrousers, playing a heavy and loud pop andfolk mix. The image of the band, and in-deed their name, drew on the youth gang“liubery,” named after the Moscow work-

ing-class suburb Liubertsy. The “liubery”manifested a harsh opposition to Westerninfluence (unattainable to them finan-cially), not unlike the skinheads. Liube hitsincluded the song “Makhno” (1988), whichdrew on Cossack-style tunes. For the hit“Atas,” they created a stage image in mili-tary uniforms of the 1940s for a lyrical andhumorous song that contributed to theirimage as a neofascist band.

Another novelty for the 1990s was theemergence of girls’ bands. Although therock scene had been largely male domi-nated, with women taking their place onthe lighter estrada stage, several girl bandswere formed. The first and most successfulwas the band Kolibri from Leningrad/St.Petersburg, organized as a musical andaesthetic project by Natalia Pivovarova in1988. Together with Yelena Yudanova and


You are taking off your evening dress, standingwith your face to the wall.

I can see the fresh scars on your spine whichis as soft as velvet.

I want to cry with pain, or forget myself in adream.

Where are your wings which I liked so much?

Where are your wings which I liked so much?Where are your wings which I liked so much?

Some time ago we used to have time, now wehave things to do:

To prove that the strong gobble up the weak, toprove that soot is white.

We have all lost something in this senselesswar,

By the way—Where are your wings which Iliked so much?


I don’t ask how much money you have, or howmany men,

I see that you are afraid of open windows andupper floors,

And if tomorrow there is a fire and the wholebuilding is in flames,

We will die without those wings which I likedso much.



Nautilus Pompilius, “Wings” (Kryl’ia)

Inna Volkova, Pivovarova formed a trio thatperformed hits of the 1950s, accompaniedby the sax player from DDT, Mikhail Cher-nov. In 1990 the trio was joined by IrinaSharovatova and called itself Kolibri. Thesong “Yellow Autumn Leaf” (Zheltyi listosennii) became an instant hit, establishingthe style of the band with a decadent, senti-mental note, without however abandoningthe satirical and parodic touches (styob) sotypical of the Soviet rock movement. Thelyrics were concerned with love and femalesecrets. In 1999 Pivovarova left the band fora solo career, indeed taking a short stint atdirecting a play. The group Litsei (Lyceum,1992) also started off with three girls, oneof them the daughter of Andrei Makarevich,Anastasia. Dressed in jeans and sneakers,they offered a repertoire of harmonized andmelodious songs, composed and producedby Makarevich. The most successful girls’band was Strelki (Arrows, 1998), whichwas formed, like Liube, by a producer andcomposer who selected the girls with a spe-cific project in mind. Their songs “MaMummy” (Mamochka mamulia) and “YouDitched Me” (Ty brosil menia) became hitsamong a largely teenage audience. The trioViaGra was formed originally in Kiev in2001, when the group had a clip shown onBiz TV. Under a powerful Moscow pro-ducer, they soon signed a contract withSony and received the Ovation award. Thetrio, with changing singers, but always con-sisting of a blonde, a redhead, and a brunet,draw heavily on their sex appeal, sportingshort skirts and using the nurse-look to en-hance their erotic appearance.

After the success of the girl band, theboy band followed suit. A-Studio, a bandfrom Almaty (hence A-studio), had workedas an orchestra for the Kazakh singer RosaRymbaeva since 1981 before venturing on

their own pop and jazz tunes with Easterninfluences in 1987. In 1989, “Julia” becamea hit, followed by successful albums in theearly 1990s. The band dissolved in 2000. Agreater resonance was achieved by theproject of Bari Alibasov with the groupNaNa (1994). They were the first boy groupto perform in the Hard Rock Café in NewYork, building their performances on cho-reographed dance acts. Alibasov formedthe group by competition and casting, re-cruiting Vladimir Levkin, Vladimir Asimov,Vladimir Politov, and Viacheslav Zherebkinfor the band while he managed the group.The emphasis was less on song than onstage performance, as the group was mod-eled on the Beatles with a neat appearanceand a groomed hairstyle. An element oferoticism had become an integral part ofshow business, and NaNa was soon ac-cused of promoting itself as a gay band.

Ivanushki International (1995) was an-other youth project launched by IgorMatvienko (who had also launched Liube).He recruited the dancer and singer AndreiGrigoriev-Apollonov from Sochi andmatched him with a singer and actor fromMoscow, Igor Sorin, to form a group. In1996 they launched their debut album oftechno dance music and in order to achievemaximum publicity resorted to free con-certs in Moscow schools. Their video clipswere successfully shown on the major mu-sic channels, and Ivanushki became verypopular among a teenage audience.

Although in Moscow music becamemore and more a business and bands wereassembled to meet the needs of a producer,the Petersburg scene relied on organic for-mations. The band Tequilajazzz (1991)brought together Yevgeni Fyodorov, Kon-stantin Fyodorov, and Alexei Voronov.They played heavy guitar music largely for


club performances, becoming graduallymore melodic and more appealing. Theyhave composed music for the theater andhave recorded two albums with Kolibri.The band Chizh and Co. (1993) under Ser-gei Chigrakov (Chizh) is characterized byhis falsetto voice and guitar play. Chizhrecorded his first album with support fromPetersburg musicians. His songs are auto-biographical and deal with contemporarylife. Chizh is extremely prolific. His 1997 al-bum Bombers (Bombardirovshchiki), withthe song “Tanks Thundered in the Fields”

(Na pole tanki grokhotali), was the best-selling album of the year. The song mock-ingly tells the story of a war and makespointed references to the ongoing Chechenwar. Korol i Shut (King and Jester, 1989)represented punk music in its early daysand launched its first album only in 1996,presenting frightening stories in their lyricsset to dynamic rock music. Their songshave caught on with audiences and are fre-quently played on radio. Ruki Vverkh(Hands Up, 1997) is a dance band originallyfrom Saratov, formed by the duo Sergei


The pop group Ivanushki International performs during the celebration of the group’s fifth birthday at

the Olympic Sports Center in 2001. (Photo by Sergey Mikheev/Kommersant )

Zhukov and Andrei Potekhin. The song“Little Boy” (Malysh) included the voice ofa little boy and turned into a major hit. An-other discovery from the provinces was theband Mumii Troll (Mummy Troll) formed inVladivostok in 1979 by Igor Lagutenko. Af-ter work placements in China and London,Lagutenko recorded his debut album inLondon in 1996 and gained attention withhis rhythmic and melodic provocativepunk. His songs became hits and wereplayed on the radio in the late 1990s.Lagutenko started to promote young tal-ent, among others Zemfira. His band wasnominated to represent Russia in the Euro-vision Song Contest 2001 with “Lay AlpineBlues” and took twelfth place. He has re-cently written the music for Leonid Ry-bakov’s debut film, Book Stealers (Pokhi-titeli knig, 2004).

The American-based band Bering Straitwas formed in the mid-1990s by a group ofteenagers from Obninsk, Siberia, who trav-eled to Nashville, Tennessee, and beganperforming a Russian-inspired form ofcountry music. Natasha Borzilova and Ly-dia Salnikova play the guitar and keyboardand perform the vocals in the band, and IliaToshinsky, Alexander Ostrovsky, Alexan-der Arzamastsev, and Sergei Olkhovskyprovide the musical accompaniment. Be-ring Strait is popular in the United States,where the band has released its recordswith Universal, although it remains ob-scure in Russia.

Pop and Scandal After boy bands andgirl bands, the turn came for scandals tocreate publicity for groups. Zapreshchen-nye barabanshchiki (The Forbidden Drum-mers) were the discovery of 1999 with thesong “A Killed Negro” (Ubili negra). Theband from Rostov indeed initially con-

sisted of drummers who were joined by anorchestra and arrived in Moscow in 1997.They play rock with interesting rhythmchanges, introducing a samba rhythm for“A Killed Negro,” telling the story of a Ne-gro who is not playing basketball and notdancing hip hop, using clichés of the Negroto establish that he is dead while the re-frains express outrage that he has beenmurdered. He is then revived by a healerand returns as a zombie. The text ismocked by its pronunciation with a seem-ingly foreign accent. This creates a slowand monotonous recital of the words thatlends them a deadpan tone while telling thestory of the killed Negro with a mockinglylow-key refrain “oi oi oi.”

Even more outrageous are the texts ofthe Petersburg folk-punk band Leningradfounded in 1997 by Sergei Shnurov (Shnur)with some members of Tequilajazzz. Theband’s lyrics are full of extremely vulgarlanguage, parodying the establishmentwhile offering melodic rock tunes for themusical ear. The song “Sluts” (Bliadi) is agood example of the vulgar texts producedby the group. The song tells the story of aman who is looking for a warm place forhis penis (“tolko khui rabotaet / khochetsiaemu tepla / khot odna by mne dala”), ap-pealing to the sluts to help out this “uncle”(diadia). Another song, Paedos (Pidarasy),deals with the dull life in town, leaving sex-ual aberration as the only way out for thelyrical hero. Leningrad’s texts may bespoofs of contemporary pop groups or es-tablished rock bands. Thus, they haverecorded parodies of Zemfira and even ofthe Kino hit “Blood Type.” Because of theirobscene language they have been bannedby Moscow’s mayor from playing concertsin the city, although they have appeared inseveral rock clubs (B2 and Jao Ja). The vul-


garity of their texts, combined with a dead-pan, folksy rendering, makes their songsnot unlike those of the London-based TigerLillies.

The preoccupation with sexuality,straight and otherwise, is one of the keyfactors in the contemporary Russian rockscene to model the image of a group andpromote it in the mass media. The homo-sexual theme was alluded to by NaNa, al-though they did not deliberately stagehomoerotic performances. Gosti iz Budu-shchego (Guests from the Future, 1998),organized by the composer Yuri Usachevwith his singing partner Eva Polsna (who ishalf Polish), were initially concerned withtheir pop and rave songs, arranged forthem by the top Russian DJ, Groove. “Runfrom Me” (Begi ot menia, 1999) became ahit, however, largely because of the clipwhere Eva features along with another girl.Moreover she slurs the line “you turned outnot to be my fate, but” (ty moei sudboyu nestal . . . a) so that the verb indicates thatshe is speaking of another woman, not aman (stal is the masculine form, stala thefeminine form of the verb, which in thepast tense in Russian gives a clue to thegender of the speaker). The second hit,“Hatred” (Neliubov’), featured in the clipYuri Usachev with another man, alluding tohomosexual love. The sadomasochisticrhythm, combined with groaning, did therest to create two songs that, through theirclips and performance, promoted lesbian-ism and male homosexuality for the firsttime deliberately.

This trend would be trumped, however,by the most popular pop band in Russianhistory, the duo t.A.T.u, playing in a Euro-pop rock style. They deliberately alluded totheir lesbian relationship, but moreoverthis was a relationship of teenagers (and

minors), not adults. The duo was formed in1999 by the producer Ivan Shapovalov. Hecast Lena Katina (b. 1984) and Julia Vol-kova (b. 1985) for the band, dressing themin school uniforms (white blouses, ties,and checked miniskirts) and taught themsome lesbian antics. With that they becamethe most popular band in Russia; with 1.5million albums sold, they conquered the in-ternational charts and toured Europe andthe United States, finally representing Rus-sia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003with “Don’t Trust, Don’t Be Afraid” (Ne ver,ne boisia), gaining third place.

The band’s name derived from Ta liubit

tu (this girl loves that girl). They advertisedtheir young, forbidden love in the clips totheir songs and their interviews. They firstlaunched their single “I’ve Gone Mad” (Iasoshla s uma, 2000; English version “All theThings She Said’), which reached numberone on Russian radio, backed by a videoclip on MTV and a mini album. This was fol-lowed by “Not Gonna Get Us” (Nas ne do-goniat, 2001), which led to a contract withUniversal. By 2002 they had an album in En-glish, 200kmh in the Wrong Lane, andreached the top of the charts in Europe. Allthis was achieved by a careful marketingcampaign that styled the girls as lesbians(which they were, in fact, not), and by theirmaintaining this facade in interviews. Oncetheir image collapsed as both started datingboys, their career came to an end.

t.A.T.u’s songs describe the anxiety of thegirls that they might be discovered doingwrong. The song “Malchik Gay” deals withthe frustrations of a girl in love with a gayboy. In their hit “All the Things She Said” (Iasoshla s uma) they mention forbidden love;they emphasize that the girls are “mixed upand cornered” but that they want eachother so much. In “I’ve Gone Mad” the girls


present themselves as considered to bemad by others and in need of a cure. Theclips illustrated the girls’ feelings for eachother, and their entrapment in a societyfrom which they sought to escape.

And I’m all mixed up, feeling cornered and

rushed

They say it’s my fault but I want her so much

Wanna fly her away where the sun and rain

Come in over my face, wash away all the

shame

When they stop and stare—don’t worry me

’Cause I’m feeling for her what she’s feeling

for me

I can try to pretend, I can try to forget

But it’s driving me mad, going out of my head

While they seemed naive and in love intelevision interviews, they clearly knewvery well the roles they had to play andbroke free from the expectations at everyopportunity. For example, after being criti-cized for kissing on one television show inthe United States during their tour in Feb-ruary 2003, they were allowed to kiss dur-ing another but chose not to do so. On theTonight Show with Jay Leno on 24 Febru-ary 2003, they benefited from the fact thatthe studio staff did not know Russian to ex-


The girl band t.A.T.u takes part in the “Stopudovyi” Hit (Hundred-Pound Hit) Awards ceremony held

by Hit-FM radio in the Kremlin Palace, 2001. (Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

press their opposition to the war in Iraq,when they quite outrageously sported T-shirts with the phrase “KHUI VOINE” (f***the war). On the next evening, on Jimmy

Kimmel Live, they wore T-shirts with theword censored. t.A.T.u may have been themost important pop duo to bring Russianpop music to the attention of the West, buttheir image was a very fine construct thatultimately broke apart.

If the image of the t.A.T.u girls had beenentirely artificially created, then Alsou is agenuinely talented singer, who used public-ity to market her talent rather than createit. Born in Tatarstan, Alsou (Alsu Safina) isthe daughter of LukOil’s vice president. Shemoved to Moscow in 1991 and attended amusical school, but in 1993 her family senther to a London school specializing in de-sign. In 1999 Alsou, aged 15, sang her tune“Winter Dream” (Zimnii son) in a clip di-rected by the gifted and popular film- andclip-maker Yuri Grymov, who created a clipwhere she featured as a Lolita-type charac-ter alongside the star actor Sergei Makovet-sky (who looks not unlike Jeremy Irons,who had just starred in Adrian Lyne’s re-make of Lolita) and Yelena Yakovleva. Al-sou signed a contract with Universal, andin 2000 she was the youngest-ever singer torepresent Russia at the Eurovision Songcontest, taking second place in the compe-tition with her song, “Solo.” In 2000 Alsoulaunched her first English album and sub-sequently received the European MusicAward. She returned to Moscow in 2003 tostudy at the Theater Institute.

Zemfira (Ramazanova) was discovered in1998 at a rock festival in Moscow and washelped in her career by Ilia Lagutenko ofMumii Troll for her first album. SPID (Aids)became an instant hit and was played fre-quently on radio. Zemfira’s individual man-

ner of singing made her one of the mostpopular performers in Russian pop and al-lowed her to form a group around her forher next albums. Also known for theirvoices rather than their media image arethe Nochnye Snaipery (Night Snipers,1997), a duo of Diana Arbenina from Maga-dan and Svetlana Urganova from Peters-burg, who perform their songs to electronicmusic arranged with help from ex-Nautilusmusicians. Another successful voice is thatof Julia Chicherina from Ekaterinburg, wholaunched her career in 1997 with the single“40,000 km” that became a radio hit. Shemoved to Moscow, where “Tu-la-la” becamepopular on radio and allowed her to launcha number of albums.


Alsou, the talented singer who represented

Russia in the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest.

(Photo by Irina Kaledina)

The most innovative new talent is that ofNatasha Ionova, but she has conquered thecharts not with her voice, but by the cre-ation of her puppet personality. The 17-year-old Natasha, who performs as theband Gliukoza (original spelling ГЛЮК’:)ZAwhere gliuk means a high and the completeword glucose), appeared on the stage in2003. Gliukoza loaded her first compositiononto the Internet as mp3 files and thengained popularity with her cartoon figure.She wears a mask of this character for herclips and performances, portraying a girlwith blond hair (like her) through hermask.

The Russian rock scene clearly movedinto the public domain and turned into afully fledged business in the 1990s. Al-though talents still emerge onto the publicarena, many pop groups are created and

produced, manipulated by producers andmass media to bring in a commercialprofit.

Estrada and Pop Music

The record company Melodiya wasfounded in 1964 to control the releases ofSoviet music; the majority of its sales werepop music, not recordings of classical mu-sic. And this music was pop music of theestrada genre.

If rock music had a massive impact onpopular music in the 1990s from the under-ground, then estrada was the official popu-lar entertainment. It was popular despiteits official status, whereas undergroundwas popular because of its unofficial na-ture. Estrada draws on jazz music and per-formance, merged with some disco ele-ment. Performances on the estrada stage


The rock singer Zemfira performs at the Maxidrom rock festival in the Olympic Sports Complex in

2002. (Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

are usually in the form of a concert versionwith an audience to watch a spectaclerather than dance. Estrada is mass enter-tainment of a stage concert, requiringpreparation and choreography, design andmovement as well as costumes; it is a the-atricalized performance.

In the 1960s famous estrada singers in-cluded Mark Bernes (1911–1969), who per-formed both on stage and in film; the na-tive Polish singer Edita Piekha (b. 1937);Sofia Rotaru (b. 1947), whose successcame in 1968 with a song about soldierswho did not return; the bass baritone LevLeshchenko (b. 1942); Iosif Kobzon (b.1937), who since 1959 has performed as asinger. Many of the estrada songs camefrom the pen of Alexandra Pakhmutova (b.1929, Sverdlovsk), a composer who gradu-ated from the Moscow Conservatory in1956 and has written more than 300 songs.Pakhmutova followed the tradition of the1930s ballads and the bard song, and thejumps in octaves are a characteristic fea-ture of her compositions. Her most famoussong is “Tenderness” (Nezhnost’, 1966),which is extremely popular to the presentday. The composers played an increasinglysignificant role in creating the right tunesbut also collaborating with appropriate in-terpreters. Igor Krutoy (b. 1954) is a com-poser who founded in 1988 the ARS center,which among other things produced televi-sion shows on music. Raimond Pauls (b.1936, Riga) had worked with a jazz sextetand conducted the Riga Estrada Orchestrabefore beginning to write his own music.He worked closely with such poets as An-drei Voznesensky, Robert Rozhdestvensky,and Ilia Reznik for the lyrics.

The 1960s and 1970s also saw a revival ofthe folk song, much in the style of countryfolk song in the performance of Zhanna

Bichevskaya (b. 1944), who collects andperforms folk songs and accompanies her-self on the guitar, dressed in plain and sim-ple black dresses to avoid the theatrical ef-fects achieved on the estrada stage.Nadezhda Babkina (b. 1950) is a singerwith an alto voice who not only performsfolk songs but also heads the folk sectionat the Gnesin Institute and has founded acenter for folk music.

An extremely popular singer of the 1970swas the opera baritone Muslim Mago-mayev (b. 1942, Baku), who is little knownin the West. Magomayev had studied musicat Baku Conservatory and spent a shortterm at La Scala in Milan before becominga solo singer of the Azerbaijan NationalOpera and Ballet Theater (1963–1969,1978–1987). In between he performed onthe estrada, lending his lyrical intonationand his velvety, romantic voice to thesongs of Ario Babadzhanyan (1921–1983).His “Beauty Queen” (Koroleva krasoty)was a megahit of the 1970s and is still fre-quently played at concerts and on radio.Magomayev later returned to the classicalopera stage but even then continued to usehis direct contact with the audience in or-der to popularize opera music.

The major discovery of the 1970s, how-ever, was Alla Pugacheva. Her song “Harle-quin” (1975) not only won the main prize ata prestigious festival in Bulgaria but alsoestablished her fame as the leading Russianpop diva, a reputation that survives into thepresent day. Although scorned by the intel-ligentsia, which hated anything popularand therefore profane, she became the popqueen, with all the stormy affairs and ec-centricities of a star. Pugacheva staged hersongs as theatrical performances, wherethe singer adopts a role and changes thisrole from show to show, but also from song


to song, varying her intonation, changingcostumes, and altering the pitch of hervoice to match the mood of the song. Mostof Pugacheva’s songs of the 1970s and1980s were composed by the team of Rai-mond Pauls and Ilia Reznik, who wrote thehit “Yellow Leaves” (Zheltye list’ia, 1978).Although the heyday of her career wasclearly in the late 1970s, Pugacheva contin-ues to make the headlines, whether it iswith her marriage to the much younger popstar Filipp Kirkorov, or the launch of a shoeand fashion label, or the participation in1997 in the Eurovision Song Contest with“Primadonna,” where she came in only fif-teenth.

Pop Ladies Pugacheva created a prece-dent for women to cast themselves in dif-ferent roles and theatricalize song perform-ance almost to the level of Western showbusiness. Her model was followed, directlyand indirectly, by many people in the1980s. The soprano Larisa Dolina (b. 1955)made her appearance on stage with exoticstage numbers for her light dance tunes.Irina Allegrova cast her image as a femmefatale with her smoky voice while still per-forming as lead singer in bands. The songswritten by Igor Nikolayev launched hersolo career in the early 1990s, and later shealso worked with composer Igor Krutoy,who created dramatic ballads for her. TheLatvian Laima Vaikule (b. 1954) was dis-covered by Raimond Pauls when she per-formed in Riga’s restaurants and clubs inthe 1980s. She cast herself in various roles,creating a choreographic score for her per-formances. Her tall figure, short blond hair,and cabaret and variety style made her de-meanor similar to that of Liza Minelli. Shebecame popular with a song written for herby Ilia Reznik, “Night Bonfire” (Nochnoikoster, 1986), which featured on radio.

Natalia Vetlitskaya made her debut in1984 with the group Mirage but gained pop-ularity through her affair with the popsinger Dmitri Malikov (b.1970), whom shemarried in 1989. The blond sex symbol per-formed rhythmic tunes with a mischievousvoice. The song “Playboy” (1994), writtenby composer Oleg Molchanov and pre-sented with a video clip, was a hit thatmarked her comeback after divorcing Ma-likov. After marrying a businessman, shehas disappeared from bohemian circles butnot from the stage. Irina Saltykova also be-gan in the group Mirage, before marryingpop star Viktor Saltykov, whom she di-


Alla Pugacheva, the Soviet pop legend,

performing her hit “Harlequin” in the costume

designed for her theatrical performance of this

1970s hit. (Photo by Irina Kaledina)

vorced in 1995, going on then to launch asolo career. Saltykova gained popularitywith songs by Oleg Molchanov, especially“Gray Eyes” (Serye glaza) with a rathererotic video clip, and “Doll’s House”(Kukolnyi dom), both drawing on technoand disco rhythms. In 2000, she starred inthe blockbuster Brother 2 as herself, a starsinger who has a brief affair with DanilaBagrov (played by Sergei Bodrov Jr.).Saltykova’s erotic poses and gestures,sometimes bordering on vulgarity, makeher a frequent object of scandals reportedin the tabloid press and also qualify her asthe “face” that advertises Life Style con-doms. Alyona Sviridova not only sings butalso composes her own songs. She pro-moted herself with video clips made by thefilmmaker Ivan Dykhovichny and later byFyodor Bondarchuk (“Poor Lamb” [Bed-naia ovechka]). In 1999 she featured on thecover of the Russian edition of Playboy. Al-though all these pop singers are perhapstalented and have appealing voices, mostcreated their stage image not through per-formance but through media scandals. Thisdemonstrates how fast Russian pop culturehas assimilated the working mechanisms ofWestern show business, where the mediacan build or destroy the image of a star. Thefact that so many new bands and voices arenot discoveries, but the creations of pro-ducers, ties in with this development.

Gentlemen of the Estrada If thewomen build their images on erotic attrac-tion, the male pop stars tend to draw on amore classical image. Oleg Gazmanov’s ed-ucation in the navy shows in the creationof song cycles in different styles, from Cos-sack to navy and officers’ songs. His songsmoved from rock and folk intonations to a

disco sound, and then to romances. For awhile he performed some songs with hisson, Rodion, underscoring his image as afamily man. Valeri Meladze also appears asa well-groomed singer, mainly performingcompositions by his brother. Although thestage image of the tenor Valeri Leontievcarries some degree of sexual ambiva-lence, with his songs from the pen of Pauls,he established himself as a talented singerwith slightly effeminate manners and ap-pearance. Later he worked with the com-poser Lora Kvint (b. 1953), who also wrotethe rock opera Giordano (1988), in whichLeontiev sang the main part.

The Pugacheva clan includes, in thewider sense, two further male singers: herhusband and her ex-son-in-law. Puga-cheva’s husband, Filipp Kirkorov, is a starin his own right, but the relationship feedsthe media with stories because Kirkorov isalmost 20 years younger than Alla. Born inBulgaria into the family of a famous singer,Kirkorov studied music at the Gnesin Insti-tute in Moscow and began performing atthe Leningrad Music Hall and in Alla Pu-gacheva’s Theater, before embarking on asolo career. In 1994 he married Alla Pu-gacheva, a union that has shed no negativelight on his career; in a sense, Kirkorov re-vived attention toward Pugacheva’s waningstar and thus perpetuated her name. Kirko-rov has given concerts in large interna-tional venues (Madison Square Garden,Friedrichstadtpalast Berlin) and is pro-duced by Russia’s most powerful musicproducer, Sergei Lisovsky. His outfits comefrom the designer Valentin Yudashkin.Kirkorov has quickly become a cult figure,and his appearances in films and on stage(in the musical Chicago) are a guaranteefor box office success. Born in Sverdlovsk,


Vladimir Presniakov could hardly havemissed the rock movement that was sostrongly represented in the town. After astint in a hard rock group, his voice broke,and he turned to modern jazz and breakdancing. With his falsetto voice, he soonlaunched a solo career. Presniakov’s liai-son with Pugacheva’s daughter, the actressand occasional singer Kristina Orbakaite,with whom he has a son, provided mun-dane stuff for the tabloids.

The New Russian Estrada If in Soviettimes the estrada had provided light enter-tainment for the masses through theatrical-ized performances of songs and concerts,then in post-Soviet Russia the theatrical el-ement decreased and the image makingwas left to producers and the media rather

than talent. Gradually, the role of the pro-ducer increased in importance, and musicbecame a business rather than a form ofkeeping people entertained in an ideologi-cally suitable manner. The rise of the massmedia, especially television, facilitated thecreation of images through music clips. Al-though these were expensive to place onthe national channels, with the appearanceof musical channels, clips became the mostimportant way of promoting a new star.Some clip makers reached designer status:Yuri Grymov and Fyodor Bondarchuk arethe top directors and image makers. In1995, Muz TV began to transmit in 21 cities,charging a flat fee for every song played. InSeptember 1998, MTV followed suit, creat-ing a competing outlet for new musicalclips.


Russian pop diva Alla Pugacheva (right) and her husband Filipp Kirkorov (left) arrive at the Kremlin

Congress Palace to attend the Eighth Golden Gramophone Awards ceremony, 2003. (Photo by Alexey

Kudenko/Kommersant)

Moreover, the pop scene was subjectedto fast changes in taste. In the early 1990saudiences were eager to go to Russian rockconcerts, especially those groups that hadpreviously remained in the underground.As the underground rock surfaced and be-came mainstream, many of the bands losttheir remit and failed to keep the audi-ence’s attention. New rock groups satisfiednew demands. By the mid-1990s, a genera-tion of teenagers had grown up, bornaround 1980, that had seen very little of theold Soviet system. These teenagers of themid-1990s had entered school during theGorbachev years, had benefited from re-forms in society, and had been exposed toWestern influences. At the same time, thisgeneration had also seen their parentswork hard and struggle to survive duringthe economic chaos of the Yeltsin years.These teenagers were no longer interestedin the stories of underground rock bandsand dissident voices, but in disco rhythmsthat allowed them to escape from thechaos that surrounded them and that manycould not understand. They followed fash-ion trends rather than idols, and the arrowssignaling what is “in” and what is “out”changed very fast in the latter half of the1990s and in the new millennium.

The television programs Golden Gramo-

phone (Zolotoi grammofon) and Star Fac-

tory (Fabrika Zvezd) keep teenagers andyounger children glued to the televisionset. Golden Gramophone is a competitionof the best songs of the season, and it isproduced in collaboration with RusskoyeRadio, the radio station that has made it itspolicy to broadcast predominantly Russianmusic in order to promote it over andabove Western tunes. Star Factory is a tal-ent show, where—in the manner of theGerman talent show Deutschland sucht

den Superstar (which even produced asinger who represented the country at theEurovision Song Contest)—amateurs areallowed to present their songs. By contrastwith the German variant, though, here theyperform with the star they try to imitate.

A uniquely Russian, and apparently tem-porary, phenomenon was the popularity ofold Soviet music in the latter half of the1990s. Culturally, there is a logical explana-tion for this “nostalgia for the golden So-viet times.” The nostalgia was motivatednot so much by politics as by the fact thatmany television viewers were pensioners,who were very badly off in the Yeltsin era,much worse than they had ever been in So-viet times. Moreover, with the massive in-flux and overpowering force of Westernproducts and culture, many people, old andyoung, who could not afford the Westernluxuries rejected Western culture not forideological, but for economic reasons, andreverted to the good old Russian product.This phenomenon also applied to musicaltaste, and in 1995 ORT television producerKonstantin Ernst launched the New Year’sEve show Old Songs about the Main Thing

(Starye pesni o glavnom). The show was sosuccessful that he produced two furthershows in subsequent years. The shows pre-sented old estrada songs, re-recorded andsung in a contemporary vein by the stars ofthe 1990s. The first program was set on acollective farm in southern Russia in the1930s and consisted of musical hits of thatperiod. The second part moved to a moreurban setting in northern Russia and pre-sented hits of the 1950s. The final partmoved on to the 1970s, and, through thetime machine of Ivan Vasilievich Changes

Profession (Ivan Vasil’evich meniaet pro-fessii, a film based on the play by MikhailBulgakov) took the viewer from ancient


history to the present in a costumed jour-ney through the Mosfilm studios. Topestrada and pop stars participated in theshows.

Solo, with Support Most new solosingers of recent years are women. It wouldappear that men still tend to perform inbands and groups, whereas women moveon in solo careers. Even the popular singerLeonid Agutin now performs with his wife,Angelica Varum, as a duo. Agutin studiedjazz and launched a hit with “Barefoot Boy”(Bosonogii mal’chik, 1992). His Latin Amer-ican and samba rhythms made his musicsmooth and suitable for dancing. His song“Hop Hei, La-la-lei” was a second major hitand also revealed the decreasing impor-

tance of the lyrics for modern pop music. In1997 he performed the song “Queen” (Ko-roleva) with Angelica Varum, whom hemarried in 1998. Varum, the daughter of thecomposer Yuri Varum, had created herstage image as a fragile childlike fairy talecreature, singing about childhood themes.Her “Midnight Cowboy” (Polunochnoi kov-boi 1991) revealed an infantile demeanorand childlike images. Agutin and Varumhave also produced a joint album Business

Romance (Sluzhebnyi roman).With the increasing need for a financially

strong producer, corporate and privatesponsorship has become vital for the Rus-sian pop star scene. Moreover, singers relyon good composers and songwriters to cre-ate hits for them. Natasha Koroleva was


Leonid Agutin with his wife Angelica Varum, performing together. (Photo by Irina Kaledina)

discovered by the composer Igor Nikolayevat a competition in Eupatoria (Crimea) andlater married him. Koroleva initially per-formed children’s songs and romantic lovesongs but moved to pop music in the late1990s. Her stage image uses her sex appeal,marketed when she posed for Playboy in1997. Alena Apina from Saratov arrived inMoscow in 1988 and married the managerAlexander Iratov. She embarked on a solocareer, having performed with a band in herhome town. “Dance till Morning” (Tantse-vat’ do utra, 1992) was a hit that broughtout her coquettish manners. Later in her ca-reer she adopted a more dramatic style, andher performances became less mischievousand had less fervor. With songs composedby Oleg Molchanov, she tries to move to en-ergetic pop music and performs with theyoung singer Murat Nasyrov. Tatiana Bu-lanova played dance pop music with thegroup Letnii Sad (Summer Garden) and de-veloped her reputation as a singer with aweeping voice. She married the musicianNikolai Tagrin and launched a solo career.Her songs drew on Slavic folk and rock tra-ditions and were rendered in a tearful andemotional manner. In the mid-1990s shechanged her style, moving to the composerOleg Molchanov for her songs, which allowher to display her erotic appearance inmagnificent outfits. Linda is sponsored byher father. Her exotic appearance and un-usual performance are manifest in the clipsby Fyodor Bondarchuk: in the clip for “Un-derwater Dance” (Tanets pod vodoi), she isa girl with many plaits in her hair. OnLinda’s albums Songs of the Tibetian

Lamas (Pesni tibetskikh lam) and Crow

(Vorona), the backing vocals are by OlgaDzusova, one of the finest singers in Russia.Dzusova’s extraordinary voice has soundedas lead of the hard rock band SS20, in her

own album Parisian Tango, and in theeerie and parodic interpretations of Sovietsongs in the film Moscow (directed byAlexander Zeldovich, 2000). Katia Lel is aself-made star, who came to Moscow in1996 and collected money from friends andsponsors to make her first song recordingsand clips. She has gained wide popularitythrough her producer Max Fadeyev, whomshe personally thanks on the cover of heralbum Djaga-Djaga.

Over the last decade Russia has createdits own musical stars, whose music is morepopular in the new millennium than foreignimported recordings. Although some of therock bands still rely on parodic and provoc-ative texts to entertain and amuse theiraudiences, pop stars rely on catchy tunesand appealing rhythms to reach large audi-ences, both in concerts and record releases.In this sense, the Russian rock and popscene has gained full independence andstands commercially on a sound footing.

Youth Culture and Language

The language spoken, taught, and writtenin the Soviet Union was an “official” lan-guage, adapted by the chief ideologues forthe purpose of unifying speech habits. Therichness of nineteenth-century vocabulary,documented in classical Russian literatureand in the four volumes of Vladimir Dal’sdictionary, as well as the old spelling wasstandardized after the Revolution, al-legedly to combat the widespread illiter-acy. The simplification of the Russian lan-guage went much further during thetwentieth century, however, requiring theknowledge of a relatively small number ofwords in order to read the daily newspa-pers. Likewise, the range of words was re-


duced, as is evident in the editions of Rus-sian dictionaries published in the Sovietera. Russian was also “purified” from anyswear words and indeed any sexual termi-nology. This led to the publication in thelate Soviet period of a number of émigréeditions, such as Alex Flegon’s famous Be-

yond the Russian Dictionary (Za prede-lami russkogo slovaria), listing all thosewords excised from the Russian dictionarywith citations of their use by writers,literati, and essayists.

At the same time, another fascinatingphenomenon occurred when many intel-lectuals, writers, and dissidents returnedfrom the labor camps in the 1950s and1960s. Having been exposed to criminaljargon in the camps, they began to use thebehavior, gesture, and jargon of the com-mon criminals, both in assimilation of thebehavior they had been exposed to and inrejection of the current Soviet etiquette.The use of blatnoi zhargon (prison slang)infested intellectual discourse and thelifestyle of those rejecting ideological val-ues per se. This is exemplified in VenediktYerofeyev’s Moscow to the End of the Line

(Moskva-Petushki), written in the 1970sand circulated in samizdat, in which the au-thor-narrator’s drunkenness is a way ofperceiving the reality that surrounds him.Likewise, the singer and poet VladimirVysotsky used street and criminal jargon inhis songs, even if he was never exposed toprison. Thus, intellectuals and dissidentsoften colored their works with the use ofnonstandard language.

In the perestroika period, in particular,English words were borrowed and becamean integral part of the Russian language.The Perestroika Dictionary (Slovar’ pere-stroiki) mainly lists terms from the busi-ness and market economy that found their

way into the Russian language in the Gor-bachev era. This impact of foreign termswent hand in hand with the introduction ofthe hitherto unknown principles and struc-tures that went with them, however. There-fore these words did not stand out in theeveryday discourse.

In the 1990s a new generation of peoplegrew up who had not been exposed to theindoctrination of the party at home, inschools, and in the streets. Instead, theywere exposed to a world of extreme capi-talism, in which their parents were mostlystruggling. These children had no responsi-bilities toward the state; were often neg-lected by their parents, who were busywith often two or three jobs to survive; andwere largely left to their own devices, or atbest under a babushka’s (grandmother’s)care. The youth jargon that developed isprobably the most significant change in theRussian language since 1917.

Although youth groups had used se-lected foreign words to communicate anddevelop their own “code” in an attempt notto be understood by adults, as had been theorigin of argot (talk among criminals sothat they could not be understood), these“codes” expanded rapidly in the 1990s.They incorporated both the once unofficialcriminal jargon as well as foreign terms.Thus, for example, a new concept that ar-rived with the market economy and busi-ness was public relation, in short PR. In theRussian language this became piar withthe verb piarit and the noun piar-shchik,

the adjective piarovskii. Ofis has enteredthe language to designate an office space,often occupied by many people, as op-posed to the Russian word kabinet, usuallyreserved for one person. Other examplesare reiting, marketing, realtor, and no-

tariius.


The youth slang that developed in thelanguage in the 1990s remains, not reservedto certain youth groups but spread acrossthe population in general. After all, thebabushki are exposed to new words usedby the grandchildren they care for, andmany middle-aged people have teenagechildren who bring into usage new terms.

Youth Jargon and Slang

One term that describes a whole set of val-ues embraced by the 1990s generation isstyob, derived from the verb stebat (syn-onym of stegat: to whip, to lash). Styob de-scribes the exposure to mockery that leadsto an irreversible and permanent profana-tion. The critic Viktor Matizen has devoteda short essay to the roots of this phenome-non (Iskusstvo kino 9, 1993), tracing thoseroots to the absurdist pieces of DaniilKharms, who wrote a parody of Pushkin inanecdotes in an attempt to counter the lat-ter’s canonization by the state. In the 1960sthe anecdotes on Chapayev also showed ir-reverence toward the man who was, in offi-cial discourse, described as a Soviet hero.In the 1970s the term was used in the un-derground rock movement. Styob is closeto postmodernism in its parody of ele-ments of socialist culture, and this has aparallel appearance in “high” culture.Styob in popular culture is a remake,where the author plays a game with thepublic and creates a new myth based onthe sacred status of past culture. Thus, forexample, the anecdotes about Stirlitz in the1990s bear witness to the mockery of So-viet intelligence, in the same way as the re-course to criminal jargon and vulgar lan-guage parodies the Soviet state’s concernwith propriety and standards.

Another term that incorporates an entirelifestyle of the young generation is the word

tusovka. Tusovka became a trendy word inthe early 1990s and was used by ArtyomTroitsky as the title for his English-languagebook on new Soviet rock culture. The wordtusovka is derived from the French term se

tasser, and tusovat means primarily “toshuffle cards.” Tusovatsya describes theactivity of just being with friends, with agroup not necessarily of the same composi-tion, thus exposing the tusovshchik not tothe experience of allegiance to a group organg but making it possible to move arounddifferent groups. The term tusovka definesall groups with flexible membership, how-ever, and this creates its own kind of se-cluded circle. People who are out to tuso-

vatsya want to have fun, without anyobligations and allegiances. The tusovka ofthe 1960s underground generation (shes-

tidesyatniki) used a different vocabularythan the young generation of today. Otherwords that entered the Russian languagefrom the 1970s and 1980s underground arekaif, describing pleasure or a “high” underthe influence of drugs; vrubatsya (and thenoun vrub), meaning “to suss out, switchon,” literally to cut one’s way into; fenka,

the “main thing,” originally used to describebeads worn by hippies; and fishka, alsoused for “the main thing.” The term lokh isused for a loser, a simpleton.

Russian Teen Language Trendywords used by the young generation thathave become part of everyday speech in-clude adjectives that describe excitementand acceptance—prikolno ( prikolot: topierce); klyovo (klyover is gluck, high);kruto (steep, aggressive, powerful); obal-

denno (obaldet: be stunned)—all more orless meaning good, cool, super, or brilliant.For indifference, young people use wordssuch as do banki (up to the can); do bara-


banu (up to the drum); do lampady/lam-

pochki (up to the icon/lamp); pofigu (figu-ratively: nothing; pofigu: does not matter);pofigu forms the nouns pofigism (indiffer-ent attitude) and fignya (nothing, non-sense). The ultimate state of such indiffer-ence and inactivity is khalyava: to getsomething for nothing, free of charge, with-out working for it. For acceptance (okay),they use the words normalyok (normal);nishtyak (nothing); prosto taid (simplyTide); vse khokei (all hockey). These areplayful adaptations of the words normal

and okay and draw upon the Tide deter-gent advertising spot. Parents are often ir-reverently, often out of embarrassment, re-ferred to as predki (ancestors); nachaltsvo

(superiors); startsy (elders); kosti (bones).Youth jargon also replaces words of

standard usage with words that are morevisual in the description of a particularstate: oblom means a failure or an interrup-tion of a pleasurable experience and is de-rived from the term to break off; prikid is aeuphemism for dress, outfit, or garment,where prikidyvat means “to throw on.”Trendy details are not accessories, butpribambasy (trendy details). Leisure is nototdykh, but ottyag, from the word ottyagi-

vatsya: to stretch out. Understanding isnot signaled by the word ponimat but bythe verb prosekat, literally “to cutthrough.” Other words originate from amore commercial understanding of every-day reality: bazarit means “to talk yourway out,” “to beat around the bush,” andrefers to the term bazar (market). The verbkolbasitsya means “to have fun” and stemsfrom kolbasa (sausage).

Slang A number of words that havebeen principally used by teenagers havefound their way also into everyday speech.

The main area of slang that has enteredeveryday speech, however, largely throughthe crime serials on television, is the crimi-nal jargon as well as the language in whichcriminals (and not only criminals) speakabout money, cars, alcohol, and sex. Slangwords often replace proper words in every-day speech, not only of teenagers.

Swearing

Russian swearwords were never part ofdictionaries, and they were consideredrather more vulgar than in other Europeancultures. When translated into English instandard dictionaries, however, they aremostly rendered more harmless than theliteral meaning would suggest, thus allow-ing for a leveling and an adaptation to sug-gest these are comparatives and not su-perlatives. The most commonly usedphrases are idi na khui/idi v zhopu (goto . . . ), which, along with yob (eb) tvoyu

mat (f*** your mother), is rendered as “goto hell.” Derivatives of these swearwordsare yolki-palki, yolki-motalki, and yo-

moye, which are almost commonplace, es-pecially bearing in mind the name of therestaurant chain Yolki-Palki in Moscow.The adjectives yobnutyi and yobanyi

(f***ing) are also widespread. The verband noun mudit and mudak mean“bulls***,” and mudak is also a term usedfor a strange man or a weirdo. A perfectlyacceptable term is blin (pancake), a milderversion of “s***” (used when somethinghas gone wrong), and this remains com-monly used by all classes and ages.

Musicals

‘The musical has no tradition in the SovietUnion” was the apologetic assertion made


by most reviewers of the few musicalsstaged in Moscow in the late 1990s. Thesereviewers ignored the musical film come-dies of the 1930s as well as two produc-tions of the immediate pre- and postpere-stroika years. The first was the rock-opera

Perchance (Iunona i Avos), composed byAlexei Rybnikov to the lyrics of AndreiVoznesensky and staged at the MoscowLenkom Theater in 1981 by Mark Zakharovand the actor Nikolai Karachentsov, whoalso played the main part. The musical


Drink

To drink: bukhat (to thump, bang), grokhnut(crash), nazhirat’sia (fill up), drinchit (English:to drink), gazanut (step on it, accelerate),zapayat (to solder), dubasit (to bang on);also: ostakanitsya (get a glass), ografinitsya(get a jug), oflakonitsya (get a perfumebottle).

Alcoholic: alik, bukharik/bukhach, drinkach.

Sex

To have sex (vulgar terms): trakhat/trakhatsya(shake), ebat/ebatsya (f***), zavintit (screw).

Prostitute: zhaba (toad), blyad, blyakha (whore),shliukha (tart), shmara (thing).

Male homosexual: pedik, pider, gomik, goluboi(blue), teply brat (warm brother).

Arse: zhopa.Penis: khui (tool, prick), palka (stick), bolt (bolt),

khuyovy (adjective) (rotten, lousy), khuinya(noun) (bulls***, nonsense).

Vagina: pizda (c***), pizdets (idiot).

Crime

Policeman: ment.Thug: shpana (young), ambal (strong).To kill: (za)mochit (to wet, soak), zagasit

(extinguish), grokhnut (to crash, bang),zavalit (overthrow), zakolbasit (butcher).

To beat (up): gasit (extinguish), kantovat(frame), kolot (pierce), mochit (soak),grokhnut (crash), smazat mozgi (smear thebrain).

Boss (head of organized crime): avtoritet(authority), pakhan (pakhat: to plow).

Member of a criminal group: bratan, bratello,bratok (brother).

Criminal group: bratva (brotherhood).

Money

Money: babki.Roubles: derevyannye (wooden).Dollars: baksy (bucks), zelyonye (greens).Limon (lemon): a million.Shtuka (thing): a thousand (rubles, dollars).Fistashki (pistachios)]: a large sum of money.Beznal for beznalichnye (per invoice) and nal

for nalichnye (cash).

Cars

Bus: bukhanka.Car: tachka, kareta; tachka is also a motorbike.BMW: akula (shark), bavarets (Bavarian),

bumer/bimer (bimmer); be-em-vushka.Mercedes: mers.VW: zhuchok (beetle); bozhya korovka

(ladybug).

Slang

dealt with the trans-Pacific expedition ofthe Russian Count Rezanov to California inthe early nineteenth century. It was a mix-ture of adventure drama and melodrama,thus combining the two most popular gen-res of film, theater and literature. Rezanovis a romantic dreamer, who is obsessedwith the desire to travel to California. Im-ploring the icon of Our Lady, he falls inlove with her image. His dream comes true,and he travels to California; there he meetsConchita, the daughter of the local gover-nor, who is engaged to Federico. Rezanov,who sees in Conchita the face of Our Lady,strives to gain her love, which Conchita re-ciprocates. Eventually Rezanov has toleave for Siberia, where he dies. Conchitaremains faithful to him and enters a con-vent. The melodrama has love triumphover death in the final song “Hallelujah ofLove,” which can compete in its melodicappeal with the songs of Western musicals.Second was the rock-musical Jesus Christ

Superstar, which opened at the MossovetTheater in 1990 in a production directed byPavel Khomsky and Sergei Prokhanov.Both Perchance and Jesus Christ Super-

star are, however, repertoire productionsin established dramatic theaters ratherthan productions for a stationary stage;they are performed several times a monthin repertoire.

The first professionally produced musi-cal, Janusz Stoklosa’s Metro, opened in Oc-tober 1999 at the Moscow Operetta The-ater. It was managed by the team ofKatherina von Gecmen-Waldeck and Alex-ander Vainshtok with the operetta’s head,Vladimir Tartakovsky. This musical is noimport from Broadway or the West End(which would have incurred high licensefees), but was originally staged in Polandin 1991. The Moscow production was cre-

ated by the Polish director and the chore-ographer of the original show, Janusz Sos-nowski and Janusz Josefowicz. Metro didnot make stars, as Perchance and Jesus

Christ Superstar had made stars of NikolaiKarachentsov and Oleg Kazancheyev re-spectively; instead, it included stars in itscast list for guest appearances. Within thefirst 15 months, the show, which runs foreight to ten days en bloc every month, wasseen by more than 150,000 people. It ap-pealed to the public because of its speciallaser effects, because of the choreographyand the professional performances of theyoung actors, and because of the story line,dealing with the young generation’s aspira-tions for the theater, which are frustratedbut ultimately lead to a successful under-ground production. Today’s young genera-tion is presented with the possibility of re-alizing a dream, and the musical thereforeappealed first and foremost to the youngaudience.

Several other musicals followed on asemistationary basis. In November 1999the rock legend Stas Namin (Tsvety) stagedthe musical Hair at the Estrada Theater.Namin had directed rock musicals before,even if largely as concert versions in histheater in Gorky Park. The Moscow Op-eretta’s success with Metro was followedby Notre Dame de Paris, which premieredon 21 May 2002, created by the same pro-duction team that had worked on Metro.

This time, though, the theater set its stakeshigher and engaged the leader of the groupTantsy, Viachaslav Petkun, for the mainpart of Quasimodo. The musical Chicago

opened at the Estrada Theater in Moscowon 4 October 2002 with Filipp Kirkorov inthe main part; the competition for starnames on the playbills was getting strongerin a growing musical market. Kirkorov sub-


sequently also dubbed the film musicalChicago (Russian release 2003). In March2002, the joint Slovak-Russian productionof Dracula (composed by Karel Svoboda,directed by Josef Bernadik) opened with ajoint cast at the DK on Lenin Prospekt.42nd Street premiered on 12 October 2002at the DK Molodezhi as a joint American-Russian venture, directed by Mark Bram-ble and choreographed by Randy Skinner,repeating their 2001 Broadway versionwith a mixed troupe. The Witches of East-

wick has been playing at the Theater of theFilm Actor since 2002. Thus, althoughAmerican and European musicals wereadapted for the Russian stage, there wasno originality in the productions, whichwere imitations of Western musicals.

Nord-Ost: The First Russian Musical

Nord-Ost declared itself the “first Russianmusical” that would play on a daily basisrather than in a repertoire theater. Thecasting drew on a pool of young, talentedentertainment actors rather than stars soas to allow for a long-term run of the musi-cal: Yekaterina Guseva and Andrei Bog-danov came to fame through their roles inNord-Ost. In the advertising campaign,Nord-Ost placed itself in the context ofother great world musicals, although thismay simply have been part of the publicityexercise relating to Cameron MackintoshLtd., one of the largest musical productioncompanies, with whom the producersGeorgi Vasiliev and Alexander Tsekalo ini-tially had a deal on Les Miserables for theRussian stage before the default of August1998 made this project impossible.

Nord-Ost launched a massive publicitycampaign in the style of Western musicals.A Web site was created primarily for mar-keting purposes. It was the first show with

an elaborate ticket booking system via theInternet, thus clearly appealing to an audi-ence that was more middle class and wasin possession of or had access to a com-puter. The site carried information on themusic, the performance archive, programinformation, cast and production team,press releases and reviews of the show(only positive ones), and “surprises,”which included downloadable desktop pic-tures and mobile phone tunes. The designitself was not stunning but rather of an in-formational nature. The lax maintenanceof the site after the initial launch was strik-ing; most news items were announced inthe chat-room and on unofficial sites ratherthan the official section. Nord-Ost led apublicity campaign comparable to Westernstandards: there were banners in themetro, advertisements on radio and clips


A scene from the musical Nord-Ost, the first

Russian musical to open in Moscow at the

Dubrovka Theatre in 2001. (Photo by Irina

Kaledina)

on television, posters in the streets, and in-formation on the back of metro tickets allthrough the summer before the showopened. The slogan for the production notonly stuck in everybody’s mind but actuallybegan to get on one’s nerves: “Everyevening exactly at 21:45 a full-size bomberplane lands on the stage.”

The production was staged in the Houseof Culture of Moscow’s Ball-Bearing Fac-tory on Dubrovka; it cost four million dol-lars and opened on 19 October 2001 in therefurbished and specially equipped DK, re-named Dubrovka Theater Center, seating1,150 spectators for a price of 300–900rubles (US$10–30) per ticket. Clearly, theequivalent of US$30 for a ticket can hardlybe called mass appeal (average monthlywages in 2001 ranged from around US$500in the cultural sector to less than US$100for pensions), but Nord-Ost attracted350,000 spectators in the first year of its run(in other words, a full house every night).

The special effects of Broadway musi-cals, the imported technology for light andsound, and the professional casting pro-cess were to make this show a successstory à la Broadway. The live orchestra,elaborate sets and costumes, and the spe-cial effects were designed to outdo West-ern musicals. But all this would beachieved on the basis of a Russian, orrather Soviet, text that had even beenawarded the State (Stalin) Prize in 1946:Veniamin Kaverin’s (1902–1989) epic Two

Captains (Dva kapitana). The novelstretches over thirty years, from 1913 to1943, thus encompassing the most crucialand formative years of the Soviet state,from the Revolution to the civil war,through the Stalin era to World War II.Moreover, the text was of a suitable genre,combining two love triangles in an essen-

tially melodramatic plot and drawing cleardistinctions between good and bad charac-ters. The authors placed their stakes on theRussian reader of Kaverin: on the genera-tion of parents, who had read Kaverin intheir childhood; on the 32 million peoplewho had seen the 1955 film by VladimirVengerov, which dwells on the protago-nists’ heroism and focuses on the dilemmabetween political and private as well as thetheme of war heroism, both characteristicfeatures for the cinema of the Thaw; andon the millions of television spectatorswho had watched the six-part television se-ries made by Yevgeni Karelov in 1976. Now,so the producers assumed, the generationof grandparents born in the 1950s and par-ents born in the 1970s had passed the storyof Two Captains on to their children andgrandchildren (even if those read Harry

Potter). The show was intended to appealto a family audience, thus to an older audi-ence than Metro. At the same time, the am-bition of the project was to create a pieceof indigenous Russian culture by recyclingthe plot of a 1940s epic and drawing on thetraditions of the Stalinist musical. Nord-

Ost explores features of Soviet life, such ascommunal living, bureaucracy, and techno-logical progress, parodying them slightly,but taking pride in them as experiencesthat have unified the people, who borehardship with humour. The music is full ofreferences and allusions to the musicaltraditions of the 1920s and 1930s. Themelodramatic plot is also in line with thetraditions of the 1930s musical, when melo-dramas were perceived to appeal to themasses, offering a plot in which personalhappiness is the reward for courage andheroism in political and public life. In thissense, the story of Two Captains literallylent itself to be worked into a musical.


The libretto was written by Alexei Iva-shchenko and Georgi Vasiliev, also knownas the duo Ivasi, who had gained fame withtheir song collections in the late 1990s.Ivasi was also known for their televisionshows on music as well as the edition of“Songs of Our Century” (Pesni nashegoveka). Familiar with the songs of the past,Ivasi drew heavily on the music of the1920s and 1930s, and its compositionswere riddled with references and allusionsto Soviet music from the operetta and mu-sical composers of the Stalin era, IsaakDunayevsky and Yuri Miliutin, clearly aim-ing to strike a familiar vein with the audi-ences. The tunes paced the movements. Al-

though the melodies sounded familiar,however, there were no hits: none of themelodies stick in the mind.

The set consisted of five multifunctionalwalkways that ran from the back of thestage to the front; they could be raised andlowered, forming bridges and platforms,ramps and ceilings. The backdrops occa-sionally bordered on kitsch, showing astarry sky or a sunset to enhance the lyricalatmosphere. The choreography compliedwith the high standard normally expectedof Western musicals while drawing on a va-riety of indigenous and foreign dance stylesto set a rhythm. The pilots performed a tapdance; the secretaries moved their legs to a


Nord-Ost begins with the reported failure in1913 of the expedition of Captain Tatarinov onthe Santa Maria. In Arkhangelsk in 1916, thedumb Sania Grigoriev witnesses the murder ofa postman who carries a letter in which Tatari-nov implicates his brother Nikolai Antonovichin the failure of the expedition. Shortly after, Sa-nia’s father is arrested for the murder. Tatari-nov’s widow, Maria Vasilievna, leaves forMoscow with her mother, Nina Kapitonovna,and her daughter, Katia. The Tatarinovs’ familyfriend Korablev looks after Sania and teacheshim to speak and helps Sania find a place in aboarding school during the civil war. When theheadmaster, Nikolai Antonovich, discovers thatKorablev has proposed to Maria Vasilievna, Ko-rablev and Sania are thrown out. Katia Tatari-nova and Sania have fallen in love, but Sania’sschoolmate Romashov also loves Katia and viesfor her love. After Maria Vasilievna has marriedNikolai, she learns about Captain Tatarinov’saccusations in the letter that Sania keeps in thebag he took from the murdered postman, and

she commits suicide. Sania leaves Moscow tofind the Santa Maria. By 1938 Sania has be-come a pilot, still dreaming of discovering theSanta Maria. He has the support of the Soviethero pilot Valeri Chkalov to fly to the Arctic, buthis permission is withheld at the Main Direc-torate of Northern Waterways, GlavSevMorPut,where Romashov has intervened. Romashovcourts Katia, but she remains loyal to Sania.During the war Katia lives through theLeningrad blockade. Romashov finds her andlies to her that Sania is dead; when he findsthat this is of no avail, he tells Sania—in an at-tempt to destroy the love of Katia and Sania—that Katia has died during the blockade. In1943 Grigoriev makes an emergency landing inthe Arctic, and finds Tatarinov’s diary kept bythe indigenous people of the Nenetsk region innorthern Russia. Katia finds him there, and hegives her the diary. At the end of the story, thehigh moral code of right and wrong upheld bythe two captains of sea and air is triumphant,and their love wins.

Nord-Ost: Plot

cancan; the skiers clicked their heels in achechetka (a dance where the heels set therhythm); the Nenetsk people showed a tra-ditional dance; the skaters danced a tango.Solos and duets rendered some scenesmore romantic and dramatic. There are ele-phantine tunes for scenes at the school; ac-cordion music and a polonaise for the NewYear; and the chattering of people’s teeth inthe cold weather rendered through the rep-etition of the first syllable. Objects, such asthe kitchen utensils in the communal flat,the secretaries’ office equipment, and theskis and skates, turn into instruments thatare used to beat the rhythm.

Nord-Ost eclipsed historical themes andmoved personal lives into the foreground.Nikolai Antonovich betrayed Tatarinovwhen failing to equip his expedition; Ro-mashov is a compulsive liar. Neither ofthese villains wins: Nikolai Antonovich iscrippled, relying on Romashov’s help. Atthe same time, the bureaucratic system isblamed for obstructing achievements:GlavSevMorPut is parodied, but the bu-reaucracy prevents not the achievement ofpolitical feats but of personal desires. Thescenes at GlavSevMorPut are carefully setagainst the lyric theme of the musical;through this contrast the bureaucracy iscaricatured and satirized. The monotony ofthe secretaries’ movement is juxtaposed tothe open space of the world represented ona huge map at the back. The five secre-taries, with huge bows in their hair, wish tolook attractive while they inefficiently usetheir office tools (abacus, hammer, type-writer) to tap an elephantine rhythm, thusparodying their own monotonous ineffi-ciency.

The slogan for the revived productionwas “the history of the country, a lovestory” (istoriia strany—istoriia liubvi).

Nord-Ost stressed the personal motivesabove the political agendas and dwelt onthe possibility of love as long as man ad-heres to a firm moral code of right andwrong. Just as with Broadway musicals,the special effects of the Russian or Sovietmusical lay in a glorification of its nationalachievements rather than a critique of soci-ety. The essential ingredients of SocialistRealism were reinforced as attributes ofthe national heritage. The spectator was in-vited to take pride in the Soviet past, in hispersonal memories rather than the officialhistorical discourse.

Nord-Ost was an exploration of the So-viet past in personal, not political, terms. Itstressed the continuity between past andpresent. Parallels may be drawn betweenthe early years of the Soviet period and theyears of the collapse of socialism: inflation,chaos, the ability to speak up, access toformerly closed territories. Putin’s Russiaof the present reinstates the lost connec-tion with the Soviet past as an experiencethat people have lived through and thatthey remember with nostalgia. Nord-Ost le-gitimized Russia’s history by presenting aunified discourse on the level not of politi-cal but popular history (personal theme,melodramatic genre, mass scenes). Rus-sian history is uninterrupted, rather thanhalted for 74 years, thus returning to thenation the sense of belonging and continu-ity. This is why Nord-Ost was a symbol ofRussia—not the New Russia, but a countrywith tradition rather than one where tradi-tions were severed. It offered an innovativeview on Russia and its history, reiteratingSoviet history through the popular lens.

Nord-Ost was the first Russian musical,popular with audiences and critics alike. Itbecame a status symbol for Russia’s pridein its own history and culture. Suddenly,


with the terrorist attack of 23–26 October2002, in which Chechen terrorists held thetroupe and the audience hostage, it be-came a symbol of Russia’s weakness andfailure. It is no coincidence that no memo-rial has been erected to those who died asa consequence of the gas introduced dur-ing the liberation of the hostages on 26 Oc-tober 2002. These people died in an act thatshames Russia to the extent that nobodywishes to remember it. Similarly, the ab-sence from the Web site of any informationabout the events of 23–26 October wasstriking: the list of victims appeared on an-other site (www.vazhno.ru). The lack ofconcern for the victims is further mani-fested in the absence of a memorial plaquein the theater; in the omission of any men-tion of the victims in the new programbooklet (printed for the revival on 8 Febru-ary 2003); and in the failure to commemo-rate the victims during the last perform-ance on 10 May 2003. Nord-Ost wanted toremain a show, and as such detached itselffrom the terrorist attack. The government,too, strove to forget the events of October2002 by assisting the revival of the musicalin order to brush over allegations of mis-handling the storming of the theater. Rus-sia’s pride had turned into Russia’s shame;the revival of the show could not renew itsentertainment value.

Soviet Musicals—The Revival?

Twelve Chairs (Dvenadtsat’ stul’ev), basedon Ilia Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov’s satire writ-ten in 1928, was Tsekalo’s next project,which opened in Moscow in November2003. This time a different team of com-posers and directors was employed: the di-rector, Tigran Keosayan, had previouslyworked on film, in particular children’sfilm; the music was composed by Igor

Zubkov, song writer and composer for anumber of pop groups. The publicity cam-paign declared all across the city: “The IceIs Moving” (Led tronulsia). The show wasstaged on the rented stage of the MoscowYouth Culture Palace (MDM), located inthe southern parts of the city center.

The staging of Twelve Chairs is in manyways reminiscent of Nord-Ost. The produc-tion opens with a curtain carrying adver-tisements of the 1920s. The musical over-ture represents a medley. The set isconstructivist in style, echoing the 1920swith references to Tatlin’s Tower; it con-sists of three revolving semicircles that in-terconnect and revolve to form bridges,piers, and platforms. The set is much lesscomplex and much more mobile than thatof Nord-Ost.

The first act presents the story’s charac-ters as types: the businessmen are evil, thedoctor wears a pince-nez à la Chekhov, thepriest is sly and corrupt like Eisenstein’spriest in The Battleship Potyomkin. Thesecret service agents (OGPU) appearstereotyped in black leather jackets, per-forming a tap dance, and shooting their pis-tols to pace the rhythm. “The ice moves”when Bender (sporting a green jacket andwhite trousers) becomes Ippolit’s partner:they move on to find the diamonds, and theconstruction begins to move. There are nu-merous scenes in this act that offer scopefor collective dances: the pioneers’ orches-tra is dressed in blue and red kerchiefs; thechildren perform a dance in which theykick each other; Madam Gritsatsuyeva andBender’s wedding is performed at a longtable with food and drink, to a cabaretshow with tap dance. The train and its pas-sengers are hailed by a melody from the1962 film I Walk across Moscow. The glori-fication of Moscow, both musically and vi-


sually—in the use of an orange backdropfor the sunrise and the city waking, or theuse of kitchen tools to characterize thehostel—is reminiscent of Nord-Ost, as arethe red stars of the Kremlin appearing fromon high.

In the second act the visit to the editorialoffice of the newspaper resembles to someextent the treatment of bureaucracy inNord-Ost in the visit to the Sea Committee.The editorial secretaries too perform syn-chronized movements to the rhythm oftypewriters. The engineer Shchukin is por-trayed as a bard with his guitar, reminis-cent more of a dissident singer than of anengineer. The boat trip also reminds one ofthe port scenes in Nord-Ost: the sailors are

efficient, dressed in immaculate whitesuits. Bender’s design for the theater,which is rejected by the troupe but liked byGorky, is in fact a replica of Kazimir Male-vich’s suprematist masterpiece of the 1910s(banned in the Soviet Union), Black

Square. The spa of Piatigorsk is crowdedwith patients and nurses to make it recog-nizable as such. The finale brings all thecharacters together to confirm the leg-endary and heroic status of Ostap Bender,the real hero of the musical. Bender’s per-formance is weaker than that of Ippolit,however, so that there is somewhat of animbalance in the production.

Musicals based on Soviet literature mayhave been appealing to the new audience


Scene from the musical Twelve Chairs, which opened in Moscow in 2003. Ostap Bender (left) is seen

trying to inspect one of the chairs for the hidden treasure. (Photo by Irina Kaledina)

of musicals that acquired the taste for thenew genre in the late 1990s, but they can-not sustain a long-term interest. Neitherthematically nor musically have the twoSoviet musicals been able to compete withtheir rivals from Europe and the UnitedStates. It remains to be seen whether a mu-sical tradition that would draw on nine-teenth-century literature or on contempo-rary themes could attract a more sustainedinterest from the public.

A to Z

Agutin, Leonid: b. 1968. Agutin studiedjazz at musical school and a cultural insti-tute. At a festival in Yalta he won an awardfor the hit “Barefoot Boy” (Bosonogiimal’chik, 1992). He composes his ownsongs and also writes for Filipp Kirkorov.In 1997, performed “Queen” (Koroleva)with the daughter of the composer YuriVarum, Angelica (b. 1969, Lviv), whom he


Twelve Chairs is set in the early years of the So-viet period, in the 1920s. Ippolit Vorobianinovvisits his dying aunt, Klavdiya Petukhova, whotells him (and the priest Vostrikov) that she hasstitched the family fortune, in the form of dia-monds, into one of the twelve chairs in her oldfamily house’s dining-room. After Petukhova’sdeath, Ippolit begins to search for the dia-monds. In the first instance he is followed bythe priest, who has learned about the inheri-tance during the confession, thus underscoringthe greed of the clergy. Ippolit meets OstapBender, a young man of 28, who is staying inthe old family house, now an almshouse. Ben-der becomes Ippolit’s ally in the search for thediamonds, for a share of 50 percent. Similarly,the chairs have been dispersed, like the wealthand the families themselves, and their largeapartments have been turned into communalflats. The search for the chairs begins.

Two chairs turn out to be close by: one hasbeen sold to a trader and purchased by thepriest. Ippolit discovers it and has a fight withthe priest, in the course of which Bender ripsthe chair open: it is empty. The second chairnow belongs to Madam Gritsatsuyeva: Benderproposes and marries her, only to leave his

newly wed wife and take the—empty—chair withhim. The remaining ten chairs are for auction inMoscow. Ippolit has a romantic outing with Liza,however, during which he squanders the moneyneeded for the auction, and the chairs are sold:four to the Colombine Theater, three to a news-paper, one to the engineer Shchukin, one to El-lochka, and one to the October Railway station.Ellochka’s chair proves empty. While Ippolitposes as a medium and provides a recipe forsuccess to the editorial staff of the newspaper,Bender searches for the chairs, with no result.The engineer has locked himself out of his flat:his chair too proves empty. The theater is aboutto go on tour, and Bender poses as an artist tojoin the group. He is found out and gets kickedoff the boat. Having rejoined the theater in thespa Piatigorsk, he finds the chairs—all empty. Heposes as a professional chess player to cheatsome people in order to get the fare to return toMoscow. Here, at the railway station, must bethe last chair. Ippolit and Bender decide to waituntil the morning to retrieve the diamonds. Dur-ing the night Ippolit kills Bender, only to findthat the railway club where they stay has beenbuilt from the money for the diamonds. Benderbecomes a myth.

Twelve Chairs: Plot

married in 1998. Varum and Agutin fre-quently perform their songs together.

Aguzarova, Zhanna: b. in 1967 in Novosi-birsk. Came to Moscow in 1983 andworked with the group Bravo under thefalse name of Ivana Anders. Arrested forfake documents in 1984 and sentenced toeight months in prison. Returned toMoscow in 1985 and played as Bravo leadsinger until 1989. Embarked on a solo ca-reer and performed from 1991 to 1996 inthe United States with the band NightyNighties. In 1996, returned to Russia andadopted a techno style. Since 1999, with anew manager and performs regularly inconcerts.

Alisa: see Kinchev, Konstantin

Allegrova, Irina: b. 1961 in Rostov; realname Inessa Klimchuk. In 1986 performedwith the Elektroklub band. After breakingher vocal chords, her voice became hoarseand smoky. In 1987 she won the GoldenTuning-Fork; from 1992 on, solo careerwith composer Igor Nikolayev, later withcomposer Igor Krutoy.

Alsou (Alsu Safina): b. 1983 in theTatarstan village of Bugulma. In 1991moved to Moscow and attended musicalschool. Since 1993 at a design college inLondon. Her song “Winter Dream” (Zimniison, 1999) features a clip where Alsou is aLolita-like character. Contract with Univer-sal. In 2000, represented Russia at the Eu-rovision Song Contest and took secondplace, with “Solo.” In 2002–2003 releasedan English album and won the Europeanmusic award. Studies theater arts at theMoscow Theater Institute. [www.alsou.ru]

Apina, Alena: b. 1967 in Saratov. Apinastudied the piano at Saratov Conservatoryand played in the local disco band Kombi-natsiya (Combination) before coming toMoscow in the late 1980s. She was sup-ported by producer Sergei Lisovsky andlater married the manager Alexander Ira-tov. She performed in the musical Limits

(Limita), about a girl from the provinces,which was performed only twice but led toan album. Her songs are composed byArkadi Ukupkin and Oleg Molchanov.

Aquarium: see Grebenshchikov, Boris[www.aquarium.ru] and [http://handbook.reldata.com/handbook.nsf/?Open]

Bashlachev, Alexander: b. 1960 in Chere-povets, Urals. Committed suicide on 17February 1988. First rocker with authenticpoetry, he was discovered by the rockcritic Artyom Troitsky in 1984 and broughtto Moscow. Bashlachev gave private per-formances to his own guitar and traveledthe country. He married a Leningrad girl toget a residence permit (propiska). In 1985he toured Central Asia and Siberia. In 1986started taking drugs and suffered from awriting block.

Butusov, Viacheslav (Slava): b. 1961 inSiberia. In the mid-1970s moved toSverdlovsk and in 1978 formed NautilusPompilius with Dmitri Umetsky. Firstrecord “Ali Baba” in 1982, and first albumrecorded by Alexander Pantykin. Workedpermanently with texts by Ilia Kormiltsev.In 1988 Nautilus was disbanded, and Bu-tusov moved to Petersburg, where he rein-vented the group in 1990. In 1996–1997,Butusov recorded the album Yablokitai inLondon, with electric music by Bill Nelson.


Atlantida too appeared under the labelNautilus but was created by Butusov. In1997 dissolved Nautilus and worked withDeadUshki, who compose electronic mu-sic. His music features prominently incinema. Band Members: Butusov, A. Bel-iayev, G. Kopylov, I. Dzhavad-Zade. Al-bums: The Invisible (Nevidimka, 1985);Separation (Razluka, 1986); Retreat (Ot-boi, 1988); Prince of Silence (Kniaz tishini,1989); Man without a Name (Chelovek bezimeni, 1989); Foreign Soil (Chuzhaia zem-lia, 1991); Titanik, 1994; Wings (Kryl’ia,1995); Yablokitai, 1997; Atlantida, 1997.[www.nautilus.ru]

DDT: see Shevchuk, Yuri [www.ddt.ru]

Galich, Aleksandr: b. in Dnepropetrovsk(Ekaterinoslav) on 19 October 1919. Realname Ginzburg. Galich studied at the Liter-ary Institute, Moscow (1935–1936) and theStanislavsky Studio (1935–1938). From1938 to 1941 he was an actor in the Mos-cow Theatrical Studio. During the war, hewas an actor in the theater of the NorthernNavy. Galich has written scenarios, plays,prose, poems, and songs. His play Ma-

trosskaya Tishina was supposed to openthe Sovremennik Theater in Moscow in1956 but was banned by the Central Com-mittee of the CPSU for the positive por-trayal of a Jewish family. The censorshipinterventions are brilliantly described inGalich’s novel, The Final Dress Rehearsal.

He was expelled from the Writers’ Union inDecember 1971 and emigrated in 1974, liv-ing in Oslo (1974), Munich (1975), andParis (1976). He died on 15 December 1977of accidental electrocution and is buried inthe cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Paris.

Gradsky Alexander: b. 1949, Cheliabinsk.Rock-and-roll musician with classical tenor.Gradsky formed a number of student bandsin the early 1960s, including Tarakany, withan imitation of Beatles in 1963–1964; Sla-viane, 1965–1966; and Skify, 1966. Slavianeand Skify performed in English. From 1966to 1976 he was leader of a Russian-singingband, Skomorokhi. On the post-Sovietestrada, Gradsky performs solo.

Grebenshchikov, Boris: b. 1953 in Lenin-grad. Fascinated by the Beatles and playingthe guitar, he first sang the Beatles songs inEnglish. BG studied maths. In 1972, to-gether with the absurdist playwright A. Gu-nitsky, Grebenshchikov formed Aquarium,strongly influenced by Bob Dylan in thelate 1970s. After a 1980 concert, he wassacked and excluded from the Komsomol.In the 1980s the band underwent a briefpunk phase. In 1981, joined the Leningradrock club. In the 1980s, attracted famoussax players and the pianist Kuryokhin tothe band. From 1985 on, Westernized rock.In 1988–1999, contract with CBS and re-cording of Radio Silence in London. Aqua-rium provided the music for SergeiSoloviev’s films. Grebenshchikov partici-pated in the alternative art group Mitki andrecorded three albums of Mitki songs.1997, awarded Triumph. Since 1998, solo.Band: Seva Gakkel, Andrei (Diushka) Ro-manov, Mikhail Vasiliev (Fainstein). Al-bums: Allegories of Count Diffuser

(Pritchi grafa Difuzora, 1974); On that Side

of the Mirror (S toi storony zerkal’nogostekla, 1976); Blue Album (Sinii al’bom,1981); Triangle (Treugol’nik, 1981); Acous-

tics (Akustika, 1982); Electricity (Elek-trichestvo, 1982); Taboo (Tabu, 1982); Ra-

dio Afrika, 1983; Silver Day (Den’ serebra,


1984); Ten Arrows (Desiat’ strel, 1986);Equinox (Ravnodenstvie, 1988); Kostroma

mon amour, 1994; Navigator, 1994; Snow

Lion (Snezhnii lev, 1996); Hyperborea

(Giperboreia, 1997); Kunstkamera, 1998;Psi, 1999; Territory (Territoriia, 2000).[www.aquarium.ru]

Ivanushki International: youth projectfounded in 1995 by Igor Matvienko.[www.matvey.ru] Band consists of dancerand singer Andrei Grigoriev-Apollonovfrom Sochi, singer and actor Igor Sorin,and Kirill Andreyev. Oleg Yakovlev fromthe Tabakov Studio Theater joined thegroup later and took over after Sorin com-mitted suicide. Selected Albums: Natu-

rally, He (Konechno on, 1996); Your Let-

ters (Tvoi pis’ma, 1997); Tale about

Ivanushkis (Skazka ob Ivanushkakh,1998); Pages from Life (Stranitsy iz zhizni,1999). [www.matvey.ru/ivanush/]

Kinchev, Konstantin: b. 1958 in Moscow.Lead singer of the band Alisa, which hejoined in 1983 upon invitation from theband’s founder, Sviatoslav Zaderny. “MyGeneration” (Moye pokokolenie) becamean anthem of the rock movement. Se-lected Albums: Energy (Energiia, 1985);“BlokAda” (Blockade, but also The Blockof Hell, 1987); The Sixth Forest Warden

(Shestoi lesnichnyi, 1989); Article 206.2

(Stat’ia 206, chast’ 2, 1989); The End

(Shabash, 1990: memorial concert for Ba-shlachev); Geopolitics (Geopolitika, 1998)with techno, rave, and disco elements; Sol-

stice (Soltnsevorot, 2000) with spiritualthemes. Band: Konstantin Kinchev, PetrSamoilov, Andrei Shatalin, Yevgeni Levin,Mikhail Nefedov.

Kino: see Tsoy, Viktor

Kirkorov Filipp: b. 1967, Varna, son ofBedros Kirkorov. Since 1974 in Moscow.Studied at the Gnesin Institute; graduatedin 1988. In 1987 invited to the LeningradMusic Hall and from 1988 to 989 in Alla Pu-gacheva’s Theater. Started a solo career,winning major music awards in 1992 and1993. In 1994 married Alla Pugacheva, 18years his senior. In 1997, concert in Madi-son Square Garden, New York, and Fried-richstadtpalast, Berlin. Produced by SergeiLisovsky. Kirkorov has appeared in filmsand on stage, starring in the lead role in themusical Chicago (2002). Albums includeSky and Earth (Nebo i zemlia, 1991) andAtlantida (1992), both of which have beenstaged as major shows. In the EurovisionSong Contest 1995, won 17th place. [www.kirkorov.ru]

Koroleva, Natasha: b. 1973, Ukraine. Dis-covered at a competition in Eupatoria byIgor Nikolayev (b. 1960), whom she mar-ried. Concert tours to the United States in1997. Hits include “Little Country”(Malen’kaia Strana, 1995); “Yellow Tulips”(Zheltye tiul’pany, 1995); “Is This ReallyMe?” (Neuzheli eto ia?). [www.koroleva.ru]

Kuryokhin, Sergei: b. 1954 in Murmansk.Trained as a piano player and then playedjazz with Anatoli Vapirov. Kuryokhin playedwith Aquarium between 1981 and 1984. In1985, founded his band Popular Mechanics,and from 1988 on, recorded and performedabroad. Kuryokhin wrote scores for theatershows, which were only realized in the1990s (Capriccio, Opera for the Rich

[Opera bogatykh]). In 1986 he featured inan episode of the BBC’s Comrades. He diedin 1996 of cancer of the brain.

Leningrad: see Shnurov, Sergei [www.


leningrad.spb.ru] and an unofficial site[http://leningrad.hut.ru]

Makarevich, Andrei: born 1953. While astudent of architecture, he became fasci-nated with the Beatles and formed a band,Atlanty (The Atlants). In 1968 he createdthe band Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine)as a school band. Time Machine gainedpopularity during the 1970s, although manybans were imposed on the repertoire. In1979, he was offered a contract with thestate agency Roskontsert and allowed togive official concerts. In 1980 participatedin a competition in Tblisi and won the firstprize. Makarevich composed music forfilms, including the theme song for GeorgiDaneliya’s film Afonya. In the New Russia,Makarevich presents the television pro-gram Abazhur (Lampshade) on musicalmatters as well as the culinary programSmak (Relish). [www.mashina.ru]

Mamonov, Petr: b. 1951 in Moscow. In1982 began song writing and in 1983formed Zvuki Mu (1983–1990). The bandwas sponsored and organized by Sasha Lip-nitsky. In 1987 Brian Eno recorded their al-bum for 1989 release. Since 1991, performswith his stepbrother as Mamonov andAlexei. Since 1988, Mamonov has appearedin films: he played the drug dealer Artur inThe Needle (Igla, 1988); Selivestrov inPavel Lungin’s Taxi Blues (1990), and thegeologist in Sergei Selianov’s The Time for

Sorrow Has Not Yet Come (Vremia pechalieshche ne prishlo, 1995). In the 1990s, the-ater performances at the Stanislavsky The-ater, Moscow: The Bald Brunette (Lysyibrunet, 1991); Nobody Writes to the Officer

(Polkovniku nikto ne pishet, 1995); Is

There Life on Mars? (Est’ li zhizn’ namarse?, 1998).

Mashina Vremeni: see Makarevich, Andrei[www.mashina.ru]

Namin, Stas: b. 1951; real name AnastasMikoyan. Namin is the grandson of politi-cian Anastas Mikoyan. Namin was the firstrocker to join the Union of Composers.While a student at the Suvorov militaryacademy (1965), Namin organized his firstband. He transferred to the Institute forForeign Languages in 1969 and to MoscowState University in 1970, where he formedthe rock band Tsvety (Flowers) and had arecord released by Melodiya in 1973. In1974 the band turned professional and wasclosed by decree in 1975. In 1978 Namin or-ganized the Group of Stas Namin and re-vived his musical activities. He was en-gaged in the “rock for peace” campaign. In1988 he promoted the band Gorky Park. Heruns his own musical center cum theater,located in Gorky Park. In 1999 he stagedthe musical Hair with an American andRussian cast.

NaNa: formed in 1994 as boy group by BariAlibasov (b. 1947 in Charsk, near Semi-palatinsk), who had previously managedthe jazz band Integral. Modeled on the Beat-les, the band consists of Vladimir Levkin (b.1969), Vladimir Asimov (b. 1968), VladimirPolitov (b. 1970), and Viacheslav Zherebkin(b. 1969). Hits have included “DesertedBeach” (Pustinnyi pliazh) and “Faina.”

Nautilus Pompilius (Nau): see Butusov,Viacheslav [www.nautilus.ru]

Nord-Ost: Russian musical. Staged in theHouse of Culture of Moscow’s Ball-BearingFactory on Dubrovka, where it premieredon 19 October 2001. Based on VeniaminKaverin’s (1902–1989) epic Two Captains,


a novel covering 30 years of Soviet history.Produced by Alexander Tsekalo andGeorgi Vasiliev; libretto written by AlexeiIvashchenko and Georgi Vasiliev (the duoIvasi). On 23 October 2002 a group ofChechen terrorists held the troupe and theaudience of more than 800 people hostage,to press for an end of the Russian militaryaction in Chechnya. On 26 October thebuilding was stormed by special forces af-ter an anesthetic gas had been pumped intothe auditorium; more than 100 people diedin the course of the liberation of the build-ing. The show reopened on 8 February2003 but was eventually closed on 10 May2003. [www.nordost.ru]

Okudzhava, Bulat: b. 9 May 1924 in Mos-cow to an Armenian mother and a Geor-gian father. His father was executed duringthe purges, his mother arrested and re-leased only in 1955. Okudzhava volun-teered for the army and served at the front.He was a novelist, member of the Writers’Union, and poet-bard. His first novel, Good

Luck, Schoolboy (Bud’ zdorov, shkoliar!1961) caused controversy for emphasizingthe soldier’s fear of death over and abovethe feeling of heroism and the fight againstfascism. Okudzhava died in June 1997.

Pauls, Raimond: b. 1936 in Riga. Paulsstudied composition at musical school andconservatory. While a student, he played ina jazz sextet and wrote his first composi-tions. He joined the Riga estrada orchestraand in 1964 became its head. He has workedwith renowned poets, such as Voznesensky,Rozhdestvensky, and Reznik for his songs.In 1981 he wrote “Maestro” for Alla Puga-cheva and has also written for Leontiev andVaikule. He has presented since 1978 a mu-sic program on Latvian television. In 1989

he became minister of culture of Latvia andin 1998 was elected to parliament.

Pugacheva, Alla: b. 1949, Moscow. In 1965appeared in the musical program Pif Paf,

and toured with VIAs. From 1974 to 1977,with VIA Veselye Rebiata, where shelearned her theatrical approach to singing.In 1974 performed the tune for Eldar Ri-azanov’s film comedy Irony of Fate (Ironiiasud’by). Her “Harlequin” (1975) gained herstage popularity as a solo singer. Her songswere written largely by Ilia Reznik and Rai-mond Pauls. In 1985 she began to stagelarger shows. Married to Filipp Kirkorov. In1997 took part in the Eurovision Song Con-test with “Primadonna” (placed 15th). Pu-gacheva’s daughter, Kristina Orbakaite (b.1971, London), starred in Rolan Bykov’schildren’s film Scarecrow (Chuchelo) andlater had an affair with rock singer Vladi-mir Presniakov (b. 1968 in Sverdlovsk),with whom she has a son, Nikita (b. 1991).[www.allapugacheva.ru]

Shevchuk, Yuri: b. in 1957 in Magadan.Studied graphic design at Ufa University,where in 1980 he formed his own band. In1987 moved to Leningrad when the author-ities in Ufa forbade performances; heformed the band DDT, which became fa-mous in the rock scene. 1993 awarded theprize Ovation. Selected Albums: Pig on

the Rainbow (Svin’ia na raduge, 1982);Monologue in Saigon (Monolog v Saigone,1982); Thaw (Ottepel’, 1983), English ver-sion, 1993; Actress Spring (Aktrisa vesna,1992); This Is All (Eto vse, 1995); Love

(Liubov’, 1997); World Number Zero (Mirnomer nol’, 1999). [www.ddt.ru]

Shnurov, Sergei (Shnur): b. 1973. Formedthe techno group Ukho Van Goga (Van


Gogh’s Ear) and the hard rock group Alko-repitsa in the 1990s before organizing theband Leningrad in January 1997. Shnurovhas appeared in cult films such as NataliaPogonnicheva’s Drink Theory (Teoriia za-poia, 2002) and composed the music forPetr Buslov’s Bimmer (Bumer, 2003) andAndrei Proshkin’s The Play of the Butter-

flies (Igry motyl’kov, 2004).

styob: derived from the verb stebat (towhip, to lash), it describes the exposure tomockery. Styob is linked to postmodern-ism because of its parody of socialist cul-ture. Styob may refer to a remake, wherethe author creates a new myth based onthe sacral status of past culture (for exam-ple, Chapayev anecdotes, Stirlitz, wherethe hero of Soviet culture is exposed tolaughter and profanation).

Sukachev, Igor (Garik): b. 1959 and gradu-ated from Lipetsk Theater Institute. Musi-cian and actor. Formed the band Brigada S(1985–1993). In 1995–1996 ran, with Alex-ander Skliar, the project Boatswain andWanderer (Botsman and Brodyaga) to re-cord old Soviet songs. Since 1993, leader ofthe band Neprikasayemye (Untouchables).Sukachev has played in a number of films,including Defence Counsellor Sedov (Zash-chitnik Sedov, 1988) and The Fatal Eggs

(Rokovye iaitsa, 1995). Acted also in his di-rectorial debut Midlife Crisis (Krizis sred-nego vozrasta, 1997) and directed The Hol-

iday (Prazdnik, 2001).

t.A.T.u: Lena Katina (b. 1984) and JuliaVolkova (b. 1985), a Russian girl band cre-ated in 1999 by Ivan Shapovalov. The duogained popularity through their scandalousimage as two underage lesbians, sportingschool uniforms and dreaming of an escape

from the society that condemned their love.This image was specially created for themand lasted long enough to promote theirsongs, compiled on their album, which hasalso been released in English. t.A.T.u wasthe first Russian pop band to take firstplace in the pop charts in several Europeancountries, including the UK. They took partin the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, tak-ing third place. [www.tatu.ru]

Tsoy, Viktor: b. 1961 in Kupchino, Lenin-grad. Studied art and woodcutting in Lenin-grad, when he started to play with variousbands: Piligrimy (Pilgrims), Palata No. 6(Ward 6), Absats (Paragraph), and Garin iGiperboloid (Garin and the Hyperboloid).In 1982 formed a duo with Alexei Rybinand released the album 45. The group Kinoemerged in 1984 with Rybin, Kasparian,Titov, and Gurianov. Tsoy played himself inSoloviev’s ASSA and Moro in The Needle,

for which he also provided the soundtrack. International tours. Died in a car ac-cident in Jurmala in 1990. Albums: 45

(1982); 46 (1983); Captain of the Kam-

chatka (Nachal’nik kamchatki, 1984); This

Is Not Love (Eto ne liubov’, 1985); Night

(Noch’, 1986); Blood Type (Gruppa krovi,1988); A Star Called Sun (Zvezda po imenisolntse, 1989); Black Album (Chernyi al-bom, 1990, posthumous).

tusovka: trend word in the early 1990s, de-rived from the French term se tasser; tuso-

vat means primarily “to shuffle cards.”Tusovatsya describes the activity of beingwith friends and having fun, being in one’sclique.

Twelve Chairs: after Nord-Ost, the secondattempt by Tsekalo to create a Russian mu-sical. Based on Ilf and Petrov’s satire


(1928), the show was directed by the chil-dren’s filmmaker Tigran Keosayan and themusic composed by song-writer IgorZubkov. Has played since 7 November 2003in the Moscow Youth Culture Palace(MDM), but remains a pale reflection ofNord-Ost, both musically and in terms ofspecial effects. [www.12stulyev.ru]

Vaikule, Laima: b. 1954 in Riga. At age 14,Vaikule won a prize in a local singing com-petition. When a student of medicine, shecontinued to perform as a singer in restau-rants and clubs, designing her own chore-ography for her disco songs. She was dis-covered by Raimonds Pauls, and hersuccess came with texts and compositionsby Pauls and Reznik, beginning with “NightBonfire” (Nochnoi koster). In 1987 shewon the Golden Lyre in Czechoslovakia.Later in her career she performed songs byIgor Krutoy and Yuri Varum.

Vysotsky, Vladimir: b. 25 January 1938,Moscow. He lived with his father, an armyofficer, in Eberswalde, East Germany, from1947 to 1949. He graduated in 1960 from theMoscow Arts Theater studio and subse-quently worked at the Pushkin Theater andTheater of Miniatures. In 1964 joined thecompany of the Taganka Theater, where hecreated his reputation as a stage actor. In1966 he married (third marriage) theFrench actress Marina Vlady (Poliakova).From 1966 onward he gave concerts in theSoviet Union, France (1977), and theUnited States (1979). Vysotsky was ad-dicted to alcohol. He died on 25 July 1980 ofa heart failure and is buried in VagankovoCemetery, Moscow. [http://vysotsky.km.ru]

Bibliography

Friedman, Julia, and Adam Weiner. “Between aRock and a Hard Place: Holy Rus’ and Itsalternatives in Russian Rock Music.” InConsuming Russia. Popular Culture, Sex


MacFadyen, David. Estrada?! Grand

Narratives and the Philosophy of the

Russian Popular Song since Perestroika.

Montreal: McGill–Queen’s University Press,2002.

———. Red Stars. Personality and the Soviet

Popular Song 1955–1991. Montreal:McGill–Queen’s University Press, 2001.

Ramet, Sabrina, ed. Rocking the State: Rock

Music and Politics in Eastern Europe and

Russia. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994.Ryback, Timothy W. Rock around the Bloc: A

History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe

and the Soviet Union. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1990.

Smith, G. S. Songs to Seven Strings: Russian

Guitar Poetry and Soviet “Mass Song.”

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984.Starr, Frederick. Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz

in the Soviet Union. New York: Limelight,1994.

Troitsky, Artemy. Back in the USSR: The True

Story of Rock in Russia. London: OmnibusPress, 1987.

———. Tusovka: Who’s Who in the New Soviet

Rock Culture. London: Omnibus Press, 1990.von Geldern, James, and Richard Stites, eds.

Mass Culture in Soviet Russia: Tales,

Poems, Songs, Movies, Plays and Folklore

1917–1953. Bloomington: Indiana UniversityPress, 1995.


5Popular Entertainment

Russian television serials from Cops to Brigade, Russian pulp fictionfrom Akunin to Marinina, and Russian sports from Rodnina to Shara-pova all attract a large numbers of spectators and readers and are des-tined primarily for passive consumption. They provide commerciallyavailable entertainment for the masses, and as such they represent gen-uinely new forms of popular culture. Spectator sports, soap operas, andpulp fiction are expressions of culture that had existed in some rudimen-tary forms in the Soviet era, when their public consumption was not en-couraged by the regime. Detective stories were read widely in the Sovietera, but they had a low print run and were difficult to get hold of. Andsoap operas were made not for entertainment but for education, al-though spy thrillers attracted huge audiences in the 1970s. In sports, theSoviet state had fostered the performance of athletes in internationalcompetitions but had not encouraged public support (say, in the form offan clubs). In the post-Soviet era the state-supported system of coachingsportsmen and sportswomen crashed, but sport has become more pub-licly accessible altogether (both in its active and passive forms). Televi-sion serials were influenced by Mexican and Latin American soaps be-fore Russian-made detective and crime series (rather than sitcoms) tookoff. And in terms of books, the homegrown detective and fantasy storiesboom.

Sports

Soviet sports dominated international competitions. It does not follow,however, that since the collapse of the USSR Russian sports have sunkto a low profile. The international sports scene is full of contemporaryRussian sports personalities, such as the tennis players Anna Kurnikovaand Maria Sharapova, or the hockey stars Pavel Bure and AlexanderMogilny, or the soccer players Valeri Karpin and Alexander Mostovoy.The world, certainly the European Champions League 2003–2004, hashad to take notice of the Moscow soccer club Lokomotiv and has not for-

gotten the popularity of Spartak (Sparta-cus) Moscow in recent years. But all this istrivial when compared to the acquisition ofLondon’s prestigious premier leagueChelsea Football Club in 2003 by the Rus-sian millionaire and governor of Chukotka,Roman Abramovich. How did Russia man-age to become so competitive in the sportsmarket in such a short space of time?

Olympic History

The USSR had always seen sports competi-tion as a way to demonstrate its ideologicaland political superiority. Winning moreOlympic medals than the Americans (whichthey did most years) was a way of showingto the world the superiority of the Commu-nist system and of reassuring the people athome that the country had adopted the cor-

rect and better path—toward the Commu-nist future.

Olympic Glory

The Olympic Games played a crucial rolein the official Soviet sports history and inthe importance of sports for the Russianpeople, insofar as the success in some dis-ciplines led to the popularity of that partic-ular sport. The Olympics of the modern erawere revived in Athens in 1896 by theFrenchman Pierre de Coubertin. Russiawas a founding member of the Olympic Or-ganization but did not partake in theGames in Paris (1900) and St. Louis (1904),making its first Olympic appearance onlyin London in 1908, followed by Stockholmin 1912. Then World War I interrupted theGames’ cycle (1916); in 1924 the Games ac-


Valeri Shantsev (left), vice mayor of Moscow, in front of the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square, passing

the Olympic flame to former hockey player and chairman of Russia’s State Committee for Sport,

Viacheslav Fetisov, 2004. (Photo by Mikhail Galustov/Kommersant)

quired a winter edition (in addition to thesummer games). After the Revolution, Rus-sia, and later the USSR, did not participatein the “bourgeois” competition in sports(as the new regime labeled the Olympics)until 1952, when the country won 22 gold,30 silver, and 19 bronze medals in Helsinki.In 1956 the USSR participated for the firsttime also in the winter Games in Cortinad’Ampezzo, where the ice hockey teamwon a gold medal, beating Canada in the fi-nal. In the summer Games in Melbourne,the USSR achieved 37 gold, 29 silver, and32 bronze medals and by Rome in 1960they had reached an absolute record of 43gold, 29 silver, and 31 bronze medals. TheOlympic triumph of the USSR continued atthe 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck (winter)and Tokyo (summer) and in 1968 in Greno-ble (winter) and Mexico (summer). In 1968the German Democratic Republic (GDR)was for the first time represented as a teamcompeting with the Federal Republic ofGermany (FRG), using the Olympics as anarena to demonstrate the GDR’s superior-ity over capitalist regimes. In 1972 the win-ter Games in Sapporo saw the USSRemerge as the leader in ice skating. TheOlympics of Munich in 1972, where Arabterrorists killed the entire Israeli Olympicteam, brought for the USSR a new recordof 50 gold, 27 silver, and 22 bronze medals.In 1976 the Olympics turned even moreinto a political arena, when African statesboycotted the summer Games in Montreal,because New Zealand, a country that sup-ported the apartheid-ridden South AfricanRepublic, was participating. The winterOlympics in Innsbruck remained un-touched by politics. In 1980 the winterOlympics took place in Lake Placid, andthe summer Games in Moscow becameagain the place of a political rally. The

United States, West Germany, Canada,Japan, Italy, and the UK (but not France)boycotted the Games because of the Sovietinvasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, after thewinter Olympics in Sarajevo, the summerGames in Los Angeles were boycotted bythe USSR and most Eastern Europeanstates in an act of revenge for the 1980 boy-cott, but also because the United Stateshad allegedly reinforced its assistance forSoviet citizens to defect during the Games.In 1988 the winter Olympics in Calgarywere followed by the summer Games inSeoul, not boycotted by the USSR despitecalls from North Korea to do so. In 1991the USSR collapsed; the united teams ofthe now largely independent republics andthe Russian Federation appeared in thewinter Games in Albertville and the sum-mer Games in Barcelona in 1992 as the CIS(Commonwealth of Independent States)team, carrying the Olympic, not a national,flag. What was once the ultimate nationalpride—to participate in and win anOlympic competition—had become a na-tionless spectacle for the former Sovietsportsmen. In Lillehammer in 1994, afterthe winter Olympics began to alternatewith the summer Games, the team of theRussian Federation made its debut. TheOlympics in 1996 Atlanta were doomed bya bomb explosion. In the 1998 Olympics inNagano, 2000 in Sydney, 2002 in Salt LakeCity, and 2004 in Athens the Russian teamfinally returned to its previous excellentperformance, even if not to the formerglory of world leadership in the medalcount. The Olympics were no longer anarena for proving political superioritythrough athletic achievements, or the bat-tle ground for political disputes, but hadbecome again what they were once con-ceived to be: athletic competitions. For the

P O P U L A R E N T E R T A I N M E N T 2 6 5

Olympic Games in 2004 Russia sent 472sportsmen and -women to Athens, whowon 92 medals; there were no major scan-dals over medals (as in Salt Lake City in2002, see below), and only one major em-barrassment when the shotputter IrinaKorzhanenko tested positive in a drugs testand had to return her gold medal, whichshe had already, hastily perhaps, dis-patched to Russia. Russia seems to havesettled within the framework of interna-tional sports competitions. This is furtherenhanced by Moscow’s bid (alongside Lon-don, New York, Paris, and Madrid) to hostthe 2012 Olympics.

Sport, Soviet Style The concept of ahealthy mind in a healthy body (mens sana

in corpore sano), the harmony of mind andbody, dominated in socialist thought.Therefore, sport was seen first and fore-most as a way of keeping fit; physical edu-cation (PE) was intrinsically linked tohealth, almost taking the role of preventivemedicine. The Soviet regime perceivedcompetition as “bourgeois,” but after aparty resolution of 1925, competition on anational level was considered appropriate.Instead of Olympic competition, nationalSpartakiades (spartakiady) were orga-nized from 1928 on. Only in the 1930s couldsport become a leisure activity, once thefirst Five-Year Plan had been fulfilled andworkers had more time.

It was not until the victory in World WarII, however, that the USSR deemed itworthwhile to demonstrate to the world itssuperiority in sports. Indeed, Stalin onlyagreed to sending teams to the Olympics in1952 in those disciplines where medalswere “guaranteed”; he had thought of send-ing a Soviet team to the 1948 Olympics buthad been dissuaded by his advisers, as not

enough medals were certain. Spartakiadeswere held again after 1956 in the year be-fore the Olympics as a testing ground forinternational competition.

Sport had played an important role inmilitary and army training since 1918. TheVsevobuch (Vseobshchee Voennoe Obu-chenie, General Military Training) includedskiing, wrestling, and fencing. This led tothe formation of CDRA/CDSA (CentralHouse of the Red Army, then Soviet Army)and CSKA (Central Army Sports Club),used by the staff of the Ministry of Defenseand the army. In 1923 the club Dinamo (Dy-namo) was founded by Felix Dzerzhinskyfor the staff of the interior services (SecretService and Ministry of the Interior). Theparty held control over other sports clubs,mostly voluntary sports organizations as-sociated with the workplaces. Such sportsorganizations associated their names withthe workers’ organizations: Burevestnik(Stormy Petrel) for state trade, later forstudents; Lokomotiv for railway workers;Spartak for cooperatives; VVS (Voenno-vozdushnye sila, Air Force) for the airforce; and Krylia Sovetov (Wings of the So-viets) for trade unions. By 1938 there wereabout 100 clubs. In 1936 a football leaguewas formed, and teams were set up in al-most every town. Stadiums were designed,recognizing sport as a mass spectacle;many were built only after the war, how-ever.

In 1945 monetary prizes were introducedas an incentive for performance. All sports-men were employed in the military, or theyheld fictitious jobs in factories, or theywere students. Sportsmen had no need toearn a living elsewhere, a principle called“shamateurism,” where the state masks aprofessional as an amateur. After the war,clubs were organized on a territorial princi-


ple. New sports disciplines were encour-aged in the 1950s and 1960s during thegrowing engagement with the Olympicmovement. Exceptions were karate andyoga, both deemed to be nonsocial sportsthat turn the individual away from society.Moreover, facilities such as arenas, pools,and ice rinks were constructed, without,however, providing a suitable infrastruc-ture including restaurants, ticket offices,and proper public access. The introductionof the sports lottery in 1964 served to fi-nance the development of sports facilitiesand the Olympic travel of USSR teams.

Although sports became of interest tothe masses from the 1930s onward, duringthe Soviet era they never reached the popu-larity of cinema, literature, and the theater.Television transmissions of matches fur-ther took their toll of spectators away fromthe clubs and the fields in the 1970s. Onlyhockey continued to attract huge interest.The focus by both the party and the mediaon Olympic sports only ceased in 1985,when Gorbachev made possible wider cov-erage of non-Olympic sports. The emphasisshifted clearly to hockey and football.Sports may have been controlled by theparty, but that did not mean that fairnessand transparency pervaded Soviet sports.There were rigged games, bribed referees,hooliganism, and bought players, and inthis sense the Soviet sports world was nodifferent from sports elsewhere. Sovietsportsmen were paid by the party and stateand played for the glory of the country, butthey also had self-interest at heart.

Television coverage was led by NikolaiOzerov, an actor of the Moscow Arts The-ater. He was a most formidable commenta-tor, always displaying a certain degree ofsympathy for the Soviet teams, as is com-mon for sports commentators. The chief

sports commentator on radio was VadimSiniavsky, and the most prolific sportsjournalist Vladimir Pereturin. In 1988 theSoviet media were able for the first time tosend their own journalists to the Olympicsto obtain live coverage of the events, al-though still relying on the images of the Ko-rean hosts. During the 1988 Olympic cover-age, the first advertisements (Pepsi Cola)were shown on Russian television, openingthe path for a commercialization of sports.The leading journal Soviet Sport broke upin 1991 to form SportExpress, which isnow partly owned by the French L’Equipe

and reaches a circulation of almost onemillion. SportExpress covers national andinternational sports, as well as FormulaOne. In total, there are around 35 journalsdealing specifically with sports, includingjournals on motor sports, an area whereRussia has hardly any active role. On tele-vision, sports coverage has always usurpeda lower percentage of airtime than in otherEuropean countries; television devoted amere 900 hours per year to sports, radio700 hours per year (averages for the1990s). For a while, sports disappeared al-most entirely onto the paid cable network,but the coverage on the national channelshas risen since 2000, and the formation of asports channel in 2002 (Channel 6) bearsfurther evidence to the growing interest insports.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union,the republics of Georgia and Lithuania im-mediately formed their own leagues infootball and basketball. At the same time inRussia the interest in football had beenwaning: in 1987 an average of 27,000 spec-tators came to a game, dropping to 6,000 by1992, and picking up only after 1996. Thiscoincided with the “brawn drain” in themid-1990s when around 300 soccer play-


ers, 700 hockey players, and 100 basketballplayers were on contracts abroad andmade it difficult for Russian teams to per-form well, until Russia too began to hireand buy foreign players. In the late 1990s,salaries began to rise as sponsorship in-creased and investors could be found onthe Russian market for football andhockey, but less for other sports. The statelargely pulled out of sports support, whichbecame independent and now relies onticket sales, sponsorship, and advertisingdeals. The Russian team for the Olympicsin Atlanta was sponsored by Reebok; othermain sponsors at Russian football andhockey games include the Italian dairy gi-ant Parmalat, the German beer companyHolsten, and Samsung, which are all strongon the Russian market. Russian sportsmenalso appear in advertising clips for prod-ucts: the hockey trainer Viktor Tikhonovwas one of the first sportsmen to do this,appearing in a spot for Vicks cough drops.

Post-Soviet Russia only gradually re-turned to active sports. Much of the sportsfacilities belonged to the above-mentionedclubs, and new facilities in Moscow andPetersburg were expensive to use. Thenew private sports clubs in Moscow are formembers only, with fees reaching US$2,000a year, when the average monthly incomewas just under US$200 in 2004. Aqua parksand saunas are also expensive, but somecheaper pools remain open. Tennis courtsand golf courses are part of luxury hotelsor clubs, accessible only to the upper and(upper) middle classes. Open-air sports arestill available for the masses: skiing andskating on snowy plains and hills, onfrozen rivers and lakes remain as popularas swimming in the sea (Black or Baltic), inthe numerous lakes, or in rivers. Peopleplay games in parks or courtyards. The

high pollution in the big cities makes jog-gers and runners a rare sight.

Team Sports

Football (Soccer) The game of foot-ball, as soccer is called outside of theUnited States, originally came to Russia inthe form of the Georgian game of lelo andthe Russian game of shalyga. Russia joinedthe world and European football leaguesonly after World War II, but the formationof national leagues began in the early twen-tieth century. Indeed, matches took placebetween the Russian and the English teamsin Petersburg, formed by the colony ofBritish people living in Petersburg in 1907.The first Russian championship took placein 1912. Football clubs were formed in the1920s, and most sports clubs of the largeindustries and workers’ organizations hadtheir football team in major cities. The clubDinamo had teams in Moscow, Kiev, andother cities.

Once the USSR entered internationalcompetition, victory was meant to demon-strate superiority over capitalism. The So-viet performance in the World Cups, how-ever, left a great deal to be desired. TheUSSR team reached the quarterfinals inSweden in 1958 and in Chile in 1962. Thenthe Soviet team disappeared from the inter-national arena until it featured in the quar-terfinals in 1982. On the European level,the national team fared somewhat better.In 1956 the USSR won the European Cup inFrance; in 1964 it lost to Spain in the final;in 1968 it took fourth place; in 1972 it lostto Germany in the semifinal. In the follow-ing years (1976, 1980, 1984) the Soviet teamdid not qualify and returned to the Euro-pean arena only in 1988, losing the final toHolland. In the late 1990s Russian clubs un-


successfully participated in the UEFA(Union of European Football Associations)Cup (1996, 1998, 2000). In the absence of astrong international performance of Rus-sia’s national football team in the WorldCup and Russian football clubs in theUEFA cup, it is not surprising that hockeywas much more popular as a spectatorsport than football. Nevertheless, footballtoo had its followers, especially on a localand national level.

The Dinamo stadium in Moscow is oneof the oldest sports venues; it was built in1927 with a capacity of 20,000–35,000,which has been extended to up to 55,000after restoration. In the postwar period,outdoor and indoor pools as well as an icerink and a small arena were added. It is not

roofed, and the southern stands is usuallyoccupied by the club’s fans, the Dynamites.Dinamo stadium has its own metro stopoutside the front entrance. In order to ac-commodate the “mass” spectatorship forfootball and hockey, the Soviet leadershipplanned grand new arenas in the 1930s, butmost of the large stadiums were built onlyin the 1950s. The Luzhniki Stadium wasbuilt in 1956, with a capacity of over100,000. After the reconstruction in 1997, itremains the largest arena in Moscow. It islocated at some distance from the metro,however: the station Leninskie Gory (LeninHills, later renamed Sparrow Hills[Vorob’evye gory]) was closed until 2002after the bridge on which the station is lo-cated proved in need of major repair work


Disciplined soccer supporters watching a match at the Dinamo Stadium in Moscow in the early 1950s.

(Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis )

in the 1980s. People have to walk from themetro stop Sportivnaya. Luzhniki is thehome of the Torpedo and Spartak teams,and it is a comfortable, modern stadium,which also includes a smaller arena, a gym,a sports hall for indoor events, and ahockey pitch. The Olympic Games in Mos-cow in 1980 equipped the city with furtherfacilities, including the Olympic Stadiumon Prospekt Mira, with indoor seating for35,000 spectators and two pools, designedby Mikhail Posokhin in the building materi-als popular in the 1970s, concrete andsteel. The roofed Olympic Stadium hoststhe Kremlin Cup, Russia’s largest tennischampionship, established in 1991. TheCSKA has a basketball arena, a hockey sta-dium seating 5,500, and a football pitch inthe north of Moscow. The Sokolniki Sta-

dium is one of the training grounds forSpartak, seating 5,000 spectators and alsohosting the Russian championships in fig-ure skating on its ice rink. The sports arenaat Krylatskoye in the west of Moscow wasbuilt in 1979 and has a modern velo-track.In Petersburg the largest stadiums are alsoin the north of the city: the sport palace Ju-bilee and the Petrovsky Stadium.

Historically, the Moscow football teamsalways dominated the national league ta-bles (rankings), and among the Moscowteams, there has always been a rivalry be-tween Dinamo and Spartak. Dinamo wasthe team favored and formed by the Min-istry of the Interior and the NKVD/KGB anddistinguished itself by a disciplined and rig-orous approach to play. The Spartak teamwas formed by the workers from the public


Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, built in 1956, with a capacity of over 100,000. After the reconstruction in

1997 it remained the largest arena in Moscow. (Bettmann/Corbis)

sector (trade) and excelled in a more im-provised style of play. Popular sympathiestherefore lay with the Spartak team, whichwas the better team already in the 1930s.Indeed, in 1934 Spartak, with such playersas Nikolai Starostin and Mikhail Yakushin,scored a win against the Basel football club(5:2), the first major international win of aSoviet football team. Spartak subsequentlywent on a tour through several Czechcities. In 1937, Spartak beat the Basque na-tional team, which was visiting Russia, af-ter a disputed penalty. By 1945 Dinamotook the lead, however, and played Chelseaand Arsenal in London, gaining a win overArsenal. From 1945 to 1951, the CSKAdominated the national league. In the 1950sSpartak recaptured its former glory whenNikolai Starostin returned to the team. On

the basis of the Spartak team, he formedthe Olympic team that won the gold medalin Melbourne in 1956 with the legendaryAbkhazian striker Igor Netto (1930–1999),who was captain of the Soviet team for theWorld Cup in 1962.

When football matches were watched inthe Soviet period, cases of hooliganismwere not uncommon, even if the sophisti-cation of fan clubs and the paraphernaliaavailable to express their support did notreach Western levels until the 1990s. TheSoviet Union was not immune to disasterseither. On 20 October 1982 Spartak Mos-cow played the Haarlem team in the Luzh-niki stadium. At the score of 1:2, with Spar-tak clearly losing and only minutes of thematch to go, many disappointed Spartaksupporters started to head for the exit. At


During Stalin’s purges of the 1930s, many peo-ple, including sportsmen, were arrested and ex-iled. The situation for Spartak was worsened bytheir rivalry with Dinamo, the team sponsored bythe NKVD (Secret Service) and its chairman, theGeorgian Lavrenti Beria. Beria disliked Spartakfor being better than the Dinamo team. But evenworse, the Spartak team beat Dinamo Tbilisi(Georgia) in a semifinal in 1939. Beria was sooutraged that he ordered a replay of the semifi-nal after the final had been played and won bySpartak, who fortunately also won the semifinalsecond time round. Beria’s attempts to arrestNikolai Starostin were hampered on several oc-casions by the fact that Starostin’s daughterwent to school with Prime Minister Molotov’sdaughter, and Molotov refused to sign the orderfor arrest requested by Beria. In 1942, however,Nikolai Starostin and his brothers Andrei, Alex-ander, and Peter—all footballers—were arrested

for contact with foreigners, which had occurredduring the matches abroad in the 1930s. NikolaiStarostin was sent to a labor camp in the north.He was awaited there with great eagerness,however, and instead of hard labour he was“sentenced” to coach Dinamo Ukhta. Then hewas transferred to Khabarovsk in the Far East,where he served on similar terms. All this wasentirely unknown to Beria. In 1948, while still ex-iled from Moscow, Starostin was brought backto the capital by Stalin’s son Vasili in order totrain the VVS (air force) team. Because his re-turn to Moscow was illegal, Vasili Stalin had toaccompany Starostin during all public appear-ances to prevent Starostin from being arrestedby Beria. Starostin was caught out, however,and sent to Alma-Ata for the remainder of hisexile, where he trained the Kairat Alma-Atateam. In 1955 he was officially allowed to returnto Moscow and managed Spartak.

Political Football: Stalin versus Beria; Winner Starostin

that point, the police closed three of thefour exits. When Spartak scored a goal, thefans tried to return to the stadium andwere met by the crowd trying to leavethrough the one open gate. In true Sovietfashion the media hushed up the event, re-fused to blame the police for not openingthe gates, and the state organ Izvestiya ad-mitted 61 dead. Unofficial Western sourcessuspected 340 casualties; other sourcesgive figures of up to 700. The exact numberof victims has never been officially con-firmed. In order to avoid crowds clashingin the stadium, the soccer match betweenRussia and Japan on 9 June 2002 that tookplace in Luzhniki was translated live onto alarge screen built on Manège Square in cen-tral Moscow, where no riot police were inplace. Hooliganism in the crowd escalatedtoward the end of the match, and the fans

caused serious damage to shops, cars, andpublic spaces in central Moscow.

In the 1990s, paraphernalia for fans weregradually introduced: imported goods massproduced in England or items handmade inRussia. Spartak Moscow fans wear red andwhite, the CSKA colors are red and blue,Dinamo sports blue and white, TorpedoMoscow is black and white, and LokomotivMoscow carries the colors green and white.Football fans all sport black “bomber jack-ets” with orange linings as well as blackmilitary boots. The Spartak fans are themost aggressive and largest contingent,numbering around 9–10,000. The CSKAteam has about 7–8,000 fans and Dinamo4–5,000. On 30 August 1997, fights tookplace in Petersburg before a match be-tween Zenit Petersburg and Spartak Mos-cow; further fights between fans flared up


Supporters of Spartak Moscow at a match of their team against Saturn in July 2003. (Photo by Dmitry

Azarov/Kommersant)

in Moscow on another occasion of a Zenitversus Spartak match. The number of spec-tators for the sport is not large, as the inter-est dropped significantly in the latter half ofthe 1990s when football was increasinglyseen as a game for the working class andyouth gangs. The CSKA stadium and Luzh-niki (Dinamo) were filled to less than athird of their capacity; Krylia Sovetov andSpartak’s Sokolniki Stadium to less thanhalf; non-Moscow stadiums, however, man-aged to fill up their arenas to capacity. Thenumbers of both fans and spectators are in-dicative of the low standing of football inRussia when compared with other Euro-pean countries.

In the early 1990s a few good playersfrom Russian and CIS teams transferred toforeign clubs, among them Alexei Mikhaili-chenko from Dinamo Kiev, who joined the

Glasgow Rangers in 1990, and Andrei Kan-chelskis of Shakhter, who moved to Man-chester United in 1991. The Ukrainianplayer Sergei Rebrov (b. 1974) transferredto England’s Tottenham Hotspurs in 2000for a transfer fee of almost $U.S. 20 million;since 2004 Rebrov had played for WestHam United. The highest transfer fee for aRussian player was for Sergei Semak, whotransferred from CSKA Moscow to Parisfor $u.S. 4 million in 2005.

In 1996 the company owning the Luzh-niki Stadium bought Torpedo Moscow, andthe new general director, Vladimir Aleshin,and the coach, Alexander Tarkhanov, con-ducted a mass dismissal of long-servingstaff. CSKA was taken under the wings ofMezhprombank in 1996 and has been spon-sored by Oneksimbank since 1997. Spartakhas found a sponsor in LukOil and includes


The team Lokomotive, Moscow, February 2004. (Photo by Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant)

a great number of foreign players. Controlthrough targeted crime to eliminate adver-saries was common not only in Russianpolitics and business but also in sports inthe latter half of the 1990s. Spartak’s presi-dent, Lidia Nechayeva, was murdered in1997 in a dispute over television rights.

In 2003–2004 the Spartak and Torpedoteams, although both declining in fortunes,paradoxically played at the huge LuzhnikiStadium. Spartak’s player Yegor Titov wasdisqualified from UEFA matches until Jan-uary 2005 for the use of illegal substances.

The coach, Oleg Romantsev, long-timetrainer for the national team from 1994 to1996 and 1999 to 2002, who had been withSpartak since 1989, was dismissed andmoved to Saturn (Moscow Region) in 2003;he was replaced by the Italian coach NevioScala. This followed the decline of Spartak,the Russian champions from 1996 to 2001,to third place in 2002 and to tenth place in2003. At the same time, Lokomotiv’s for-tunes have been rising with cup wins in1997–1998 and 1998–1999. Lokomotiv wasin the Champions League 2003–2004, with


Football players Marat Izmailov (left) and Fabio Cannavoro (right) during the match between

Lokomotiv and InterMilan. The match was held in the Lokomotiv stadium and finished with a 3–0

score. (Photo by Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant)

Arsenal, Inter Milan, and Dinamo Kiev. Af-ter winning the Russian Cups of 1996, 1997,2000, and 2001 and the Russian PremierLeague in 2002, Lokomotiv rose to theChampions League in 2003–2004. Lokomo-tiv can boast the best Russian players in itsclub, many of whom returned after con-tracts abroad, enriched with the experi-ence. Their goalkeeper, Sergei Ovchin-nikov, joined the team in 1991 but played inPortugal for several seasons before return-ing to Lokomotiv in 2002. The players OlegPanchin and Vladimir Maminov hold Uzbekpassports, as they played for Uzbekistan inthe FIFA (Fédération Internationale deFootball Association) qualifying match in2002, but both have been one-club playersand have been with Lokomotiv since theearly 1990s. Marat Izmailov is probably thefinest player in the Russian league and ashooting star since his debut at the age of19. Dmitri Loskov from Rostov is the mostprolific striker in the team. The team alsoincludes two players from Georgia, MikhailAshvetia and Malkhez Asatiani, the latterthe son of the football legend Kakhi Asa-tiani. Lokomotiv is internationally the mostsuccessful Russian football club and isgaining support nationally. Football in Rus-sia is not as strong as other sports, how-ever.

Hockey Hockey may have been inventedin the mid-nineteenth century in NorthAmerica, but it was played in Russia, albeitwith a ball rather than a puck (shaiba), asa popular game in Peter the Great’s times.It was the Canadians who formed a hockeyassociation in the late nineteenth century,however, and whose governor, Lord Stan-ley, sponsored the Stanley Cup in 1893. TheCanadians also developed the rules of thegame as it is known and played today. In

1920 the first world championship tookplace, and since 1966 there have also beenEuropean championships. The NHL (Na-tional Hockey League) is the most presti-gious association, offering top wages forplayers in North America.

Hockey became accessible to mass spec-tators around the world when arenas werebuilt in the 1930s. In 1956 the USSR teamwon Olympic gold and World Cup medalsin ice hockey, a discipline until then domi-nated by North American teams. In 1957the world championship took place inMoscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. In the years1957 to 1962, however, the teams of Swe-den, the United States, and Canada re-gained superiority over the USSR. In 1963the Golden Era of Soviet hockey began: be-tween 1963 and 1971, the USSR won nineworld championship and consistently heldthe Olympic gold medal between 1964 and1988. They were also world champions formost years between 1973 and 1990. The“golden” Soviet team was coached by Ana-toli Tarasov (1918–1995), who had himselfplayed from 1945 to 1953; by the Dinamoplayer Arkadi Chernyshev (1914–1992),and finally by the former CSKA coach Vik-tor Tikhonov (b. 1930). Then the Sovietteam collapsed with the Soviet Union, andthe Russian team returned to its formerlead with an Olympic silver medal in 1998,the world championship in 2000, and anOlympic bronze medal in Salt Lake City in2002. Tikhonov resigned as CSKA hockeycoach in April 2004 to concentrate on hiswork with the national team.

In hockey, the CSKA team had alwaysbeen a strong leader nationally and servedas a basis for the national team. In 1989 aconflict flared up between the CSKA coachViktor Tikhonov and the players ViacheslavFetisov, Igor Larionov, Alexander Mogilny,


and Vladimir Krutov, who wanted to play inthe NHL. They were refused the army com-mission papers that they needed to leavethe USSR (they were playing for an armyteam and their “professions” were major,lieutenant, and so on). Fetisov’s paperswere unnecessarily delayed in 1989, lead-ing Mogilny to defect in order to play in theNHL. Subsequently, all CSKA players werefreed from their army commission in May1989. Pavel Bure emigrated through a ficti-tious marriage to a Canadian. The rift inthe Soviet hockey team was intensified af-ter the Olympics in Albertville, where theteam had won the gold medal. The nationalteam split and two teams were formed, onecoached by Tikhonov, the other by BorisMikhalkov. In addition to the players’ emi-gration (“brawn drain”), a fight for leader-ship in the hockey association started

when the party replaced the Hockey Asso-ciation’s president Vladimir Petrov withVladimir Sych in 1995. In 1997 Sych wasshot during a dispute over the right to tax-free imports of tobacco for members of theSports Federation. Alexander Steblin be-came the new president. The brawn drainhad left the Soviet team without its bestplayers. Dmitri Khristich went to the Wash-ington Capitols, Andrei Lomakin to thePhiladelphia Flyers, and Sergei Nemchinovto the New York Rangers.

Between 1993 and 1995, the CSKA expe-rienced a first taste of capitalist manage-ment in the sports. The Pittsburgh Penguinstried to invest in CSKA, but the team’s per-formance dropped and investors (includingDisney) pulled out of the deal, ending theromance between a U.S. and a Russianclub. The CSKA hockey team later folded


Russian ice hockey star Pavel Bure at a training session at the Winter Olympics 2002 in Salt Lake City.

(Photo by Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant)

completely. Dinamo’s coach Vladimir Yurzi-nov coached the Olympic team, includingthe forwards Alexander Makarov, Igor Lari-onov, and Vladimir Krutov, with ViacheslavFetisov and Alexei Kasatonov as defenseand Vladislav Tretiak in the goal.

After emigration became possible in the1990s, a mass exodus or “brawn drain” be-gan after the CIS team had won the goldmedal in Albertville. Most players of theOlympic team stayed with NHL teams. Via-cheslav Fetisov and Sergei Fedotov wenton to win the Stanley Cup with the DetroitRed Wings in 1997 and 1998; Igor Larionovalso joined the Detroit team; AlexanderMogilny joined the Buffalo Sabers, afterhaving defected during the 1989 worldchampionships in Sweden. Pavel Bure, the“Russian Rocket,” married a Canadian inorder to play with the Vancouver Canucks,then joined the Florida Panthers in 1999 fora substantial transfer fee. The goalkeeperTretiak coaches the Chicago Black Hawks.They all continue to play for the Russiannational team. It may have taken time forRussian players to adapt to training condi-tions in the West, but North Americanteams were also stunned by the muchlower level of discipline that some of theSoviet players demonstrated. Soviet sports-men had lived in the secure and protectedshell reserved for a privileged elite, whocould enjoy the luxuries of Western life andnot bother about everyday life problemssuch as taxes, shopping, and insurance.

Hockey is a popular spectator sport, butit is also widely played on the open airpitches in Gorky Park and Izmailovo Parkor on the numerous ice rinks in the majorcities.

Basketball, Volleyball, and Handball

The ancient game of basketball was re-

invented in Canada by James Neismith(1891) as a college sport. It was brought toRussia in the twentieth century and gainedpopularity among factory workers in smallindustrial settlements. In 1909 the first offi-cial match took place, and by 1923 therewere even Russian championships. In 1936basketball became an Olympic discipline,and in 1976 women’s basketball was recog-nized as an Olympic sport. ThroughoutOlympic history, the U.S. basketball teamshave been most successful. Twice onlycould the USSR score a victory, in 1972 and1988, but really they drew their supportfrom the Baltic states, especially Lithuania,which had always boasted strong basket-ball teams. Indeed, today’s top players areLithuanian: Arvydas Sabonis (b. 1964),played for Zalgiris Kaunas from 1985 to1987 and joined Real Madrid in 1990, thenthe Portland Trail Blazers in 1996. He en-sured the USSR national team’s victory atthe European championships in 1986 andplayed on the Lithuanian national teamthat won Olympic bronze in 1992 and 1996.In 2004, new coaches were appointed forthe national team: Sergei Babkov fromLokomotiv Novosibirsk and the CSKAplayer Yevgeni Pashutin. It was, however,the women’s team that won a bronze medalin Athens.

Volleyball was invented by William Mor-gan at Mount Holyoke in 1895 as a collegegame. It reached the USSR in the 1920s as apopular game. Only in 1947 was an Interna-tional Volleyball Organization formed, andsince 1964 volleyball has been an Olympicdiscipline. Until then, it was not a sportpromoted by the Communist Party as acompetitive sport. An unofficial discipline,it was popular among artists and actors inMoscow in the 1920s and 1930s. It wasplayed by students of the arts and film col-


leges as well as by the famous actors BorisShchukin and Ivan Moskvin. Once it hadbecome a competition sport, the USSRstrove for, and finally achieved, dominancein this sport (Olympic gold in 1980 and1988). Russia won a silver medal in Sydney2000 for both the men’s and women’steams, and a silver medal for the women’steam and bronze for the men’s team inAthens 2004.

Handball became an Olympic disciplinein 1936. The USSR men’s team won a goldmedal in the 1976 and 1988 Olympics andthe women’s team in 1976 and 1980. TheCIS and Russian teams also won severalmedals at the Olympic Games in Barcelona(1992), Sydney (2000), and Athens (2004).

Individual Sports

Golf and Tennis Golf was neither acompetitive discipline nor a leisure activityin the Soviet era. The Soviet Union had onegolf course near Vyborg, until the first golfclub opened in Moscow in 1987, and thesport spread largely as a form of leisure oc-cupation for the upper classes. In 1992 thefirst golf tournament was held in Russia,and only in 1996 did Russia venture ontothe international arena. The largest golfclub in Moscow is in the southwest of thecity, on the Lenin (Sparrow) Hills.

Tennis, the kings’ game, was invented ineleventh-century France and spread acrossEurope and North America in the mid-nine-teenth century. In France, Australia, andthe United States it became part of theschool curriculum. The relationship be-tween tennis and the Olympic movement iscomplex, however: between 1896 and 1924men’s singles were an Olympic discipline;then the sport was removed from theOlympics until the 1988 Games in Seoul.

Therefore, achievement in tennis is mea-sured in the four Grand Slam competitions(Wimbledon, Australian Open, FlushingMeadows, and Paris Open) rather than theOlympics, as well as in the Davis Cup,where the USSR has participated since1962. In the Davis Cup, the Soviet teamreached a semifinal only in 1976, but thematch was canceled since the team was re-called when having to play against Chile, acountry that was condemned for thePinochet regime. The Russians made acomeback to the Davis Cup in 1993; theyreached the finals in 1994 and lost to Swe-den. In 1995 they were again in the finalsafter overcoming the German team withBoris Becker and Michael Stich in thesemifinals, when Andrei Chesnokov scored


Tennis player Yevgeni Kafelnikov during the

Kremlin Cup at the Olympic Complex, October

2003. (Photo by Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant)

a victory over Michael Stich after the lattermade a double fault at 15:40. In the finals,however, Pete Sampras beat Yevgeni Kafel-nikov, and the U.S. team won the cup inMoscow. In 1998 the Russian team againreached the semifinals in Brisbane, buthere the Australian team took the upperhand. Overall, Russian tennis has asserteditself forcefully in the international arenaafter years of neglect by a Soviet regimethat favored collective sports. Indeed, thetennis history of the USSR is not as glam-orous as that of other sports disciplines.The sport was popular among actors of theMoscow Arts Theater. Vsevolod Verbitskywas a national champion in 1918. Someplayers were artists: Nikolai Ozerov wasthe son of an opera singer, and Anna

Dmitrieva the daughter of a theater de-signer. Only two Soviet women have everplayed at Wimbledon: in 1959 Dmitrievawas the first USSR tennis player at Wimble-don, and in the 1970s Olga Morozovareached the women’s finals three times. Inthe 1960s, Alexander Metreveli was thefirst seeded player and the first SovietWimbledon winner.

In the New Russia, Andrei Chesnokovwas the first professional player who had acontract with a Western firm, and he wastwice ranked among the top ten playersand participated in seven major competi-tions. In 1992, the 18-year-old Yevgeni Ka-felnikov won the Open Italian Juniors. In1994 he showed his great skill during athree-hour match against Pete Sampras inthe Australian Open. By 1995 he wasranked sixth in the world. In 1996 he wonhis first Grand Slam tournament with theParis Open and was ranked number three.His performance since has been uneven, al-though by 1999 he had returned to the firstrank after winning the Australian Open andOlympic gold in 2000. The tennis playerMarat Safin was 20 years old when hisranking rose to third after a victory overPete Sampras; in 1999 he scored a victoryat Flushing Meadows. Igor Andreyev is an-other rising star of Russian tennis; he hastrained in Spain since the age of 14.

The star of “new” Russian tennis—al-though not necessarily an outstandingplayer—is Anna Kurnikova. Trained at theNick Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Floridasince the age of 11, the 16-year-old played asemifinal in Wimbledon in 1997. In 1999she won the women’s doubles in the Aus-tralian Open with Martina Hingis. Kurni-kova is not a winner, however; instead, shehas made a fortune by posing as a modelfor various sports journals and glossy mag-


Tennis star Anna Kurnikova during the Kremlin

Cup at the Olympic Complex, October 2001.


azines. In 1999 Yelena Dementieva (b.1981) entered the tennis arena and wonOlympic silver in Sydney in 2000. In theParis Open of 2004, Dementieva was thefirst Russian woman to qualify for a GrandSlam final in thirty years, where she wasbeaten by another Russian player, Anasta-sia Myskina (b. 1981). Vera Zvonareva, Na-dia Petrova, and Svetlana Kuznetsova alsoperformed well in the Paris Open in singlesand doubles. The real heroine of Russiantennis celebrated victory in Wimbledon on3 July 2004, however, when Maria Shara-pova was the first Russian to ever winWimbledon, beating Serena Williams intwo sets. Sharapova, born in 1987 in Nia-gan, has trained for more than ten years atNick Bolletieri’s tennis school in Florida.

As for the active interest in tennis, con-temporary Russia knows a growing num-ber of tennis clubs and courts can be foundat a number of holiday resorts and in thesports centers (Luzhniki, Dinamo, Olympiccomplex, CSKA). The Russian Tennis Asso-ciation has a club in Altufievo in the northof Moscow. Like golf, however, tennis re-mains a sport for the privileged and thehigh earners.

Athletics Athletics are the oldest formof sport, originating in ancient Greece. In1908 the first championships were held,but only in 1946 was an international feder-ation for athletics formed. Although Rus-sian sportsmen and sportswomen havealways performed well in Olympic disci-plines, it is in athletics that they have main-tained most easily the record level of So-viet times.

In walking (skorokhod), the first SovietOlympic champion was Leonid Spirin, whowon in 1956 in Melbourne over 20 kilome-ters. The first world title was not won until

1976, however, when Veniamin Soldatenkoachieved his over 50 kilometers. In 1987Irina Strakhova was the first Soviet womanto win a world championship title. Afterthe collapse of the USSR, Irina Stankina in1995 became the youngest world cham-pion, aged 18 years. Yelena Nikolayevawon Olympic gold in 1996 over 10 kilome-ters, and in the new millennium OlimpiadaIvanova became world champion (2001)and won a silver medal in Athens. It isclearly the Russian women who dominatein this discipline internationally. Amongthe sprinters (gladkii beg), SvetlanaMasterkova won two Olympic gold medalsin 1996. Valentina Yegorova won the silvermedal in the marathon. In hurdling (bary-

erny beg), the former sprinter Irina Priva-lova won a gold medal in Sydney.

In jumping, particular mention must bemade of the Soviet coach Vladimir Diach-kov, who developed a special and success-ful technique for the pole vault in the 1950s,before the flop technique replaced hismethod in the 1960s and took the lead awayfrom the Soviet team. In the high jump(pryzhok v vysotu), Igor Kashkarov wonOlympic gold in 1956. Yuri Stepanov estab-lished a new world record in 1957, whichmarked the first time that the world recordwas not held by an American sportsman. Inthe 1960s, Valeri Brumel several times set aworld record in the high jump, making the“cosmic jump” of 2.26 meters in 1962,claiming Olympic gold in 1964. After sus-taining a leg injury in an accident, Brumelhad to retire. In pole vaulting (pryzhok s

shestom), the first world record for theUSSR came in 1981 when Vladimir Poliakovjumped 5.81 meters. In the 1990s, theUkrainian-born Sergei Bubka reached 6.14meters (1994). Maxim Tarasov won Olym-pic gold in 1992, bronze in 2000, and be-


came world champion in 1999 with 6.05 me-ters. The long jump (pryzhok v dlinu) is adiscipline that has not brought the USSRgreat triumphs, but it is worth bearing inmind that in over 100 years, the 18 worldrecords have been set by only 12 jumpers.Igor Ter-Ovanesian set one such new worldrecord in 1967, with a jump of 8.35 meters,which later earned him Olympic gold. Dur-ing the Athens Olympics the Russianwomen gained several medals in high jump,pole vault, triple jump, and long jump. Theathlete Tatiana Lebedeva, who had alreadysecured a silver medal in Syndey and hadset an indoor world record in Budapest in2004, deservedly received a gold medal.

In the discus (metanie diska) andjavelin throw (metanie kop’ia), the Sovietteams scored occasional victories in the1970s and 1980s. The javelin thrower Alex-ander Makarov won Olympic silver in 1980,and his son, Sergei, took the Olympicbronze in Sydney in 2000. The first Russianchampion in weightlifting in the pre-Revo-lutionary era was Alexander Zass (1888–1962) from Vilno (now Vilnius), called the“Iron Samson.” Zass sustained an injury inWorld War I and later worked in the circus,where he gained fame for carrying two li-ons on his shoulders, a number that hemodeled on his war experience, when hehad carried his injured horse. Yuri Vardan-ian set five world records in the 1980s. YuriZakharevich won three Olympic goldmedals in Seoul, and his fellow country-man Andrei Chemerkin, Olympic winner of1996, is recognized as the strongest man inthe world. Other heavy-athletic disciplines,such as judo and karate, were not wide-spread in the Soviet Union outside compe-tition sports, but with the emergence ofclubs in the New Russia, and Russia’s pres-ident actively practicing karate, these

sports have gained popularity. In judo,Alexander Mikhailin has won a worldchampionship.

Ever since the former USSR entered theworld arena of wrestling competitions in1953 with Boris Gurevich, the first Sovietworld champion in wrestling, the countryled infallibly in the various categories ofthe discipline. The Greco-Roman wrestler(130 kg) Alexander Karelin (b. 1957 inNovosibirsk) was the longest reigningworld champion (1989–1999), and the onlyathlete who won three Olympic medals forhis country under three different flags: forthe Soviet Union in 1988, for the CIS in1992, and for Russia in 1996. After beingdefeated in Sydney by Rulon Gardner, hedefended his doctorate in sports at the Les-gaft Institute in Saint Petersburg (2002)and was elected a Duma deputy (for theparty “Edinstvo,” Unity) by his Novosibirskconstituency (1999). The wrestlers won tenof the 92 medals won by Russia in theAthens Olympics.

Boxing, so popular in the United States,was part of army training in the Soviet pe-riod, and as such, it was a recognized andsupported form of sport. The boxer BorisLagutin (b. 1938), who won Olympicbronze in 1960 and gold in 1964 and 1968, isprobably one of the best-known boxers, ifnot sportsmen, of the Soviet era. In theNew Russia the welterweight boxer OlegSaitov has popularized the sport with agold medal in the 1996 Olympics, worldand European championship titles, theBarker Cup, and two further gold medals atthe Sydney Olympics. He achieved anotherthird place in the Athens Olympics in 2004.In 2001, Konstantin Tsiu entered the ring,winning the world championship; Alexan-der Lebziak won Olympic gold in Sydney inthe heavyweight class.


Gymnastics Gymnastics were, first andforemost, a health exercise introduced toRussia in the late nineteenth century byDoctor Petr Lesgaft from Petersburg, whowas sent to Europe with the mission ofstudying health exercises. Lesgaft foundeda school in Petersburg, which became theLesgaft Institute of Physical Culture afterthe Revolution.

When Soviet gymnasts entered the Olym-pic arena, the sport was no longer a healthexercise but a highly competitive discipline.It was here that the Soviet teams scored a

range of medals at the Olympics. LarisaLatynina won eighteen Olympic medals inthe 1950s and 1960 for gymnastics and wasworld champion in 1962. Then, however,the Japanese took the lead in gymnastics,until in 1970 Liudmila Turishcheva (b. 1952)won the world championship. She gave aremarkable performance at the Europeanchampionship in London in 1973, when shecompleted an exercise on parallel bars afterone of the bars had broken. Turishcheva,who remains a legend in contemporaryRussia, was swept aside on the interna-


Russian three-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Alexander Karelin fights during the

2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. (Photo by Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant)

tional arena by Olga Korbut (b. 1955,Grodno/Belarus), who at the age of 16 wonOlympic gold in Munich in 1972, showing aloop on the parallel bars and a backwardsalto. It would soon become common forteenagers rather than mature sportspeopleto enter international gymnastics competi-tions, such as the 11-year-old RomanianNadia Comaneci (b. 1961), who first ap-peared at the age of 14 in European cham-pionships, where she won four goldmedals. She went on to win Olympic goldin Montreal in 1976 with a “perfect” scoreof 10 for her performance on the unevenbars and gained several medals in Moscowin 1980, competing along with the Korean-born Russian Nelli Kim (b. 1959).

Although it was generally expected thatthe level of discipline needed for gymnas-tics could not be maintained without partydiscipline in post-Soviet Russia, and consid-ering that this sport was not a mass specta-tor sport, Russia scored surprisingly high ingymnastics competitions in the 1990s. Svet-lana Khorkina began her career in 1994; shewas European champion (1998, 2000) andworld champion (1997, 1999), and wonmedals in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olym-pics. In Sydney she showed a great sense ofteam spirit when she let her junior col-league Lena Zamolodchikova (b. 1982) dothe jump instead of her, thus giving Zamo-lodchikova a chance of demonstrating herability and ensuring the women’s team agold medal. Zamolodchikova also won twogold medals for individual performance onthe vault in Sydney, and Khorkina broughtin the gold medal on uneven bars. Yulia Bar-sukova became European champion in1999 and won Olympic gold in 2000. In 2003she was cast as the White Cat in the Rus-sian Ice Stars’ UK touring production ofSleeping Beauty, leaving competitive for

commercial sports. Alina Kabayeva wasEuropean champion in 1999 and 2000 andworld champion in 2001; she won Olympicbronze in Sydney and gold in Athens.Among the men, the Belarusian VitaliShcherbo took six Olympic gold medals inBarcelona in 1992. Alexei Nemov (b. 1976),who became captain of the Russian teamfor the 1996 Olympics, won gold and silvermedals in Sydney for his performance onthe horizontal bar, pommel horse, and par-allel bars as well as floor exercises.

Water Sports Rowing was a competitivesport in the Soviet Union but not associatedwith universities as in the United Kingdom.In 1956 the USSR made a strong debut in


Athlete Svetlana Khorkina receiving a silver

medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004. (Photo

by Ilya Pitalev/Kommersant)

the Olympic Games at Melbourne with twogold and three silver medals. After 1991 theperformance and interest in the sportdropped, but by 1996 the Russian team wasagain among the medalists: in Sydney,Maxim Opalev won a silver medal. The for-mer USSR coach Valentin Mankin, whotrained the national team from 1988 to 1990,went to Italy and coached the Italian na-tional team that won gold and silver medalsin Sydney. Yachting was relatively popularin the Soviet Union: with around a hundredclubs, the sport had 30,000 members.

Swimming was a physical exercise intro-duced by a swimming school in Petersburgin 1825. By the late nineteenth century,pools could be found in most steam-houses(a steam-house is a banya), and in 1895even the famous Sandunov Baths in Mos-cow had a small pool. Saunas or steam-houses are still very popular, with Finnishand Russian saunas being an integral partof urban and provincial life. The Russiansauna is a steam sauna, heated up to 60°C,where people beat each other with birchtree twigs (veniki). The Finnish sauna is adry sauna that heats up to 100°C, and it isalso common in Russia. The steam-houseformed part of provincial life, however,where it provided the bathhouse in areaswithout sanitation, and it remains an inte-gral part of Russian culture.

Although swimming became a popularexercise, both in the banya pools and inrivers and lakes, the USSR did not fare verywell in the Olympics. Instead, JohnnyWeissmuller, who continued to play thepart of Tarzan, conquered the hearts ofRussian sports spectators and cinema audi-ences in the 1950s. The 16-year-old GalinaProzumenshikova was the first Sovietswimmer to win an Olympic gold medal, inTokyo in 1964.

The New Russia has a lot more to offerin terms of competition success. The swim-mer Alexander Popov held the world rec-ord in 50 and 100 meters and won Olympicgold in 1992. He then trained in Australiaand again won Olympic gold in 1996, fol-lowed by the European championship in1997 and a silver medal in Sydney. RomanSludnov won the world championship in2001. Among the women, Maria Kiselyovaexcelled in synchronized swimming in theOlympics in 2000; in 2004 the Russian teamwon two gold medals in synchronizedswimming.

A number of pools can be found in themajor cities. The famous open-air poolMoskva, which from the 1960s to the 1990stook up the space where the Cathedral ofChrist the Savior stood until 1931 and againstands since 1994, was an extraordinary


Swimmer and champion of the 2000 Olympics

Alexander Popov prepares for the World

Championship in the Olympic Sports Complex,

Moscow, in 2002. (Photo by Dmitry Azarov/

Kommersant)

sight in its time with swimmers in theheated pool at outside temperatures of mi-nus 25º C. All the major sports clubs (Luzh-niki, Olympic, Krylatskoye, CSKA) havetheir indoor pools, and the Seagull(Chaika) in the south of Moscow is the ma-jor public pool. Many fitness clubs alsohave small pools, and there is a growingnumber of aqua parks.

For the common people, water sportssuch as diving and waterskiing are avail-able at a great number of Russian holidayresorts on the Black Sea. Swimming is pos-sible in the summer seasons in lakes andrivers, even in the Moskva river, which hasa famous beach near Serebrianyi Bor (Sil-ver Forest). There are numerous lakes inthe Volga region, north of Moscow, andnorth of St. Petersburg. Diving is popular,but very expensive because of the specialequipment required. A basic course of sixhours can cost between $150 and $250.

Other Sports In fencing, the USSROlympics team first performed in 1960 andobtained a gold medal; it repeated this suc-cess in 1964, 1968, 1976, and 1980, assert-ing the USSR’s superiority in this teamsport. In the post-Soviet era, individualfencers gained international awards, firstand foremost Stanislav Pozdniakov, whowon Olympic gold in 1992 and 1996 andwas world champion in 2001. His team-mates Alexander Beketov and PavelKolobkov also won Olympic medals in1996 and 2000. In Sydney the women’s épéeteam and the men’s saber team won goldmedals; in Athens the women’s épée teamrepeated their gold medal, while the men’steam took only bronze in foil and sabre.

Darts only entered Russia in the 1990s asa foreign import. In the 2000 world champi-onship in London, however, Anastasia Do-

bromyslova won a bronze medal, becom-ing the first Russian to gain any awards.The sport remains of limited interest forcompetition, but facilities are available inclubs and pubs. Paintball reached Russia in1993. There are a number of carting andbowling clubs that are fairly popular.

In equestrian terms, the Caucasian re-publics always had a strong presence inhorseback riding. The Djigits performed inmany circuses. In Soviet Russia, equestriansports were not very popular. The best rac-ing performance was in 1961, when a Rus-sian jockey participated in the Grand Na-tional and reached the tenth hurdle. Horseracing was not a sport sponsored in theUSSR; neither was betting, considered tobe an utterly bourgeois pastime. Therewere few clubs or stables where individu-als could keep horses. With the collapse ofthe USSR, it therefore took a while forequestrian sports to establish themselves.Horse racing is still not a mass spectacle,although there are a few races and arenas,most notably the hippodrome on Begovayain Moscow, which even has a couple ofbookmakers (bukmeikery). There arehorseback-riding clubs in Bitsa, Izmailovo,and Nagornoye where people can hirehorses and take riding classes. Interest inthe sport is on the increase as the first in-ternational successes are visible: NinaMenkova won the bronze and silver medalsin the world championships between 1989and 1991 in the dressage exercises on herhorse Dixon. However, such successes re-main isolated.

In biking, Russia always lagged behindEurope. The first cyclists in Russia werereferred to as “satan riding on the devil”(chert na diavole edet); the bike was con-sidered a silly and dangerous Western in-vention. In 1883 the first bicycle race took


place in Moscow, but the bicycle never re-ally gained wide popularity in Russia, nei-ther as a means of transport nor as a pieceof sports equipment. There have, however,been occasional record attempts: the elec-trician Gleb Travin cycled along the bor-ders of the USSR in 1928, an exercise thatcovered 85,000 kilometers and took threeyears and 14 days, starting from Petro-pavlovsk-Kamchatsky and going across theArctic Circle. The cyclist Viacheslav Yeki-mov won gold medals in Seoul and Sydney,and Olga Sliusareva took the gold medal inpoints race and silver in road race inAthens in 2004, but no Russian cyclist hastaken part in big international events suchas the Tour de France or the Giro d’Italia.

Mountain climbing was not a popularsport in the Soviet era, but an exercise ofachievement. Yevgeni Abalakov’s conquestin 1933 of Pik Kommunizma (CommunismPeak, 7,495 meters) in the Pamir range, thehighest mountain of the USSR, was onesuch achievement. Mountain climbing be-came a popular sport in the 1990s, whenmilitary helicopters were used to transportpeople to remote locations in the Caucasusfor climbing. Other forms of extremesports, such as bungee jumping, are gain-ing in popularity among the prosperous“New Russians.”

Formula One and other motor races werenot part of spectator or competitive sportsin the Soviet era, and the interest in For-mula One races remains a passive one. For-mula One is covered extensively on televi-sion and in the print media, indicating aninterest in the races as a spectator sport.

The noncompetitive sports of fishing andhunting have long-standing traditions inRussia, and—although they are exclusivelymale sports—they are extremely popularand widespread.

Winter Sports

The first skis were used in Russia in 1894.By 1910, the first Russian championshipstook place in Moscow. Bearing in mind theRussian winter, the country was clearly pre-destined for skiing, and it remains a verypopular sport and almost a way of movingthrough the countryside during the winter.

Soviet downhill ski teams joined interna-tional competitions in the 1950s, and herewomen have always been better skiersthan men. In 1956, Vladimir Kuzin wonOlympic gold in Cortina d’Ampezzo; Via-cheslav Vedenin won silver in Grenoble in1968 and gold in Sapporo in 1972. Thewomen led more consistently: between1958 and 1966, Alevtina Kolchina was threetimes world champion and won Olympicgold in 1964. Galina Kulakova becameUSSR champion in 1967; she held the titleof world champion five times and fourtimes participated in the Olympics. RaisaSmetanina participated in seven worldchampionships and five Olympics. Suchlong-term champions were no longer onthe ski slopes in the 1990s.

In cross-country skiing, the Russianteams have demonstrated their strength:Liubov Yegorova was world championfrom 1992 to 1994 and took Olympic gold.Larisa Lazutina was world champion in1995 and again in 2001, with three goldmedals in Nagano. Yelena Vaelbe had, by1995, won five gold medals in world cham-pionships. Among the newcomers are OlgaDanilova, Nina Gavriliuk, and Julia Chep-alova, making their medal debuts at the2001 world championships. Indeed, thetraining opportunities for cross-countryskiing are widely accessible, so that thelead in this area is not surprising.

Ski jumping saw only a few Sovietsportsmen win, but the biathlon was an-


other Soviet-dominated discipline. In the1960s and 1970s Vladimir Melanin, YuriKashkarov, Renat Safin, and AlexanderTikhonov were multiple world championsand led in Olympic competitions. The for-mer skier Anfisa Reztsova scored successfor Russia in the biathlon in the 1990s.

Skiing remains a very popular leisure ac-tivity. There are numerous ski resorts inthe Caucasus and Central Asia, now sepa-rate republics, but also in the Urals. The re-sort of Krasnaya Polyana near the BlackSea resort of Sochi has been expanded,since it is President Putin’s favorite resort.Many Russians can afford the quite cheappackage holidays to Austrian and Swiss,Italian, and French ski resorts. Quite a fewski jumps are available in major cities, withthe most famous jump descending from theSparrow Hills toward the Moskva River.

Ice Skating Skates were first broughtto Russia by Peter the Great, and the firstcompetitions were in speed skating in thenineteenth century. Alexander Panshin wasthe first Russian world champion in speedskating, taking advantage of the facilities inPetersburg’s Yusupov Gardens. He was fol-lowed by a whole host of Russian speedskaters, including Boris Shilkov (1954world champion), Boris Stenin (1960 worldchampion), Viktor Kosichkin (1962 worldchampion), four times world championsInga Artamonova, Klara Guseva (Nes-terova) (1960), and Lidia Skoblikova.

The end of the 1960s saw the end of astring of Soviet speed skaters dominatingthe discipline. At that point in history, fig-ure skating became the domain of Soviethegemony, and the USSR and Russia havedominated this discipline in all its four vari-ants to the present day. Figure skating istherefore very popular in Russia, but also

because skates are relatively cheap and icysurfaces abound in the Russian winter,making the sport a family leisure activity.

The first figure skating competitionstook place in Vienna in 1872 and includedpair and single skating. In 1908, ice skatingfirst featured in the Olympic program. Atthe London Games, Russia was repre-sented by Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin, a fi-nance inspector. Since 1922 there havebeen European and world championships,which now also include ice dance as afourth form. As figure skating developed, itencompassed a number of compulsory ele-ments and jump combinations: loops, flips,toe loops, and death spirals. Some new ele-ments were invented and named after theskaters who first performed them: the sal-chow was named after the Swedish skaterUlrich Salchow; the axel was named afterAxel Paulson, who performed it at the 1908Olympics; the lutz was named after the Ital-ian skater Tomas Lutz; and one of the mostrecent elements, the Bielmann spin, wasfirst shown by the Swiss skater DeniseBielmann in the 1980s.

The USSR took great pride in its figureskaters, a tradition begun in the 1960s.Men’s figure skating has never been quiteas strong as that of the Soviet pairs, how-ever. Among the European and worldchampions of the 1970s were Vladimir Ko-valyov, the Leningrad skater Igor Bobrin,and Yuri Ovchinnikov. Alexander Fadeyevshowed a fine free skating program basedon Russian folk dance and won the worldand European championships in the 1980s.He first landed a quadruple toe-loop. TheUkrainian Viktor Petrenko won a goldmedal for the unified CIS team in Albert-ville (1992). Alexei Urmanov received agold medal in Lillehammer. He has sinceshown excellent free programs, without,


however, winning medals. Ilia Kulik tookthe gold medal in Nagano.

Yevgeni Plushchenko first won a bronzemedal at the world championships in 1998,aged 15; he took the world title in 2001.Plushchenko first performed the combina-tion of a quadruple, triple, and doublejump. Russia has been best represented byAlexei Yagudin, who won Olympic gold inSalt Lake City in 2002, relegating Plu-shchenko to the silver medal. The Peters-burg skater Yagudin (b. 1980) excelled witha free program set to “Man with the IronMask,” but he made Olympic history byachieving the highest total score for indi-vidual skating (106.6 out of 108 points).

In women’s skating the United Statesheld the lead, and in the 1970s and 1980sthe GDR skaters trained by Jutta Mueller,including Katerina Witt, took the limelight.Kira Ivanova was the first and only womanto win an Olympic medal for the USSR inSarajevo in 1984. Anna Kondrasheva gaineda silver medal in the 1984 world cham-pionship. Yelena Vodorezova (b. 1963)achieved a European title in 1982. Herpupil, Olga Markova, became a Europeanmedalist in 1994 and 1995. In the 1990s,Russian women finally reached the steps ofthe Olympic pedestal more frequently. TheUkrainian Oksana Baiul (b. 1977) was theyoungest Olympic champion, winning agold medal in Lillehammer in 1994, but hercareer has been hampered by alcoholism.Irina Slutskaya became European cham-pion in 1996, 2000, and 2001, winning a sil-ver medal in the 1998 world championshipsand in the Olympic Games in Salt LakeCity. Marina Butyrskaya won the worldchampionships in 1999 and Europeanchampionships in 1998 and 1999, at the ma-ture age of 27. Russian women certainly

are back among the leading skaters withsolid artistic and technical performances.

The greatest success has been recordedin pairs skating, which has also enjoyedwidespread spectator popularity in Russiaand abroad. In 1958 the USSR joined theleadership race in figure skating, whenNina and Stanislav Zhuk won the silvermedal at the European championship inBratislava, which they subsequently de-fended in Davos in 1959 and in GarmischPartenkirchen in 1960, eventually crowningtheir career with a sixth place at theOlympics in Squaw Valley. They were soonovertaken, however, by Liudmila Belou-sova and Oleg Protopopov, who took Olym-


Figure skater Irina Slutskaya performing a

Bielman spin during the 2002 Olympics in

Salt Lake City’s Delta Center.


pic gold in Innsbruck in 1964, winning thefirst Olympic medal in the discipline. Theyhave become, like their successors, na-tional heroes. Their free skate set to Liszt’s“Love Dreams” demonstrated their athleticcompetence in a lyrical and romantic pres-entation, probably least expected from thedisciplined Soviet camp. They defendedtheir medal in Grenoble and reigned as Eu-ropean and world champions between thetwo Olympics. Since the times of Belou-sova and Protopopov, the USSR has neverlost Olympic gold in pairs figure skating;they surrendered the world championshiponly seven times and the European titleonly three times. The coach Igor Moskvintrained his wife, Tamara Moskvina, whoskated with Alexei Mishin and won a worldchampionship silver medal in 1969. Fromthis pool of skaters the schools and trainingcamps developed that dominated, and stillrule, the sport. Figure skating became amassively popular sport, where the compe-tition was not only between nations but be-tween “camps” of skaters trained in Mos-cow or Petersburg, by Zhuk or Moskvina.

In 1969 Irina Rodnina (b. 1949) andAlexei Ulanov made their debut at theworld championship. They held the Euro-pean title between 1969 and 1972, whenthey won Olympic gold; the silver medalwent to Andrei Sureikin and Liudmila Smir-nova. After the Olympics, Ulanov decidedto skate with Smirnova, whom he had mar-ried in the meantime, leaving Rodninawithout a skating partner. Her trainer,Stanislav Zhuk, paired her with the rela-tively unknown skater Alexander Zaitsev.Although Smirnova and Ulanov won worldchampionship silver in 1973 and 1974, Rod-nina and Zaitsev rose to Olympic gold in1976 and 1980. They held the title of world

champion ten times between 1969 and 1978and the European title 11 times (1969–1978, and 1980), interrupted only in 1979when Rodnina had her baby son.

It was impossible to imagine in thosedays that anyone could overtake the pair ofRodnina and Zaitsev, whose “Kalinka” freeskate program became their trademark.The coach Stanislav Zhuk knew, however,that he had to raise a new generation ofskaters. In his choice of pairs, Zhuk alwayschose a small woman and a tall man andpeppered the programs with decisive andforceful moves, tending more toward theathletic than the artistic side. Marina Cher-kasova and Sergei Shakhrai performed wellin the late 1970s but were clearly not chal-lengers for the Olympic gold medal. YelenaValova and Oleg Vasiliev won several Euro-pean and world titles between 1983 and1988, with an Olympic victory in 1984. Theywere, however, coached by Tamara Mosk-vina, who insisted on a program that in-cluded a variety of jumps, emphasizingoverall more the artistic composition.Zhuk’s pair of Yekaterina Gordeyeva andSergei Grinkov, who made their debut aged14 and 16, soon demonstrated their superi-ority over the Moskvina pair and held theEuropean and world titles between 1986and 1990, with Olympic gold in 1988 and1994. Their free program in Lillehammer toBeethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” was amemorable and truly golden performance.In 1998, Grinkov died of cardiac arrest atthe age of 28. Moskvina trained NataliaMishkutionok and Artur Dmitriev, whoquickly ranked among the top skaters andwon Olympic gold in Albertville. In Nagano,Dmitriev skated with a new partner, OxanaKazakova, and won another gold medal.Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze


rose to the top three pairs in the world inthe late 1990s, winning silver in Nagano andgold in Salt Lake City, although they had toshare it with the Canadian pair Jamie Saleand David Pelletier. After Berezhnaya andSikharulidze were awarded the gold medalon 12 February 2002, it transpired that theFrench judge Reine-Marie Le Gaugne hadbeen pressured to award higher marks tothe Russian pair than they deserved; hervote was discounted and Sale and Pelletierhad their silver medal exchanged for gold,while the Russian pair kept their gold medalalso. The rising stars, who are apparentlybeing prepared for the 2006 Olympics, areMarina Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, al-ready successful in the European and worldchampionships since 2002 with a programset to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Paganini.”

Many contemporary Russian skatershave Russian coaches but practice in theUnited States, where facilities are deemedto be better.

Ice dance was introduced into interna-tional competition rather late, in 1948. Thefirst world championships were held in1952, and the first European champion-ships in 1954. Liudmila Pakhomova (1947–1986) and Alexander Gorshkov were thefirst Soviet Olympic ice dance champions.Their career was hampered by Gorshkov’sundergoing heart surgery in 1975. They wonOlympic gold in 1976, and under theircoach Yelena Chaikovskaya, they took anumber of European and world champi-onship medals in the 1970s. Natalia Lini-chuk and Gennadi Karponosov succeededthe pair of Pakhomova and Gorshkov, win-ning the world championship in 1978 andOlympic gold in 1980. Irina Moiseyeva andAlexander Minenkov were coached byTamara Tarasova and became world cham-pions in 1975 with their program to “WestSide Story.” For the first time, a pair usedone tune for a miniperformance rather thana mix of tunes in a special arrangement.Moiseyeva and Minenkov gained Olympicsilver in 1976 and bronze in 1980. Their ex-periment was ahead of its time, however,and not rewarded by the judges with thegold medal they deserved for their artisticperformance reminiscent of classical ballet.Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin,also trained by Tarasova, reigned at the Eu-ropean and world championships in 1985–1988 and won Olympic gold in 1988 withtheir extravagant and challenging style.Their expressive dance inspired the famedFrench pair, Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay.

Marina Klimova and Sergei Pono-marenko followed as world and Europeanchampions between 1989 and 1992 and as


Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze

during their free program at the Winter

Olympics 2002 in Salt Lake City’s Delta Center.


Olympic winners in Albertville. MayaUsova and Alexander Zhulin took the leadfor a brief time in 1993–1994. Oxana Gr-ishuk and Yevgeni Platov showed a splen-did rock and roll program that won themOlympic old in 1994 and 1998. AnzhelinaKrylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov were worldchampions in 1998 and 1999. Indeed, theRussian dominance in ice dance climaxedin Albertville, when three Russian pairsstood on the Olympic steps: Klimova andPonomarenko, Usova and Zhulin, and Gri-shuk and Platov. At the end of the 1990s,Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukhemerged as top skaters. After the Salt LakeCity Olympics, a new generation began toemerge in preparation for the nextOlympics. Tatiana Navka and Roman Kos-tomarov impressed at the European cham-pionships in 2004 with a dance set to “ThePink Panther.” Ice dancers tend to performin competitions for shorter terms, turningto professional careers after five or sixyears in order to earn money.

Chess

Russia’s most popular game, and indeedsport (the one with most club members),has been chess. International champi-onships had existed since 1851, but mostchess masters of the twentieth centurywere Russian. Indeed, chess has alwaysbeen popular in Russia, and among theworld’s top twenty chess players in historythere are eight Russians. Garri Kasparovwas the youngest player to become agrandmaster and had at the age of 26achieved the highest rating. Millions offans watched his matches, especially thoseagainst computers, where he was victori-ous in 1989 and 1996 but lost to an Interna-tional Business Machine (IBM) computerin 1997.

The first Russian chess master wasAlexander Alekhin (1892–1946), whosemother took drugs and left the family andwhose father was a gambler. Alekhin him-self was an alcoholic. From a well-off mer-chant background, Alekhin suddenly hadto work to provide for himself after theRevolution. A law graduate, he found a jobas a police investigator. He emigrated toFrance in 1921, however, claiming that hehad lost seven years of chess practice be-cause of World War I and the civil war. Thereigning chess champion had been, since1921, Jose Raul Capablanca; in 1927Alekhin challenged and defeated him.


Chess player Garri Kasparov ponders his next

move during the match held to mark the

ninetieth anniversary of Mikhail Botvinnik, the

patriarch of the Soviet chess school. The match

took place in the Pillar Hall of the Unions’

House, Moscow, in December 2001. (Photo by

Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant)

Alekhin defended his title three times, in1929, 1934, and 1937.

After the war Mikhail Botvinnik followedAlekhin on his throne, gaining, and thendefending, the world title between 1948and 1961, losing only to Vasili Smyslov in1957.

The dominance of Soviet chess playerswas regained in the 1970s. Anatoli Karpovwon the title in 1978 and 1981 (over ViktorKorchnoy); in 1984 and 1985 and then againin 1996 and 1998, Karpov defeated GarriKasparov. Kasparov, on the other hand, de-feated Karpov three times between 1985and 1987 as well as in 1990 and held the ti-tle in 1993 and 1995. The matches betweenKasparov and Karpov always attracted agreat deal of attention, as they representedchess games between two equally talentedand intelligent players. Alexander Khalif-man beat Vladimir Akopian in 1999, andVladimir Kramnik defeated Kasparov in2000. All these matches were dominated byRussian players, showing the clear domi-nance of the USSR and Russia in this field.Chess remains a most popular sport in Rus-sia, as indeed does reading.

Pulp Fiction

Books were always a “deficit” (a product ininsufficient supply). Although there werethousands of books in the shops and in thelibraries, they were not the books peoplewanted. The Russian classics were more orless readily available, but contemporary lit-erature was not, and foreign literature intranslation was a great rarity. Literary jour-nals with the latest prose fiction werehanded around privately, just like thesamizdat—typewritten illegal dissident lit-erature multiplied by the use of several lay-

ers of carbon paper. Foreign literature, es-pecially adventure and detective stories,was in high demand. Writers such asArthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, and JackLondon were on the “wanted” lists as wellas the works of Valentin Pikul and Alexan-der Dumas’s Queen Margot. These werebait on the list of books people could pur-chase if they would hand over books andpapers (20 kilograms) for recycling (maku-

latura) to overcome the paper shortage, asystem introduced in 1974. Such rare edi-tions could also be purchased at highprices on the black market. Another way ofacquiring those much-wanted books wasthe beriozka (birch tree), the hard-cur-rency shop where foreigners could buy allsorts of souvenirs, deficit goods (coffee,detergents, toothpaste, electrical goods),and books. The beriozka on Kropotkin-skaya Street (now Ostozhenka) specializedin books.

Publishing

Books were, above all, not regarded as acommodity in Soviet Russia. Whereas inthe West the discrepancy was cultivatedbetween high art with a mission of civiliz-ing the people and low, popular culturewith no value but revenue, the USSR pub-lished books not according to demand, butto need—issuing what the party and ideo-logues thought to be of educational value.Books had a value as a sign of culturednessand were an essential decor of Soviet flats.The official canon of Russian literature istherefore misleading. Although the nine-teenth-century classics are read andknown by a wide range of Russians, nei-ther their novels nor the official Soviet lit-erature were best sellers. The most widelyread authors were Valentin Pikul, whosehistorical novels had print runs of more


than one million, and Yulian Semyonov,who sold more than 35 million copies ofhis 60 or so titles. Neither of them featureson any higher education syllabus in theWest, nor are they widely translated. Thus,the West went along with the official imagepresented by the Soviet Union as a nationthat loved its classics, Russian and Soviet.

The 1960s saw a reading boom: the levelof education had increased, and the schoolcurriculum included a great deal of classi-cal literature, so that most Soviet childrenwere widely read and had a taste for litera-ture. According to a survey by Klaus Mehn-ert undertaken in the 1970s, which wasgroundbreaking in its time, the most popu-lar writers in the stagnation period wereKonstantin Simonov, who had become fa-mous for his war novels in the late 1940s;Georgi Markov, who had written an epicnovel set in Siberia; and Yulian Semyonovwith his Stirlitz spy thrillers set during thewar. It is interesting to note, though, thatall three writers had their works turnedinto films, which reached mass audiencesand achieved huge popularity. The leaguetable was followed by the Kyrgyz writerChingiz Aitmatov; Viktor Astafiev, whowrote chiefly about the war and labourcamps; and Yuri Bondarev and AlexanderChakovsky, both famous for their novelsabout the war. Many of these novels werepublished in the series Novel-Paper (Ro-man-gazeta), an edition reserved for verypopular works, with a print run of two mil-lion copies.

In the Gorbachev period, most previ-ously banned novels were published in theliterary journals in the first instance, whichexplains the massive rise in their print runsin those years. Once the flood of materialdelayed by censorship had ceased, thejournals returned to their preglasnost lev-

els of print runs. This kept prices for bookslow while at the same time leaving no mar-gin for profit for the bookshops. Then thebook trade experienced a drop in light ofthe unstable economy and a sharp rise inprint costs in 1993. If, until 1993, the num-ber of titles and the print runs had been in-creasing, then after 1993 the time for cheapbooks was over. The number of bookshopshalved in the 1990s, whereas the need forspecialized shops arose after 1993 to coverintellectual demands.

Once it had become possible for newpublishing houses to register and startbusiness (1991), the book market changedrapidly. If in the mid-1990s the majority ofbookshops were still run along the lines ofbooks on display behind a counter and outof reach, where the book had to be paid forat a till before it could be collected withthe receipt, then by the end of the 1990smost bookshops, such as Moskva, DomKnigi, and Biblio Globus had changed toself-service systems with books on opendisplay and payment made to a cashier. By1994, some 7,000 publishers had registered,although copies went down from 1,553 bil-lion in 1990 to 422 million in 1996. Duringthis period, as in the present, publishers re-mained largely based in Moscow and a fewin Petersburg. Books acquired hardcoverand paperback editions, and at last also adust jacket. By 1997, seven main publishersremained. In 1990 the Russian Associationof Bookpublishers (ASKI, Assotsiatsiiaknigoizdatelei Rossii) was set up.

Moreover, around the same time bookswere in great demand: first and foremostchildren’s books, followed by referencebooks and literature. In children’s literaturethe publishing house Rosmen, founded in1992, took the lead, producing beautifully il-lustrated books largely by Russian, but also


by foreign, authors. Rosmen also special-izes in educational literature.

Publishers of the leading detective fic-tion writers Alexandra Marinina, BorisAkunin, Daria Dontsova, and PolinaDashkova soon discovered the paperbackas a worthwhile addition to the hardback.Detective and crime fiction is published byEksmo Press, a huge publishing house es-tablished in 1993 that produces over 55 mil-lion books and 50,000 titles per year, in-cluding reference works and dictionaries.Boris Akunin publishes his novels exclu-sively with the publishing house Zakharov.Olim Press and Astrel also publish popular

crime novels; so does Vagrius, which spe-cializes, however, in prose and memoirs.Olma Press prints encyclopedias, specialeditions, children’s literature, and somecrime fiction. The publishing houses AdMarginem (founded in 1991 by the Instituteof Philosophy) and OGI (Obedinennye gu-manitarnye izdatel’stva; United HumanitiesPublishers) publish experimental litera-ture, literary criticism, and art. OGI is aunique setup launched in the late 1990s,where affordable restaurants and clubs (at-tracting mostly students and intellectuals)were combined with bookshops. Ad Mar-ginem opened its private shop in 1993,


The writer Boris Akunin (left) and his colleague Vladimir Sorokin (right) in conversation before the

concert of the Finnish group Salvation Army Band in Kinotsentr, Moscow, 2003. (Photo by Dmitry

Lebedev/Kommersant)

complementing the specialized shops of 19October and Eidos.

Although Eksmo is clearly the largestpublishing house, in terms of genre, thereare differences. Detective fiction leadsclearly with Dontsova, Tatiana Poliakova,Marinina, and Akunin listed as best sellersfor 2003. Eksmo has 60 percent of the mar-ket share in the print run, followed by AST(short form of Astrel’) with 10 percent andOlma Press with 8 percent. Between 2001and 2003, the print run for detective storiesrose from 15,000 to 19,000 while priceswent up from 15 to 30 rubles. Most detec-tive fiction is published in series. In fantasythere are about 1,000 titles listed with aver-age print runs of 10,000; here the market isdominated by AST (30 percent) and Eksmo(40 percent). There are some 1,500 to 2,000titles in this section, with prices rising from50 to 80 rubles and print runs remainingstable at 8,000. Eksmo leads this sector (17percent) marginally, before Olma Press (12percent) and AST (9 percent). Overall, therating for publishers lists Eksmo, AST, andOlma at the top, followed by Rosmenamong the top ten and Akunin’s publishinghouse, Zakharov, in 32nd place (data arefor 2003).

The term best seller is tricky in the con-text of the Russian market, where informa-tion on film budgets or publication is awell-guarded business secret. Informationon the exact print runs is hard to come by,as most publishers reprint a work severaltimes according to demand, in low printruns at a time. As Russia loves ratings andrankings of all sorts, one way to assesspopularity is to study the sales rates ofbookshops. Here, Pelevin’s Generation P

was a clear hit. The works of Dontsova,Dashkova, Marinina, Akunin, Daniil Koret-sky, and Tatiana Ustinova and other crime

fiction are clear best sellers. Television andfilm stimulate the demand for books. Dos-toevsky’s Idiot ended up in the best sellerlists after the television serial by VladimirBortko had been broadcast in 2003, andMarinina’s novels were reprinted after thetelevision serial Kamenskaya had begun.

As far as foreign authors are concerned,the times of Dumas and Jack London havelong passed. Paul Coelho, Haruki Mura-kami, Milorad Pavic, and Patrick Suesskindlead on the Russian market just as they doon the European market. The book marketresponds best, it seems, to the demand ofthe reading public, yet it is dominated by“pulp” fiction and trash novels.

Best Sellers

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, theState Prize, associated with political cor-rectness and deemed ideological, ratherthan merit-based, lost in prestige. Espe-cially in the literary world the need for aprize was felt, and in 1992 the Booker Prizewas awarded in Russia, administered by ajoint Russian and British team, with an in-ternational jury member involved and ad-vice taken from literature scholars outsideRussia. The first Booker Prize went to thepreviously unknown writer Mark Kharito-nov for his novel Lines of Fate, or Milashe-

vich’s Trunk. Each year the Booker wassurrounded by secrecy, scandals, and greatexpectations: was the jury objective, andwho was on the short list? In subsequentyears the award went to rather establishedwriters, such as Vladimir Makanin, BulatOkudzhava, and Georgi Vladimov, until in1996 Andrei Sergeyev won the award forStamp Album, which was a memoir in theguise of fiction and created some queriesabout the genre. In 1999 Smirnoff took onthe sponsorship, which had run out from


the UK, but only for two years; thenSmirnoff was forced to pull out of businessin Russia (a dispute over the right to the la-bel Smirnoff/Smirnov). Since then thefoundation Open Russia (run by Yukos) ad-ministers the Booker award, without spon-sorship. In 2001, Liudmila Ulitskaya wonthe long-deserved award for Kukotsky’s

Case. A scandal occurred in 2003 when anon-Russian-born writer was awarded theBooker: Ruben David Gonzales Gallego forWhite on Black (Beloe na chernom). Thewinner of the Booker Prize certainly getsmedia attention and sales are boosted, butRussian readers more often go by thebookshop’s choice of the best seller of theweek or the month in their choice of titles.

The Anti-Booker Prize was establishedby the Nezavisimaya gazeta in 1995 andwas awarded in three categories (poetry,prose, and drama) until Boris Berezovsky(shareholder in Nezavisimaya gazeta)was forced out of business in 2000. Theaward was a counterattack on the Booker,and its value exceeded the Booker by onedollar. The award winners included morepopular authors, such as Dmitri Bakin, An-drei Volos, and Boris Akunin. In poetry theaward honored the best-known poets ofthe 1990s, Sergei Gandlevsky, TimurKibirov, Mikhail Amelin, and Bakhyt Ken-zheyev. In drama, the award was importantfor the emergence of new young writers:Ivan Saveliev, Oleg Bogayev, MaximKurochkin, Yevgeni Grishkovets, VasiliSigarev. The last three playwrights subse-quently made a career in national and inter-national theater.

High or Low: Postmodernist Best Sell-

ers A recent and strange phenomenon isthe best seller status attributed by majorMoscow and Petersburg bookstores to

some authors of “highbrow” literature, inparticular to those associated with post-modernism. Viktor Pelevin and VladimirSorokin are two tremendously popular au-thors, widely translated into a variety ofEuropean languages, whose works rankamong the most popular in Russia. AfterPelevin had written several novels andshort stories, read widely but largelyamong educated readers, his novel Gener-

ation P (1999) turned into a best seller.Pelevin is a postmodernist writer butachieved massive popularity through usingthe parodic form with a popular twist.While incorporating nonliterary historicalor cultural parody, he mocked manifesta-tions of popular and consumer culture. Thetitle alluded to Douglas Coupland’s Gener-

ation X, about yuppie culture in the UnitedStates. Here the title Generation P lends it-self to a number of interpretations (P forPelevin), but the most pertinent of them isthe reference to Pepsi Cola (also on thecover of the original edition). During theBrezhnev era, a license for Pepsi was ac-quired, so that the soft drink could be man-ufactured in the Soviet Union. The “genera-tion that chooses Pepsi” (pokolenie,

kotoroe vybiraet Pepsi) was a commonphrase used to describe the generation ofthose who exchanged (Soviet) high culturefor commercial Western values and mani-festations of culture, such as jazz musicand jeans. Effectively, Pelevin’s novel dealtwith the commercialization of Russia in the1990s. The cover showed Che Guevarawearing a cap that advertises Nike and Adi-das, set against an American flag that is di-vided in the middle to foreground an adver-tisement for Pepsi on the one side andCoca Cola on the other. The dominance ofadvertising is central to the novel. Sincethe collapse of the Soviet empire, adver-


tisements have merely replaced the emptypolitical and ideological slogans, a themefrequently alluded to in sots-art works suchas in the collage of McDonalds with Lenin’sportrait above the slogan “McLenin’s: NextBlock” by Alexander Kosolapov (1990). InGeneration P the protagonist, Tatarsky, isa poet who graduated from the literary in-stitute and, as so many literati, is withoutwork after perestroika. He is hired as acopywriter for advertising spots, includingthe cigarette label Parlament. Pelevinmocked the media language and exposed itto mockery and styob. He also parodiedthe new phenomenon of PR and imagemaking, leaving politicians as mere reflec-tions (or simulacra) of themselves. Ulti-mately, Tatarsky realizes that the entireworld around him consists merely of mir-rors, reflections, and simulacra and thateven President Yeltsin is only an animatedand simulated figure created in a film stu-dio that Tatarsky visits. Although verymuch a product of an art that parodies So-cialist Realism and Soviet culture (sots-art), Pelevin’s novel contained differentlayers of plot and could be read in differentways (political parody, anecdotal discus-sion of advertising, critique of commercial-ization), so that it appealed to differentgroups and generations of readers.

A similar phenomenon happened withVladimir Sorokin: a conceptualist whodealt in his early novels and plays with thedeconstruction of language, his novelsBlue Lard (Goluboe salo, 1999) and Ice

(Led, 2002) were best sellers, althoughboth were published by the relatively smallpublishing company Ad Marginem, withwhom Sorokin had worked earlier. Sorokinwas widely read by scholars of postmod-ernism, thus appealing to an elitist reader-ship with his cynical and mocking com-

ments on Soviet culture and language. Yethe was also one of the few Russian writerswho were popular in Germany and France.In his later novels, Sorokin combinedutopian and science-fiction elements withhis notion of the destructive effect of thetotalitarian past on the individual. In Blue

Lard he explored the theme of an experi-ment where, through genetic manipulation,text is produced from the cells of greatwriters, which is weighted by the sideproduct of this creation: lard. Although re-maining within the convention of an episto-lary novel, Sorokin invented an entirerange of words that are explained (orrather unexplained) in a glossary, makingclear once more how useless language is asa means of communication.

Such writers as Sorokin and Pelevin, andperhaps also the postmodernist writerLiudmila Ulitskaya, are exceptions, how-ever, in the contemporary book market inRussia. On the whole the demand has risenfor sentimental novels, adventure, and fan-tasy, all those genres that had been in shortsupply in the Soviet era.

In the first half of the 1990s most worksin these genres were translated, but thesecond half of the 1990s saw a rise inhomegrown thrillers and crime fiction,which took a lead in the market. This wasfollowed by love stories and historical nov-els as well as fantasy. In 1996, crime fictioncontributed 38 percent of books published.

The move to the homegrown detectivestory after 1995 was partly due to large li-cense fees but also because the reality ofRussia was so different from that of West-ern Europe, and crime was taking up theminds of so many ordinary citizens in aperiod of ruthless Mafia killings, violentstreet crime, and open media coverage ofatrocious criminal offences committed in


the country, such as those of the serialkiller Andrei Chekatylo, who had sexuallyabused, mutilated, and killed more than 50children. Indeed, crime figures were on therise in Russia, where 750,000 crimes com-mitted in the USSR in 1965 rose to almost 3million in 1990.

Love novels have not found a large reso-nance among Russian writers and are pub-lished in their majority as translatedworks. Another genre that has seen exces-sive growth in the Russian book market ischildren’s books, particularly J. K. Rowl-ing’s Harry Potter, but also Harry Potter’sparodic counterparts of Russian creation,Dmitri Yemets’s Tanya Grotter and IgorMytko’s Porri Gatter.

Detective Stories

When looking at American spy thrillers anddetective novels set in the Soviet Union, theamount of incorrect detail is striking. Thisis one of the reasons why the spy thrillerand detective story were far more difficultto import than, say, the sentimental ro-mance. The detektiv, the detective story,offered an idealized view of the criminal in-vestigator, underscoring the trustworthi-ness of the system. Later in the 1990s andinto the new millennium, the action thriller(boevik) became equally prominent. In a cli-mate of growing inefficiency and the inabil-ity of the police to catch the criminals (es-pecially the Mafiosi), the system was nolonger seen to be superior, but society was“saved” by the superman-cum-hero figure,often an ex-policeman, who takes the lawinto his own hands (an example is DanilKoretsky’s Anti-Killer).

Moreover, it could be argued that detec-tive fiction had a long-standing tradition inRussian literature, if Dostoevsky’s Crime

and Punishment is considered as a detec-

tive story. Indeed, Raskolnikov commits acrime and receives punishment. In thatclassical novel of the nineteenth century,Dostoevsky also laid the foundation for thecomposition of the detective story: thereader knows from the start who commit-ted the crime but explores the reason forthe crime in the character’s psychology andthe investigator’s strategy to make thecriminal confess. Indeed, confession playsa particularly important role not only inRussian crime fiction but also in the judi-cial system.

After the Revolution, the detective story(à la Pinkerton) was decried as a bourgeoisphenomenon, and it was decreed that So-viet literature needed “Red Pinkertons,” inan original new Soviet variant of the detec-tive genre. The only such novel, however,was written by Marietta Shaganian andturned into a film, Miss Mend (1925); boththe novel and the film were considered un-successful. During the Stalin years, detec-tive fiction ceased completely, and ConanDoyle was removed from all Soviet li-braries. The genre of detective fiction up-holds social order but singles out deviance,and such an approach was deemed inap-propriate for Soviet fiction, which ought toattribute crime to a social cause. Thus,Raskolnikov’s crime was not condemnedoutright in Soviet interpretations of theclassic (Raskolnikov kills an old pawnbro-ker and her sister to assert his own self andadvance to the class of a Nietzschean su-perman, a concept seen by the writer as in-compatible with orthodox faith that as-sumes meekness and submissiveness asman’s superior traits of character). School-children who studied the novel on the syl-labus were led to interpret Raskolnikov asa man who wanted social justice (kill thepawnbroker as a bourgeois-capitalist ele-


ment) and who redistributed the loot. Onepupil went as far as commenting in aschool essay: “Raskolnikov was right to killthe old hag; a shame he got caught.”

In the postwar period, detective storieswere largely written in the guise of adven-ture stories for children. In the 1960s, Yu-lian Semyonov created his Soviet spyMaxim Isayev, who, under the name of MaxOtto von Stirlitz, takes a key role in Hitler’scontrol center in Berlin during World WarII. The brothers Arkadi and Grigori Vainercreated the police investigator Znamensky.Agatha Christie novels were widely trans-lated and read between 1966 and 1970,with over 15 works appearing in literaryjournals. It was not until the émigré writersEdward Topol and Friedrich Neznanskypublished (abroad) their spy thrillers Red

Square (1984), Deadly Games (1985), Red

Gas (1987), and Red Snow (1988), how-ever, that the way was paved for a new gen-eration of detective writers to emerge, whowould explore politically motivated crime.At the same time established writers suchas Valentin Rasputin, Chingiz Aitmatov,and Viktor Astafiev exposed crimes of thepast in their perestroika novels. Finally, bythe mid-1990s, Russian detective serieswere launched by major publishing housessuch as Eksmo and AST.

Indeed, there was not much scope forcrime in Soviet fiction, as criminal offensesoccurred largely within a family, as therewere not the property issues and class dif-ferences that explain a large proportion ofcrime in capitalist societies. The criminalcode changed only in 1997. The Russian le-gal system distinguishes between inten-tional murder and murder “committed in aheightened emotional state” to differenti-ate manslaughter from murder. It dwells onthe confession of the criminal, thus reduc-

ing the relevance of evidence for the inves-tigation and shifting the focus onto the psy-chological motivation for the crime. A casecan only be brought before the prosecutorif the criminal has confessed and the caseis watertight. Therefore, the genre of thecourtroom drama is not pertinent to the re-alities of the Russian legal system and toRussian crime fiction and film.

In the early days of Russian detective fic-tion, the works were largely written bymale writers. They test the masculinity oftheir protagonist in a situation where so-cial values have collapsed. With the col-lapse of all values in the New Russia in themid-1990s, the detective novel became atesting ground for the moral value systemand raised questions about the borderlinebetween good and bad and about the ac-ceptability of certain forms of behavior.Crime fiction delineated the current moraland social values, pointed at the violationof such values and their transgression, thuscreating a framework for the new societyand the old (Soviet) values within it. There-fore in most novels the issue is not aboutwho commits the crime but why it is com-mitted and how the culprit is caught. De-tective fiction thereby stresses the need forthe individual to subordinate himself to theinterests of state and society in order toavoid a “lawless” society. Indeed, one ofthe crucial areas of the detective novel is toexplain why a certain form of behavior wasconsidered “wrong” in the Soviet era and“right” in the New Russia: what the Sovietsystem condemned as speculation (sellingthings and being creative) became entre-preneurship; what Soviet society consid-ered as greed (accumulating personalproperty) turned to ambition; and whereasthe Soviet man would be told to bear inmind the benefits for society, capitalist


Russia seems to focus exclusively on thebenefit for the individual. At the same time,the Soviet values were fraudulent: it wasimpossible in the Soviet Union to satisfythe demands of the state (and fulfill theplan) without cutting corners, without pro-curing spare parts in an illegal way on theblack market and from people who side-lined state property (the same spare parts)to make money. Thus, while fulfilling statedemand, people undermined the system orflatly robbed the state. This explains whystill today, in the New Russia, there is somehostility to property and material posses-sion, which occasionally go hand in handwith villainy (the rich man is the murdereror a criminal).

Another major difference between Rus-sian crime fiction and the Western detec-tive novel is the relative absence of sex. In-deed, neither Soviet nor Russian law has aclause that makes prostitution illegal. Onlycoercion and sex with minors are de-scribed as “crime.”

Supermen Russian culture has a tradi-tion of the “good criminal” redistributingthe goods from the rich to the poor. Thelegendary characters Emelyan Pugachevand Stepan Razin are examples of this tra-dition that led eventually to the hero of theboevik (action thriller): the male war vet-eran who takes the law into his own hands.The supermen are often veterans of theAfghan or Chechen wars, loners withoutfamily, orphans. They are decisive, showno weakness, and neither smoke nor drink.Viktor Dotsenko created such a figure withhis protagonist Saveli Govorkov, a returneeof the Afghan war, who fights the Mafia inthe manner of a superhero or Rambo. Hischaracter Beshenyi (rabid) in Rabid Love

(Beshenaia liubov’) takes money from the

Chechen leader Dudayev in order to give itto the Russian government, represented bythe then prime minister Chernomyrdin.The Russian superhero ensures that thestate is treated fairly. He is loyal, but hismethods do not correspond to the officiallaw, which clearly fails in the face of socialand political injustice and chaos. Koret-sky’s protagonists often specialize in themartial arts and act in self-defense whileestablishing order where the state fails todo this.

Many writers of detective novels are for-mer policemen and investigators. Alexan-der Kivinov, the author of the series Cops

(Menty), turned into a television serial un-der the title Streets of Broken Lights

(Ulitsy razbitykh fonarei), is a former in-vestigator of the Petersburg police. Hiscrime squad displays some sympathy forthe criminals, and the police officer getaway with peccadilloes. A criminal is al-lowed to have sex in the office before be-ing sent to prison; another has a blind eyeturned on him when he goes into with-drawal, and the police officers leave theroom so that he can inject himself. There isalso a sense of disillusionment with thejob: the crime squad investigators resort toa supermarket to arrest some petty thievesso that the statistics of “crimes solved” willlook good. At the same time they could bedoing more important jobs that would,however, not have such an immediate re-sult. The police officers are essentiallykind, but they have human flaws and breakthe law. Often they have to cut corners inorder to catch criminals and combat thechronically underfunded police apparatus.Kivinov’s position on the side of the policeforce is quite obvious in his works. AndreiKonstantinov is also a former police offi-cer, but he dealt with organized crime in


Criminal Petersburg (Banditskii Peter-burg), which has also been turned into atelevision series.

Alexander Belov comes from the otherside of the fence, as he fictionalized in hiscrime series The Brigade (Brigada), alsoturned into a television series, the fate ofhimself and his friends of the perestroikayears. He explores why they became crimi-nals and offers a gripping account of theircriminal adventures.

Boris Akunin is the pen name of thecritic Grigori Chkhartishvili, who publishedin 1998 the first of his historical detectivenovels that revolve around the police clerkErast Fandorin and are set in the last 20years of the nineteenth century. Akunin’snovels were extremely popular, since theycombined historical settings, romance, andsuspense in a well-written text. The first ofhis novels, Azazel, leads Fandorin to Lon-don and eventually allows him to reveal thecriminal activity and conspiracy of an En-glish lady who uses a charitable institutionas her guise. The Coronation weaves politi-cal history into the cases of Erast Fandorin.Azazel (The Winter Queen in English) hasbeen turned into a rather unsuccessful filmversion, and the film rights to other Akuninnovels have been acquired by Mikhalkov’sstudio and also by a U.S. film studio.Another series centers around the nunPelagiya and her adventures.

The best-known and most prolific formerpolice investigator who turned to crime fic-tion is Marina Alexeyeva, better known un-der her pen name Alexandra Marinina. Be-tween 1995 and 2001, Marinina wrote 23novels, which have altogether sold 30 mil-lion copies. She was the most successfulcrime writer of the Yeltsin era and the firstwoman detective writer to gain such a rep-utation. Her novels are published by Eksmo

Press in the series Black Cat. Her newworks are usually released with a first printrun of 250,000, which is exceptionally highin the Russian book market.

Women Detective Writers Marinina of-fers a new view on society. Her heroineNastia Kamenskaya works in Petrovka 38,the police headquarters in central Moscow,which is an essentially male-dominatedworld. Kamenskaya is thus inside the sys-tem (an officer) while being an outsider (awoman) at the same time. This status en-ables her to offer a distanced and grippingview of the police system. Marinina herselfworked in the Crime Investigation Depart-ment (CID) as a special analyst for crime,


Crime fiction writer Alexandra Marinina

takes part in an awards ceremony for

“Russian Women of the 20th Century” at

the New Manège in March 2001. (Photo by

Dmitry Lebedev/Kommersant)

investigating psychic anomaly and serialcrime. The psychopath as a criminal con-firms the norm and the “right” social val-ues by his deviant behavior. The criminalmay be a product of the system, but thisaspect is not investigated; instead, Kamen-skaya analyzes personal traumas that moti-vate and explain the deviant or criminalbehavior.

Kamenskaya’s team is led by Gordeyev,who defends his colleagues to the outsideworld while challenging his team intellec-tually. Ultimately, Kamenskaya workswithin a system that remains anonymousand becomes dangerous when the individ-ual has no knowledge of its mechanisms.The underlying fragmentation of Marinina’snovels bears witness to the complexity ofthe situation. Kamenskaya relies entirelyon her own analysis to piece together frag-ments that offer no linearity. The reader isalso denied an overview, so that ultimatelythe mechanisms are never seen through.The complexity of the crime requires com-plex analytical skills. Marinina stipulatesthat there is always an ulterior reason ormotive for people’s actions, and in order tofind out what this is, Kamenskaya placesherself inside the murderer’s brain and psy-che. This closeness to the victim oftenplaces her in danger. Kamenskaya is, in asense, a synthesizer: she pulls together thethreads that initially make no sense to her,nor to the reader.

Coincidence (Stechenie obstoiatel’stv)was Marinina’s first novel, in which she de-tailed the transformation of her heroine,Nastia Kamenskaya, from a mousy charac-ter who pays little attention to her appear-ance, wearing jeans, a sweater, and sneak-ers, to a femme fatale who uses herappearance as a mask. She turns herselfinto the bait for a hit-man in order to catch

the criminal who is behind the murder ofan operative in the Ministry for Internal Af-fairs. The novel emphasizes the danger ofpolice work, as does Underlings Die First

(Shesterki umiraiut pervymi), where theoperative Platonov has to hide when hedeals with an investigation into the illegalexport of precious metal. He finds himselftoo close to the truth—and on a hit list.

In Away Game (Igra na chuzhom pole),Kamenskaya goes to a resort to cure herbad back. She encounters a group of per-verts who pay money to have a film madeabout their lust for destruction that culmi-nates in the partner’s death. A criminal gangpays for girls and for the film to be made.As Kamenskaya tries to investigate, she en-counters a local Mafia boss who controlsthe police and ensures order. He, not thepolice, helps Kamenskaya solve the crime,stressing once again the corruption of thepolice apparatus. The head of the criminalsis a woman pianist, who was suppressedunder Stalin because she is a Jew and acripple. The profit from the films is in-vested into the training of talented youngpianists. Her personal trauma determinesthe role she has taken in this crime. Simi-larly, in Unwilling Killer (Ubiitsa pone-vole), the general Vakar commits a series ofmurders. The reason for his crime lies nineyears back, when today’s victims killed histalented son and he now takes revenge. InPosthumous Icon (Posmertnyi obraz), afilmmaker who has been rejected by hismother in his childhood meets an actress,who is frigid because of molestation in herchildhood. He helps her free herself fromthe trauma, and when she dumps him, hetakes cruel revenge. In Death and a Little

Love (Smert i nemnogo liubvi), a photogra-pher takes revenge for his rejection longago by the police service. In The Stylist


(Stilist), Marinina tackled the issue of au-thorship. A translator rewrites the authorhe translates and becomes a commodity forthe publisher, who conceals the print run inorder to cheat both author and translator.

The role of women in contemporary soci-ety is clearly an important issue in the nov-els. Marinina’s heroine is not very feminine,has no interest in domestic matters, and al-though she has a relationship with themathematician Alexei Chistiakov, whomshe later marries, she seems to be asexual.Kamenskaya knows five languages andtranslates fiction in her free time. Kamen-skaya has a mother who lives in Sweden,and a stepfather who is also in the policeand who is her mentor. Her half-brother is abusinessman and banker. Her entire familyis protective and supportive of her workand accept her as a workaholic.

Kamenskaya’s colleague and counterpartTomilina in St. Petersburg not only priori-tizes human values (she lets an accused,who is also a witness, escape to get himinto safety), but she is also feminine andmaternal. When pregnant, she is exposedto threats and danger, and eventually sheresigns because she will not expose thebaby to threats.

Irina Zarubina created a different kind ofinspector in Klara Dezhkina of Mrs. In-

spector (Gospozha sledovatel’), who has anunemployed husband and yet manages tobe an efficient investigator and a house-wife and mother. Polina Dashkova has noexperience of police work. Her heroinesare ordinary women who, in the absence ofa competent police force, take it uponthemselves to investigate. In Flesh for Sale

(Prodazhnye tvari), a student and aspiringactress investigates the sale of women toserve in harems in the Caucasian regions.She encounters the military intelligence

(GRU), whose staff are bribed and paid asinformants by the Chechens, so that shecan expect no help from the official organsin her search. In No One Will Weep (Niktone zaplachet), a translator and singlemother is allocated the telephone numberof a swindler and turns to self-help in theabsence of any other support. In Place un-

der the Sun (Mesto pod solntsem), a balle-rina whose husband is killed meddles inthe crime investigation and almost be-comes a victim herself. She is saved by anew friend with whom she falls in love,however, so that the detective plot alsoharbors a romantic ending. In Golden Sand

(Zolotoi pesok), the protagonist marries apolitician who turns out to be a criminal,and she needs to resort to self-help. Simi-larly, in Image of the Enemy (Obraz vraga),a woman on vacation in Israel sees her ex-husband, believed dead, who is a terrorist.He is also the father of her son. Whilehunted by a number of secret services atonce, she ultimately has to rely on herselfto escape. Dashkova thus implicitly sug-gests the inefficiency of the police systemwhile also creating the model of the inde-pendent woman who goes about solvingher problems, and crimes, on her own.

Another enormously popular variant ofthe detektiv is the “ironic” detective story, agenre first represented in the Russian mar-ket by translations of the Polish novelist Jo-hanna Khmelnitskaya. Daria Dontsova isthe Moscow representative of the ironic de-tective novel, and Marina Vorontsova fromPetersburg is promoted as the Petersburg“Dontsova.” Vorontsova turned to writingafter suffering from depression (she is adoctor by profession), and her heroine isAlexandra Alexandrovna Voroshilova.

Dontsova has created four characterswho engage in private investigations, with-


out calling themselves detectives. Indeed,none of their “investigations” amounts toany significant result, but rather they aredabbling in detective work without hinder-ing the police but also without contributingto the police investigation. They are crudeamateurs who think of themselves as greatdetectives. Dasha Vasilieva is the first ofthese “detectives”: she bears a number offeatures from Dontsova’s biography (thename Vasilieva is Dontsova’s maidenname). Dasha is a teacher of French, wholives, after perestroika, in rather impover-ished circumstances with her son Arkadiand her younger daughter Masha (thenames of Dontsova’s children). Dasha’sbest friend, Natasha, marries the rich

Frenchman Jacques. During their first visitto Paris, Jacques is killed and Dasha helpsfind the murderer. Ultimately, she stayswith her children at Natasha’s mansion in-herited from Jacques, and only later in theseries do they return to Moscow, wherethey acquire a house in a new elite suburb.

Evlampia (Lampa) Romanova is aspoiled rich girl, who is pampered by herartist parents. She turns out to be a badharp player but is married off to a rich hus-band before her parents die. Her husbandbetrays her and she flees, running in frontof a car driven by the surgeon Katia, whopicks her up and takes her home. Lampathen stays with Katia and her children,dogs, and cats; runs the household; andlearns painstakingly how to shop, how tocook, and how to survive. While searchingfor her documents she finds a murder vic-tim, and her husband turns out to be acriminal. At the end of the first novel, shestays with Katia and the children and con-tinues to investigate a murder when aneighbor, dying of poison, calls her, dialingthe wrong number. Lampa is a clever “pri-vate eye” who can actually assist the policefriend who solves the crimes.

Viola Tarakanova (tarakan is a cock-roach; Viola is a brand of soft cheese) wasborn to alcoholic parents and her fatherwas also a petty criminal. He, however,reintegrates into society after severalterms in prison and joins her in Moscow,where he marries her neighbor. As a teen-ager, Viola lived largely with her bestfriend, Tamara. When the latter’s parentsdied in an accident, the two young womendecide to stay together. Both are married inthe first episode: Tamara marries a richbusinessman from the Urals, whose daugh-ter Kristia is exposed to danger and savedby Viola in several episodes. Viola marries


Detective fiction writer Daria Dontsova arrives

at the Olympic Sports Complex to attend the

Muz-TV pop music awards ceremony, June

2004. (Photo by Vasily Shaposhnikov/

Kommersant)

Kuprin, a police investigator. Viola has nohigher education, but she gives private tu-ition in German. In one of the episodes Vi-ola is involved in a crime connected withfake paintings. Viola is quite clever butoverwhelmed by a number of other choresthat stop her from focusing.

The only man among the “private investi-gators” is Ivan Podushkin (podushka is apillow), a 40-year-old bachelor whosemother, Nikoletta, is an extravagant ac-tress who dictates his entire life. He lives,however, in the apartment of his boss,Eleonora (Nora), whom he serves as pri-vate secretary for the charitable fundMercy (Miloserdie) that she runs. Ivanchecks the claims of people in need. In thefirst episode, Nora’s granddaughter disap-pears, and the solution of the disappear-ance involves an unknown twin sister. AsNora has chosen for herself the role ofNero Wolfe, she casts Podushkin in therole of Archie for her “cases.” In anotherseries he explores a murder for whichNora’s best friend, Sonia, has been ar-rested. Podushkin is the most incompetentand dim of the four “investigators.”

They are all ironic because they grope inthe dark and follow leads that they cannotpiece together until the professionals (po-lice friends) intervene. Viola is married toan inspector, the inspector Maxim is Nora’sfriend, and Katia also knows a police in-spector.

Soap Operas

During the early 1990s, Brazilian and Mexi-can soap operas drew audiences to televi-sion sets. Their overdone melodrama en-hanced by the Russian voice-over and thegrotesquely overemotional acting attracted

viewers. The serials served as an emotionaloutlet, where it was possible to show com-passion for others’ suffering as the worldaround the television viewers collapsedand turned to chaos. Russia could not offersuch emotional hype. Instead, the countrywas ridden with crime.

Crime Serials and Serial Crimes

The rise of the detective genre in televisionserials coincided with the rise of detectivefiction. The interest in crime was not onlylinked to the rise in crime in post-SovietRussia, however. Such spy and crime seri-als as Seventeen Moments of Spring (12 se-ries, 1972) about the Soviet spy Stirlitz inHitler’s Germany and Sherlock Holmes and

Mr Watson (directed by Igor Maslennikov,2 series, 1979) as well as The Meeting Place

Must Not Be Changed (5 series, 1979)about the work of a Moscow police stationhad always enjoyed great popularity withthe masses. In the New Russia it wascheaper to acquire serials than to producethem, however. Only after the financial cri-sis of 1998 did prices and production costsdrop, whereas foreign acquisitions becameunaffordable. Serial production rose inRussia from 1998 onward, and the produc-tion of crime serials flourished. The crimeserial simulates patterns of positive behav-ior, thus projecting a new identity for Rus-sia, showing Russia’s capacity for “nor-malcy” in the mirror of the fragmented lifethat surrounds it. This projection of anidentity without recourse to a varnished re-ality makes the crime serial extremely pop-ular in contemporary Russia.

In the late 1990s many filmmakers aban-doned feature films for television serials,where funding was available. Many scriptsfor television were adapted from popularcrime writers such as Boris Akunin, Alexan-


dra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Danil Koret-sky, or Alexander Belov. The spectacularrise of the Russian television serial, almostknocking its foreign competitors off thescreen, is the most striking and significantdevelopment in the Russian television andfilm industry of the twenty-first century.

By 2002, the highest ratings wereachieved for Russian serials, especially bythe channel NTV, which had the privilegeof using the films commissioned by Ki-noMost, such as Cops and Black Raven andAgent of National Security. In 2002, 800hours of serials were produced, in 2003this rose to 1,200 hours, and the tendencyis still rising. Poor Nastia (Bednaia Nastia)was the first international television serialcoproduction with Columbia Pictures,which is indicative of the potential for Rus-sian serials, especially when they are pro-duced to Western schedules (one seriesshot per day). Several companies havebeen formed for serial production, such asNew Russian Serial (Novyi Russkii Serial)as part of the NTV group; on RTR and ORT,the two experienced filmmakers ValeriTodorovsky and Dzhanik Faiziyev are re-sponsible for film production.

Streets of Broken Lights (1997–1999)was the first Russian-made serial, which todate has generated over 130 episodes. Itwas released on video under the title Cops

(Menty). The series is based on the detec-tive fiction of Alexander Kivinov, a formercrime investigator. All the episodes are setin a Petersburg police station, where thechief, Petrenko (nickname “Mukhomor”),played by Yuri Kuznestov, heads the teamof inspectors: Larin (Alexei Nilov), whosecompetence lies in crime records; Kazant-sev (Alexander Lykov), who is a notoriouswomanizer; Solovets (Alexander Polov-tsev), a Sherlock Holmes type; Dukalis

(Sergei Selin), a simpleton; and Volkov(Mikhail Trukhin), who displays the mostnonsensical conduct. They all struggle intheir work due to the lack of proper admin-istrative and financial support (brokencars, no petrol, no office space) and haveto resort to unorthodox methods to solvetheir crimes. Their inventiveness and theirability to arrest the culprits despite allodds, and still maintain a sense of humor,make them loveable and realistic. The firstseries were directed by Alexander Rogozh-kin, a master of the ironic and absurd, whoset the tone for the subsequent episodes.

Rogozhkin’s involvement in the creationof one of the first crime series Cops:

Streets of Broken Lights was an importantmove for its launch in 1997. Rogozhkin di-rected the first and second episode, thusensuring a sound and professional start forthe series. In “Nightmare on S-Street”(Koshmar na ulitse S), Rogozhkin devel-oped an episode where the investigation isled by Vladimir Kazantsev, also known asKazanova, and Andrei Larin, played respec-tively by Lykov and Trukhin, both well-known Petersburg theater actors. They in-vestigate the murder of a taxi driver; itturns out that the murderer is an ex-prisoner, hired by the secret police. Thefilm reveals the duplicity of all enterprises:as the crime squad investigates, the secretservice FSB is overhearing all their conver-sations. In “Best Wishes, Larin” (Tseluiu,Larin) the squad investigates a brutalshooting at a New Year party; in the mean-time, a drug dealer dies, leaving a trace thatleads to the arrest of the main heads of thedrug-smuggling ring.

Streets of Broken Lights portrays thehard work of the crime squad, whereas theimportant parts of the job (arrests, control,PR) are always done by the special forces.


The squad suffers from a lack of resources:a radio transmitter is used as lie detector;they occupy not an office block, but ashabby, old apartment. Reality is unveiledin its most shameful aspects: the brothel isrun by an ex-cop, old people are forgotten(when Larin is sent to look at the deadbody of an old woman, he finds her cov-ered in yellow and white dust in a desolateflat, still alive). The behavior of the citi-zens, who bother the police with trivialconcerns—from a stolen hat to an allegedtheft of $10,000—is as inadequate as arethe police responses: Kazantsev unplugsthe phone before making calls to close offroads and airports; Larin administersvodka to the old woman whose hat hasbeen stolen, to calm her down. Larin leavesa police informant under arrest alone in hisoffice and allows him to say farewell to hisgirlfriend. The investigators are “normal”people, not heroes; they are good-natured,and they love beer. The eccentric behaviorof the investigators is explained by the cir-cumstances under which they work: insuf-ficient resources, bribery, alcoholism, pettycrime, lack of social services all makethem deal with issues that are outside of,or beneath, their jobs. Kazantsev is stabbedin the first series, Larin resigns in the sec-ond: Petersburg police squads do not makethe setting for heroism.

The serial A Crushing Force (Uboinaiasila, 2000) continues Cops in that theepisodes are also based on Kivinov’s novelsand set in the same crime squad, involvingthe same actors. In the first part of the se-ries, “Official Conformity” (Sluzhebnoesootvetstvie), directed again by Rogozhkin,the investigators are shown with humanfoibles: enthusiastic, they still dream ofheroism. They are prone to errors and hu-man flaws: they may gamble, have sex with

a prostitute. It is the police reality and soci-ety that force them into these acts in orderto succeed in life. The police squad contin-ues in this series to be portrayed as insuffi-ciently equipped. Crime thrives, but the in-vestigators are good people and couldimprove the world—if paid properly andgiven the resources. The episodes followthe arrest of a drug dealer who holds thekey to a series of crimes but is murderedherself. In the meantime, an undercoverpoliceman (Plakhov) acts as a bodyguardfor a businessman, who tries to get rid ofhis surveillance. The fight between orga-nized crime and the ill-equipped force con-tinues in this series.

Kamenskaya (1999–2000, NTV), directedby Yuri Moroz, was based on the detectivenovels of Alexandra Marinina, whose com-plex detective novels about big-scale andorganized crime were more popular in writ-ing than in the screen version. Three serieswere made altogether between 2000 and2003, all starring Yelena Yakovleva asKamenskaya. The popularity of the novelsover the serial also applies to Dontsova’snovels with “investigator” Dasha Vasilieva(played by Larisa Udovichenko) andEvlampia Romanova (Alla Kliuka), whichremained more popular in print than onscreen.

Detective Dubrovsky’s Dossier (Dos’e de-tektiva Dubrovskogo, 1999) is a detectiveseries based on the novel by Lev Gursky, di-rected by the television director AlexanderMuratov and starring the well-known actorNikolai Karachentsov. Dubrovsky is anex–Secret Service (FSB) officer who isdrawn into a political intrigue, during thecourse of which he can rely only on him-self. He is suspected by the FSB of murder,hunted by money forgers, and—a true gen-tleman—defends a woman. With a good


sense of humor, Dubrovsky stumbles fromone crime to the next, in a plot that is al-most as complex and confused as the nov-els of Alexandra Marinina. Dubrovsky triesto solve a case of author’s rights for his ladyclient and accidentally discloses moneyforgers, who prosecute him. When his for-mer colleague Khromov helps him, Khro-mov mysteriously disappears. It transpiresthat Khromov was no longer with the FSBbut owed money to the bosses of a pyramidinvestment scheme, which collapsed.Dubrovsky is suspected of Khromov’s mur-der and forced by the criminals to repayKhromov’s debt. In an attempt to recoup hislady client’s manuscript, Dubrovsky unveilsthe documentation relating to the pyramidscheme. Then the chief prosecutor is killed,and a maniac killer released to kill the “dou-ble” of the criminal boss, but Dubrovskyeliminates the maniac and discloses all theillegal activities at the end.

Hunting Cinderella (Okhota na zo-lushku, 1999–2000) is a film about a killer-machine, Nikita. The gray mouse and filmgraduate, Eva (Amalia Mordvinova-Goldanskaya), has an accident and suffersfrom memory loss. This makes her ex-tremely suited for the criminal underworldas a killer, whose biography can be rein-vented with every case. The agent Nikitacan be a hacker in a computer firm, an ex-pert on old rare books, or a computer ex-pert stopping a banking system from beingbroken.

Other crime serials followed suit. Bour-

geois’s Birthday (Den’ rozhdeniia Bur-zhuia, 1999) consisted of 15 episodes. Atthe center of the series is an orphan,Vladimir Kovalenko, whose nickname is“the bourgeois.” He becomes a successfulbusinessman, when he finds himself tar-geted by people who threaten him with dis-

closure of his parentage. Criminal Peters-

burg (2000) is a six-part series (withfive–ten episodes each) about a gangsterclan in Petersburg, based on the novels ofAndrei Konstaninov. Antibiotik is the Mafiaking who runs the country and sets socialvalues. The Mafia structures are viewed asan alternative to the weakened and feeblestructures of the state and society. The re-placement of a mechanism to ensure orderthrough criminal structures, explainingrather than legitimizing them, is enhancedby drawing on well-known Soviet actorswho play those characters that providemoral guidance. In this serial, the past isused to explain why people have ended upin the criminal world. The Truckers

(Dal’noboishchiki, 2001) is a road-movieserial, which follows the experiencedtrucker Fedov (played by the popular actorSergei Gostiukhin) and the young truckerSashko on their journeys. They are broughttogether by the difficulties they encounteron the road. The Brigade (Brigada, 2003)was based on a novel by Alexander Belovabout four lads from Moscow who try tomake money in the early 1990s and end upin the criminal world. Ice Age (Lednikovyiperiod, 2003) is set in the Moscow of the1990s in the special section of the policeforce, which faces the task of investigatingmoles in the police apparatus. Steep Turns

(Krutye povoroty) explored the fate of ataxi driver who penetrates the criminalworld. Moscow, Central District (Moskva,tsentralny okrug) was set in a regional po-lice station. Key to Death (Kliuch otsmerti) follows Stas Severin, who leavesthe police force and becomes a private in-vestigator.

The Agent of National Security (Agentnatsional’noi bezopasnosti) is a Russianversion of James Bond. Alexei Nikolayev


(played by Mikhail Porechnikov) is able totransform himself into a beggar, an art his-torian, or a computer specialist with greatease to solve crimes: the theft of a Stradi-varius violin, the kidnapping of a politi-cian’s child, a media incident where Russiais accused of collaborating with Arab ter-rorists, or the fake Filonov paintings in theRussian Museum in St. Petersburg. Secrets

of the Investigation (Tainy sledstviia) isbased on the novels of the former investi-gator Yelena Topilskaya. The protagonist isalso a woman investigator, Masha Shvet-sova, who sees the case of the murderer ofthe businessman Chvanov reopened andconnected to an explosion that kills aduma deputy. She also has to investigatethe murder of a businessman’s wife. Therole of the investigator was played by AnnaKovalchuk, a young Petersburg actress,whose role was rewritten to accommodateher pregnancy.

Crimeless Serials

Gradually, as the social and economic situ-ation appeared to be more stable, noncrim-inal serials also emerged: it seemed thatlife had, at least partly, become “normal.”An Ideal Pair (Ideal’naia para, 2001) is anadventure comedy about Anna and Gen-rikh, who cheat people. The ten-part serieswas filmed by the comedy director AllaSurikova. Black Raven (Chernyi voron,2003) is a suspense serial that proceedsfrom the 1940s to the present. In the pres-ent there are two women, both called Ta-tiana, born of the same father. After thewar Alexei had returned to his uncle,whose wife Ada had no children. Ada’smother, a witch, and Ada herself, were anx-ious to have a baby girl in the family towhom the skill of witchcraft could bepassed on.

Lines of Fate (Linii sudby) was directedby the filmmaker Dmitri Meskhiev. The se-rial captured audiences with the fates ofprovincial people who come to Moscow tofind happiness and success. Roza Vial-skaya lets rooms of her large apartment toa number of people who all try to sort outtheir lives. There are a young couple, adoctor who is suspended from duty andturns into a fortune-teller, a market trader,a ballerina, and a journalist. And there isKatia, whose husband is a former army of-ficer who received an apartment as a re-ward for his heroic service in the Cauca-sus. Their fates are linked through theapartment, and each plot line is taken to asolution over the course of the series. De-spite the voices that warned filmmakersfrom making serials rather than art-housefilms that prophesied the death of Russiancinema at the end of the twentieth century,Meskhiev demonstrated that he was capa-ble not only of making a good and grippingtelevision serial that did not involve crimebut also of making a high-quality film: Ours

(Svoi) won the main award at the MoscowInternational Film Festival 2004 and waspraised by the jury chairman, Alan Parker,as one of the best films he had seen in thepast ten years.

A to Z

Akunin, Boris: b. 1956. Real name GrigoriChkhartishvili. Chkhartishvili studied his-tory and specialized in Japanese studies.He worked as a translator of fiction fromJapanese and English, as well as producingliterary criticism, such as in his bookWriter and Suicide (1999). Since 1998 hehas written under the pseudonym B.


Akunin (read Bakunin, the name of thenineteenth-century anarchist), creating pri-marily crime fiction set in provincial Rus-sia and preferably in the nineteenth cen-tury. The Fandorin series was published byZakharov Publishing from 1998 to 2001; itcomprises Azazel, Turkish Gambit, Levi-

thian, Achilles’s Death, Coronation, andothers. The Provincial Detective seriesdeals with the eccentric nun Pelagiya andcomprises Pelagiya and the White Bull-

dog; Pelagiya and the Black Monk;

Pelagiya and the Red Cockerel. A new se-ries of the adventures of Nikolas Fandorinhas been launched also. [www.akunin.ru]

Anti-Booker Prize: Established by Neza-

visimaya gazeta in 1995, discontinued2000. Winners were 1995: Alexei Varlamov(prose); 1996: Dmitri Bakin (prose), IvanSaveliev (drama), and Sergei Gandlevsky(poetry); 1997: Dmitri Galkovsky (prose,rejected), Oleg Bogayev (drama, Russian

Post [Russkaia narodnaia pochta]), andTimur Kibirov (poetry); 1998: Andrei Volos(prose, Hurramabad), Maxim Kurochkin(drama, Steel Will [Stal’ova volia]), andMikhail Amelin (poetry); 1999: YevgeniGrishkovets (drama, Notes of a Russian

Traveler [Zapiski russkogo puteshestven-nika]); 2000: Boris Akunin (prose, Corona-

tion), Vasili Sigarev (drama, Plasticine

[Plastillin]), and Bakhyt Kenzheyev (po-etry). [www.ng.ru/about/anti.html]

Booker Prize: Modeled on the BritishBooker Prize, the Russian Buker was es-tablished in 1992 under British lead to re-ward the best work of fiction. Initially, nov-els had to be published in literary journalsto be considered; later fiction already pub-lished in book form was also taken intoconsideration of the jury, always com-

posed of Russian critics and representa-tives of international Slavic scholarship.After 1999, when the British support ex-pired, the prize was sponsored by thevodka label Smirnoff, but from 2001 on, af-ter Smirnoff was forced to pull out of theRussian market, it has been run by the fundOpen Russia, a subsidiary of Yukos. Win-ners have included Mark Kharitonov, Lines

of Fate, or Milashevich’s Trunk (Liniisud’by ili sunduchok Milashevicha, 1992);Vladimir Makanin, The Baize-covered

Table with Decanter (Stol pokrytyiskatert’iu i s grafinoi poseredine, 1993); Bu-lat Okudzhava, The Closed Theater, alsoknown as The Show Is Over (Uprazdnen-nyi teatr, 1994); Georgi Vladimov, The Gen-

eral and His Army (General i ego armiia,1995); Andrei Sergeyev, Stamp Album

(Al’bom dlia marok, 1996); Anatoli Azolsky,The Cage (Kletka, 1997); Alexander Moro-zov, Another’s Letters (Chuzhie pis’ma,1998); Mikhail Butov, Freedom (Svoboda,1999); Mikhail Shishkin, The Conquest of

Izmail (Vziatie Izmaila, 2000); LiudmilaUlitskaya, The Kukotsky Case (KazuzKukotskogo, 2001); Oleg Pavlov, The Tale

of the Last Days (Karaganda Karagandin-skie deviatiny, ili Povest’ poslednikh dnei,2002); Ruben David Gonzales Gallego,White on Black (Beloe na chernom, 2003).[www.russianbooker.ru] and [www.openrussia.into/booker/]

Bure, Pavel: b. 1971. Hockey player. Playedfor CSKA between 1989 and 1991. Since1991, striker for Vancouver Canucks.Played for Russian Olympic team and sil-ver medalist in Nagano, 1998. In 1999joined the Florida Panthers in a 50-million-dollar deal. Best striker of the year, 2000.His father, Vladimir, was a well-knownswimmer and bronze medalist of the Mu-


nich and Mexico Olympics. Bure left Rus-sia after the August coup of 1991 and tookup residence in Canada through a fictitiousmarriage with a Canadian citizen. Great-grandson of Pavel Bure, whose company,founded by Swiss watchmaker EduardBure, made precious watches for the Rus-sian tsars after 1815; business revived in1996. In the 1920s the watches were a signof respectability and are even mentioned inIlf and Petrov’s Twelve Chairs.

Dinamo Moscow: Sports and football clubfounded in 1923 by Felix Dzerzhinsky, headof the Secret Service, for workers of theMinistry of the Interior and of the SecretService. Dinamo has branches in all majorcities of the former Soviet Union. The logoof the club is a D embossed in blue onwhite, the first letter of the club and alsothe initial of Dzerzhinsky. The Soviet gov-ernment was always very protective of theclub, which was the first to own its ownstadium with an adjacent metro stop.There has always been a great deal of com-petition between Dinamo and Spartak: theDinamo team adopted a more disciplinedapproach to the play than the Spartakteam, which relied on improvisation andchance. Dinamo remains one of the topfootball teams in Moscow and Russia, withits fans, the “dynamites,” displaying morediscipline too than Spartak’s fans. Topplayers, however, are with Lokomotiv.[www.fcdynamo.ru]

Dontsova, Daria: b. 1952. Real name Agrip-pina Arkadievna Dontsova. Née Vasilieva,born in Moscow to a writer and a musicmanager. From 1969 to 1974 studied jour-nalism at Moscow State University. Shewas married for three weeks and has herson Arkadi from the marriage. She then

worked for two years in the Russian em-bassy in Syria as translator from French. In1976 she married again and worked as sec-tion editor for the paper Vecherniaya

Moskva. In 1983 she met the psychologistand university professor AlexanderDontsov, whom she married; in 1986 shehad her daughter, Masha. In 1998 she wasdiagnosed with cancer and turned to writ-ing. In August 1999 Eksmo Press signedher up, changing her first name to Daria(Dasha). [www.dontsova.ru]

Fetisov, Viacheslav: b. 1958. Hockeyplayer. Played defense for the CSKAhockey team, then for New Jersey Devilsand Detroit Red Wings. USSR champion1975, 1977–1989; world champion 1978,1981–1983, 1986, 1989; Olympic champion1988. Canadian Cup winner 1981. In 1997and 1998, winner of the prestigious StanleyCup. Since 1998 trainer of New Jersey Dev-ils, which in 2000 won the Stanley Cup.

Kafelnikov, Yevgeni: b. 1974 in Sochi. Ten-nis player who was coached by ValeriShishkin, and after 1991 by Anatoli Lep-eshin. Kafelnikov won the Paris Open in1996 and the Australian Open in 1999. In2000 he was a finalist in the AustralianOpen. Kafelnikov ranked the world’s num-ber one for six weeks in 1999.

Kasparov, Garri: b. 1963 in Baku. Chesschampion. Thirteen times world championin chess since 1985. His mother, Klara, isalso his manager. Allegedly father of achild (Nika, born 1987) by the Moscow staractress Marina Neyolova, 16 years hissenior.

Kurnikova, Anna: b. 1981, Moscow. Tennisplayer. Started playing tennis at the age of


five; from 1981 to 1989, coached by LarisaPreobrazhenskaya. In 1992 Kurnikovamoved to Florida with her mother andtrained at Nick Bolletieri’s Tennis Academyin Bradenton. In 1995 she won the ItalianOpen juniors and was a Wimbledon juniorsemifinalist. Kurnikova has been a profes-sional tennis player since 1995. In 1998,first Russian female to be seeded at U.S.Open since 1976. 1998, defeated several topplayers; 1999 won Australian Open (dou-bles). Advertising contracts with Adidas,Omega, and Lycos: one of the highest-paidfemale tennis players. Cover girl (Sports Il-

lustrated June 2000).

Lokomotiv Moscow: Football club formedin 1923 for railway workers. The club par-ticipated in the first national competitionin 1936, taking fifth place. The team rankedamong the top ten football clubs until the1950s, when the former CSKA coach BorisArkadiev joined the Lokomotiv team andremained its coach until 1967. The teamcould not hold a position in the top ten andwas soon demoted to second division.Since 1991, Lokomotiv has consistentlyplayed in the first division; it has rankedamong the top three teams since 1998 andwon the champion title in 2002 from Spar-tak Moscow. It has four times won the Rus-sian Football Cup since 1995. Lokomotiv isplaying in the UEFA champions league.

Marinina, Alexandra: b. 1957. Real nameMarina Alexeyeva. Marinina lived inLeningrad until 1971, when she moved toMoscow. She studied at an English specialschool and in 1979 graduated from the LawFaculty of Moscow State University andjoined the Academy of the Ministry of Inte-rior Affairs, where she worked from 1980on. Her work consisted of the study of the

psychology of criminals, especially psychicanomalies and serial crimes. In 1986 shedefended her master’s degree. She resignedfrom police service in 1998. Since 1991 shehas written detective stories. “Six-wingedSerafim” was published in the police jour-nal Militsia in the autumn of 1992, writtenwith Alexander Gorkin. From there stemsthe pseudonym: Alexander and Marina. In1992–1993 she wrote “Coincidences,” pub-lished also in Militsia in autumn 1993. In1993–1994 she wrote Away Game (Igra anchuzhom pole) and Stolen Dream (Ukra-dennyi son). In January 1995 she was ap-proached by Eksmo Press and offered pub-lication in the series Black Cat (Chernaiakoshka). In 1999 Rekun Film acquired therights to make a television series based onher novels. Overall, more than 30 millioncopies of her books have been sold. Nov-els: The Seventh Victim; The Apparition of

Music; Requiem; I Died Yesterday; Men’s

Games; The Victim’s Name Is—Nobody;

The Radiant Face of Death; The Illusion of

Sin; The Stylist; Don’t Hinder the Execu-

tioner; Someone Else’s Mask; Everything

Has to Be Paid For; Posthumous Icon; The

Black List; Death and Some Love; Under-

lings Die First; Death for Death’s Sake;

The Unwilling Killer; Stolen Dream;

Away Game; The Coincidence of Circum-

stances. [www.marinina.ru]

Menty (Cops): television serial. Releasedon video as Cops, but shown on televisionunder the title Streets of Broken Lamps

(Ulitsy razbitykh fonarei), based on thenovels by Andrei Kivinov and produced byTNT, then First Channel (ORT) since 1998.The series explores the work in a Peters-burg police station, with the boss Mukho-mor-Petrenko and the investigators Larin,Kazantsev, Solovets, Dukalis, and Volkov.


Some members of the team continue theirwork in the serial The Crushing Force

(Uboinaia sila), also written by Kivinov.

Pelevin, Viktor: b. 1962. Pelevin attendedaviation college. He has been a profes-sional writer since 1991. The Blue Lantern,

a collection of short prose, received theLittle Booker in 1993. His work belongs topostmodernism and is characterized byfragmentation. Its outstanding characteris-tic is the concern with hyperrealities.Works: Life of Insects (Zhizn’ nasekomykh,1993); Omon Ra (1992); Generation P

(1999). Chapayev and Pustota (1996) is aparody on the Soviet civil war hero Cha-payev, in whose regiment the hero andpoet Petr Pustota serves. This action is setagainst a contemporary axis, where Kawa-bat, Schwarzenegger, and the stars of thesoap opera Simply Maria meet with thehero. [http://pelevin.nov.ru]

Publishers: There are about half a dozenpublishing houses, all Moscow based,which dominate the book market. EksmoPress is a publishing house of detectiveand crime fiction; established in 1993, itproduces more than 55 million books and50,000 titles per year, including Marinina,Dontsova, and other detective stories.Olma Press publishes encyclopedias, chil-dren’s literature, and crime fiction. Thegroup AST unites 50 publishers, includingAstrel for crime fiction and sci-fi, and listsmore than 10,000 titles. Rosmen is a majorpublishing house for children’s books. Va-grius Press specializes in contemporaryprose fiction and memoirs.

Rodnina, Irina: b. 1949. Figure skater(pairs) and Olympics Gold medalist 1972,1976, 1980. After her debut on international

ice in 1969, she skated with Alexei Ulanovuntil 1972, when Ulanov married the skaterLiudmila Smirnova and formed a team withher. Rodnina then skated with AlexanderZaitsev, whom she later married. She is tentimes world champion, and it was only in1979 that the European championship wasnot hers, since she gave birth to her son,Sasha. Rodnina was trained by StanislavZhuk, later by Tatiana Tarasova. After end-ing her career as skater in 1980, she wentto the United States as a trainer, then re-turned to Moscow to run her own trainingschool sponsored by Luzhkov in the late1990s.

Russian Football League: Teams in theUpper League in 2004 include AlanyaVladikavkaz, Chernomorets (Krasnodar),Rostov, Rotor (Volgograd), Rubin (Kazan),Shinnik (Yaroslavl), Uralan (Elista), andZenit (Petersburg) as well as the Moscowclubs CSKA, Dinamo, Torpedo Moscowand Torpedo Metallurg, Lokomotiv, KrylyaSovetov, and the Moscow regional clubSaturn. For comparison, the Upper Leaguein 1974 included the following (clubs innow independent republics are italicized):Ararat Yerevan, Dinamo Kiev, DinamoMoscow, Spartak Moscow, Dinamo Tblisi,

Shakhter Donetsk (Ukraine), Zarya Voro-

shilovgrad (Lugansk, Ukraine), Dnepr

Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine), Kairat Alma-

Ata, CSKA, Zenit Leningrad, Pakhtakor

Tashkent, Torpedo Moscow, Karpaty

Lvov (Ukraine), Chernomorets Odessa

(Ukraine), and Nistru Kishinev. It is evi-dent that football was much stronger inUkraine and in the Central Asian republicsthan in central Russia, which is repre-sented in the 1974 league only by threeMoscow clubs and Zenit Leningrad, all ofwhich were still in the league in 2004.


Other Russian clubs were not as strong asclubs in Ukraine, however, and this ex-plains to some extent the low performanceof Russian football in the post-Soviet era.

Russian National Football Team: Theteam, formed for international competi-tions only, was coached by Oleg Romant-sev in 2002. The squad included the starplayers Valeri Karpin, who ranked 24th inthe world in 2004, and Alexander Mosto-voy, both playing for Celta Vigo; YegorTitov of Spartak; Marat Izmailov of Loko-motiv; and Yuri Nikiforov, who plays forEindhoven. Romantsev clearly prioritizedthe Spartak and CSKA teams in his choiceof players. Romantsev was not reappointedas national coach for 2004. The nationalteam for the 2004 European Cup wascoached by Georgi Yartsev. Russia’s foot-ball team ranked in 24th place in the worldin 2002.

Sharapova, Maria: b. 19 April 1987 in Nia-gan. Tennis player. Sharapova left Russiawith her father when aged seven, with hermother to follow later. She trained at NickBolletieri’s School in Florida. First Russianwoman (seeded 17th) to win Wimbledon, 3July 2004, beating Serena Williams in twosets.

Sorokin, Vladimir: b. 1955. Postmodernistwriter. Graduated as chemical engineerfrom Moscow Oil and Gas Institute, thenworked as graphic artist and designer. Heengaged in the conceptualist movement.He is married, with twin daughters. Hisworks remained unpublished until the1990s. Works include The Queue (Ochered’,1988); The Norm (Norma, 1991); Roman

(1994). He parodies totalitarianism and de-

constructs the past and present, creating anunpleasant sense of reality. [www.srkn.ru]

Spartak Moscow: Sports and football clubformed in the 1920s for cooperative work-ers. Spartak’s hockey team has alwaysbeen a top team in the national ice hockeyleague, along with CSKA. The Spartak foot-ball team first appeared in 1922 in theMoscow league. Spartak was the first teamto play international matches in the 1930s,and in 1936 it rose to national champions.The team attracted the envy of the head ofthe Secret Service (NKVD) Lavrenti Beriafor beating his home team, Dinamo Tblisiin 1939. Several Spartak players were ar-rested during the great purges. The Spartakteam emerged as one of the strongest So-viet teams after the war, largely formingthe Soviet national team that won Olympicgold in Melbourne in 1956. SpartakMoscow often gained top places in the na-tional championships during the Sovietera, and between 1992 and 2001 it did notonce lose the champion’s title. In 2002 and2003 it fell to tenth place. Spartak fans areconsidered to be the most aggressive, witha number of skinheads and politically moti-vated youths among the fans. The Spartakcolors are red and white. The team prac-tices at Sokolniki stadium, although majormatches are played at the huge Luzhnikistadium. [www.spartak.ru] and for the soc-cer club [http://rus.spartak.com]

Bibliography

Edelman, Robert. Serious Fun. A History of

Spectator Sports in the USSR. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1993.

———. “There Are No Rules on Planet Russia:Post-Soviet Spectator Sport.” In Consuming


Russia. Popular Culture, Sex and Society

since Gorbachev, ed. by Adele Barker,217–242. Durham, NC: Duke UniversityPress, 1999.

Lovell, Stephen. “Publishing and the BookTrade in the Post-Stalin Era: A Case Study ofthe Commodification of Culture.” Europe-

Asia Studies.50, no. 4 (1998): 679–698.Mehnert, Klaus. The Russians’ Favorite Books.

Stanford, CA: Hoover Institute Press, 1983.Nepomnyashchy, Catharine Theimer. “Markets,

Mirrors and Mayhem: Aleksandra Marininaand the Rise of the New Russian Detektiv.”

In Consuming Russia. Popular Culture, Sex


Olcott, Anthony. Russian Pulp. Lanham, MD:Rowman and Littlefield, 2001.

Riordan, James. Sport in Soviet Society.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1977.

Schultze, Sydney. Culture and Customs of

Russia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,2000.

Shneidman, Norman. The Soviet Road to

Olympics. London: Routledge, Kegan Paul,1979.


6Consumer Culture

With the displacement of cultural objects such as books and art postersby consumer products in the aftermath of the reforms of 1991, freeing upprices that had so far been fixed by the state, a new consumer cultureemerged. Vendors appeared on every street corner, offering goodscheaper than in the shops; underground passages converted into tradecenters; prices rapidly escalated and inflation rose. Cultural objects be-came luxury goods, and foodstuff and other consumer goods replacedthe cherished fetishes of the intellectuals. Almost overnight Russian so-ciety turned into a society of consumers, a transformation that trashedanything that was no longer functional or necessary. The impact thatconsumer culture had on the urban landscapes of major cities, especiallyMoscow and Petersburg, has already been discussed. Another phenome-non that changed the cityscape was the advertising billboards.

Advertising

The concept of advertising would appear to contradict the spirit of theSoviet economy, which excluded branding and competition. There wereadvertisements during the NEP (New Economic Policy) period (1921–1928) when a free market was introduced temporarily to remedy the eco-nomic crisis in the aftermath of the civil war and the Revolution. Manyavant-garde artists and poets pledged their service to the Revolution andhelped create advertisements: the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote slo-gans, the artist Alexander Rodchenko designed posters, and they evenreceived awards for their work at the international exhibition in Paris in1925. Since the introduction of five-year plans, there had been no adver-tisements in the proper sense of the word. Rather, advertisements func-tioned as educational spots to explain new products, introduce new in-ventions, and guide the viewer. They did not have the function of sellinga product—those products that were in demand tended to be in shortsupply. Moreover, printing facilities for posters were rather limited dueto poor-quality paper, and most posters for concerts or shows were hand

painted or hand printed. Journals weresubsidized and did not rely on revenuethrough advertising. Some products, how-ever, were advertised—for example, prod-ucts that were in sufficient supply, but ex-pensive (Pacific fish). Electric lighters forgas stoves were advertised in order to ex-plain how to use them when there was ashortage of matches. Milk and dairy prod-ucts, fruit and vegetables were advertisedas a “healthy diet,” since people did not eatenough of these. More significant is thefact that 73 percent of food goods weresold unwrapped (for liquids, customers of-ten had to bring their own containers; nocling film or carrier bags were available inthe shops). The absence of packagingmeant that there was no space for brand-

ing. Only a few goods, such as televisionsets, some electrical products, perfumes,and chocolates, had brand names.

Advertising entered Soviet culture withGorbachev. The first ad featured MichaelJackson advertising Pepsi Cola (17–23 May1988). Pepsi Cola hardly needed any adver-tising to the Soviet consumer, so the spotwas rather of symbolic value: advertisingwas viewed as part of the images of West-ern culture that were becoming available inthe media. This is also true of the first ad-vertising clips on television, which weresynchronized versions of Western clips forWestern products. They revealed to thespectator (not consumer) the full extent ofthe dream world of Western consumerism.Full-blown advertising started after the fix-ing of prices by the state had ceased on 1January 1992. Advertising ranged fromnewspaper ads to billboards in the streets;from banners across the street to adver-tisements on buses, in the metro, on esca-lators, on houses, and in other publicspaces; and from television ads to movietrailers. Companies and traders began tobid for customers’ attention, but Russiancompanies had no previous experience ofsupply and demand or the stimulation ofconsumer dreams, whereas Western com-panies had no idea of the realities of life inpost-Soviet Russia.

The best example is the reception of themassive advertising campaign of Procterand Gamble, competing in the Westernworld over customers in the cosmetics sec-tor. The Always advertisements for pro-

kladki (the collective term for pantylinersand sanitary towels) bombarded the Rus-sian spectator with product information—as if she or he had never heard of femininehygiene before. The problem was exactlythat: people had heard about such prod-

C O N S U M E R C U LT U R E 3 1 7

Moscow, 1992. A street seller selling souvenirs

on the Old Arbat Street in Moscow. (Photo by

Andrey Golovanov/Kommersant)

ucts, but they had not been available in So-viet times. Now they were on the market,but people could barely afford them. Thesame is true for the much-sought-aftertampons or disposable diapers. The adver-tisements were doubly absurd: by their fre-quency they seemed to suggest an “indoc-trination” with a product that was known,and yet they were showing the consumerthe world of the West, distancing the—nowavailable—product from the Russian con-text.

The advertisements for antiperspirantsand deodorants played on the notion of so-ciability, completely misunderstood in the

advertising campaign. One spot featured awoman in an elevator; everybody else runsaway to avoid the odors of her perspira-tion, leaving her on her own in the elevator.When she uses Rexona, her colleagues joinher in the elevator (and congratulate her onher birthday): she is no longer alone. A par-ody of the advertisement shows the way inwhich it was understood in Russia: A manenters an elevator, having used a “perfume”that emits a stench. Everybody gets out ofthe elevator, and the man has it to himself.In a society where crowded trolleybusesand crammed apartments were reality, pri-vate space, space for oneself, was a sought-


Advertising on a tram, which has just left a stop, with the advertising board reading “This space is for

rent.” Moscow, 2002. (Photo by Alexey Myakishev/Kommersant)

after treat, not a sign of isolation. The Rex-ona advertising campaign ignored thehabits of the Russian consumer. The sloganwas parodied: “When you boarded themetro train, everybody else got off. Rexonanever lets you down.”

Similarly, the advertising campaign forthe cat food Whiskas bluntly ignored thecircumstances of Russian life and wasmost unsuitable for the Russian consumer.The slogan “Vasha koshka kupila by

Viskas” (Your cat would buy Whiskas) forthe Western consumer implied that the catmade a choice, ridiculous enough as a con-cept. But on the Russian market, the im-ported product cost more than the averageperson could spend on pet food, so nevermind what the cat would buy. The advertis-ing campaigns for Western products cre-ated by Western ad agencies clearly ig-nored the realities of post-Soviet Russia,where on top of rising inflation, communalcharges were introduced for electricity,gas, and water. The ads created a parallelworld: a world that Soviet citizens haddreamed of, that Russians could reach andtouch, but that was beyond the financialscope of the ordinary citizen. Advertisingtherefore showed a dream world; as such,it replaced the ideological propaganda ofSoviet times with “propaganda” for West-ern consumer goods, replacing the social-ist value system with a value system ofachievement of a different type: con-sumerism and capitalism.

The Mars chocolate corporationlaunched a campaign for its products,which took up 87 percent of advertise-ments for sweets in 1993; this went downto 63 percent in the following year, only be-cause Cadbury’s claimed its share of theRussian market. Mars, Snickers, and Twix,along with a whole range of other choco-

late bars, entered the media. The advertis-ing for the “protein-laden roasted peanuts,soft caramel and a wonderful milk choco-late,” which became “more and more tastywith every time” (s kazhdym razom vse

vkusnei i vkusnei)—in short, the Snickersbar—dominated the media in more thanone way. The Snickers chocolate bar, aproduct of a foreign company, became thesymbol for political and economic reform,representing the invasion of foreign prod-ucts on the Russian market, which was metwith huge hunger by the population. Theadvertising campaign became a point ofdiscussion for the political parties ofVladimir Zhirinovsky and Gennadi Ziu-ganov in the 1995 parliamentary and 1996presidential electoral campaigns, whenboth leaders promised to remove Americantrash (advertising and films) from Russiantelevision.

When President Putin announced duringhis electoral campaign in March 2000 thathe would not—like his predecessorYeltsin—market his image between adver-tising spots for Tampax and Snickers, hethereby made an important policy state-ment. On the one hand, he distanced him-self from the mass media, from the cam-paigns both the Moscow mayor YuriLuzhkov and Yeltsin had conducted in therun-up to elections through “their” televi-sion stations (the Russian state owned amajority of shares in ORT and RTR, andNTV’s head was part of Yeltsin’s electoralcampaign team; Luzhkov owned TV6).Putin not only dissociated himself from themass media and their powerful influenceupon public opinion, but he also definedhimself neatly between advertising produc-tion and advertising placement companies.In this way, he detached himself fromthose figures that ruled the advertising


market, which is one of the most powerfuleconomic structures in Russia, as well asfrom the “oligarchs.” In this respect, Putin’scampaign against the mass media embod-ied by Boris Berezovsky and VladimirGusinsky was not wholly unexpected. Onthe other hand, he distanced himself fromZiuganov and Zhirinovsky, who took adver-tising seriously enough to make it an itemin their political agenda.

The Snickers advertisements not onlydominated the advertising time for sweetson television in the early days of advertis-ing and featured on almost every other bill-board in central Moscow but also createdthe first ever product-verb in Russian withits slogan: “Ne tormozi, snikersni” (Don’tstop, Snickers). In fact, this was not thefirst infiltration of foreign words and prod-uct names into the Russian language.Words for products that had not been pre-viously available, such as printer, kondit-

sioner (air conditioning), iogurt (yogurt)and others, were abundant in the first halfof the 1990s.

Product Advertising

Vodka and Other Booze Advertisingspots for alcohol and cigarettes were stillallowed in the early days of television; theywould be withdrawn later. The advertise-ments for alcohol, and vodka in particular,were hugely popular, to the extent that onecampaign inspired a filmmaker to make aseries of films on “the peculiarities of theRussian national character.” Most of theseadvertisements glorified the deliriumtremens induced by excessive alcohol con-sumption. This pattern applied to one ofthe earliest vodka advertisements on Rus-sian television: the clip for Smirnoff vodka.The clip is set during a ball, in which the

“product representative,” a middle-agedman, is seated at the table on his own,drinking vodka while the other guestsdance cheerfully. The lonely individual,alienated from society (a common charac-ter of the Russian advertising world) takesto the bottle. And once he has (almost)emptied it, he looks through the bottleglass and the clear spirit and begins to per-ceive the party guests as wild beasts, withanimal features that expose their real na-tures. In fact, the clip-maker here drew onthe device of intellectual montage, exem-


A bottle of Putinka vodka presented at the

Leaders of Russian Alcohol Market 2003

awards ceremony in the President Hotel,

Moscow. (Photo by Sergey Mikheev/

Kommersant)

plified in Sergei Eisenstein’s The Strike

(Stachka, 1924). When the man looks againat the bottle, he sees his own face distortedin the same way; thanks to Smirnoff he hasbecome part of the social group in whichhe had previously been isolated.

The vodka label Rasputin featured themystic’s image on the bottle. GrigoriRasputin is animated, speaking from aghostly world that becomes crystal clearand comes alive. Alcoholic intoxicationmakes communication with the lost pastpossible. Moreover, the world of ghostsseems clearer and more real than reality.White Eagle (Belyi orel) had three clips cre-ated by the famous clip-maker and film-maker Yuri Grymov. The first was set inChicago during the Prohibition period,where some men engage in the illegal tradeof alcohol. A Native American chief arrives,claiming he is White Eagle (the label theytrade with) and collapses—presumablyhaving drunk himself to death. The secondclip was set in Russia in the seventeenthcentury, when a man tries to constructwings to fly toward the sun (Russia as aplayer in ancient mythology). The manclimbs onto a church tower and falls, crash-ing onto the soil, while three Russian mensit in the field and drink vodka. “How canhe manage to fly,” one of them comments,“without fuel.” He raises his glass, drinks,and floats up into the skies. The third clipportrayed a man asleep and snoring duringa performance of Swan Lake in the BolshoiTheatre. He is elbowed, and woken fromhis sleep, by his rather fat and unattractivewife. This leads him to engage deliriously inthe performance: he imagines himself onstage as a disheveled ballerina, who is rep-rimanded by the conductor. He is the“white eagle” among the swans. The adver-tisements for White Eagle are appallingly

appealing: they are beautifully designed, es-thetically perfect, as they advocate thebeauty of the world seen under alcoholicintoxication and depict reality as chaotic,boring, and doomed by the all-powerfulRussian matron. White Eagle is the Russianman’s escape from her commanding voice.

Vodka is Russia’s national drink. The la-bel Flagman makes use of the nationalpride associated with the drink in its slo-gan “There is something to be proud of”(Est chem gorditsya). The poster shows abottle with its logo in the shape of the or-der of the star, with beams radiating to theside of the bottle over the dark blue back-ground. The advertisement draws on Rus-sia’s pride, clearly lost in the flood of con-sumer products from the West. Thetelevision clip alludes also to the drink’sability to discern between good and evil inthe criminal world.

Vodka is a drink that allows the con-sumer to see reality for what it really is andmakes man part of the chaos, the facade,and the criminal world that surrounds him.Vodka has also been widely used to conveyan image and enhance the market value ofcontemporary cinema. After having beenawarded an Oscar for Burnt by the Sun

(1994), Nikita Mikhalkov launched his ownvodka brand, KomDiv—the divisional com-mander he had played in the film featuredon the label. This would be followed by thelabel Russkii Standart (Russian Standard),reflecting the high demands placed on thecadets who star in his epic The Barber of

Siberia (Sibirskii tsiriul’nik, 1999). The as-sociation with vodka, then, is an addedvalue to any film, but it also facilitates thedouble existence in two realities simulta-neously, cinematic and economic.

Beer is a relatively new acquisition of theRussian market. A whole host of Russian


beer labels appeared in the 1990s. Interest-ingly, Russian advertisers perceive beer asa soft drink, almost a replacement forbreakfast. In an early advertisement forbeer and soft drinks, the popular singer andproducer of musicals Alexander Tsekalowas depicted in a bathtub filled with beer: itis so cheap that you can bathe in it, but sogood that you won’t sell it. It speaks ofavailability and volume rather than taste.

The brand names of beers betray theirindigenous Russian character: Afanasy is aman’s Christian name; Klinskoye, Ocha-kovskoye, and Ostanskinskoye refer toplace names; Krasnyi Byk (Red Bull) is aparody on the alcoholic drink of the samename; Tolstiak (Fatty) and Tri Medvedia(Three Bears) allude to Russian folk tales.Bochkarov (bochka is barrel) is the “rightbeer” (pravil’noe pivo). Staryi Melnik (Old

Miller) and Sibirskaya Korona (SiberianCrown) draw with their names on ancientRussian heritage, which the productsclearly do not have.

Baltika has its brand name prominentlydisplayed across the legendary monumentto Stalinist architecture in the center ofMoscow, the Hotel Moscow. It is Russia’s“golden” beer, referring with its brandname to the Baltic states, once the SovietUnion’s most Westernized republics, just asNevskoye (Neva-Beer) refers to the riverNeva of the northern capital Petersburg.Zolotaya Bochka (Golden Barrel) has the“golden taste that you deserve” (zolotoi

vkus, kotorogo ty dostoin). Beers tend toadvertise themselves with reference totheir color and therefore largely use a beerglass or the bottle as illustrations of the ad-vertisements on a sumptuous dark green or


Bottles of different brands of beer in a kiosk display and an announcement “Beer not for sale!”

Moscow, 2004. (Photo by Alexander Miridonov/Kommersant)

blue background. The private brewery Tin-koff (Petersburg) advertises its products asunique and singular: one of the most im-pressive ads is a double page in a maga-zine, with a bottle of Tinkoff on the far left,leaving the entire page white; on the bot-tom of the right side appears the text: “onlyhe’s like that” (on takoi odin), emphasizingthe uniqueness of this brand. The pronounhe also personifies the bottle.

“The Health Ministry Warns—Smok-

ing Is Dangerous for Your Health”

Smoking in Russia is a widespread habit.Tobacco is often of inferior quality (ma-

khorka), but even Western brand cigarettesare of a different price and a different qual-ity when purchased on the Russian market.A number of new Russian cigarette brandshave emerged in recent years, while manySoviet brands have been revamped. Thecigarettes Belomor-kanal are the old stylepapirosy with a filter that consists of halfof the cigarette and has to be folded beforesmoking. They have always been thecheapest and most affordable cigarettes.

Although there are advertisements forWestern cigarette brands, the Russianbrands offer a rather curious advertisingcampaign. They draw on Russia’s past, andthe Soviet past, to give their products cloutand a pseudo-history that their Westerncounterparts can genuinely boast of.Russkii Stil (Russian Style) is a brand thatuses packaging in the color of the Russianflag (blue and red packs, white for the lightcigarettes) and golden ornaments and em-bossed crests on the package. The slogan“If you shine, then do” (blistat’ tak blistat’)comments on the brilliance of the goldenlogo. The slogan “style determines quality”(stil’ opredeliaet kachestvo) is used on aseries of billboards showing a modern inte-

rior with abstract red and white shapes asthe classical and richly patterned cigarettepack features in a corner. The poster em-phasizes that the question of style is not be-tween modern and classical, but that qual-ity matters. Another paper advertisementfeatures three packs of the brand in blue,white, and red next to each other (makingup the colors of the Russian flag). Or theblue and red packs feature in a picture onthe side, with a golden cigarette case (thisis a product not for the poor), whereas onthe other half of the page a young couple isshown against the backdrop of a Stalin sky-scraper, the university: the brand is for theyoung and successful business people.“Life in the style of perfection” (zhizn v


A girl smoking in front of a publicity screen

for Russkii stil cigarettes with the warning

“Smoking is dangerous for your health.”


stile sovershenstva) is another slogan forthe cigarettes, which this time are placedon a red leather working surface of a desk,next to an open book and a golden clock.This is the habitat of the successful andrich, with distinctive style; the golden ciga-rette case and the crystal ashtray testify towealth. A magnifying glass is placed overthe filter to highlight this innovation. Thecigarette brand Fabergé uses a similarmethod: it appeals to the consumer’s “pas-sion for perfection” (strast k sover-

shentsvu), showing two packets, lavishlydecorated with ornaments and a goldendouble-headed eagle, set against the back-drop of a Fabergé egg. The texts praise thespecial sepiolite filter of the brand.

Yava, an old, Soviet cigarette brand, ad-dresses a younger, more urban consumerwith its appeal that it is “newer than youthink” (novee chem ty dumaesh), detachingitself from its Soviet past, further enhancedby the use of images of New York. Thebrand appeals to younger smokers. Al-though using a historically laden brandname, Peter I is produced by R. J. Reynolds.It appeals to a younger consumer with itsslogans “life in pleasure” (zhizn’ v udovol-

stvie), or the very plain billboard showinghalf a face of a man (or a woman) against ablack backdrop with the slogan “lookahead” (smotri vpered). The poster featur-ing the phrase “always first” (vsegda per-

vyi), showing a young man on a boat hold-ing a pair of binoculars, alludes with thesailing theme to Peter I’s favorite pastimeand features the Liube singer Nikolai Ras-torguyev.

Although beer, vodka, and cigarette ad-vertisements have now been banned fromtelevision, they still feature on billboardsand in the print media. The majority of printads concern these products and the above-

mentioned chocolates. There are also someadvertisements for mobile telephones andnetworks, usually laden with informationon tariffs; some advertisements for radiostations and a few newspapers.

Idylls of the Past A widespread ten-dency in advertising for Russian productsis the return to nineteenth-century (or ear-lier) Russia. The chocolate Rossiya (madeby Nestlé, a foreign corporation) runs withthe slogan “Russia, the generous soul”(Rossiya—shchedraia dusha). In a televi-sion advertising campaign, the companyused period costume and reverted to thetraditions of the pre-Revolutionary periodin its clips featuring a nineteenth-centuryball scene and a duel, which is called offwhen a chocolate block is found in the pis-tol case. Several milk and dairy products,such as Milaya Mila (Dear Mila), Lianozov-skoye Moloko (Lianozov Milk), Doya-rushka (the Milkmaid), and Domik vDerevne (House in the Village) heavily relyon folk themes and the memory of an ideal-ized past for their campaigns. Life in thecountryside is idealized but never pre-sented as a modern experience.

Numerous advertising campaigns drawon the golden Soviet years when advertis-ing products that clearly were not availablein those days. The advertisements for Savi-nov sweets were created by a team ofyoung animators and draw on the experi-ence of renaming places, so common in thepost-Soviet period. They view this processas something positive: the village Gorkoye(Bitter) becomes Savinovo. The advertise-ment for Indian Tea (Indiiskii chai) drawsexclusively on memories of the Brezhnevyears brought on by the consumption ofthe tea, although the brand was not widelyavailable in the Brezhnev period. The slo-


gan “the same taste, the same tea” (tot

samy vkus, tot samy chai) also gave rise toa parody, in which two ants are nibblingaway at a dead elephant. The story mocksboth how long this tea has been around andhow bad it tastes. Ten years later they arestill at it, and one comments that it’s stillthe same taste. The other replies that it’sstill the same elephant. Particularly comichere is the fact that the tea wrapper fea-tures colorful images of Indian elephants.The insurance group Rosno not only fea-tures the solar eclipse of 1999, but their slo-gan is a paraphrase of the pioneer song“Let there always be sunshine” (Pust’

vsegda budet solntse). The advertisementfor Hershey Cola taps into this nostalgia fora Soviet past. The clip reminisces about thedays when the schoolboy Sidorov, a red-head sporting jeans, was an outsider in hisclass. The advertisement for Sprite com-ments on the facade that was created in theSoviet era: a fashion clip is being filmed onRed Square, with a male and female modeldressed in Russian-style garments. Thevoice-over comments that nothing is whatit seems: her eyes are not blue, her hair notblond, her breasts false, the young man isgay. The only thing they want is Sprite. Rus-sia is facade only, what it really wants areWestern consumer goods.

Overall, there is a strong tendency todraw on memories of the past to marketRussian food products as if to create a fic-tional product history. The world of adver-tising replaced the West: the formerly inac-cessible Western world had lost its exoticvarnish, and the unaffordable productsshown in the world of advertising tookover the function of the utopian world, theworld of the ordinary Russian citizen’sdreams. Advertising also offered stabilityin a period of chaos: the state control had

gone and left anarchy to reign over the or-dinary citizen’s life. Advertising laid theblame for the social chaos at the feet of thestate. It proposed a way of—virtually—spending money to offer an escape fromeveryday life and the surrounding poverty.It invited money to be squandered ratherthan spent sensibly.

Investment and Banks

Banks commissioned the first major tele-vised advertising campaigns in Russia.Some were competing for customers; otherjust wanted to create an image. The MMMcampaign (1992–1994) is probably the mostsignificant single advertising campaign inRussian history. A/O MMM (Joint StockCompany MMM) was a pyramid scheme in-vented by Sergei Mavrodi, based on theprinciple that the first investors would bepaid out with the deposits of later investorswhile share prices were growing con-stantly. The outcome is quite clear: whenshares become too expensive, no more in-vestments are made and the pyramid col-lapses. The scheme is safe as long as the in-vested money is withdrawn in time. Formany Russians, inexperienced in stockmarkets, unfamiliar with dividends, anduncertain about banks in general, MMM be-came a sort of wizard system that dishedout unexpected goodies. The success ofMMM was created exclusively through itsadvertising campaign, which featured thefictional characters Lyonia (diminutive ofLeonid) Golubkov; his wife, Rita; and hisbrother, Ivan. Lyonia Golubkov, an unas-suming man, small, uneducated, lower insocial rank than any likely spectators, andas such very much an Ivan-the-Fool charac-ter, was elevated to the status of a hero inthe best socialist tradition: the working-class man turned hero. Golubkov was no


intellectual and no New Russian, but a sim-ple man, at a time when most product ad-vertisements were aimed at the upperclasses, the “New Russians,” the young andsuccessful.

The author of the clips, Bakhyt Kilibayev,deliberately drew on working-class peopleand created a whole series of clips, tellinga full-blown story of the impact of MMM onthree generations. MMM drew on soapopera, creating a miniseries of everydaylife with normal, everyday characters. Theysuddenly make money, but this does noth-ing to their lifestyles or their personalities.Apart from Lyonia and Rita, there were thestudent couple, Igor and Julia, to representthe young generation and the elderly cou-ple, Nikolai Fomich and Yelizaveta An-dreyevna, to represent the older genera-tion. There was also a single woman, themiddle-aged Marina Sergeyevna, who—thanks to MMM—finds her man, Volodia.MMM provides help for those who cannotbe properly looked after by the state: theyoung, the old, and singles.

In the first set of clips, Lyonia talks withhis brother Ivan about making money with-out doing anything for it. Marina Sergey-evna dreams about happiness. NikolaiFomich and Yelizaveta Andreyevna haveacquired a dog. Igor and Julia have taken aloan they need to repay. The introductionpresents the protagonists, representativesof three generations (students, pensioners,married working people, and singlewoman) with their present state of affairs,which is far from satisfactory. But they nei-ther complain nor act. Part two has the pro-tagonists confess their dreams, and theyconfess to the star of the Brazilian soapopera, Simply Maria: Rita wants a child;Nikolai Fomich and Elizaveta Andreyevnatake pride in their grandchildren; Marina

Sergeyevna likes Volodia. The appearanceof the Golubkovs’ family tree stresses theneed to think about the future, about chil-dren. MMM will facilitate the realization ofdreams and invest in the future. The thirdset of ads gets more specific and outlineshow the protagonists would use additionalfunds: Nikolai Fomich and Yelizaveta An-dreyevna would top up their pensions; Lyo-nia would buy boots for his wife; Igor andJulia would top up their student grants. Theadvertisements here point out the state’s in-efficiency and inability to provide for pen-sioners and students and to allow people tobuy not luxury goods, but essentials.

The fourth part shows the results of theinvestment, the first “harvest”: Marina hastrusted the scheme; Igor and Julia will do itagain; Rita has new boots, and now wouldlike a fur coat. In the fifth part, Rita has ac-quired boots and a fur coat and begins tothink of other major purchases, such asfurniture and a car. Marina looks better;Nikolai Fomich and Yelizaveta Andreyevnaadvise the young “to do what parents ad-vise,” and Igor and Julia worry that theymight be reprimanded. The scheme has in-spired trust, the results are there, anddoubts that it won’t continue are dis-persed. MMM has brought material well-being. In the final part, personal happinessis achieved because of the scheme: Marinaand Volodia marry; Igor and Julia are inlove; Nikolai Fomich and Yelizaveta An-dreyevna feel much better; and Lyonia andIvan invest more. On this happy ending thesoap opera concludes, following the pat-tern of Socialist Realist plots where com-mitment to the right cause it rewarded bypersonal happiness.

A further socialist principle used byMMM was that of partnership: everybodyrejoices in the profit and happiness of oth-


ers, Lyonia does not just want to gainmoney (without working, na khaliavu) forhis own sake but to buy his wife a pair ofboots and a fur coat and to invest in an ex-cavator (with a view to later buying a fac-tory with his brother Ivan), and he needs agrowth chart to plan what to do next withhis wealth (in a scene that features the tele-vision soap-opera star Victoria Ruffo ofSimply Maria). The legitimate reasons forseeking profit in MMM shares are the col-lective social good that Lyonia will bring toothers and society at large: they are not“lazy bones, but partners” (ne khali-

avshchiki, a partnery).MMM was soon in trouble for tax eva-

sion, and its subsidiary MMM Bank wasclosed in 1993; Invest Consulting, anotherMMM arm, had a tax debt of 49.9 billionrubles. In July 1994, Mavrodi threatened toclose MMM, and by 29 July 1994 shares haddropped from 115,000 to 950 rubles. Yetpeople continued to support MMM andMavrodi, who compared himself in thepress and on the final television ad forMMM to a saint and a martyr, who had triedto help the poor and was now a victim him-self. In the final “farewell” clip, he associ-ated himself with another popular hero sur-rounded by a similar myth, the actor andbard Vladimir Vysotsky, whose music ac-companied the five-minute spot. MMM waspresented as the target of a political cam-paign, as a force fighting against the state.Popular support for Mavrodi went as far ashis election to the state duma in October1994 (which he used to gain political immu-nity). Mavrodi had created for himself theimage of a popular force against the stateand as such appropriately identified himselfwith the dissident voice of Vysotsky.Mavrodi has since been found to be behindan Internet scheme of the same kind, with

its head office in the offshore DominicanRepublic, and is sought after by Interpol.

The disaster with MMM, the August crisisof 1998, and the bumpy curves of the rubleexchange rate did not exactly inspire trustin the Russian banking system. The adver-tisement for Hermes Credit suitably drewon this mistrust by offering a fireproofbank. In another ad, Hermes Finance usedthe slogan “Vashi pribyli”—“your profits”;however, the noun profit in Russian onlyhas a singular form, and this phrase there-fore means “your people have arrived.”

Most interesting, though, is the first bankto advertise itself on television, Bank Impe-rial, with its series World History (Vsemir-naia istoriia, 1993–1997), created by thefilmmaker Timur Bekmambetov. The bankhad no dealings with the public at all (it is abusiness finance corporation) and used ad-vertising merely for decorative purposes.The advertisements reflected the wish toreturn to a stable past, not Soviet, but pre-Revolutionary, and to draw on the past’smoral superiority to enhance the standingof the bank and its relation to customers.The advertisements drew on figures ofworld history, all rather absolute rulers,who appeared in these ads as people ofpower but endowed with wisdom, humor,and benevolence. The Russian empressCatherine the Great featured in one ad,hosting a dinner at the palace. One of herguests, General Suvorov, is not eating: heobserves the rules of Lent. When asked bythe empress why he is not eating, he pointsout that it is Lent (a hidden criticism of theothers, who do not adhere to Lent) and thathe must not eat before a star rises. Cather-ine thereupon asks for the “star of order” tobe given to Suvorov, who raises his glass toher and joins the dinner. Another ad fea-tures Alexander II in 1861, the year of the


emancipation of the serfs. His manservantreports that the serfs are leaving and troopswill hold them back. The emperor demandsthat the wings of his swans should not beclipped but to prevent them from flyingaway they should be well fed. The swans flyaway for the winter, but a voice commentsthat 1861 was the year when the first metro-politan line opened in London, while inRussia the serfs were freed.

In other nations’ history, dictators areproven weak by the humanism of their vic-tims. The Inca live in the land of the sunand of gold until the Spaniards—in blackand white—invade their golden lands. TheInca chief will be killed, but he forgives hisexecutioner. In Germany, Konrad III ordersthe release of all the women taken into cap-tivity and allows them to take with themwhat they can carry. One woman carriesher injured man on her back. The warriorTamerlane tells each soldier to lay down astone before going to battle and collect iton return, so he can see how many warriorshe has lost. He then mourns every warriorby holding each stone. The cruelty of his-tory is juxtaposed to humanism.

The advertisements for Alfa Bank werecreated between 1993 and 1996 by Bek-mambetov. They marketed the bank as amodern enterprise, with a splendid interiordesign. When a young backpacker marchesinto the bank and admires the design, he istreated in a friendly and welcoming man-ner by the “New Russian” bank manager inan elegant suit, showing him around as a“serious client.” The advertisement is de-signed to take away the fear of modernbanking from the young—the target audi-ence that least needs to be won over bybanks. Another spot shows a birthdayparty for a bank employee being preparedas a customer is quizzing her at the end of

the long working day. Nevertheless, shekindly replies to his queries, until the man-ager phones the customer, who is invitedto join in the party. A spirit of collectivitygoverns the bank, where the customer ispart of the bank’s team. The bank cares forindividuals, both clients and employees,not profit. The 2002 campaign for AlfaBank, created by Bekmambetov’s Bazelevsstudio, was based on the slogan “with eachclient we find a common language.” Theclips are set at bank counters, where theemployees of Alfa Bank competently han-dle a range of customers: an Eskimo (eter-nal subject for anecdotes); a young man us-ing street jargon; a pseudo-professional,who really sells ice cream; a young NewRussian girl with her pet dog; and a lock-smith using such coarse language thatevery other word is bleeped out. Thebank’s employees speak all these lan-guages, and in the final clip the employee’sresponse has every word bleeped, signal-ing that the bankers speak the same lan-guage as their customers.

Bank Moskvy (Bank of Moscow) usessome print advertisements, mainly to pub-licize its special offers. “Collect serialnumbers” (soberi kollektsiiu seriinykh

nomerov) advertises deposit accounts withthe image of a magnifying glass on the se-rial numbers of some U.S. banknotes. Con-fidence in the ruble is not great. The bankalso advertises the “favorite cards” (liu-

bimye karty), lining up its credit cardswith a picture of the wife and the car keys.Another poster advertises the “keys to allcontinents”: a purse, a passport, and creditcards. Sberbank (Savings Bank), too, mar-kets its credit cards: “the best frames of thesummer season” (luchshie kadry letnego

sezona) appear on three stripes (or a roll)of photo negatives, mixing summer holiday


pictures with credit cards. The campaignappeals to those who are better off, whocan travel abroad. The print advertisingcampaigns are both held in the colorschemes of the banks (red for BankMoskvy, green for Sberbank). The functionof these ads is twofold: on the one hand,they are designed to boost confidence in aparticular bank and create its credentials,which is particularly important after theAugust 1998 crisis. On the other hand, theymake the customers aware, Soviet-style, ofa product they are unfamiliar with andbring to their attention the credit card andbankcard.

Social Advertising

Very rapidly, two other domains of adver-tising were discovered: social advertise-ment and political advertisement. Politicaladvertising has been dealt with above; so-cial advertising was in theory closest to So-viet propaganda. Therefore, social ads tendto use rather old-fashioned, and ineffec-tive, tactics. Advertising campaigns thatencourage a certain social behavior appeallargely to the individual as a member of so-ciety. In Russia, such advertisements use atechnique of pleading rather than demand-ing (or threatening punishment). Advertis-ing agencies appeal to the audience forsupport of the Russian economy.

The best-known campaign is that of thetax police: one set of advertisements wasmade with the slogan “Pay your taxesand live in peace” (Plati nalogi, zhivi

spokoino), showing people in situationswhere they are unable to perform, becausetheir consciences (concerning unpaidtaxes) trouble them. A hit in this campaignwas the spot where a man is sitting on thebedside at night, his wife asleep, andclearly unable to sleep (or have sex?) be-

cause of his bad conscience. Another cam-paign was targeted at the danger of illegalalcohol consumption and the detrimentaleffect that illegal production of alcohol hasboth on the health system and on the state,which loses tax income. A third campaignof cartoons referred to world history for alegitimization of tax collection, assertingthat there has never been an escape fromtax. It is worth noting the individual, social,and global framework for these three si-multaneous campaigns.

The recourse to the Soviet past is reaf-firmed by slogans in street advertisements,encouraging the purchase of Russian pro-duce and emphasizing the state’s need forsupport: “VVTs (Exhibition Centre)—con-tinuation of tradition”; “The Russian pro-ducer is the future of the fatherland”(Rossiiskii proizvoditel’—budushchee

otechestva), “Nobody will help Russia if wedon’t do it ourselves” (Nikto ne pomozhet

Rossii krome nas samikh), “Buy Rus-sian—help Russia” (Pokupat’ rossiiskoe—

pomogat’ Rossii), and “Let’s support theRussian producer” (Podderzhim rossi-

iskogo proizvoditelia). An advertisementfor the chocolate Korkunov taps into thisvein: “Buy Russian and help Russia: Buywhat is made in Russia (Pokupat’ rossi-

iskoe, pomogat’ Rossii: Pokupaite chto

sdelano v Rossii). The underlying principleof Russian advertisements is not to empha-size the quality of the product but to askfor help and support of the economy; notto deduct tax at source but to appeal to theindividual to pay; not to act against illegalalcohol production and video piracy but toplead for help with the Russian industry.The pleading manner, imploring and beg-ging rather then demanding for tax pay-ments, is summarized beautifully in an-other parody of the advertising campaign:


“We have deceived you in 1991 and shot atyou in 1993; we thrust you into the arms ofMMM and vouchers; we betrayed you in1996 and 1997; we took your last posses-sions in August 1998; but we’ve run out ofmoney again. So please pay taxes.”

Needless to say, the result of such plead-ing campaigns is nil. If people buy Russianproducts, they do so not because they arebetter, but because they are cheaper. Ifpeople pay taxes, they do so anyway, or be-cause they are caught by the tax police, butnot because they can’t sleep. Yet the under-lying mode of most advertisements forRussian products (except for food) re-mains the technique of appeal and pledgerather than seduction and temptation.

The New Russia still lacks confidence toboast of its products and its industry; theeconomy is not presented in a way that in-dicates the strength of the state. Instead,the New Russia advertises itself as a soci-ety that will respond to pleading ratherthan seduction and that prefers to reinventthe past rather than look at the present ordream of the future.

Leisure

In the leisure sector, tremendous changeshave taken place since the collapse of theSoviet Union. If in the 1980s internationalhotels could not even be accessed by Rus-sian citizens and were at the same time theonly place that had half-way decent restau-rants, then the number of restaurants andcafés that have sprung up since is impres-sive. The service that most of them offercan easily compete with Western stan-dards, but many of these venues haveWestern prices too, making them unafford-able for the “ordinary” Russian with a

monthly salary of US$500–1,000. Someparks have been turned into entertainmentcenters, whereas others have retained theirold-world charm as gardens. Many dacha

settlements have been turned into housingfor the New Russians. And Russian holidayresorts have been abandoned by Russianholidaymakers, who prefer foreign destina-tions. Above all, the pattern of celebrationand holiday-making has changed alongwith the holidays themselves.

Restaurants

Many of the large international hotels of-fered excellent catering in the Soviet era.In the New Russia, the large hotel chainsstill boast expensive restaurants, and manynew restaurants, from culinary to fast food,have appeared in the cities. In Moscow theHotel Prague (Praga) has one of the mostluxurious restaurants, with nine rooms fordining. Restaurants specializing in a na-tional cuisine were once a way of showingthe integration and diversification of Sovietculture, with the famous Uzbekistan, theGeorgian restaurant Aragvi, and the Bu-dapest in the hotel of the same name. Therestaurant in the writers’ and journalists’clubs (House of Writers and House of Jour-nalists) were good dining places for a visi-tor in the Soviet period and offer some ofthe most expensive menus and an exquisitesetting in the New Russia.

Most Russians used to dine at home or inthe canteen, however, and this still remainsthe case for the majority of people whocannot afford eating out. The first signs ofchange were cooperatives, such as the co-op restaurant on Kropotkinskaya Street, orjoint ventures, especially with Irish enter-prises, such as the Shamrock bars or otherIrish bars (as on the New Arbat). It is, inci-dentally, also a Russian-Irish joint stock


company that runs the airport duty freeshops and the catering at Sheremetievo IIairside.

Moscow Restaurants In the Soviet era,the most fashionable restaurants were theSeventh Heaven (Sed’moe nebo) on the topfloor of the Moscow Hotel, closed for “re-furbishment” and then demolished in 2004,and the Ostankino Restaurant, closed afterthe fire on the television tower in 2001. In-stead, a range of new restaurants hasemerged, making eating out in Moscowboth fun and pleasure.

National cuisine dominates a number ofrestaurants in Moscow. Exotic settingsdominate such restaurants as the Limpopo,an African restaurant with fountains and anartificial hippo and crocodile in an interiorbordering on kitsch, or the Amazonia, offer-ing a tropical interior with straw mats. Cau-casian cuisine has always been popular inRussia. Noah’s Ark (Noev kovcheg) is anArmenian restaurant with an orchestra,where waiters dress in traditional cos-tumes. The Aragvi is an old Georgian res-taurant, not known for its service but ratherfor its central location on Tverskaya Street.Its interior contains a balcony and frescoesdepicting the Caucasus mountains. Therestaurant has a legendary reputation asthe favorite restaurant of Stalin’s “hench-man,” the Secret Service chief Lavrenti Be-ria, who—like Stalin—came from Georgia.The Genatsvale on Kropotkinskaya Streetis a more expensive Georgian restaurant,and Mama Zoya offers cheap and excellentfood and has become a popular Georgianrestaurant. Mama Zoya began in a base-ment flat of an apartment block and nowhas a proper restaurant on Frunze Street.

Italian restaurants have become increas-ingly popular in Moscow in recent years.

There is a range of small and expensiverestaurants but also pasta and pizza placessuch as Patio Pizza and Sbarro. It has to besaid, though, that pasta and pizza have notreally conquered the hearts and palates ofMuscovites.

Theme restaurants became immenselypopular in the late 1990s. They refrainedfrom imitating Western and foreignthemes, however, drawing instead on theirindigenous popular heritage. The Traktirna Piatnitskoy (Pub on Piatnitskaya Street)is named after the film of the same title. Itis a cheap snack restaurant with a homelyatmosphere. The Balaganchik (FairgroundBooth) is named after Alexander Blok’ssymbolist play. The restaurant is located ina separate house on Trekhprudnyi and Ma-montov Lane next to the Moscow YouthTheater (MTYuZ), using a carnival decorfor its interior design. The restaurant ispopular among actors and the theatre com-munity. The Grand Opera in PetrovskyLines is a more expensive restaurant de-signed in opera style. The restaurant Mestovstrechi (the Meeting Place) is named aftera popular film of the 1960s. This restaurantis located in the basement of a building onTverskaya Street but does not offer anyparticular ambience or menu. Unlike this,the restaurant Kavkazskaya Plennitsa(Prisoner of the Caucasus) is a Georgiancuisine restaurant on Prospekt Mira, set inthe ambience of Leonid Gaidai’s famouscomedy of the same title. Beloye SolntsePustyni (White Sun of the Desert) is a simi-lar enterprise run by the same company,themed along the style of 1960s Red West-erns and offering Uzbek cuisine. Therestaurant is part of the former Uzbekistan,which still occupies the other half of thebuilding on Neglinnaya and offers more so-phisticated dishes. Also themed around


popular films of the 1960s are the restau-rants Pechki-Lavochki, with fairy tale andfilm characters as part of the decor, andthe restaurant Pokrovskie Vorota (Pokrov-sky Gates), echoing the atmosphere of themid-1960s.

Classical Russian literature informs thedesign of the restaurant Pushkin on Tver-skoi Boulevard, with an old oak library aspart of the restaurant. The Pushkin attractsthe elite of politics and business, with itshalls expanding over five levels. The Oblo-mov is named after Ivan Goncharov’s noveland divided into two halls after the princi-pal characters, Oblomov and Stoltz, withwaiters dressed up as Zakhar, Oblomov’smanservant, offering a pensive and well-paced service. Khlestakov on FrunzeStreet, named after the main character inGogol’s comedy The Government Inspec-

tor, is owned by Sergei Gazarov. Gazarovmade a film with star actors based onGogol’s play.

Zapasnik (the Store) is a small restau-rant off Maroseika, offering a range ofdishes named after paintings and art styles.The restaurant U Petrovicha (at Petro-vich’s) is located in a basement off Miasnit-skaya Street. The dishes contain refer-ences to the patronymic Petrovich, and thewalls and tables carry inscriptions parody-ing and mocking the common patronymic.

The Central House for Literature wasone of the most famous restaurants in theSoviet era, when access to it was restrictedto members of the Writers’ Union and theirguests. The Oak Hall has now been re-stored, and the restaurant is open to thepublic; it is no longer for writers, but thenewly rich. The Spets-bufet No. 7 (Special


The restaurant “White Sun of the Desert” is themed along the lines of Vladimir Motyl’s 1969 film of the

same title. (Photo by Yury Martianov/Kommersant)

Buffet No. 7) is located in the basement ofthe House on the Embankment, the grayconcrete building opposite the Kremlinthat Stalin had built for the Party elite. Themenu cites politicians and political slogansof the 1920s.

The United Humanities Publishers (Obe-dinennye gumanitarnye izdatel’stva; OGI)was started by two scientists who beganpublishing, combined with restaurants ataffordable prices. They first opened arestaurant-club with a bookshop onPotapov Lane (near Chistoprudnyi Boule-vard) in the mid-1990s. As it was cheap andopen late, the place became very popularamong students and intellectuals. The Pro-ject OGI was followed by PirOGI (pir isfeast, but pirogi means pastry) on No-vokuznetskaya, which closed in 2002 andmoved to Dmitrovka Street. Ulitsa OGI(OGI Street) is located off Petrovka Streetand combines a gallery with a restaurantthat is slightly more expensive than theother OGI venues and has been designedwith a modern glass-metal style by the ar-chitect Alexander Brodsky. A shabbytrailer-type entrance belies the interior ofthe restaurant. The PirOGI and the ProjectOGI also have bookshops, and they occa-sionally offer concerts.

After an invasion of Pizza Huts and otherAmerican and Western restaurant chainsthat were too pricey for average Mus-covites and too unsavory for Russian taste,a number of Russian self-service and ser-vice restaurant chains started up in the late1990s, with menus that catered for Russianeating habits: soups and salads, meat andfish for the main course, with potatoes andvegetables as optional. MuMu (pronouncedmoo-moo), with its typical black-and-white-cow pattern, is a typical chain of Russiancuisine self-service restaurants. Drova

(Firewood) is a chain of restaurants with abuffet service, running with the slogan “eatas much as you can.” The first typicallyRussian restaurant chain with waitress ser-vice is Yolki-Palki (yolki-palki is the equiva-lent term for oh-dear-me). Luzhkov’s an-swer to McDonalds was the formation in1995 of a chain called Russkoye bistro(Russian Bistro), offering instant soup, avariety of pastries (pirogi), and salads.

Haute cuisine is available too in a num-ber of Moscow restaurants. Le Gastronomeis an expensive restaurant set in a luxuriousinterior in the high rise on VosstanieSquare. Red Square No. 1 is set in an inte-rior of the period of Ivan the Terrible withvaulted ceilings. Its chef, Alexander Filin,offers a menu composed of historicalrecipes. Kumir (Idol) on Trekhprudnyi Laneis run by the French chef Michel Truargot.

One of the more clubby restaurants isthe Labardance, owned by the actor MaximSukhanov and located in the basement ofthe Mayakovsky Theater. The menu lists allits dishes, spelling them back to front. An-other is the Serebrianyi Vek (Silver Age),situated in the former central baths, whichpreserves the design of the early twentiethcentury.

Japanese restaurants are growing innumber and popularity: the GinoTaki of-fers a fast service, replicating a fast-foodchain in other South East Asian countries,as does the Yakitoria, with restaurants onArbat and Tverskaya Street. The Americanfast food chain McDonalds was the first toconquer the Russian market, and the chainhas expanded significantly across Russia.It was followed by Pizza Hut, LouisianaSteakhouse, Fridays, and other fast-foodchains.

A number of coffeehouses have sprungup in Moscow in the new century. Kofe


Khaus (Coffee House) is a chain that oper-ates across Russia. Coffee Bean is anotherchain that styles its interiors in old venues,such as the old Fillipov Bakery on Tver-skaya Street or a second-hand bookshopon Kuznetskii Most. Zen Coffee offers amodern coffee culture. Two new Russiancoffee networks are the Shokoladnitsa(Chocolatesse) and Coffeemania. TheKofe-In with its Viennese chairs and freenewspapers creates the atmosphere of acontinental coffeehouse on DmitrovkaStreet, not unlike Donna Clara on MalayaBronnaya Street. The Alexandria is a spe-cial teahouse on Tsvetnoi Boulevard. TheCafé Tun on Pushkin Square is one of thelargest and most central cafés in Moscow.It is located next door to Arkadi Novikov’sPyramid, a restaurant with the design ofLuc Besson’s 1997 blockbuster The Fifth

Element, the front of which is a famousmeeting place for biker clubs. The oldArtistic Café used to be a gay meetingplace in the days when homosexuality wasillegal. The Café des Artistes is now anartistic café, whereas gay culture hasmoved to other venues. The American Star-bucks has not yet arrived on the Russianmarket, and neither have the Italian chainsCafé Nero, Costa, and others.

Eating Out in Petersburg The city onthe Neva offers a similar range of restau-rants and styles as Moscow, albeit on asmaller scale. Exotic restaurants includethe Kongo (Congo) with an interior madeof black wood and straw mats; the Vasabi,a Japanese restaurant with waitresses inkimonos; and Le Paris, a French gourmetrestaurant. The Afishka (Playbill) is a stu-


Inauguration of the fast food restaurant chain Russkoye Bistro in 1995. (Photo by Dmitry Dukhanin/

Kommersant)

dent restaurant near the Theater Instituteand European University.

National cuisine can be found in suchrestaurants as La Strada (Italian), La Cu-caraca (TexMex), Karavan (Caucasian),and the Tblisi (Georgian). In the Uzbekrestaurant Kalif, diners can smoke thehookah and watch belly dancers. Theme-based restaurants in Petersburg includethe Dvorianskoye Gnezdo (Nest of Gentle-folk) in the Yusupov Palace; the restaurantZolotoi Ostap (Golden Ostap), named afterthe figure of Ostap Bender from the 1920ssatire The Twelve Chairs; Zov Ilyich(Ilyich’s Call), with Soviet and anti-Sovietpropaganda posters and objects for its inte-rior; and the Idiot, a restaurant with book-shelves and an early-twentieth-century in-terior, located on the Moika canal. TheSSSR on Nevsky boasts an exclusive high-tech-style interior design as the “new So-viet” style. The Landskrona restaurant issituated in the Nevsky Palace Hotel and of-fers a view over Petersburg. There are alsonumerous restaurants on boats. Petersburgrestaurants have also made good use of oldlocales: the Camelot, situated in a base-ment on Bolshaya Koniushnaya, offers amedieval setting with stained glass decorand heavy oak chairs. The Senate Bar is lo-cated in the cellars of Senate House. TheMetropol is the oldest restaurant in town,founded in 1847 and situated in its originalpremises on Sadovaya Street. KoniushnyiDvor is located in an old stable, andStaraya Tamozhnia occupies the old Cus-toms House; the restaurant is run by aFrench chef.

Coffeehouses also abound in Petersburg.Particularly noteworthy are the Abrikosovcoffeehouse on Nevsky 40 and the Nord(formerly Sever [North]) patisserie, whichis famous for its cakes and gâteaux. The

Idealnaya Chashka (Ideal Cup) is Peters-burg’s American-style coffeehouse chain.Zhili-byli (Once upon a time . . .), locatedon Nevsky, is one of the trendiest coffee-houses, and the Lavka Smirdina (Smirdin’sStore, Nevsky 22/24) is famous for its icecreams. Most popular among children isthe Sladkoyezhka (Sweet-eater) cake shopon Sadovaya Street.

Petersburg can also boast of two famousbeer restaurants. The Chaika (Seagull) isowned by the German brewery Jever andwas one of the first cooperative restau-rants to open on Leningrad’s GriboedovCanal. Tinkoff is a genuine Russian brew-ery offering filtered and unfiltered beer;the restaurant is located in the brewery offKazan Square.

Most other cities in Russia have under-gone a similar development, with a numberof Russian and home-based restaurantscompeting with national or internationalchains.

Eating and Drinking

Russian food and drink differ in substancefrom Western European products; more-over, eating and drinking habits varygreatly. Russians have a substantial break-fast, often consisting of a form of porridge(kasha), followed by bread with sausagesor meat and often peas. They lunch be-tween 2 and 3 PM, and this is the main mealof the day. Lunch commonly consists ofthree courses: soup, a main dish, and asmall dessert with tea. Dinner follows afterdusk and may consist of a hot main dish ora lighter dish. On holidays such as Easteror Christmas, special meals are cooked;these are dealt with elsewhere in this book.

Russian Specialties: Food There areRussian variants of most dairy products.


Russian cheeses traditionally come fromKostroma or Vologda, regions to the north-east of Moscow that are well known fordairy products (also butter, milk). Themost common breakfast cereal is kasha:this may be made from oats (ovsyannaya

kasha), from corn (kukuruznaya kasha),or from buckwheat (grechka).

Russian soups are usually made frommeat or fish. Solyanka is based on meat orfish, whereas the soup ukha is made fromfish only. Shchi is based on vegetable stockand consists largely of cabbage, whereasborshch contains cabbage and beets but ismade with meat (beef) stock. The okroshka

is a cold soup popular in the summer, madeon a kvas or kefir basis and containingsome fresh greens as well as sausage. Ameal often starts with zakuski (appetiz-ers), including pickled vegetables andmushrooms as well as salads, such as thepopular Olivier (named after an eigh-teenth—century French chef) or Vinai-grette, which accompany the vodka toasts.A variety of breads is offered with eachmeal (usually at least comprising one sortof white bread and rye bread).

Main dishes often consist of fish or meat,and vegetarian dishes are not common inRussia. Beef Stroganoff is probably the bestknown Russian dish, but there is a varietyof other meat dishes. Pasta and rice are lesscommon than potatoes. Mushrooms arepopular in all forms, as soup, pickled, orroasted. Vegetables are usually scarce witha Russian meal. A butterbrod (from the Ger-man word for sandwich) is a commonevening dish, as are pelmeni (filled withmeat) and vareniki (filled with potatoes orcherries or cream cheese), which are theRussian version of the Italian ravioli butserved with smetana (sour cream) insteadof tomato sauce. Pastries (pirogi) with a

variety of fillings, from meat to cabbage,potatoes to cream cheese, are a commonside dish. Regional popular dishes includethe Caucasian dishes chebureki (pastrywith meat), lavash (flat bread), andkhachapuri (cheese-filled pastry).

Chocolates and sweets were of highquality in the Soviet period, when the statestandard (GOST) specified a higher thanusual cocoa content in chocolate, makingRussian chocolates very rich. The leadingchocolate factories Krasnyi Oktiabr (RedOctober), Babayevsky (Babaev), and Rot-front are thriving, continuing their tradi-tional chocolates such as the praline rangeVecherniy zvon (Evening Bells), the choco-late bars Alyonka, and sweets of all kinds(karamel). They have found competitionfrom the company Rossiya with the slogan“Russia, the generous soul,” which is, how-ever, owned by Nestlé. Another competitoron the praline market is Korkunov, whichclaims a long-standing tradition in choco-late-making that goes back to pre-Revolu-tionary years and makes exquisite choco-lates at prices that match those of Westernchocolatiers such as Lindt.

Beverages à la Russe Dairy productsoffer a greater variety and diversity than inmany other countries. There is milk, cream(slivki), and sour cream (smetana);ryazhenka is a milk drink with wheat sup-plement; sgushchennoe moloko is con-densed milk with sugar; tvorog is a firmerform of yogurt made from boiled milk,which is drained (similar to the French fro-mage frais or the German quark); kefir is aliquid sour milk product.

Kvas is a popular drink that is an alco-hol-free fermented beerlike drink, madefrom fermented rye bread. Several regionalbranches of the eleven Coca-Cola factories


set up in Russia to provide the populationwith the once sought-after Western drinks(Coca Cola, Sprite, and Fanta) haveswitched to producing kvas in an attemptto recoup the losses as Coca-Cola fails tosell as well as traditional beverages. OneCoca-Cola plant has even resorted to pro-ducing the cheaper and more traditionalSoviet era beverages Tarkhun and Bu-ratino, both variations of lemonade.Tarkhun has a distinct green color, as itcontains woodruff extract. Indeed, in theaftermath of the August default (1998),many Russians on the one hand could nolonger afford expensive Western brands,while on the other hand the excitementwith the once-forbidden and inaccessibleWestern products had dwindled and madeway for a return to more homegrowntastes. Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the artsalso ceased after 2000, as the coffee labelNescafe stepped into that niche. Kisel is astarched fruit juice often made from sourberries such as the cranberry, containingvitamins that are in this way preserved forthe winter in drinks liked by children. Mors

remains a very popular berry juice madefrom red berries with sugar and water. Typ-ical Russian drinks that have lost their pop-ularity are the egg-flip (gogol-mogol) andthe sbiten, a drink made of honey and a va-riety of spices.

The most popular drink in contemporaryRussia is beer, even if this is often im-ported beer. Russian-brewed beer ischeaper than Coca-Cola and has outdonethe U.S. beverage in popularity. The old So-viet beer factory Trekhgornoye competeswith a number of new Russian beer brands,such as the Petersburg labels Tinkoff andBaltika, Sibirskaya korona, and others,which are dealt with in the section “Vodkaand Other Booze.”

Vodka is an extremely popular drink,and many people continue to distill theirown (illegal) samogon, or add fruit to thevodka to create a nastoika. The vodkabusiness, which had always been in statecontrol, was privatized in the 1990s andbrought back under state control after athreat of arrest against the vodka magnateYuri Shefler in August 2002. Shefler hadmanaged the company Soyuz-plodo-im-port, converted to Soyuz-plod-import (SPI,dropping the “o” in the second syllable ofthe acronym) in 1997, with the productionof 43 brands, including Stolichnaya andMoskovskaya. The business, with a valueof $1.5 billion annual revenue, was rena-tionalized, although Shefler’s Swiss SPI ex-port outfit remained in control of vodka ex-ports. The distillery Kristall also producesa variety of vodka labels, including Russkiistandart.

Armenian cognac is world famous, evenif it had to relinquish the name cognac,which is reserved to French distillers, andresort to the label brandy. The same ap-plies to the Russian sparkling wines of theCrimea, no longer available as shampan-

skoye but as igristoe vino (sparklingwine). Wines from Moldova, Georgia, andArmenia can easily compete in quality withFrench and Italian wines.

Clubs and Bars

The Soviet Union cherished cultural activi-ties such as theaters and cinemas, but eventhough the Moscow and Leningrad metrowould run until 1 AM, there was no nightlifeto speak of other than cultural eveningsand parties at home. Nightlife was a newactivity for post-Soviet youth. Many musicclubs emerged from the underground rockand jazz movement of the 1980s and en-gaged the former subculture of dissident


intelligentsia, maybe closest to the 1968generation in the West. Rock and jazz clubsoffered live music and catered for a mixedaudience. These clubs are relatively inex-pensive and continue the rock movementof the 1980s. Examples are the OGI clubsor the Bunker with cheap food, perform-ances, and concerts. Other newer popularclubs among students and young peopleare the Club na Brestskoi, Ministerstvo,and Propaganda in the center of Moscow.

During the latter half of the 1990s thenumber of expensive restaurants grew, andso did the number of clubs for the NewRussians, such as the Palkin restaurant,casino, and club in Petersburg on NevskyProspekt 47. There are also clubs for thericher classes. The English Club is a re-minder of the tsarist era, located onChistye Prudy Boulevard and destined forrich businessmen, with an annual fee ofUS$7,000. Luzhkov offered to enter all clubmembers on the mayor’s list for the dumaelections. The club published the journalLitsa (Faces) that served to put a spotlighton the rich and famous. There are alsobranches of the Rotary Club and Monolithin Moscow and Petersburg. The Automo-bile Club is sponsored by Slaviya Bank,and membership includes a discount on re-pairs and the service of driving a memberhome when drunk after partying. Politicalclubs exist, such as the parliamentary clubthat convenes after duma plenary sessionson Wednesdays and Fridays, organized byGennadi Burbulis in 1994. There are alsoprofessional clubs for lawyers, oil mag-nates, and other business groups.

At the same time the young generationthat had grown up after the rock movementof the 1980s and that was not yet part of thenew Russian business world looked for en-tertainment and chose dance clubs or night-

clubs. Many of these grew out of dance par-ties, playing “house” music presented byDJs. The young generation, both “ravers”and trendy young people, frequented nightclubs that encouraged an atomization of so-ciety, generating isolation instead of rein-forcing the Soviet sense of a collective. Themost popular hop and youth magazine isPtiuch, which has been going since 1995with a print run of about 80,000. TheMetelitsa (Blizzard) complex in Moscow isone of the most popular nightclubs, despiteits expensive entrance fee of US$40. Prosti-tution is a part of its services. The club lifeoffers a meeting place for groups with thesame interest or behavior, mostly to danceto loud music in a reaction against Sovietconventions. Often spaces for specialevents are hired, such as sports arenas andold palaces or cinemas. Such venues arerented on a nonofficial contract basis,which is overseen by the Mafia (krysha),taking a share of the profit in return for en-suring that the agreement between a venuemanager and the event organizers is kept.The nightclubs largely cater for a restlessyoung generation and are busiest after mid-night, offering loud music, stroboscopiclight, and tight security. Some clubs orga-nize fashion shows or present revues of ani-mal dressage and children’s entertainment.Some also offer prostitutes.

Moscow Clubs The Yar in the HotelSovetskaya is one of the oldest night clubs,operating since 1848, when its revue wasfrequented by nineteenth-century business-men. The variety show Moscow, Golden

Cupolas is a historic landmark in the club.The Manhattan Express in the Rossiya Ho-tel attracts mainly foreign tourists.

The Pilot club, owned by Anton Tabakov,the son of Moscow Art Theater director


Oleg Tabakov, is located on Krasnaya Pres-nya in the former Zuyev Culture House,near the Trekhgornaya Beer Factory. Theinterior reflects the aviation theme, with amodel cockpit and the wings of an aircraft.The Bunker was first founded in Prague inthe 1980s, and in 1993 it opened in Moscownear Riga Station. Later the club moved toa basement on Tverskaya Street, and in thenew millennium Bunker 2 opened on theGarden Ring (Sadovoe kol’tso), with alarger stage for performances and con-certs. The club offers cheap lunches andreasonably priced entrance fees for itsevents, targeting largely an audience of stu-dents and intellectuals. The Kitaiskyletchik Dzhao Da (Chinese Pilot Jao Da)was established by Alexei Paperny anduses a wing of an aircraft as the bar. Thehistory of the Chinese pilot Jao Da is dis-

played in prints on the walls, recountingepisodes from his life. The club is mainlyfrequented by the media and the artisticelite. The Dom Kukera (Cooker’s House) isoften visited by the father of rock music,the DJ Artyom Troitsky; it is located nearLubianka. The Studio club on TverskayaStreet is frequented by pop singers Alla Pu-gacheva and Filipp Kirkorov as well as theextravagant designer Andrei Bartenev.

The club Ot Zakata do Rassveta (FromDawn to Dusk) opened in 1997 and was in-spired by Quentin Tarantino, not only interms of its design but also in the criminalconnections of its guests. The club’s pricesare extortionate, and strippers perform forthe guests. Moscow had and has a numberof erotic clubs and strip bars. The HungryDuck (which later closed, and then re-opened under different management) near


The Metelitsa night club, here pictured in 2001, is one of the most popular nightclubs despite its

expensive entrance fee of forty U.S. dollars. (Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

Lubianka opened in 1995 as a den of drinkand drugs. It was owned by the CanadianDoug Steele. The Hungry Duck offered ashow of male strippers, attracting a largelyfemale audience—after all, Moscow hadnever been exposed to striptease, not tospeak of male strippers. Men were admittedto the club only after the striptease, and nu-merous stories and reports bear witness toacts of sex under the restaurant tables.

This open flaunting of sexuality was un-known and unheard of in Soviet Russia. In-deed, the NTV program Pro eto (AboutThat), hosted by the Russian, but exoticallydark-skinned Yelena Khanga, explored is-sues of sex and assisted largely in the cre-ation of a sexual discourse, encouragingpeople to verbalize their experiences aftera taboo on sexual terminology in the Sovietera. Papers such as Speed-Info, begun as

an information bulletin about venereal andsexually transmitted diseases including ac-quired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS[SPID]), has turned into a “speed” informa-tional outlet, which claims to supply ex-press information while promoting sex aspervading all aspects of everyday life. Thefirst Russian pornography magazine, An-

drei (1991), distinctively used a more med-ical vocabulary while avoiding the obscenelanguage of its Western equivalents, mak-ing its task to verbalize, not stimulate, sex.It was duly followed by a host of men’sjournals of Russian and foreign prove-nance, including Playboy and Men’s

Health. Nightclubs with erotic showsabound. The Rasputin is an expensive clubwith an erotic theater. The Garage offersbusiness lunches and turns into a strip clubat night. The Nochnoi Polet (Night Flight)


The pub and restaurant Kitaisky letchik Dzhao Da (Chinese Pilot Jao Da) was established by Alexei

Paperny. The wing of an aircraft forms the bar. (Kommersant)

is a central nightclub under Swedish man-agement on Tverskaya Street and a centralvenue for prostitutes. It opened in 1992 andcaters largely for a foreign clientele, offer-ing women at US$200 per night. Male pros-titution is also common and offered to sin-gle women in many nightclubs. TheTsentralnaya Stantsiya (Central Station) isa club with a travesty show.

Although homosexuality was prohibitedby law until 1993, a number of gay clubshave now surfaced. Krasnaya shapochka(Red Riding Hood) is one of the many gayclubs that sprang up in Moscow in the late1990s; another is the Kazarma, which ap-plies face control and admits membersonly, offering tables in separate chambersand male prostitutes. The Elf is the oldestgay bar, located near Kursk railway station.

Discos are also common in Moscow.Some of the most eccentric are the Biblos,with different national rooms as interior de-sign themes. The XII and Papa John’s arediscos that change their décor once a week.Their select elite audiences can often befound relaxing in the summer on Ibiza.

Nightlife in Petersburg The nightlifein St. Petersburg has a slightly differenthistory and context than the Moscowscene. In the late perestroika years, TimurNovikov (1958–2002), the guru of the youthscene, shared his experience of foreigntravel with his compatriots and squatted ina derelict building on Fontanka 145, usingthe premises for parties between 1989 and1991. In the “parties,” he experimentedwith music, fashion, and art. From here theDJs begin to emerge in the St. Petersburgmusic scene, which had hitherto knownonly the Latvian DJ Janis. Novikov invitedforeign DJs to the Fontanka parties beforethey moved out to the observatory (plane-

tarium). Later the organizers went to thePavilion of the Cosmos in Moscow’sVDNKh (Vystavka dostizhenii narodnogokhoziaistva, All-Union Agricultural Exhibi-tion) for the Gagarin Party (named ironi-cally after the Soviet cosmonaut YuriGagarin) on 14 December 1991, followedby the Gagarin Party II in spring 1992. Bothevents were privately produced and at-tracted more than 2,000 people, creatingthe first mass events not controlled by thestate. Indeed, nightlife evaded state con-trol. The parties used the Soviet symbols ofGagarin and cosmic walks in a play withSoviet iconography. Further large eventsfollowed. These early parties were knownfor their use of hallucinogenic “magic”mushrooms (a mushroom that grows in thenorthern forests and contains psilocybin).

The River Club (rechniki) memberswere anarchists and squatters, who in 1994squatted on a trawler and transmitted radioprograms from there. They made furniturefrom discarded metal. The art critic TimurNovikov had founded the New Academy ofFine Arts in 1991 and coined neoacadem-ism, an art form that combines classicalgrandeur with technology and junk.Novikov died in May 2002 after an illnessthat left him blind during the last years ofhis life.

Petersburg, like Moscow, had knownclubs and cabarets before the Revolution,which had seen their heyday in 1912–1915.The Brodiachaya Sobaka (Stray Dog) was afamous artistic cabaret and club, whichwas closed in the late 1920s. The basementof the now reconstructed building has beenpreserved and operates a literary and artis-tic café. The Internet café Tetris and theSobaka (sobaka is dog but also the wordused to describe the character @) are pop-ular venues.


Exploiting the attraction of the setting,the Tunnel was founded in 1993 by AlexeiHaas, using a former fall-out shelter near afactory as premises for his club. Fischfab-rik is an old underground club on LigovskyStreet. Numerous erotic nightclubs occupythe Petersburg nightlife scene, such as theGolden Dolls or the Maximus, offering astrip show in a Greek and Roman interior.The Money Honey offers dance to musicplayed by DJs in Apraxin Yard. There isalso a Hollywood entertainment complexon Nevsky Prospekt. The Hulli Gulli is acabaret, often offering erotic shows, withthe presenter Roman Trachtenberg. TheMagrib is a nightclub and restaurant withbelly dance located on Nevsky Prospekt.Petersburg nightclubs thus offer the vari-ety of entertainments that would be foundin most European and U.S. capital cities.

Games

Gambling, like betting, was not encouragedin the USSR. Card games and dominoeswere condemned in the Soviet period, al-though these have now gained a certainamount of popularity. Even today there arefew bookmakers. People have stoppedtrusting lotteries and pyramid schemes af-ter a number of economic and financialdebacles. A number of popular games, es-pecially children’s games in the open, con-tinue to be played, however.

Children’s and Adults’ Games Theold games gorodki (a kind of bowling,where the players try to knock out figureswith the help of a stick) and lapta (a formof baseball or cricket) were turned into“proper,” competitive disciplines. Thereare also numerous open-air games that areknown in many countries, but under differ-ent names, such as hide and seek (igra v

priatki), cat and mouse (koshki-myshki),or blind man’s buff (igra v zhmurki). Chil-dren in Russia also play hopscotch (igra v

klassiki), tags (salki), and skittles (kegli).The game breach (proryvaty) is played bytwo teams, each of which forms a line. Atthe words “Tary-bary give us Max,” the per-son (called Max) must run across and tryto break the chain formed by the otherteam. If Max breaks the line, he can pickone of their players to join his team; if not,he has to stay with the “enemy” team. Cos-sacks and robbers (kazaki-razboiniki) is aform of hide-and-seek; only when the rob-ber is spotted by a Cossack can he run andhide again. When the robber is caught, heis brought home and becomes a Cossack,until no robbers are left.

Indoor games include the well-knowncheckers (shashki), the Japanese game go,and the English game backgammon(nardy). Rough sea (more volnuetsia; sim-ilar to musical chairs) is a game where allthe players sit on their chairs, which arepositioned with the backs against eachother in a row. When the leader says “thesea is rough,” all the players walk aroundthe room. Then the leader calls “the sea isquiet” (more utikhlo), and each player hasto try to find a chair. The player who re-mains standing has to take the lead andsteer the boat.

Billiards, pool, and snooker are gainingin popularity as more facilities are avail-able in hotels, restaurants, and bars. Bil-liards in particular was reserved for theparty elite in the Soviet period but hasgrown in popularity in the New Russia.Russian billiards has traditionally beenplayed with five balls, whereas the Frenchversion known as carambole in Russia isplayed with 15 balls. The most widespreadgames are American billiards, with eight


balls that have to be placed in the pockets,and pyramid, where the player has to score70 points. There are a number of billiardsclubs in the cities, many of them attachedto restaurants.

The fifth wheel (Piatoye koleso) is an in-tellectual game where the players have tomark the odd one out of a group of fiveitems. In order to jog their memories, chil-dren play lotto, and such games as addingon words to a list of items: “I went to theshop and bought . . .” (Ia khodil na bazar i

kupil). Black and white (cherny i bely) is agame where one player asks questions, andthe second player must answer without us-ing the words white, black, yes, and no.

Paper games include crosses and circles(Krestiki-noliki) and hangman (Palach),where for every letter placed in a word tobe guessed, the team comes closer to being“hanged.” Forfeits (igra v fanty) is a verycommon game, where a fant (a sweet-wrapper) is used, or a piece of paper, towrite down a wish. The wrapper is thenthrown into a hat. The players then pull outa wrapper each and read the wish as if itwere now his/her own, picking anotherplayer to fulfill the wish.

Video and computer games are hugelypopular in Russia, especially since the mid-1990s when pirated copies of major com-puter programs and games were easy preyfor the—in those days not-so-well-off—customers.

Gambling Casinos abound in Russia.There are casinos in most major hotels. InMoscow there is also a row of clubs andcasinos on the New Arbat near the globethat decorates the end of the shopping milebetween the Hotel Prague and the GardenRing: they include the casino-clubsMetelitsa, Korona, and Arbat. In Peters-

burg numerous clubs are located onNevsky Prospect, the city’s main artery. Allof these venues offer blackjack, poker,roulette, and a variety of games. TheShangri-La on Pushkin Square is a centralcasino below the Pushkin Cinema. En-trance fees vary around $200 in chips forthe most popular casinos. There are alsogambling machines, such as one-arm-ban-dits and others, which have been located inpublic spaces of the halls of the MoscowGames Systems chains Jackpot since 1999and Vulcan since 1991.

Relaxation and Holidays

The ways and locations of relaxation andholidays have changed significantly sincethe collapse of the Soviet Union, whentravel to foreign destinations became pos-sible, but not always affordable. Tradition-ally parks had offered respite in the bigcities, alongside the dacha (summer-house), mostly located on the outskirts ofthe cities.

Gardens and Parks Parks were an im-portant aspect of urban planning through-out the twentieth century. Green spaceswere deliberately dotted around Moscowand Leningrad, as well as other large cities,and these parks also had an important so-cial function: to provide a breathing spacefor the healthy urban population and offercollective and publicly accessible (andcontrollable) leisure time activity. Mostparks have ponds that form ice rinks in thewinter and can be used for boat rides in thesummer. In the 1980s luna parks were in-troduced, offering the attractions of anamusement park on a Western models. Notall parks have mechanical attractions, butmost of those that did were in need ofmaintenance and repair in the 1990s, when


commercial exploitation of these attrac-tions began.

The Gorky Park in Moscow is one of theoldest in the city, set up on the embank-ment of the Moscow river in the late 1920s.The park is probably better known for itssetting of the spy thriller Gorky Park byMartin Cruz-Smith than for its attractions,which contain swings, merry-go-rounds, aFerris wheel, and some children’s enter-tainment. The park leads onto the rathercharming and wild Neskuchny Garden withsome eighteenth-century buildings. Thepark in Sokolniki (named after the tsar’sfalcons, sokoly) has a more nostalgic at-mosphere, with a fountain in its center,from which several alleys lined with elmsand birches radiate. There are some pondsand dachas in the park. The park in Fili,created in the area of a nature reserve inthe 1960s, also preserves much wilderness.The park of the All-Union Agricultural Ex-hibition (VDNKh), renamed the RussianExhibition Center (VVTs) in the 1990s, con-tains sales pavilions alongside entertain-ment attractions such as bouncing castlesand a hill for tobogganing, as well as a Fer-ris wheel. The park in Izmailovo is partlyused by the vernissage, the weekend salesexhibition of Russian crafts and antiquesthat is held at the western end of the park.The park itself covers a forest area and is,with more than 1,000 hectares of space,one of the largest in the world. The park inBitsa in the south of Moscow is also knownfor art exhibitions, painting in particular.Kolomenskoye is an open-air museum witha church and the tsar’s wooden summer-house in a park with deep slopes towardthe Moskva River; it is located in the southof Moscow. The Delphinarium and the zoooffer further respite and entertainment forchildren. Park Pobedy (Victory Park) was

planned in 1958 to mark the victory inWorld War II. The plans were implementedonly in 1983, however, when the obeliskand the museum were built and then com-pleted under Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in 1995with input from the sculptor ZurabTsereteli. The memorial chapel is locatedon the top of Poklonnaya Gora. The ensem-ble of monuments also contains a statue ofthe patron of Moscow, St. George.

Tourism: The Russians on Holiday Inthe Soviet period, financial support of thetrade unions made it possible for most peo-ple to have a three-week holiday in a holi-day resort. The trade unions would issuevouchers for hotels and sanatoriums thatbelonged to the unions, making holidaysvery cheap and extremely affordable; travelwas subsidized by the state, and both railand air travel were cheap. The agency In-tourist looked after foreign tourists, and itwas KGB-controlled so that the movementof foreigners could be monitored.

With the collapse of the Soviet system,Intourist was no longer the sole agent foroffering package tours to foreign opera-tors, opening the market and makingprices soar. Simultaneously, hotels werenoticeably lacking standards of servicewhen compared with other countries, andas the political and economic climate wasmore and more destabilized in the 1990s,tourism to Russia dropped sharply. The in-ternal scheme for vouchers for trade unionresorts gradually crumbled, as the fundsfor maintaining sanatoriums and hotelswere dwindling, membership contributionswere no longer sufficient, and travel be-came increasingly costly as well. By themid-1990s, numerous travel agencies cameonto the Russian market, offering packagetours to foreign destinations such as Spain,


Turkey, and Egypt for prices that were al-most the same as those that people wouldhave to pay for a holiday within Russia.Therefore foreign tourism increased signif-icantly, despite the visa requirements. Cer-tain tourist destinations have remained ex-tremely popular, such as Croatia, the RedSea, and Egypt (Sharm el Sheikh and Hur-gada) as well as Spanish resorts.

By the mid-1990s, tourism revived: morethan 5 million foreigners visited Russia andmore than 8 million Russians traveledabroad. Nevertheless, the influx of touristsrepresents only 1 percent of tourist move-ment worldwide. By 1995, more than 8,000firms and travel agents with licenses hadestablished themselves in Russia to sell

package tours as well as airline and railtickets.

The resorts on the Black Sea are re-stricted, as Yalta and the Crimea now be-long to Ukraine. The once-famous resort ofPitsunda now belongs to Abkhazia. Sochiand adjacent resorts have developed, withnew international hotels built (RadissonLazurnaya) and Russian-owned hotels de-veloping. The city of Sochi has also in-vested in an aqua park for leisure time ac-tivity and a number of seaside activities.On the Baltic Sea, the once-popular resortshave also fallen to Lithuania, Latvia, andEstonia: the peninsula of the KurischeNehrung with the village of Nidden (oncethe domicile of Thomas Mann), the Latvianresort of Jurmala, and the bay of Tallinnare no longer “internal” destinations, andthe resorts on the Russian shore are too farnorth to offer any real opportunity forswimming in the sea.

The areas of the meandering river Volgaand the lakes north of Moscow, the lakesnorth of Petersburg, and the region of theBaikal offer, however, multiple opportuni-ties for holidays for local residents, andthese facilities are being expanded all thetime.

Hotels in Russia In most Russiancities, except Moscow and Petersburg,there is a variety of former Soviet hotels,some restored, others not; the first are usu-ally affordable for the Western traveler, thelatter are cheap and often substandard.Most large cities also have a growing num-ber of international hotels, depending onthe city’s location and its interest for busi-nesses and industries.

In Moscow many hotels have been refur-bished and correspond to high interna-tional standards. The old pre-Revolution-


People carrying advertising boards for last-

minute holidays on Pushkin Square, Moscow,

in 2001. (Photo by Alexey Kudenko/

Kommersant)

ary hotels nowadays all form five-star ho-tels. The Savoy is a hotel that has pre-served its old interior and antique furniturein all of its 84 rooms. The Metropol wasoriginally built in 1850, restored in 1905,and again refurbished during 1986–1990.The hotel was built by the Scot WilliamWalcott with assistance from Lev Keku-shev; the ceramic panels on the facadewere designed by the famous Russianartists Alexander Golovin and MikhailVrubel in the style of art nouveau. None ofthe 367 rooms is identical. The Metropolcan boast of a restaurant where the operasinger Fyodor Shaliapin once performed. Itbelongs to the Intercontinental chain. TheHotel Nationale has 221 rooms and is partof the Meridien chain. The hotel, designedby the architect Alexander Ivanov, is morethan 100 years old and furnished with fur-niture made of Karelian birch. WinstonChurchill resided here during his visit toMoscow. The hotel Sovetskaya is a histori-cal hotel on Leningrad Avenue with 75rooms. The Ararat Hyatt, located onNeglinnaya Street, is an old hotel with its219 rooms entirely refurbished.

Only a few old, Soviet-style hotels haveremained open without undergoing majorrefurbishment: the Ukraina, located in thehigh-rise opposite the White House, has1,000 rooms. The hotels Belgrade andGolden Ring are located in two post-1960stowers on Smolensk Square. The Intouristwas built in 1970 on Tverskaya Street nearRed Square; it was pulled down in 2003.The hotel Minsk was built in 1963, offeringcheap and central accommodation until itsclosure in 2004. The 27-floor semicircularconcrete construction of the hotel Cosmoswas built jointly with a French companyfor the 1980 Olympics. It is located oppo-site the VDNKh. The famous hotel Moscow,

with an asymmetrical facade designed byAlexei Shchusev, was built in 1932 andclosed in 2002 for major reconstructionwork. The Pekin on Mayakovsky Square isalso in a 1950s Stalinist building, but mostof its rooms have been refurbished. The Iz-mailova overlooks the park and consists offive 30-floor towers built in 1979–1980. Fi-nally, the Rossiya is the largest hotel in Eu-rope, with 3,000 rooms, and probably thecheapest and most central hotel that re-mains open. It was built on an area whereseveral small buildings and churches weredemolished. The space was supposed to beused for an administrative complex, butthe construction work was frozen underKhrushchev, and when reactivated, themuch lower building of the hotel waserected here. After its completion, many ofthe sixteenth- and seventeenth-centurybuildings and chapels on Varvarka Streetwere restored.

New hotels built in the 1990s include theSheraton Palace with its 200 rooms onTverskaya Street. The Marriott Grand Ho-tel on Tverskaya Street with 391 roomsopened in 1998 and was built in Luzhkovstyle that imitates Stalinist classicism in ar-chitecture. The Marriott Aurora Royal has230 rooms in a reconstruction of the origi-nal building on Petrovka Street. The Mar-riott Tverskaya is a modern building with162 rooms. The Balchug Kempinski with aBerlin-style Café Kranzler has 202 roomsand is situated across the Moskva Riverfrom Red Square in a reconstructed build-ing. The Radisson Slavianskaya is a mod-ern 400-room hotel and conference centernear the Kiev Railway Station. The Mezh-dunarodnaya (International) Hotel adja-cent to the World Trade Center was built inthe 1980s to offer office space and accom-modation to international firms. The Presi-



The Hotel Balchug-Kempinski in central Moscow, 2004. (Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant)

Façade of the Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg, 2000. (Photo by Sergey Semyenov/Kommersant)

dent Hotel on Yakimanka Street is a mod-ern building with 200 rooms. The Renais-sance (formerly Olympic Penta) has 500rooms and is located near the Olympic sta-dium on Prospekt Mira.

Overall, there is very little affordable ac-commodation in Moscow. Most new or re-furbished hotels aspire to five-star accom-modation that remains affordable to only aselect few, as hotel prices in Moscow rankamong the highest in the world.

The situation in Petersburg is somewhatsimilar to that in Moscow: most hotelshave refurbished their rooms and facilitiesto gain the highest possible ranking andcharge extraordinary prices. The AstoriaHotel, built in 1910 by Fyodor Lidvall, has223 rooms; it is connected with the adja-cent Hotel Angleterre that reopened in Sep-tember 2003 with 193 rooms designed byOlga Polizzi. The two hotels share some fa-cilities for their guests and are owned bythe Rocco Forte group. The Grand HotelEurope with its baroque facade by CarloRossi of 1875 and its famous art-nouveauinteriors has 301 rooms and is one of theclassiest and oldest in Europe. The Radis-son SAS on Nevsky Prospect is a new hotelbuilt behind an old facade, with 164 rooms.The Nevsky Palace Corinthia has 282rooms and was also built behind an old fa-cade of apartment blocks.

The Soviet-era hotels are the St. Peters-burg, formerly the Leningrad, on PirogovEmbankment with 710 rooms and the Ho-tel Moscow near Alexander Nevsky Monas-tery with 777 rooms. The Sovetskaya is an18-story building of modern architecturewith 1,000 rooms. More recent hotels arethe 1980s buildings of Pribaltiiskaya on theFinnish Gulf with 1,200 rooms and thePulkovskaya (near the airport) with 840rooms. The Oktiabrskaya was built in the

mid-nineteenth century near the MoscowRailway Station, and some of its 563 roomshave been renovated and upgraded. Apartfrom such large hotels, however, Peters-burg has—unlike Moscow—a number ofbed and breakfast places and smaller ho-tels, both central and peripheral, that offergood-value accommodation.

Dachas: Living in the Country Sincethe eighteenth century, wealthy Russianshave had a summerhouse that they ownedor rented in order to avoid the heat in thecities. In the Soviet era, summerhousespersisted, and many Russians owned a plotof land with the appropriate wooden houseoutside the cities. Most summerhouses hadneither heating nor electricity nor indeedany facilities, with water available oftenonly from a well or a rivulet. The dachanevertheless has remained a favorite occu-pation of many city inhabitants, both forgrowing vegetables and plants and forfresh air. At the same time, many New Rus-sians have begun to build brick houses informer dacha settlements, using the car toget in and out of town and making the out-of-town villas their permanent domicile,preferring this to a city apartment.

There were entire dacha districts nearMoscow and Leningrad/Petersburg. Mostdacha settlements are located near a majorrailway line: Kuskovo, Malakhovka, andUdelnaya on the Kazan Line; Kuntsevo,Serebrianyi Bor, Zhukovka, Nikolina Gora,and Zvenigorod on the Smolensk Line; andPushkino, Abramtsevo, and Sergiyev Posadon the Yaroslavl Line. The village of Taru-sia is a prominent dacha and summerhouseregion. In Petersburg the dacha settle-ments of Repino and Komarovo toward thenorth, as well as the Lake Ladoga region,are very popular.


The dacha was a given, donated plot ofland handed out by the tsar in an act ofgrace. It served as a retreat during the Rev-olution and the civil war. In the 1930s, newdachas were built for factory workers andthe party elite, but dacha regions lacked aproper infrastructure so that the use ofsuburban settlement for permanent accom-modation was impossible, although livingspace was badly needed in the cities duringthe drive on industrialization. Party eche-lons had their own dacha settlements inMalakhovka, Serebrianyi Bor, and NikolinaGora, and the writers settled in Pere-delkino, where a dacha colony was estab-lished to encourage creativity. The dachawas often received as a reward from theparty or obtained by using connectionswithin the party hierarchy (blat). Manydachas were private properties (owned bycooperatives); others were owned by the

state or rented. By the 1980s it was com-mon for people to have a dacha. The dachaplot was used to grow vegetables and pota-toes during and after World War II, and de-spite shortages of seeds and tools, theogorod produced fresh vegetables thatcould partly be sold. As people left thecountryside, many village properties,which had been built with brick and wereequipped with some facilities (heating,electricity), were purchased for summerrelaxation during the 1970s. The land re-form of October 1993 meant that landcould be bought, and New Russians beganto build their cottages and brick housesnext to the old dachas; most of these cot-tages are used as permanent domiciles.

Housing Developments in the City

New accommodation has been built and isbeing built not in central Moscow, but


Dachas and garden plots around Moscow. The dachas are summer residences, and gardens are used

to grow fruit and vegetables. (Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis )

mostly on the outskirts. It is apparently as-sumed that most people who can affordproperty in the new apartment buildingshave a car to travel (along the over-crowded roads) to work. Such new areasare often situated in former dacha regions,where new villas sit next to old woodensummerhouses and shacks. The TriumphPalace, a monumental piece of Stalinist ar-chitecture on Leningrad Prospect, is thehighest apartment building in Europe witha height of 264.1 meters. The complex onSparrow Hills near the embassies and Mos-film studios consists of seven buildings andrepresents a self-contained village with theappropriate facilities. The Red Sails (Alye

parusa) complex is located on the embank-ment of the Moscow River with a yachtingclub attached and a sauna, fitness center,and cinema on site. A new block in Sokol-niki overlooks the park and is built in high-tech style in the shape of a semicircle. Elsi-nor is a business complex with apartmentsand town houses, copying a European ar-chitectural style with gothic forms and fa-cades in the northwest of Moscow.

Celebrations

Although most people enjoy a variety ofopportunities for relaxation, leisure-time


A couple skating during Christmas celebrations at Sokolniki Park, January 2003. (Photo by Pavel

Smertin/Kommersant)

activities, and holidays, Russian society re-mains firmly in the grip of rituals and tradi-tions that rule the celebration of anniver-saries and public and religious holidaysalike. In the Soviet era, religious practicewas suppressed by the atheist state, whichelevated Communist ideology and replacedGod with Marx or Lenin. Political leaderswere revered like saints, as is best indi-cated by the way in which Lenin’s corpsewas embalmed like that of a saint and dis-played in a mausoleum. Indeed, a corpsethat did not putrefy was deemed to besaintly.

Public Holidays

Even if the new Soviet regime wanted toabolish religious practice, it soon becameclear that celebrations were important forthe people: they were a vital element inpopular culture and a relief channel for thehardships endured during the civil war.The young Soviet regime therefore decidedto introduce a number of secular holidaysthat subsumed religious holidays and pre-scribed celebrations that would satisfy thepeople’s need for a release of energy.Choreographed mass celebrations re-placed the spontaneous street celebrationsof folk rituals. In the first instance, thisconcerned the celebration of Christmas.The figures of Grandfather Frost (ded mo-

roz) and Snow Maiden (snegurochka) werepagan enough to remain functional, at leastin the children’s world, to continue the jobscarried out in Western cultures by SantaClaus: bringing presents and celebratinghis arrival with a Christmas tree (yolka).Although Christmas was on 7 January,these celebrations took place on NewYear’s Eve (31 December). The other twoimportant religious holidays, Easter andPentecost, were scrapped. Easter was sub-

sumed by the May Day holidays, and Pente-cost was feebly echoed in the pagan Whit-sun celebrations.

As time went by, the Soviet governmentdecreed a number of holidays to celebrateSoviet achievements. International Wom-en’s Day, 8 March, was celebrated by men’spresenting flowers to women, independentof their relationship. In other words, a fac-tory manager could give flowers to his col-leagues, a husband to his wife, a boy to hismother. This way, the holiday combinedMothering Sunday and Valentine’s Day inone nonconspicuous holiday. Of course, itwas a working holiday, unlike 23 February,which has in contemporary Russia turnedinto a proper public holiday. In Soviettimes it was the Day of the Armed Forces(Defense of the Fatherland)—that is, amen’s holiday (to match the women’s daytwo weeks later). The first of May was theclassical socialist holiday: InternationalWorkers’ Day. As 1 May was celebratedwidely with official demonstrations and pa-rades, followed by mass walks, and accom-panied in Russian style by a lot of alcohol,2 May was also a public holiday (for recov-ery). The first two days of May remain pub-lic holidays in post-Soviet Russia, but theholiday is called the Day of Spring and La-bor (Den’ vesny i truda). Victory Day on 9May remains a public holiday with paradesof veterans of World War II. The 22nd ofAugust is the Day of the Russian Federa-tion State Flag and is a relatively new pub-lic holiday. The first of September is not apublic holiday, but the Day of Knowledgemarks the beginning of the school year.The seventh of November was the day ofthe October Revolution (25 October oldstyle) and was celebrated with official pa-rades in grand style during the Soviet era.In contemporary Russia it has remained a


holiday, the Day of Accord and Concilia-tion (Den’ soglasiia i primireniia), al-though no celebrations take place. Holi-days devoted to organizations were notedalmost every Sunday: for the police, thearmy, and the miners and days of theater,cinema, and museums.

In the new Russia, 12 June is a nationalholiday, Independence Day, when the Rus-sian Federation became independent withthe election of its first president, BorisYeltsin, in June 1991. The 12th of Decem-ber is the Day of the Constitution, whichcame into force in 1993 (the constitutionwas approved by parliament on 12 Decem-ber).

Religious Holidays

The New Russia also observes religiousholidays. Although Christmas presents arestill delivered on 31 December/1 January(Novy God), 7 January is a religious holi-day when people usually attend a nightmass to celebrate the birth of Christ(Rozhdestvo Khristovo). Christmas is thesecond most significant holiday of theOrthodox church after Easter, which is aflexible holiday that does not normally co-incide with Easter in the Western Hemi-sphere but follows the orthodox (Julian)calendar. The Gregorian calendar was in-troduced in 1918, and the difference is 13days. A further important holiday is Pente-cost, or Holy Trinity. The time betweenChristmas and Epiphany (7–21 January) isknown as the sviatki (Christmas Tide);these are the “holy evenings,” when tradi-tionally no work would be done after dark.Before Christmas the revelers (koliadki)go around to houses and bless the house-holds and receive small gifts. They arecomparable to the Sternsinger of Ger-manic tradition.

Easter is the main holiday of the Ortho-dox Church, celebrated in a night masswhen people walk around the church threetimes in expectation of the Resurrection. Itfollows seven weeks of fasting, or Lent (ve-

likii post), when many people fast beforethe Resurrection of Christ, abstaining frommeat, fish, and dairy products (and eatingonly once a day, if following the fastrigidly). Before Lent, however, there isShrovetide (maslenitsa), with street cele-brations and rather fat food, including aPancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, whenpeople make pancakes (bliny) that havethe shape of the sun and recall the paganholiday from which the church borrowedthe festival: the celebration of the sun. Atthe end of maslenitsa stands ForgivenessSunday (Proshchenoe voskresenie). Thestrictest week of the 40-day fasting is theweek before Easter, Passion Week (Strast-naia nedelia). Easter is celebrated with col-ored Easter eggs and a kulich, a roundsweet bread with icing. The kulich and theeggs are normally taken to church for ablessing the day before Easter. The paskha,

a cheesecake with raisins, is another popu-lar Easter dish. Pentecost follows 50 daysafter Easter. Other times of fasting that arenot widely kept by people are Peter’s Fast-ing (Petrov post), which begins a week af-ter Trinity and lasts until 12 July (Peter andPaul); the Fasting of Assumption (Uspen-

skii post), from 14 to 28 August; and theChristmas fast from 28 November untilChristmas.

Orthodoxy was brought to Russia fromByzantium in 988 by Vladimir (remem-bered on 28 July), when the country thencalled Rus was Christianized. After the fallof Constantinople, Moscow became theThird Rome. Russia’s history was riddenwith attacks from the Turks, the Mongols,


and the Tatars. Icons were believed to offerprotection from the “barbarian” attacksand invasions. In the seventeenth centurythe Orthodox Church split, when Av-vakuum insisted on old traditions whereasNikon wanted to modernize the church.The Old Believers, a sect still active in Rus-sia today, separated from the OrthodoxChurch. The Orthodox Church has pos-sessed, since the time of Peter the Great, avery rigid hierarchical structure, at thehead of which stand the Holy Synod andthe patriarch of all Russia: since 1990 thisis Alexei II. The Russian Orthodox Churchhas always had a strong tradition of paying

respect to the yurodivye, people who re-nounce their worldly possessions and leada life of poverty and devotion in the hopeof salvation after death. This view of life assuffering for the reward of life in heaven isan underlying principle of the Orthodoxfaith. The yurodivye were blessed people,such as Basil the Blessed (Vasilii blazhen-nyi, 1468–1552), a God’s fool under Ivan theTerrible, who earned the tsar’s respect andin whose honor the cathedral of St. Basil’swas erected on Red Square.

Other religions are tolerated in Russia,and the right to practice them is enshrinedin the constitution. A large Jewish con-


Dates that vary from year to year are shown initalics.

7 January: Christmas (Rozhdestvo Khristovo).19 January: Baptism of Christ and Epiphany

(Kreshchenie Gospodne, Bogoyavlenie). Atthe age of 30, Christ was baptized in theJordan by John the Baptist, and the HolySpirit descended.

15 February: Candlemas (Sretenie). Forty daysafter the birth of Christ, Mary was purified inchurch.

24 April (2005) Palm Sunday (VerbnoeVoskresenie): Jesus arrived in Jerusalem,where his followers covered the road withbranches and leaves (verbnoe comes fromwillow).

From Thursday night to Saturday night beforeEaster darkness reigns in churches.

1 May (2005) Easter, or Resurrection (Paskha,Voskresenie Gospodne).

9 June (2005) Ascension (Voznesenie). Fortydays after the Resurrection, Christ ascendedto heaven.

19 June (2005) Pentecost, or Holy Trinity(Sviataya Troitsa). Fifty days after Easter, theHoly Spirit appeared among the twelveapostles.

7 July: Birth of John the Baptist (RozhdestvoIoanna Predtechi), also the pagan festivalIvan Kupala.

12 July: Peter and Paul.19 August: Transfiguration (Preobrazhenie

Gospodne).28 August: Assumption of Our Lady (Upenie

presviatoi Bogoroditsy).11 September: Beheading of John the Baptist

(Useknovenie glavy Ioanna Predtechi).21 September: Birth of the Virgin Mary.27 September: Exaltation of the Cross

(Vozdvizhenie Kresta Gospodnia). The cross,found 200 years after Christ’s death in acave, was erected by the Patriarch Makariusin Jerusalem.

4 December: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin(Vvedenie v khram Bogoroditsy). When Marywas three years old, she was taken to thetemple by her parents.

Orthodox Holidays

stituency in Moscow and other major citieshas its theaters, cultural centers, and syna-gogues. In the southern regions there aremany Muslims. Catholics and Baptists arefound in central and northern Russia.Shamanism is widely practiced in Sakha(Yakutia) and parts of Siberia. There arealso numerous religious sects, but they arenot widely supported.

The Russian church and people veneratea large number of saints. On the religiousholiday of John the Baptist (birth and deathon 19 January and 7 July), the water of thechurch is blessed, and people also collecttap water in containers, as that water isthought to have special power. Many saintsare martyrs who have died for their faith.This is true for the children and wife ofAdrian of Rome, Sofia and her daughtersVera, Nadezhda, and Liubov (faith, hope,and love). They were tortured for theirChristian faith and died. Their day ismarked on 30 September, which is also thename day of all the Veras, Nadias, Liubas,and Sonias. A Roman consul and his daugh-ter Tatiana were burned at the stake fortheir Christian faith. Tatiana was blinded,given to a lion who did not touch her, thenexecuted in 226. Tatiana’s Day (Tatianin

den) is celebrated on 25 January, and she isthe patron of students, because Catherinethe Great signed the decree to found an im-perial university in Moscow on that day.Boris and Gleb (celebrated on 15 May, 6 Au-gust, and 18 September) were the firstsaints of the Russian church. They weremartyrs who died for their faith andshowed no resistance to evil.

Other saints have committed importantfeats for the church or their faith. Sergei ofRadonezh (1314–1392) was the founder ofthe Trinity–St. Sergius Monastery (Troitse-Sergieva lavra, or Troitse-Sergiev mona-

styr’) and is commemorated on 8 Octoberand 18 July. Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263)defended the Neva, and his remains arekept in the Alexander-Nevsky Monastery inPetersburg. His nameday is 12 September.Nikolai Mirlikisky is the saint whose leg-end is similar to Saint Nicholas, and he isremembered on 19 December (6 Decemberold style). Cyril and Methodius are markedon 27 February. Cyril (Kirill) and hisbrother created the first Slav (Cyrillic) al-phabet in 863. Today Cyril and Methodiusis also the name of an important online en-cyclopedia publisher. Georgi Pobedono-sets (9 December and 6 May) is the bearerof various legends. He is said to have beena warrior who defended the tsar’s daugh-ter, and a saint who died for his faith, aman who fought evil (represented by asnake). His image is a symbol of victoryover evil, and in the fourteenth century thefigure of St. George became the emblem ofMoscow.

Recently canonized figures include thepriest Johann of Kronstadt (1829–1908)and Xenia of Petersburg (remembered on 6January), who chose deliberate yurodstvo

in the eighteenth century when she becamea widow at the age of 26. She dressed like aman and renounced all worldly posses-sions. Her remains were laid to rest in theSmolensk cemetery in Petersburg, and shewas canonized in 1988. The icon painterAndrei Rublev, who lived in the fourteenthcentury in the Trinity St-Sergius Monastery,became a saint in 1988.

Rites and Rituals

Pagan Practices and Popular Beliefs

Although religious practice and the follow-ing of religious rules are increasingly com-mon in Russia, so is superstition. There are


different types of witches: the koldunia,

who passes her witchcraft to her grand-child; the vedma, who bewitches people;and the baba yaga, who appears in fairytales. Russian folk tradition believes inspirits. The leshy is the wood spirit; the vo-

dianoi resides in bogs and water; the do-

movoi is the house spirit; and the rusalka

is the spirit of the water, the unborn childof a maiden. There are also regional spirits,as for example the shelps, spirits of theUrals, which bring out the positive or nega-

tive features in any man who encountersthem.

People in modern Russia believe in for-tune-telling as much as their predecessorsdid in the nineteenth century. There is agreat demand for tarot, crystals, fortune-telling, but also for astrology and horo-scopes in newspapers and on television.This is largely owing to the complete ab-sence of any fortune-telling in the countryof socialist plans and Communist dreamsof party and state. The chain of Third Eye


Do not shake hands over the threshold.Sit down for a minute before a journey.If you return home because you have forgotten

something, look into the mirror beforeleaving again.

If a boy sits on the threshold, he won’t getmarried. If a girl sits on the windowsill, shewon’t get married.

Do not put keys on the table.If you wipe breadcrumbs off the table with your

hands, you’ll have no money.If the blanket falls down from the bed, a guest

will arrive soon.Don’t put a ruler on the bed: it means death.Put out a candle with two fingers; don’t blow it

out.Open scissors or an open safety pin means a

quarrel.Do not splash water from your hands; the

drops spread little devils.Don’t use somebody else’s towel.Wipe the floor away from the threshold, not

toward it.When you can’t find something, tie a kerchief

(preferably red) to the leg of the table andcall the house spirit for help.

If you give a mirror as a present, the recipientmust wipe it with holy water.

When you give somebody scissors as apresent, the person must pay a penny.

A broken mirror means disaster.If you wipe your eyes, you will cry soon.If you have itchy palms, it means money: if the

right palm itches you will get money; the leftpalm means you will give money.

Cross your fingers when praising yourself orwishing good luck.

If you step on somebody’s foot, it meanstrouble. The person should step back onyour foot to avoid it.

Only spit over your left shoulder. Over yourright shoulder is your guardian angel.

To protect yourself from the “bad eye,” wearmetal.

A thread on a girl’s dress means she will getmarried.

If a knife falls from the table, a man will come;if a fork falls, the guest is a woman.

If you don’t recognize somebody, he’ll be rich.When giving an empty vessel (cup, bowl) as a

gift, put a chocolate or a coin inside so asnot to give something empty.

Always give an uneven number of flowers.

Superstitions of Everyday Life

shops, selling anything from aromatherapyand herbs to card and glass balls, prospersacross the country.

Names Many Russian children weregiven names of Greek origin, such as Anas-tasia (resurrected), Galina (quiet), Gennadi(benevolent), or Anatoli (eastern). A fewnames were of Latin origin. In the twenti-eth century, Slavic names remained ex-tremely popular, such as Bogdan (given byGod), Boris or Borislav (brave fighter),Lada (pagan goddess of love), Liubov (loveor charity), Liudmila (dear to the people),Nadezhda (hope), Vera (faith), Svetlana(light), Sviatoslav (saintly Slav), Vladimir(ruler over the world). In the last decade ofthe twentieth century, Russian names thathad been popular in the nineteenth centurycame back into fashion, especially Daria(Dasha) and Glafira (Glasha).

An odd reminder of the Soviet era are the“Soviet” names Vilen (V. I. Lenin), Marlen(Marx-Lenin), Vladlen (Vladimir Lenin),Ninel (Lenin read backward), Dekabrin/a(in honor of the Decembrists), Noyabrin/aand Oktriabrin/a (in honor of the Revolu-tion, October or November). The actressNonna Mordiukova is called Noyabrina(Nonna); Alexei Balabanov’s patronymic isOktriabrinovich, meaning that his father iscalled Oktriabrin. Other names were Liut-siya (derived from Revoliutsiya, revolution)and Neya (derived from Energiya, energy).These people have no saints, clearly, andwere born at a time when christenings toowere replaced by civil (red) ceremonies.

Fashion

As fashion was considered a bourgeoispastime, it had no place in Soviet ideology.

Fashion designers became “costume artists”after the Revolution. Many avant-gardeartists tried to bring a new style and newforms into dress conventions; one of thesewas Popova with her proz-odezhda, her in-dustry wear. As with many of her fellowartists, however, her pursuits remained re-stricted to the “higher” arts, the stage, andnever went into mass production. Never-theless, the 1920s saw some of Russia’smost extravagant costumes designed forthe silver screen, such as Alexandra Exter’soutfits for Aelita. One woman has left a re-markable trace on Soviet fashion and madethe transition from Russian to Soviet fash-ion: Nadezhda Lamanova (1861–1941) wasthe first recognized Russian modelier anddesigner. She set up her own workshop in1885 in order to support her sisters aftertheir parents had died. After the Revolu-tion, fashion boutiques were regarded withsuspicion, and Lamanova went to work atthe Vakhtangov Theater, where she madethe costumes for Yevgeni Vakhtangov’s leg-endary opening show of Princess Turan-

dot. In 1925 her dresses were shown at theInternational Exhibition in Paris. In the1920s and 1930s, Lamanova also made nu-merous costumes for films, such as Aelita

(1924) and Circus (1934). Her uniquemethod of design on the client rather thanon paper, draping textiles around themodel, became a widespread innovation.Lamanova’s impact on Russian fashion de-sign should not be underestimated, and it isno surprise that the first Russian fashionaward established when fashion becameagain an occupation for designers and notartists was named after her.

After the Revolution, fashion became ei-ther an art form or else the production ofdress turned into an industrial activity. De-sign was therefore taught at technical col-


leges and institutes, from which studentsgraduated as graphic designers, designers,or constructors; or at theater and filmschools, where students turned into cos-tume designers (khudozhniki). The wordmodelier almost disappeared. This rigiddivision between art and dress has had along-term effect on the status of fashion de-sign in Russia today. One comment fre-quently made about the haute couture col-lections as well as prêt-à-porter is theirunwearability. More and more fashion de-signers have trained under a new systemand gained experience abroad, however, sothat gradually Russian designers are pro-ducing wearable collections.

Even though the Soviet period witnessedfashion shows and exhibitions, the Sovietstyle always looked conventional and tradi-tional, strict in form and lacking innovation.Yet what designers presented at these exhi-bitions never went into mass production.Most people actually wore clothes that wereold-fashioned in shape and of poor quality;the exception was the party elite, who hadaccess to better designs. Fur played a pecu-liar role in Soviet fashion: because of the cli-mate in the Soviet Union, fur coats were noluxury, but a necessity. In the late 1990s afur coat (not fashionable, not extravagant,but warm) could be purchased for as littleas $100. The Soviet Union ran a House ofModels (Dom modelei) in Moscow andLeningrad. Natalia Makarova directed theMoscow House of Models on KuznetskyMost; the Leningrad House was located onNevsky 21. These houses had designer col-lectives that prepared collections for shows,but few of the designs went into production.They were for models, not for the people,and fashion was a myth, not a commodity.

The sale of Western clothes throughfartsovshchiki (illegal dealers, black market

traders) was widespread in the Soviet era.Clothes were difficult to come by, andmany items, such as Western jeans, thesheepskin coat (dublenka), or shoes, werebest purchased in this way. And sincemany people had money, but there was lit-tle to buy in the shops, even such thingswere affordable to many. This explainsalso the astonishment of people when theyencountered the exact inverse in marketcapitalism: the abundance of goods and thelack of money.

The German-based journal Burda, whichoffers sewing patterns, was a sought-afterpublication in the late 1980s. Many peoplecould sew and fabric was available, butthere was a shortage of designs and a lackof ideas. Burda therefore launched a Rus-sian edition fairly early on in the pere-stroika era. People began to develop adesire to dress well, but they lacked expe-rience in style. Having for decades wornvatniki (warm and formless padded jack-ets), donned valenki (felt boots) in winterto plow through masses of snow, andwrapped their heads in platoks (headscarves) or worn ushankas (fur hats withearflaps), clearly a sense of style did notcome easily. In fact, the new sense of stylewent to the other extreme, in the sensethat even today many Russian women wearevening dresses in the street and walk onhigh-heeled shoes, clearly not suited foreveryday wear and tear. They went over tothe extreme of dressing in style rather thanin what is practical, wearable, suitable, andappropriate. This trend is also echoed insome designer collections.

If Lamanova maintained standards offashion in the early Soviet era, then a majorcontribution to the reputation of Sovietdress was made by Viacheslav (Slava) Zait-sev. Zaitsev came from Ivanovo, where he


had trained as a craftsman in printing andpainting fabric. In 1965 he joined the Houseof Models in Moscow and remained therefor 13 years, heading the fashion designsection. He was disturbed by the fact thatthe designs did not make their way intoproduction, however, and so he left tofound a workshop. In 1979 he also startedteaching at the Technical Institute. In 1980he designed the official uniforms for theRussian Olympic team, and in 1991 he re-designed the Russian police uniforms.When the Moscow Fashion House (Dommody) on Prospekt Mira opened in 1982,Zaitsev headed it and became its directorin 1988; in the same year he became amember of the Maison de Couture in Paris.During perestroika his garments were

worn by the intelligentsia and the partyelite alike. In 1992 he launched the per-fume range Marusia. Zaitsev has workedfor European prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear,as opposed to haute couture) companies.In 1994 he started a competition for youngdesigners under the flagship of the greatRussian modelier Nadezhda Lamanova.Since 1994 there have been Weeks of HauteCouture in Moscow, and special RussianFashion Weeks are held in spring everyyear. In the first Haute Couture Week(Nedelia vysokoi mody), Andrei Sharovand Valentin Yudashkin represented Russiaalong with Inga Filippova and Irina Selit-skaya. In the second competition, Zaitsevwon the award, the Golden Mannequin,and Irina Krutikova took the award a yearlater.

Zaitsev’s collections include a variety oftheme-based shows, which always indicatehis perception of the present (Millenniumof the Christianization of Russia, 1988; Rus-sian Seasons in Paris, 1988; Agony of Pere-stroika, 1991; Recollections of the Future,1996–1997). Zaitsev’s collections are char-acterized by generous forms, and the deco-rative element is important. The garmentsincorporate a classical component whileaiming at the business world with trousersuits. Zaitsev usually emphasizes the waist-line in his creations, which are essentiallymodern in form, with a decor element ei-ther as accessory or in print that make thegarment typically Russian. His black velvetcoats were a fashion hit in the early 1990s.His evening dresses integrate Russian folkelements into the design. He also occasion-ally works for the theater, as for examplewhen he designed the costumes for The

Cherry Orchard at the Sovremennik, star-ring the great Alisa Freindlikh and MarinaNeyolova.


A model of Slava Zaitsev’s collection. Zaitsev is

strongly influenced by the Russian style for the

accessories of his garments. (Photo by Valery

Melnikov/Kommersant)

What Slava Zaitsev has done for fashion,Irina Krutikova has done for the design offur coats, an essential part of Russiandress. She is often referred to as the “furqueen.” Having studied in the Soviet era atthe Berlin Art School, Krutikova returnedto Russia to develop a new technique forthe mass production of fur and innovationsin the way in which fur was used. In 1967her first collection was presented at a fash-ion festival, and it was the first time an au-thor collection was exhibited from the So-viet Union. In 1992 Krutikova, who is apermanent guest of the Frankfurt fur fair,was awarded the State Prize.

Haute Couture

Valentin Yudashkin has his boutique on Ku-tuzov Prospekt 19. His boutique is not in

central Moscow on the main arteries (Ar-bat, Nikitskaya, Tverskaya, Dmitrovka,Petrovka, Neglinnaya, and Miasnitskaya),which are all inside the Garden Ring(Sadovoe koltso), but across the bridgefrom the center. Kutuzov Prospekt used tohouse a number of embassy accommoda-tion complexes and foreign television stu-dios and was the main road to the districtswhere the party elite had their accommo-dation.

Yudashkin has been a member of theSyndicat of Haute Couture (Paris) since1996. His workshop was founded in 1987,and his Fashion House (Dom mody) fol-lowed in 1991. Yudashkin tends to presenthis collections first in Paris, before theyparticipate in the Haute Couture shows inMoscow. As he refrained from opening a


Couturier Valentin Yudashkin walks along the podium during the final ceremony of the Ninth Haute

Couture Week at the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow in 2002. (Photo by Valery Melnikov/Kommersant)

boutique in France, he had to drop out ofthe Paris fashion shows in 2000 and hassince demonstrated his collections at theMilan fashion week. Yudashkin’s collec-tions are usually centered around a histori-cal theme that inspires the entire collectionand signals very clearly style and form aswell as color and material. Many of the cre-ations of the early years were acquired bymuseums in Russia (the Anna Karenina col-lection was acquired by the Historical Mu-seum) and abroad (among others, in theLouvre). The Fabergé collection (1991) wasparticularly noteworthy for the dressesmade in the shape of Fabergé eggs. Oftencollections are inspired by contemporaryevents, such as the Fin de Siècle (1999), theJourney from Moscow to Petersburg (2003)to mark the 300th anniversary of St. Peters-burg, or the collection 2001 Night, associat-ing the year 2001 with tales of 1,001 nightsand creating the eastern magic of the Ara-bian nights in richly embroidered dresses.The Moscow–St. Petersburg collection con-sisted of colorful garments in shiny mate-rial, with frills, applications, and embroi-dery, bordering on the carnivalesque.Corsets (2003–2004) was essentially ablack-and-white collection closely follow-ing the body contours while leaving largeslits or using frilly transparent ornaments atthe sides or on the shoulders to break awayfrom the strict lines. The summer collectionwas in olive and light blue, using parts ofbustiers and corsets as decor. In the 2004Deco collection, dress functions as decor,not garment. Yudashkin received theGolden Mannequin in 1997.

Yudashkin uses exclusive fabrics, includ-ing fur, and rich decorative embroidery. Hedraws on historical Russian themes and isinspired by folk traditions, visual art, andarchitecture alike for colors and forms. His

forms are influenced by European fashionhistory and trends, however. His Russianbead embroidery is world-famous. He em-ploys 250 staff and has showrooms inFrance and Italy as well as boutiques inRussia. He creates haute couture and prêt-à-porter collections as well as shoes, ac-cessories, perfume, and jewelry. There isalso a new, “young line” under the label VY,and he has begun designing china and sil-ver for a “home line.” Yudashkin designedthe Olympic uniform for the Russian na-tional team in 1994 and 1996 as well as thestaff uniforms for the Ukraina Hotel,Moscow, and for Aeroflot Russian Interna-tional Airlines. The use of fur in fashion de-sign was boosted in Russia after several de-signers attended a workshop organized in1999 by Saga Furs in their international de-sign center in Copenhagen, showing waysof coloring and shaving fur.

Igor Chapurin is one of the most success-ful Moscow designers. In 1992 he took partin the International Festival of Young De-signers and won the competition organizedby Nina Ricci. He then turned to makingevening dresses for models in beauty com-petitions, before presenting his first collec-tion at the Metropol Hotel in 1995, called ToRussia with Love. In the collection he useda special style of embroidery that combinesbeads, corals, and gold. The actress TatianaVasilieva was among the mannequins pre-senting the collection, which boosted itsprofile. In the following year Chapurin wasinvited to join the Association of HauteCouture (Paris). While working for the Ital-ian fashion house Galitzine, he also pre-sented his own collections and created out-fits for television presenters and figures ofthe artistic world, including the actress AllaDemidova. Chapurin’s collections show acompromise between a desire for commer-


cial viability and recognition as well asartistic originality. Chapurin’s style is quiteEuropean-oriented. He prefers taffeta,linen, and silk and keeps to rather coldhues of pink, green, bordeaux, and bluewith a platinum and bronze effect. Cha-purin innovated the role of computer de-sign to print on fabric, introducing Russiato a new technology. He characteristicallyuses unusual materials or combines themin a new way; thus, he combined fur withchiffon and crepe georgette, or straw(1998). Chapurin has a boutique on Myas-nitskaya Street and a second one in theBerlin House, a shopping mall on PetrovkaStreet and Kuznetsky Most. Chapurin twicereceived the Golden Mannequin, in 1998and 2002. In his 2002 collection, the colorsbeige, gray, and black dominated, andfeathery parts broke the otherwise straightand classical lines. Chapurin also usedrings to string together part of the material.

Chapurin created the dresses for OlegMenshikov’s first independent productionof Woe from Wit (Gore ot uma, 1999), con-sisting of almost exaggerated versions ofhistorical costumes of the early nineteenthcentury. In Menshikov’s second produc-tion, The Kitchen (Kukhnia), based onMaxim Kurochkin’s contemporary playwith echoes and references to the Nibelun-gen myth, Chapurin created modern outfitsmade from leather, wool, and metal thatcarried a medieval simplicity. His researchfor this production inspired his later collec-tion, which drew on the wildness of thenorth and the history of the Vikings. Cha-purin also worked on the costumes for theunfinished film Vocal Parallels (Vokal’nyeparallaly, 1997) with the director and de-signer Rustam Khamdamov, whose senseof style has influenced many contemporaryart-house filmmakers.

In his collection Frenchwoman in theEast (2001), Chapurin combined Europeancontent with Eastern forms. This collec-tion was largely in brown, beige, and goldtones that reflected the desert; materialsincluded the lightweight fabric organza andsuede, combined with local and regionalmaterial such as horsehair and muslin. Hiscollection Les Folies Arlésiennes (2001–2002) clearly drew on van Gogh’s paintingsof the Arles period, bright in colors and us-ing semitransparent materials as well asfur. The collection Serenade of the Sun-shine Valley (2002–2003) was inspired bythe Hollywood musical and told a tale ofjazz music and neoromanticism on the cat-walk, accompanied by the tunes of GlennMiller. The models were all of earthy colorsand used the forms and shapes of the fash-ion styles of the 1940s.

Tatiana Parfionova is an established de-signer from St. Petersburg. She opened herboutique on Nevsky 51 in 1995 after tenyears of practicing as a designer. She pro-duces two seasonal and two mid-seasoncollections. After winning a competition ofyoung designers in 1989 in London, she hasdesigned clothes on a professional basis.More important for her career was theSafron collection (1995–1996) presented inVilnius, where she received the GoldenButton award from Paco Rabanne. In 1996her collection, Marat’s Mountain, waspartly acquired by the Russian Museum,which exhibits a unique dress, consistingof 74 parts. In 1997 Parfionova participatedin international fashion shows. In the col-lection Demonstration (1998), she used thered figures of Henri Matisse’s paintings ofThe Dancers and embroidered them onfabric with silk thread. Her interest in vi-sual art of the nineteenth and twentiethcenturies is a distinctive feature of her pat-


terns for printing and embroidery. She alsobrought back the silk armband that used tobe worn by office workers in the nine-teenth century as a fashion accessory. Forthe 1999 Tourmaline collection, she chosethe theme of multiethnicity, combining ele-ments of national Buryat, Tatar, and Chu-vash costume in a collection made of silk,cotton, and wool. All fabrics were hand-colored in red terracotta and gold colorsand richly decorated with glass beads. Thecollection Colorist of 2002 used bright col-ors on silk, creating stark impressions withsimple forms. In 2004 her collection wasdominated by red, black, and white, asfrills were applied to otherwise plain sim-ple forms.

Parfionova has a clearly modern stylethat shows no nostalgia for the heritage ofthe city of St. Petersburg, where she

works. She makes elegant fashion with aslight hint of hooliganism, eccentricity, theextraordinary. Her collections are made tobe worn rather than shown, and manyshow business figures from Moscow andPetersburg wear garments by Parfionova.She also designed the uniforms for the staffat the Hotel Europe (1998) and theMoscow Kempinski Balchug (1999), wherea contemporary, but classical, style was re-quired. Moreover, she designed the cos-tumes for Igor Maslennikov’s film The Win-

ter Cherry (Zimniaia vishnia) and forVladimir Bortko’s The Circus Burnt and

All the Clowns Have Left (Tsirk sgorel, avse klouny razbezhalis’), both made in thelate 1990s. She received the Golden Man-nequin in 1999.

Viktoria Andreyanova has her boutiqueon Petrovka 19, where she sells her label


Viktoria Andreyanova and models with her design of new Aeroflot uniforms. (Photo by Vasily


VA. Her early collections were inspired byher knowledge of South Asian fabrics andher visit to Scottish tweed factories, aswell as a seminar attended at Saga FursScandinavia. Since 2001 she has also madeprêt-à-porter collections, and in 2002 shedesigned the uniforms for the Ararat HyattHotel staff. She debuted as a costume de-signer in her brother-in-law AlexanderStrizhenov’s film Fall Up (Upast’ vverkh,2001); her younger sister Katia Strizhenovais an actress. Andreyanova also worked onseveral commercial theater productionsand dresses the ORT presenter AndreiMalakhov; the actor Georgi Taratorkin andthe clip-maker Yuri Grymov are also amongher customers. She was awarded theGolden Mannequin in 2000 and 2001.

Andreyanova’s collections are entirelywearable. In the collection The TravelingAristocrat (1997), she alluded to forms anddecor of the 1920s aristocracy in a range ofgarments made from gray tweed materialwith traditional fur collars. Snow Woman(1998) was held in beige, white, and blackand underlined feminine and flowingforms. Happy End (1999) again remainedin black, gray, and white while followingthe 1950s style with short and plain dressand longer coats as well as tulip-shapedskirts or garments with a diagonal hemline. Careful, a Woman! (2000) was a color-ful collection, using straight geometricalforms to create an asymmetry that did notunderline feminine forms at all. Census(2002), which reminded of the census thattook place in the same year, used printedtextiles and focused largely on the black-and-white color range. Her collectionSouth Pole (2004) again used bright colors,such as yellow, orange, and green, com-bined with flower applications and pat-terned fabrics.

Fashion Design

Although Yudashkin, Chapurin, andParfionova are the best-known Russian de-signers, both at home and in the West,there are a number of other designers whohave made an impact on fashion in a moregeneral way.

Andrei Sharov is a painter and theaterdesigner who is probably best known forthe costumes he created for the produc-tions of Andrei Zhitinkin, Oleg Fomin, andSergei Vinogradov. Through the designs intheir shows, which were intended for alarge audience and created on a commer-cial or semicommercial basis and involvingstar actors, Sharov gained a reputation andwon the prestigious Seagull (Chaika)award for his costumes for My Dear

Friend (Milyi drug, 1997). He made thedresses for The Adventures of Felix Krull,

staged by Zhitinkin at the Tabakov Studioand starring Sergei Bezrukov, as well asAlexander Domogarov in Zhitinkin’s Nijin-

sky (1998) and The Portrait of Dorian

Gray (2000). Sharov, who never graduatedfrom his course at the Moscow TechnicalInstitute, made a career in the fashionworld (a boutique in the Smolensky Pas-sage) and now teaches at Slava Zaitsev’sschool. Sharov created his style with theuse of clocks and safety pins.

In his first fashion show Tack Tick(1994), he decorated his dresses lavishlywith clocks and safety pins. The collectionQueen of Waste (1994) used parts of win-dows, sugar spoons, metal rings, and doorhandles for decorations, and the collectionNot Everything’s That Easy simply usedbuttons. Sharov used leather and reptileskin, elements of armor and amber onblack and shiny materials as well as fabricsof bright primary colors. Sharov’s trade-mark, however, remains the safety pin. His


more wearable collection, Taisia (1996),consisted of puffed skirts in aniline colors,complemented with shoes with extra longnoses. Great and Small Human Weak-nesses (1997) used metal elements such asknives and forks to form the shape or con-struction of the dress. This Is All for You(1999) was made from material used inRussian crafts, such as birch and Orenburglace. Zoo-room used animal patterns andsuch fabrics as ostrich skin and antelopeleather. From 2001 on, his collections be-came more industrial, especially with thelaunch of Bureau 365, a prêt-à-porter col-lection made largely from linen, denim,silk, and cotton and using bright colors andsimple forms. The collection Bonnie andColt (2002) was inspired by the Hollywoodof the 1940s, combining leather and fur(polar fox and mink) to create the chic ofthe Chicago-gangster style with its roman-tic view of the criminal world.

Andrei Bartenev is a fashion designerand performance artist. His performancesand displays demonstrate eccentric and ex-travagant costumes of a challenging andprovocative nature that inspire the ob-server to think about dress. His displays of-ten accompany large public events, such astheater or film festivals. He also created thecostumes for the Novosibirsk theater pro-duction of Witold Gombrowicz’s Ivonna,

Princess of Burgundy (1996), staged byOleg Rybkin. His costumes have been ex-hibited in the Tretiakov Gallery (1993) andthe Pushkin Museum (1997) as well as theVictoria and Albert Museum, London(1996–1997). Natasha Naftaliyeva foundeda theater of fashion (1989) and has been en-gaged in her own fashion house since 1992.She creates mainly evening and weddingdresses made predominantly from leather.

Katia Leonovich is a designer who paintsher creations; she is based in Italy.

Razu Mikhina (Daria Razumikhina) pre-sented her collection Paradigm in 1999.Having studied in London, she works forboutiques, including Liberty, as well as theRussian fashion chain Podium. She usesRussian materials, such as lace and folkribbons, and also purchases her silk fromthe Russian cloth factory Krasnaya Roza.Her 2001 collection Dotted Line combinedelements of world religion. Since 2001, hercollections have clearly tended toward acountry-style look, with No. 5 containingstripes as found in Norwegian sweaters.She uses linen stripes to create patterns,and as the dresses and skirts becomelonger, there are frills and laces of theLaura Ashley style. Resume (2003) inte-grated Russian folk patterns into forms ofcountry style in the European manner.

Julia Dalakian has run her own work-shop and the label D-Julia since 1996. Her2000 collection consisted of loose gar-ments, often transparent fabrics. Her 2001collection All You Need Is Love and MeAgain presented loose trouser suits andtransparent dresses, blouses with large dé-colletés, made from materials in black,white, and beige-yellow. In 2004 Dalakianused strings to create a blouse, rings tohold the material together, combined withslit skirts and hot pants. Her collectionshave a sexy, hippie touch while remainingsophisticated in the choice of fabric andthe color schemes.

Irina Selitskaya is a designer who spe-cializes in shoes and works with leather tocreate accessories. The former art directorof the shoe department of the Model Housein Moscow founded her own company anda design school after the collapse of the So-


viet Union. Her shoe collections are usedby Yudashkin and Sharov in their fashionshows. In 1994 she used fish skin for thefirst time, with a new patent discovered toproduce this fabric. Selitskaya also designsfashion.

Liudmila Dobrokhotova from Tula beganher career in a knitwear factory. She thencreated designer collections, before mov-ing from machine knitting to hand knittingand setting up her own company. Althoughshe has international contracts, she re-mains based in Tula. Dobrokhotova’s knit-ted dress with themes and motifs of Rus-sian life, decorated with bells (1999),received special attention, and in the sameyear she won the special prize in the Lama-nova competition for her collection Mirror-land. She uses thin ribbons of fur or stripsof material (silk, linen, chiffon) for herknitting. Her collection Reportage (2001)was made from chiffon strips, sewn to-gether or providing the thread for knitwearin silk, wool, and fur while remaining inwhite and pale colors.

VASSA is a company with a designer’sconcept. Vassa studied in Moscow and wassent to Virginia on an exchange program in1990, before moving to New York, whereshe worked for Fashion Source Interna-tional for several years while also studyingmerchandising. Her first collection waspresented in New York in 1996, and it waspurchased by Manhattan boutiques. In1997 Vassa presented her collection inMoscow. After her following collectionwas shown in the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs, she set up the Vassa company andopened Russian branches with ViacheslavGranovsky. Granovsky had worked atUzbekfilm as a costume designer, beforeworking for Neiman Marcus in the United

States and returning to Russia in 1994.Vassa is one of the most widely availabledesigner brands, sold in more than half adozen stores in Moscow in a high-tech inte-rior, at affordable prices.

VQ (Vladimir Perepelkin) worked in thetextile industry in Europe and North Amer-ica before setting up business in Moscow.He has worked for the Moscow Youth The-ater, creating historical costumes for theirperformances, as well as working with theBolshoi, the Helicon Opera, and the NewOpera. He uses fur, leather, and fabric. Al-though his collections of 2001 and 2002were based on a play with bright and in-tense colors, his collection Farces (2002)was essentially black, classical in style butusing the magic of Eastern forms. BothVassa and VQ, with their experience ofWestern markets, create highly wearableand marketable collections. Down thescale from their collections remains thecheap and reasonably fashionable knit-wear of Vladimir Zubtsev’s Paninter.

Natalia Drigant studied in France andfounded her own fashion house with her fa-ther, an economist. She offers haute cou-ture, prêt-à-porter, and a young line. Hercollections usually reveal the naked bodyunder loose warps and tulle, and longerdresses tend to follow a straight bodyline.She almost seems to bare women’s lingerieand corsages to semicover them throughher creations. Nina and Donis (Nina Nere-tina and Donis Pupis) create collectionsthat have an effect of deliberate careless-ness, using ribbons. The collection of blackdresses with an application of poppies cre-ated a storm in the press, not because ofthe costume but because they sent invita-tions with poppy seeds, and one paper sentthis for an anthrax test. Inga Filippova


worked with Slava Zaitsev on the knitwearcollection. She also works on graphic de-sign for greeting cards and book design andleads a fashion column in the newspaperMoskovskaya Pravda. In 1996 she estab-lished her own fashion label. YelenaMakashova set up a label of Shirpotreb(Mass Production), which sells more than15,000 garments per year. Tatiana Beliakov-skaya has worked at Mosfilm on costumedesign but creates black evening dressesunder her own label. Alisa Tolkacheva is adesigner and image maker who works forshow business people such as AngelicaVarum and Tatiana Bulanova. The Kiev-born graphic designer launched her owncollections: Wild Swans (2001) used coarsesilk and sand grass colors. Irina Zima cre-ates collections made from old materialsand dresses. In her 2001 collection she wasinspired by Portobello Road in her style ofthe 1950s and 1960s. In 2002 she used ele-ments of the nineteenth century.

Models Even if we may want to associ-ate modeling with the Western markets,there were fashion models in the SovietUnion. Indeed, this was a highly prestigiousjob, as it involved international travel. Film-maker Nikita Mikhalkov’s second wife, Ta-tiana, worked as a model before their mar-riage, and she remains associated with thefashion world to the present day. The So-viet Union knew no proper cover girls or“faces” for perfume, cosmetic, or fashion la-bels, however. In 1989, as the consumer in-dustry began to emerge in Russia, TatianaKoltseva founded the Red Star ModelAgency, which later represented Elite Mod-els in the CIS. In 1994 the agency started toprepare models for the Elite Model Lookcompetition, and in the same year NataliaSemanova took first place. She made a ca-

reer as a model, appearing on numerouseditions of glossy journals and advertisingEscada, Armani, and Yves Saint Laurent. Inthe following year Irina Bondarenko wonsecond place in the Elite Model Look. In1996 Diana Kovalchuk gained the firstprize. She subsequently adorned interna-tional editions of the glossy fashion maga-zines. The agency represents the highest-rated models, who appear on the covers ofRussian and international editions of theglossy magazines and make internationalcareers. They include Liudmila Isayeva, thewife of the hockey player Vladimir Mala-khov and model for Guerlain and Escada;and the St. Petersburger Olga Pantiushen-kova, who has featured on Vogue, Elle,

Marie-Claire, and L’Officiel and repre-sented Dior and Shiseido; she is also the“face” of Cacharel’s Eden perfume. RedStar collaborated with the Moscow HauteCouture weeks.

Another agency is Modus VivendiS, es-tablished in 1992 and headed by Elena Er-molaeva. The agency works with Westernclients and provides models for fashionshows. Their models appear more in Rus-sian-language editions of glossy journals,however, such as XXL, Ona/She, Yes, Oops,

Krestianka. Although Modus VivendiSruns a school for models as well, the main“visagiste” (makeup stylist) is Lev Novikov,who has worked with Igor Chapurin andother designers.

Fashion is still very much an art and de-sign business in Russia, rather than an ex-ercise that leads to the creation of clothesfor the wider population. It is often stillcheaper to buy foreign rather than Russianlabels. There is nothing but Pan-inter formass consumption, whereas Russian de-signers have worked on haute couture, andonly a few have created lines for the con-


sumer. Only the VASSA collection is reallyaffordable at around $100 per item. Thegap is with the mass market, where peoplestill purchase inferior-quality garments atmarkets while beginning to realize thatquality clothes last longer.

Consumer Future

The development of consumer culture haschanged Russian culture most profoundly.Although it may have been possible to talkabout “popular” culture in the Soviet erawith reference to those things that were indemand but unavailable or that were notnurtured by Soviet ideology, in the lastdecade of the twentieth century Russianswere exposed to the full range of consumerculture and gradually formed a taste forthings they like, want, and desire. Russianculture stood on its head, turning the un-derground into popular entertainment;trashing Soviet forms of culture throughparody, mockery, and anecdotes; and creat-ing new cultural values. These are nolonger aimed at raising the level of educat-edness but at entertaining, relaxing, andamusing.

A to Z

Andreyanova, Viktoria: Designer (labelVA) with her own boutique on Petrovka 19.In 1984 she graduated from the theaterschool MTXTU (Moscow Technical Artis-tic-Theatrical Institute, Moskovskii tekh-nicheskii khudozhestvenno-teatral’nyi in-stitut), doing her diploma work for a showat the Malyi Theater. In 1989 graduatedfrom the textile academy. Extensive stays

in Singapore and Indonesia during 1991. In1992 she founded the firm Victoria A. Hercollections have included Traveling Aristo-crat (1997), Snow Woman (Snezhnaia baba,1998), Happy End (1999), and Careful, aWoman (2000). In 2002 she designed theuniforms for the Ararat Hyatt staff. [www.niv.ru]

Bekmambetov, Timur: b. 1961 in Kaza-khstan. Studied art and design and gradu-ated from the Tashkent College for TheaterDesign (1987). Worked as designer withTashkent’s Ilkhom Theater. Moved toMoscow, where he worked as film directorand clip-maker. He directed, with GennadiKayumov, the film Peschawar Waltz (Pe-shavarskii val’ts, 1994) about the Afghanwar. He made advertisements, among oth-ers for Bank Imperial and Alfa Bank.[www.bazelevs.ru] He is the general direc-tor of Imperial Film and the film studioTabbak. In 2000 he made the film The

Arena (Gladiatriksy). In 2004 he madeNight Watch, the first Russian blockbusterto reach a box office (more than $12 mil-lion in 18 days) that was higher than that ofU.S. films. [www.dozorfilm.ru]

Chapurin, Igor: b. 1968. Fashion designer.Boutiques on Miasnitskaya Street (1999)and in Berlin House (2002). Graduatedfrom Vitebsk Technical School and in 1991from the Vitebsk Technical Institute. In1992 won competition of young designersin Paris. In 1995 presented his first collec-tion at the Metropol Hotel: To Russia withLove. Since 1996 member of the Associa-tion of Haute Couture, Paris. Collections:Chapurin 96, Chapurin 97. From 1996 to1998 designed for Galitzine (Italy). Cos-tumes for theater productions in Moscow.Since 1999, also jewelry. Collections:


Frenchwoman in the East (2001); LesFolies Arlésiennes (2001–2002); Futurethrough the Present (2003); Serenade ofthe Sunshine Valley (2003). [www.niv.ru]

Easter (paskha): Easter is the main cele-bration of the Orthodox church. The dateof the holiday moves according to themoon calendar and is calculated on the ba-sis of the Julian (not the Gregorian) calen-dar. Therefore orthodox Easter does notnormally coincide with Christian Easter.Easter Dates: 1 May 2005, 23 April 2006, 8April 2007, 27 April 2008, 19 April 2009, 4April 2010. The Easter celebrations are pre-ceded by the Great Fast, when peopleshould abstain from meat and dairy prod-ucts. The resurrection of Christ is cele-brated at church with a night service, lead-ing the community round the church andgreeting with the words: “Christ hasrisen.”—“He has truly risen.” Since Easteris the most important and brightest holi-day, the Easter service is one of the mostbeautiful church services in orthodoxy,when almost all candles and lights inchurches are lit. The Sunday is markedwith coloured Easter eggs; the kulich, aplain cake with raisins; and the paskha, acheesecake with raisins.

Lamanova, Nadezhda (1861–1941): Bornin Nizhny Novgorod, she opened her firstworkshop in 1885 in Moscow. By 1901 sheworked for the tsar. In 1919 she beganteaching at VKHUTEMAS (Vysshie gosu-darstvennye khudozhestvenno-tekhnich-eskie masterskie, Higher Artistic-technicalWorkshops). She married the actor YuriKayurov, who later returned to his originalcareer as lawyer. In 1921 she joined theVakhtangov Theater as costume designer.

In 1925 her models participated in the In-ternational Exhibition in Paris. Lamanovamade numerous film costumes. She died asthe theater was evacuated from Moscowduring the war, suffering a heart attack asshe was seated on a bench in front of theBolshoi Theater.

MMM: Pyramid scheme of the early 1990srun by Sergei Mavrodi. The scheme col-lapsed, leaving many Russians withouttheir pay-out in the early days of free enter-prise. The advertising campaign by BakhytKilibayev (b. 1958, scriptwriter for RashidNugmanov’s glasnost film The Needle,

1988) for MMM was one of the first originaland most successful for a Russian product.

Orthodoxy: Christian faith is representedin several religions: the Catholic, theProtestant, and the Orthodox Church arethree of the main Christian religions. Or-thodox faith arrived in Russia in 988, whichis the year of the “Christianization of Rus.”Russia subsequently had to defend its terri-tory and its faith against “barbarian” inva-sions by the Mongols and Tatars. OrthodoxChristians believe in the protective powerof icons as images that, like the words ofthe Bible, create a direct link with God.The veneration of icons in the orthodoxtradition contributed to the split betweenthe Western churches (Rome) and theEastern church (Constantinople). The Or-thodox Church separated from the Old Be-lievers (staroobriadtsy), who refrainedfrom modernization. In orthodoxy thechurch is a space where man comes closeto God, and His presence suggests the richdecoration of the church and the abun-dance of candle light to celebrate thiscloseness. Certain strands of Orthodox


thought also believe in the need for man tolead a humble and meek life, even to re-nounce possession, in order to be admittedto heaven after death. This is evident in theheroes of Dostoevsky’s novels and also inthe figure of the yurodovy, the fool-in-God.

Parfionova, Tatiana: b. 1956. Fashion de-signer, St. Petersburg. Boutique on Nevsky51. Studied painting at Serov school andthen graduated from Moscow Technical In-stitute; 1989 competition of young design-ers, London; 1995–1996 Safron presentedin Vilnius; Golden Button from Paco Ra-banne. Collections: Marat’s Mountain(1996); Lela, Lialia, Liusia (1996); Guards(1997); White Pavilion (1997); A Chinese inthe Courtyard (1997); Stepanida (1998);Demonstration (1998); Urban Details(1999); Female Usurper (1999); Another(1999); Tourmaline (1999); Rose and Rose(2001); Mushka (2001); Veratrek (2002),Colorist (2002). She designed the uniformfor staff at the Kempinski Balchug (1999)and Hotel Europe (1998). [www.niv.ru]

Mikhina Razu (Daria Razumikhina): Bornin Moscow, Daria Razumikhina studied atthe Moscow State University and received amaster’s degree before studying at St. Mar-tin’s College, London from 1995 to 1999. In1999 she presented her first collection ofprêt-à-porter, and in 2001 she participatedin the Haute Couture Weeks in Moscow.She works for boutiques such as Liberty(UK) and Podium (Moscow). [www.niv.ru]

Red Star: This model agency was foundedby Tatiana Koltseva in 1989 and representsElite Models in the CIS. Since 1994 theagency has run the Elite Model Look,which has produced numerous cover girls

for international editions of glossy journalsand for Western and Russian fashion andstyle. [www.redstarsmodels.ru]

Sharov, Andrei: b. 1966. Fashion designer,painter, theater designer. Boutique in Smo-lensk Passage opened in 2001. Sharov stud-ied at MTI (Moscow Technical Institute)without receiving a diploma. He hasworked extensively in the theater with An-drei Zhitinkin, Oleg Fomin, and SergeiVinogradov. In 1994 he presented his firstcollection, Tack Tick (dresses with clocksand safety pins). The collections Queen ofWaste (1994) and Not Everything’s ThatEasy (1994) followed. In 1995 the collec-tion Joke (Shutka) received third place inthe Lamanova competition. Other collec-tions have included Taisia (1996), Greatand Small Human Weaknesses (1997), ThisIs All for You (1999), Zoo-room (2001),Spring Challenge (2001), Leather Summer(2002), Bonnie and Colt (2002), Too Sec-ond (2002), and Autumn Challenge (2003).In 2002 he launched the prêt-à-porter labelBureau 365. [www.niv.ru]

VASSA: Fashion label. Vassa studied at theMTI (Moscow Technical Institute) and in1990 went to Virginia on an exchange pro-gram. Then she moved to New York, wherefor three years she worked for FashionSource and for Anne Klein, Calvin Klein,and Forecast America. She also workedwith Federated, Inc. In 1996 she presentedher first collection in Soho in New YorkCity, and the collection was subsequentlysold in Manhattan boutiques. In 1997 shepresented a collection in Moscow and soonthereafter opened a Russian branch. In1999 the Vassa Company was set up, andby 2000 there were five shops in Moscow


with a high-tech interior design and includ-ing a store in GUM. [www.vassatrend.ru]

Yudashkin, Valentin: b. 1963. Boutique onKutuzovsky 19. Since 1996 member of theSyndicate of Haute Couture, Paris. Foundedhis own workshop in 1987 and opened hisfashion house in 1991. Collections: EarlyRus (1987); Peter’s Ball (1988); Fabergé(1991); Music (1992); Nature Morte (1993);Frescoes (1994); Catherine the Great(1994); Ballet (1995); Birds of Paradise(1996); Silent Cinema (1996–1997); RussianModerne (1998); Anna Karenina (1998–1999); Fin de Siècle (1999); Show Me Love(1999–2000); Impressionists (2000); Byzan-tine (2000–2001); Night (2001); Journeyfrom Moscow to Petersburg (2003); Corsets(2003–2004); Deco (2004). Design of Olym-pic uniform (1994 and 1996). Design of staffuniforms for the Ukraina Hotel, Moscow,and for Aeroflot International fleet. YoungCollection VY.

Zaitsev, Viacheslav (Slava): b. 1938 inIvanovo. He trained as a craftsman in print-ing and painting fabric. In 1965 he joinedthe House of Models in Moscow and re-mained there for 13 years, heading thefashion design section. He left in 1978 toset up his own fashion label. In 1979 healso started teaching at the Technical Insti-tute. In 1980 he designed the official uni-forms for the Russian Olympic team, and in1991 he redesigned the Russian police uni-forms. In 1982 the Moscow Fashion Houseopened on Prospekt Mira, headed by Zait-sev, who became its director in 1988. In1988 he became a member of the Maisonde Couture in Paris. In 1992 he launchedthe perfume range Marusia. Zaitsev re-mains an important designer in contempo-rary Moscow. [www.zaitsev.ru]

Bibliography

Azhgikhna, Nadezhda. “Russian Club Life.”Studies in Twentieth Century Literature 24,no. 1 (Winter 2000): 169–191.

Borenstein, Eliot. “About That: Deploying andDeploring Sex in Postsoviet Russia.” Studies

in Twentieth Century Literature 24, no. 1(Winter 2000): 51–83

———. “Public Offerings: MMM and the Marketof Melodrama.” In Consuming Russia.

Popular Culture, Sex and Society since

Gorbachev, ed. by Adele Barker, 49–75.Durham, NC: Duke University Press,1999.

Condee, Nancy, and Vladimir Padunov. “TheABC of Russian Consumer Culture.” InSoviet Hieroglyphics: Visual Culture in

Late Twentieth-Century Russia, ed. byNancy Condee, 130–172. Bloomington andIndianapolis: Indiana University Press andBFI, 1995.

Goscilo, Helena. “Stimulating Chic: TheAestheticization of Post-Soviet Russia.” In Essays in the Art and Theory of

Translation, ed. by Leonard Grenoble andJohn Kopper, 35–57. New York: EdwinMellen Press, 1997.

Lane, Christel. The Rites of Rulers. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Ledeneva, Alena. Russia’s Economy of

Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal

Exchange. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1998.

Lovell, Stephen. Summerfolk: A History of the

Dacha 1710–2000. Ithaca, NY: CornellUniversity Press, 2003.

Matizen, Viktor. (In Russian). “Steb kakfenomen kultury” [Styob as a culturalphenomenon] Iskusstvo kino 9 (1993): 59–62.

Ryazanova-Clarke, Lara. “Advertising onRussian Television: Cross Cultural Battle orCross-cultural Communication?” Slavic

Almanac 5, no 7/8 (1999): 219–240.———. “Elements of Persuasion in the

Language of Russian Television Advertising.”in Language and Society in Post-

Communist Europe, ed. by John Dunn,109–134. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999.

Salnikova, Ekaterina. “Entdeckung eines neuenLebens, Fruehe Frensehwerbung in


Russland.” in Kommerz, Kunst,

Unterhaltung: Die neue Popularkultur in

Zentral- und Osteuropa, ed. by Ivo Bock,Wolfgang Schlott, and Hartmute Trepper,301–317. Bremen: Edition Temmen, 2002.

Schultze, Sydney. Culture and Customs of

Russia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,2000.

Sterling, Bruce. “Art and Corruption.” Wired,

January 1998, pp. 119–140.Yurchak, Alexei. “Gagarin and the Rave Kids:

Transforming Power, Identity and Aestheticsin Post-Soviet Night Life.” In Consuming

Russia: Popular Culture, Sex and Society

since Gorbachev, ed. by Adele Barker, 76–109.Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999.


Glossary

General

babushka: grandmother.

banya: steam house, sauna.

chastushka: (mocking) ditty, usually in four lines.

chernukha: tendency to portray reality in dark and negative colors(literally, making black).

dacha: summerhouse, usually built from wood.

DK (Dom kultury): House of Culture, usually a stage and auditoriumfor cultural events that belonged to factories, institutes, and otherorganizations.

estrada: literally, “raised platform” or stage: popular entertainment,synonymous with “show business” in the Western world.

intelligentsia: a social class that represented the “think tank” of theCommunist regime, composed of thinkers, writers, and scientists.

kolkhoz: collective farm.

komsomol: Communist Party’s youth organization.

lubok: woodcut or print, usually portraying in a satirical manner a socialor historical event and commenting with a slogan or a ditty on the scene.

magnitizdat: “publishing on tape,” that is, the (illegal) distribution ofmusic copied from tape to tape.

matrioshka: Russian nesting doll.

propiska: “residence permit.” Every Russian (and formerly everySoviet) citizen has his residence registered in his passport. A Moscow“propiska” entitles one to live and work in the city; these permissions aredifficult to obtain for migrants from the provinces.

stilyaga: a style hunter. The term was used in the 1950s and 1960s to

describe the young people who werepaying attention to fashion (tight trousers,large ties, hairstyle).

styob: parodic and satirical tone.

Writers’ Union: association, trade union,for writers. Also Composers’ Union, Film-makers’ Union. In the Soviet period, unionmembership was required for an artist topractice his art as a profession (that is, fora writer not to have another job).

History

Bolshevik: member of the Bolshevik Partythat led the October Revolution in 1977.Lenin was the head of this faction.

Purges (chistki): Stalin’s operation in the1930s of cleansing the party apparatus andsociety from “enemies of the people,” whowere arrested and executed.

Socialist Realism: a concept imposed onthe arts in 1932 that required artists toexpress themselves in a “realistic” way thatshowed the path of the Soviet Uniontoward a bright, Communist future.

Politics

Soviet Period:

CC: Central Committee (of the Communist Party) (Tsentralny komitet,TsK).

CPSU: Communist Party of the SovietUnion (Kommunisticheskaya PartiyaSovetskogo Soyuza).

RSFSR: Russian Soviet Federal SocialistRepublic, main constituent republic ofthe Soviet Union (USSR) (Rossiiskaya

Sovetskaya FederalnayaSotsialisticheskaya Respublika).

Soviet Union: constituent republics ofBelarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Lithua-nia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uz-bekistan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, Ar-menia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.

CIS = Commonwealth of IndependentStates (SNG: Soiuz nezavisimykh gosu-darstv): formed in December 1991 as anassociation of the former Soviet republics,except for the three Baltic republics—Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

Soviet System:

Party State

General Secretary Chairman of Council

of Ministers

Politburo Council of Ministers

Central Committee USSR Ministries

Republics’ Party Republics’ Committee

Ministries

Regional (Oblast) Regional

Party Administration

City Party City Administration

Organization (Mossovet, Lensovet)

Russian Period:

CPRF (KPRF): Communist Party of theRussian Federation (Gennadi Ziuganov).

LDPR: Liberal Democratic Party of Russia(Vladimir Zhirinovsky).

SPS: Soyuz pravykh sil (Union of RightForces) (Sergei Kirienko, BorisNemtsov, Irina Khakamada, AnatoliChubais).

Yabloko (Grigori Yavlinsky, Yuri Boldyrev,Vladimir Lukin).

3 7 4 G L O S S A R Y

Center party formations supporting theprime minister/government in differentelections:

• Vybor Rossii (Russia’s Choice): (pro-Yeltsin) 1993

• NDR or Nash Dom–Rossiya (Our House–Russia): (Viktor Chernomyrdin) 1996

• OVR or Otechestvo–vsia Rossiya (All Russia, the Fatherland): (Yuri Luzhkov, Yevgeni Primakov)1999

• Edintsvo (Unity): (Igor Shoigu, pro-Putin) 1999

• Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia):2003

Constitution 1993:

• President appoints prime minister(PM), who appoints ministers(cabinet).

• 450 Duma deputies are elected by theelectorate every four years.

• Duma approves PM.• Electorate directly votes for president

(every four years, maximum twoterms).

• President can disband parliament anddismiss the cabinet.

Duma (Parliament): Elections for theDuma are normally held every four years;however, after the first elections in 1993(which coincided with a vote for a newconstitution) the next elections were heldafter two years to allow for a proper

transition to a democratic election systemand the formation of political parties.

Duma Election, 12 December 1993 (55percent participation):

LDPR 23 percent; Vybor Rossii 15.5percent; CPRF 12.5 percent;Zhenshchiny Rossii (Women’s Party) 8percent; Agrarnaya Partiya (AgrarianParty) 8 percent; Yabloko 8 percent;Edinstvo i soglasie (Union and Accord)7 percent; Demokraticheskaya Partiya5.5 percent


CPRF 22 percent; LDPR 11 percent;NDR 10 percent; Yabloko 7 percent


CPRF 24 percent; Edinstvo (Medved) 23 percent; OVR 13 percent; SPS 8.5percent; LDPR 6 percent; Yabloko6 percent


Edinaya Rossiya 37.5 percent; CPRF12.5 percent; LDPR 11.5 percent; Rodina9 percent. The parties Yabloko and SPSdid not reach the required 5 percentnecessary for representation inparliament (Yabloko 4.3 percent; mSPS 4 percent).

G L O S S A R Y 3 7 5

Index

ABBA (Swedish band), 208Abdrashitov, Vadim, 91Abdulov, Alexander, 151, 172Abramovich, Roman, 44, 63Abuladze, Tengiz, 78, 87Acrobatics, 183, 186–188, 191Adasinsky, Anton, 144, 146, 188The Adventures of Felix Krull (Mann), 145Advertising, 11, 27, 41, 47, 56, 296–330

bank, 325–329and cultural misunderstanding, 318–319product, 317–325and product prices, 317, 318, 319, 325, 330products banned on television, 324social, 329–330television, 317and Western companies, 317–319, 320, 324, 325, 337

Afghan war (1986–1988), 7, 30, 212Afisha (Billboard, entertainment guide), 57, 134Africa. See Bugayev, SergeiAgatha Christie (rock band), 221–222Agency of Lonely Hearts (television game show), 35Agent of National Security (television serial), 306, 308–309Agitprop, Department of, 9Agutin, Leonid, 242, 255–256Aguzarova, Zhanna (see also Ivana Anders), 214, 215(photo), 218, 256AIDS, 340AiF (newspaper). See Argumenty i FaktyAinutdinov, Sergei, 101Aitmatov, Chingiz, 293, 299Akakievich, Akaki, 36Akinshina, Oxana, 97Aksyonov, Alexander, 18, 23Akunin, Boris (real name Grigori Chkhartishvili), 294, 295, 296, 301, 305,

309–310Aldashin, Mikhail, 101Alechenko, Diana, 187Alekhin, Alexander, 291–292Alexander Garden, 115Alexander II (czar), 184Alexandrov, Boris, 8

Alexandrov, Grigori, 3, 76Alexeyeva, Marina, 301–303Alibasov, Bari, 230Alisa, 224–225Alive Forever (Rozov play), 5Allegrova, Irina, 224–225, 238, 256All-Russian Circus Festival, 191All-Russian State Institute for Cinematography

(VGIK), 215All-Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting

Company. See VGTRKAll-Russian Theater Society (VTO), 138–139Alsou (Alsu Safina), 235, 256Amalrik, Leonid, 100American Center, 74Amirkhanova, Shakhri, 57Anders, Ivana (see also Zhanna Aguzarova), 218Andrei (magazine), 60, 340Andreyanova, Victoria, 362–363, 367Andreyev, Igor, 279Andreyev, Nikolai, 112, 113Andreyeva, Nina, 53Animation. See under FilmAnthropology (television program), 37Anti-Booker Prize, 55, 156, 296, 310Antikiller (film), 71, 72(photo), 98, 298Antikiller 2 (film), 98Apartment bombing (Moscow 1999), 29, 30–31Apartment Question (program), 36Apina, Alena, 243, 256APN (Agence Press Novosti) news agency. See

RIA Novosti/RIA VestiApocryph (television program), 37Aquarium (rock band). See Grebenshchikov,

BorisArchitecture, 105, 112–128, 162, 270Arefiev, Igor, 191Argumenty i fakty (Arguments and Facts,

weekly paper), 46, 52, 56, 57, 83–64Ariupin, Dmitri, 188Ariya (heavy metal band), 218Arsenal (jazz band), 207–208Art, 104–105, 201, 344

crafts, 105, 107, 108–112, 344movements, 105–108underground, 7See also Modern art; Sculpture; Sots-art

Artistic café (Moscow), 4Artists, 2, 105–112, 113

See also Fashion designers

Arzhak, Nikolai (pseudonym), 7Asatiani, Malkhez, 275Ashvetia, Mikhail, 275Askoldov, Alexander, 9ASSA (film), 214, 215, 224Astafiev, Viktor, 293, 299Astrakhan, Dmitri, 79, 128Asya’s Happiness (film), 8–9Atamanov, Lev, 100Athletics, 280–281Auktyon (post-punk band), 224Autoradio, 48, 49Avrora (Aurora, journal), 62Avtograf (art-rock group), 217–218Azazel (also: The Winter Queen, Akunin), 301

Babadzhanyan, Ario, 237Babitsky, Andrei, 30, 31(photo), 32Babkina, Nadezhda, 237Bakin, Dmitri, 296Baklanov, Grigori, 63Balabanov, Alexei, 79, 93–94, 95, 96, 97, 128–129Ballad of a Soldier (film), 5Ballet, 8, 12, 57, 134, 156Baltser, Grigori, 111Baltser, Ruslan, 75, 79, 82Baluyev, Alexander, 98Banner (journal), 62Baranovsky, G., 121The Barber of Siberia (film), 91–93Bard movement, 4, 199, 202–207, 212Bardin, Garri, 101, 129Barnet, Boris, 2Bartenev, Andrei, 364Barto, Agniya, 162Basayev, Shamil (Chechen leader), 43Basharov, Marat, 172Bashlachev, Alexander, 312–324Basic Instinct (television program), 38Basketball, 267, 277The Battleship Potyomkin (film), 2, 76BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), 47The Bear’s Wedding (film), 2Beatniki, 200Bed and Sofa (film), 2Beer, 337

advertising of, 321–323Before and after Midnight (television

program), 18Begunov, Vladimir, 222

3 7 8 I N D E X

Behind the Glass (reality show), 36Bekhtina, Natalia, 48Bekmambetov, Timur, 327, 367Bekstein, Viktor, 218Beliakovich, Valeri, 139, 143Beliavsky, Alexander, 98Belov, Alexander, 40, 301, 306Berezhnaya, Elena, 289–290Berezovsky, Boris, 13, 28, 41, 43–44, 46, 50, 55,

56, 64, 296, 320Bering Strait (pop band), 232Bernes, Mark, 8, 237Bezrukov, Sergei, 145, 172, 363Bichevskaya, Zhanna, 8, 237Biking, 285–286Billiards, 342–343Bimmer (film), 71, 98Bird Market, 117A Bit of Time (television program), 34, 36,

38–39Black and White (MTV program), 38“Black Raven,” 3, 306, 309“Blood Type” (song), 215, 216“Blue Balloon” (song), 204Blue Lard (Sorokin), 297Bodrov, Sergei, Jr., 36, 94, 96, 97, 129Bodrov, Sergei, Sr., 79, 83, 84, 93, 96, 129Bogayev, Oleg, 158, 296Bogorodsk toys, 106Bolsheviks, 1, 2Bolshoi Theater, 8, 12, 134Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT), 5, 6, 12, 136Bolshoi gorod (Big City, newspaper), 57Bondarenko, Irina, 366Bondarev, Yuri, 203Bonum 2 satellite, 44Booker Prize, 295–296, 310Books, 12, 292Bookshops, 123, 292, 293Bordovskikh, Julia, 34Borisevich, Roman, 75Borok, Alexander, 163 Borovik, Artyom, 33–34, 53, 54Borzykin, Mike, 225–226Bouquet in Triumphant Style (sculpture), 106Bourgeois’s Birthday (television serial), 40, 308Bove, Osip, 120Bovin, Alexander, 47–48Bowling, 285, 342Boxing, 281

Boys bands, 230–232Bragin, Viacheslav, 25Brake (film), 101Brand names, 317, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 337Bravo (rock band), 218Brecht, Bertolt, 6, 137Brezhnev, Leonid, 6, 7, 8, 9

jokes about, 174The Brigade (television serial), 40, 301, 308Brill, Igor, 201Brodsky, Joseph, 4, 7Bronzit, Konstantin, 101Brother (film), 79, 94–96, 97Brother 2 (film), 97, 239Brumberg, Valentina, 100Brumberg, Zinaida, 100Brumel, Valeri, 280Bruskin, Grisha, 107Budziovich, Olga, 191Bugayev, Sergei, 214–215Bukashka (film), 101Bulanzova, Tatiana, 243Buldakov, Alexei, 80, 81, 172Bulgakov, Mikhail, 62Bulldozer Exhibition, 7, 105Burda (German publisher), 60, 357Bure, Pavel, 263, 276, 310–311Burglar (film), 214Burnt by the Sun (film), 27, 87, 88, 89–90, 91Buslov, Petr, 79, 98Buto theater, 146, 188Butusov, Viacheslav, 108, 227–228, 256–257Butyrin, Yuri, 102Bychkov, Mikhail, 155Bychkov, Viktor, 81, 82Bykov, Rolan, 75Byt, 158

Cabaret actors, 8Cannavoro, Fabio, 274(photo) Cannes Film Festival, 5, 90, 93The Captain’s Daughter (film), 90Car World ( journal), 60Carandache (Mikhail Rumiantsev), 188Carnival Night (film), 5, 77Cartoons, 50, 102–104

heroes as puppets, 162Castling (television game show), 36Cathedral of Christ the Savior, 114, 115, 123,

124(caption), 129–130, 284

I N D E X 3 7 9

Catholics, 354Cats theater. See Teatr KoshekCDs. See Compact discsCensorship, 8–9, 26, 54, 138, 293Center for Drama and Playwriting, 158Center Plus (Tsentr Plius, newspaper), 56Central Television (Soviet), 24, 41Cerceau (Slavkin play), 142Chachalev, Sergei, 191ChaiF (rock band), 222Chakovsky, Alexander, 293Chapayev, Vasili Ivanovich, 192Chapayev (film), 3

character in, 181, 245Chapurin, Igor, 360–361, 367–368“Chattanooga Choo Choo” (Miller), 200Chavro, Yuri, 187Chechnya, 20, 29, 30–32

and journalists, 29–30, 43war film, 83–85

Checkers, 342Checkpoint (film), 84–85Chekasin, Vladimir, 201Chekatylo, Andrei, 298Chekhov, Anton, 137Chekhov, Michael, 136Chekhov Arts Theater, 139Chelnokov, Anton, 191Chelnokov, Nikolai, 191Chernenko, Konstantin, 212Chernobyl nuclear explosion (1986)

and media, 20–21Chernyshev, Arkadi, 275Chesnokov, Andrei, 278, 279Chess, 291–292Chicherina, Julia, 235Chizh and Co. (pop band), 108, 231Chkhartishvili, Grigori (see also Akunin), 301Chliants, Sergei, 75Chocolate, 336

advertising for, 319, 320, 324Choocha (film), 101Choreographers, 185, 186–188, 192Chubais, Anatoli, 28Chukcha, jokes about, 178Chukovsky, Kornei, 100, 162Chukhrai, Pavel, 5, 79, 91Chuprinin, Sergei, 63Churches, 114, 115, 123–125, 129–130Churikova, Inna, 151, 154, 172

Chusova, Nina, 155Chuvikha (female version stilyagi), 200The Cigarette Girl from Mosselprom (film), 2Cinema. See FilmCinema Center (KinoTsentr), 74CineMax (film producer), 74Cinescope (television program), 34Circus, 134, 135, 182–186Circus (film), 3, 76, 356Cirque du Soleil, 190–191, 192The Clown (film), 100Clowns, 142, 144, 156, 183, 185, 188–190, 191Coincidence (Marinina), 302Collective farm, 4, 8Comaneci, Nadia, 283Comic Trust (clowns’ theater), 144Commercial culture, 11, 12The Commissar (film), 9Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 75Communism, 2, 7, 10–11Communist Party (Russia), 27, 29Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 3, 8, 11,

23hardliners, 4, 9reformers, 4, 9, 15

Compact discs (CDs), 32, 50, 82, 117, 217Computers, 49, 117

games on, 343software piracy, 32, 217

Conceptualism, 12, 104, 105, 107Conclusions. See Itogi (journal) Congress of People’s Deputies (CPD), 23–24Consumer culture, 10, 11, 12, 200, 316–370Consumerism, 3Cops (television serial), 39, 153, 300, 306,

312–313Copyright, 32The Coronation (Akunin), 301“Cosmopolitans.” See JewsThe Country and the World (television

program), 34Coup [putsch] (August 1991), 24–25The Cow (film), 101The Cranes Are Flying (film), 5Crematorium (rock band), 218–219Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky), 298Criminal Petersburg (Konstantinov), 300–301,

308Criminal Petersburg (television serial), 40The Crushing Force (television serial), 40, 307

3 8 0 I N D E X

Crystal, 111CTB (film producer), 75CTC (Network of Television Stations), 32–33Cuckoo (film), 82, 84, 85Cupolas, 116, 118Czechoslovakia, 7

Dabizha, Natalia, 101Dacha, 343, 348–349Dalakian, Yulia, 364Dance, Western as suspect, 199–200Dance Floor (MTV program), 38Daneliya, Georgi, 8Daniel, Yuli, 7Darfilm (studio), 165Darts, 285Dashkova, Polina, 294, 295, 303Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

(Solzhenitsyn), 4, 62Day of Knowledge (September 1), 351Day of the Armed Forces (February 23), 351Day of the Constitution (December 12), 352Day Watch (film), 99DDT (rock band), 226, 227De la Mothe, Vallin, 120Dead Souls (Gogol), 112Dementiev, Andrei, 48Dementieva, Yelena, 280Demichev, Peter, 9The Day (Den’, newspaper), 54Derevo (mime group), 144, 146, 192Detective Dubrovsky’s Dossier (television

serial), 40, 307–308Deutsche Welle (German radio), 47Diachenko, Tatiana, 28, 50Dialogues with Animals (television program),

38Diary of a Killer (television serial), 40Dibrov, Dmitri, 35, 37Dinamo stadium, 269Directing Myself (television program), 36Discos, 341Discus throwing, 281Disinformation, 16Dissent movement, 7, 9, 11

and film, 78DJs (disc jockeys), 48, 341DMB (film), 82Dobrodeyev, Oleg, 41, 44Dobrokhatova, Liudmila, 365

Doctor Zhivago (Pasternak), 4Dodin, Lev, 151–152, 192–193Dog Show (television program), 36Dolina, Larisa, 238Dom Kino, 75Don’t Even Think (film), 75, 79, 82Dontsova, Daria (Agrippina Arkadievna), 294,

295, 303–304, 306, 307, 311Dorenko, Sergei, 29(photo), 30, 34, 43, 64Doronina, Tatiana, 139Dostal, Vladimir, 74, 75Dostoevsky, Fyodor, 90, 112, 151, 295, 298Dosug v Moskve (Leisure in Moscow,

newspaper), 61Dotsenko, Viktor, 300Double Self-Portrait as Pioneers (sots-art), 106Drigant, Natalia, 365A Driver for Vera (film), 91Drozdova, Olga, 172Drubich, Tatiana, 215Druzhba narodov (Nations’ Friendship,

journal), 62Dubov, Yuli, 13Dubovitskaya, Regina, 36Dumas, Alexander, 292Dunayevsky, Isaak, 76, 186, 251Durov, Anna, 185Durov, Vladimir, 185Durov Circus of Animals, 185 Durov’s Theater of Beasts, 185DVDs (digital video discs), 117Dykhovichny, Ivan, 88, 239Dylan, Bob, 216Dzerzhinsky, Felix, 113Dzusova, Olga, 243

East-West (film), 97Edelman, Robert, 11Efros, Anatoli, 5, 136–137, 138Eggert, Konstantin, 2Eisenstein, Sergei, 1, 2, 76, 112Ekho Moskvy. See Radio Echo MoscowEkran I stsena (Stage and Screen magazine),

61Ekspert (Expert, newspaper), 46Electrification, 46Elephant (film), 93Emigration, 7

jokes about, 177Eppelbaum, Ilia, 165, 166(photo), 167

I N D E X 3 8 1

Erdman, Nikolai, 100, 183Ernst, Konstantin, 32, 33(photo), 75, 171, 241Estrada, defined, 168–169. See also Music, popThe Eternal Call (television serial), 16Europe Plus (radio), 46Everything Will Be OK (film), 79–80Exter, Alexander, 356Extra M (newspaper), 56

Fadeyev, Max, 243Farces (theater), 144, 146Fashion, 356–357

boutiques, 119, 121costume, 356, 357, 358, 362, 363, 364 designers, 2, 50, 119, 224, 239, 356–366haute couture, 359–363models, 366–367Western, 200, 357

Fatherland—All Russia (OVR political party),29, 43

Fedorova, Oxana, 38Feklistov, Alexander, 156, 172Fellini, Federico, 100Fellowship of Taganka Actors, 139Fencing, 285Fetisov, Viacheslav, 264(photo), 275, 276, 277,

311Fifth Wheel (Leningrad television program), 19,

67Filippov, Ivan, 121Filippova, Inga, 365–366Film, 2–3, 8–9, 14, 39, 71–104

actors, 9, 80, 81, 83(photo), 88(photo),95(photo), 96, 98, 99, 151, 156, 215

actresses, 3, 76–77, 88(photo), 97, 151American, 2, 5, 74, 98animation, 99–104, 108avant-garde, 2awards, 71, 75, 86, 90, 101blockbusters, 3, 71, 74box office revenues, 71, 98comedy, 8, 77, 79, 82commercial 12crime thrillers, 82, 98–99directors, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 13, 27, 53, 71, 79–90educational, 38festivals (Russian), 75historical, 90–93language in, 179–180multiplex theaters, 71, 75, 76, 119

musical comedy, 3, 5, 76NTV, 32and pop music, 243and privatization, 75production and distribution, 73–76, 165reality, 178–179and rock music, 214–216Russian, 39, 74, 75, 78–86and sound, 4Soviet, 71–74, 76–78of Stalinist era, 86–90on television, 32, 34, 74and the Thaw, 4, 5theaters, 74, 75on video, 74war, 83–86, 97Western, 9

A Film Is Being Shot (Radzinsky play), 8Filmmakers’ Union, 62Finansovye izvestiya (Financial News,

Izvestiya supplement), 57Finger puppets, 162First Channel television (formerly ORT), 33, 41Fishing, 286Fisson, Vadim, 144Florensky, Alexander, 107Flowers (rock band), 209The Fly on the Grater (art), 105Fokin, Valeri, 145, 153Folk songs, 3, 8, 199, 237Fomenko, Nikolai, 154, 172Fomenko, Petr, 152–153, 156, 193Fomina, Yelena, 191Football. See SoccerThe Forbidden Drummers [Zapreshchennye

barabanshchiki] (pop band), 232Formal Theater (Formalny teatr), 146Fortune-telling, 355–356The Forty-first (film), 5Fourth wall, 3Foxtrot, 199–200Frankfurt School, 10Freedom of the press, 45–46Friendly Troops. See Us

Frunze, Mikhail, 113FSB (Federal Security Agency), 31Fund of Legal Reformers (film series), 101Fundamental Lexicon (sots-art), 107Funny Business, Family Business (television

serial), 40

3 8 2 I N D E X

Furniture, 122Fyodorov, Leonid, 224

Gabriadze, Rezo, 164, 167–168Gaft, Valentin, 154Gaidai, Leonid, 8, 9, 77Gakkel, Seya, 209Gala (journal), 60Galich, Alexander, 202–203, 206–207, 256 Galkin, Maxim, 35Gambling, 342, 343Games, 342–343Gandelevsky, Sergei, 296Ganelin, Viacheslav, 201Garden of “fallen statues,” 113Garkalin, Valeri, 154, 172Garmash, Sergei, 172Gazarov, Sergei, 172Gazmanov, Oleg, 239Gazprom, 13, 44, 45, 49

Media, 44, 46, 57The General (sculpture), 106“Generation of Janitors” (song), 211Generation P (Pelevin), 295, 296, 297Gergiev, Valeri, 134Germanova, Yevdokiya, 145“Get out of Control” (song), 226Gherman, Alexei, Jr., 71, 78, 85–86Ginkas, Kama, 158Ginne, Karl, 184Giordano (rock opera), 239Girl bands, 229–230Glasnet (ISP), 50Glasnost (openness), 10, 15, 18, 20, 52, 63, 138,

142Glass, 110–111Gliukoza. See Ionova, NataliaGloba, A., 162“Glossy” journals. See MagazinesGlove puppet, 161, 162Gneushev, Valentin, 185, 186–187, 188Gogol, Nikolai, 36, 100, 112, 165Gogol Theater, 158Golden Gramophone (song competition), 49

as television program, 241Golden Lion (Venice film award), 71Golden Mannequin (fashion award), 362Golden Mask (theater award), 164Golden Telecom (U.S.-owned), 50Goleizovsky, Kasian, 183

Golembiovsky, Igor, 55, 56Golf, 268, 278GOMETs (Soviet Central Administration of

State Circuses), 161, 183Good Night, Kids (television program), 38, 100The Good Person of Szechwan (Brecht), 6, 137Goodman, Benny, 200Gorbachev, Mikhail, 9, 10, 11, 21, 24, 136

and Chernobyl, 20and coup (1991), 24 jokes about, 174–175and literature, 293and Lithuania, 22and music, 212and newspapers, 52and radio, 47resigns (Dec. 1991), 25and television, 15–16, 18, 40, 41and Yeltsin, 23

Gorbacheva, Raisa, 16Gorbunov House of Culture, 217Gordeyeva, Yekaterina, 289Gorky. See Nizhny NovgorodGorky, Maxim (Alexei Peshkov), 113Gorky Film Studio, 72, 74Gorky Moscow Arts Theater, 139Gorky Park (rock band), 209Gorodok (Little Town, television show), 36Gorsky, Alexander, 183Goskino (Department for Cinematography), 73,

74, 78Gostinyi Dvor (shopping mall), 130Gostiuk, Leonid, 185Govorukhin, Sergei, 30Govorukhin, Stanislav, 30, 32Gradsky, Alexander, 207, 208(photo), 257Grammatikov, Vladimir, 74Graph of History (art), 105The Great Solder (Dubov), 13Grebenshchikov, Boris (BG), 108, 209–212, 214,

257–258Gribkov, Sergei, 75Griboyedov, Alexander, 156Grigoriev, Igor, 60Grigoriev, Oleg, 107Grimailo, Alexander, 192Grinkov, Sergei, 289Grishin, Viktor, 9Grishkovets, Yevgeni, 155–156, 158, 193, 296Grozny (Chechnya), 30

I N D E X 3 8 3

Gubenko, Nikolai, 139Guelman, Marat, 104GUM (department store), 119, 120, 130Gurchenko, Liudmila, 77, 154Gurevich, Boris, 281Gusinsky, Sergei, 81Gusinsky, Vladimir, 13, 28, 29, 41, 42, 43, 44, 55,

56, 64–65, 320Gus-Khrustalnyi (crystal manufacturer), 111Gymnastics, 282–283

Hammer and Sickle (film), 86–89Handball, 278Hand-Made (television show), 36Hands Up [Ruki vverkh] (dance band), 231–232Hard-currency shop [Beriozka], 292Hermès, 92Hermitage Museum, 12Hippies (Soviet), 207Hockey, 263, 268, 275–277Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus, 100Holidays

public, 351–352religious, 352–354See also Tourism

Homosexuality, 341Horse racing, 285Horseback riding, 285Hotels, 118, 345–348The House at the End of the World (film), 101House of Cinema (see also Dom Kino), 74House of Leningrad Trade (DLT), 120House of Models, 357, 358House of Culture (DK), 142Hungary (1956 uprising), 4Hunting, 286Hunting Cinderella (film), 308

I Myself (television program), 37–38Ibragimbekov, Murat, 71Ibragimov, Yevgeni, 164Ice (Sorokin), 297Ice Age (television serial), 40Ice skating, 268, 287–291Icons, 124, 125–128Idiot (Dostoevsky), 90

as television serial, 295Imperial Alexandrinsky Theater (St.

Petersburg), 1In Search of Joy (Rozov play), 5

In the Animal World (television program), 38In the First Person (radio program), 48Independence Day (June 12), 352Independent Media, 57Independent Television (NTV), 13Intelligentsia, 11Interfax (independent news agancy), 15, 66International Trade Center, 115International Women’s Day (March 8), 351International Workers’ Day (May 1), 351International Youth Festival (1957), 4, 216Internet, 46, 49–51

cartoons, 50, 103providers (ISPs), 50search engines, 50

Investigative journalists, 19–20, 22, 24, 30, 32,34, 38

Ionova, Natasha (Gliukoza), 236Is It Easy to Be Young? (film), 214Isayeva, Liudmila, 366Israel, 7ITAR-TASS (Information Telegraph Agency of

Russia) news agency, 15, 46, 66Itogi (Conclusions, journal), 46, 60, 65Itogi (Conclusions, current affairs program),

33, 34, 41, 42, 44Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (film),

241–242Ivanushki International (pop group), 230,

231(photo), 258Ivanov, Anatoli, 16Ivanovna, Anna (empress), 160Ivanov-Vano, Ivan, 100Izmailov, Marat, 274(photo), 275Izosimov, Oleg, 191–192Iz ruk v ruki (From Hand to Hand, advertising

paper), 56Izvestiya (News, newspaper), 46, 51, 53, 55, 57,

65online, 50

Jacques. See Zhakevich, VadimJavelin throwing, 281Jazz, 5, 199–201Jesus Christ Superstar (rock musical), 248Jewelry, 111, 122–123Jews, 3, 9, 206, 353–354Jigalov, Andrei, 189, 192Jim and Dollar (puppet play), 162John, Elton, 207, 259–260, 261–262

3 8 4 I N D E X

Jokes, 173–182Jolly Fellows (film), 76, 77, 200Jordan, Boris, 44, 56, 57Jouravel, Vitali, 191Journals, 57–63

“glossy” (see Magazines)“thick” (see Literary journals)

Judo, 281Jumping, 280–281

Kabakov, Ilia, 105, 106(photo)Kachanov, Roman, 82, 100Kafelnikov, Evgeni, 278(photo), 279, 311Kakuchaya, Olvar, 24Kalatozov, Mikhail, 5, 90Kalinin, Mikhail, 113Kalish, Alexander, 61Kalugin, S., 119Kamburova, Yelena, 202Kamenskaya (television serial), 307Karachentsov, Nikolai, 40, 151, 153, 172Karate, 281Karavan (journal), 46Karpin, Valeri, 263Karpov, Anatoli, 292Kaseyev, Dana, 186Kashkarov, Igor, 280Kasparov, Garri, 291Katina, Lena (t.A.T.u), 261Kaverin, Veniamin, 250Kee, Viktor, 191Keft, Valeri, 191Kenzheyev, Bakhyt, 296KGB, 10, 22, 113Khabensky, Konstantin, 99, 153, 154, 172Khakassian Puppet Theater, 164Khalifman, Alexander, 292Khamatova, Chulpan, 154, 155, 172Khamdamov, Rustam, 361Kharitonov, Mark, 295Khasbulatov, Ruslan, 25Khavtun, Yevgeni, 218Khazanov, Gennadi, 171, 193Khitruk, Fyodor, 100Khlebnikov, Velimir, 224Khmelnitskaya, Johanna, 303Kholodov, Dmitiri, 32, 52Khorkina, Svetlana, 283Khoroshev, Andrei, 34–35Khrenov, Anton, 34

Khristich, Dmitri, 276Khrushchev, Nikita, 3, 4, 136

and art, 201jokes about, 174on Stalin, 86

Khrzhanovsky, Andrei, 100Khvostenko, Alexei, 224Kibirov, Timur, 296Kinchev, Konstantin, 224, 248Kino, 223–224KinoPark (journal), 61Kinoshok (film festival), 75Kinostsenarii (Film Scripts, magazine), 62Kinotavr Sochi Open Russian Film Festival, 75Kirkorov, Filipp, 238, 239, 240(photo), 248–249,

258Kirov (Mariinsky) Theatre, 8, 12, 134 Kiselyov, Dmitri, 17Kiselyov, Yevgeni, 13, 34, 41, 42, 44, 45, 57, 65Kiselyova, Maria, 35“Kitchen sink drama” realism, 6Kivinov, Alexander, 300, 306Kiziakov, Timur, 35Kliaksa (terrier), 188Klein, Roman, 121Klimenko, Vladimir, 147Klimov, Elam, 9, 78Klimova, Marina, 290–291Klinsky, Yuri, 222Knebel, Maria, 136Kobzon, Iosif, 8, 14, 237Kodak Cinema World, 74Kokh, Albert, 44Koliada, Nikolai, 157–158, 193Koliada Teatr, 158Koltseva, Tatiana, 366Komar, Vitali, 106Kommersant (newspaper), 13(caption), 46, 53,

57, 65Komsomolskaya pravda (Komsomol Truth,

newspaper), 32, 46, 51, 52, 53, 57, 65online, 50

Konchalovsky, Andrei, 8Konchalovsky, Yegor, 79, 98Konstantin, Andrei, 300–301Korbut, Olga, 283Koretsky, Danil, 98, 295, 298, 306Kormiltsev, Ilia, 189Koroleva, Natasha, 242–243, 258Korotich, Vitali, 52

I N D E X 3 8 5

Korzhakov, Alexander, 28Kosmachevsky, Vladimir, 147Kosolapov, Alexander, 107Kovalchuk, Diana, 366Kozak, Roman, 172, 193Kozlov, Alexei, 208Kozlov, Grigori, 165Kramer, Viktor, 143–144, 188Kramnik, Vladimir, 292Krasnopolskaya, Maya, 165, 166(photo), 167Kravchenko, Leonid, 24Krestianka (The Peasant Woman, magazine),

57Kristall (distillery), 91Kriuchkov, Vladimir, 22, 24Krokodil (Crocodile, magazine), 4, 52, 173, 207Krutikova, Irina, 359Krutoy, Igor, 237, 238Kudashov, Ruslan, 165Kuklachev, Yuri, 188Kukly (Puppets, NTV program), 31, 34,

35(photo), 43, 44Kukotsky’s Case (Ulitskaya), 296Kuksenaite, Irena, 214Kuleshov, Peter, 35Kultura (Culture television channel), 34, 37, 38,

42, 46Kultura (Culture, weekly newspaper), 61Kulturnost (culturedness), 10Kurkova, Bella, 19, 20Kurmangaliev, Erik, 149Kurnikova, Anna, 263, 279–280, 311–312Kurochkin, Maxim, 156, 159–160, 193–194, 296Kursk (submarine), 29, 43Kuryokhin, Sergei, 201, 210, 258Kutsenko, Gosha, 72(photo), 98, 154, 172Kuvayev, Oleg, 50, 102Kuznetsov, Terenti, 111Kuznetsov, Yevgeni, 185Kvas, 336–337Kvasha, Igor, 172Kvint, Lora, 239Kyrgyzstan, 113

Ladynina, Marina, 3, 76Lagutenko, Igor, 232Lamanova, Nadezhda, 356, 357, 368Lacquer boxes, 12, 108–110, 112

production centers, 131, 132Larionov, Igor, 275, 277

Larkina, Yelena, 188Larsen, Tutta, 38, 42The Last Hero (television program), 36The Last Train (film), 71, 85Latynina, Julia, 48Latynina, Larisa, 282Lavrov, Kirill, 139Lazarenko, Vitali, 183Lazarev, Alexander, 172Leap Year Summer (Visokosnoye leto, rock

band), 209Lebed, Alexander, 28Lebedev, Artemy (Artyom), 51Lebedev, Nikolai, 85Lebedeva, Tatiana, 281 Lebedev-Kumach, Vasili,

76Legat, Kirill, 34Lel’, Katia, 243Leikin, Leonid, 191Leisure, 330, 350–352. See also Games;

Nightlife; Parks and gardens; TourismLenfilm (studio), 72, 74Lenin (Ulianov), V. I., 2, 10, 14, 17–18, 113

and film, 71jokes about, 173monument to, 113

Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), 113rock music, 222–228theater, 142–144, 146

Leningrad (rock band), 12, 98, 232. See also

Shnurov, SergeiLeningrad Institute for Music, Film and Theater

(LGITMiK), 163, 164Lenkom Theater, 172Leonovich, Katia, 364Leontiev, Avangard, 172Leontiev, Valeri, 8Lepin, Anatoli, 77Lerner, Oleg, 141Leshchenko, Lev, 237Lesnovsky, Dmitri, 75Liberal Democrats (LDP) (political party), 27,

30Liberalization, 9–10. See also ThawLigachev, Yegor, 9, 15, 18, 23, 53Lilikan Theater, 165, 166(caption)Liling, Song, 149Limonov, Eduard, 54Limonovka (newspaper), 54Linda (pop singer), 243

3 8 6 I N D E X

Lindenberg, Udo, 216Lines of Fate (Kharitonov), 295Lingerie, 121The Lion with the Gray Beard (film), 100Lisovsky, Sergei, 28List of People Who Have the Right to Receive

(art), 105Listiev, Vlad, 17, 32, 35, 60, 61(photo), 65Literary (“thick”) journals, 7, 10, 57, 62–63, 158

online, 50Literature, 4, 8

action thriller, 300–301banned, 293best sellers, 295–298children’s, 293, 294, 298detective and spy, 4, 8, 9, 11, 263, 292–295,

297–301, 305–309 (see also Film, crimethrillers; Television, and spy and detectiveprograms)

educational, 294foreign, 292, 295, 299and glasnost, 10historical, 8, 11postmodern, 12romance, 297, 298rural, 7science fiction, 8, 297sex in, 300on television, 37, 305–309war, 293Western, 4, 8, 10See also Books; Publishers/publishing;

Reading level; Television, soap operasLithuania, 20, 22Literaturnaya gazeta (Literary gazette,

newspaper), 51, 52Lithuanian Popular Front (Sajudis), 22Litsa (Faces, monthly journal), 54Litsedei (clown and mime group), 142–143, 146,

189–190, 194Little Red Devils (film), 2Little Vera (film), 53, 77, 214Liube (pop band), 229Liubimov, Alexander, 17, 34Liubimov, Yuri, 5, 6, 136, 137–138, 152Liutkevich, A., 102Living and Dead (film), 5Livnev, Sergei, 74, 88Liza (women’s journal), 60Lokhov, Dmitri, 164

Lomakin, Andrei, 276Lomakin, Sergei, 17Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (LFZ), 110–111,

130Long Farewells (film), 9Loshak, Andrei, 34Loskov, Dmitri, 275Lubok (woodblock prints), 107Lukianenko, Sergei, 71, 99LukOil, 44, 55Lungin, Pavel, 13Luxury, 3Luzhkov, Yuri (Moscow mayor), 29, 30, 41, 42,

43, 56(photo), 105, 114–115, 116, 319, 344Luzhniki Stadium, 269, 270(photo)Lysenko, Anatoli, 17Lysenkov, Alexei, 36

Magazines (“glossy” journals), 55, 57, 59(photo),60–62. See also Literary “thick” journals

Magnetic Storms (film), 91Magnitizdat (tape recording distribution), 4,

202Magomayev, Muslim, 237The Maids (Genet play), 150Makanin, Vladimir, 295Makarevich, Andrei, 209, 217, 230, 259Makariev, Artur, 48Makarova, Natalia, 149, 357Makovetsky, Sergei, 172, 194Malashenko, Igor, 28Malikov, Dmitri, 238Maltsev, Igor, 60Mamonov, Petr, 172, 215, 219, 250, 259Mamontov, Savva, 108The Man Who Flew into Space (art),

106(photo)Manège art exhibition (1962), 4Manège Square (Moscow), 115, 118, 130–131Mariinsky Theatre. See Kirov TheatreMarin, Alexander, 145Marinina, Alexandra (Marina Alexeyeva), 40,

295, 305–306, 307, 312Marionettes, 160, 163, 165Markov, Georgi, 293Markova, Maria, 191Mashina Vremeni (band). See Makarevich,

AndreiMashkov, Vladimir, 145, 156–157, 194Masiania (cartoon), 103–104, 131

I N D E X 3 8 7

Masiuk, Yelena, 30, 43Mass, Vladimir, 183Mass culture, 1, 9Matrioshka, 104, 108, 109(photo), 131Matvienko, Igor, 230Mausoleum (Red Square), jokes about, 175Mavrodi, Sergei, 325, 327Maximov, Anatoli, 75Maximov, Andrei, 34, 37May Day Parade (1990) and media, 21Mayakovsky, Vladimir, 1, 100, 201, 316 Mazayev, Sergei, 217MediaMost (NTV parent company), 44,

45(caption)and radio, 48

Medved (Bear, magazine), 60Medvedev, Sergei, 24Medvedev, Yuri, 191The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed

(television serial), 16Megapolis Ekspress (newspaper), 56Mehnert, Klaus, 293Meladze, Valeri, 102Melamid, Alexander, 106Melkumov, Sergei, 75Melodiya (Soviet record label), 208, 216, 236Menshikov, Oleg, 83(photo), 96, 156,

157(photo), 194, 361Menshov, Vladimir, 36, 77Menshova, Julia, 37, 155Merezhko, Viktor, 34Meskhiev, Dmitri, 86, 309The Messenger (film), 97Mestechkin, Mark, 184Method acting, 3Metro (musical), 248Metro (newspaper), 32, 42, 56Metropol (almanac), 7Mexican soap operas, 39Meyerhold, Vsevolod, 1–2, 3, 6, 135, 183Mezdrich, Boris, 141Middle class, 11Mik and Mak (buffoons), 189Mikhalkov, Nikita, 27, 75, 87, 88(photo), 89, 91,

93, 131, 321Mikhalkov, Sergei, 162Mikhalkova, Anna, 38, 88(photo)Milgram, Boris, 154Miliutin, Yuri, 251Miller, Glenn, 200

Mimes, 142–144, 146, 188, 192Miracle Field (television show), 35Mirror (television program), 34Mirzoyev, Vladimir, 147–148, 194Mishin, Alexei, 289Mitki (art group), 107–108Mitkova, Tatiana, 17, 22, 41, 44, 65MMM, 325–327, 368MNVK (Moscow Independent Broadcasting

Corporation), 41, 42, 44Modern art, 4, 7Mogilny, Alexander, 263, 275, 276Moguchy, Andrei, 146Moiseyev, Igor, 8Mokeyev, Mikhail, 147Molchanov, Oleg, 238, 239, 243Molchanov, Vladimir, 18Molodaya gvardiya (Young Guard, journal),

62Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939), 22Monasteries, 124Mongol Shuudan (rock band), 219Monuments, 112–114, 115, 116Mordvinova, Amalia, 40Morrow, Colette, 191Moscow, 114–116

churches, 123department stores, 119, 120–121850th anniversary (1998), 115hotels, 118, 345–348housing, 349–350malls, 118markets, 117, 121, 131–132metro stations, 113museums, 344night clubs, 338–341parks, 344restaurants, 330–334retail space, 120rock music, 216–222street names, 113zoo, 114

Moscow (journal), 62Moscow Arts Theater, 135, 139, 154, 156, 172,

194 School, 5, 52, 57, 65–66

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (film), 77,78–79

Moscow Institute for Theater Arts (also TheaterInstitute, GITIS/RATI), 164, 184

3 8 8 I N D E X

Moscow International Film Festival, 75, 86Moscow News (Moskovskiye novosti, weekly),

25, 52, 57, 65–66Moscow Parade (film), 88Moscow State Circus, 8Moscow State University Theater “Nash Dom,”

139, 148Moscow Times (English-language newspaper),

57Mosfilm (studio), 72, 74Moshkov, Maxim, 50Moskovskaya pravda (newspaper), 51, 55Moskovskii komsomolets (newspaper), 46, 51,

53, 55, 66Moskovskii nabliudatel (Moscow Observer,

theatre magazine), 61Moskvichka (The Muscovite, women’s

magazine), 55Moskvina, Tatiana, 81Mostovoy, Alexander, 263Motor races, 286Mountain climbing, 286MTV (Music Television), 32, 36, 38, 42Mukhina, Vera, 113Mukusev, Vladimir, 17Murashov, Petr, 102Muratova, Kira, 9, 78, 79Museum of Architecture, 163Museums, 163, 344Music, 4, 5, 8, 108

American, 200composers, 17, 98, 102, 151, 164, 186, 200,

208, 229, 238, 239, 242–243conductors, 134disco, 208pop, 229–236, 241–243pop (estrada), 5, 8, 10, 14, 32, 48–49, 138,

169–171, 199, 200, 236–243pop singers, 8, 237–243radio, 47records (“on the bones”), 201, 208–209, 217rock, 12, 108, 199, 200, 201–202, 207–229, 241

(see also Rock opera)rock musicals, 207–208Soviet, 241Soviet pop, 199taped, 4, 47, 202, 217underground, 207, 241Western, 48–49, 199, 201, 207, 211, 241See also Bard movement; Jazz

Musicals, 246–255Muslims, 354Muz TV, 240Muzykalnaya zhizn (Musical Life, magazine),

57My Cinema (television program), 34“My Generation” (song), 224, 225Mytko, Igor, 298

Nadezhda (radio station), 48Na dne (Lower Depths, newspaper for

homeless), 54Naftaliyeva, Natalia, 364Names, 356Namin, Stas, 209, 248, 259NaNa (band), 230, 259Nash sovremennik (Our Contemporary,

journal), 62Nasyrov, Murat, 243Natalie (women’s magazine), 55Naumenko, Mikhail “Maik,” 222Nautilus Pompilius, 227, 229Nechayeva, Lidia, 274The Needle (film), 215, 219Negoda, Natalia, 53Nemchinov, Sergei, 276Nemov, Alexei, 283Neoclassical Academy, 104Neoclassicism, 115NEP (New Economic Policy, 1921–1928), 316Neretina, Nina, 365Nesting dolls, 108, 109(photo)Neva (journal), 62Nevzorov, Alexander, 19New Drama (festival), 157New Russia, 10, 11, 12, 326, 330, 352–353New Russians, jokes about, 181–182News agencies, 15, 46, 66News of the Week (television program), 34 Newspapers, 13(caption), 46, 51–57, 58(table),

61and coup (1991), 24, 25English-language editions, 57foreign, 53free, 56, 57and internet, 50journalists, 32, 56paper for, 54printed abroad, 54Russian, 54, 55–57

I N D E X 3 8 9

Newspapers (continued)Soviet, 51–54tabloid, 55, 56weekly, 52

Neyolova, Marina, 172, 358Nezavisimaya gazeta (Independent Gazette,

newspaper), 46online, 50

Neznaika in Sun City (film), 102Neznaika on the Moon (film), 102Neznansky, Friedrich, 39, 299Night clubs and bars, 337–342Night Flight (television program), 37Night Shift (television program), 37Night Watch (film), 71, 75, 99“Night Watch” (song), 202, 203Nijinski, Vaclav, 156“Nika” (film award), 75Nikitin, Akim, 184Nikitin, Dmitri, 184Nikitin, Nikolai, 184Nikitin, Petr, 184Nikitsky Gates (theater), 139, 144Nikolai, Aldo, 172Nikolayev, Igor, 243Nikulin, Mikhail, 185Nikulin, Yuri, 185, 186, 187(photo), 189Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorky), 7Nobel Prize, 4, 7Nord-Ost (musical), 249–250, 251, 252–253, 254,

259–260Norstein, Yuri, 100, 131Nosik, Anton, 50Nosov, Nikolai, 100, 102Novikov, Timur. 104, 214Novozhenov, Lev, 36Novy mir (New World, literary journal), 7, 62,

63, 66 Novye Izvestiya (newspaper), 46, 55, 56NTV (television channel), 28, 29, 30, 33, 34,

35–36, 42–43, 44, 46journalist, 45(photo)online, 50parent company, 44film production arm, 32, 46, 75takeover, 44, 45, 46

Nugmanov, Rashid, 215

O Happy Man (television quiz show), 35Obraztsov, Sergei, 162, 163, 195

Obshchaya gazeta (Common Gazette,

newspaper), 24October (film), 112October (journal), 62October Revolution (1917), 1, 113

celebration, 351–352Ogonyok (Little Flame, current affairs journal),

46, 52, 57, 60Ogorodnikov, Valeri, 85, 165, 214Oil (film), 71Okhlopkov, Nikolai, 1Okhotny Riad (Hunters’ Row), 131–132Okudzhava, Bulat, 202, 203–204, 207, 260, 295The Old Man and the Sea (film), 101Old Songs about the Main Thing (television

program), 32, 241Oleinikov, Ilia, 36Oligarchs, 13, 40, 42, 320Olympic Games, 264–266, 267, 268, 280, 281,

282, 287–291 boycott (1980), 7, 265stadium, 270, 278uniforms, 358, 360

Opekushin, Alexander, 112Open Radio, 49Open Russia (Yukos-supported fund), 57, 296Opera, 134, 149. See also Rock operaOperation “Happy New Year” (film), 80Opposition parties, 11Orbakaite, Kristina, 102, 240Orlov, Boris, 106Orlova, Liubov, 3, 76Orpheus and Eurydice (rock opera), 207ORT (Russian Public Television), 28, 29, 30,

32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 46, 67,71

and film production, 75and Russian Radio, 49and Soviet films, 32See also First Channel television

Orthodox Church, 352–353, 354, 368–369Ostalsky, Dmitri, 55Ostrovsky, Alexander, 113, 135Otdokhni (Relax, journal), 60Ours (Nashi, television program), 20Ovcharov, Sergei, 100, 132Ovchinnikov, Sergei, 275Overcoat (Gogol), 100OVR. See Fatherland—All RussiaOzerov, Nikolai, 267

3 9 0 I N D E X

Paintball, 285Pakhmutova, Alexandra, 8Palace of Soviets, 114Palme d’Or, 5, 90Panfilov, Gleb, 90Panin, Andrei, 172Panova, Yelena, 187Pantiushenkova, Olga, 366Paper games, 343Paper recycling, 292“Paper Soldier” (song), 203, 204“Parasitism,” 4Parfionova, Tatiana, 361–362, 369Parfyonov, Leonid, 34, 171Parkhomenko, Sergei, 48Parks and gardens, 334, 343–344Parliament, 25–27Pasternak, Boris, 4, 51Patrioshka, 104, 108, 109(photo)Pauls, Raimond, 237, 238, 260Paulson, Andrew, 57Pavlenko, Nikolai, 187Pavlov, Vladimir (prime minister 1991), 24Peculiarities of National . . . (film series)

Bath-house, 80Fishing, 80, 81–82Hunt (in Autumn), 79, 80, 81, 82Hunt in Winter, 82Politics, 80

Pelevin, Viktor, 12, 295, 296–297, 313Perchance (Juno and Avos, rock opera), 40Perepelkin, Vladimir (VQ), 365Perestiani, Ivan, 2Perestroika, 11, 47, 77Performance art, 104, 358Perfumes, 92, 121Peter the Great (czar), 114, 115(monument

photo)Peterburg Radio, 48Petersburg. See St. PetersburgPetersburg (film), 100Petersburg Theater Institute (SPATI), 152Petersburg Theater Journal, 62Petersburg Times (English-language

newspaper), 57Petkun, Viacheslav, 38Petrosian, Yevgeni, 171Petrov, Alexander, 100–101, 132Petrov, Vladimir, 276Petrushevskaya, Liudmila, 100, 148–149

Petrushka (trickster/rebel puppet), 161Pevtsov, Dmitri, 151, 172Pharaoh (film), 100Pharmacies, 123Photographers, 2Piatigorsky, Leonid, 200Pichul, Vasili, 53, 77Piekha, Edita, 237Pikhienko, Olga, 191Pikul, Valentin, 8, 11, 292Pilot (animation studio), 101Pilot Brothers (film series), 101Pivovarova, Natalia, 229–230Planet Earth (television program), 38Plasticine (Sigarev play), 154, 158Platonov, Andrei, 164Playboy (Russian edition), 60Playwrights, 1, 5, 100, 135, 154, 157, 158, 172,

183, 296Plisetskaya, Maya, 134Poetry, 105, 201, 214, 296Poets, 1, 4, 7, 147, 151, 201–202, 224Poliakova, Tatiana, 295Polishchuk, Liubov, 154, 172Political asylum, 13Political parties. See Communist Party of the

Soviet Union; under Russian SovietFederated Socialist Republic

Politkovskaya, Anna, 32, 63(photo)Polunin, Slava (Viacheslav), 100, 142, 146, 186,

189–190, 195Pomerantsev, Alexander, 120Ponomarenko, Sergei, 290–291Ponomaryov, Alexander, 147Poor Nastia (television serial), 306Pop singers. See under MusicPopov, Alexander, 284Popov, Gavriil (mayor of Moscow), 21, 41Popov, Oleg, 8, 188–189, 195Popova, Liubov, 356Popova, Yelena, 192Poptsov, Oleg, 41, 42, 56Popular culture

defined, 1post-Soviet, 11, 12underground, 7, 9Western, 10

Porcelain, 110, 111, 130Porgy and Bess (jazz opera), 200Pornography, 340

I N D E X 3 9 1

Posokhin, Mikhail, 114, 115Posters, 2Postmodernism, 12, 296Potanin, Vladimir, 56, 76Potudan Theater, 164–165, 195Pozner, Vladimir, 18, 21, 34, 67Pozner and Donahue (U.S television show),

20Pravda (Truth, newspaper), 51, 52–53, 54, 67Premiere (magazine), 61Presniakov, Oleg, 154, 158–159, 160, 195Presniakov, Vladimir, 154, 158–159, 160, 195,

240Press, jokes about, 176Press Law (1990), 53, 54Prigov, Dmitri, 105, 147 Primakov, Yevgeni, 29, 30, 43Princess Turandot (Gozzi play), 135, 356Prisoner of the Mountains (film), 83–84, 96Privatization, 41–45, 75Profil (journal), 60Prokhanov, Alexander, 54Prokofieva, Sofia, 162Proletarian fashion, 2ProMedia, 46, 49, 76Proof of Quality (television program), 36Psychological realism, 3, 5, 135Publishers/publishing, 46, 56, 292–295, 297,

313Pugacheva, Alla, 8, 14, 171, 237, 238, 239,

240(photo), 269Pugo, Boris (minister of the interior, 1991), 24Pulp fiction, 263, 292, 295Pupis, Doris, 365Puppets, 101, 157(photo). See also Kukly;

under TheaterPushkin, Alexander, 90, 100, 115Pushkin Cinema (formerly Rossiya), 74Pushkin Square, 112Pushkin Square (publisher), 56Pushkin Theater, 172Pushkina, Oxana, 38Putin, Vladimir, 10, 29

and Chechen conflict, 29at icon, 127(photo)as nesting doll, 109(photo)presidential campaign, 29–30, 319and state control, 45and television, 41, 319–320

Pygmalion (film producer), 75

Quarenghi, Giacomo, 116, 120Queen Margot (Dumas), 292

Rabid Love (Dotsenko), 300Rabotnitsa (The Woman Worker, magazine),

57Radio, 4–5, 23, 38, 41–49

cable, 46, 47, 48jamming, 17, 47joint venture, 47jokes about, 177–178journalists, 30music, 47, 48–49Russian, 47–49Soviet, 46–47stations, 46–47See also Privatization

Radio Chanson, 49Radio Dinamit, 49Radio Echo Moscow, 45, 46, 48, 49, 64Radio Europa Plus, 47, 49Radio Liberty, 30–31, 47, 49Radio Maximum, 38, 49Radio Mayak (Lighthouse), 47, 48, 49Radio Moscow, 4–5, 17Radio Moscow Speaking, 48Radio Nostalgie, 49Radio Russia, 23, 47, 48, 49, 67Radio Yunost (Youth), 47, 48, 69Radzinsky, Eduard, 8Raikin, Arkadi, 8, 14, 38, 168, 170, 171,

195–196Raikin, Konstantin, 153Rambler (search engine), 50Ramstore (market), 120Rasputin, Valentin, 299Rastrelli, Bartolomo, 116Rastorguyev, Nikolai, 229Razu, Mikhina (Daria Razumikhina), 364, 369Reading level, 8, 293Recreation. See SportsRed Sky (film), 85Red Star (model agency), 366, 369Red Waves (Soviet rock album), 216Reed, John, 6Reformers. See under Communist Party of the

Soviet UnionReligions, 352–354REN-TV, 75Repentence (film), 78, 87

3 9 2 I N D E X

Reshetov, Petr, 18, 22Resorts, 345Restaurants, 330–335

Western, 333The Return (film), 71, 72, 75Reviakina, Maria, 141RIA Novosti/RIA Vesti (news agency), 15, 46,

66Riazanov, Eldar, 5, 8, 77Robin Hood (film), 2Rock opera, 40, 208, 239, 245Rodchenko, Alexander, 2, 316Rodnina, Irina, 289, 313Rogozhkin, Alexander, 39, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84,

132, 172Rokashkov, Natalia, 192Rokashkov, Sergei, 192Romanov, Andrei (Diushka), 209The Romanovs (film), 90Room, Abram, 2Rossi, Carlo, 116Rossiiskaya gazeta (Russian Gazette,

newspaper), 46Rowing, 283–284Rozov, Viktor, 5Rozovsky, Mark, 136, 139, 143, 144, 207RTR (Russian Television and Radio) channel,

17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35,36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 56, 67–68

film production, 75online, 50

Rubinstein, Lev, 147Rublyov, Andrei, 124Rudinstein, Mark, 75Run, Lola, Run (film), 82Rusalka (film), 101Russia. See Russian Soviet Federated Socialist

RepublicRussian (language), 243–245

dictionaries, 243–244and foreign terms, 320prison slang, 244swear words, 246youth slang and jargon, 244–246, 247

Russian Association of Book-publishers (ASKI), 293

Russian Filmmakers’ Union, 75Russian food, 335–337Russian Football League, 313–314Russian Media Group, 49

Russian (Russkoye) Radio, 49, 68Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic

(RSFSR), 12, 23, 26, 41Communist Party (KPRF), 27, 29Congress of People’s Deputies, 23constitution, 26coup (1993), 25–27political parties, 26–27, 29presidential election (1966, 2000), 27–30See also New Russia

Russians, jokes about, 178–179Russia’s Choice (political party), 27Russkin, Sergei, 81Rutskoy, Alexander, 25Rybin, Alexei, 223Rybnikov, Alexei, 151, 208, 247Rymbaeva, Rosa, 230

Safin, Marat, 279Sagalayev, Eduard, 17, 25, 47, 68St. Petersburg, 112, 113, 116

hotels, 347(photo), 348markets and shops, 117, 119–120, 123night clubs, 341–342restaurants, 334–335

Sakharov, Andrei, 7, 18Salamonsky, Albert, 184, 185Salim-Meruet, Erik. See Kurmangaliev, ErikSaltykov, Viktor, 238–239Samizdat (self-publishing typescripts), 7, 244,

292Sarnatsky, Alexander, 189Sarnatsky, Lada, 189Satire Theater, 184Satirikon Theater, 153Sauer, Derk, 57Saulsky, Yuri, 201, 208, 212Saveliev, Ivan, 296Saxophones, 200Sazonov, Pavel, 161Scandals of the Week (TV6 talk show), 37Schnittke, Alfred, 17School of Contemporary Play (theater), 155School of Scandal (television program), 37Sculpture, 106, 112, 113Seagull (theater award), 363“Second economy,” 7–8, 11, 217Secrets of the Investigation (Topilskaya), 309Segodnia (Today, newspaper), 55, 68Sektor Gaza (rock band), 222

I N D E X 3 9 3

Selianov, Sergei, 75Selitskaya, Irina, 364–365Sem’ dnei (Seven Days, journal), 60Semanova, Natalia, 366Semyonov, Yulian, 5, 8, 11, 17, 53, 293, 299Sense and Sensibility (television program), 38Serebrennikov, Kirill, 40, 154, 155, 158, 159,

160(photo), 196Sergeyev, Andrei, 295Sergeyev, Viktor, 74Seventeen Moments of Spring (television

serial), 9, 16, 180, 305Sex education, jokes about, 176Sexually transmitted disease, 340“Shadow economy.” See “Second economy”Shadow theater. See Teatr Ten’Shagin, Dmitir, 107Shakhet, Boris, 183Shakhnazarov, Karen, 74Shakhrin, Vladimir, 222Shakurov, Sergei, 98Shamanism, 354“Shamateurism,” 266Shapiro, Adolf, 145Shar (animation studio), 100Sharapova, Maria, 263, 280, 314Sharnin, Andrei, 189Sharov, Andrei, 363–364, 369Sharovatova, Irina, 230Shatrov, Mikhail, 151Shcharansky, Anatoli, 7Shchedrin, Rodion, 212Shcherbakov, Boris, 172Shefler, Yuri, 337Shenderovich, Viktor, 34, 43, 45(photo)Shepitko, Larisa, 78Shepotinnik, Peter, 34Shevardnadze, Eduard, 18Shevchuk, Yuri, 226–227, 257, 260Shifrin, Yefim, 171Shinkarev, Vladimir, 107Shnurov, Sergei, 98, 232, 260–261Shoigu, Igor, 29Shopping malls, 115, 118–120Shops, 116–123Short Encounters (film), 9Shtatniki (American style stilyagi), 200Shtein, Alexander, 5Shuidin, Mikhail, 189Shumiatsky, Boris, 2–3, 76

Sigarev, Vasili, 154, 158, 159, 160, 196, 296Sikharulidze, Anton, 289–290Silver Rain (radio station), 49Simonov, Konstantin, 293Simonova, Yevgeniya, 172Simple Truths (television serial), 40Siniavsky, Andrei, 7Siniavsky, Vadim, 267Sisters (film), 97Sitkovetsky, Alexander, 209, 217600 Seconds (television program), 19–20Skiing, 286–287Skliar, Alexander, 219Skoroded, Valeri, 219Skyscraper (sots-art), 106–107Slaviane (rock band), 207Slominskaya, Julia, 161Slovo (film studio), 75Slutskaya, Irina, 288(photo)Smekhova, Alika, 35Smirnova, Dunia, 37Smith, Martin Cruz, 209Smoking, 323–324Smoliakov, Andrei, 145Soap operas. See under TelevisionSoccer, 263–264, 267–275

teams, 270–275, 311, 312, 314Sochinushki (film), 100Socialism, 12

and culture, 1–2, 3Socialist Realism, 2, 3, 4, 10, 105, 106Sokolniki Stadium, 270Sokov, Leonid, 107Sokurov, Alexander, 78, 79Soloviev, Sergei, 215Soltan, Marcella, 188Solzhenitsyn, Alexander, 4, 7, 62Sold Out (talk show), 36–37“Song about Five Minutes,” 77“Song of the Motherland,” 3, 4Songs, 3, 4, 49, 76, 77, 108, 199, 203–206, 210,

218, 219 (see also Bard movement)Sorokin, Vladimir, 294(photo), 296, 297, 314Sorokina, Svetlana, 26, 41, 45(photo), 68Sotheby’s (Moscow), 104, 107Sots-art, 12, 104, 106–107, 132Sovershenno sekretno (Top Secret, newspaper),

53, 56Sovetskaya kultura (Soviet Culture,

newspaper), 52

3 9 4 I N D E X

Sovetskaya Rossiya (Soviet Russia,

newspaper), 52, 53, 205Sovetskii balet (Soviet Ballet, magazine), 57Sovetskii ekran (Soviet Screen, magazine), 57Sovetskii tsirk (Soviet Circus, magazine), 57Soviet Army Ensemble, 8Soviet foreign policy, 7

jokes about, 175–176Soviet Union collapse (1991), 11, 24–25Soviet Unions of Composers, of Artists, of

Cinematographers, of Theater Workers, ofWriters, 2, 7, 9, 10, 74

Sovremennaya dramaturgiya (journal), 62Sovremennik (Contemporary) theater, 5, 6, 136,

138, 155, 172SPATI (St. Petersburg Academy of Theater Arts,

formerly LGITMiK), 164, 165SPEED-Info (AIDS-Info, SPID-Info,

newspaper), 46, 56, 57Sport FM (radio station), 48, 49SportExpress (magazine), 267Sports, 11, 263–292

commendations, 267equipment and facilities, 112, 268, 269,

284–285and military training, 266under Soviets, 271See also individual names

Spotlight on Perestroika (television program),19, 67

Spy thrillers, 263. See also Television, and spyand detective programs

“Stagnation” period, 6–9Stalin, Josef, 3, 4, 10, 27, 86, 113

and film, 73, 76, 78jokes about, 173–174

Stalin and Hitler (art), 107Stalin and Marilyn (art), 107Stalingrad. See VolgogradStamp Album (Sergeyev), 295Stanislavsky, Konstantin, 3, 5, 6, 135Stanislavsky Theater, 148, 172The Star (film), 85Star Factory (television program), 36, 241State Emergency Committee (GKChP, 1991), 24,

25State Puppet Theater, 162Steblin, Alexander, 276Stepanov, Yuri, 280Stepanova, Masha, 103

Stepanova, Varvara, 2Stirlitz (character in spy literature), 4, 16, 53,

180–181, 196, 293Stick/rod puppets, 160–161, 162Stilyagi (style hunters), 200Stites, Richard, 11Stolper, Alexander, 5Storming of the Winter Palace (directed by

Yevreinov), 1Stoyanov, Yuri, 36Strategic control, jokes about, 176–177Street Watch (television crime program), 34Streets of Broken Lights (television serial), 39,

300, 306–307Streltsov, Alexander, 187Strider: The Story of a Horse (Tolstoy), 6, 136Strok, Oskar, 200Strugachev, Semen, 81Strugatsky, Arkadi, 8Strugatsky, Boris, 8Styob (parody of socialist culture), 245, 261Subsidized culture, 12, 317“Suburban Moscow Evenings” (song), 4Submarine accident, 29, 43Subway terrorist attack, 29Sukachev, Igor (Garik), 220, 261Sukhanov, Maxim, 148Sukhorukov, Viktor, 98Summer Garden (pop group), 243Superstition, 354–356Suslov, Mikhail, 212Suteyev, Vladimir, 100Svanidze, Nikolai, 34Sverdlov, Yakov, 113Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), 113Sviridova, Alyona, 239“Sweet N” (song), 222, 223Swimming, 268, 284–285Sych, Vladimir, 276

Tabakov, Oleg, 140, 141, 145, 158, 171, 196Tabakov Theater, 142, 155, 198Taganka Theater of Drama and Comedy, 4, 5, 6,

9, 136, 138, 139, 203Tale of Tales (film), 100Tango, 199, 100Tape recordings, 4Tarasov, Anatoli, 275Tarasov, Vladimir, 201Taratorkin, Georgi, 172

I N D E X 3 9 5

Tarkovsky, Andrei, 8, 78Tarzan (film), 5TASS (Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union)

news agency, 15TASS Is Authorized to Report (television

serial), 16Tatarsky, Alexander, 101t.A.T.u (girl band), 199, 232–235, 285Tayekin, Sergei, 191Tchaikovsky, Pyotr, 113Tea, advertising for, 324–325Teatr (Theater, magazine), 61, 138Teatr Koshek, 188Teatr Ten’ (Shadow Theater), 161, 165–167,

196–197Teatralnaya zhizn (Theater Life, magazine),

57, 61–62TEFI (television award), 33, 36Tele-Special-Force (television program), 34Television, 4, 8, 12, 13–46, 240

and American influence, 27and American programs, 32, 38, 39awards, 33, 36cable, 14, 32, 41, 42channels, 14–15, 17, 23, 25, 28, 32, 34children’s, 38crime programs, 34current events programs, 33–34educational, 38and game shows, 14, 16, 17, 32, 35–36history programs, 34independent, 16live, 15movies on, 32, 34, 41and music, 4, 18, 240–241and news, 14, 15, 16–32, 33news anchors on, 17, 22, 29producers, 32propaganda and ideology, 15, 45and public opinion, 14reality, 36Russian, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25satellite, 14, 18, 32–33, 42serials, 16, 39–40, 75, 295, 309sets, 14, 72soap operas, 39, 78, 305–309, 326Soviet, 14, 15, 20, 23, 40–41space bridges, 13, 20and sports, 15, 45and spy and detective programs, 16, 39–40

talk shows, 36–38and timeliness, 15tower, 14and Western programs, 15, 39and women’s programs, 37–38youth programs, 18See also Investigative jounalists;

PrivatizationTelevizor (rock band), 225–226Ten Days that Shook the World (Reed), 6, 137Tennis, 263, 268, 278–280Terts, Abram (pseudonym), 7Thaw (liberalization), 3–6, 18, 47, 86, 91, 136Theater

of the Absurd, 142author’s, 6avant-garde movement, 135awards, 160boulevard, 171–173children’s, 136, 147commercial, 12directors, 1–2, 3, 5, 6, 135, 137, 141, 147,

151–153, 154, 156, 172experimental, 2, 3, 8, 10, 135, 140–141festivals, 187Russian, 153–160Soviet, 135–141, 151Stalinist, 3and television, 34underground, 7and unions, 10See also Actors/actresses; Circus; Clowns;

Mime; Opera; PlaywrightsTheater of Europe, 153Theater of Nations, 139Theater of Satire, 183Theater of the Lenin Komsomol (Lenkom), 136,

151Theater South-West, 143Theater Workers’ Union (STD), 139, 141, 146Theaters, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 116, 136, 139–140, 141,

143, 144, 146, 147,148, 153, 155, 158, 184puppet, 135, 160–168puppet productions, 162, 163–166studio, 139–142workshop, 146, 147, 152

Theatrical Management Association (TMA), 160

Theatrical Monday (television program), 34“Thick” journals. See Literary journals

3 9 6 I N D E X

The Thief (film), 91Three Sisters (Chekhov), 137Tikhomirov, Alexander, 19Tikhonov, Viktor, 275, 276Tikhy, Sasha, 147“Time for Little Bells” (song), 213Timeliness, 52Times Square (sots-art), 107Tiurin, Yevgraf, 123TNT (television satellite channel), 32, 46Tobacco. See Smoking Today in the World (television program), 15,

42, 54Todorovsky, Valeri, 75Tolkacheva, Alisa, 366Tolstaya, Tatiana, 37Tolstoy, Lev, 6, 136Tolstunov, Igor, 75Ton, Konstantin, 114Top Line (film producer), 75Top Secret (television program), 33–34, 68Topilskaya, Elena, 309Topol, Edward, 299Toropov, Igor, 219Total (television program), 34Total Show (MTV game show), 36Tourism, 343, 344–345Tovstonogov, Georgi, 5, 6, 136, 138Toys, 107, 108Trade unions, 51“Train on Fire” (song), 211“Trash” culture, 8, 11, 12The Tree with the Golden Apples (film), 101Tretiakov, Vitali, 55Tretiakov Gallery, 12, 113Trezzini, Domenico, 116TriTe (film producer), 75Troika, 49Troitsky, Artemy (Artyom), 216, 218The Truckers (television serial), 40Trud (Work, newspaper), 55, 57, 68Trukhin, Mikhail, 153, 172Trushkin, Leonid, 154, 171Tsereteli (Tsulukidze), Zurab, 114, 115, 118,

124(photo), 133Tsfasman, Alexander, 200TSN (Tele Service News), 17, 22, 25Tsoy, Viktor, 214, 215, 222–224, 261TsUM (Moscow Central Department Store),

120–121

Turishcheva, Liudmila, 282Tusovka, 261TV Park (journal), 60Tvardovsky, Alexander, 7, 8, 62Tver, 113TVS (Television Spectrum), 44, 45TV6, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42, 46, 69

parent company. See MNVKTVTs (Center Television, TV-Center), 30, 38, 43,

42, 46, 69Twelfth Floor (television program), 18, 47, 64Twelve Chairs (musical), 253–254, 255,

261–262, 335Twentieth Party Congress (1956), 3Twenty-fifth Party Congress (1976), 8Twilight Watch (film), 99Twists of the Times (radio program), 48Two Captains (Kaverin), 250–252The Tycoon (film), 13Tyorkin in the Other World (Tvardovsky), 8

Udarnak Theater, 74Ufimtsev, Ivan, 100Ulanov, Alexi, 289Ulianov, Mikhail, 98, 139Ulianovsk (formerly Simbirsk), 113Ulitskaya, Liudmila, 296, 297Umetsky, Dmitri, 227Union of Composers, 212Union of Right Forces (SPS), 11Unions, 2, 7, 9, 10, 138, 146, 161, 212Unity (political party), 29, 30, 43Uspensky, Eduard, 100Ural (literary journal), 158Urban planning and design, 105, 112–123Us (film), 86Ustinova, Tatiana, 295Utesov, Leonid, 200

Vaikule, Laima, 238, 262Vakhtangov, Yevgeni, 135, 356Vapirov, Anatoli, 201Varum, Angelika, 242Vasilevsky, Andrei, 63Vasiliev, Anatoli, 140, 141, 142Vasiliev, Georgi, 3Vasiliev (Fainstein), Mikhail, 209Vasiliev, Sergei, 3Vasilieva, Tatania, 154, 172, 360VASSA, 365, 369–370

I N D E X 3 9 7

Vecherniaya Moskva (Evening Moscow

newspaper), 46, 51, 55Vedomosti (Information, newspaper), 57Venediktov, Alexei, 48Venetsianov, Georgi, 185Venice International Film Festival, 71Vereshchagin, Leonid, 75Versions (television program), 45Versty (newspaper), 56Vesti (RTR news program), 23, 33, 44Vetlitskaya, Natalia, 238–239VGTRK, 23, 42, 46, 69VIA (vocal instrumental ensemble), 217, 218Video recorders, 74Video-piracy, 32, 74, 217Viktiuk, Roamn, 147, 148–151, 86, 197Vilnius (Lithuania) independence movement

(1991), 22, 30Virsky, Pavel, 8Vishnevskaya, Galina, 115Visual culture, 11VJ (video jockey), 42Vladimov, Georgi, 295Vlast (Control, journal), 60Vodka, 91–92, 337

advertising for, 320–321Voice of America (VoA), 47, 201Volga-Volga (film), 76Volgograd, 113Volleyball, 277–278Volos, Andrei, 296“Vote or you’ll lose” (election slogan), 28VOTM (Creative Workshops), 146–147, 148Voznesensky, Andrei, 151, 208VQ. See Perepelkin, VladimirVragova, Svetlana, 140, 142Vremechko (see A Bit of Time, talk show)Vremia (television program), 15, 17, 20–21, 24,

33, 34, 36Vse dlia vas (Everything for You, advertising

paper), 56Vuchetich, Yevgeni, 113Vyrypaev, Ivan, 158, 159(photo)Vysotsky, Vladimir, 9, 14, 16, 98, 113, 138, 202,

203, 204–206, 207, 212, 222, 244, 262, 327Vzgliad (television program), 17, 18, 19, 47, 69,

96journalists, 47

Walking, 280

War (film), 97Wargnier, Regis, 97The Weakest Link (television game show), 35Weightlifting, 281Western culture, 4While Everybody’s Still at Home (television

program), 35Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (television

game show), 35Window on Europe (film festival), 75Wine, 337“Wings” (song), 228, 229Wintour, Charles, Award, 160“Wolf Hunt” (song), 98, 205–206Women’s View (television program), 38Woodcuts, 107World and Youth (television program), 18World Circus Festival, 191World in a Week (radio program), 47–48World of the New Russians (shop), 111–112World War II (1939–1945), 3, 5Wrestling, 281, 282(photo)Writers, 7, 8, 12, 13, 16, 37, 39, 40, 98, 100, 102,

162, 216, 250, 292, 293, 295, 296, 298women detective, 301–305

Yabloko (political party), 11, 27Yachting, 284Yakov, Valeri, 56Yakovlev, Alexander, 9, 15, 25Yakovlev, Yegor, 52Yakovleva, Yelena, 37, 40Yakubovich, Leonid, 35Yakunina, Masha, 103Yanayev, Gennadi (vice president), 18, 24, 25Yankovsky, Oleg, 75, 151, 172Yarbusova, Francesca, 100Yastrzhembsky, Sergei, 31Yatsuro, Yelena, 75Yavlinsky, Grigori, 27Yazov, Dmitri (defense minister, 1991), 22, 24Yefremov, Oleg, 5–6, 136, 139Yeltsin, Boris, 9, 10

and censorship, 26daughter (see Diachenko, Tatiana)and Gorbachev, 23, 25health, 28and parliament, 25–26, 27as president, 25, 26, 27–32, as presidential security boos, 28

3 9 8 I N D E X

as puppet, 34, 35(photo)and radio, 27and television, 15, 16, 23–24, 27, 28, 41, 319

Yemets, Dmitri, 298Yepifanova, Irina, 218Yeralash films (Gorky studios), 38Yermolaeva, Elena, 366Yerofeyev, Viktor, 37Yershov, Stanislav, 75Yeryomin, Yuri, 147Yevreinov, Nikolai, 1Yevteyeva, Irina, 100Your Game (television program), 35Youth Café, 207, 208Yudanova, Yelena, 229Yudashkin, Valentin, 239, 359–360, 370Yunost (Youth journal), 60, 62Yurievich, Andrei, 128

Zaderny, Sviatoslav, 224Zadornov, Mikhail, 197Zaitsev, Viacheslav (Slava), 357–359, 370Zakharov, Mark, 10, 17. 151, 152, 172, 197

Zakharov, Vasili, 9Zakhoder, Boris, 100Zakutsky, Valeri, 35Zalygin, Sergei, 63Zamolodchikova, Lena, 283Zarubina, Irina, 303Zavtra (Tomorrow, newspaper), 54, 55(photo)Zemfira (Ramazanova) (rock singer), 235,

236(photo)Zdorovie (Health, magazine), 57Zhakevich, Vadim (Jacques), 147Zhdanov, Andrei, 200Zhirinovsky, Vladimir, 27, 30, 49, 319, 320Zhitinkin, Andrei, 145, 197–198, 363Zhurbin, Alexander, 207Zhvanetsky, Mikhail, 8, 170–171, 198Zimianin, Mikhail, 9Ziuganov, Gennadi, 27, 28, 29, 32, 49, 319, 320Zoopark (rock band), 222Zorin, Leonid, 5Zudina, Maria, 145Zviagintsev, Andrei, 71

I N D E X 3 9 9

About the Author

Birgit Beumers is senior lecturer in the Russian Department at Bristol University.

After completing her PhD at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, she taught for two

years in the Slavonic Department at the University of Cambridge before moving

to Bristol in 1994. She specializes in contemporary Russian culture, especially

cinema and theater. Her book publications include Yury Lyubimov at the

Taganka Theatre 1964–1994 (1997); Burnt by the Sun (2000); and Nikita

Mikhalkov: Between Nostalgia and Nationalism (2005). She edited Russia on

Reels: The Russian Idea in Post-Soviet Cinema (1999).

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