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Monday, October 26, 2015

Russia strives to find alternative for oil revenues

Business&Economy

P.03

UAE hosts unprecedented exhibition of Soviet art

Culture

P.06

Special supplement from Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Moscow, Russia) which takes sole responsibility for the contents.

Distributed with www.rbth.com

Is Moscow looking to make Syria’s opposition a deal?

International Kremlin's Middle East involvement may enter new phase after Russia holds talks with representative of anti-Assad forces

NADEZHDA USTINOVA, YEKATERINA SI-NELSCHIKOVA, RBTH

A recent meeting between a

Russian presidential envoy and a

Syrian opposition leader in Cairo

has sparked much rumour and

speculation. RBTH polled experts

for their views on the reasons

behind the meeting.

Speculation of a possible move by Russia to win support from the Syr-ian opposition is growing follow-ing a recent meeting between Rus-sian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Ahmad Al-Jarba, one of the leaders of the movement to oust Syria’s leader Bashar Al Assad.

Little is known about the out-come of the meeting, which took place in Cairo on Oct. 17, yet ob-servers suggest that Russia may be acting as an intermediary in talks between the Assad government and

the moderate opposition to unite against a common enemy.

Assad forced to become more flexibleAccording to Vyacheslav Igrunov, head of the Institute of Humani-tarian and Political Studies, Da-mascus can no longer ignore the Syrian opposition and is in no po-sition to destroy it.

“It is too weak to fi ght wars on several fronts at the same time, while the war with the opposi-tion is making it difficult to build a single front against Daesh,” he said.

Furthermore, the opposition en-joys the support some Middle East countries, Turkey and the US, which makes tensions even higher. In this situation, it would be sensible to join forces against a common enemy, but to do that, fi rst agree-ment on the status of the Syrian

opposition has to be reached, said Igrunov, adding that Russia is ready to act as a key intermediary.

The main problem lies in the reluctance of both the parties to reach an agreeable compromise. According to Igrunov, Assad has turned out to be more fl exible, as he has – supposedly – announced that he is prepared to back down, which cannot be said of the oppo-sition forces.

“From them, we have not heard such sensible statements about the possibility of fi ghting Daesh to-gether,” said Igrunov.

‘If you are not terrorists, then show initiative’In fact, Russian diplomats have al-ready had meetings with represen-tatives of the Syrian opposition in different formats. According to Leo-nid Syukiyainen, a professor at the Higher School of Economics in

Moscow and an expert in Islamic law, “the only thing that has changed now is the situation on the ground in Syria. But the goal remains the same: to establish di-alogue.”

However, there is still no uniform opinion as to who this moderate opposition is. While there is little disagreement between Russia and the West that Daesh is the enemy, attitudes to the various rebel groups fi ghting against the Assad regime are rather more complex and far from uniform in regard to who is seen as a terrorist and who is not.

“The meeting may have discussed exactly this: that there are struc-tures and organisations that do not consider themselves terrorists, while Russia, on the contrary, does,” said Syukiyainen.

It is quite possible, he added, that Russia put the issue point-blank: “If you are not terrorists, then show

initiative in the political settlement of the confl ict.”

"If they are indeed guided by Syr-ia’s interests rather than instruc-tions from abroad, they will agree to a compromise. If not, they are not true patriots of Syria ," he said.

“This is the objective behind the meetings our high-ranking diplo-mats are having,” said another Ori-ental Studies expert, Konstantin Dudarev.

Moderates or terrorists?Moscow’s efforts to involve mod-erate Syrian opposition fi gures in the peace process have been going on for a long time, according to Andrei Fyodorchenko, head of the Centre for Middle Eastern Stud-ies under the Moscow State Insti-tute of International Relations.

“Since the start of the year, Mos-cow has already conducted two consultative intra-Syrian meetings,

while in April it came up with eight points for the Moscow plat-form with proposals for resolving the crisis. It contains an appeal to put more pressure on regional and international players to stop any actions supporting terrorists and an appeal to free occupied terri-tories. That declaration was ad-opted by the moderate Syrian op-position,” he said.

All that is happening now is an attempt to create a broad anti-ter-rorist coalition involving regional players and various Syrian forces – though how realistic this is re-mains an open question, accord-ing to Vyacheslav Igrunov.

“The thing is that the Syrian op-position will not run counter to its sponsors. And they are so far not ready for a compromise with the Assad regime. So there are some tough negotiations ahead,” he said.

Millions of refugees have

left Syria in search of shel-

ter from the four-year

conflict that has destroyed

their lives and homes.

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02RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES www.rbth.com

GULF NEWS_MONDAY_OCTOBER_26_2015Politics

NATALYA REMMERBUSINESS EMIRATES

On Oct. 8, Novosibirsk hosted the

first Siberia-UAE business forum,

bringing together entrepreneurs

from Russia and the United Arab

Emirates to consider prospects

for cooperation.

UAE eyeing up Siberia’s business potential Russia-UAE Entrepreneurs on the lookout for new opportunities in Russia's regions as first Dubai-Novosibirsk flights begin

a gateway to the huge Siberian Federal District, while the UAE is seen as a key to Middle East-ern and Gulf countries.

“Interest is growing in develop-ing bilateral trade in food, ma-chine engineering, production of metals, construction materials and medical equipment," said Yegorov.

Addressing the gathering, the general director of the Novosibirsk Region Agency for Investment De-velopment, Vladimir Nikonov, de-scribed the region, which is locat-ed in the geographical centre of Russia, on the junction of trade routes between Europe and South-east Asia, as a major transport hub and logistics centre, with over 12 million people living within a 600-km radius.

He went on to list the key ben-efi ts enjoyed by the region: an ad-vantageous geographic and trans-port position, a high degree of diversification and an economy that is not solely based on natu-ral resources, a powerful scientif-ic and innovations potential.

“We are interested in develop-ing the construction materials in-dustry," he said. "We see that there is every opportunity to develop the agricultural processing sector, as

He went on to stress that which-ever specifi c area is being consid-ered, the Novosibirsk Region has created conditions for developing business and basing production facilities locally.

For his part, the head of the CIS office of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sanan Nasibli, informed delegates at the forum about the business and in-vestment opportunities offered by Dubai. He said that the delegates included representatives of private investment structures, banks, in-vestment houses, and service com-panies, which assist with business development in the Emirates.

Flydubai senior vice-president for commercial operations in UAE, Middle East, Europe and CIS, Jey-hun Efendi said that the airline had for a long time been planning to launch a fl ight between Dubai and Novosibirsk because the Si-berian region is strategically im-portant for the company. It is ex-pected that the new route will enable UAE companies to supply electronic goods to Siberia and to import locally produced food from there. Flydubai began operating its Novosibirsk route on Oct. 4, with three fl ights per week.

Representatives of UAE's business circles had an opportunity to fa-miliarise themselves with the eco-nomic potential of the Novosibirsk Region earlier this month during a forum that was held to mark the launch of direct fl ights between Novosibirsk and Dubai.

The Siberia-UAE business forum was organised by the Rus-sian Union of Entrepreneurs in the UAE and the Novosibirsk Region Agency for Investment Develop-ment, with the support of the gov-ernments of the Novosibirsk Re-gion and the city of Novosibirsk as well as the Flydubai airline, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Dubai Exports.

At the opening ceremony, head of the Russian Union of Entrepre-neurs in the UAE Igor Yegorov said that the business forum was just the fi rst step towards long-term partnership, since Novosibirsk is

the region is largely self-sufficient in most foods and even exports some of them, but the processing industry (mainly, grain processing) is in need of modernisation, for which investment is required.”

Another promising area is bio-tech production, since the Sibe-rian region has a lot of research and scientifi c experience in this

fi eld, with many local production companies already operating in this sector. Another area attrac-tive for potential investment is the logistics sector.

“Over the past five years, we have put into operation over 500,000 square metres of modern warehouse space. Yet, there is still demand for more,” Nikonov said.

Novosibirsk hosts the biggest scientific hub in Siberia.

" We would like to see UAE companies setting up joint ventures in Russia. The cu-

rrent economic situation in Russia, including the depreciation of the ruble, is conducive to the develop-ment of export-oriented production. UAE entrepreneurs may also be in-terested in the development of tech-noparks and transport and logistics factors as well as the full range of tourist opportunities.

THE QUOTE

IgorYegorovHEAD OF THE RUSSIAN UNION OF ENTREPRE-NEURS IN UAE

Novosibirsk is a gateway to the huge Siberian Federal District, while the UAE is seen as a key to Middle Eastern and Gulf countries.

Labor migrants: Life under the radar

Society Thousands of citizens of former Soviet republics come to Russia every year looking for work

VLADIMIR KOZLOVSPECIAL TO RBTH

As Europe questions how to cope

with an influx of refugees from

Syria and American presidential

candidates debate the role of

Central American immigrants,

Russia faces its own challenges.

Rashid came to Moscow from Ta-jikistan last year. He is 20, has no particular qualifications and speaks broken Russian. He lives in a two-room apartment in the city’s northern suburbs with his brother’s family and several other people. He works odd jobs, most-ly as a loader in a market. “I make about 20,000 rubles a month, sometimes less,” Rashid said. It’s almost a third of the average Mos-cow salary, but more than he was making at home.

As a citizen of Tajikistan, a

member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.), Rashid didn’t need a visa to enter Russia, and could stay without any addi-tional permission for 90 days.

Eighty percent of all migrants to Russia are citizens of countries in the C.I.S., a loose federation made up of all the former Soviet republics except for Ukraine and Georgia, according to Nikolai Kur-dymov, who heads the committee on economic migration at busi-ness lobby group OPORA Rossii. But Rashid stayed longer, was stopped by the police, and fi ned for overstaying the 90-day limit. Additionally, his name was put on a Federal Migration Service black-list, making him ineligible for a work permit. And so, like numer-ous others, Rashid takes whatev-er work he can fi nd, paid under the table.

Difficult choices“The fact that the vast majority of migrants have no legal status in Russia is the most painful issue,” said Muhammad Amin Madzhum-der, president of the Federation of Migrants of Russia, adding that of the 10 million migrants in Rus-sia, only 1.5 million are in the coun-try legally.

A migrant who has overstayed his or her visa or been deported is ineligible for applying for a work permit. More than two million names are on the blacklist of the Federal Migration Service, and as many as 800,000 have been de-ported.

Predictably, living in the coun-try illegally hampers the ability of migrants to integrate into Rus-sian society.

“They’re hiding. They are often surrounded by criminals, some-

times their passports are taken away from them,” Kurdymov said.

As Russia slipped into recession in late 2014, reports about mi-grants leaving Russia in large num-bers began to appear.

However, experts say that it is too early to talk about a mass ex-odus of migrants.

“Most have stayed,” said Vasily Kravtsov, head of charity Migra-tion XXI Century. “There is one telling indicator: the amount of money they send to their families back home. In rubles, this fi gure hasn’t declined; it has even gone up.”

Anti-migrant sentimentFor years, there has been anti-mi-grant sentiment in Russian soci-ety, based on fears they steal jobs from Russians and commit crimes. The facts dispute this.

“It’s wrong to think that migrant workers are taking jobs from Rus-sians,” said Kurdyumov. “Mostly, they work low-qualifi cation, low-wage jobs that Russians are not interested in.”

Confronting the problemRussian authorities have made some changes intended to improve the situation for labor migrants from the C.I.S. who want to stay in Russia legally long-term.

One major change came into ef-fect this year 2015, allowing mi-grants from the C.I.S. to buy “pat-ents” — a kind of green card — instead of applying for work permits. Unlike work permits, pat-ents allow the holder to switch from one employer to another, and the procedure for obtaining one is simpler. But the new system also has disadvantages.

In Moscow, a migrant is expect-ed to pay between 60,000–70,000 rubles ($950–$1,100) a year — well beyond the resources of most mi-grants. Migrants are also required to get medical certifi cates stating they don’t have diseases includ-ing H.I.V. and tuberculosis, and must pass a test on Russian his-tory, language and law.

According to Kravtsov, the new system has encouraged corruption in some cases. "Many migrants have continued to work illegally. They just bribe local police offi-cers,” he said.

Despite these issues, Nikolai Kurdyumov thinks the new sys-tem is at least a start toward tack-ling the problem. “If at least some migrants will move out of the gray economy thanks to the new sys-tem, that will be good,” Kurdyu-mov said.

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03RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES www.rbth.com

GULF NEWS_MONDAY_OCTOBER_26_2015 Business&Economy

NEWS IN BRIEF

Direct air communication be-tween Russia and Ukraine will be terminated on Oct. 25, Rus-sian Transportation Minister Maxim Sokolov has announced, adding that reciprocal fl ights be-tween the two countries are end-ing on Ukraine's initiative.

"The Russian government's at-tempts to talk with its Ukraini-an counterpart were not success-ful. Recently we received official notifi cation that all Russian air-lines will be prohibited from using Ukraine's airspace," said Sokolov.

"The decision to ban Russian airline fl ights to cities in Ukraine, as well as restricting transit, is linked to Kiev's grievances about the these airlines' flights to Crimea," said Oleg Panteleyev, director of the analytical service of the Aviaport Agency, who added that after Oct. 25 sanc-tions will be imposed on all Rus-sian airlines.

"Ukraine's decision, however, has a political implication since it violates the Agreement on Air Communication Between Two Countries," he said.

Flights between

Russia and Ukraine

will be terminated

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry

Medvedev (right) and Minister of

Economic Development of the

Russian Federation Alexei Ulyu-

kayev (left) at the Sochi Interna-

tional Economic Forum in

ALEXEI LOSSANRBTH

Premier Dmitry Medvedev calls

on Russia to reduce its

dependence oil through reforms,

stimulating manufacturing and

cuts on spending at Sochi

International Economic Forum.

Medvedev: Russia must cut oil addictionEconomy Prime Minister outlines main principles of Kremlin's economic policy as crude and gas sales fall below 50% of budget

For the fi rst time oil and gas rev-enues have provided for less than half of the federal Russian bud-get, said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at the Sochi International Economic Forum in early October.

In his words, the fall in oil pric-es and Russia's fl exible monetary policy are responsible for the trend, but nevertheless it has to be sup-ported even when oil prices return to higher levels.

According to Medvedev, oil and gas revenues should not be the main source for replenishing the budget, and windfall profi ts from oil sales should be directed to-wards sovereign wealth funds.

A hostage to globalisationMedvedev noted that many chang-es have taken place in the world and in Russia's economy in the last year.

"Business must not divide coun-tries, but on the contrary unite them and such contacts connect governments better than any pol-icy," he said

In his opinion, growth rates in the world remain rather low - even in the United States they are lower than experts expected, while the European Union is currently show-ing zero growth.

Medvedev added that the insta-bility in the global economy and politics has had the biggest im-pact on the positions of develop-ing countries.

"The Russian economy is a hos-tage to and benefi ciary of global-isation. Russia cannot ignore glob-al trends as it concentrates on its own development."

Moreover, in Medvedev's view, "for the last year and a half the Russian economy has had to face unprecedented sanctions from the West and in many cases the sphere of technology has been complete-ly closed to the country".

However, the government had known of the consequences the sanctions would have, but still

went ahead and made a conscious political decision that led to the EU and the US imposing them.

Strategy for the futureMedvedev said that Russia has begun involving the expert com-munity to work on a development strategy for the country until 2030, focusing on four priorities: invest-ment activity, import substitution, the quality of government admin-istration, and budget policy.

According to Medvedev, the stimulation of investment activity

will be one of the main directions in the strategy. "The objective is to remove the barriers that im-pede (private) money from enter-ing the market," he said.

In the course of the last year several institutes for attracting pri-vate enterprises to the economy have been created in Russia. One of these is the Industrial Devel-opment Foundation, which was established to help enterprises in their early stages. The government has also made financial instru-ments accessible for a broader cir-cle of investors.

According to Medvedev, so-called “import substitution” – re-placing imported goods with do-mestically produced ones – is the most important element for struc-tural reforms and competitive en-terprises can make the economy more balanced.

"Returning Russian goods to the market is the fi rst step and the ul-timate objective is the creation of competitive production," he said.

In several sectors, for example, the food and pharmaceutical in-dustries, products can be quickly brought onto the market, while in others, such as machinery, the in-vestment cycle is longer.

Medvedev underlined that all countries that have taken a giant leap in development carried out governmental reforms. Further-more, in the near future, the re-duction of revenues and the fall in oil prices will make budget pol-icy even harder.

"The 2016 budget is being pre-pared according to this principle and the only protected articles will be Russia's international obliga-tions, security, agriculture and so-cial policy," he said, adding that government spending would be reduced for the other fi elds.

" The Russian economy is a hostage to and beneficiary of globalisation. Russia cannot

ignore global trends as it concentra-tes on its own development."

THE QUOTE

DmitryMedvedevRUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER

ANTON KROKHMALYUKSPECIAL TO RBTH

Authorities have found Google

guilty of violating the Russian law

on competition. Now Google has

to authorise manufacturers of

Android devices to pre-install the

applications of its competitors.

How Russia’s leading search engine beat Google in court

Companies Yandex lawsuit forces US internet giant to unbundle Android search and apps

What happened?In February 2015, following a com-plaint from Russia’s largest search engine Yandex, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) start-ed proceedings against Google. The Russian company accused the US internet giant of abusing its dom-inant position on the Android mar-ket. In September the Russian reg-ulator ruled in favor of Yandex.

How did Google break competition rules?Android is Google’s free mobile operating system, which – with a share of 85 per cent – dominates the mobile OS market. In Decem-

ber last year, Google introduced a drastic change to how it works with the manufacturers of Android devices, banning them from pre-installing competitor applications, including search engines.

If the ban was breached, Google threatened to prevent the offend-ing devices from being able to use some of its most popular services, like Google Maps, Youtube, Gmail, and the Google Play store, the main source of apps for any Android user.

As a result, several smartphone manufacturers – such as Fly, Ex-play and Prestigio – that used to work with Yandex had to give up their partnership with the Rus-sian company.

Why does it matter to Yandex so much?For Yandex, Russia is its key mar-ket. Yet its share of the search mar-ket in Russia is steadily falling, while that of Google is rising. Un-less this trend is broken, in two to

three years’ time, the US giant may become Russia’s most popular search engine.

In September 2015, Yandex ac-counted for 57.4 per cent of the Russian search market, with Google’s share at 34.9 per cent (Liveinternet data). In September 2013, their shares were 62.2 and 26 per cent respectively.

That is why it is essential for the Russian company to retain the opportunity to pre-install its apps and search engine on mobile de-vices – especially since Fly, Pres-tigio, and Explay have a consid-erable share of the Russian market.

Who will now decide which search engine is to be installed on mobile devices?Yandex’s victory will reinstate the old rules of the game. All compa-nies willing to pre-install their ap-plications will have to agree di-rectly with the manufacturers of smartphones and tablets, by of-fering them better terms.

In addition, Google must inform Android users of the functional-ity to deactivate pre-installed ap-plications, replace Google Chrome as the default search engine and offer them competitor search wid-gets and services.

How much money could Google lose on the Russian market?Apart from Yandex, Google in ef-fect has no other competitors on the Russian market. According to SPARK-Interfax data, in 2014 Google’s main legal entity in Rus-sia made 18 billion rubles, or about $300 million (at the current ex-change rate), while Google’s rev-enue globally amounted to $66 bil-lion. In other words, Russia accounts for just 0.5 per cent of the company’s profi ts.

Having said that, the FAS rul-ing sets an interesting precedent for the international community and in future could become a start-ing point for lawsuits by other companies. For example, the EU has for a long time been collect-ing evidence of Google violations and the story with Yandex sets a precedent. If Google’s guilt is prov-en, the European Commission has the right to fi ne the internet giant to the tune of 10 per cent of its sales, which would amount to a record-breaking $6 billion.

%

2013

62.257.4

26.034.9

– Yandex – Google

2015

The Russian search

market

The FAS ruling sets an interesting precedent and could become a starting point for other lawsuits

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GULF NEWS_MONDAY_OCTOBER_26_2015Science&Technology

DINARA MAMEDOVASPECIAL TO RBTH

Competition between Facebook

and the Russian social network

Odnoklassniki has given the

visual recognition technology

start-up Kuznech a chance to

enter the global market.

Russian-made face recognition technology goes global

Software How grasshoppers inspired developers to create a breakthrough hi-tech product with big potential

Founded just four years ago, Rus-sian-American startup Kuznech is poised to take a bold step onto the world market with its own visual recognition technology

Kuznech’s success story began in 2012 when Facebook bought the face detection technology pro-vider, Face.com. The latter then recalled its licence from the Rus-sian social network, Odnoklass-niki, a popular competitor to Facebook on the local market. Kuznech, whose 2014 revenues reached $700,000 moved quickly to occupy that niche.

Technology inspired by insectsThe name of the company, based in Boston and San Francisco, de-rives from the Russian word for grasshopper, and the technology it uses has much in common with the green insect. Grasshoppers have multiple eyes and they see

the world as a picture consisting of numerous dots. "Our technol-ogy is powered by neural net-works that represent simplifi ed models of the nervous system of living organisms," said company co-founder, Michael Pogrebnyak. "In other words, the principles that our technology is based on are very similar to the processes that take place during visual rec-ognition in the human brain: learning, generalisation, abstrac-tion."

The idea behind the technolo-gy belongs to one of the compa-ny’s co-founders, Alexander Va-lencia Campo. He was developing computer games and constantly came up against the problem of searching for similar images of illustrations. Initial investment in the project was $500,000, with a further $750,000 invested in 2011-2012 by the Moscow-based Skolkovo Foundation.

Kuznech, which has already won 10 international IT awards, currently offers eight products, with the main ones being visual search and recognition for imag-es and videos, as well as mobile recognition. The company holds four patents; one in Russia and three in the US.

The main Kuznech product is visual search and recognition technology for images and videos.

Moscow State University steadily outperforms all other Russian competitors.

GLEB FEDOROVRBTH

Moscow State University jumps 35

places to 161st in the latest THE

World University Rankings. The

total number of Russian

universities listed increased from

two to 13.

Russian universities start to make global markEducation This year 13 Russian academic institutions were included in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings

tion is to get into the top 25 of the physics ranking. Last year's THE Physical Sciences Ranking includ-ed MGU (56), NGU (85) and the MePhi National Research Nucle-ar University (95).

A major factor that contribut-ed to the success of Russian uni-versities this year was coopera-tion with international companies like Boeing and Siemens. Victor Koksharov, Rector of the Ural Fed-eral University, said such cooper-ation plays a major role in the de-velopment of regional economies.

The Peter the Great St. Peters-burg Polytechnic University, which has built the best university en-gineering centre in Russia, coop-erates with companies like Porsche. "Our research in the fi eld of inno-vation is used in shipbuilding, air-craft building, aviation and trans-port systems," the university’s rector Andrei Rudskoi told RBTH.

Global trendsTHE rankings reveal universities in continental Europe are catch-ing up with their Anglo-American counterparts. ETH Zurich (9) is "leading the pack as the fi rst in-stitution from outside the US and UK to make it to the world top 10 in a decade," THE said in a press statement.

Asia showed mixed results this year, with Japan and South Korea falling and China remaining sta-ble. Japan has 41 institutions on the list, China has 37, South Korea and Taiwan both have 24, while India has 17.

The Lomonosov Moscow State University (MGU) was ranked 161 out of 800 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World Univer-sity Rankings 2015-16, which were released on Oct. 1. Thirteen Rus-sian academic institutions made the list this year, compared to just 2 in the 2014-15 rankings. MGU was once again ranked highest among the Russian universities.

Last year, MGU was ranked 196 out of 400 (the list was expanded to 800 universities this year). The only other Russian university that was in the list last year was Novo-sibirsk State University, ranked in the 301-350 position. This year, it fell in the rankings to 401-500.

In the 2015-16 rankings, the Russian top 5 also included the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (201-250), Tomsk Polytechnic University (251-300), Kazan Federal Univer-sity (301-350) and the MePhi Na-tional Research Nuclear Univer-sity (301-350).

"It's great that Russia has 13 in-stitutions in this list, with fi ve of its universities sitting within the top 400," said Phil Baty, Editor, Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

According to both rectors, when it comes to physics, it is impossi-ble to carry out fundamental re-search with a small group of sci-entists. For major results, substantial investment and big teams are required.

Another obstacle that comes in the way of Russian specialised uni-versities, like NGU and MIFT, climbing quicker in the general rankings is the limited number of humanitarian courses they offer.

"We only have three specialisa-tions in our institute: physics, mathematics and informatics,” Ku-dryavtsev told RBTH. “It's very hard for us to deliver a better re-sult in the general rankings.” He added that the institute's ambi-

The World

University Rankings

161 Lomonosov Moscow State Uni-versity

201-250 Peter the Great St. Peters-burg Polytechnic University

251-300 Tomsk Polytechnic Uni-versity

301-350 Kazan Federal University and the MePhi National Nuclear Re-search University

401-500 Novosibirsk State University and St. Petersburg State University

501-600 Bauman Moscow State Te-chnical University

601-800 Moscow Institute of Phy-sics and Technology,the MISIS National University of Science and Technology in Moscow, the Southern Federal University in Rostov-on-Don, Tomsk State Uni-versity and the Ural Federal Univer-sity in Yekaterinburg.

Russia has made huge efforts to improve its higher education system in recent years.

“Russia has made huge efforts to improve its higher education system in recent years, including the launch of its Project 5-100 ini-tiative,” Baty told RBTH. He added that the country would have to continue to work hard to ensure it can compete with China and other global rivals, who accord-ing to Baty “are also investing heavily in higher education".

Russian Deputy Minister of Ed-ucation Alexander Povalko praised the fact that more Russian uni-versities had entered the rankings, and said he was hopeful of even better results next year. "Univer-sities are investing in their scien-tifi c research base and are recruit-ing the best people to enhance their

international competitiveness," Povalko told RBTH.

Novosibirsk State University (NGU) Rector Mikhail Fyodoruk said his university has been ris-ing in the ranking by subject cat-egory because of the quality of fundamental research work it car-ried out. He attributed the fall in the general ranking of the univer-sity to a slight change in method-ology. Nikolai Kudryavtsev, Rec-tor of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIFT) also cited the change in method-ology for a lack of progress in the ranking and added that this year, THE apparently did not take into account scientifi c publications that have many co-authors.

500,000U.S. dollars of initial investment in the project was followed by the in-vestments of the state-sponsored Skolkovo Foundation.

700,000U.S. dollars of revenues in 2014.

THE NUMBERS

Future in medicineKuznech’s main clients are news agencies, online stores, and social networks. The company’s devel-opment centre is based in St. Pe-tersburg, and the big names on Kuznech's client list include Mail.ru Group (Russia), and PartsTown (U.S.). On the world market, es-pecially in North America, many competitors, such as Idee, offer similar technology. According to Pogrebnyak, however, the advan-tage of Kuznech's technology is that it is practically universal and can be built into different appli-cations.

Pogrebnyak is convinced that this technology has huge poten-tial for analysing medical images. "We are trying to detect melano-

mas and other skin growths, and we plan to set up a melanoma cell detector for doctors," he said. "However, things have been rath-er slow as investors like the idea but are in no hurry to put money into it."

Konstantin Vinogradov, an an-alyst with the Runa Capital ven-ture fund, believes one of the most crucial challenges for startup com-panies in this fi eld is lack of scal-able, profi table and unoccupied market niches. "Kuznech can cap-ture a part of the international market if it focuses on a few cases that its competitors haven’t, but it will be difficult because there are already a lot of players on the US market and local players from Southeast Asia," he said.

The advantage of Kuznech's technology is that it is practically universal and can be built into different applications.

rbth.com/49681

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05RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES www.rbth.com

GULF NEWS_MONDAY_OCTOBER_26_2015 Culture

Russian and Soviet realism on showRussian art A new exhibition in Abu Dhabi tells the story of Russia in the 20th century through the works of some of its realist painters

Russian art on a

global scale

The private fund Art Russe was set up in 2012 and is based in London. Its aim is to promote Russian art “through organising and supporting exhibitions, publishing books, and contributing to museum collections abroad," explained Art Russe direc-tor Rena Lavery.

DMITRY SMOLEVSPECIAL TO RBTH

Abu Dhabi has become the first

Middle Eastern capital to host a

large exhibition of Russian and

Soviet art of the 20th century.

The show comprises works

showing the best of Russian

realist art of the last century.

The United Arab Emirates pur-sues a policy of openness on the international art scene. It was this openness that largely decided the location where the Art Russe fund could carry out its ambitious new project, aimed to present Russian art not only to a local but also to an international audience.

Businessman Andrei Filatov, founder of Art Russe, explains it thus: “The Emirates are quickly turning into a global art centre and Russia, with its rich cultural heritage, should be present in that country alongside European na-tions that are trying to open branches of their museums in the UAE and promote their art there.”

Art Russe has several large international projects under its belt. For instance, in the spring of 2015, the Saatchi Gallery in London held, to great acclaim, an exhibition of works from the fund’s collection called “Exploring the Legacy of WWII in Russian Art." Now the fund has made a stra-tegic step towards the Gulf.

The purpose of the exhi-bition, which will be held at Emirates Palace till Dec. 10, is to familiarise the local public with the works of artists who were household names for millions of Soviet people. The exhibition “Art Russe Collection of Russian and Soviet Art of the 20th Century: War and Peace” fea-tures over 120 works, represent-ing a wide range of styles and

genres and reflecting different stages in the development of the Russian artistic school of the last century. The emphasis is clearly on realist art, in line with one of the main priorities in the fund’s collection policy.

The organisers did not seek to illustrate every twist and turn in Russia’s turbulent 20th century history. And yet it is the history of the country that is the thread run-ning through the whole exhibi-tion. Hence the “War and Peace”

in the title: the allusion to Leo Tol-stoy’s great novel implies the epic nature of this visual tale.

Indirectly, this sweeping ambi-tion is supported by the presence of Mai Dantsig’s monumental painting “And the World Remem-bers the Saviours”, which depicts WWII scenes with “The Sistine Ma-donna” (the Rafael painting which Soviet soldiers saved from destruc-tion in 1945) in the foreground. Some of the smaller-size exhibits also imply a monumental scale - take for example, the models of the cult Soviet statues by Vera Mukh-ina and Yevgeny Vuchetich.

The exhibition consists of four sections: “Legacy of War”, “Nature and Beauty”, “Refl ections”, and “La-

bour”. This structure has allowed the curators to complement offi-cial paintings with other works, like for example, the colourful por-traits of young peasant women by Abram Arkhipov or the scenes of northern villages by Vladimir Stozharov. Furthermore, although Soviet art takes centre stage in this exhibition, there are also works by artists who could by no stretch of imagination be described as So-viet. For example, a series of por-traits painted by Nicolai Fechin in the US, to where he emigrated soon after the Bolshevik revolu-tion. It was in America too that Nikolai Rerikh created his alle-gorical painting “And We Are Not Afraid”, depicting Russian Ortho-dox monks taming a wild bear.

The phenomenon that the organ-isers of the exhibition define as “Russian realism” is presented in a range of different genres, emo-tions and meanings. Although this range does not cover all the shades, in particular those characteristic of underground art in Russia, it is still broad enough to refl ect the past and present tastes of the people.

Speaking at the opening cere-mony, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Develop-ment, said: “This exhibition uses different ways to put across to us the genius of the Russian soul.”

The history of the country is the thread running through the whole exhibition.

Russian realism is presented

in a range of different genres,

emotions and meanings.

Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al

Nahyan, Minister of Culture,

Youth and Community Devel-

opment attended the opening

ceremony.

Musical 'voice of Russia' to perform in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Concerts A landmark figure in classical music comes to the UAE

ANNA GALAIDASPECIAL TO RBTH

Grammy winning Russian violist

and conductor, Yusri Basmet and

his orchestra, Soloists of Moscow

to perform in the UAE with a

programme of 17th-21st century

classics.

Yuri Bashmet is a landmark fi g-ure in classical music. Not only has he earned international ac-claim, for his performances but he has also restored the viola to its rightful place among the major musical instruments for which leading contemporary composers create new music. Bashmet became the fi rst musician in the past 200 years to have been allowed to play Mozart’s viola in the composer’s house in Salzburg. These days, very few people may remember that in the past students were transferred from the violin to the viola class if considered not talented enough.

The future musician was born far from musical capitals, in the city of Rostov-on-Don in south-ern Russia, in a family that had no professional connection to music. However, his parents and grandparents on both sides loved to sing, while his mother, a lin-

guist by training, was working at a conservatory. It was she who fi rst brought her youngest son to music school. As a child Bashmet pre-ferred football and fencing, and when he fi rst saw a musical in-strument in his hands, he – as he himself recalls – “thought that life was over”.

Yet, studying music turned out to be by far more exciting that one would have thought. Within the Soviet education system, the tal-ented boy was soon spotted and after he graduated from a music school in Lvov (in modern-day Ukraine), he was invited to study at the Moscow Conservatory. In the mid 1970s, the viola was not widely seen as a soloist’s instru-ment, yet Bashmet’s striking per-forming style made him stand out among other young musicians. Right after he graduated from the conservatory, Bashmet was invit-ed on his fi rst tour, with Rudolf Barshai’s Chamber Orchestra, to Germany.

Bashmet’s virtuosity, his pas-sionate delivery and interest in works by old masters who com-posed music for the viola opened the doors to the world’s leading concert halls, which until then had

not staged solo viola performanc-es: Carnegie Hall in New York, the Barbican in London, Concert-gebouw in Amsterdam, La Scala, and the Bolshoi. Even more im-portantly, Bashmet’s mastery and talent with the instrument in-

spired many outstanding con-temporary composers to write pieces for the viola. Shnitke and Gubaidulina, Denisov and Kancheli, Eshpai and Raskatov – all have composed music for his viola.

Passionate about what he is doing, Bashmet has created a musical universe of

his own. One part of it is the Soloists of Moscow or-chestra that he formed in 1992 out of talented young musicians: gradu-ates, students and post-graduate students at the Moscow Conservatory.

In more than 20 years, the orchestra has given over 1,400 concerts in more than 50 countries.

Critics rate the Soloists of Moscow as one of the best orchestras in its class. It com-bines impeccable ensemble playing with the striking mu-sical individuality of each performer. The complete un-derstanding between the con-ductor and the musicians cre-ates an atmosphere of harmony and a feeling that the music is being born right

there on the stage. The Solo-ists of Moscow are frequently de-

scribed as “the voice of the whole country”.

Yuri

Bashmet is

a leading

violist.

Russian works to shine at Sharjah book fairOn Nov. 4-14, 2015, the city of Sharjah will host the 34th Inter-national Book Fair, which will fea-ture a Books of Russia programme and exhibition.

Sergei Kaikin, director of the General Directorate of Interna-tional Book Exhibitions and Fairs, will present the St. Petersburg Book Salon and the Moscow In-ternational Book Exhibition.

The Russian programme is fo-cused on the translation of Rus-sian literature into Arabic.

On Nov. 5, Dr Khaba Abdullah M. Khasan, a prominent literary translator from Russian into Ar-abic who was educated in Russia and has been living there for more than 50 years, will present his new translations of Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Fatal Eggs”, “Heart of a Dog”

This year Russia will present new translations for an Arab audience.

Igor Rozin

RBTH

and “A Country Doctor’s Note-book” as well as stories by Rus-sia's beloved poet and author Al-exander Pushkin, and will discuss the difficulties of translating Rus-sian classics.

Members of the Russian dele-gation will present a large trans-lation project, which envisages a thorough selection of top-quality Russian books and professional translators to render them into Arabic.

A new Russian textbook for Ar-abic speakers is being prepared for publication. On Nov. 7, its au-thor Ayman Kanafani Gaziyevich will present the teaching method behind the textbook.

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06RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES www.rbth.com

GULF NEWS_MONDAY_OCTOBER_26_2015Travel

People were living in this city even before the Slavs were known on the world stage. The names of those who tried to take the fortress alone would fi ll a history book: Cauca-sian Albania, the Scythians and Khazars, the Persians and the Arabs, the Turks and Persians again, the Huns, Tokhtamysh, Ta-merlane and Peter the Great.

Derbent's prominence can be explained relatively easily: it sits in an important military and trad-ing position, spanning the narrow strip of land between the Cauca-sus Mountains and the Caspian Sea. Caravans following the Silk Road would pass through Derbent.

The Great Caucasus WallDerbent's value as a border out-post is visible to the naked eye. The mountains end just a kilome-tre from the sea and the Naryn Kala fortress ("Sunny Fortress" - it really is very sunny here) looms over the shore. The two almost par-allel walls of the fortress stretch down to the sea. In the 20th cen-tury they were partially disman-tled, but their footprints can still be made out today from the air. The streets that run across Der-bent were built right along the walls. Long ago the walls went a few hundred metres into the sea, forming a convenient harbour. In modern times, archaeologists have found the remains of the wall at the bottom of the Caspian Sea.

Besides this, the walls of the for-tress went even further, they stretched for 70 kilometres into the mountains, forming a Cauca-sian version of the Great Wall of China.

5,000 years of historyArchaeological excavations have shown that the fi rst settlements appeared here in the Bronze Age, at the beginning of the third mil-lennium BC. Derbent was first mentioned by Hecataeus of Mile-tus (6th century BC), who called it the Caspian Gates.

The fortress that can be seen today - a mountain wall and for-tifi ed port - was built by the Per-

The new winter sports complex at Roza Khutor may have stolen the show at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, but Russia has more than just one world-class ski resort in the Caucasus.

Dombai is one of the most pop-ular ski resorts in the region. The Dombai mountains are located in Karachay-Cherkessia, at the foot of the main Caucasus ridge in the Dombai meadows.

Here you can get a taste of al-pine skiing in real, natural moun-tains free from trendy cafes and boutique hotels. This is the real Caucasus - hospitable, beautiful, and fi ercely independent.

The Dombai resort offers a va-riety of ski runs for any skill level, with a total length of about 25 ki-lometres. All of the runs are on the wide face of Mount Mussa-Achitara ("Lament of Moussa") at an altitude of 1,630-3,168 metres. While at the top of the slope the pitch is gentle, the lower part is steep, with bumps.

DMITRY VINOGRADOVRIA NOVOSTI

KATERINA MUKHIMASPECIAL TO RBTH

There is a city in Russia whose

history is closely connected with

the Arab Caliphate, the Persian

kingdom and the Seljuk Turks.

This is the Dagestan town of

Derbent.

Dombai, a famous ski resort

situated not far from Krasnaya

Polyana, offers breathtaking

landscapes, winter entertainment,

and unforgettable cuisine at

reasonable prices.

The Gates of the Caspian: A whirlwind of architecture and history

sian Shah Khosrau I (531-579) of the Sasanian dynasty. It is inter-esting to note that he built it using money from Byzantium. Justinian I assisted his neighbour in defend-ing itself from the northern no-mads. After strengthening his de-fences, Khosrau went to war against Byzantium.

The walls, up to 20 metres high, are built of huge blocks of yellow limestone, which was used to build the rest of the city. Medieval Arab geographers wrote enthusiastical-ly about how thick the Derbent walls were, each trying to outdo the other. One calculated the thick-ness in the number of wagons that could drive along the top at the same time. Another, for example, swore that 20 horsemen in a row could ride along the top of the wall. In fact, the walls are about 5-7 metres thick. A cavalry unit would not fi t on top, but it was enough to impress in its time.

A citadel of contrastsRight at the entrance to the Naryn-Kala Fortress is a fountain with water from the mountains that is shaped in the form of some fan-tastic beast, and a small zindan, which is basically a hole in the ground used for confi ning prison-ers. Actually "zindan" means "pitcher." It is a stone bag with a narrow opening at the surface so the prisoners couldn't climb up its sheer walls. The fl oor is cov-ered with coins. For some reason this is the spot that all tourists want to return to.

The zindan is right next to the khan's office. It was here that de-fendants waited for the court to hand down its decisions. If some-one was found guilty he was trans-ferred to the large dungeon. "Pris-

oners were held here for life," said one tour guide. "However, they usu-ally lasted about three months."

Naryn-Kala has an eclectic mix of architecture from previous eras, including Iranian baths from the 17th century, arranged so they could be heated by a single can-dle, and the khan's palace with its dried-up pool.

There are also the western gates of the fortress, rebuilt in the 10th century. Derbent residents called them the "gates of shame" because if the fortress was in danger, the ruler could escape through them into the mountains.

A tight squeezeThe route from there to the Old Town goes down a very long me-dieval staircase. There are exactly 211 steps. Old Derbent is squeezed in between the two walls of the fortress, and the distance between them is less than half a kilometre. Judging from photos from the 1970s, the entire city fi t between the two walls at that time. That's probably why the cobblestone streets are so crooked. A person can get lost here even with a map, and the streets are so narrow that the only thing that can drive along them are three-wheeled motor scooters.

In the Old Town the whirlwind of architecture continues. You can fi nd a caravanserai, the mausole-um of Persian Hanshi Tuti-Bike, and an Armenian church. There are a couple of medieval baths. But the most interesting building is the Juma Mosque, the oldest mosque in Russia, built in the 7th century. In its quiet courtyard is an 800-year old plane tree.

travel.rbth.com

The people of Derbent maintain their ancient traditions and arts.

People were living in this city long before the Slavs arrived.

Derbent, the oldest and the southernmost city in Russia.

Old Derbent is squeezed in between the two walls of the fortress.

Medieval Arab geographers wrote enthusiastically about how thick the Derbent walls were.

Old Derbent is squeezed between the two walls of the fortress, and the distance between them is less than 500 metres.

This is the real Caucasus - hospitable, beautiful, and fiercely independent.

Dombai: Alpine skiing with a Caucasian flair

Resorts Just natural mountain slopes

Dombai

The freestyle terrain is extreme-ly prone to avalanches, and the Caucasus Mountains are not safe for lone skiers, so everyone takes a guide to avoid getting lost, fl y-ing off into rocks, or getting stuck in an avalanche. Professional guides can be found at the fi rst-aid station located near the Aus-trian ski lift. There you can also fi nd out about the ski conditions.

Heli-skiing is also available at Dombai, with runs starting from Alikbek glacier and from the slopes of Mount Semyonov-Bashi.

EntertainmentThe main competitor resort is Pri-elbrus, located in Kabardino-Balkaria. But the Dombai moun-tains offer a wider variety of apres-ski activities, with entertain-ment available day and night. They offer all-terrain vehicles, snowmo-biles, and segways, as well as horseback riding in the mountains. In good weather you can paraglide with an instructor.

Not so long ago a new winter sport appeared in Dombai - speed riding, which is a combination of paragliding and alpine skiing.

In addition, almost every hotel has a sauna, and many have in-door pools. There is an ice skating rink hear the Gorny Vershiny hotel. The most popular time for locals and tourists to skate is late in the evening when the sky is dotted with stars, music is played over the speakers, and everyone is of-fered hot beverages.

It is impossible to miss the Dom-bai market, which gives the resort a special fl avour. It is located near all of the ski lifts. Here they sell woollen sweaters, scarves, hand-made hats, jam made from pine-cones, walnuts, rose petals and of course, the region's fragrant Dom-bai honey.

There are many restaurants on the slopes where you can "thaw out," but unfortunately in Dom-bai there are only a few dishes to choose from. The resort serves only Caucasian cuisine - tasty, fi lling, but very fatty.

Or try Dombai tealeaves. Picked locally, they make for a tea that is considered very relaxing. The tea brews for a long time, which is why it is so strong. Then they add berberis, thyme, hawthorn, and plenty of rhododendron, which helps people acclimatise in the mountains.

It is an authentic resort free of trendy cafes and boutique hotels.

Dombai is one of the most popular ski resorts in the region.

Currently there are fi ve aerial lifts at Dombai (including a six-seat Doppelmayr) going from 1,600 to 3,000 metres. The ski season here opens in December, with snow last-ing until April.

FreestyleDombai also has freestyle terrain, but it is open to skiers only when there is enough snow. Steep cou-loirs, wide virgin fi elds, and forest skiing are available from January to March. Most off-trail runs go along the northern slope of Mus-sa-Achitara and end in the Go-nachkhir gorge.

Backcountry fans can descend from the top of Semyonov-Bashi (3,602 metres). The runs here are about 3-4 kilometres long.

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Derbent

Dagestan Russia's oldest city has seen civilisations come and go over almost 2,000 years

07RUSSIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES www.rbth.com

GULF NEWS_MONDAY_OCTOBER_26_2015 Opinion

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DECODING SOCIAL TRANS-FORMATIONS IN RUSSIADespite the steepest drop in incomes since 1998, Russians re-main highly optimistic, and Pre-sident Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings have skyrocketed. As the “fat 2000s” have given way to the current economic downturn, Russian society has somehow swung from protest to civic apathy. Can this all be explained by domestic propaganda and the authorities’ grip on public debate? If not, then what?

russia-direct.org/ebook

SYRIAN CAMPAIGN: THE RISKS AND BENEFITS FOR RUSSIA

ON THE EVE OF A PROXY WAR?

If anyone had any hopes that Russian-American relations would somehow improve after Russian President Vladimir Pu-

tin's recent meeting with his US counterpart Barack Obama in New York, it is safe to say that now they can be forgotten. And even if Moscow's military inter-vention in Syria did slightly change the agenda with Washing-ton toward a decrease of "toxic-ity" concerning Ukraine, it still has not helped to build cooperation – even when it comes to the cru-cial issue of fi ghting terrorism rep-resented by Daesh. The disagree-ments between Russia and the US over Syria's future have turned out to be too great.

Washington has perceived Mos-cow's actions in the fi ght against various terrorist and Islamist groups in Syria (not only Daesh but also groups such as Jabhat al Nusra, which essentially is an Al-

Having decided to get in-volved in the Syria war, Moscow has considerably strengthened its posi-

tions on the world stage but it has also taken on serious risks, including that of getting stuck in Syria for a long time.

Overall, the decision taken by the Kremlin fi ts in with the wider strategy adopted by the Russian leadership as regards Syria. Its goal is to resolve the confl ict in that country in line with the Kremlin’s vision.

Moscow, while recognising the need for changes in Syria’s po-litical setup, consistently main-tains that any change should take the form of a gradual transfor-mation of the existing state in-stitutions rather than their in-stant demolition through military or any other means.

For the Russian leadership, Bashar al-Assad is a guarantor of Syria’s survival as a country and of a successful fi ght against Daesh. Russia continues to see him as a player in the transition process and negotiations between the regime and what the Russian authorities describe as “healthy” elements of the opposition. There-fore, any talk of Assad’s removal as a prerequisite for the negotia-tion process is unacceptable to Moscow.

For a number of reasons, this approach does not work for the West and some Middle Eastern countries. Yet Moscow clearly in-tends to change their view of the situation in its favour and is try-ing to achieve this along two tracks.

Georgy

Bovt ANALYST

Nikolai

Kozhanov ANALYST

Qaida branch) not only as exces-sive autonomy, but also as a chal-lenge to US policy in the region. And all this despite the fact that not only has the broad interna-tional coalition's months-long bombardment of Daesh forces not achieved any serious results, but on the contrary, the group has in-creased the territory under its con-trol. Mass media have begun say-ing that Obama has handed the advantage to Putin, something that obviously has only worsened the emotional background for improv-ing dialogue, especially since per-sonal relations between the two presidents have never been marked by amicability.

If in the fi rst days of the Rus-sian bombardments in Syria the US administration was still mak-ing statements that could have been interpreted as relatively pos-itive, now it is only voicing criti-cism and condemnation: The Rus-sians are bombing the wrong formations, they're playing their own game in Syria and their main objective is not fi ghting Daesh but

helping the regime of Syrian lead-er Bashar Al Assad. There is no more discourse about how Assad could play a role in the transition of power. The US refuses to have any consultations with Russia on issues of political regulation in Syria. Moscow's proposals to hold

sia's Defence Ministry and the Pentagon are speaking about the convergence of positions on key issues for the preparation of a memorandum of understanding on fl ight safety over Syria.

Will such contacts lead to talks on political issues? In the near fu-ture, obviously no. America does not want to discuss with Russia its support for the so-called "mod-erate opposition" or even explain which groups, besides the semi-mythical Free Syrian Army (FSA), which is divided into tens of mot-ley brigades, it considers moder-ate. Furthermore, with the failure of the $500-million programme that prepared "moderate" fi ghters on location, the Pentagon has start-ed sending massive arms supplies to Assad's enemies.

But there is no guarantee that these weapons will not end up in the hands of Daesh or other "mod-erate" terrorists. This has already happened with a shipment of off-road Toyotas that had originally been sent to the FSA but wound up with Daesh – a scandal that

fl ew around the internet. It seems that the US is gambling on a de-cisive change in the battlefi eld, one that favours a broad coalition of anti-Assad forces proclaimed as moderate. And then, if necessary, the US will start negotiations. Es-pecially since, with the support of Russia's air force, Syria’s govern-ment troops are now in a more of-fensive position, which obviously Washington would like to prevent.

In Syria the different groups are constantly forming and reform-ing alliances, including Daesh, and fi ghters migrate from one alliance to another – together with their weapons. In Hama province there is an army with several dozens of thousands of fi ghters that includes terrorist groups such as Jabhat al Nusra, Ahrar ash-Sham and oth-ers. Now there is the risk that they will receive, even if indirectly, through third parties, American arms. At least for now we are not talking about antiaircraft systems.

The US' refusal to coordinate its distribution of weapons from the air onto regions occupied by ter-ror groups means it is creating the prerequisites for starting a proxy war between Damascus, with its Russian support, and terrorists. This threatens to further worsen rela-

The author is a political analyst and member of the Council on Domestic and Defense Policy

The author is a consultant with the Foreign Policy and Security programme at the Carnegie Mos-cow CenterPolicy, a non-govern-mental think tank.

tions between Russia and America on all the other issues, to the point of the US considering the intro-duction of new sanctions against Russia. The fact that Washington has momentarily diverted its at-tention away from Ukraine and the strengthening of NATO forces in Eastern Europe is meaningless. The main battle ground has shifted to the Syrian desert.

For now this still cannot be called a confrontation in the form of a proxy war. It seems the US believes the Russian campaign and Assad's worn-out army, which has been fi ghting a four-year war, will fi zzle out. Extremist websites are already showing U.S. missiles burning Assad's tanks in the prov-inces of Hama and Idlib. This is not the coordination on Syria that the Kremlin would like from the US. Also, Washington’s refusal to engage in political talks on Syr-ia's future can be interpreted by Moscow as a challenge, one that will result in Russia strengthen-ing its alliance with Iran, which is also set on supporting Damas-cus with military force.

Washington's refusal to engage in political talks on Syria's future can be interpreted by Moscow as a challenge.

Russia’s military presence in Syria considerably increases the survival chances of the current regime.

high-level talks with the partici-pation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (who actually had decent relations with Obama) have been refused.

The only thing Washington is willing to do is hold talks between the countries' militaries in order to prevent any accidental combat collisions in Syria's airspace. After three videoconferences, both Rus-

On the one hand, since spring this year it has stepped up, along diplomatic channels, the dialogue with the international communi-ty to try and change its stance on Syria. On the other, since August it has been building up its mili-tary support of Assad to guaran-tee his survival till the negotia-tions begin and also to increase Russia’s capability of infl uencing the situation in Syria and beyond. In that sense, the decision to carry out air strikes and to deploy (al-beit a limited) military presence in Syria has landed Moscow with a strong trump card in its hands.

Firstly, Russia’s military pres-ence in Syria considerably in-creases the survival chances of the current regime.

Secondly, the chance of a mili-tary intervention against the Assad regime by third-party coun-tries is now close to nil. Previ-ously, Russia was concerned that the US-led coalition or Turkish forces could be used to deliver a strike against the Syrian army to weaken it and to depose Assad. Now this scenario is unlikely.

At the same time, by promot-ing the idea of an alternative an-ti-Daesh coalition that would in-

clude the Assad regime too, Moscow is trying to bring the Syr-ian leader out of isolation and once again legitimise him as a player.

Thirdly, Moscow’s own position in the diplomatic arena is strength-ening. From now on, it will be hard to take any considerable decision on Syria without Russia's involve-ment. Since Russian airstrikes began, contacts between Moscow and the West have only increased. Furthermore, it appears that Rus-sian Foreign Minister Sergei Lav-rov was pleased with the outcome of his talks with his US counter-part John Kerry.

However, Russia’s decision to start a military operation in Syria has its drawbacks too. To begin with, Moscow’s drastic action on Syria right after Putin’s speech at the UN General Assembly caused some embarrassment for the West and some Middle East countries thus complicating attempts to reach an agreement.

Difficulties also await Russia on the path of building relations with the “healthy” section of the Syri-an opposition. Moscow has con-fi rmed – in the perception of the opposition forces – its image of a participant in the confl ict fi ght-ing on the side of Damascus.

Now any attempts by Russia to assume the role of an intermedi-ary between the Syrian regime and its opponents will come up against far bigger obstacles than was the case when talks on the issue in Moscow were being prepared.

Finally, there is a practical con-sideration: Does Russia have enough money for this? Even if Moscow’s actions remain limited to an air force operation, it will still be rather costly. Whereas the war with Daesh may drag on for years, not just months.

First published in Russian

by Voenno-Promyshlenniy Kurier

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30 November

Russian team qualifies for Euro 2016Sport How a late rally in the qualification campaign under a new manager helped turn Russia's fortunes around and take them to France

TIMUR GANEEVSPECIAL TO RBTH

Under new manager Leonid

Slutsky, who replaced Fabio

Capello, the Russian football team

have secured second spot in their

group and thus qualified for the

2016 European Championship.

Russia’s national football team has recovered from an alarming slump in form under previous manager Fabio Capello to reach the fi nals of the UEFA 2016 Eu-ropean Championship, winning its last four games to overhaul Sweden in Group G.

The Russians beat Montenegro 2-0 in their fi nal game of the qual-ifi cation campaign on Oct. 12 to seal second place in the group be-hind surprise runaway winners Austria, erasing Sweden’s four-point advantage and securing Rus-sia’s qualifi cation to next summer’s tournament in France.

Since CSKA Moscow manager Leonid Slutsky took the reins of the national side, the team has wit-nessed a remarkable recovery in form, beating Sweden (1-0), Liech-tenstein (7-0), Moldova (2-1) and Montenegro.

Interestingly, under Capello, who was fi red in August 2015, the team won just once against the same opponents (beating Liechtenstein) and was defeated twice by Aus-tria, leaving its hopes of qualify-ing for the tournament in peril.

The language barrier According to football agent San-dor Varga, the language barrier was the main reason for the fail-ure of Capello, who is regarded as one of the greatest club managers

ALEXEY MOSKORBTH

Maria Sharapova is the highest-

paid female athlete of the last

decade. Where does the Russian

star make all her money? Off the

court, is the answer.

The woman worth $250 millionSport The Russian tennis player only earns $6.7 million of her annual income while actually on court

Dolce vitaIn no time Sharapova became a star not only on court, but also in social life. The Russian ath-lete’s new status sparked the at-tention of luxury brands, and she is now the face of the Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer and American jewellery house Tiffa-ny & Co. Not long ago the design-ers of Tiffany & Co even created a jewellery collection specially for Sharapova. Under the terms of the contract, she must wear Tif-fany jewellery during all major matches.

The giants of the automobile industry haven't left Sharapova unattended either. Since 2006 she has been collaborating with Land Rover, and in 2013 she signed a contact with Porsche. The invita-tion to collaborate came from the Germans after Sharapova won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in 2012.

Russian tennis star Maria Sharapo-va is one of the 20 highest-paid athletes of the last decade, accord-ing to Forbes magazine. Sharapo-va is the only woman in Forbes magazine's list, where she is ranked in 18th place. The list is led by American golfer Tiger Woods.

Sharapova’s income for the last 10 years is estimated at $250 mil-lion – enough to leave the likes of British Formula One racing driv-er Lewis Hamilton and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Man-ning in the dust.

Most of her income comes from endorsements. According to

Forbes' estimates, the Russian earns $6.7 million actually on court, while endorsement revenues bring her $23 million.

Record-breaking contract with NikeSharapova signed her fi rst pro-motional contact at the age of just 11. In 1998, Nike became the technical sponsor of the Russian, who at that time had already moved to the United States.

The American sports giant and the Russian star have been insep-arable ever since: in 2010 the par-ties signed a new deal that broke all records for women's tennis – eight years in exchange for $70 million.

Wimbledon effectIn 2004, the 17-year-old Sharapo-va brought home a sensational vic-tory from Wimbledon. This break-through opened the doors into the

world of big money. Just a month after the victory the young tennis star signed a contact with Motor-ola, estimated at $1 million per year, according to unofficial sourc-es. The company is not doing so well as a decade ago, but Sharapo-va is still on a roll: In 2008 she swapped Motorola for Sony Eric-sson, and in 2012 she became the face of Samsung, the market lead-er in smartphones.

rbth.com/50223

Sharapova signed her first promo-

tional contact at the age of just 11.

Maria Sharapova has

endorsement deals with

several luxury brands.

Russia's manager Leonid Slutsky (centre) and players Vasily Berezutski (left), Oleg Kuzmin (2nd right) and

Dmitry Kombarov celebrate the victory over Montenegro in their Euro 2016 group G qualifying match at the

Otkrytie Arena stadium in Moscow, Oct. 12.

of all time, having won seven league titles in Italy and Spain and coached AC Milan to Champions League victory in 1993-1994.

“It is difficult to get your ideas across using an interpreter,” said Varga. “Capello was able to do this while managing clubs, but when one works with clubs, one works daily. But with national teams, you

only assemble the athletes for three or fi ve days. Capello could not es-tablish contact with the players in such short intervals.”

“Slutsky, on the other hand, knows all the guys well and can communicate with them easily. A glance and a couple of words is all he needs to get his athletes up and running.”

A new psychological approach “My mission both in the national team and in my club is to draw the guys out,” said Slutsky in an interview after Russia's match against Liechtenstein. “Only a very happy person can get creative on the fi eld. And I try and set up pock-ets of happiness for them.”

According to sports reporter Ed-vard Serzhan, Slutsky's approach was like “a breath of fresh air” after Capello's “iron discipline.”

“The players were allowed to play video games in the training camps, to laugh during the ses-sions and to communicate with the press,” said Serzhan.

“The Italian ‘Iron Curtain’ was fi nally down. Slutsky also got a psychologist who held a fully-fl edged coaching session with the team. Prior to important matches, Slutsky had psychological profi les of all his players.”

A change in tactics Unlike Capello, Slutsky did not use the qualifi cation matches to test young players, but instead se-lected his best team. Igor Denisov of Dinamo Moscow was brought back as a midfi elder, and Zenit St. Petersburg's Artyom Dzyuba be-came one the main attackers, scor-

ing the winning goals in the matches against Sweden and Mol-dova, and later a quadruple against Liechtenstein.

According to former Russian in-ternational midfielder Igor Ya-novsky, Slutsky called up the play-ers who most merited selection, winning the support of both fans and pundits alike.

“Capello constantly made sur-prising decisions in this regard,” said Yanovsky. “First, he brought in players who hadn't even been part of their respective clubs' fi rst teams, then he refused to bring in Artyom Dzyuba, the Russian championship's best goalscorer.

Euro 2016 prospects Nevertheless, neither the team nor its fans should not be too happy about Russia's qualifi cation just yet. As Syomin points out, the team was in a weak group to begin with and far tougher trials await in the intense atmosphere of the tour-nament itself.

“We've got those four wins, but, apart from Sweden, all our rivals were weaker than Russia. Slutsky was able to get the team to win during a difficult moment, but the final tournament will be much harder,” he said.

“Firstly, Slutsky does not have experience in preparing the team for a big tournament, secondly, he might exhaust himself after the club season with CSKA. Working two jobs has never been good for any manager.”

Russia at the European Championships

If the results of the USSR are taken into account, Russia's national soc-cer team has qualified for its 11th Eu-ropean Championship. Russia’s best performance to date as an indepen-

dent nation was the semi-finals in 2008. The Soviet Union won the Eu-ropean Championship once, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final in Paris in the inaugural tournament in 1960.

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