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1

The bridgesof the Far East

Roscongress:a time to act

Madonna
at EEFThe region’s
top projects

Useful information
for Forum participants

A Botticelli masterpiece,
courtesy of Sberbank

18+

14.08.2019 19:26

15.08.2019 16:15

To the participants,
organizers, andguests of the 5th
Eastern Economic
Forum
Dear friends,
I am delighted to welcome the participants and guests of the 5th Eastern Economic
Forum, which as has become traditional, is taking place in Vladivostok, the capital of
Primorye.
The development of the Russian Far East, strengthening its economic and innovation potential, and raising the living standards of its residents among others, is
our key priority and a fundamental national goal. Most recently a large number of new
initiatives to support the regional business development and create Advanced Special
Economic Zones have been implemented. Industrial, social, educational, and sporting
infrastructure is being expanded. Significant efforts are put towards creation of theFree Port of Vladivostok, a zone with a special legal regime. Partnerships between thebusiness communities of Russia and the Asia-Pacific Region are growing stronger.
I would like to emphasize that Russia as a key player in Eurasia is very supportive ofa dynamic development of the Asia-Pacific Region and welcomes equitable dialogue,
both on a bilateral and multilateral level within the EAEU, the SCO, and APEC.
I am confident that discussions of the upcoming Forum will be highly productive
and will lead to new projects contributing to the expansion of mutually advantageouscooperation. I believe that the unique platform of, the Forum will provide federal
and municipal government officials, as well as members of the business and expert
communities an opportunity to deliberate and agree roadmap for the implementation of
the National Far East Development Programme to the benefit of the Far East residents
and the entire country.
I wish you a rewarding Forum and all the best.

Vladimir Putin

001_President-letter_en.indd 1

19.08.2019 13:23

Dear guests andparticipants of the
5th Eastern
Economic Forum,
This year, as we celebrate the Forum’s 5th anniversary we have an opportunity
to look back on everything that has been achieved since 2015. It was the first time
when Vladivostok hosted the trendsetters from Russian and international business
communities, government officials, foreign dignitaries, researchers, and experts –in other words, everyone who was prepared to cooperate with Russia and work in the
Russian Far East; everyone, who was ready to launch new production facilities anddevelop those already in place; everyone, who aimed to create new jobs, constructroads, housing, and hospitals – namely improve the life of our Eastern territories.
The goals we set 5 years ago appeared unattainable back then. We discussed
a broad range of topics: expectations and development prospects, creating new
economic regimes and improving the investment climate, passing legislative
initiatives and changing legal framework, putting new social infrastructure inplace and helping regions reach their potential – in other words, we were talking
about the future. Some were hopeful, some remained skeptical, yet there was only
one thing that mattered: we were ready to act as one. And today, that future has
become our present.
The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin designated thedevelopment of the Far East as a national priority of the entire 21st century. At
the behest of the President, a whole new economy is being created in the region.
Large companies as well as small and medium-sized businesses can count on tax
breaks, administrative preferences, concessional loans, and support from the statedevelopment institutions.
A lot has been accomplished during the last 5 years: over 40 legislative initiatives
that sustain investment activity and improve the social sphere have been passed;
20 advanced special economic zones and 5 free ports have been put in place.
These measures resulted in over 1780 new investment projects worth over RUB
3.8 trillion, and 230 new enterprises appeared. The government provides targeted
infrastructural and financial support to the investors. Over 70 thousand people
received free land and now are building houses and farms on their ‘Far Eastern
hectares’.

002-003_Trutnev_en.indd 2

19.08.2019 13:23

17 different countries invest in the Far East: China, Japan, the Republic of Korea,
Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, to name a few. Since 2014, nearly 32% of all direct
foreign investment came to our region.
The Far East itself has expanded: Zabaikalsky Krai and the Republic of Buryatia
joined the Far Eastern Federal District, while the Ministry for the Development of
the Russian Far East now oversees an additional region: the Russian Arctic Zone.
When it comes to the social sphere, the ‘Unified Subsidy’ mechanism has provided
existing measures with additional stimulus. 57 centres of economic growth havereceived funding for the construction of schools and nurseries, hospitals as well as
medical and obstetric stations, cultural centres and sports facilities. These centres
are home to over 80% of Far Easterners.
A fair amount of good work has been done. Economic growth in the FEFD exceeds
4%, which is two times greater than the Russian national average. However, weare now faced with another objective: increasing economic growth in the Russian
Far East to 6% per year. We also must figure out how to improve the quality of lifein the Russian Far East and in the Arctic so that it exceeds the Russian national
average. These objectives have been set by the President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin.
Our goal is to make the Russian Far East more accessible to investors andcomfortable for the people that live here, providing them with the confidence that
their dreams will become a reality in the nearest future.
Many topics that were brought up at previous Forums ended up serving as thefoundation for the development and passing of legislation, the implementationof new business support measures, and the improvement of the Far East’s social
welfare. I am confident that this Forum will continue contributing to the open
dialogue between businesses and authorities, experts and researchers, sociologists
and demographers.
I would like to wish Forum guests and participants all the best. The Russian
Far East is open for cooperation: we value each partner, every opinion and every
initiative that helps develop our country!

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation –Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal Districtof the Russian Federation

Yury Trutnev

002-003_Trutnev_en.indd 3

19.08.2019 13:23

“In the course of ﬁve years, the Eastern Economic Forum has evolved into a major platform
to not only discuss development prospects for the Far East, but Russia and the Asia Paciﬁc
as a whole. It is an event where the biggest political, economic, and cultural issues comeunder focus. The support of its partners is absolutely key to ensuring that the Forum is heldat the very highest level, both in terms of organization and content. Together, these leading
companies represent a vast range of industries.”
Anton Kobyakov,
Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation,
Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee – Executive Secretary

GENERAL PARTNERS

OFFICIAL CAR
OF THE FORUM

OFFICIALSPONSOROFFICIAL AIRLINE
OF THE FORUM

OFFICIAL PARTNERSSTRATEGICPARTNEROFFICIAL PARTNER OF THE FAR EASTSTREET EXHIBITIONPARTNERS OF THE FAR EASTSTREET EXHIBITIONSPECIALPARTNER

BUSINESS NETWORKING AREA PARTNERSFUEL
PARTNER

BUSINESS PROGRAMME PARTNERS

Partnery_en.indd 1

15.08.2019 21:26

ORGANIZATION PARTNERS

BUSINESS NETWORKING
PLATFORM PARTNERLOGISTICS
PARTNEROFFICIAL WATER
OF THE FORUMROSCONGRESS & GOVERNORS´ CLUB PARTNERS

SOCIAL TRACK PARTNERS

CLUB AND SPORTING PROGRAMMESGENERAL PARTNERINNOVATION SPACE PARTNER

SPORTING AND ENTERTAINMENTPROGRAMME PARTNERSAILING REGATTA
OFFICIAL PARTNER

GENERAL MEDIA PARTNERSINTERNATIONAL MEDIA PARTNERS

OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNERS

MEDIA PARTNERS

Partnery_en.indd 2

15.08.2019 21:26

content

P. 012 	A PLACE FOR WORK.
HARD AND DILIGENT WORK	Politicians and entrepreneurs on their participationin the Roscongress Foundation’s forums

016	

“THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST HAS NEVERGOTTEN THIS KIND OF FUNDING
BEFORE”
Alexander Kozlov, Russian minister forthe development of the Far East and the Arctic,
on plans for developing the region
in the upcoming years
P. 020

THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST GETS A LITTLE CLOSER	Key achievements in the Far Eastern regions:investments, Advanced Development Territories,
and the Free PortP. 026

INFOGRAPHIC: THE LEADING PROJECTS

050	A STARTUP SPRINGBOARD
The Business Priority
project at Roscongress’
Innovation SpaceP. 056 	THE RUSSIAN FALCON:A FAR EASTERN TREASURE
	The Russian environment ministry,
the UAE government and the Roscongress
Foundation are joining forces to savethe gyrfalcon
P. 058 	HOW TO BRING TROPHY HUNTERSBACK TO KAMCHATKA
	The peninsula can become
the Far Eastern region’s hotbedof hunting tourism
P. 062

GREEN PIPES FOR HUMANITY	TMK is among the global leaders
in environmentally consciousand socially responsible production

	Russky Island
Vostochny Cosmodrome
The Lower Bureya Dam

P. 066 	INTRODUCING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGYIS A PRIORITY FOR HEALTHCARE
IN THE FAR EAST

P. 032

	Russian Healthcare Minister
Veronika Skvortsova on the latest
Far East projects

THE GREAT LAND GIVEAWAY	Over the past three years, more than 76 thousand
Russian citizens have joined the Far Eastern
Hectare programP. 035 	RUSSKY ISLAND: INNOVATIVE AND SPORTING
	Russky Island’s new infrastructural, scientific,
tourist and residential facilities
P. 036 	SAMARA REGION TO BECOME A MAJOR HUB
OF THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE	Interview with Samara Region governor Dmitri
Azarov

038	

ICEBREAKERS WILL RUN THROUGH
THE ARCTIC LIKE TRAMS
Seven questions about the Northern Sea Route
P. 044 	BRIDGES OF THE FAR EAST	The history and modernity of the Far East’s key
bridges
6

EEF 2019

068

REAL VIRTUALITY
Telemedicine and blockchain are at
the forefront of healthcare developmentin the Far East region

072

A MASTERPIECE BY SANDROBOTTICELLI AT EEF 2019
The Renaissance genius’ Madonnadella Loggia is coming to Primorye
for the first timeОNE

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12.08.2019 16:44

content

102

THERE IS NO SUCH THING
AS TOO MUCH MONEY082
P. 074

SOCIAL INITIATIVES ARE ON THE AGENDA
Leading philanthropists on cooperating with theInnosocium Foundation

P. 078IN SEARCH OF A COGNITIVE SURPLUS

OR TOO MANY FRIENDSInterview with Grigory Leps
P. 106

Primorye’s primary travel routes
P. 11221ST CENTURY INSURANCE

P. 116

Sergei Zavgorodny, Vice President of VSK
Insurance House, talks about how we can seize
this surge in innovation

082

EXTREME FAR EAST
Forms of active tourism
that have potential
in the Far East

The future of artificial intelligence in the context
of the global ethical systems crisis
P. 080

BY CAR, YACHT, AND HELICOPTER

THE HEALING TREASURE OF THE TAIGA
Cooking with ginseng, eleutherococcus,
magnolia vine, and aralia

P. 122TOWARDS FISHING SEASONThe secrets of the Russian Far East’s number one
delicacy

P. 126INDIAN RECORD
The guest country of EEF 2019 is Russia’s
largest foreign trade partner in militarytechnology and nuclear energy

RUSSIANS ARE HERE TO STAY
The Vladivostok Fortress is becoming oneof the region’s main tourist landmarks

P. 132

THE ‘LIFELINE’ OF THE RUSSIANFAR EAST
A history of the Chinese Eastern Railway

P. 088“HANDSHAKES ARE NOT CUSTOMARY HERE”

P. 136

BUSINESS PROGRAMME

P. 140

FORUM NAVIGATOR

P. 147

THE CONFERENCE

An off-the-beaten-track journey acrossthe island of Honshu

P. 148FAR EAST STREETP. 150CULTURAL PROGRAMMEPAPUAN PARADISE FORMIKLOUHO-MACLAY
Famous explorer’s great-great-grandson
to retrace his ancestor’s voyage

P. 152

SPORTING PROGRAMME

P. 156

ROSCONGRESS CLUBP. 158CALENDAR

The finer points of doing business with Asianpartners
P. 092

P. 096MOMIJIGARI, OR ADMIRING MAPLE LEAVES

Eastern Economic Forum 2019

Photo editing by www.pocherk.agency

Catalogue magazine of the Roscongress Foundation
Project lead: Andrey Reut
Editor-in-chief: Dmitry Kryukov
Director: Camilla Spence

Photo credits for this issue:
TASS, Roscongress Photo Bank, Lori,
Kommersant, Shutterstock

With participation from Snob Media (snob.ru)
CEO: Marina Gevorkian
Editor-in-chief: Ksenia Chudinova
Managing editor: Sergey Tsekhmistrenko
Executive editor: Anastasia Ryzhkova

8

The Roscongress Foundation is a sociallyoriented non-financial development
institution and a major organizerof international conventions,exhibitions, and public events

Passed for printing on 16/08/2019
Printed at Tipografsky Kompleks Deviz, Yakornaya 10,
Block 2 A, Room 44, St Petersburg 195027
Circulation: 23,000

Republishing with attribution to the Roscongresscatalogue magazine is welcome© The Roscongress Foundation

Cover photo: Yana Sutina / Shutterstock

For business inquiries, contact
camilla.spence@roscongress.org

PHOTOS: RICCARDO NICCOLI / STOCKTREK IMAGES / GETTY IMAGESTHE FORUM

EEF 2019

008_Content_Part_2.indd 8

19.08.2019 17:33

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14.08.2019 15:34

Hyundai_en.indd 1

12.08.2019 16:44

Hyundai_en.indd 2

12.08.2019 16:44

opinions“A place for work.
Hard and diligent
work”

Odes Baisultanov,First Deputy Minister
for Caucasus Affairs

ON THE RUSS

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Radiy Khabirov, Acting
Head of the Republicof Bashkortostan

EEF 2019

012-013_Opinions_en.indd 12

19.08.2019 13:23

PHOTOS: ANDREY LOMAKA / PHOTOXPRESS, PHOTOXPRESS,RAMIL SITDIKOV, VLADIMIR ASTAPKOVICH/RIA NOVOSTI, ANTON PODGAYKO / TASS

TH

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IAN

SS

RU
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Oleg Kozhemyako,
Governor of Primorye
Territory

The Russian
Investment Forumin Sochi has come toan end. It brought 228
agreements worth a totalof RUB 298.5 billion to
Krasnodar Territory – thatis RUB 56.5 billion morethan last year. Whata great result!
ON

M

IN

I am 54 years old
and I have held a number ofmajor positions. But this is my firsttime at the Sochi Investment (and really any
economic) Forum. To be honest, up until thismoment, I approached forums in general with irony
and scepticism. I did not really understand what hundredsof successful people do there in their suits and ties. Now
I do. They work. Very intensely and effectively. They promote
their ideas, present their territories and cities, and establish
business ties. After all, investments are a very fickle entities:
they only go to where it is comfortable, safe, and profitable.
And it is precisely the investments that will give us newjobs, good wages, and economic drive. The competition
for investments is extreme. I wish all of us luck!
P.S. At this moment in time, we have signed
a number of investment agreementswith a total worth of overRUB 40 billion.
FO

ON T

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Veniamin Kondratyev,
Governor of Krasnodar
Territory

RU

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Our territory
presented nine uniqueprojects at the Russian
Investment Forum in Sochi. Five were
presented for review. Two of those – one
related to the construction of the Belaya
Gora ski resort and the other to the creationof a ceramic foam plate factory – made it on
the list of the ten best projects presented
at the entire Forum, having
competed against projects
from 77 Russian
regions!

CH

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THE GROWTH OF COMPANIES AND ENTIRE REGIONS

FORU

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FORUMS ARE A FANTASTIC TOOL FOR BOOSTING

ENT

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AND THEIR SOCIAL NETWORKS THAT BUSINESS

TM

ES

RU

FOUNDATION EVENTS STATE IN MEDIA INTERVIEWS

ES

INV

Today wesigned an agreement that
established twin relations between
the Resorts of the North Caucasus
and the Alps. Our French colleagues
noted that the Russian ski resort market
is among the two most rapidly growing
ones. Other countries have found thatthe development of a resort from startto genuine, stable functioning takes
around 30 years. We have theopportunity to travel this pathmuch faster.

PARTICIPANTS OF THE NUMEROUS ROSCONGRESS

V
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ON EE

Dmitry Mironov,Governor of Yaroslavl Region

RU

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FORUM 2019 IN SOC

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The Russian
Investment Forum in figures:
11 cooperation agreements, one
launch (but what a launch!) of the
Kalashnikov Sport sports operator foramateur athletes, the creation of a second
Territory of Advanced Social and Economic
Development in Glazov, and two Udmurt
cities – Glazov and Izhevsk – won the
Agency for Strategic Initiatives ‘100 Urban
Leaders’ competition. Thank you, teamUdmurtia, for your work!

EF

20

18

Kamaz
and the China’s
Weichai will establish a joint
venture to produce industrial
engines based on Tutaevsky Motor
Plant. The related agreement was
signed today at the Eastern Economic
Forum. Sergey Kogogin, KAMAZ General
Director and I discussed how this projectwill be implemented. The first stageof investments alone will amountto over RUB 800 million.
This will create 160 new
jobs in Tutaev.
There is

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a lot of interestin our region on the partof investors and large businesses.
I signed several significant agreements.
Rosneft will support the modernizationof our regional clinical hospital andKaspersky Lab will work with us on launchinga Smart City pilot project in Orenburg. VTB
will provide our manufacturers and small
enterprises with support.
I have been convinced once again that good
will is of utmost importance. Our region
is interesting to partners, so wewill launch major projects
in the region.

Alexander Brechalov,
Head of Udmurtia

Oleg Tinkov,
Founder of Tinkoff Bank

Denis Pasler,
ActingGovernorof Orenburg
RegionPI

I moderatedONSa fascinating session
with Mir Payment System andAlipay and their respective founders
Vladimir Komlev and Eric Jing. I took partin a panel session with Elizaveta Osetinskaya
dedicated to the effects of electronic technologies
on small businesses. I told her about how I had used
RUB 100 thousand to launch my brand Ansaligy.
I held an exclusive flash interview with the mostprovocative banker of our time, Oleg Tinkov, andstudied the new biometric technologies at the National
Payment Card System (NSPK) stand – and allthat was just my first two days at the Forum.
I am certain that the people who came here
to discuss issues, express their pointsof view, and network are coming
away satisfied.

2

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012-013_Opinions_en.indd 13

IE

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SP

We signeda contract for theconstruction of a newhome for Tinkoff Bank.
Approximately 100,000 square
metres of offices andresidences. In 2022, ouremployees will be living andworking in the best region
in Moscow, right on theriver! The St. Petersburg
Forum continues.
0

PHOTOS: ANDREY LOMAKA / PHOTOXPRESS, PHOTOXPRESS,RAMIL SITDIKOV, VLADIMIR ASTAPKOVICH/RIA NOVOSTI, ANTON PODGAYKO / TASSEF

ON

Tina Kandelaki,
Chief Producer, Match TV

19.08.2019 13:23

RMK_en.indd 1

16.08.2019 11:57

S T A T E

015_Schmutz-State_en.indd 15“THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST HAS NEVERGOTTEN THIS KIND OF FUNDING BEFORE”> 016

THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST GETS
A LITTLE CLOSER> 020

INFOGRAPHIC: THE LEADING PROJECTS> 026

THE GREAT LAND GIVEAWAY> 032

ICEBREAKERS WILL RUN THROUGH
THE ARCTIC LIKE TRAMS> 038

BRIDGES OF THE FAR EAST

> 044

A span of the old Amursky
Bridge in Khabarovsk

19.08.2019 17:34

state_interview

The Russian Far East
has never gotten thiskind of funding before
ON THE EVE OF EEF 2019, ALEXANDER KOZLOV, MINISTER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIANFAR EAST AND THE ARCTIC, SAT DOWN WITH US TO DISCUSS THE RESULTS OF THE PAST FEW YEARSAND WENT INTO DETAIL ABOUT THE MINISTRY'S PLANS FOR THE NEAR FUTURE

16

All this was made possible thanks to ourunique preferential regimes: the Advanced
Special Economic Zones, the Free Portof Vladivostok, and infrastructural andadministrative support. Businessmen
have now seen the Russian Far Eastand understand that it is conducive
to implementing major projects.

new jobs. And these figures are changing
every day.
The FEFD is currently home to someof the largest construction projects inthe country. In Amur Region, it is a gas
processing plant with a projected capacityof 42 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
In Primorye Territory, it is the Zvezda
Shipyard, which will be building largetonnage ice-class vessels. Yakutia has got
GOK Denisovskiy and GOK Inaglinskaya.
Peschanka, a large gold and copper ore
deposit in the Baimskaya ore zone, isundergoing development in Chukotka.

How much of this can be attributed
to the work of the new team?
There is no point dividing anythingor drawing any lines. We carry on
developing the Russian Far East. The
president of the Russian Federation did
not set a short-term objective, there ismuch that needs to be done in the region.
The Ministry for the Development of theRussian Far East, under the leadership ofmy predecessor Alexander Galushka, madeenormous progress, their efforts can becompared to those of pioneers.
Nevertheless, I would like to mention
one thing. We have successfully addressed
the situation of Far Easterners’ access to
subsidized airplane tickets. We stepped inright at the moment when those special
fares ran out in just two weeks. Why didthat happen? Because funding had been
cut three years in a row, but we were able
to turn the situation around. In 2019, twice
as much funding from the federal budget
was allocated towards subsidizing major
air flights in the Russian Far East as it wasin 2018. That's RUB 8.2 billion. That will

PHOTOS: DMITRY KALININ / PHOTOXPRESS

What would you say are the mainachievements that the Russian Far East has
made in the economic and social spheresin the last five years?
A new stage in the development of
the Russian Far East has begun, theprocess is picking up speed. We've
created a new legal framework.
42 federal laws and 191 decisionsof the government of the RussianFederation have been passed.
Namely, right at the end of July,
the President of the RussianFederation signed a law allowing
ASEZs to extend into offshore
areas. This expands the opportunities
available for doing business in the
Russian Far East.
In large part thanks to the new, modern
legal framework, the growth rate of the
manufacturing industry in the macroregion is three times above that of theRussian national average, the Russian
Far East has received a third of all foreign
direct investments made in Russia in thepast few years. Today, the region is literally
open for investors. Citizens of 19 countries
can obtain a visa for free, taking advantage
of a simplified regime. Since August 2017,
over 86,000 foreigners have visited theRussian Far East using an electronic visa.
Overall, the region is home to 1,700
investment projects at varying stagesof implementation, 237 new enterprisesthat are already in operation, and 37,000
EEF 2019

016-019_Interview_Far_East_en.indd 16

19.08.2019 21:18

PHOTOS: DMITRY KALININ / PHOTOXPRESS

allow for the transport of over 1 million
passengers! (Compared to 600,000 lastyear.) And, what's very important, is thatthe programme now operates the entire
year and has been expanded to include
134 routes.
I also want to say a few words about
the implementation of the programme
for the social provision of new centres of
economic growth, or Unified Subsidy.
The active phase of this project started
right when I became minister. Essentially,
the programme aims to help Far Eastern
Regions with issues that they're having
trouble tackling alone.
For example, in the town of Svobodnyin Amur Region, where Russia's largest
gas processing plant is currently being
constructed, there is a huge clean water
problem. That's why funding from thefederal budget, as part of the Unified
Subsidy programme, has been allocatedtowards the construction of a water supply
and utilities system. Primorye Territory
has the highest share of depreciatedmedical equipment, so federal funding isbeing directed towards modernizing thetechnology used in hospitals and clinics.
In Buryatia, in Ulan-Ude, the last purchaseof tramcars happened in 1996, so we’replanning to purchase 15 trams in one
go. In the settlement of Chegdomyn in
Khabarovsk Territory, people have been
waiting for years for the construction of aswimming pool to be completed. And now,
thanks to Unified Subsidy, the pool opened
in March 2019.
Never before have our regions
received this much federal funding forthe construction and renovation of social
facilities. You know, just five years ago,
under the government programme titled‘The Socioeconomic Development of
the Russian Far East and Baikal Region’,with the exclusion of transport projects,
spending on social facilities totalled
0 roubles and 0 kopeks. Today, the threeyear budget (2019–2021) is over RUB
184 billion! The Russian Far East has nevergotten this kind of funding before.
In late 2018, the Republic of Buryatia andZabaikalye Territory became part of the
Far Eastern Federal District. How is theintegration of these regions going?

The Primorsky Aquarium on
Russky Island opened in 2016

The key objective is making sure that the quality oflife in the Russian Far East is growing at a rate thatis higher than the national average. This is the only
way that we can catch up with Russia's central
regions. People are expecting to see results
Clearly, we’re talking not about geographic
changes, but of the attribution of Far
Eastern preferential regimes: Advanced
Special Economic Zones and the Free Portof Vladivostok. The opportunity to receive
land at no cost through the Far Eastern
Hectare programme; the construction andmodernization of social infrastructure,
which is also catastrophically lacking inthese regions.
In my opinion, the process of
integrating Zabaikalye Territory and theRepublic of Buryatia into the Far Eastern
Federal District is going smoothly. The
Buryatia and Zabaikal ASEZs have beencreated. The two regions will receive
RUB 16.14 billion from the federal budget
by 2022 for the construction, majorrenovation, and modernization of social
infrastructure: schools, nursery schools,
hospitals, roads. Some of the constructionis already slated to begin this year.
On 1 August, the Far Eastern Hectare
programme officially expanded to include
Zabaikalye Territory and the Republic of
Buryatia. Initially, land parcels will only
be available to residents of these regions.
Then, starting on 1 February 2020, they

will become available to all Far Easterners,
and by 1 August 2020, they will become
available to all Russians.
During EEF 2019, a lot of attention will
be paid to social issues, to improving
the quality of life in the Russian Far East.
National projects have been created to thisend. Have they taken into account all of theneeds of Far Eastern regions?
The key objective is making sure thatthe quality of life in the Russian Far Eastis growing at a rate that is higher than
the national average. This is the only
way that we can catch up with Russia'scentral regions. People are expecting to
see results.
Problems in the social sphere have beenbuilding up for decades. There are so manyof them that it's impossible to immediately
allocate the necessary enormous amountof funding from the federal budget. We
calculated that the Russian Far East is inneed of the construction of an additional
112 nursery schools and 891 medical andobstetric stations. 480 schools, 388 cultural
assets, and 1,205 medical organizations
need major renovations. The Russian Far
EEF 2019

016-019_Interview_Far_East_en.indd 171719.08.2019 21:18

state_interview

The Northern Sea Route’s
cargo traffic must be
increased to 80 million
tonnes a year by 2024

The development of polar territories is crucial
to the prosperity of not just the Russian Far East
and Arctic, but the entire country
East needs over one thousand ambulancesand 13,000 new pieces of medical
equipment. We also calculated that theregion has a deficit of 4,329 doctors andpolice officers. Of course, we are fightingfor – and will continue to fight – foradditional financing for the region. People
living in the Far East have to see real
improvement in all areas and, to this end,
we must continue to move faster than otherregions. This is the objective set before us
by President Vladimir Putin.
There certainly are enough problems in the
Russian Far East, the out-migration issue
has yet to be solved.
We're working on this. Here are two
examples of initiatives that are alreadybeing implemented. Yury Trutnev
personally presented them to the president,
after which we were ordered to develop
and implement these projects. First, upon18

the birth of a family’s first child, they will
receive a lump-sum payment of two times
the region’s subsistence minimum. Uponthe birth of a second child, they will receive
RUB 135.9 thousand in regional maternity(family) funds. We predict that, this year,
lump-sum payments will be issued forthe birth of at least 34 thousand firstborn
children. At least another 35 thousandfamilies will receive maternal (family) funds
for their second child.
Second, we have lowered the mortgage
interest rate for families with two or morechildren. You will only find a 5% mortgage
rate in the Russian Far East. We expect that
9,800 families per year will take advantageof this aid.
But we are going even further – we havedeveloped a mechanism that would allow
Far Easterners to get a mortgage with
a 2% interest rate! The plan is that the first
beneficiaries of the ‘Far Eastern mortgages’

In early 2019, the purview of the Ministry
for the Development of the Russian Far
East was extended to include Russia's
Arctic Zone. Will this make achieving theobjectives you mentioned earlier easier ormore difficult?
It does not make them more difficult inany way. Moreover, the development of
the Russian Far East and the developmentof the Russian Arctic are closely linked.
The Arctic Zone includes Chukotka andpart of Yakutia. The development of polar
territories is crucial to the prosperity of
not just the Russian Far East and Arctic,
but the entire country.
We have opened the basic investment
project preferences plan for publiccomment. We are already working closely
in line with this plan with the largest
investor in the Russian Arctic, NOVATEK.
They are building LNG terminals in
the region and plan on creating anotherterminal in Kamchatka on BechevinskayaBay. The terminal is expected to be able
to handle 21.7 million tonnes of LNG
annually. RUB 69.7 billion has been
invested in the project.
NOVATEK is creating its LNG sea
shipping complex in anticipation of thedevelopment of the Northern Sea Route,the shortest sea route between Europe
and Asia. Together with Rosatom andthe Ministry of Transport of the RussianFederation, we plan to synchronize
the construction of icebreakers, cargoships, an emergency rescue fleet, andport infrastructure in accordance withinvestment project timelines. Obviously,
the necessary groundwork will appear
earlier than the new plants. That is the only
way we can reach the objective set before
us by the Russian president: to increase thecargo turnover of the Northern Sea Routeto 80 million tonnes by 2024.
The total number of agreements signed at
EEF is constantly growing. In 2017, their

PHOTOS: LEV FEDOSEEV, YURI SMITYUK / TASS, ROSATOM

will be participants of the Far Eastern
Hectare programme who requested land
for individual housing construction andyoung families where at least one of the
spouses is under 35 years of age. The
maximum mortgage amount will be set at
RUB 5 million.

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worth totalled RUB 2.5 trillion, in 2018, thatfigure was RUB 3.1 trillion. Based on yourestimates, will EEF 2019 surpass last year's
results?
Yes, the total worth of agreements signed
at the Eastern Economic Forum is
growing every year. That is a fact. I would
prefer to refrain from announcing any
deals, in part because of trade secrets.
We expect this jubilee EEF to be, at least,
equally as fruitful. I am sure it will turnout that way.

PHOTOS: LEV FEDOSEEV, YURI SMITYUK / TASS, ROSATOM

Agreements must turn into real projects.
Tell us about some of the most significant
ones.
It was, in fact, at EEF that significant
Far Eastern agreements were signed
regarding the construction of the Amur
Gas Processing Plant and the GOK
based on the Natalkinsky gold field. The
agroindustrial holding Mercy Trade,which signed an agreement at the first
EEF, is successfully implementing theirprojects in Primorye Territory. A new
airport terminal is being constructedin Khabarovsk; project partners include
Japan’s Sojitz Corporation. At last year’s
EEF, an agreement was signed with KAZ
Minerals for the development of thecopper porphyry deposit in the Baimskaya
Copper Project. Another agreement was
signed with NOVATEK regarding theconstruction of a liquefied natural gas
shipment and storage terminal. All ofthese projects are being implemented.
How is the free port programme
developing? What other cities in Primorye
Territory are slated to be assigned a similar
status?
First off, I want to stress that the Free
Port is not just in Primorye Territory.
It includes five federal regions of theRussian Far East. The ‘free port’ status
is granted, much like decisions about thecreation or expansion of an Advanced
Special Economic Zone, exclusively at theinitiative of investors. If a business has aparticular location in mind and is ready to
implement projects that will be beneficial
for both the investor and the region, thenthe preferential regime can be instated inthat area. We are currently reviewing two
applications requesting the expansionof the Free Port of Vladivostok regime:to the territory of Blagoveshchensk, thecapital of Amur region; and to Chita in
Zabaikalye Territory. Decisions regardingthese applications will be made in thenear future.
Businesses reached out to us recently
with a proposal to amend the tax benefit
system for ASEZ and FPV residents. We
are currently working on this issue. One ofthe points in their proposal is locking in an
organization’s income tax rate at 7% fromthe moment the project is implemented.
That will replace the current 0% rate forfive years that increases to 12% thereafter.
The issue is that, during the first five
years, many enterprises are in theirplanning and construction phases. Then,
when they finally launch operations, thetax rate is already rather high. Under this
proposed system, the enterprises would bealways paying a reduced rate. The upsideis that regions will immediately see tax
revenue. The residents currently operating
under the existing system will be able totransition to the new one, if they so desire.
We are also working on the creation ofa project planning institute within the Far
East Development Corporation. It will be
responsible for the government review
of design and estimate documentation,
as well as confirming the estimated costsof residents’ facilities and infrastructure
in ASEZs and FPVs. To what end?
Crucially, it will improve the efficiencyof the administrative procedures. This
has a direct effect on our residents’investment project timelines.

But we are going even further – we havedeveloped a mechanism that would allow Far
Easterners to get a mortgage with a 2% interestrate! The plan is that the first beneficiariesof the ‘Far Eastern mortgages’ will be participantsof the Far Eastern Hectare programme

Around 83% of applications for the Far
Eastern Hectare programme have come fromlocal residents

EEF 2019

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state_far east

The Russian Far Eastgets a little closer
IN 2019, THE EASTERN ECONOMIC FORUM CELEBRATES ITS FIFTH ANNIVERSARYAND THE MINISTRY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST MARKS ITSSEVENTH. RECENTLY THE NAME OF THE AGENCY HAS BEEN AMENDED, GAINING
ANOTHER IMPORTANT WORD: ‘ARCTIC.’ THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST AND THE ARCTICPHOTOS: KONSTANTIN BAIDIN / SHUTTERSTOCK, DMITRY KALININ / PHOTOXPRESSZONE ARE BECOMING GLOBAL TERRITORIES OF GROWTH ON THE COUNTRY’S MAP,A STEPPINGSTONE FOR COOPERATION WITH THE DYNAMIC ECONOMIES OF THE
ASIA‑PACIFIC REGION. EEF MAGAZINE TAKES A BRIEF LOOK AT WHAT HAS BEEN DONE
IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, AND WHAT IS PLANNED FOR THE FUTURE

by Trofim Viktorov

20

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020-024_MainFeature-ADV_RNKB_en.indd 20

19.08.2019 13:24

Accelerated growth:industry andinvestments
The Russian Far East is developing faster than the country at large. Last year,
its industrial production index grew by 104.4%. That is 1.5 times greater thanthe Russian national average. The flow of investment has also increased: lastyear, direct foreign investment reached $33bn, accounting for about a thirdof all incoming investment in Russia.

Total
foreigninvestment:

2,169

PHOTOS: KONSTANTIN BAIDIN / SHUTTERSTOCK, DMITRY KALININ / PHOTOXPRESS

trillion rubles

FOREIGN INVESTMENTS
200 investment projects with foreign
capital participation are underway in
the Russian Far East (not including the
Sakhalin 1 and Sakhalin 2 projects).
The total amount invested stands at
2.169 trillion rubles. The largest shareof this capital comes from the People’s
Republic of China (71.5% or 1.55 trillion
rubles); 10% comes from the Republicof Korea, 5% from Japan, and 12%
from other countries.

Job
creation:+50%
from 2017

Data as of 8th August 2019020-024_MainFeature-ADV_RNKB_en.indd 21

Foreign investors have shown
the most interest in the following
sectors: transport and logistics(644.1bn rubles, 29.7% of total
FDI volume), agriculture (360.9bn
rubles, 16.6%), timber (137.6bn
rubles, 13%), extractives (171.5bn
rubles, 7.9%), and mining (133.4bn
rubles, 6%).

1745
new
investment
projects

INVESTMENTS
1,745 new investment projects werebeing implemented in the Russian
Far East at the start of 2019, of which
870 were launched in 2018 (up 31%
from 2017).
The total volume of investment
amounted to 3.8 trillion rubles, ofwhich 600bn was invested in 2018(up 19% from 2017).
141.7 thousand new jobs are being
created, including 48,001 in 2018(up 50% from 2017).
To date, 237 new enterprises are
already operating and 37.5 thousandjobs have been created.

Ports
for the airand sea
In accordance with the Comprehensive Plan for Trunk Infrastructure Modernization andExpansion, drawn up by orderof President Vladimir Putin,
66 Russian airports are due tobe renovated by 2024; of these,
40 are in the Far East.
Thus in Khabarovsk thisyear, as part of the Khabarovsk
ASEZ, a new modern passenger
terminal will open at the local
airport. As a result, the flowof passengers will increase to
3 million people per year. By
2021, the renovation of Yakutsk
Airport’s international terminal
and runways will be completed.
Renovations are also planned
for the airports in Okhotsk,
Ayan, and Kherpuchi, which
are currently inaccessible
by road.
Last year, a new logisticalcentre began operation in Nakhodka, which will further help
the Russian Far East towards
becoming the forefront fordeveloping trade and economic
ties with Asia-Pacific countries.
Other ports in the region are
already seeing an increase incargo turnover: over the lastyear, the Vladivostok Commercial Port’s cargo turnover grewby 39%, while the Troitsa Bay
Seaport saw a 76% increase.

EEF 201921

19.08.2019 13:24

state_far east

Yakutia takes
the gold

The ASEZ
powerhouses

Among the regions of the Russian Far
East, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has
taken the lead across a number of economic indicators. In 2017, its gross regional
product (GRP) stood at 916.6bn rubles.
Also, for the first time in modern history,
Yakutia’s gold production has closely
approached the 27-tonne mark (source:
Russian Ministry of Finance), its oil output
reached 12 million tonnes, and its coal output, 17.7 million tonnes. 403.4bn rubles in
fixed-asset investments was made in 2018.

The Advanced Special Economic
Zones (ASEZs) have certainly been
living up to their name. To date,
20 ASEZs have been set up in the
Russian Far East upon initiative frominvestors, most recently in the Republic of Buryatia and in Zabaykalsky
Krai, two regions that joined the Far
Eastern Federal District relatively
recently, in late 2018.
ASEZs have already helped create
18,979 jobs in the Far East, due toincrease to 60,978 by 2025. 94 operational facilities have been launched.

364
Porto franco
The Free Port of Vladivostok (FPV)
has been another point of growth. Its
porto franco status gives businesses
to operate under a simplified customs
procedure. FPV residents also benefit
from lowered administrative barriers
and tax deductions. As a result of these
attractive conditions, the numberof free port residents has increased
from 432 in January 2018 to 1,384 inearly August 2019, while the volume ofinvestments in the same period grewfrom 365.4bn rubles to 675.9bn. FPV
residents have launched 141 operational facilities and created 10,141 jobs.

22

EEF 2019

020-024_MainFeature-ADV_RNKB_en.indd 22

The latter number is planned to reach
67,019 by 2025.
Besides Primorsky Krai, the FPV’s
regulations framework currently also
extends to two municipalities in eachof Khabarovsk Krai and Sakhalin
Oblast, and one in each of Kamchatka Krai and Chukotka Autonomous
Okrug. Two further applications for
Free Port of Vladivostok frameworkextension are currently pending—for Blagoveshchensk and Chita, therespective capitals of Amur Oblastand Zabaykalsky Krai. A decision is
expected soon.

ADVANCED SPECIAL
ECONOMIC ZONES (ASEZS)IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST
20 ASEZs have been set up in total.
The number of investors who havebeen granted ASEZ resident status
has increased from 211 in early 2018,with 2.2 trillion rubles in private
investment and the potential tocreate 39.7 thousand jobs, to 364,with 2.47 trillion rubles in private
investment and the potential for
61 thousand jobs by 2025. On 17th
June 2019, the Buryatia ASEZ wascreated by decree of the Russian
government, followed by the
Zabaykalsky ASEZ on 1st August.
Projects have been announced
to a total of over 200bn rubles ininvestments. Over ten thousand jobs
are being created.

PHOTOS: RUSLAN KRIVOBOK / RIA NOVOSTI, ANDREY RUDAKOV / BLOOMBERG VIA GETTYASEZ resident
investors

Data as of 8th August 201919.08.2019 13:24

RNCB_en.indd 1

12.08.2019 16:44

state_far east

Beyond commoditiesof the combined
GRP of FE
is contributedby three regions
GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT (GRP)
GROWTH IN LEADING FAR EASTERNREGIONS (2017)
Two thirds of the combined Far Eastern GRP
is contributed by Yakutia, Sakhalin Oblast,and Primorsky Krai
Yakutia: 5.5% GRP growth (916.6bn rubles)
Primorsky Krai: 5.6% (777.8bn rubles)
Sakhalin Oblast: 3% (771.2bn rubles)24

EEF 2019

020-024_MainFeature-ADV_RNKB_en.indd 24

Hectares for the people
It was in the Russian Far East that the national free land distribution project saw its launch, with the Far Eastern Hectare project.
With no lengthy proceedings—the agreement takes about 30 days
to execute—a person can receive a plot of land that they themselves had chosen via a national online information system at http://надальнийвосток.рф. Over 70 thousand Russian citizens havealready become owners of land in the Far East. Since 1st August 2019,
the Republic of Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai have joined the programme. Initially, land plots will only be available to local residents;from 1st February 2020, to all Far Easterners; and from 1st August
2020, to all Russians as well as participants in the State Programme
for Voluntary Resettlement to the Russian Federation of Compatriots
Abroad (for details on this programme, see p. 32).
For those who plan on building a house on their land, as well as
young families in which one of the spouses is aged 35 or under, theFar East Ministry is developing a preferential 20-year mortgage plan
at 2% interest.

One region, one passport
The Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) and other major events have put
Vladivostok on the map as an important Russian event hub. Experts
note that a similarly great potential exists in other regions of the country, including in the Far East. With an eye to fulfilling this potential,
exactly a year ago, at EEF 2018, the Russian Convention Bureau firstannounced its Regional Passport project.
A “Regional Passport” is a datasheet that allows valuable information about a region to be aggregated and organized for the purposesof promoting the region as a venue for business events. Work on 11
Regional Passports is currently underway, including for three of the
Far Eastern regions: Primorye, Kamchatka, and Sakhalin. One of theseis due to be presented at EEF 2019.

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS

In order to create a favourable investment
climate, the government had to clear a fairamount of rubble of a bureaucratic andadministrative nature. 42 federal laws anda further 191 government acts have been
passed specifically addressing the needs of
the Russian Far East.
By the end of 2018, the National
Regional Investment Climate Ranking
showed positive trends for 5 of the 11 Far
Eastern regions.
Yakutia emerged as the Far Eastern
growth leader (rank 22, +30 points),
followed by Primorsky Krai (+21 points);
Kamchatka Krai (+4) and the Jewish
Autonomous Oblast (+3) solidified theirstandings.
The Far East faces competition not
only—indeed not so much—from otherRussian regions as from Asia-Pacificcountries. Areas for further improvement
include diversifying regional development
and moving away from primarily commodity-oriented economies. Currently, thefocus is mostly on modernizing existing
industries.

Data as of 8th August 201919.08.2019 13:24

InSystems_en.indd 1

12.08.2019 16:44

state_projects

Russky Island
Population:

5 360(2010 census)

The island’s population
increased significantly after
the construction of the Far
Eastern Federal University(FEFU) campus was complete.
The campus houses over10 thousand people

Island Area

BRIDGE
Before 2012, the city and the island wereconnected by regular ferry service. The
construction plans for a bridge to the island
were approved in 2007
Construction began
on 3 September 2008.
The bridge to Russky Island
was completed in 2012

Russky Island is featured
on the Bank of Russia’s newest
2000 rouble note (2017)
2000
2000

TWO THOUSAND RUBLES

squ are k i lometers

Construction of such a bridge
was proposed twice during
the Soviet period (in 1939 and1960). Neither of these proposals were implemented

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK/TASS, DMITIRY KALININ/PHOTOXPRESS

Russky Bridge is the second
tallest bridge in the world
with a height of 324 m.
It is also the longest cablestayed bridge in the world
with a length of 1,104 m.
Number of lanes: 4(2 in each direction)

The bridge
construction project
cost the equivalentof USD 1 billion

97,6

26

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19.08.2019 17:34

FEFU
On 2 September 2012, Russky Island
hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit. A large
international business centre (partof the FEFU campus) was constructed
on Saperny Peninsula in preparation
for the event

Up until 1918, the Eastern
Institute (later FEFU) was the
only university on Russia’s
Pacific coast

Construction of the FEFU
campus on Russky Island
was completed in 2012.
In 2013, the university
moved into its new
campusThere is a technopark at FEFU where students cantest their technological developments in practice.
For example, 11 participants of the FEFU accelerator(hailing from Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, and Blagoveshchensk) recently defended their projects. Accelerator finalists have requested a total of over RUB
70 million in investment

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK/TASS, DMITIRY KALININ/PHOTOXPRESSPRIMORSKYAQUARIUM
Primorsky Aquarium Scientific and Educational
Complex was officially opened on 3 September
2016 with President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe in attendance

The aquarium includes a totalof 135 tanks, holding a total of
15,000 m² of water

The right wing of the building
houses a dolphinarium with anarena swimming pool and
800-seat stands

The FEFU campus occupies anarea of 800,000 m², is host to
23,000 students and staff, andincludes 380 classrooms andover 5,000 residential spaces
for students and staff

FEFU has a Schoolof Data Economy
and a School of Biomedicine

FEFU’s campus infrastructure includes a café,parking lots, restaurants,
its own waterfront, a public
transport system, hotels,
and more

The inside of the aquarium
has an area of

37 000m² (almost five
football fields)

The aquarium includes fish
and other water fauna from
Lake Khanka and Lake Baikal,
the Amur River, the Bering
Sea, the Okhotsk Sea, andthe Sea of Japan

Primorsky
Aquarium is thethird-largest
aquariumin the world

EEF 2019

026-031_Gov_Infographics_SHOW_corrections_en.indd 27

27

19.08.2019 17:34

state_projects

Vostochny
Cosmodrome
The construction site
employed over

8 000

Vostochny’s location is advantageous because launch vehicles’
initial flight paths do not crossover highly populated Russian
regions or the territories
of foreign states

The construction of Vostochny
Cosmodrome guaranteed
Russia’s independence in thespace industry, since Baikonur
is located in Kazakhstan
and is leased to Russia

The cosmodrome itself occupies

700 км2

Total territory1035 км2That includes not just Vostochny’s
operational facilities, but thecosmodrome’s infrastructure,staff housing, warehouses, etc.

The cosmodrome has launchpads for two types of carriers:
the Soyuz-2 medium-lift launchvehicle and the Angara heavylift launch vehicle

67 km of cable were laid
during the construction of thecosmodrome, which allows forthe remote control of every
stage of preparation and launch

The Vostochny Cosmodrome construction project
included 5 km of new roads to connect the closed
administrative-territorial entity (ZATO, closed city)
Tsiolkovsky with the Trans-Siberian Railway, as
well as an airfield, oxygen-nitrogen and hydrogenplants, and railways

people at one time

PHOTOS: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / POOL PHOTO VIA AP, AFP PHOTO / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV,

Construction of the cosmodromebegan in 2012 and was completed
in April 2016

Approximately

150 kм
of rail lines were laid28

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28
April

2016, Vostochny Cosmodrome saw its first successful launch,during which three satellites were successfully injected into
Earth orbit. The first launch of the uncrewed versionof the piloted Federation spacecraft is planned tooccur in 2022, with a crewed launch in 2024

Approximately

RUB 300 billion

PHOTOS: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / POOL PHOTO VIA AP, AFP PHOTO / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV,YURI SMITIUK / TASS, RIA NOVOSTI / PAVEL L’VOV

have been spent on the constructionof Vostochny Cosmodrome,
including critical infrastructure

The cosmodrome has
seen a total of four
launches, three of
which were successful.
Over 20 additional
launches are plannedfor 2019–2025

ZATO
Tsiolkovsky
The cosmodrome is thecity-forming enterprise for
ZATO Tsiolkovsky, which
includes the microdistrictof Zvezdny. All of the conditions necessary for a highquality of life are being
created in the microdistrict

The microregion has
an area of 63 km² andis capable of housing

6,500 people

The residential complexesin Zvezdny Microregion
are equipped with ‘smart
home’ systems that include
security and fire alarms,
video surveillance systems,
and, if necessary, can alert
dispatchers

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state_projects

Nizhne-Bureyskaya
HPP
The plant includes a 400 m
long, 42 m high earth-fill
dam, two concrete dams,and HPP facilities

The hydroelectric plant has
a projected installed capacityof 320 MW, a guaranteed
winter capacity of 147 MW, andgenerates an average of 1.67
billion kilowatt hours annually

Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP powers
facilities such as the second
stage of the Eastern Siberia–
Pacific Ocean oil pipeline,
the Elginsk coal mine, andVostochny Cosmodrome
In addition to producing electrical energy,
Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP was built to optimize thework of the Bureya HPP. The construction of thisnew hydroelectric plant has helped stabilize thelevel of water in the river. Earlier fluctuations were
having a negative impact on the ecosystemФОТОГРАФИИ: IFOR AGEENKO, ALEXEY NIKOLSKY,ALEXEY BABUSHKIN / RIA NOVOSTI, AFP /RIA-NOVOSTI /ALEXEY DRUZHININ / EAST NEWSIt is the largest hydroelectric power plant in Russia, theconstruction of which began after the Soviet period (2010).
President Putin was in attendance at the plant’s opening
ceremony on 3 August 2017

A section of the Lower Bureya
Dam turbine room30

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ALEXEY BABUSHKIN / RIA NOVOSTI, AFP /RIA-NOVOSTI /ALEXEY DRUZHININ / EAST NEWSThe Nizhne-Bureyskaya
Hydropower Plant (HPP) isbuilt in accordance with thelatest environmental standards,
which includes complete forest
clearance of the reservoir bed

The first nature park in Amur Region,
Bureysky Nature Park, is located near
the water reservoir and spans

132 000 ha

An information system for managing thehydroelectric plant was created during
the HPP’s construction. This includes thecreation of a knowledge cloud containing
all of the information about the facility,
accessible from anywhere in the world

A solar power plant with acapacity of 1,275 kW is being
built at the Nizhne-Bureyskaya
HPP. The facility is expected toenter into operation in late 2019

A total of approximately 6,700 m²
of solar panels will be installed
Vladimir Putin at
the Lower Bureya Dam

The renewable energy produced by the plant
will offset the burning of 700,000 tonnesof fuel equivalent (a standardized unit formeasuring energy, used to compare theconsumption of large amounts of energy
from various sources)

The Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP will serve asa test facility for the construction of hybrid
electrical stations. This symbiosis will resultin operational costs that are 15–20% lower thanthose associated with the construction andoperation of a separate solar power plant

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state_hectare

THE GREAT LANDGIVEAWAY
IN THE PAST THREE YEARS, MORE THAN 76,000 RUSSIAN CITIZENS HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THE FAR EASTERNHECTARE PROGRAMME, RUN BY THE AGENCY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN THE FAR EAST.
AN ADDITIONAL GROUP OF JUST UNDER 6,000 PEOPLE ARE WAITING FOR THE REQUISITE DOCUMENTS
TO BE DRAWN UP. THE LAND IS BEING USED TO BUILD HOMES, SHOPPING CENTRES, CATTLE FARMS,
AND CHILDREN’S HOLIDAY CAMPS. WE SPOKE TO JUST SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN
CHANGED AFTER RECEIVING THEIR PLOT OF LANDMIKHAIL UTROBIN
THE 31-YEAR-OLD FROM KHABAROVSKGAVE UP HIS JOB IN SENIOR MANAGEMENT
AT A MAJOR NATIONWIDE SPORTS RETAILCHAIN TO START FARMING.

“Three years ago, I had this idea tobuild a house, but then I realized thatthe land should also be used to feed
people. My decision was influenced bya statistic I saw: the region provided no
more than 8–10% of the dairy products it
consumed. So, I got into farming. I had
five criteria in mind when choosing a plotof land: it had to be close to Khabarovsk,
there had to be electricity, water, a goodroad, and of course, it had to be in a
beautiful location. Me and my wife got
32

into the car, and started looking for justsuch a hectare.
“As I was starting out, I got a great deal ofhelp from a regional programme run by the
Ministry of Agriculture. They gave me RUB
3 million, which allowed me to start building
roads, clear the land, draw in more power,
and build a cowshed and cabins for workers.
What’s more, a special state programmeallowed me to get a refund on part of themoney spent on purchasing cattle. By
December, my cows had calves, and started
giving milk. Over time we began to expand
our range to the more than 20 products weoffer today, from cream and cottage cheese,to ice cream!
“For most farmers, the hardest partis selling their products. That wasn’t

PHOTOS: IGOR ONUCHIN / RIA NOVOSTI, YURIY SMITIUK / TASS, URA.RU / TASS

by Nikita Pavlyuk-Pavlyuchenko

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PHOTOS: IGOR ONUCHIN / RIA NOVOSTI, YURIY SMITIUK / TASS, URA.RU / TASS

an issue for me, though. I use my
Instagram account for advertising,
so most of my customers are locals
who bring their families. I don’t workwith middlemen, such as retail outlets
or large supermarket chains, whichmeans my prices are lower than what
others offer.”.

the electric grid network at a discounted
rate: instead of paying several million
roubles, the cost came to just RUB
50,000.
“We’ve had to invest around RUB
4 million in developing our business.
Today, three years on, it pays for itself.
We have enough to feed the horses anddogs, and to pay our workers. Our clientbase is currently big enough, so we’re in
no rush to work with tour companies. We
have people visiting from all over Russia,
including from Moscow. That said, mostof our visitors are locals from Kamchatka.
Several of them come regularly with theirfamilies. Those guests even have theirfavourite horses.”

DARIA POZDNYAKOVADARIA, FROM KAMCHATKA, USED HER LANDTO OPEN A HORSE-RIDING CLUB.

“I’ve been working with horses formore than 15 years. My family acquired
our first hectare back in 2016 withthe specific intention to work withanimals. Now we have three. We haveused our land to build horse enclosuresand gazebos for tourists. We have alsoorganized areas for people to havebarbeques. We have done everything toensure our guests can enjoy the fresh
air as much as possible, both in thesummer, and winter. While we are not a
fullyfledged riding school, we do have aprofessional instructor on our team who
can teach the basics to beginners.
“We took a very meticulous approach
when choosing our hectare. Before
submitting our first application,
we visited and examined each plot,
pinpointed each location on the map, andgained an idea of the landscape we could
expect. We needed the land to be moreor less flat, with a nearby electric power
network. And that’s the plot of land wegot. We dealt with all the uneven areas
ourselves, and recently got connected to

ILYA KUCHEROVILYA, FROM YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, BUILT A
SPORTS CAMP FOR CHILDREN ON THE ISLANDOF KUNASHIR (PART OF THE GREATER KURIL
CHAIN).

“I’ve done karate my entire life. After
finishing my studies in Moscow, I
moved to Yuzhno-Kurilsk and helped
my father coach children. Several ofthem had already won competitions in
Russia, as well as prizes in international

YURY TRUTNEV,RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL
PLENIPOTENTIARY ENVOY TO
THE FAR EASTERN FEDERAL
DISTRICT:

On average, participants receive
their plot of land in just over 40 days.
The record is 18 days. That’s thefastest amount of time in which a plotof land has been issued not onlyin Russia, but the world

tournaments. I decided to sign up for the
Far Eastern Hectare programme to build
a military-patriotic camp for children.
It’s been running since 2016, and is basednear a well-known thermal spring not far
from the settlement of Goryachy Plyazh inKunashir. We have two hectares now, withfour houses and a canteen for the children.
We’ll also be adding a bathhouse thissummer. Children have been coming here
and having fun for several years now.
“Building the camp was a teameffort, involving ourselves, our young
athletes, and their parents. I don’t
make any money from the camp, it’s
purely a social undertaking. It is mybelief that developing and raising thenext generation in a way that promotes
patriotism and a healthy lifestyle is oneof the most important tasks for the entire
country. Unfortunately, all current formsof government support for participantsin this programme focus on helping
business and agricultural ventures.
There is nothing for the social sector.
Without drawing upon support of thiskind, we are unable to sort out numerous
general issues and start using the camp
to train for national and international
championships beyond the summer
period.”Since 2016, Far Eastern Hectare participants
have received over 50 thousand hectaresof land. For scale, that’s the area of 70,000
football fields, or the entire country of Andorra
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INTERVIEW WITH SERGEI KHOVRAT,
GENERAL DIRECTOR OF THE AGENCY FOR
THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CAPITALIN THE FAR EAST

Where do most applications for a Far
Eastern Hectare come from?
Most applications – around 83% – for a Far
Eastern Hectare come from people alreadyliving in the Far East. These people know
their land, understand its features, andhave a good idea of what to use it for. They
don’t need to spend money to relocate,and can immediately take advantage of
support offered in the region.
As for those currently living outside
the Far East, most applications comefrom people in Moscow and Moscow
Region. These account for one in four

OBTAINING YOUR HECTARE
OF LAND – SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS:
1 Visit nadalniyvostok.ru and sign in using
your account info for Gosuslugi (Russia’s stateservices portal).
2 Select your plot of land, or draw up one
yourself.
3 Submit an application via the website.
4 Sign the gratuitous use agreement andsend it to the relevant government body(information on which can be found on the
personal account area of nadalniyvostok.ru).
5 Indicate how the land will be used within
a year. Select one of the 100-plus options
available on the approved list, including for
agriculture, as a smallholding, for tourism, etc.
6 Submit a declaration via the website on the
progress of development within three years.
7 Draw up ownership or leasing rights for theland via the website.

34

How are people using the land provided tothem?
People build homes for themselves andfarm the land. Some recipients plan to use
it for tourism, while others plan to open
shops or cafes.
Presumably the agency stays in contact
with participants in the programme.
What difficulties do they most frequently
encounter, and what assistance do you
provide?
Currently the most pressing issue is theprovision of infrastructure, including
electricity and roads. These incur
substantial costs for the individual, andfor the region. A decision was taken
recently on supporting citizen groups,
or agglomerations, at these hectares. A
government programme focusing onsocioeconomic development in the Far
East and Baikal Region provides cofinancing from the federal budget to build
infrastructure for these agglomerations.
RUB 319 million has been allocated forthis in Khabarovsk Territory, and a further
RUB 82.1 million in the Sakha Republic(Yakutia). It will be possible to provide
additional funding once the National

Development Programme for the Far East –which includes a section on Far Eastern
hectares – is approved and adopted.
Another difficulty encountered byparticipants who are looking to develop theirland is funding. We encourage these people
to find out about the types of government
support available to them. These have beencollated and published on the programme’s
official website (nadalniyvostok.ru), where
they can be viewed by region. They are alsoavailable on the Agency for the Developmentof Human Capital in the Far East’s website.
To date, almost 2,000 land recipients havetaken advantage of government support
totalling around RUB 580 million. These
include subsidies to support livestock
farming at smallholdings, grants to support
agricultural plots, the Beginner Farmer
grant, incentives for timber, and subsidies tosupport small businesses.
Development of this programme is an
ongoing process, and new measures arebeing implemented to support participants.
Today, for example, around 42% of all land
recipients plan to build a home. Plans arein place to launch a programme by theend of this year especially for this group,
whereby mortgages will be provided at an
unprecedented low rate of interest – just
2%. A repayment period of up to 20 years
will be offered at 2% annual interest, withno down payment required. A decision was
taken to expand the programme beyond
the Far Eastern Federal District to cover
the Republic of Buryatia and Transbaikal
Territory. From 1 August, people officiallyresiding in these two regions will be able tosubmit an application for a plot of land.

EEF 2017 included a presentation of the Far Eastern
Hectare programm

PHOTOGRAPHY: VLADIMIR TREFILOV / RIA NOVOSTI, ALEKSANDR KRYAZHEV / RIA NOVOSTITHE NEW INITIATIVEWORKS!

applications. We also have several
applicants from St. Petersburg, Krasnodar
Territory, Leningrad Region, Sverdlovsk
Region, and Irkutsk Region. In terms of
the overall portrait of hectare recipients,
60% of applicants are male, and 40% arefemale. We are seeing most interest in the
programme from people aged between 25
and 45.

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state_territory

Russky Island:
Innovativeand Sporting

View of University
Promenade

The track and field
infrastructure planned
for the project

RUSSKY ISLAND, WHICH HOSTED THE APEC SUMMIT IN 2012, WILL
SOON HAVE A NEW DEVELOPMENT IMPETUS. IN THE NEAR FUTURE,
NEW INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESEARCH, TOURISM, AND RESIDENTIAL
FACILITIES WILL BE BUILT ON THE ISLAND

The experiences gained and developments
made during preparations for the APEC
summit will be taken into account in
the further development of Russky
Island. The main focus of the projectis the Saperny Peninsula, which iscurrently home to all of the island’s
major infrastructure: a bridge was built
to this Peninsula in 2012 and this is also

PHOTOS: ANO «OSTROV FORTOV»

The future location of the sports cluster,
including a hockey rink and multi-purpose
sports facilities

where Far Eastern Federal University andPrimorsky Aquarium are located. The
project’s primary goal is creating a new‘territorial brand’ for Primorye.
The plan is to make Russky Island
attractive not just to FEFU students,
but also to Vladivostok residents andtourists. To this end, a sports cluster will
be built right next to the university. It

will include a hockey rink and facilities
for football, basketball, tennis, track andfield, and other types of sports. The cluster
is intended to attract sports enthusiasts
and regular urban dwellers thanks to its
versatility and readiness to host public
events of any sort. A starting point will
be constructed for bike routes that will
run past all of the island’s major locations.
Local coastal areas, starting with the Paris
Bay, will be developed with the intent offostering tourism. The Paris Bay is slated
to be the location of a waterpark, hotels,
and a children’s camp.
The project will largely be focused on
infrastructure development, above allbuilding new roads. In late April, Vladimir
Putin approved the construction of asecond bridge to Russky Island, which
will connect Vladivostok to Elena Island
through the Eastern Bosphorus strait.
This new route will serve as the final
link in the Vladivostok Ring Road. New
infrastructure is planned for the areaaround FEFU as well: a pedestrian viewing
bridge near University Promenade andimprovements to the thoroughfare itself.
FEFU will turn into a progressive research
centre with a federal-level science city,which will increase the quality of theeducation it provides, as well as living
conditions for the students. Furthermore,a new district will be built on over 300
hectares of the southern part of the island,featuring a major DOM.RF project – anintegrated residential complex. All of thesetransformations will be funded throughprivate investments.
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state_region

SAMARA REGION GOVERNOR DMITRI AZAROV:Samara Region to becomea major hub of the Beltand Road Initiative
The EEF is a showcase for Russian regions
primarily aimed at Asia-Pacific countries.
What are Samara Region key businesslines?
Samara Region in one of Russia’s
major industrial regions. Virtually
every industrial branch is represented
here, with the key clusters being
car manufacturing, aerospace,petrochemicals, mechanical engineering,and electrical equipment.
Our region is recognized as a piloted
cosmonautics hub, and Samara is said to bea city with four spaceports. It was on one of
our carrier rockets that Yuri Gagarin took
humanity into the space age.
The car manufacturing cluster is
key to our region: Tolyatti-based
AvtoVAZ has over 20 percent of thenational passenger vehicle market,
and over 40 percent of all Russianmade car parts are manufactured in
our Region.
Our region has strong potential in
petrochemicals. Samara Region ranks
second in Russia in petroleum processing.
We produce 20 percent of the world’s
ammonia.
We have a highly developed healthcare
infrastructure. We’re seeing successful
growth in an innovative geographicalcluster where projects in medical IT
and biotechnology are developed andimplemented.
What makes Samara Region worth
investing in for an Asian investor?
First and foremost, our enormous
potential in manufacturing and science,
36

The New Silk Road will be one of the
primary drivers; this is a transport corridor
from Europe to Western China, which
Samara Region is due to join with a new
bridge across the Volga.
Samara Region is among the leading
Russian regions in the dynamic ofinvestment climate improvement.
Assessments by key rating agencies
reflect this; thus at the end of July,
Moody’s changed Samara Oblast’s credit
outlook from “stable” to “positive”,
confirming our Ba2 credit rating.

as well as our advantageous location interms of transport and logistics. Thismeans that developing a partnership with
Samara Region makes it much easier totake your business in Russia to a whole
new level.
We are on the intersection of leadingtransport routes. Our region has a major
railway hub, a river port with access to
the Caspian and on to Asian countries,
the Kurumoch International Airport, andfederal highways.
In implementing the Belt andRoad Initiative, we are planning on
becoming one of the largest transportand logistics hubs, consolidating anddistributing cargoes of regionally
manufactured projects to regions in
China via a direct railway route.

Our investment infrastructureis highly developed, with a wide
range of preferential tax regimes inplace. The region has an industrial
production-type special economic
zone in Tolyatti, the Zhiguli Valley
Hi-Tech Park, state-run and private
industrial parks which offer investors
turn-key ready infrastructure.
Advanced Special Economic Zones
are developing in Tolyatti (the mostsuccessful of such zones in Russia)
and Chapayevsk.
What can Samara Region offer investors?
We invite our foreign partners to
implement investment projects in both theregion’s areas of traditional specializationand of innovative development, such asIT, smart cities, Aeronet [distributed
drone systems], or satellite technology
in agriculture. We offer investors theentire spectrum of regional and federal
support tools, as well as comprehensive
administrative aid and support at every
stage of a project’s implementation.
Welcome to Samara Region!

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Baikal_en.indd 1

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state_arctic

ICEBREAKERS WILLRUN THROUGH THE
ARCTIC LIKE TRAMSPHOTOS: ROSATOMSEVEN QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE

by Nigina Beroeva and Odnazhdy Lab

38

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FOR SOME THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE SIMPLY MEANS A LINE ON THE
MAP. FOR OTHERS IT IS REMINISCENT OF THE ROMANTIC EXPEDITIONSOF SEMYON DEZHNEV, ALEXANDER KOLCHAK OR OTTO SCHMIDT.
SOME WILL RECALL THE TWO CAPTAINS, A MOVIE ABOUT THE SEARCH
FOR A LOST ARCTIC EXPEDITION, THE FAVOURITE OF A DISTANT
CHILDHOOD. IT IS ALSO A GRANDIOSE GLOBAL-SCALE PROJECT:BUILDING OF A SHORT-CUT THAT WILL NOT ONLY CONNECT THE
EUROPEAN PART OF RUSSIA TO THE FAR EAST BUT WILL ALSO BECOME
THE TRANSPORTATION ARTERY FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. IS IT POSSIBLE
THAT SHIPS WILL RUN THE NORTHERN SEAS LIKE COMMUTER TRAINS?
WHEN WILL THE PROJECT, WHICH DREAMERS CAN ONLY COMPARE
TO THE FIRST MANNED SPACE MISSION, BEGIN? WE ANSWER THESE
AND OTHER QUESTIONS TOGETHER WITH VYACHESLAV RUKSHA, DEPUTYDIRECTOR GENERAL OF ROSATOM STATE ATOMIC ENERGY CORPORATION
AND DIRECTOR FOR THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE DIRECTORATEPHOTOS: ROSATOM

Question One: The Northern Sea Route(NSR) already exists, why build it?
Indeed, the way across the northern seas
has been around for a long time. Some
date it back to Mikhail Lomonosov,
whose imagination was sparked by
the idea. Others trace it to the 1930s,
when the Soviet government threw
enormous money and human lives into
conquering the Arctic. However, allthis is romance and history. If we talkabout the establishment of the NSR asa regular transportation route, it is tied
to the growth of the Norilsk Combine(now Nornickel) in the 1970s and 1980s.
As its capacity grew, so grew its output:
suddenly, everything could not be shippedin just the summer season. That was
the beginning of a pressing need for a
year-round transportation system from
Dudinka to Murmansk. As a result, anentire fleet of Arctic-class cargo ships anda series of powerful icebreakers were built.
The next leap forward in the growth of
NSR will come about in this century, when
the task went to Rosatom State Atomic
Energy Corporation.

“Back in the best Soviet years, theflow of goods through the Northern
Sea Route never exceeded 6.5 million
tonnes, yet in 2018 we reached 20
million tonnes,” says Vyacheslav
Ruksha, showing a diagram. Only, what
he sees is not just the numbers. Hisvision covers icebreakers going throughlayers of frozen water, with nuclearpowered ships carrying oil and gas
following them single file. “There willbe 29 million tonnes shipped this year.
Two large projects were carried out inthe last five to seven years. First wasthe ‘Gates to the Arctic’ by Gazprom(the only oil-loading terminal in the
fresh water beyond the polar circle,
which allows loading sea tankers withoil, – Editor’s note). They load up to 8
million tonnes a year. In addition, theYamal LNG project has been launched.
Already over 10 million tonnes ofliquefied gas have been shipped fromthe port of Sabetta.”
Question Two: Why do you needa federal programme to develop
the NSR?

The programme has tremendous goals:
to increase the flow of goods through the
NSR to 80 million tonnes by 2024. It was
launched this year and Rosatom and theMinistry of Transport are responsible
for carrying it out. Yet, to ship those 80
million tonnes from the Arctic you have to
get them somewhere first!
“Yes, we need more projects thatwould produce about 50 million
tonnes of cargo,” agrees Ruksha. “Itis already clear what those projects
are; they have not taken shape yet
and our (Rosatom’s – Editor’s note)task is to see them through. First ofall, it is the Arctic LNG 2 project.
It is even larger than Yamal LNG
in volume. According to forecasts,
every year there will be up to 18
million tonnes of gas recovered
and liquefied (anticipated to startin 2023–2025). The second large
project is the VostokCoal cargo baseon the Taymyr Peninsula. Nearly 20
million tonnes of coal are expected
to be mined there. Another crucial
project is shipping crude oil fromEEF 2019

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Northern Sea Routecargo traffic(million tons)

80

20
6,5
MURMANSK

1987

1,5

2,5

5,3

2000

2010

2015

Barents
Sea
Pavlovskoye
deposit(Rosatom)

Plan

inte
ned new

rnatioKara
Sea

nal tr

ansit

2018

29

2019

90

Estimate

2024

2030

route

Ea
Se

LaptevSea

Yamal LNG(NOVATEK)Northern Sea Route – 13,000 km
Suez Canal route – 21,000 km

DIKSONSABETTA

Dikson coal
(VostokUgol,
Severnaya Zvezda)

CAPE
KAMENNY

Novoportovskoye
oil field(Gazprom Neft)the Paiyakhskoe field. That’s over 5
million tonnes more. The upshot isthat these projects alone will give us
an opportunity to fulfil the objective
included in the federal programmeand ship 80 million tonnes over the
NSR in 2024. It is very important
that, following the example of theworking projects I spoke of earlier,the investors realise that the yearround transportation system isguaranteed. That means that theycan estimate their projects and maketheir investments.”
Question Three: Why mine valuable
resources in the Arctic, where it isexpensive, complicated and cold?
True. Field development in the
Arctic is an extremely costly andtechnologically advanced process. Yet,the companies do it not because they
are not looking for an easy way out
or want an adventure. The point isthat the time of oil and gas that easily
accessible and cheap is long gone.
40

Payakhskoye
oil fields(Neftegazholding)VankorClusterfields(Rosneft)

KHATANGATIK SIDUDINKA

According to expert estimates, 65% of
all hydrocarbon reserves in the world
are in the Arctic. The majority of them
(60–65% according to the Ministry of
Natural Resources) occur in its Russian
part. Several years ago, the International
Energy Agency issued a report where it
commended the occurrence of valuable
minerals in the Russian Arctic andstrongly recommended that Russia start
prospecting. The future of energy is
impossible without developing this land.
In short, if somewhere in the Arctic,
the icebreakers do not open the way,somewhere where it’s warm and civilized,
there will be no fuel for cars.
We are not only talking about oil andgas. Take, for example, the Pavlovskoye
field at the Novaya Zemlya Archipelagothat is developed by the First Ore-Mining
Company (a subsidiary of Rosatom).
It has the potential for up to 65–70
thousand tonnes of zinc concentrate tobe mined and shipped to the Russian
market annually. All of this raw material
is already in demand; all you need to do isjust mine it and ship it.

Question Four: What needs to be done forall these plans to come through?
The work is already underway. First of all,Rosatom extended the useful life of current
icebreakers until 2027. This will allow
the NSR transportation service to workwithout a break.
“There are three new icebreakers
that are nearly finished at the Baltic
Shipyard. The first will be put incommission no later than May
2020,” explains Vyacheslav Ruksha.
“The second and third will be readyin 2021 and 2022, respectively.
However, this is not enough toachieve all the objectives and which
is why in August, we have alreadysigned a contract for building two
more icebreakers. By 2027–2028,
Russia will have a large and powerful
nuclear cluster. That’s as far as
the nuclear fleet goes. But we havea plan together with NOVATEK
for building icebreakers that use
liquefied natural gas.

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Northern Sea Routenuclear-powered icebreakers

Chukotka
Sea

OperatingTo

CAPE
PROVIDENCE

Asi

50 ЛЕТ ПОБЕДЫ

ЯМАЛВАЙГАЧ

ТАЙМЫР

a-P
acif

50 LET POBEDYYAMALVAYGACHTAYMYR

ic co

untriePEVEK

To be put in operation:s

Nuclear powership
Akademik Lomonosov
ANADYR

Before 2022

East SiberianSeaАРКТИКАA M B A R CH I K

ARKTIKAСИБИРЬ

SIBIR

УРАЛ

URAL

Before 2027

LK60-4

LK60-5

Before 2023ЛИДЕР-1ЛИДЕР-2

LIDER-1“The second objective thatthe corporation and the state
have is develop the entire NSR
infrastructure. Apart from building
and equipping ports, this involves
organization of ship channels andwaterways. It can only be done by
the state that owns these waters.
No business investing in the fields
can manage such a large-scale andexpensive task. The partnershipmay look like this, for example: theinvestor goes in the Yamal LNG 2
project and the state allocates funds
for building a ship channel to theport, creating ice barriers and otherinfrastructure.”
Question Five: Where would you get theenergy for all this?
A crucial and unique undertaking ofRosatom is a floating nuclear power
station. The first such power block
named after Mikhail Lomonosov, will
arrive in the port of Pevek, Chukotka,
later this year. It will give the city

the first kilowatts of electric power.
Akademik Lomonosov will replace
the retiring capacities of the Bilibino
Nuclear Power Plant and the ChaunskayaHeat Power plant. In the future, there
will be no need to build expensive
mainland power plants: the ‘battery’ cansimply tie up at a port with appropriate
infrastructure and solve all its power
problems. This undertaking will not only
save the small northern towns in Russia
but will also allow solving the problemof power delivery for NSR facilities:
simply, quickly, and using cutting-edge
technology.
“The third block we are working
on can be called navigational andhydrographic support,” says Ruksha.
“It involves everything related toweather forecasts and ice conditions.
If you navigate through ice, you needto know everything about it. Creating
new transportation routes can beclassified as part of this work. Just
imagine that large-capacity ships havesuddenly come to the Arctics. Take

LIDER-2ЛИДЕР-3

LIDER-3

the Yamalmax, for instance, which
is 50 metres wide, 300 metres longand has a 13-metre draught. Before,
our largest vessel was the nuclear
icebreaker Arktika that was 30 metreswide with an 11-metre draught. If you
translate this into land-language, thecaptians drive on a highway, not downa country lane. And so, these highways
in the ice need to be set up so that theywork in compliance with all presentday safety requirements.”
Question Six: How much will the NSR cost?
Can you make money on it?
Right now, the cost of the Northern
Sea Route development programme isestimated at 734.9 billion roubles until
2024. Only 274 billion roubles of thatcome from state budget funds. The
rest are investments by Rosatom andsubsurface users, such as NOVATEK,
Rosneft and so on.
“For example, the state pays infull for building the first three
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icebreakers,” explains Vyacheslav
Ruksha. “For the third andfourth icebreakers, which we arecontracting right now, the budget
funds only cover one third, therest (RUB 100 billion) comes from
Rosatom and loans. We are building
icebreakers that will last for 40 years
and not only will they recover theircost, but they will make money.”
According to the KPMG expert opinion,
the contribution of the Northern Sea
Route to the GDP of Russia will be up
to 2% annually (by 2050). It will gain
RUB 4.4 trillion for the state budget
from taxes and increased dividends.
Development of the NSR will pave theway for many related sectors of theRussian economy. To be sure, you needcheap loans and tax breaks for investors
in order to have such a leap.
“Of course, we’ve encountered many
problems, including technologicaldifficulties,” says Ruksha. “Thegreatest obstacle, however, is thatthe current financial system does notallow such projects to move along
the way they should. The investors
need to build ships, large heavy cargoships. So, they need loans for 15–20
years at 2–3% interest. However, weonly give loans for ten years at 7–10%
interest, at best. Nonetheless, I mustsay that only a healthy and powerfulcountry can work on projects on thescale of the NSR. The fact that Russia
has embarked on this path inspires
optimism.”
The analysts continue to estimate themultiplicative effect of developing the
NSR.
“Don’t forget the new opportunities
in the job market,” notes Ruksha. “Ifyou take the three projects alreadyunderway, thanks to them there areat least 10 thousand new jobs that pay

good money to hearty, healthy men
that girls in any country in the world
would be interested in.”
Question Seven: Is there room for further
development of the route?
Right now, ships can only go throughthe western part of the Northern Sea
Route year-round. The plans up to 2024
include increasing trade by building
additional icebreakers, ports, etc. The
most important goal planned for 2035 is
the year-round maritime traffic along theentire NSR, including the part in the East
Siberian Sea, which is the most difficult
as far as ice conditions go. This will open
up entirely new opportunities not only for
Russia, but the rest of the world as well.
The Lider-class super-powerful nuclear
icebreakers will be able to provide the‘road’ in the ice of the East Siberian Sea.
These vessels can break four-metre-thicklayers and will be twice as powerful as theones of today.

Establishing the Northern Sea Route isgoing to cost RUB 734.9 billion within
the next five years. Of that amount,
only RUB 274 billion will be provided by
the state. The rest will be commercial
funding

42

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The icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy
on a voyage to the North Pole“It is high time for Russia to take its
products east, to the Pacific Ocean
markets and our task is to build
the road for businesses,” explains
Vyacheslav Ruksha. “If, starting in
2027–2028, our icebreakers will go
through the Arctic once a day, like
a commuter trains, with the adventof Lider-class ships, we will be able
to ensure mass transit of vessels.
Then we can start talking abouttransporting 100 million tonnes
and more.”“This will make NSR highly
attractive to foreign business. Right
now, the volume of transit cargo isaround 1 million tonnes.”
Historically, all goods have gone from
East to West and back through the Suez
Canal. It never seemed that there could
be an alternative. Of course, the Arctic
way is shorter. For example: it takes
two weeks less to deliver goods from
Shanghai to Rotterdam through the NSR
than via the Suez Canal. The Murmansk–
Ningbo (China) route takes 20–23 days,
while it takes 35–38 days going throughthe Suez. The only problem was that038-043_Nuclear_NorthWay_Infogr_en.indd 43

the way through the ice was only open
in the summer. However, the NSR
development until 2024, the constructionof the new nuclear icebreaker fleet andthe Lider-class icebreakers can radicallychange the situation on the world trade
market.
Roughly speaking, Russia is building
a good straight highway that will be
an alternative to a long round-aboutroad. Naturally, it will charge a fee forusing it.
“So, it looks like the NSR will not only
serve the interests of our national
projects; the road will be open toforeign ships,” says Ruksha. “Thatis why we have already created theInternational Public Council of theNorthern Sea Route. It includes
representatives from different
countries, from the shipping industry,from the business community, andso on. We hope for a constructive
dialogue on all issues: starting withsafety and security arrangements andall the way to discussions on specificvolumes of goods and calculations on
projects.”

The Council will begin its work as partof the Eastern Economic Forum. Manyinternational companies have alreadyexpressed interest in participating in the
new framework: for instance, Maersk and
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL Line).
The Japanese and the Chinese are also
expressing interest.
“How do I see the Arctic in 5–10–15
years? It will be an excellent place
to live for the indigenous peoples
and the point-based business andstate projects will not be in theirway,” says Ruksha. “All in all, I can’t
promise that apple trees will blossom
in the Arctic, they don’t have to; but,as I mentioned before, icebreakers
will go through the ice like trams
connecting the East and the West on
the shortest route!”

19.08.2019 13:24

state_infrastructure

B R I D G E S
O F

T H E

F A R

E A S T

Nizhneleninskoye–
Tongjiang Bridge

Khabarovsk Bridge
combined: road-rail

railway

LENGTH: 2,209 m

LENGTH: 3,890 m

CAPACITY:
R 57,534
U S tonnes
S I Aof cargo a day

CAPACITY:

153 twinsets a day

Khabarovsk

ksvorabahKR U S S I ABlagoveshchensk

Nizhneleninsky
Blagoveshchensk–
Heihe Bridge
highwayC H I N A

Khabarovsk

Blagoveshchensk

yks

Low-Water Bridge
elevated, highway

Nizhneleninsky

Vladivostok

C H I N A
LENGTH: 19,900 m
CAPACITY: 630 cargo vehicles, 164 buses,

68 cars and about 5.5 thousand people a day

LENGTH: 4,362 m

Vladivostok

CAPACITY: 35 thousand vehicles a day

Russky Bridge

Zolotoy Bridge

cable-stayed, highway

cable-stayed, highway

LENGTH: 3,100 m

ksvorabahK

yksninelenhzi

CAPACITY: 50 thousand

vehicles a day

LENGTH: 1,388 m
CAPACITY: 40 thousand

kotsovidal

vehicles a day

44

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PHOTOS: EVA MONT, ANDREY SOLOVEV / SHUTTERSTOCK

A

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Vladivostok’s Zolotoy (Golden) Bridge,
one of the five largest cable bridges
in the world, immediately became
the city’s chief landmark

TODAY, BRIDGES ARE BOTH A TRUE SYMBOL OF THE FAR EAST AND ITS CLAIM TO FAME. THEY ARE AN
ESSENTIAL PART OF ITS TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE, AS WELL AS A MAJOR TOURIST ATTRACTION. TWO
HALVES OF THE NEW BRIDGE CONNECTING BLAGOVESHCHENSK AND THE CHINESE CITY OF HEIHE WERE JOINEDIN MAY, AND NEXT SPRING THE BRIDGE WILL BE PUT INTO OPERATION. BESIDES, FAR EASTERN BRIDGES ARE
PLAIN BEAUTIFUL, WHICH HELPED THEM MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE 5000 AND 2000 ROUBLE NOTESS
by Daria Mikolaychuk

Bridges of Vladivostok

INTERESTING FACTS

PHOTOS: EVA MONT, ANDREY SOLOVEV / SHUTTERSTOCK

During his trip to Vladivostok in 1959,
Nikita Khrushchev set a task to turnthe city into the Soviet San Francisco.
These plans partially came to life 53
years later. Vladivostok got itself three
new bridges for the APEC Summit:
across the Zolotoy Rog Bay, acrossthe Eastern Bosphorus, and across theAmur Bay.
The bridge across the Zolotoy Rog
Bay connected the central part of
Vladivostok and Cape Churkin. Before,
it took 90 minutes to go around thebay, while now one can drive from thecity centre to the Cape in five minutes.
Once suburban, Churkin now plays
an important role in the city’s culture
life: it is home to the local opera house,
the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky
Theatre.

The Zolotoy Bridge’s cable stays are
V-shaped. The ones on the Russky Bridge
are A-shaped and painted white, blue andred – the colours of the Russian flag.

The Russky Bridge is featured on the
two-thousand-rouble note. Many believe
it was driven by ‘Vladivostok-2000’, a hit
single by Mumiy Troll, a popular Russianrock band.

All the three bridges are for vehicles only. In
2018, Vladivostok-based artists took a stroll
on the Zolotoy Bridge wearing a yellow
cardboard bus costume to bypass the ban,however security was alert enough not to
let them go through with their performance.

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state_infrastructure

At 320 metres, the Russky Bridge is the second
tallest bridge in the world

The Nizkovodny Bridge connects the De Vries
Peninsula and the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula
near the Sedanka railway station

The Nizkovodny (Low-Water) Bridge
across the Amur Bay spans from the
Sedanka railway station area to De
Vries Peninsula. It is a low-water bridgethat from a certain angle looks as if theroad glides on the sea surface beyond
the horizon. The bridge is 4,362 metres
long, which makes it the fifth-longest
bridge in Russia.
PHOTOS: YURIJ SMITYUK / TASS, SAIKO3P, BELIAKINA EKATERINA, STARIKOV PAVEL / SHUTTERSTOCKThe Russky Bridge acrossthe Eastern Bosphorus strait connects
Vladivostok with Russky Island. Before
the bridge came around, you could only
go there by ferry. Now it is students
and teachers of the Far Eastern
Federal University who take thebridge, as well as tourists visiting
the Oceanarium.

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INTERESTING FACTS
The Khabarovsky Bridge was openedfor vehicle traffic in the 1990s
following a major reconstruction

In 2016, the Amur Bridge celebrated
its centennial.
At the time of its creation, it was
the largest railway bridge in the Old
World.

PHOTOS: YURIJ SMITYUK / TASS, SAIKO3P, BELIAKINA EKATERINA, STARIKOV PAVEL / SHUTTERSTOCK

One of its old trusses is now kept
in the Amur Bridge Museum
in Khabarovsk. You can climb it to
see the reconstructed bridge fromhigh above.

The photo for the 5000 rouble note
was taken from a building on the
Amur bank known among the locals
as the Infidel’s Tower. If you getto the observation deck, fold the notein half and take a look at it from the rightangle. See? It’s the full bridge.

Khabarovsk Bridge
The bridge across the Amur River, isamong Russia’s biggest and is also known
as the Amur Wonder. It merged the Amurand the Ussuriysk Mainlines and completed
the Trans-Siberian Railway, the world’s
longest railway line.
The bridge was officially opened
on 15 October 1916 and was initiallycalled Alexeevsky in honour ofTsesarevich (crown prince) Alexei.
This project – colossal for its time –won the gold medal award at the1900 Paris Exposition.
The bridge was blown up during the
Civil War and restored five years laterby the Soviet Government. The second

reconstruction happened in the 1990s –the time of Russia’s economic reforms
and financial crisis – and took over a
decade. Today, it’s a road-rail bridge, witha double-track lower deck and a doublelane upper one. After reconstruction, its
capacity went up 1.5 times (from 95 to
153 twinsets a day).
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state_infrastructure

W H AT ’ S O N T H E O T H E R S I D E ?
The Amur River lies between
Russia and China. Or as it is called i
n China, Heilong Jiang – the Black
Dragon River.
The distance between Blagoveshchensk
and Heihe is about 800 metres. People
from both countries can see each otherfrom their local embankments.

Bridges between
China and Russia
The bridges across the Amur River
connect Russia and China. They started
a new stage in the relations between thetwo countries and became a symbol oftrust and economic development. In theupcoming years, two bridges will be put
into operation – one in Amur Region andthe other on in the Jewish Autonomous
Region (JAR).
Halves of the new highway bridgeconnecting Blagoveshchensk and the
ALEXANDER KOZLOVMINISTER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST AND
THE ARCTIC

We call this bridge a sign of
new times, because it is a symbolof the new era in the relations
between Russia and China. Afterthe bridge is put into operation,
cargo traffic will grow manifold,which will replenish budgets on alllevels and drive agricultural export
development

48

Chinese city of Heihe were joined inMay. The total length of this trans-border
double-lane bridge is over 1 kilometer. The
countries built 540 meters each.
The bridge is scheduled to be put
into operation in the spring of 2020. Its
future capacity is estimated to be up to
3 million people and 6 million tonnes ofcargo annually, which equals almost 300
thousand vehicles.
At the same time, another trans-borderbridge across the Amur River is nearing
completion. It’s a railway one between
Nizhneleninskoye in the Jewish
Autonomous Region and Tongjiang in
Heilongjiang province. Its halves werejoined in late March 2019.
The bridge will become a part of
the new export route. It’s meant fortransporting iron ore, coal, mineral
fertilizers, forest products and other goods.
The new bridge will make the distance toend users 700 kilometers shorter comparedto other railway routes. The bridge willdefinitely stir up the development of JAR.
The Amurles site in the Amur-Khingan
advanced special economic zone is braced
for the new bridge which is supposed to
kick-start it. Export-oriented operations
based in JAR will get good logistics –an important competitive edge.

All signage in Blagoveshchensk
and Heihe is both in Russian
and Chinese.
Locals of the Russian Far East
take weekend trips to China
for catching a break, shoppingor family celebrations.

Tongjiang is a city on the borderwith JAR. It is a shopping centre
attracting sellers from Fuyuanzhen,
Suifenhe, Harbin and China’s
southern provinces. It also brings
in about 10 thousand tourists from
Russia annually.
The Chinese believe that the country’s
best rice grows in the vicinity ofTongjiang.
Residents of the Russian Far East
do not need a visa to visit Tongjiang
or Heihe.

PHOTOGRAPHY: DMITRIY TUPIKOV, VLADIMIR ASTAPKOVICH / RIA NOVOSTI, AMATEUR007 / SHUTTERSTOCK

The bridge between Blagoveshchensk and Heihe is scheduled tobe put into operation in the spring of 2020

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B U S I N E S S

049_Schmutz-business_en.indd 49

A STARTUP SPRINGBOARD> 050

HOW TO BRING TROPHY HUNTERSBACK TO KAMCHATKA> 058

GREEN PIPES FOR HUMANITY> 062

The Zolotoy Bridgein Vladivostok

19.08.2019 17:34

business_innovation space

A Startup
Springboard
PROMISING TECH COMPANIES IN RUSSIA. THIS IS THE
SECOND YEAR THAT THE EASTERN ECONOMIC FORUM
HAS INCLUDED THE INNOVATION SPACE, AN AREAHOSTING SPECIALIZED SESSIONS, SEMINARS, AND
MASTER CLASSES FROM LEADING MENTORS ANDCORPORATE AND INVESTMENT FUND REPRESENTATIVES.
ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING EVENTS IN THE SPACE
IS THE PRESENTATION OF THE BEST INNOVATIVESTARTUPS FROM THE BUSINESS PRIORITY PROJECT.
WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THESE PROJECTS
by Anton BURSAK

50

Kalancha
A N I N N OVAT I V E O I L S TO R AG E FAC I L I T Y
F I R E E X T I N G U I S H I N G SYS T E M

Extinguishing fires without the use ofwater and foam, especially if it is an oil
storage facility burning, seems like an
impossible task. Yet, Kalancha NPO has
found an effective solution. By taking
advantage of a quarter century’s worth of
its own developments, Kalancha was firstcompany in the world to develop, patent,
and implement the innovative BiZone
fire extinguishing system. It is designed
for oil and petroleum product storage
facilities, and is capable of extinguishing a fire within a minute. The BiZone
system uses a gas and powder-based

PHOTOS: DONAT SOROKIN / FOTOHOST-AGENCY TASS, FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

THE ROSCONGRESS FOUNDATION HELPS PROMOTEEEF 2019

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fire extinguishing technology. This is acompletely new approach to putting out
flames – the source of the fire is neutralized through the use of a fire extinguishing powder and gas. This process takes
advantage of all of the basic mechanisms
for extinguishing a fire simultaneously,
which allows the system to put out fires
of practically any complexity in theirearly stages.
There are over 22,000 dangerous oil
and gas facilities in Russia alone, including
over 700 storage parks with over 50,000
storage facilities. These types of facilities are located all over the world and aresome of the most flammable structures in
the fuel and energy industry. After all, oilstorage facility fires are a serious threat toutilities, surrounding buildings, and thepeople involved in extinguishing them.
The direct and indirect material damage from oil storage facility accidents is
hundreds of times greater than the money
spent on constructing them.
Modern fire safety regulations require
the majority of oil storage facilities to beequipped with an automatic foam fire
extinguishing system. This technology has
been used for over 60 years, but practicehas shown that it is not very efficient: nota single oil storage facility fire has been
extinguished automatically.

ALEXEY MALIKOV,A&A CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND

PHOTOS: DONAT SOROKIN / FOTOHOST-AGENCY TASS, FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSPARTNERI think that we will continue ourrelationship with the start-ups aspart of the Business Priority project.
They’ve received the status, and now
our goal is to help them advance theirproduct both in Russia and abroad,”said Alexey Malikov. “Personally, I
was very pleased by what I saw inthe discussions and presentations.
I’m glad that there really are suchinnovative projects in Russia, andthat they’re not just ideas bouncing
around in the heads of developers,
but are already being implemented in
major Russian corporations

The SPIEF pitch session
raised over a billion rubles
for startups

WHAT IS BUSINESS PRIORITY?
Russia has a number of procedures in place
to support the high-tech companies. Primarily, these are government corporations and foundations with full or partial
state funding: Rusnano, the Skolkovo Foundation, VEB Ventures, the Rostec venture
fund, etc. However, according to start-uppers themselves, even highly promisingprojects have a difficult time getting the attention of these institutions, given the total
number of companies applying for support.
The Roscongress Foundation, together with
the International Foundation for Technology and Investment, the Digital Economy Development Fund, and the RC-Investment
Foundation have launched the Business Priority project to help address this issue. The
expert jury has currently reviewed over 200
projects, granting the 50 most promisingones Business Priority status.
“Our work is not limited to helping companies attract investment,” said Marianna Skragan, Business Priority CEO. “We
are creating an environment for communication between start-ups and the government, investment funds, and major corporations. As a result, Business Priority projects

receive expert support, get help in solving regulatory issues, and find new clients,
since many major corporations are themselves potential consumers of innovative
developments.”
The Business Priority project was firstlaunched in June 2019 at the St. Petersburg
International Economic Forum. The launch
was very successful: during the ‘Pitch Session for a Billion’, 13 innovative companies
attracted a total of RUB 1,129 billion.
The project made another appearance inJuly, at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS 2019) in Yekaterinburg, where the eight best Russian startups were joined by seven international startups from Singapore, the UAE, the Netherlands, India, and Brazil. They presented theirbusinesses and, most importantly, were able
to directly communicate with representatives of major Russian and international corporations and investment funds.
This project will continue its work at theEastern Economic Forum. Business Priority projects will be showcased in the Innovation Space – part of the Roscongress Foundation’s Building Trust programme (Building A, Level 3).

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business_innovation space

Major oil companies aswell as defence and law
enforcement agencies use
the BiZone system

The BiZone system
uses a gas andpowder-based
fire extinguishingtechnology. This is
a completely new
approach to puttingout flames
52

ALEXANDER
CHACHAVA,LETA CAPITAL FOUNDER

I was called to watch a pitch session.
It turned out that Cerevrum was
one of the participants. We’ve been
watching them for a long time now,
it’s not that I saw the project at thepitch session and decided to invest inthem immediately. In this situation, it
was an enormous coincidence but, inany case, Business Priority is a goodand useful initiative. Roscongressare super-experts in working with
big corporations, especially Russian
ones. From this point of view, theproject is a very good ideaorganizer of international exhibition andpublic events allows us to directly communicate with decision-makers from investment company. This reduces the amountof time spent on reaching agreements andimplementing technologies.”
According to Guryev, the caution exhibited by large companies is understandable: there is a huge number of underde-

PHOTOS: KALANCHA / BIZONEVITALY GURYEV
NPO KALANCHA

Making matters even worse, over halfof the oil production in Russia occurs interritories with long periods of negative
temperatures, while 40% of oil is producedin countries with water shortages: using
foam to extinguish fires in those conditions is difficult, if not entirely impossible.
Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of dollars
are spent on designing, constructing, andrunning foam fire extinguishing systems.
The BiZone system is far more affordable, and most importantly, more reliable
and environmentally friendly. Companies such as Rosneft, LUKOIL, Gazprom
Neft, Gazprom, Sibur, Nornickel, NLMK,Rosatom, Russian Railways, the Ministryof Defense of the Russian Federation, andother armed forces have taken advantage of these systems. Kalancha also hascustomers in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,and Indonesia. In May 2019, the company
opened an international front office inDubai, United Arab Emirates.
“Our participation in the Roscongress
Foundation programme has added someweight to our interactions with investors
and customers,” said BiZone NPO Development Director Vitaly Guryev. “The Roscongress Foundation’s Business Priority
status opens a lot of doors for innovative
companies. Collaborating with the largest

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Forbes_en.indd 1

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business_innovation space

MotivityA C O R P O R AT E P L AT FO R M
FO R E M P LOY E E M OT I VAT I O N T R A I N I N G

Any manager will tell you that a success ofany company depends on its employees.
Employees need to be trained. This needs
to be done in such a way that the educational process is not a burden, but insteadincreases employee motivation and productivity. Ideally, this would also be achieved
without spending too much money.
The Russian company Motivity offersinteresting tools for achieving such goals.
For over a decade, Motivity has specializedin HR automation and gamifying HRTech
and EdTech projects. Essentially, this is apersonnel management system developedby Russian psychologists and IT specialists.
The platform tracks employees’ levelsof motivation and includes a number oftools for increasing their engagement
and personal productivity. Educational
games adapted to meet the goals of each
FOREIGN PARTICIPANTS
IN THE BUSINESS PRIORITY
COMPETITIONS
The finalists of the two Business Priority competitions included companies from
Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the Netherlands, India, and Brazil. Among them was
CUBi Energia, a startup from São Paulo, Brazil that developed an electronic system forauditing and managing energy consumption, that leads to significantly optimized
results for both businesses and the public sector. Another company noted by thecompetition committee, India-based Credence Robotics, supplies a wide range ofindustrial solutions related to the internet, robotics, and artificial intelligence. The
company’s products are aimed at smart cities, automated supply chains, and logistics.

54

While Danila Zharov’s
project is aimed atmotivating personnel,
he himself wasextremely motivatedby the pitch sessions
at the St. Petersburg
International
Economic Forumindividual company; business simulatorsfor developing and reinforcing new skills;
interactive tools for practicing all sorts ofclient-facing scenarios – these are just a
few of the products provided by Motivity.
The platform can, for example, help
address the issue of high employee turnover, transform employees into loyal brandambassadors, and ultimately increase
sales and other business indicators. Allof this is done by motivating teams ina non-material way.
“The Business Priority project is
supported by major institutions, fromthe Skolkovo Foundation to the Ministryof Industry and Trade. They all have acommon goal: to showcase the real successstories of innovative start-ups and help
us use our competitive advantages,” said

The Motivity platform offersa fresh perspective on staff
management

DANILA ZHAROVMOTIVITY FOUNDER

Motivity Founder Danila Zharov. “Before,
everyone enjoyed the same support. It wasenough to call yourself a start-up and passa formal selection process. However, Business Priority is a status granted to one in
hundreds of companies. All of them haveproof like sales and positive traction, notjust ‘I have a cool idea and a PowerPoint
presentation’ claims.”
Danila Zharov’s project has advanced
far beyond a ‘cool idea.’ Its clients include
Google, Sony, Adidas, McDonald’s, BMW,
Bosch, IKEA, Sovcombank, and Asahi
Glass Co. The project is undergoing active
development in Russia and the CIS, andcontracts are being developed in Europe,
Africa, and the Middle East. The company’s earnings are currently modest, butthey have doubled for the third year in a
row and should exceed USD 1 million by
the end of 2019.
While Danila Zharov’s project is aimed
at motivating personnel, he himself wasextremely motivated by the pitch sessions
at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS2019). “Participation in Business Priority
pitch sessions is a boost to a project’s‘karma’ in the eyes of investors, since itsays ‘we chose these guys, and now we’regoing to support them.’ These projects
are more valuable to investors and they
are more confident in their future,” said
Danila Zharov.
Currently Motivity is in the process of
attracting investment to accelerate their
growth in Russia and enter the US market.

PHOTOS: MOTIVITY

veloped projects out there. Taking on sucha cooperation would result in a loss of timeand money. “You could say that, for potential innovation customers, the BusinessPriority status is a seal of quality which
denotes that they’re looking at a highly
polished product that has undergone many
stages of refinement,” said Guryev.

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20–24January

RUSSIA HOUSE IN DAVOS
The country’s ofﬁcial residence at the World Economic Forum,
Russia House serves as a discussion platform
and centre of Russian culture.

We invite you to partner with us
Tel./Fax: +7 (495) 640 4440
Email: davos@roscongress.org
houserussia.com

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business_hunting

The Russian
Falcon:A Far Eastern
Treasure
THE MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
AND THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES GOVERNMENT ARE JOINING FORCES TO PRESERVERARE SPECIES OF HUNTING RAPTORS. THE OPENING OF THE RUSSIAN FALCON CENTRE
IN KAMCHATKA TERRITORY WILL BE A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE IN THE COOPERATIONBETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES IN THIS AREA. THE PROPAGATION FACILITY WILL BE
CONSTRUCTED USING INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES FOR RESTORING POPULATIONSOF RARE BIRDS IN CENTRAL ASIA, INCLUDING FROM THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC. THE
ROSCONGRESS FOUNDATION IS TAKING PART IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS PROJECTI

f, during your time at the EEF oranother Roscongress event, you should
happen upon a representative from themonarchies of the Persian Gulf and ask
their opinion of Russia, it is likely that
their answer will include a reference toKamchatka. Arabs’ particular fondness
for this Far Eastern region stems fromits local fauna, which is associated withmany legends in the Middle East. The
Russian falcon, which can be found on the
Kamchatka Peninsula and other territories
in Russia's arctic and subarctic zones,
typically plays a key role in these legends.
56

Birds of the family Falconidae areof great emotional significance to thepeoples native to the Persian Gulf. Arabs
consider falconry to be integral to their
way of life and the sport has been popular
there for centuries. The UAE typicallyoccupies leading positions in the Middle
Eastern hunting raptor market. That's
why one of the world's largest legal falcon
auctions operates at a bird propagationand preservation centre in Dubai. The
administration of the Emirate of Dubai
spends approximately USD 200 million peryear on acquiring falcons. Similar falcon

auctions can be found in the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, andIraq. Members of the political and businesselite in these countries regularly take partin large-scale hunts using these birds. The
hunting season typically starts in Octoberand ends in February. Hunting locations
are determined by range of the hunt’s
primary prey – birds of the family Otididae– which inhabit the steppe and semidesert
regions of Eurasia, the Middle East, andNorth Africa. The number of participantsin the hunt, including service personnel,
can exceed one thousand people and no

PHOTO: UNIFILM.PRO

by Grigorii Velikikh

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PHOTO: UNIFILM.PRO

fewer than 150 trained falcons. Moreover,
the UAE and Saudi Arabia hold regularinternational team competitions for falcon
breeders and handlers, which draw over
15,000 audience members and participants.
The primary range of the most valuable
and rare member of the falcon species –the gyrfalcon – is located within Russia's
arctic and subarctic zones. In the Arabworld, it is considered the ideal falcon. The
gyrfalcon is known for its light-coloured
feathers, large size, unparalleled flight
speed (up to 100 m/s), intelligence, andtrainability. Meanwhile, international
scientific circles recommend jumpstarting
the implementation of already existingRussian falcon preservation programmes,
especially those targeting the gyrfalcon.
One of the most effective ways of restoring
the gyrfalcon population in Russia is
introducing birds raised in captivity
to the wild. As a result, the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environmentof the Russian Federation and the UAE
Government are supporting the creationof the first ornithological centre in
the Russian Far East – the Kamchatka
Russian Falcon Centre. As part of thisproject, the administration of Dubai plans
to transfer some of the falcons from the
Muras Hunting Birds Rehabilitation
and Reproduction Centre in the Kyrgyz
Republic, established in 2017, to the new
breeding facility in Kamchatka. Muras isa CITES-accredited Russian-Kyrgyz joint

For now, the Kamchatka Russian Falcon Centre
only exists as a blueprint. But it won’t be long
before the first gyrfalcon soars into the Far
Eastern sky from here

The Muras centre in Kyrgyzstan was chosen asa model for the Kamchatkan projectventure. The group of specialists working
with the Muras Centre is ready and willingto participate in the creation of a similar
facility in Kamchatka.
The propagation facility aims tointroduce one thousand birds a year, partof which will be released into the wild.
The first round of investment from private
Russian and UAE investors is planned to be
USD 230 million. This is enough to launch
the centre and transfer 300 falcons. The
investment programme will be expandedin the future. According to experts, thecreation of a hunting raptor centre in
Kamchatka will accelerate the process ofrestoring the local population of gyrfalcons
and create the necessary conditions
for legalizing the trade of these birds,
effectively counteracting poachers. At thesame time, the successful implementationof this project will facilitate thedevelopment of multilateral cooperationand cooperative ties with Middle Easterncountries. It is expected that the opening of
the Kamchatka Centre under the patronageof the UAE will evoke the interest ofleaders in other countries in the Persian
Gulf in creating similar institutions. Thisshould create favourable conditions forthe development of a network of hunting
raptor propagation facilities in the Russian
Far East, resulting in an influx of large
foreign investments in the development oflocal tourism and transport infrastructure.

FALCON PROPAGATION
The falcon trade is regulated by theConvention on International Trade inEndangered Species of Wild Fauna andFlora (CITES). CITES regulations state thatthe international sale and transfer of birds
is limited to third-generation birds raised in
captivity. The average cost of a single falcon
from a propagation centre is approximately
USD 150 thousand.

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business_hunting

How to Bring
Trophy Hunters
Back to Kamchatka
KAMCHATKA COULD BECOME THE KEY REGION OF RUSSIA IN TROPHY HUNTING. THE PURBLIND POLICY
OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT EARLIER THIS CENTURY, HOWEVER, LEAD TO A SIGNIFICANT WITHDRAWAL

TO BE CHANGED RADICALLY, NOT ONLY IN THE FAR EAST BUT IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.
by Valery Kuzenkov

For those who are not aware of it, thehunting lands in Russia cover over 1,710
million hectares. Hunting, both commercial and recreational trophy hunting, cantake place in developed areas as well as on
remote hunting lands. The latter include“backwoods” with negligible human pop58

photos by author

The author is a biologist-gamekeeper, eminent
gamekeeper of Russia, and expert to the State Dumaof the Russian Federation on hunting business issues

ulation and accessible only by helicopter.
Such areas in our country comprise over
60% of all land. One such place is Kamchatka. One cannot imagine the peninsula
without volcanoes, hot springs, salmon
runs, and, of course, the Kamchatka brown
bears, the East Siberian moose, and thesnow sheep. They became the first hunting trophies for the first foreign hunters
who came to Kamchatka all the way backin the 1990s. Starting in last decade of the20th century, foreigners were allowed tovisit the region and by August our travel
agency in Penzhin District of Koryak

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PHOTOS: VASILY PINDYURIN / GETTY IMAGES, EAST NEWS, GHOST BEAR / SHUTTERSTOCKOF FOREIGN HUNTERS. TO BRING THEM BACK, THE ENTIRE SYSTEM OF HUNT-ORGANIZING NEEDSPHOTOS: VASILY PINDYURIN / GETTY IMAGES, EAST NEWS, GHOST BEAR / SHUTTERSTOCK

Autonomous Area (back then there were
Kamchatka Region and Kamchatka District) built the first snow sheep hunting
camp on the upper Enychavayam River.
At the turn of the 1990s, in a fairly shorttime, many foreign hunting travel agencies opened their offices in Russia. Somecame to Kamchatka. People launched theirbusinesses and began to expand them tothe western markets. All these companies were governed by the then-current
hunting laws and conducted businesson the basis of existing regulations foruse of natural resources. They worked
by cooperating with local Kamchatka
hunting establishments and built up trust
and partnership with them over the years.
The cooperation was based on long-term
contracts, where foreign outfitters acted as
investors.
All went well; it was quite simple andeasy to work, but in 2005 the well-tuned
system faltered. Mikhail Mashkovtsev, thegovernor of Kamchatka at the time, dealt a
decisive blow at the growing hunting andfishing tourism. Moreover, the initiative
was only announced after many foreign
hunters were already brought to thehunting camps. The situation turned into
an emergency. The hunters who came to
Kamchatka under properly signed agreements could not hunt. Right away, foreign
agents and hunters demanded that hunt-ing providers refund the money and cancel
all agreements for the upcoming fall huntbecause the confidence of foreign clientsboth in Kamchatka and in Russia broke
down. However, no one paid attention to
the expert community, even though thespecialists warned that unfounded cancellation of the brown bear hunting will leadto unemployment for those involved introphy hunting in Kamchatka and, as a result, large-scale poaching, as well as, most
likely, will cause social unrest among theregion’s population. That is exactly what
happened. Using snowmobiles, the poachers indiscriminately killed all bears, taking
only gall bladders and paws of the animals
for subsequent sale in China. According toexpert estimates, hundreds of bears wereillegally killed all over Kamchatka in 2005.
This was the beginning of the decline of
hunting tourism in Russia.
Let me say a few words about thefactors that prevent the growth of hunting
tourism when incompetent decisions havebeen rescinded long ago and the population of the brown bear keeps growing
from one year to the next. First of all, it is
the prices. For example, renting a helicopter today costs 250–280 thousand roubles

SNOW SHEEP HUNTING
The cost for one hunter who comes to Kamchatka for the purpose of hunting a trophysnow sheep may reach up to USD 20–23
thousand for ten days of hunting. In addition, the hunter pays for international anddomestic flights, excess luggage fee andhotels. The price of the tour includes services and one trophy, regardless of size. Snow
sheep hunting takes place from early August
to late September.

for a one-hour flight on a Mi-8. There is
not much you can do without a helicopter
in the vast expanses of Kamchatka, but
few foreign hunters want to rent a helicopter at that price. The price of snowmo-

Hunting is not just a hobby
but also a very lucrative business

BROWN BEARS IN RUSSIA
Russia has the largest brown bear population in the world: there are 180 thousand
bears. Of those, 20 thousand live in Kamchatka, where their official killing does notexceed 600 a year. Brown bear hunting
is permitted for two months in the fall andone month in the spring and even thatis not in all regions of Russia.

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FOREIGN HUNTERS IN RUSSIA
Back in the Soviet times, no more than
100–150 trophy hunters came to thecountry through Intourist. As perestroika began, their number went on the rise,reaching 6.5 thousand by the millennium.
After 2005, the numbers slacked off:
in 2018 only 300 hunters visited Russia, even though the potential is to hostup to 40 thousand annually.

BEAR HUNTING
As of today, the price of a brown bear
hunting tour for a foreign hunter is around
USD 10 thousand per person for six days ofhunting. The timeframe for such hunting isin the spring from April to June and in thefall from September until the bears go into
hibernation. The price of a tour (airport–
to–airport) includes the services and one
trophy, regardless of size. In addition, thehunter pays for flights, hotels and excess
luggage fees.

60

Russia has the capacity to receive up to
forty thousand foreign hunters a year.
It would create six thousand jobsof a tour for a Kamchatka moose is evenhigher: up to USD 15 thousand per person,
and for the snow sheep it goes up to USD
23 thousand. It is just the local organisers
who charge that kind of money, but there
are still the outfitters, where the hunter
orders the tour. Taking personal weapons
to Kamchatka is nothing but trouble forforeign hunters. Right now, the hostingside has to deal with a lot of bureaucratic formalities, all the way to solving the
problem of the client’s weapons safety
on the hunt, on the mountain in a tent,
using a special safe box installed there.
While weapon rental is permitted in many
civilised countries, it is, for some reason,
not allowed in Russia and is unlikely to beallowed in the foreseeable future.
Analysing the experience of organising hunting tourism and trophy hunting
abroad, it is easy to come to the conclusionthat to save and revive the industry, it isnecessary to create a framework independent of any ministry, similar to the US Fish
and Wildlife Service. This service mustensure fish and wildlife safety, monitor
hunting and fishing resources in the country, and break down poaching that has
overwhelmed Russia; the service shouldreport directly to the president of thecountry. This will help to avoid delays inrevising the entire legislative framework
for restoring and improving renewable
natural resources. The other line of action
is creating a Russian National Hunter andFisher Union as a coordinating centre forall interested non-government hunting
organizations. The dialogue of the stateand various non-government hunting
organizations will help to prepare a single
policy in this area, including changes inthe existing hunting laws, which will workfor the entire hunting community. As theend result, this will help to create a civilised hunting and fishing tourism industry
adapted to global requirements as part of
the Russian economy.

MOOSE HUNTING
Hunting tours for Kamchatka (East Siberian)moose take place from September to December. The best hunting time is October–
December. The price of a tour for one hunter
is USD 12–15 thousand for six days of hunting(airport–to–airport). The price of the tour
includes a licence for one trophy, hunting
guide services, taxidermy processing of thetrophies, and the services of a cook, interpreter and so on. In addition, the hunter pays
for flights, hotels and excess luggage fees.

ФОТОГРАФИИ: VICTOR DRACHEV / TASS, GENNADY TEPLITSKIY / SHUTTERSTOCK, EAST NEWSbile fuel in Palana, for example, can reach
100 roubles per litre. Taking tourists toa hunting camp becomes prohibitively
expensive. If fuel prices rise, the pricesof everything else go up automatically,
starting with groceries and all the way
to the fees charged by guides, cooks, andtaxidermists (after all, the trophy needs tobe preserved and delivered to the hunter’s
country of residence). All in all, the cost of
a brown bear hunting tour in Kamchatka
reaches up to USD 10 thousand per person
for six days of hunting. And, you still needto get there. The Moscow – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky ticket costs 70 thousand roubles per person, one-way. Not
every foreigner can afford that. The cost

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business_company

with scientific research and testing
are mainly carried out by the Russian
Research Institute of the Pipe and Tube
Industry (RosNITI) in Chelyabinsk,
which belongs to TMK. In the third
quarter of 2019, a new TMK R&D centre
will be opened in Skolkovo, which will be
the company’s base for creating new typesof pipes and related products as well as
for conducting large-scale studies in themetallurgy sector and other industries.

Latest production

TMK IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST MANUFACTURERS OF PIPEPRODUCTS. ADDITIONALLY, THE COMPANY IS ALSO A GLOBALLEADER IN TERMS OF ITS ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT AND SOCIALRESPONSIBILITY

Focus on Innovation
TMK is a global leader in manufacturing
pipe products for oil and gas companies.
Last year, the company produced 4
million tonnes of pipes and premium
connections that are used in oil and gas
fields with difficult drilling conditions,
including offshore, the deep sea, and
the Arctic. Today, TMK has dozens of
production sites located in Russia, theUSA, Canada, Romania, and Kazakhstan.
The company’s key products are threaded
62

oil and gas pipes, which are shipped
to more than 80 countries around theworld. In addition, TMK provides anextensive package of services in heat
treatment, protective coating, premium
connections threading, warehousing, andpipe repair.
TMK does not only manufacture
products – the company is constantly
developing new offerings thanks to its
vast R&D capabilities. The development
and improvement of pipe products along

Social support
Another priority for the company is socialand charitable projects. TMK supports
many cultural, charitable and sporting
initiatives. The company has a stake inproviding the best conditions for both its
employees and their families, as well as
for the people living in the cities where its
plants operate.
TMK’s charitable projects are
implemented both via the Sinara
Corporate Charity Foundation and

PHOTOS: TMK

Green Pipes
for Humanity

In the modern world, metallurgy must
be environmentally responsible. TMK ishighly focused on sustainable development
and is successfully reducing its industrial
environmental footprint. The company’s
production sites today are state-of-the-art
facilities on a global level. This is a resultof the upgrade carried out in 2006–2014,
during which all the steelmaking facilities
were modernized, with obsolete openhearth furnaces replaced with moreenvironmentally-friendly electric ones.
Modern continuous casting machines werealso installed and put into operation. For
this purpose, the company rose more thanRUB 160 billion in investments.
Replacement of obsolete equipment
resulted in the introduction of cutting-edge
technologies. Installation of modern gas
cleaning systems with an efficiency levelof 98% led to the reduction of production
emissions and the air in the factories andsurrounding urban areas is now notably
cleaner. Water treatment systems havebeen improved, and additional recycledwater supply systems were introduced.
With increased production volumes, there
has been a reduction in energy and water
consumption.

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BY 2018, THE FOLLOWINGPERFORMANCE FIGURES WERE
ACHIEVED AT RUSSIAN PLANTS:• Water consumption at the production
facilities was 1.3 times lower• Wastewater volumes were 1.9 times lower• Specific atmospheric emissions were
1.3 times lower• Gross atmospheric emissions fromproduction were halved• About 4 million tons of previously
accumulated waste was processed• Total waste generation has decreasedby 46%

directly by the plants. For many years
the company and Foundation have been
implementing a career guidance projectcalled Foothold. Last year, more than
4,000 high school students from 85
schools took part in the project with morethan 1,000 events held.
TMK is implementing a multi-year
project called Corporate Citizenshipthrough which funds are donated forchildren with serious blood disorders.
The company’s Russian plants regularly
conduct volunteer campaigns and provide
assistance to veteran organizations, child

TMK supports amateur teams in various sports at its
production facilities

care facilities, and medical institutions.
TMK also supports the cities in which it
operates – it is actively involved in urban
renewal, landscaping and other projects
designed to improve the quality of life of
local residents.
TMK pays special attention to thepromotion of a healthy lifestyle via
its support for sporting events andorganizations. The company supports
the Russian Ski-Jumping and Nordic
Combined Federation, the Russian
Olympians Foundation, FC Ural

Yekaterinburg from the Russian Premier
League, the Sinara futsal club (also fromYekaterinburg) and many other sportingorganizations. TMK also promotes sport
among its employees by supporting its
plants’ amateur child, youth and adultteams in various sports.
Pipes should not only be durable.
TMK is doing everything to ensurethat their production does not harm theenvironment, and company employees
and local residents can look to tomorrowwith confidence.

TMK’s new research centre is due to open in Skolkovo
before the end of 2019

Employees participate in beautification and landscapegardening projects

PHOTOS: TMK

Together with
the Sinara charity
foundation, thecompany runs a career
guidance project,
Bearing Point

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TMK_en.indd 1

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S O C I E T Y

065_Schmutz-society_en.indd 65

INTRODUCING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGYIS A PRIORITY FOR HEALTHCARE
IN THE FAR EAST

> 066

REAL VIRTUALITY> 068

BOTTICELLI AT EEF 2019

> 072

SOCIAL INITIATIVES ARE ON THE AGENDA> 074

The road–rail bridge acrossthe Amur

19.08.2019 17:34

society_healthcare

PHOTOS: PRESS-OFFICE OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH CARE OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Introducing
Digital Technology
is a Priority for Healthcare
in the Far EastRUSSIAN MINISTER OF HEALTH VERONIKA SKVORTSOVA TALKS WITH US ABOUTNEW PROJECTS FOR THE FAR EAST, COOPERATION WITH ASIAN HEALTH PROFESSIONALSAND AIR MEDICAL SERVICES
66

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PHOTOS: PRESS-OFFICE OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH CARE OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION

How does the Ministry of Health plan
to further drive the developmentof high-tech healthcare in the Far East?
At the end of 2018, high-tech healthcare
services had been provided to over 34
thousand patients, 21 thousand of whichwere using mandatory health insurance
funds. The basic mandatory health insurance programme covers high-tech healthservices at 84 care providers including 5
federal, 72 regional, and 7 private healthorganizations.
In 2019, the availability of high-techhealthcare (both covered and not coveredby the basic mandatory health insurance
programme) in the Far Eastern Federal
District was 418.87 treated patients per
100,000 people, compared to a figureof 474.05 in the nation at large. There is
obviously room for improvement in the
district.
At a meeting with private healthcare
executives, we discussed the current
state of and prospects for developing
nuclear medicine techniques for cancer
diagnosis and attracting private funds
for building PET centres in Russian
regions. According to the executives,
PET centres are slated to be opened inthree regions of the Far Eastern Federal
District: in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and in Primorye and Khabarovsk
Territories.
The Ministry of Health is considering establishing a reference centre for
the Far Eastern Federal District at the
Vladivostok Oncology Dispensary. It is
supposed to perform image interpretation and tissue analysis to provide amore comprehensive diagnosis based on
histological, chemical, and immunological parameters.

Are there any additional plans to attract
private or foreign partnerships?
Interdepartmental cooperation with Far
Eastern countries – China, Japan, andKorea – is developing rapidly.
In September 2016, for example, theRussian Ministry of Health and the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare signed
a Memorandum of Intent to Cooperate
in Health Information Technologies in
Vladivostok. Last year, in June, the Nine
Bridges plan for Russian-Korean tradeand economic cooperation was adopted
in Moscow, providing for the exchangeof experiences and training for healthprofessionals at organizations in bothcountries. Besides that, we are also planning on cooperating in the developmentof eHealth.
What can we expect from eHealth?
Introducing digital technologies is a toppriority for healthcare development.
It is actually a crucial pre-condition for
the effective functioning of all our systems. In 2017–2018, about a thousand
healthcare locations in the Far East
were connected to the Internet in theprocess of building the health dataexchange infrastructure. It was paid forthrough federal funds. We are planningto double that number of connected
locations within the next five years.
In 2018, every region in the Far Eastern Federal District integrated into the
Unified State Health Information System(EGISZ). Now, they provide appointment
scheduling via the My Health online
patient service. The option ‘Appointment
for Preventive Health Check’ has beenenabled and, as of 1 August this year, is

The timely transportation of patientsby a well-equipped ambulance helicopter
manned by a well-trained healthcare teamhas saved about 5 thousand lives in the past
two years

Interdepartmental
cooperation with Far
Eastern countries –China, Japan, andKorea – is developing
rapidly
available in three Far Eastern regions – theJewish Autonomous Region, the Republicof Buryatia, and the Republic of Sakha(Yakutia).
Over 368 thousand Far Eastern Federal
District residents used the My Healthservice on the Public Services Portal of theRussian Federation in 2018. E-services are
increasing in popularity. The number ofusers in the first half year of 2019 included
360 thousand residents of the Far East.
Which healthcare project implemented
in the past five years in the Far East
do you consider the most successful?
Far Eastern regions have become partof a high-priority project to develop air
medical services. The timely transportation of patients by a well-equippedambulance helicopter manned by awell-trained healthcare team has saved
about 5 thousand lives in the past
two years. Since 2019, the Ministry of
Health has been engaged in developing air medical services as part of the
Healthcare national project. 10 out of
11 Far Eastern regions are involved.
In the first seven months of 2019,762 flights were made in Far Easternregions, evacuating 1,284 patients,
including 250 children, 109 of whomwere infants under the age of 1.
Perinatal care centres have been built
in two Far Eastern regions – the Republicof Sakha (Yakutia) and Sakhalin Region –as part of the national programme for thedevelopment of perinatal care centres.
The launch of perinatal care centres
improved the quality and availability ofhealth care for women and children in
high-risk groups.
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society_healthcare

Real virtuality:
Far Eastern
medicine
and advanced
technology
VIRTUAL REALITY AND BLOCKCHAIN MAY BECOME
THE MAIN WAYS TO SOLVE THE LACK OF ACCESSTO MEDICAL SERVICES IN THE FAR EASTERNFEDERAL DISTRICT.

A

ccording to the Russian
Public Opinion Research Centre, 1 in 3
inhabitants in the Russian Far East issatisfied with their access to medical
services, while 40% think that the region
has good infrastructure and hospital
equipment. Factors such as the hundredsof kilometres between populated areas,
the lack of modern hospitals, and thelack of specialist personnel have forced
Far Eastern authorities to use traditional
methods to widen access to medicine,such as building new hospitals andhigh-tech medical centres, as well as
unusual solutions, such as air ambulances,
specialist mobile clinics (via air andrailway), and advanced technology.
Solutions that, not too long ago, were thestuff of sci-fi novels.
68

TOOL 1:

Blockchain
Blockchain is technology which gives
each patient (and doctors) access to their
medical history and treatment at any
time. The local authorities have alreadydeveloped a project called ‘Creatinga unified digital circuit based on theunified state information system for thehealthcare sector’ that is, essentially,a virtual electronic medical history
that optimizes treatment and reduces
the appointment lengths. All medical
institutions will be connected to thiselectronic chart, including paramedical
stations. By 2024, all citizens of Russia will
be able to use the state portal to schedule

a doctor’s appointment, request a home
medical visit, enquire about compulsory
medical insurance and their insurancecompany, see what their doctor prescribed
them and when (as well as the cost ofprocedures), and put their name down fora check-up or medical examination.
Blockchain allows the patient tocollect and keep information about every
diagnosis, doctor’s visit, medical procedure,prescription, test result, and sample,
which can be accessed by a doctor locatedanywhere in the world, by the patient, and,if necessary, by a third party such as aninsurance company representative. Data
entered into the blockchain system cannot
be amended. A doctor who is recording
new information about the patient’s
medical history will not be able to delete

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PHOTOS: SERGII IAREMENKO / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, HALFPOINT / SHUTTERSTOCK, FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

by Irina Zhavoronkova

PHOTOS: SERGII IAREMENKO / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, HALFPOINT / SHUTTERSTOCK, FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSThe Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova (centre) and her
deputy Oleg Salagai (right) at the opening of the ‘Healthy Life’
Area with Alexander Stuglev, CEO of the Roscongress Foundationand project leader Anastasia Stolkova

patient information that is already in thesystem. Blockchain prevents people frommanipulating patients’ medical data with
the intent of obtaining positive healthassessments or fake sick notes. It also solves
the problem of writing out prescriptions.
This system has already been trialledin Estonia. In Russia, it may come up
against several problems, as noted inresearch carried out by the Higher Schoolof Economics. For example, people don’t
understand how blockchain works anddon’t trust the electronic patient chart – andfor good reason. If data isn’t well protected,
it can be hacked into and uploaded to theweb. Moreover, it’s worth considering thereluctance of medical professionals, who
often grudgingly make the leap to thedigital world, as well as the old computers inregional hospitals and clinics: paramedical
stations in rural areas may have nocomputers at all. And there’s another,purely technical, problem: those uploading
the data to the patient chart may be using
different computer software and combining
them doesn’t seem to be possible.
TOOL 2

Virtual reality

69+
Between 2012–2017, the life expectancy
in the Far East increased by over two years,
reaching 69 for the first time in history.
The mortality rate, on the other hand,decreased from 13.1 to 12.5 per 1,000 people
annually.

According to a forecast by the researchand consultancy firm IndustryARC, theglobal market for virtual technology andaugmented reality in the healthcare sector
will reach USD 2.54 billion by 2020.
At present, this tool is actively being
used in the medical profession. First, it
is used in education (e.g. broadcasting
operations online, presenting clinicalfindings in real time, creating simulations
for students and surgeons, etc.). Second, it

is used for treatment purposes, such as forpsychological disorders, disorders of thenervous system, and psychotherapy.
For example, doctors at the Royal
London Hospital removed a cancerous
growth while simultaneously streaming
the entire procedure on the Web using
augmented reality glasses, Google Glass,worn by the surgeon. The procedure waswatched by 13,000 students (almost inreal time, there was a time lag of just a few
minutes). They had a unique opportunity

THE ESTONIAN EXPERIENCE
Estonia has a functioning blockchain
system in which you can see a patient’s
medical history in real time. This blockchain
technology is called Guardtime and medical
information is safeguarded by the eHealthFoundation.
With the aid of this platform, doctors haveprompt access to their patients’ medical
data. A major advantage of this project is thepotential to promptly react to emergencies:
the doctor can see the patient’s entire
medical history and also has access to test
results and X-rays. Information is collectedfrom different healthcare providers, thus
creating a unified medical chart for eachpatient. The data cannot be forged by anorganization or by patients themselves.

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to ask questions, which the surgeon could
then see on a peripheral screen and wasable to answer verbally.
Another way of using virtual reality
is during the course of treatment itself,
primarily to improve patients’ qualityof life. One of these projects – which
involves treating patients after a brain
haemorrhage – was presented to theinternational market last year by a
subsidiary of the Russian state corporation
Rostec. Their neuro-simulator ReviVR
was created for hospitals and clinics
and uses virtual reality technology torehabilitate patients that had sufferedbrain haemorrhages. Patients wear virtual
reality glasses to virtually orient themin an upright position, along with an airpressure gauge to simulate the process ofwalking, helping repair part of the neurallinks damaged by the haemorrhage. This
simulator costs around RUB 1.5 million.
Moreover, doctors at the Chalmers
University of Technology in Sweden wereable to link a patient up to an amputatedarm with sensors, which captured muscle
signals, transmitted them to a monitor andallowed the patient to ‘move’ the absent
arm by wearing 3D glasses. The study
confirmed that the patient was even able
to drive a virtual vehicle.
Blockchain prostheses are being madein Russia as well. The most significantof these have been created by two startups: Motorika and MaxBionic. In 2017,
Motorika showcased its first bionicprosthesis, called Stradivari, and there are
already real patients: children with similar
artificial limbs.
70

TOOL 3

Telemedicine
Telemedicine has been successfully
undergoing development in Russia
for years. On 1 January 2018, a law ontelemedicine entered into force in Russia,
aimed at providing patients with remote
medical treatment upon diagnosis andelectronic prescriptions. BBC Researchvalued the world telemedicine market
at USD 44 billion by 2019. According toexperts, the potential of the Russian market
will soon exceed RUB 18 billion annually.
According to data obtained by theAmerican Telemedicine Association, thenumber of ambulance patients decreased
by 80% between 2008 and 2016. The
number of beds occupied and in-patientsfell by 19% and 25%, respectively.
The reason for this is not only thatappointments have moved online, but also
because of the possibility of tracking apatient’s condition remotely.
Russia is already seeing the effects
of introducing telemedicine. Last year,
Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova
said that using telemedicine to planroutes for ambulances and criticalcare vehicles reduced the wait time forpatients to 20 minutes in 90% of cases.
Moreover, Skvortsova stressed that theseresults were seen not just in Moscow, but
in Siberia and the Far East as well (source:
https://tass.ru/obschestvo/4877691)
Russia’s own telemedicine projects
include Yandex.Health and Sberbank’s
DocDoc. Mobile phone providers have

WHAT ABOUT GREENLAND?
Greenland – one of the least accessible
islands on the planet – has a populationof around 60,000 people, the majority ofwhom are indigenous northern peoples.
All medical services, including medicines,
are available free of charge. Greenland
is divided into five ‘health regions.’ Thereis a small hospital or clinic in each region
with 4–5 doctors. The main hospital –Queen Ingrid’s Hospital – is located in
Nuuk, where general practitioners andspecialists can treat the most common
diseases. When local doctors are unable
to diagnose or treat patients, they send
them to continental Denmark. In somecases, the evaluation is done with the aidof telemedicine.

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ФОТОГРАФИИ: YURI SMITYUK / TASS, VADIM NEFEDOFF / SHUTTERSTOCK, FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

Two high-energy linear accelerators wererecently installed at the Primorye Territory
cancer screening centre

already launched telemedicine-based
services. The fiercest competition is
primarily among service aggregators,
who offer a basic service allowing you
to ‘video stream and chat with doctors
from various clinics.’ However, contrary
to hopes and expectations, telemedicine
is still mainly used in Moscow and
St. Petersburg, rather than in remoteregions. Experts think that one of themain barriers to development in thisarea is patient conservatism and thereluctance of regional doctors to offer
remote appointments due to concerns
surrounding legal liability. This is why
issues related to the integration of newtechnologies in the Russian Far Eastern
healthcare system will be discussed at
the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF 2019)
on 4–6 September 2019. Furthermore,
there will be an exhibition at EEF 2019
showcasing new healthcare projects.

partners to announce an industry-specificcompetition at the upcoming Forum.
The results of all of the discussions heldin the healthcare track throughout theyear will be presented in February 2020 at
the Healthy Life Forum. Special attention
will be paid to the problems facing the Far
Eastern and Arctic regions.

Anastasia Stolkova,

ФОТОГРАФИИ: YURI SMITYUK / TASS, VADIM NEFEDOFF / SHUTTERSTOCK, FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSFIRST DEPUTY DIRECTORFOR DEVELOPMENT,ROSCONGRESS FOUNDATION

What is Healthy Life’s goal at EEF?
Healthy Life is one of the Roscongress
Foundation’s key projects. To date,activities related to the Healthy Life
project have been included in the businessagenda of all the Foundation’s major
forums. The goal is to contribute to thedevelopment of practical solutions toimprove the quality and length of the
population’s healthy life expectancy.
The Far Eastern Region is unique
because of the size of its constituent
territories, low population density,
challenging climate, the need to build
mobile medical clinics and rural health posts
and develop a medical air service. All thisjustifies the creation of a separate block in
the Forum programme titled ‘New Solutions
for Improving Quality of Life.’
Discussions will focus on providing
medical care in remote areas andintroducing new technologies inhealthcare, biological safety, and publichealth programmes in the Far East. The
Healthy Life project opens up brandnew opportunities for participants in the
medical and social sectors. Representatives
from every community can have their
voices heard and receive support in
implementing their goals.
Particular attention will be paid tothe development of corporate healthcare
programmes in Russia. We expect our

Do you have any surprises planned
for the site? New technologies, newdevelopments...
This is the first time that the ‘HealthyLife’ Area will be present at the Eastern
Economic Forum. It aims to becomea place that brings together leading
representatives of the medical and scientificcommunities. EEF participants will be able
to undergo DNA testing, visit a healthy
diet bar and business networking area,
and get diagnosed at the ‘Smart Express
Clinic.’ The ‘Telemed-Express’ innovativemini-clinic network project is of particularsocial significance: new technologies makeit possible for patients in the Far Easternregion region to access the best in medicalcare at their convenience with the use ofvirtual reality and telemedicine tools. This

digital clinical model is a completely new
type of primary healthcare that improves
medical and economic efficiency inkeeping with the principle of 20:80 (80% of
the result for 20% of the cost). This is fully
consistent with the objectives of the federal‘Development of a Primary Healthcare
System’ Project, which is part of the
National Healthcare Project.
An important ‘Healthy Life’ Area event
will be the signing of a cooperationagreement between the National
Medical Research Radiological Centerof the Ministry of Health of the RussianFederation and Medical Tourism Japan
Co., Ltd. It concerns the creation of thefirst clinical centre for the treatmentof cancer patients with carbon ion
radiotherapy in Russia. At present,
there isn’t a single clinical centre for ion
therapy in our country, although thistype of treatment is developing rapidly
in other parts of the world. The creationof a modern centre for ion therapy at the
National Medical Research RadiologicalCenter will guarantee the fastest possible
introduction of all available options into
clinical operation and their proper use.

The ‘Healthy Life’ project, launched in February 2019 with eponymous Forum held inSochi, has become an integral part of the Roscongress Foundation’s key events. Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova inaugurated the project’s presentation area at
SPIEF 2019

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© GABINETTO FOTOGRAFICO DELLE GALLERIE DEGLI UFFIZI

at EEF 2019

lifestyle_art

WITH THE SUPPORT OF
72

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PJSC Sberbank. General license of Bank of Russia for banking operations № 1481 as of 11.08.2015

19.08.2019 13:26

THE PRESENTATION OF SANDRO BOTTICELLI’S PAINTING ‘MADONNADELLA LOGGIA’ IS SET TO FEATURE AS THE HEADLINE CULTURAL EVENTOF THE EASTERN ECONOMIC FORUM 2019 (EEF 2019). THE MASTERPIECEIS USUALLY HELD AT THE UFFIZI GALLERY IN FLORENCE, ITALY, BUT THE
ITALIAN EMBASSY IN MOSCOW HAS BROUGHT THE WORK TO RUSSIA
WITH THE SUPPORT OF SBERBANK.

T

Portrait of a Young
Man (oil on wood,
53.5 х 33 cm)

he Renaissance artist’s work isdoing a Far-Eastern ‘tour’ of Russia thanks
to Italy’s participation in the 5th Eastern
Economic Forum. High-level delegateswill come to Vladivostok, including
representatives of major Italian firms in
Russia. For the first time, the inhabitantsof Primorye Territory will have the chance
to appreciate the artistic value of thepainting up close.
Sandro Botticelli was born in 1445 in
Florence and died there in 1510. His real

HERMAN GREF,
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND
CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE
BOARD OF SBERBANKFor Sberbank, it is a great honour toassist in strengthening and expanding
Russian and Italian cultural ties and act
as a fully-fledged partner of the Sandro
Botticelli exhibition at the Primorye StateArt Gallery and the State Hermitage. The© GABINETTO FOTOGRAFICO DELLE GALLERIE DEGLI UFFIZI

canvas exhibition, which is being brought
to Russia for the first time, will undoubtedly
be a highlight of the cultural programmeof two upcoming events: the 5th Eastern
Economic Forum and the St. Petersburg
International Cultural Forum.
I am convinced that the Sandro Botticelli
exhibition will facilitate further cultural
exchange between our countries andattract more regions of Russia. For its part,
Sberbank will continue to uphold the longstanding tradition of supporting charity
projects to promote art

name was Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni
Filipepi, but he was given the nickname
Botticelli (little barrel) when he was achild. Art historians place Botticelli’s
work as part of the High Renaissanceperiod. He was a senior contemporary ofMichelangelo and Rafael, having studied
under Fra Filippo Lippi and Verrocchio,
where young Sandro worked in the samestudio as young Leonardo.
Botticelli is famous mainly for his
iconic compositions ‘The Birth of Venus’and ‘Primavera’. He is also acclaimed
as a master of portraits and depictionsof Madonna and child. It is one of thosepaintings will be brought to Russia.
‘Madonna della Loggia’ (Madonna
and Child) was painted with tempera(on wooden board, 72 x 50 cm) andis dated around 1467. It was painted
during the artist’s early years while hewas studying under Fra Filippo Lippi.
However, the work shows the artistic
principles and techniques that would
go on to give Botticelli the status of agreat artist. The child is standing on his
mother’s lap, pressing his cheek and eye
to her face, as they embrace each othertenderly. The scene takes place within a
Renaissance-style loggia, which the work
was named after. In the background –through the arch – you can see mountains
and a road which leads off into the horizon:
this is characteristic of the ‘window onto
the world’ trend in Renaissance paintings.
The scene itself, with the depiction ofa standing child, was a new phenomenon
in Italian art of the late fifteenth century.
Just at 22, the artist had a particularly

HOW MUCH DO BOTTICELLIPAINTINGS COST?
Botticelli’s works are extremely rare on the
global antique market. Over the past 30 years,
the antique site ArtPrice has recorded 28 auction sales of his works.
The most expensive painting to be sold was‘The Rockefeller Madonna’ from John D. Rockefeller’s collection. ‘Madonna and Child with
Young Saint John the Baptist’ was sold in 2013
for USD 10.5 million.
The latest sale took place at the beginning ofJuly during an auction at the Schuler Auction
House in Zurich. The work is called ‘Portrait ofa Young Man’ (oil on wooden board, 53.5 x 33cm) and bears the description: ‘Presumably by
Sandro Botticelli (Botticelli workshop); 1445–
1510’. Provisionally, the portrait was valued at
between 5–7 thousand Swiss francs. The saleprice, however, was 1,000 times more than theoriginal estimate, selling for a whopping 6.4 million Swiss francs (USD 6.36 million)

melodic style of depicting people, which
would become his hallmark.
Botticelli’s painting will be exhibitedin the Sberbank pavilion at the Forum,
after which it will be sent to the Primorye
State Art Gallery and then to the State
Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg inNovember.
A catalogue of articles written bymajor art historians from Italy and Russia
will be prepared ahead of the exhibition,
providing readers with a detailed
description of Italian Renaissance art,
particularly the works of Botticelli himself.
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Social initiatives
are on the agenda
THE INNOSOCIUM FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT WAS CREATED AS PARTOF THE ROSCONGRESS FOUNDATION SOCIAL PLATFORM IN SPRING OF THIS YEAR TO PROVIDE SYSTEMIC,
MULTIDIMENSIONAL SUPPORT IN ADDRESSING RUSSIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES AND
TO CREATE A BRIDGE BETWEEN NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND THE BUSINESS SECTOR74

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PHOTOS: IMAGEFLOW / SHUTTERSTOCK, PHOTOBANK ROSKONGRESS

society_social platformtion of social innovations is only possible
as part of a multilateral dialogue between
representatives of the government, business circles, non-profit organizations, andother social institutions. The Innosocium
Foundation is actively supporting and developing these efforts. The main objectivesof the collaboration between the Ministry and the Foundation is creating social
elevators for talented young people andsupporting the implementation of sociallymeaningful innovative projects.

Mikhail Kotyukov,

PHOTOS: IMAGEFLOW / SHUTTERSTOCK, PHOTOBANK ROSKONGRESS

Minister of Scienceand Higher Educationof the Russian Federation

The Innosocium National Social Projects
Contest, implemented with the supportof the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education of the Russian Federation, is awonderful tradition that has given birth
to a number of interesting joint projects.
The contest highlights topical issues: thedevelopment of an inclusive society andsocial responsibility and the preservationof cultural values. We think it is important to support this new initiative, giventhat it involves the youth, facilitates thedevelopment of leadership and independent project planning skills, fosters social
responsibility, and allows participants toshare their experiences. The first winners
have already had the chance to present
their projects at SPIEF 2019, which is a
big deal for their careers. It’s important
to expand the use of these approaches andimplement them on a massive scale togive a good head start to as many young
people from as large a variety of Russian
regions as possible.
The development of an effective social
ecosystem in Russia and the implementa-

Galina Karelova,

Deputy Chairman of the Federation
Council of the Federal Assemblyof the Russian Federation
Cooperation between the Council of theEurasian Women’s Forum of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of theRussian Federation and the Innosocium
Foundation to develop women’s agenda isfocused on increasing the role of womenin the socio-economic development of thecountry and strengthening international
cooperation. We have a shared understanding of the key priorities and, most importantly, a willingness to work together tomore actively involve women leaders ineconomic and social processes.

We think it is important to support this new
initiative, given that it involves the youth,
facilitates the development of leadership andindependent project planning skills, fosters
social responsibility

The new role of women in strengthening peace and security and addressing
important socio-economic and humanitarian issues has become evident notably
in response to the modern challenges ofthe 21st century. As such, the creation ofa project to develop the women’s agenda in Eurasia is especially relevant. As
part of the Building Trust programme,
we developed and launched the Eurasian
Women’s Forum visiting reception, which
successfully debuted at the SPIEF 2019sidelines. Moreover, in the interest ofadvancing the global agenda, we support the participation of Russian women
representatives in key international eventsand forums. Deputy CEO of the Roscongress Foundation, Director of the Innosocium Foundation, and member of the
EWF Council Elena Marinina and Agency
for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) Corporate
Director Elena Myakotnikova took part inW20 and Women’s Forum Kyoto in Japan.
The two events resulted in the signing of adocument that was presented to JapanesePrime Minister Shinzō Abe for inclusionin the G20 Summit agenda.
I am certain that consolidation ofefforts of the Eurasian Women’s Forumand the Innosocium Foundation will
facilitate women’s effective involvement
in implementation of socially important
initiatives and development of international cooperation.

Svetlana Chupsheva,
Chief Executive Officer of the Agency
for Strategic Initiatives
Joining the Innosocium Foundation
Board of Trustees was a logical extenEEF 2019074-079_SocialPlatform_en.indd 75

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society_social platform

Elena Marinina,

Roscongress Foundation Deputy
CEO and Director of the Innosocium
Foundation
The Foundation’s priorities are integrating the social agenda into the Roscongress
Foundation’s major forums and promoting this theme among young people.
At major forums, we develop the social
76

At major forums, we develop the social agenda
by way of business programme sessions,exhibition activity, and expert discussions
at the Building Trust Area’s communication
platform
agenda by way of business programmesessions, exhibition activity, and expert
discussions at the Building Trust Area’s
communication platform. Our other major
project is the Innosocium National Social
Projects Contest. In the new season, we
will launch an updated educational format
for student meetings called Lektorium,
also with a regional focus.
The Innosocium Foundation actively
supports other initiatives, such as the development of women’s leadership, youth
entrepreneurship, education, and theimplementation of social, philanthropic,
and cultural projects. At SPIEF 2019, we
signed eight new cooperation agreements and have already begun charting aroadmap for joint projects with our partners. Due to the new business networking formats, partners’ interest for our
events and activities has increased, which
serves for us as an additional incentive tofurther develop all Innosocium Foundation’s areas of focus.

This year aninterforum initiativeby the Innosocium
Foundation and theRussian Donors Forumwas born: a foresightsession where 50
leading experts,
leaders of modern
philanthropy

Ilya Chukalin,

CEO of the Presidential Grants
Foundation
At SPIEF 2018, we presented eight social
projects that were awarded presidential
grants; and at SPIEF 2019, we presented
18 such projects. Thanks to cooperation
between the Presidential Grants Foundation and the Innosocium Foundation,
Russian non-profit organizations’ socialand cultural initiatives have made it onto
the agenda of the country’s key economic
forums. Representatives of non-profit organizations rarely have the opportunity totalk with leading businessmen and government officials. Such events give them theopportunity to build useful contacts andgain knowledge.
As part of our further cooperation, theInnosocium Foundation has taken ten
projects under its wing; it will help themto promote and establish connections withpotential business partners. We plan not
only to sign a cooperation agreement at
EEF 2019, but also to grant the Building
Trust Area’s Zero Day to representativesof non-profit organizations. There are
currently almost 230 social and cultural

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PHOTOS: RAMIL SITDIKOV / RIA NOVOSTI, PHOTOBANK ROSKONGRESS

sion of our cooperation. At SPIEF 2019,
we signed an agreement related to thedevelopment of social projects and innovations, as well as women’s and youth
entrepreneurship and are already working in these areas together. We decided
to pay particular attention to the youth
movement, given that the youth are a
strategic resource for the continued development of the country at large. This
is why we think it is very important that,in addition to its forum activities, the Innosocium Foundation actively develops
its student-focused initiative – the Innosocium National Social Projects Contest,
which aims to focus the youth’s attention
on topical, socially significant issues andthe search for new communicative ideas
to address them.
Since its creation, the Innosocium
Foundation has been able to not only
create a stable platform for the supportof Roscongress Foundation social initiatives, but also to lay the foundation forthe creation of a social ecosystem aimed
at helping advance socially meaningfulprojects and develop a culture of social
inclusion in Russia.

projects being implemented in Far Easternregions that have received presidential
grants. Another approximately 270 suchprojects have been successfully completed.
At EEF 2019, the Presidential Grants Foundation will present initiatives that have
had a significant positive impact on life in
the FEFD. For six competitions, held by
the Presidential Grants Foundation, 3,045
projects were submitted by non-profit
organizations from the Far Eastern Federal
District. During five of those competitions(the results of the sixth will be released in
October 2019), 508 initiatives were supported with a total of RUB 798 million.

Aleksandra
Boldyreva,

There are currently
almost 230 socialand cultural projects
being implemented
in Far Eastern regionsthat have received
presidential grants
House in Davos. In the new contest season, the Innosocium Foundation established its own category ‘Inclusion throughthe Prism of Art’ for photo stories about
the development of an inclusive society.
The participation of the Russian Donors Forum experts in the Innosocium
contest gave us a clear understanding of
which social topics and technologies areinteresting for the youth. The philanthropic society should not only be proudof their achievements, but also be actively
preparing for future challenges. This year

an interforum initiative by the Innosocium Foundation and the Russian Donors
Forum was born: a foresight session where
50 leading experts, leaders of modern
philanthropy, were seeking for answers
to the question: how the philanthropy oftomorrow looks like.
Following the results of this work at
EEF 2019, we will organize a joint session
dedicated to the future of philanthropy
and the question of whether this future
will be technological, systemic, or informal? We plan to discuss trends that havealready been identified or are just visionaries’ predictions: the renewal and enrichment of professional philanthropy, sector
diversification, and digital transformation.
Currently, public organizations have started using blockchain and AI in their dayto-day work, which is extremely promising for development of the non-profit
organizations that will implement digitaltechnologies. However, this raises theissue of whether the philanthropic sector
will change to meet this new reality or if
it will take on the role of a driver of social
innovation and positive change?

The Innosocium foundation aids the development of women’s leadership.
Pictured: participants in the Visiting Reception of the Eurasian Women’s Forum at SPIEF 2019

PHOTOS: RAMIL SITDIKOV / RIA NOVOSTI, PHOTOBANK ROSKONGRESS

Executive Director of Russian
Donors ForumThe Russian Donors Forum is Russia’s
only association of foundations andcompanies that are consistently involvedin philanthropy. This is the second yearthat we have worked with the Innosocium Foundation, making sure that major
Roscongress Foundation forums feature
discussions on various aspects of philanthropy, including digitalization andinvolving new generations.
The topic of philanthropy is unique.
It can be discussed and presented fromcompletely different angles. For example,
our ‘Objective Charity’ photo exhibition
presented the most vivid photo stories
describing activities of foundations andcompanies. In 2018, this exhibition was
the central cultural event of the Russia
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society_social platform

In searchof a cognitive
surplus
THE FUTURE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
IN THE CONTEXT OF THE GLOBAL ETHICAL SYSTEMS CRISIS
MATERIAL PREPARED BY THE INNOSOCIUM FOUNDATION78

The collapse of ethicalsystems
The issue of ethical transformations due to
AI was brought to the table at the moment
when ethical systems from previous waves
were in the process of collapsing.
This also includes the traditional
ethical systems formed during the rise ofagrarian societies. The system of answers
to the meaning of life for a person whoselife ended around the age of 35–40 is notvery fitting for a person who will live an
average of 70–80 years and for whom
35–40 is a period of psychological andphysiological development and of painful
re-evaluation of one’s own path.
Previous answers to the question‘Why must I spend invaluable hoursof my life on one or the other type ofcollectively approved behaviour?’ arebecoming increasingly unsatisfying topeople across a variety of strata
and from very different societies
around the world.
What’s more, it’s not justthat old answers are out of date,change is happening at such a pacethat previous mechanisms for thetransmission of these answers is also
deteriorating. The system of passing
values, knowledge, and skills fromgeneration to generation is failing time
and time again, because, all too often, theexperiences being passed on lose theirvalue before there is a demand for them.
A simple example. The first iPhone waspresented in 2007. Over the next decade,smart phones radically transformed themodel of consumption, forcing wholeindustries to change – from taxis andretail to media and political campaigns.
In the next decade, technologies, fuelled

Previous answers to the question ‘Why must
I spend invaluable hours of my life on one or theother type of collectively approved behaviour?’are becoming increasingly unsatisfying
to people across a variety of strata and fromvery different societies around the world

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PHOTOS: WHITEMOCCA / SHUTTERSTOCK

Two significant events occurred last
spring. The first was the Boeing 773 MAX
8 plane crash in Ethiopia, shortly after
another plane of this model had crashedbecause of its automatic flight control
system. The second was that, by the end of
March, 1% of the population of the People’s
Republic of China, or 13.5 million people,
were included in the list of ‘untrustworthy
persons’ in the country’s national social
trust system.
These two very different situations areexamples of the growing use of artificial
intelligence (AI) in systems that makeethically important decisions. People’s
fates, even life or death moments, areincreasingly dependent on systems thatinvolve some elements of AI.
The further development of this trend
will require a fundamental transformationof our ethical systems. This is our primarychallenge. We are creating a society where
human ethics will be altered throughthe integration of AI into the process ofmaking crucial decisions.
In other words, each person willneed to get an explanation of whyvital decision-making by AI systems is
acceptable, beneficial, desirable, and, inthe long run, fair.
This is a horrible choice. And, ina certain sense, our technologicalcivilization no longer has any other option.

PHOTOS: WHITEMOCCA / SHUTTERSTOCK

in part by AI, will create even greaterchanges in the world.
The world has entered the concluding
stage of a grand transition, starting
essentially from the price revolution
and manifesting as three processes:
urbanization, industrialization, andglobalization. This short (historicallyspeaking) period may lead to the illusionof the existence of a social economic
optimum that can and should be
returned to.
Depending on their ideologicalpreferences, people either point to the
1970–1980s or 1990–2000s. Both groups
are wrong. It’s impossible to remain in atransition period or return to one.

Cognitive race
In 2017, researchers from Stanford
University (USA) organized anexperiment. A group of 30 volunteers
made decisions about the funding of 36
Kickstarter projects. Their goal was toguess which projects would and wouldn’t
be successfully funded. What’s more, thesepeople were competing against a special
algorithm.
The people lost. Their predictions
matched the real outcome 52.9% of thetime. The algorithm was able to predict
the outcome with an accuracy of 59.1%.
What is the most surprising thing about
the results of this experiment? It’s not
the victory of artificial intelligence. It’s
the fact that the cognitive surplus of thehuman mind, when guessing the future,
was only able to exceed a random 50/50
chance by 2.9%
Our civilization is built upon these‘three percent.’ Everything else is thelaw of large numbers: a vast number ofpeople and a colossal number of attempts,
hypotheses, and experiments, trials anderrors over the course of a vast number ofcenturies. Imagine now a civilization built
not on these ‘three percent’ of cognitive
surplus, but on nine percent. Clearly, thesocieties that will be the first to effectively
include AI in their management systems
will benefit from significant competitive
advantages and will be able to increase thespeed with which they develop.
The quantity and speed of transactions
performed and the quantity and speed ofdecisions made are constantly growing.
For example, the aforementioned Chinesesocial trust system has already blocked
the purchase of 20.5 million plane tickets
and 5.7 train tickets by ‘untrustworthy
citizens.’ Public transport, jurisprudence,
medicine – all these sectors are actively
working towards implementing AI-based
systems.
Does this mean that increasingly lessintelligent people will become dependent
on increasingly intelligent machines?
That’s the wrong question. In reality,
falling individual IQ scores is not a signthat people are becoming less intelligent.
The issue is that human reason has agroup element to it. Higher cognitive
function is excessively energy intensive(the brain consumes 20 to 40% of a body’senergy) and, looking at a species, it only
pays off in the presence of societies.
Humans with their cognitive surplusof ‘three percent’ are probably fairly
intelligent, rather than completely
reasonable. Essentially, formally speaking,a 15th or 18th century person can beconsidered less intelligent than a 20th
century person, but the Renaissance andEnlightenment are the products of our‘less intelligent’ predecessors.
The right question exists on acompletely different plane. We already live
in a world where saying that pilots control
airplanes is an arguable statement. Where
the question of keeping human pilots onboard is no longer a technical issue, but apassenger relations issue. A symbol of, inpart, how much airlines value the lives of
their clients.
In reality, the question is how can
we adapt our understanding of ethics
to reality, when an increasing numberof critical questions are answered by AI
systems? In other words, how can we avoid
losing our humanity in this new reality?
The full version of this text can be found in the
Analytics section of the roscongress.org website
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society_insurance

21st century
insurance
NEW TECHNOLOGY IS FORCING THE INSURANCESECTOR TO CHANGE. SERGEI ZAVGORODNY,
VICE PRESIDENT OF VSK INSURANCE HOUSE,TALKS ABOUT HOW WE CAN SEIZE THIS SURGEIN INNOVATION

A new reality

New solutions
Changing stereotypes about client
behaviour is a challenge for the insurance
sector, which has historically beenconservative. How should it cope withthe tide of change? The only option isto adapt. Technology should aid thetransition from evaluating risks based on
historical data to evaluating individual
risks in real time.
Companies have started to use Big
Data, analysing their clients’ driving
habits, health status and other factors to80

Another example is from the medical
insurance sector: the client’s personal
web office becomes a centralized medical
record which shows their history of
doctor’s appointments and prescriptions
and allows them to speak with the doctor
remotely thanks to telemedicine.

A new approach

establish individual tariffs with the helpof telematics. A topical example of futuretechnology is insurance based on car
sharing where the driver is insured only
during the trip or for the exact timeframein which the insurance is needed.
The process of settling insurance claims
has become easier. For example, VSK
actively settles claims remotely via the app.
You can forget about that compulsory visit
to the insurance office. Even now, a client
who has been involved in an accident canrecord what happened right at the site of
the road traffic accident using the VSK
Insurance app. The system determines theuser’s location and automatically sends itto the nearest service centre, after which
he or she will receive step-by-step updates
about the claim.

VSK has been actively developing its online
services since 2017. Rather than a fashion
statement, this was a decision taken on
the basis of client survey results. Clients
lacked the tools to receive a quick andconvenient response, that is, reassurance
that the situation was under control.
This is very important in insurance cases.
Now, without leaving the app, you can getpractically any policy: third-party liability
cover, fully comprehensive insurance with
online car inspection, housing insurance,
health insurance (telemedicine, treatment
abroad), personal accident cover, and thelist goes on.
The number of clients regularly using
these services has already exceeded
1.5 million. In December 2018, theVSK Insurance app was recognized asa service solution as part of the annual
Innovation Time awards, whose nominees
traditionally include Russia’s biggest
companies such as Sberbank, Aeroflot, andSamsung Electronics.

ILLUSTRATION: MAXICAM / SHUTTERSTOCK

Just a few years ago, the insurance
business was completely different. Now,
it’s undergoing a transformation rightbefore our eyes. And it’s not just down
to new technology: actual consumer
behaviour is changing, too. The digital
generation, which has become the mosteconomically active, is setting the tone.
That generation simply can’t imagine
life without gadgets and social networks.
They make big demands on the qualityof online service, the biggest being theavailability of a convenient mobile app
which enables you to select an insurance
product and receive a quote straight toyour mobile phone. Taking out a policy
and settling an insurance claim canonly be done online and without directcommunication with the insurer. It’s
already more than a service: it’s animportant way of promoting insurance
products.

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O U R

081_Schmutz-neighbours_en.indd 81

N E I G H B O U R S

INDIAN RECORD> 082“HANDSHAKES ARE NOTCUSTOMARY HERE”> 088

MOMIJIGARI, OR ADMIRING
MAPLE LEAVES> 092

PAPUAN PARADISEFOR MIKLOUHO-MACLAY> 096

The Russky Bridgein Vladivostok

19.08.2019 17:34

INDIANRECORD
by Alexei Bazbiev

INDIA IS A GUEST COUNTRY OF EEF 2019, AND PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI IS COMINGTO VLADIVOSTOK. IN ONLY SIX YEARS, RUSSIA AND INDIA’S MUTUAL INVESTMENT WILL HAVE EXCEEDED$30 BILLION, PRIMARILY DUE TO COOPERATION IN MILITARY INDUSTRY AND NUCLEAR ENERGY,
WHERE OUR TWO COUNTRIES HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ENGAGED IN NUMEROUS SHARED PROJECTS82

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PHOTOS: RICCARDO NICCOLI / STOCKTREK IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES

our neighbours_india

PHOTOS: RICCARDO NICCOLI / STOCKTREK IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES

Currently, there is no doubt that by theend of this year, India will once again
take first place on the list of Russia’s
largest arms buyers. According to Deputy
Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC)
Vladimir Drozhzhov, Russia currently has
a large portfolio of orders for the deliveryof Russian military hardware to India –approximately worth USD 14 billion. And
that is only counting existing contracts,
where the advance has been paid ortask-specific work has begun. There isalso a large number of prospective bilateral agreements in the defence sector,
including intergovernmental agreements,
with a total estimated worth of at least
USD 5.75 billion. Indian authorities havealready reserved the necessary funds intheir defence budget, which means that

In its military hardware cooperation with India,
Russia was one of the very first countries in
the world to transition from a traditional trade
paradigm to an industrial-technological model
the corresponding contracts should besigned in the near future. Consequently,
the total worth of all Indian orders ofRussian military hardware is closing in
on USD 20 billion. This is one of the mostpositive figures throughout the entire
history of military hardware cooperation
between the two countries. It is only
surpassed by 2015, when India orderedalmost USD 26 billion worth of Russian
military hardware.

By the end of 2019, India will top the list ofpurchasers of Russian weaponry, with the total
amount of orders approaching USD 20 billion

Triumph of the industrial
paradigm
Such success on the part of Russian arms
manufacturers is fairly easy to explain. In
its military hardware cooperation with India, Russia was one of the very first countries in the world to transition from a traditional trade paradigm to an industrial-technological model. In other words,
Russia was not just selling ready-to-use
hardware, but also sharing technology for
its production, organising joint manufacturing ventures, and even arranging forjoint R&D. That is how, almost 20 years
ago, BrahMos Aerospace JV came into existence. The joint venture (JV) develops
and manufactures supersonic cruise missiles that can be ground-, air- or shiplaunched. The JV was established by NPO
Mashinostroyeniya and India’s Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). What is more, India has control of the JV as majority partner, while theRussian ended up owning just 49.5% of theshares. It is no secret that the JV’s engineers based some of the BrahMos missiles’
key technological solutions on the Russian
P-800 anti-ship cruise missile (also known
as Oniks). Russian specialists were responsible for developing the propulsion systemand target seeker, while Indian specialists,having received Russian know-how, polished off the control system and developed
new software. In the meantime, the missiles’ range was increased from 290 km toover 400 km. Also of note is the fact thatthe air-launched BrahMos-A missiles were
notably lighter than their land-launchedcounterparts. Their starting weight is
now just under 2.5 tonnes, and they reach
Mach 2.8 (3,430 km/h) during their terminal flight phase. About seven years ago,
BrahMos Aerospace received a USD 930
million contract from the Indian Ministry of Defence for the manufacture of 200
missiles. The land-based weapon comEEF 2019082-086_India_en.indd 83

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our neighbours_india

The Largest Existing and Prospective Contracts
for Indian Purchases of Russian Arms
S-400 ADMS

11356 TALWAR-CLASS

IGLA-S MANPADS Delivery of 5 regimental (10 artillery battalion)

 Transfer of licenses and technologies

 Delivery and Indian licensed production ofsets of S-400 air-defence missile systems

to and cooperation in building two

 USD 5.43 billion

Project 11356 Talwar-class frigates at Goa

 Existing contract

Shipyard
 USD 0.5 billion

5175 Igla-S man-portable air defence systems(MANPADS) USD 1.5 billion
 Tender won, pre-contract agreement

PROJECT 971 (CHAKRA III)

T-90MS

SU-30MKI Upgrade and long-term lease of Project 971

 Delivery of 464 T-90MS tanks

 Delivery of 18 Su-30MKI fighter aircraft kits

(Chakra III) nuclear submarines from

 USD 1.93 billion

the Russian Navy Application approved by India’s Cabinet

Limited (HAL) USD 3.2 billion

Committee on Security, funds reserved;

 USD 1 billion

 Existing contract

pre-contract agreement

 Indian Ministry of Defence application received

for construction at Hindustan Aeronautics

by the Federal Service for Military-TechnicalCooperation (FSMTC); pre-contract agreement

11356 TALWAR-CLASS

KAB-1500L

KA-226

 Construction and delivery of two Project Delivery of 240 KAB-1500L precision guided

 Delivery of 40 Ka-226 helicopters and the11356 Talwar-class frigates built by Yantar
Shipyards

weapons USD 0.2 billion

 USD 1.12 billion

 Indian Ministry of Defence application

 Existing contract

approved; pre-contract agreement

84

construction of another 160 such helicopters
in India USD 0.5 billion
 Intergovernmental agreement

PHOTOS: ABACAPRESS.COM / EAST NEWS, AFP / EAST NEWS, VITALIY TIMKIV / RIA NOVOSTI, VITALY V. KUZMIN / VITALYKUZMIN.NET / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Existing contract

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PHOTOS: ABACAPRESS.COM / EAST NEWS, AFP / EAST NEWS, VITALIY TIMKIV / RIA NOVOSTI, VITALY V. KUZMIN / VITALYKUZMIN.NET / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

plex is already in the possession of several of the Indian Army’s missile brigades.
In May of this year, the Indian Air Force
conducted their second successful test fireof a BrahMos-A missile from a Su-30MKI
fighter aircraft, during which the missile
made a direct hit on a test range located on
the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
It has already been decided that 40 Su30MKI will be equipped with BrahMos-A
missiles. Work towards this end is alreadyunderway. “Our enterprises are at full capacity; the order book up to 2023 from theIndian Armed Forces alone is worth USD
6.5 billion,” said Alexander Maksichev,
BrahMos Aerospace Co-Director. However, it is now clear that the JV is about to receive a sharp uptick in orders – as soon as
it completes development of its new hypersonic missile, the BrahMos-II, which iscapable of reaching speeds of up to Mach
5. There is no doubt that this will occur inthe next five to six years. In its work on the
BrahMos-II, India is planning to use all of
the developments made by Russian engineers working on the Zircon hypersonicmissile, which has already had successful
test-launches. Despite that fact, Russia will
no longer be a direct technological donor
to the JV. According to Praveen Pathak,Chief General Manager (Market Promotion and Export), in this joint venture, approximately 60% of the cost of a missile
falls on Indian enterprises, with the other 40% going to Russian ones. Following
the creation of the BrahMos-II, the Indianshare will increase even further.
Moscow and New Delhi settled on using a similar model for the Indo-Russia Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) joint venture to manufacture AK-203 assault rifles
in the Amethi district of the state of Uttar Pradesh. The Indian Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) owns 50.5% of the sharesof this company, while Kalashnikov Groupand Rosoboronexport received 42% and7.5% of the shares, respectively. In March,
the new manufacturing facility was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi himself. “The AK-203 is the latest derivative of the legendary AK-47 rifle, which will be used by our armed forcesand give Amethi district a new identity,”
said the Indian leader. It is already known
that India plans to directly purchase ap-

proximately 50 thousand AK-203 rifles
and manufacture another approximately
695 thousand rifles at IRRPL, using Indianparts. This order is worth approximately
USD 550 million. “The production capacity of this new facility should be enough tocompletely equip the Indian armed forces,” says Alexander Mikheev, Rosoboronexport Director General. “Moreover, if necessary, the two parties can negotiate both an increase in production volume, and the release of prospective, improved models on the unique Kalashnikov
rifle platform.”
Lastly, yet another example of Russian-Indian industrial partnership is the
newly created joint venture for manufacturing Ka-226 light helicopters near Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra. Russian
Helicopters will supply India with thetools for creating the choppers, but at least
half of the parts will be manufactured inIndia. “This is the first high-tech project
implemented by the Indian government as
part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative,” said
Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov. Initially, the new JV is expected to manufacture
anywhere from 10 to 20 helicopters a year,
after which production will increase to atleast 35 aircraft a year. Indian authorities
have already ordered 200 Ka-226 helicopters worth a total of just under USD 500
million. “However, in the future, the programme may be expanded – the parties are
already considering the option of entering
third-country markets with the product,”
said Chemezov.

Launches on all fronts
Speaking of which, in addition to creating joint ventures, India has drasticallyTrade turnover between Russia
and India, USD billion
12
10
8
6
2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

After a brief drop, the trade turnover between Russia and India
has been growing for the past two years, USD billion

PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA
NARENDRA MODI:

We regard the Arctic
as another area where
we can collaborate
with Russia. We would
like to broaden our
cooperation with
Russian regions,especiallythe Far East.
increased its purchases of ready-to-use
military hardware from Russia. At theend of last year, the two countries signed
a number of large contracts, including anagreement to deliver five regimental setsof S-400 air-defence missile systems worth
USD 5.43 billion and two Talwar-classfrigates worth USD 1.2 billion. India will
construct another two such frigates using
Russian blueprints at its own shipyard in
Goa.
Last year, India signed a long-awaited agreement with Russia regarding thelong-term lease of Project 971 submarines
equipped with a special power unit. The
Indian Navy will refer to the submarine as
the Chakra III. This contract is worth over
USD 3 billion. But that is not all. Almost
immediately after the Indian-Pakistaniarmed conflict in the skies above Kashmir,
Indian authorities sent an official application to the FSMTC for the purchase of 18
Su-30 fighter aircraft kits for assembly at
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
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our neighbours_india

The Indian Air Force also expressed a desire to swiftly purchase 21 MiG-29 fighter aircrafts from the Russian Ministry of
Defence. Current estimates suggest thatthese aircraft will cost just under USD 2
billion. It is worth noting that approximately 50 MiG-29 aircrafts, or threesquadrons, are currently in operation in
the Indian Air Force. This new deal should
increase that number to four squadrons (inIndia, 18 aircraft make up one squadron).
When it comes to the Su-30, India currently has just under 250 such planes, or 13
fighting squadrons. After this new order,that number will increase to 14. This is offundamental importance. The thing is, India already has an enormous fighter deficitof over 250 aircraft. As a reminder, according to Indian Air Force plans, they must be
in possession of 42 fighter squadrons in order to lead a fight on two fronts. However,they currently only have 31. What is more,
14 of these squadrons are composed of outdated MiG-21, MiG-27, and Jaguar aircraft,which should all be written off by 2020.
As a result of improper maintenance anda lack of replacement parts, many of theseplanes have a hard time getting off theground and, if they are successful in doing
that, the flights often end in accidents. The
problem, however, is that there is practically nothing to replace them with. The
new Indian-made Tejas fighter aircraft did
not meet expectations, while the purchaseof 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France
ended up being prohibitively expensive,
costing almost USD 200 million per plane.
Additional Rafale purchases are unlikely.
So, India has to set its hopes primarily on
Russia. And not just in arms, but in areas
such as nuclear energy.

The ‘Clean Well’at triple power
One of the largest Russian-Indian investment projects is the constructionof the Kudankulam (‘Clean Well’) Nuclear Power Plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The NPP is powered with Russian VVER-1000 reactors.
The first reactor unit became operational in the summer of 2014; the second followed along in the fall of 2016. Kudankulam is already considered the most powerful NPP in India, producing almost
2,000 MW of electricity a year. However, in the next few years, the plant’s capacity is expected to at least triple. Fiveyears ago, Moscow and New Delhi signed
a contract for the construction of the second phase (third and fourth reactors) of
the NPP. This project is estimated to costa total of USD 6.4 billion, USD 3.4 billion of which is loaned by the Russian
party. Thanks to this deal, Russian companies had the opportunity to supply almost 85% of the necessary equipment for
the new plant and perform the most vital operations, excluding certain construction work. Indian industry also got
in on the action. “While the constructionof the first two reactor units was not at
all localised, India currently has the necessary capacities, so the second phasewill go somewhat differently,” said Ramayah Shanmuga Sundar, Directorof the Kudankulam NPP, “as before, Russia is manufacturing the reactor pressure
vessels and certain heavy machinery, but,for example, at least 30% of the work on
the design portion will be done by the Indian party. Moreover, India will produce
the compressors and electrical equipment

Indian exports to Russia

Russian exports to India,

USD billion

USD billion

3,5

8

3,0

7

2,5

6

2,0

5
2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

SOURCE: FEDERAL CUSTOMS SERVICE OF RUSSIA
Indian exports to Russia have practically returnedto the level reached five years ago, USD billion

86

Russia’s export of goods to India is
steadily approaching USD 8 billion

Additional Rafalepurchases are unlikely.
So, India has to set
its hopes primarily on
Russia. And not just inarms, but in areas suchas nuclear energy
for the second circuit.” The second phaseof construction has now entered a critical stage. Izhorskiye Zavody have alreadydelivered the third reactor pressure vessel
and its protection system to India; Atommash has delivered the first steam generators for the heat exchanger system, and
ELSIB has delivered four asynchronous
motors for the pump units. If the installation and testing of all the systems go successfully, the third reactor unit should
enter into operation in 2020, with thefourth following along in 2021. But thatis not all. As a reminder, two years ago,
Atomstroyexport and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) signed an agreement for the third
phase of construction at Kudankulam
NPP, during which fifth and sixth reactors should be constructed and launchedin 2024–2025, which will take the total
capacity of the plant to 6,000 MW. Justa few days ago, it was reported that Russia is extending USD 4.2 billion in credit over ten years for this project. Indianindustry’s share of participation will also
drastically increase. “We hope to work
more closely with Indian companies,”
said Atomstroyexport President Valery
Limarenko. “When it comes to the third
phase of the NPP, here (the Russian party is) talking about delivering the nuclear
island and the turbine island.” Whereas,
the construction and assembly, design,and production of some equipment will
be handled by India. Rosatom plans toconstruct a total of 12 reactor units withan individual capacity of 1,000 MW in
India. If these plans go successfully, it ishighly likely that the share of nuclear energy in India’s overall energy balance will
increase from 3.22% to at least 5%.

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VSK_en.indd 1

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our neighbours_business etiquette

Handshakes are
not customary here

PHOTOS: EAST NEWS, CARTOON RESOURCE, SATTAHIPBEACH / SHUTTERSTOCKInterview by Sergei Makarov

RUNNING A BUSINESS WITH EASTERN COUNTRIES IS NOT A STRAIGHTFORWARD TASK,MAINLY DUE TO DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL ETIQUETTE. GIVEN THAT, CONSTANT ATTEMPTS
TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS APPROPRIATE AND WHAT IS NOT GET IN THE WAY. WE SPOKETO GALINA MIKHAILOVA, THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE OF INTERNATIONAL PROTOCOLAND CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION AT THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ACADEMY
OF NATIONAL ECONOMY AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION88

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— I should’ve seen my osteopath
before this meeting

PHOTOS: EAST NEWS, CARTOON RESOURCE, SATTAHIPBEACH / SHUTTERSTOCKQUOD LICET IOVI,NON LICET BOVI
Understanding whether somethingis polite or not is not just dictated by
Eastern and Western conventions.
Differences in etiquette can be foundwithin a single civilization.

Is it relevant to talk about differences
between business etiquette in the East andWest in our modern world?
Of course. In the Western world, qualities
such as proactiveness, entrepreneurship,
and uniqueness are valued, but they are notpromoted in the Eastern cultures. The ideal
Japanese person is someone who respects
established rules and doesn’t show his or
her individuality. The differences between
East and West are no less significant thanthe differences between Eastern countries
themselves. Chinese business etiquettediffers from Japanese as much as French
etiquette. For example, Japanese people
are very sensitive to even the slightest
show of disagreement between business
partners during negotiations and react tothat negatively. In China, it’s different: if
you don’t raise your voice, you won’t secure
special terms and conditions.
Can you tell us about the peculiarities ofChinese etiquette in more detail?
Avoid potentially putting a Chinese person
in an awkward situation in front of others.
This rule also applies in Japan, so avoid
criticism and expressing disagreement,even when it concerns obvious errors.
Save everything that’s bothering you fora face-to-face, and if your partner is ahigh-ranking person, it would be good to
employ a mediator who can unpick thesubtleties of these missions. Hierarchyin Chinese society is very important, so I
don’t advise speaking to a subordinate if
their senior is present. In China, guests
are invited to speak first so that they canfind out the position of their partner (viceversa in Europe) so that they can do awaywith general chit chat. It’s not worth trying
to get any concrete commitments fromthem in the first round of negotiations.
They only make concessions at the very
end of negotiations, and even then, any
details will have to be confirmed by the
director of the company. Having said that,it’s not improbable that the next day, you
might find yourself discussing the same
options that you arrived at the previous day.
Chinese people are keen on responding
quickly to written requests and questions.
It’s preferable to do it as quickly as possible,
and if that’s not possible, then they will
write to find out when an answer may be
expected. Another important thing tomention is when European partners takepart in ceremonial events in China…
And there’s alcohol?
Obviously! The desire to forge
relationships over a glass of wine or shotof vodka only works against you if yourpartners are from the Far East. There
have been cases where failing to agree on

WHO SHAKES A HAND FIRST?
In civil etiquette, everything is basedon the fact that the woman rules andthe man serves. In a business setting,
who shakes whose hand first depends
on whoever has the higher status,or whoever is meeting a guest (hostterritory).
Hugging and kissing is not proper
business etiquette.

GILANA MIKHAILOVA, THE DIRECTOR OF
THE CENTRE OF INTERNATIONAL
PROTOCOL AND CROSS-CULTURALCOMMUNICATION AT THE RUSSIANPRESIDENTIAL ACADEMY OF NATIONALECONOMY AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION:

In the Westernworld, qualities suchas proactiveness,entrepreneurship,
and uniqueness arevalued, but they are
not promoted in the
Eastern cultures. The
ideal Japanese person issomeone who respects
established rules anddoesn’t show his or her
individuality.
the wine list while concluding a contract
has resulted in negotiations falling apart.
Chinese people aren’t Muslim, so theirattitude toward alcohol is very similar tothat of Russians. But you need to drink
skilfully with Chinese people: local vodka
isn’t the lightest of drinks.
Do they only drink vodka?
At dinner parties and receptions, you are
offered rice wine (Shaoxing), which you
are given to drink after a toast, during
which you should hold the glass in yourright hand and support it with the left. A
dinner is an important part of negotiations.
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our neighbours_business etiquetteTHE ‘LIFT RULE’
The lift in an office is not seen as a roomwith doors but as a means of transport.
This means that whoever is getting out firstshould stand at the front-right of the lift.
Letting someone stand in front of you in an
empty lift means exposing them to danger.

What kind of character traits, in youropinion, does a Western person haveto possess in order to run a successful
business in China?
Patience. You can’t establish any kind of
business in China quickly. Chinese people
are ultimately geared toward long-term
relationships, so it’s not worth rushingthem. You mustn’t shout or cause a sceneif, for example, the good that you orderedhasn’t arrived. Chinese people are highly
perceptive and know how to manipulate
or deceive people. In other words, when
maintaining business partnerships inChina, be ready for anything, don’t rush
concluding a contract, and most of all, getyourself an expert guide who understands
the local culture.
90

Such kind of expert would be useful inother countries too?
Definitely. Particularly in Japan and Arabcountries, where you have to study thesubtleties of communicating for years.
The devil is in the details. For example,
Japanese people, as well as Chinese
people, exchange business cards when
they meet, but whereas in China it’senough to simply have business cards onyou, in Japan, which pocket you take themout of is important (keeping businesscards in your pocket without a businesscard holder and, even worse, in the backTHE ‘DOOR OPENING RULE’
Firstly, the person leaving always takes
precedence over whoever is entering.
Secondly, in business etiquette, thefirst person through the door is always
the person closest to it (time economy),
unless you are letting your boss go beforeyou (ranking).

pocket of your trousers, is the height ofimpoliteness), how you reach to take one(always use two hands), the order of theexchange (strictly in order of seniority),
etc. Here they also value the businessdress code but, in contrast to the Chinese,they don’t take off their jackets nor loosen
their ties. Hand-shaking is not polite
there, nor is bowing politely (men’s bows
are different to women’s bows and peopleof different statuses also bow in differentways). You should call Japanese (andChinese) people by their surname, adding‘san’ (a suffix which acts as a display ofrespect to the person in question). They
are also extremely scrupulous towards
punctuality shown by their partner: it’spolite to arrive exactly five minutes before
the start of a meeting, no earlier or later.
If you start gesticulating with your hands
during negotiations with Chinese people,
they will immediately think that you are
uncivilised, as they see this behaviour
as a manifestation of stress. Bargaining
with the Chinese is appropriate and evenallowed, but not with Japanese, as they arelikely to accept the seller’s price. If you’ve
heard anything along the lines of “it’s a
bit problematic at the moment”, “I needto think about that”, then you can forget
about the project: they’ve dropped you.
Negotiating with the Japanese is always
long-winded because they will analyse
the tiniest details, even in one round ofnegotiations or over several meeting, to

PHOTOS: DRAGON IMAGES, HXDBZXY / SHUTTERSTOCK, MINT IMAGES / AFP / EAST NEWS, EAST NEWS

More often than not, business matters are
decided in restaurants rather than back at
the office. In Japan, the situation is a bit
more complicated: eye watering budgets are
spent on corporate outings to restaurants,
and the Japanese expect the same sort ofdedication from their Russian partners. As
for gifts, if it’s a corporate gift, you must
give it once a contract has been concluded
and not to a specific person but the firmin general. Don’t give a watch as a gift: in
Chinese, the word sounds similar to theword for ‘funeral’. It’s worth noting thatas China has a corruption problem, gifts
should be purely symbolic, particularly
when they are given to bureaucrats.

In Japan, the proper way
to present one’s business cardis with both hands

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iron out any differences of opinion within
their own group.

PHOTOS: DRAGON IMAGES, HXDBZXY / SHUTTERSTOCK, MINT IMAGES / AFP / EAST NEWS, EAST NEWSAnd how soon will people be willing to dobusiness with the Japanese?
You know, if you’ve worked your way up,
the Japanese will be the most devoted
partners in the years to come. Even if
you start experiencing difficulties, it’s
the Japanese who will give you a handand support you to the end, even if it’s
not providing them with any benefit. The
process of negotiating with Koreans isvery different to the Japanese tradition:
there are no cues or elusive answers. And
if you start negotiating with Indians, I
strongly advise that you study the caste
system, as well as the dress code, businesscards and respect the traditions, that are
still very much engrained in the culture:
the etiquette requirements will be similar
to those in Japan and South Korea. In
Hong Kong, I would advise that women
don’t dress in white or royal blue, reducetactile contact to zero, avoid winking
and don’t beckon with their finger as it’s
impolite. In Indonesia, you should neveroffer or take anything with your left hand,as in other Muslim countries. In Taiwan,
you should never touch anyone’s head.
However, in Arabic countries of the East,
there are just as many subtleties.
Is there anything that shocks foreigners
about Russian norms of behaviour?
Yes, there are things that surprise Easternand Western business people alike. For
example, there’s a poor understanding of
the hierarchy, dress code and punctuality,
not to mention the cues and lack of direct
answers, which is not completely removed
from what Russians call ‘saving face’.
There’s also our traditional hospitality,
which only the Chinese can truly match,and the specific taste of traditional
Russian dishes: dressed herring salad(literally: herring under a fur coat), Olivier
salad, borscht, vinaigrette, okroshka, etc.

THE BUSINESS MEETINGThe most respected place at the board
room table is to the right of the directorof the company, which differs from civil
etiquette in that the most respected
place to sit is next to the host – equally,a respected guest might even get thebest seat. In a business context, it is best
to sit down once the director is seated.

LABOR PRODUCTIVITY ANDEMPLOYMENT SUPPORTNATIONAL PROJECT

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our neighbours_japan

MOMIJIGARI,
OR ADMIRINGMAPLE
LEAVESby Marina Gevorkyan

HONSHU, THE LARGEST ISLAND IN THE JAPANESEARCHIPELAGO, OFFERS VISITORS A WIDE RANGEOF UNUSUAL ADVENTURES. ONE OF THE MOSTATTRACTIVE OPTIONS IS A TRIP

PHOTOS: DAVID MAREUIL / ANADOLU AGENCY / GETTY IMAGES, GETTY IMAGES, ANTHONY ASAEL / ART IN ALL OF US / CORBISFROM TOKYO TO KANAZAWA

Ginza, one of Tokyo’s main shopping districts
and the city’s cultural centre92

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PHOTOS: DAVID MAREUIL / ANADOLU AGENCY / GETTY IMAGES, GETTY IMAGES, ANTHONY ASAEL / ART IN ALL OF US / CORBIS

Travelling to Japan is like visiting an
alien planet. While, in the eighties, Soviet
visitors were primarily awed by neverbefore-seen technology, today, in myopinion, the most surprising thing is theJapanese way of life – thoroughly thought
out and regulated. The Japanese must feel
uncomfortable when they come into ourchaotic and imperfect world.
This country is so well organized that,even if you don’t have a lot of time tospare, you can easily experience a diverse
cross-section of Japanese life. We have six
days and our trip will take us from Tokyo
to Kanazawa. We’re supposed to cross theisland of Honshu from the Pacific Ocean
to the Sea of Japan in less than threehours on the high-speed Shinkansen
train. We will then take a car back toTokyo, driving through the JapaneseAlps. Our adventure will take us throughseveral prefectures, each of which has its
own unique appeal.
My trip starts, as that of most foreign
guests, in Tokyo. Much has been written
about this megapolis, but my first glimpseof the city still evoked joy and surprise(despite all the reading I had done).
Tokyo reminds me of a patchwork quilt,
whose individual pieces are so different
that you begin to wonder from time totime if you’ve accidentally stumbled intoa different city.
Visiting Ginza is a must – a district
full of fashionable stores and restaurants,
where you can watch people standing inline to get into the Chanel boutique. Even
more interesting is Omotesandō Avenue,
a shopping area where luxury brands
haven’t simply opened stores, they’ve

HOBBYLAND
Most Japanese have some sort of a hobby.
The number of aficionados of different
things far exceeds that in Russia. There
are thousands of clubs and special interest
groups in Japan, and nearly any hobby canbe practiced in every corner of the country.
Interestingly, the Japanese are extremely
conservative when it comes to hobbies andstick to the them for most of their lives. In
other words, hobby practicing is a kind ofsocial interaction.

A peaceful view of theautumn maples and the wild
vivacity of Takeshita Street

created architectural masterpieces: Tod’sbuilding is covered in concrete branches,
Dior’s is an icy parallelepiped, and Prada’s
is a mirrored polyhedron.
We turn off of Omotesandō Avenue
and end up on the famous Takeshita
Street, where crowds of anime-loving
Japanese youth are dressed in completely
theatrical costumes that come together tocreate a sort of silent street show that isextremely colourful and rather bizarre toa sober European’s eyes.
Continuing our adventure into theworld of Japanese animation, we headto Akihabara district. There you canfind dozens of shopping centres, full of
thousands of stores packed to the brimwith things related to the characters from
Miyazaki films and other cult animatedofferings.
You can spend a couple weeks getting
lost in Tokyo, but our path takes us further
to a less tourist-oriented part of Japan.
Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa
Prefecture, is a wondrous place. During
the Tokugawa Shogunate, this prefecture
was not far behind Tokyo in terms ofwealth. Interestingly, it was actually ricethat used to serve as a measure thereof.
In order to prove their peacefulness to
the Tokugawa shogun, local lords would
spend their funds on developing artsand crafts. To this day, Kanazawa is thecountry’s primary producer of gold leaf.
This modestly-sized city is also home
to one of Japan’s three most beautiful
gardens, which are harmonious andbeautiful even on a rainy day.
Kanazawa, much like Kyoto, is known
for their geishas. We visited one of theJAPANESE ATTITUDETOWARDS FOREIGNERS
The Japanese are fairly open andfriendly towards visitors. They will mostdefinitely help a foreigner in need, suchas one lost in the city. Yet, making friends
with them is a far more daunting task:
the Japanese preserve their private
space and their culture from a perceived‘alien invasion’.

houses where, to this day, these ‘peopleof art’ (that is the literal translation of theword geisha) entertain visitors with theirsongs and dances. This is a profession
without an age limit – the oldest woman
in the house is 80 years old.
In Kanazawa, we stay the night ina traditional Japanese ryokan inn. Here,guests customarily sleep on tatami mats
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our neighbours_japan

and visit Japanese onsen baths, which
are a type of open-air hot springs. Visits
to bath houses, much like everythingelse in Japan, has its own strict rules.
For example, people with tattoos are
not welcome at onsen, since, in Japan,
tattoos have an implied meaning and, asa rule, are only obtained by the yakuza
members.
It’s worth noting that ryokan are
not always comfortable, but they’re
harmoniously in sync with the location,
which is what matters most to me. Our
Hoshi Ryokan inn is 1,300 years old.
It is almost as if it has melded into thesurrounding landscape, resulting in a very
peaceful experience.
Later, we head through the Japanese
Alps to the village of Shirakawa, which
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Shirakawa is known for its unusualbuildings, with a metre-thick thatchedroofs. They need to be changed out
approximately once every 20 years,
and the whole village participates in
the renovation. Here, as it was in thepast, entire families (sometimes up to
30 people) live in one big house. This isalso a hot destination for young married
couples looking to take photographs infront of an idyllic mountain landscape.
In the picturesque city of Takayama,
which is filled with wooden, two-story
buildings from the Edo period, we firsthead over to the castle of the local feudal
lord. It is the only such building in Japanthat has withstood the test of time. It
paints a fairly clear picture of life andrelations between the social strata in 17th
century Japanese society.
Takayama is also well known for its
beautiful and grandiose parades featuring
karakuri puppets. The parades are held
twice a year (in April and in October).
In Takayama’s old town, we hada chance to sample the local cuisine,
which is known for its bountiful use ofvegetables and mountain herbs.
Actually, throughout our entire trip, ineach prefecture, we’ve been sampling the
local fare, from buckwheat soba noodles

A JOURNEY ACROSS HONSHU

Kanazawa

Shirakawa

Takayama

MatsumotoTokyo

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Kanazawa’s Kenroku-en park (Garden of theSix Sublimities) is one of the country’s most
famous gardens

and marbled Hida beef, to delicious
persimmons and apples.
From Takayama we headed to
Matsumoto. A highlight of the trip was theamazing Hoshino Resorts KAI Matsumoto
hotel. Consisting of just a few dozen
rooms, the hotel prides itself on providing
its lodgers with a comfortable and restful
stay. In the evening, we listen to a pianist
who, near the end of his performance,
plays a rendition of ‘Podmoskovniye
Vechera’ (Moscow Nights) and evengreets us in Russian, which was, of course,
unexpected and pleasant.
Throughout our eventful journey, we
have watched with delight as the leaves
of Japanese maple (kaede) change colour.
This period is also known as the sixth
season (in addition to the classic four
seasons, here they also recognize the

STRIVING FOR NOVELTY
Fashions and passions in the Japanesesociety change incredibly fast. The
Japanese are constantly on the lookout forsomething new and progressive – which,in turn, attracts major companies to thecountry. However, novelties do not last.
The people firmly believe that life is notgoing to wait around for anyone; thatthe drive to move on is development;that development means life.

ФОТОГРАФИИ: DDFLC PRINTS, B-HIDE THE SCENE / SHUTTERSTOCK, CORBIS, ALAMY / TASSPROVERBSREFLECT A NATION• When in trouble count on yourself.
• Where the strength is the power,
the law is powerless.
• A woman can walk through a rock if she sets
her mind to it.
• The three-year-old soul is the sameat a hundred.
• Watch out for the quiet ones.
• Bet on the money, never on a person.
• Those who drink, do not know the vices
of wine; those who do not – do not know
its benefits.
• Human appearances are deceitful.
• Treat any old man as you would your father.
• The poor one is the stupid one.

19.08.2019 13:26

ФОТОГРАФИИ: DDFLC PRINTS, B-HIDE THE SCENE / SHUTTERSTOCK, CORBIS, ALAMY / TASSIn traditional ryokan, guests sleep on futon
mattresses and sit on the tatami mats

Swans swimming around‘Crow Castle’ in Matsumoto

In this country full of volcanic
activity, hot springs are thepreferred alternative to saunas

rainy season – tsuyu). Even those people
that have never been in Japan have heardof the flowering of the sakura trees, theembodiment of the beginning of life;
yet, few people know about an equallyimportant event to the Japanese: theprocess, (yes, specifically the process)of viewing and enjoying the colourchange of the kaede red maple – known
as momijigari (‘red leaf hunting’). In theautumn, the maple leaves shift colour
through a variety of shades of red, fromorange to burgundy. Here, the Japaneseare also surprisingly logical: any life
comes to an end, but that end can also
be enjoyed. I could keep watching thoseleaves forever; the process smoothly andalmost imperceptibly submerges theviewer into a meditative state.
The wings
of passing birds singed
on the red maple leaves.
(Kagami Shikō, XVII century)

LIFE ON SCHEDULE
The Japanese lifestyle calls for orderand rigor, and the same is expectedfrom the visitors. You can never be late
to a meeting. If an event is coming up,
it is announced well ahead of time – at leasta week or two in advance – and RSVPing
is a must. Even if you simply want to
get together with friends, a date can(and should) be saved a month before.
And keep in mind, that changing the routeof a tour the receiving party has thoroughly
designed for you is just simply out of
the question!

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Between
man and ape
Why would young, talented European scientist Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, who hada background in zoology and medicine,go to Papua New Guinea? The answer was
exclusively for humanitarian aims: to showthat Papuans are not a developmental
intermediary between man and ape. At thetime, this theory was promoted by European colonizers who were actively involvedin the slave trade.
Having overcome the complex journey
which lasted ten months, Miklouho-Maclay with his two assistants – a Swedish
man named Wilson and a Polynesian boy
96

called Boi – stepped onto unfamiliar territory. His appearance was a real bombshell: having never seen a white man, thePapuans ran away in fear, mistaking him
for an evil spirit. He managed to persuade
just one of them to stay, a local inhabitant called Tui. He would become a friend
and trusted partner of the Man from theMoon, acting as his guide to the primitive world. Miklouho-Maclay avoided
the fate of Cook a number of times. It isthought that his exceptional strength ofcharacter, courage, kindness, and respect
for the Papuan traditions, along with his

unwillingness to meddle in their lives,
helped him to survive. Since then, the tale
has been passed from person to person
about how when Maclay found himself
surrounded by hundreds of fierce Papuans, he simply lay under a palm tree andfell asleep! Later, he would write in his
journal that it could have ended terribly,
but if they were going to kill him, what
difference did it make if he was standing
up, sitting down or asleep? The Papuans did not understand why Maclay was
not scared and decided that he must be
immortal.

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PHOTOS: EAST NEWS, MIKLOUHO-MACLAY FOUNDATION, WWW.MIKLUHO-MACLAY.RU

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PHOTOS: EAST NEWS, MIKLOUHO-MACLAY FOUNDATION, WWW.MIKLUHO-MACLAY.RU

His arrival caused a commotion as the natives,
who had never seen white people before,
ran in fear thinking he was an evil spirit

Over time, the much-feared savages and‘cannibals’ became his good friends. He
spent a total of 30 months in their company. He studied people, animals, customs,
languages – and, as he wrote in his journal,
he sincerely began to love these trusting
and good-natured people.
Miklouho-Maclay was an excellent
drawer. His legacy to the descendants isaround 700 drawings which he did in Papua New Guinea. The drawings provide a
detailed account of his life in that wonderful country. In particular, he was keen on
tattooing and scarification. He mastered
this unusual art to such an extent that heasked the local woman to give him a tattoo
on his left forearm when he was on theSouth-East of the island.
In subsequent trips to the island, thetraveller brought the natives some usefulthings – an axe, for example. Thus, thefirst meeting of the Stone Age and theIron Age took place in the North-East of
New Guinea.
In his studies, Miklouho-Maclay
proved the theory that Papuans were anintermediary species between apes andhumans completely wrong. He went togreat lengths to protect New Guinea fromcolonizers: he wrote to Alexander III,
requesting that the island inhabitants begiven the protection of the Russian Empire; discussed the possibility of Englandand Russia recognizing the independenceof Maclay Coast; and suggested setting up
a Russian settlement in New Guinea. Alas,his ideas were not destined to come true:
racked by various illnesses, he died at theage of 42 in St. Petersburg.

CUSTOMSAn interesting tradition has beenpreserved here involving initiating
boys into men. It takes place ina special house, where a boy
moves to prepare for marriage. It isa dedicated place which is protectedfrom women. Over the course of
one to three months, secret rituals
and special education are imparted.
When the boy becomes a man, his
parents arrange a big celebration for
the whole village.

In his studies,
Miklouho-Maclay
proved the theory that
Papuans were anintermediary species
between apes andhumans completely
wrong. He went togreat lengths toprotect New Guinea
from colonizers
Great-great-grandnephew,
namesake and follower“I was born on 20 September, the same
day my great-great-granduncle set footon the shore of an island in the gulf of Astrolabia,” says descendant and namesakeof the famous explorer Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay. “Of course, these signs of fateare not a coincidence. I had an in-built
personal connection to this far oceanicstate. But it just so happened that my journey to Papua New Guinea, which seemed
to be preordained since I was born, wasconstantly postponed. Now I understandwhy: I needed to mature before I could
go. Quite simply, it was never going to bean easy trip. The unique mission that mypredecessor made, his role in the historyof the Papuan tribes, linking generations,cultures and historic eras – all of thatput huge responsibility on my shoulders.
Finally, I stopped asking myself questions
like “why not?” and “when?”. I just did it.
The first expedition to Papua New
Guinea in modern history took place in2017. In September, of course. Nikolai
Miklouho-Maclay Junior’s associates wereIgor Chininov, a research fellow at the N.
N. Miklouho-Maclay Centre for Asian andPacific Studies at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, and Arina Lebedeva,
a researcher at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography(Kunstkamera) in St. Petersburg. The small
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“Tamo boro rus!”(“Big Russian man!”)“Malcay returnedand brought the rain!”they exclaimed.
Essentially, all the local
inhabitants weredescendants of thepeople who had
spoken directlywith my ancestor
98

group began their journey in Moscow on
10 September. St. Petersburg, Moscow, Abu
Dhabi, Sydney, Brisbane – having crossed
half the globe, they arrived at Port Moresby,
the capital of Papua New Guinea on 15 September. They then headed for Madang,
the region where Miklouho-Maclay had
conducted his research. The final destination was the place where the 25-year old
Miklouho-Maclay had completed his ninemonth voyage on the corvette called Vityaz(Knight). Previously, this beach was named
after Maclay by the first European to step
foot there but was later renamed Rai Coast.
Travelers got there on the Kalibobo yacht.
“We were surprised by how respectfully
they greeted us, and I saw the Russian flag
fluttering in the distance,” said Nikolai

CULTURE
Papua New Guinea has some uniquecultural events: the festivals of theGoroka show, Mount-Hagen show,
Morobe show and Madang show.
Representatives from hundreds ofdifferent tribes attend in national
costume, with original body paint andmusical instruments, showcasing theirculture, dance, music and customs toguests from all over the world. Tourists
sign up for these shows years in advance,
as it is practically the only opportunity to
see the culture of different regions of theisland in one place and in all its different
forms.

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PHOTOS: EAST NEWS, MIKLOUHO-MACLAY FOUNDATION, WWW.MIKLUHO-MACLAY.RU

our neighbours_expedition

Life in Papua New Guinea has barely changed
since the days of Miklouho-Maclay

PHOTOS: EAST NEWS, MIKLOUHO-MACLAY FOUNDATION, WWW.MIKLUHO-MACLAY.RU

WAY OF LIFE
As in previous times, the local inhabitantsof Maclay Coast are subsistence farmers.
They grow fruit and vegetables, hunting
birds and wild swine. They do not havedomestic animals here – as they trample
crops and pollute drinking water – withthe exception of chickens and dogs. The
latter, by the way, were previously used
as a source of food, but the Christian
missionaries put an end to that. The mainfood sources are yams, taro, cassava,
sweet potatoes, bananas and coconuts.
The papaya is a very popular fruit which
Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay brought tothe region at the end of the nineteenth
century. The sea bears rich gifts, such as
fish, crab and octopus.

Nikolayevich. “On the shore, about three
thousand people from the villages of Bongu,
Gumbu and Gorendu had gathered in theirmost celebratory attire. They sang anddanced, expressing their joy. “Tamo boro
rus!” (“Big Russian man!”) “Malcay returnedand brought the rain!” they exclaimed.
Essentially, all the local inhabitants weredescendants of the people who had spoken
directly with my ancestor. They remember
him with much fondness, passing on legends from generation to generation, which
originated at the time that the great Russian
explorer arrived there. In local villages,
there are boys’ names such as Nikolai and
Maclay. During our visit, people came up to
us countless times, pointing and exclaimingwith delight “Nikolai, Nikolai!”

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The independent state of Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern partof the main island of New Guinea and the Bismarck archipelago, thenorthern part of the Solomon Islands and over 600 smaller islands in the
Pacific Ocean. It has a total area of around 500,000 square kilometres
and a population of 7.3 million people, made up of Papuans, Melanesians
and Polynesians. It has a tropical climate and there are 867 languages
in Papua New Guinea. Local inhabitants say that there are 867 countries
in their country, as tribes previously lived in isolation and kept theirlanguages in their original form. Its lack of accessibility and roads has
meant that this country is one of the most untouched places on theplanet. In the nineteenth century, it was very dangerous for Europeans:
Miklouho-Maclay became the first white man to set foot on the northeastern part shores of New Guinea. Nowadays, in the twenty-first century,
Papua New Guinea is not favourable toward tourism according to datafrom the CIA, yet this exotic place welcomes hundreds of thousands ofvisitors from Europe, America, New Zealand and Australia, who are met
not with aggression, but good-natured New Guineans always ready tolend a helping hand. Those dangers are a thing of the past and would only
be found in the jungle by a naive traveller.

CANNIBALS
Cannibalism was one of the main
associations to emerge at the mention of
the state of Papua New Guinea. Cannibals
featured in horror stories of these parts,
both past and present. In 1961, in the
Asmat region, a group including MichaelRockefeller, a descendant of the richestand most influential US family and theson of Nelson Rockefeller, who was thenthe head of the state of New York andlater become Vice President of the UnitedStates, disappeared. A year later, journalist
Karl Hoffman retraced his steps andexplained that Rockefeller had actually
been killed and eaten by local cannibals.
Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay claims that Papua
New Guinea abandoned that practice longago. “Cannibalism here used to be a typeof ritual, but they do not do that now.”EEF 2019

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our neighbours_expedition

Since the time of Maclay Senior, Papua New
Guinea has barely changed. Granted, its
residents do not still think that white people
are apparitions. But in most areas, there ispractically no electricity and there are no
fridges or televisions. People do not have
passports or other types of identity documents. There is not much money around.
On that note, it is worth mentioningthat tourists often complain about local
residents asking for money, when actually, that is not the case at all. You simply
need to abide by the local traditions, oneof which is that you should give a gift. But
they won’t remain indebted to you. If you
gift a pig, you can receive a whole hut aswell as a local girl as a wife. As happened
with one of the members of Miklouho-Maclay’s expedition, they wanted him tomarry a Papuan girl as a sign of gratitude.
A swift exit allowed him to refuse the generous gift without too many problems.
“Upon leaving Papua New Guinea,
I knew that I would definitely return,”
recalls Nikolai Nikolayevich. And he did.
In May 2019, I went there again with a big
group. And it was not without its surprises: we visited a village called Miklouho-Maclay! It was named in 2017 after
our first expedition. The village elder is
77-year-old Asel Tui, who is a fifth-generation descendant of Tui, the first local inhabitant that Miklouho-Maclay met in thenineteenth century. It was really moving.
Nikolai Nikolayevich is sure of one
thing: as was the case for his predecessor,
his first two expeditions to Papua New
Guinea are only the beginning of a great
journey.
100

The Tamo Boro Rus, or “great manof Russia”, has returned and made it rain

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
The aim and mission of the MiklouhoMaclay Foundation is to facilitate mutually
beneficial cooperation between Russia
and Papua New Guinea. This year alone,
Russia is planning to open an office at
Port-Moresby in Madang; a delegationof young specialists from Papua New
Guinea are due to attend youth forumsin Russia; and business conferences

have been planned to develop bilateral
economic development between Russia
and Papua New Guinea. Ultimately, there
will be more and more new expeditions,the most ambitious of which will be a trip
from Russia (Kronstadt) to New Guinea(Maclay Coast) on a 60-foot-long sailingship, calling at ports along the way overa period of four months. It will take placein 2023.

PHOTOS: MIKLOUHO-MACLAY FOUNDATION, WWW.MIKLUHO-MACLAY.RU

PECULIARITIES
These parts have their own ‘drug’:a chewing mixture of betel nut. Its
ingredients are hazelnut nut, pepper
stalk, betel nut and a pinch of limestone
from corals or shells. During the chewing
process, this mixture becomes bright red
which colours the tongue and oral cavity.
In villages, it is traditionally a treat during
conversations and when welcoming
guests, just like tobacco is used. Womenalso consume the betel nut. In cities, it israrely used.

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L I F E S T Y L E

101_Schmutz-lifestyle_en.indd 101

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH
MONEY OR TOO MANY FRIENDS> 102

BY CAR, YACHT, AND HELICOPTER> 106

EXTREME FAR EAST> 112

THE HEALING TREASURE OF THE TAIGA> 116

TOWARDS FISHING SEASON> 122

The Russky Bridgein Vladivostok

19.08.2019 17:34

lifestyle_interview

There is no such thing
as too much moneyor too many friends
L E P SGRIGORY LEPS WILL PERFORM AT THE GALA RECEPTION ON BEHALF OF THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
OF THE EASTERN ECONOMIC FORUM. WE TALKED TO HIM ABOUT THE ROCK VERSION OF THE RUSSIANANTHEM, HIS DEBT FOR A 15TH CENTURY ICON, AND ABOUT BEING 57, WHICH TRANSLATES INTO SINGINGONLY WHEN YOU WANT TO AND NOT WHEN YOU HAVE TO
interview by Polina Surina, Irina Beiden

102

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PHOTOS: MUSCIAN’S ARCHIVE

G R I G O R YThis is not your first performance at
a Roscongress event. What songs get thebest response from business audiences?
Business people are just like everybody
else. Usually they enjoy what regularpeople in our country enjoy: Ya Schastlivy(I Am Happy), Samy Luchshy Den (TheBest Day), Ryumka Vodki (A Shot ofVodka).

PHOTOS: MUSCIAN’S ARCHIVE

If there’s a request for a song from theaudience, will you go for it?
I’d rather know in advance. There aresongs I don’t perform anymore, andI would need to refresh my memory.
Being a person who either delivers or just
won’t take the job, I need to be prepared.
I really hope I’ll be able to sing the Russiananthem, which I once did at Russia Day
celebrations. I made the arrangement
myself and recorded it. I believe it turned
out alright, and it’s my take on it. Melodywise, I stuck with the original and justcame up with a rock version. Two guys playthe drums: one is American, the other is
Ukrainian, which bears a certain symbolic
meaning.
How important is the quality of recording
and arrangement for you?
I am very particular about the sound.
Chris Lorde-Alge, a three-times Grammy
winning mix engineer, worked on anumber of my albums in Los Angeles.
We recorded the TyChegoTakoiSeryozny(WhyAreYouSoSerious) album with Soren
Andersen in Copenhagen. He’s Glenn
Hughes’ guitar player and sound engineer.
Well, this is pure rock music. Sometimes,
the sound for just one song out of 10 to 12
tracks on the album costs up to USD 20
thousand.
Many big-time performers – who areworth as much as myself and sing justas well as I do – are used to getting an
arrangement for USD 500. Meanwhile,
I don’t want to be embarrassed for my songs
ten years from now. When I listen to myold pieces, I realize that even now I wouldchange a thing or two. Something just
isn’t right with the voice or in the sound.
I always strive for perfection, but the sky is
the limit. You can keep splitting hairs forthe rest of your life and die without everfeeling satisfied.

I was honestly planning to retire,
which never happend for a numberof reasons. By my age, I was hoping
to have created a business thatwould generate a similar income, but
I am not all that business savvy
You once said you’d quit the stage at 55.
I thought that at this age nobody wouldfind me exciting. And it is partially true,
because we’ve got lots of young motivatedand super talented kids. In a certain
sense, with my super intense performanceschedule, I may be in their way: a toughyear means about 170 solo shows, an easierone – 120–130. Basically, it means I am
busy every day of the year. Sometimes
I get two or three weeks when I can getaway somewhere, but that’s rare. At times,
I even interrupt my vacation and fly backif I get a call from Channel One. I would
never say no to them. They helped mea lot, and being a decent person, I returnthe favour. However, I was honestly
planning to retire, which never happened
for a number of reasons. By that age,
I was hoping to have created a businessthat would generate a similar income, but
unfortunately, as it turns out, I am not allthat business savvy.
Are you personally involved in yourbusinesses?
Barely. My wife is in charge of thejewellery business, my glasses businessis run by my partner, and I have staff that
deals with the merchandizing.
What about the Khlebosolnoye Podvorye
brand of farm produce?
Out of this whole project only vodka
is marketable. We are promoting it
through events. We have professionals
sweating over an action plan, and I hopeto get it up and running in autumn. It isnever easy and it can’t be hurried. You
need to find the operation, fix things, put
a label on it, and then ensure a certain
quality level.

Looks like you are more of a creative type?
I am for now. But no hard feelings here.
While 57 is not bad, at this point I would
like to sing only when I want to and notwhen I have to. But I still have to do it
when I have to. Quite a few children in thefamily, and there will be more. Quite a few
things to run, and there will be more.
You also have a production centre.
I don’t have as many artists as I used to.
First, there’s, Aleksander Panayotov who
is a stellar performer and a wonderfulperson. I’m going to ask Channel One
to make him Russia’s contestant at
Eurovision. There’s a band called Cosmos
Girls. Four girls, including my eldest
daughter Eva: they are super young –between 15 and 18, but they sing well –that I can tell you. There’s another younglad – Alexandr Grechanik. He is striking
and talented. We’ll see what is in store forhim. I don’t have anybody else, and frankly
I don’t want anybody else.
It’s a risky enterprise with high costs:
it’s hard to guess whether the audience
will get to like a performer. A good voicedoesn’t necessarily mean you will end up
a big-time singer. There are people thatcan barely sing, but they are trending,and everyone knows them. Generally,
a pop singer’s image is comprised ofthree elements: voice, looks, and content.
The voice means range and tone colour,
recognizability: when you listen to a newsong and you know exactly who it is.
Viktor Drobysh said your success in music
was against all odds.
But why? I have but only one rule: you’ve
got to work. I am a man of the Caucasus
and a Christian and I believe that a man
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needs to put their nose to the grindstone.
And this is precisely what I do. You’ve got
to work and improve yourself. The older
I am, the harder it gets. I can’t cheat mybiological clock and sing as I used to 20
years ago. My body is growing old, myvocal cords are growing old, and I am not asstrong as I once was.
So, what’s next then?
On 7 May, I underwent vocal cord surgery
in Paris. They even had to put me under for
it. It was at the point where I had no choice.
On 8 July, I had another operation. A lot of
people take a year or two to recover, andI was already singing after several weeks.
I can control my voice, but it’s still not thelevel I would like to hear, so I’ll have to wait.
I might have to go for another surgery.

Where would you like to tour to combine
it with rest?
I would love to go to Japan to see
the country and maybe give a small
performance in a club. It doesn’t have
all that many Russians: 500 people issomething we may be able to pull off.
I had an idea for a tour: Tokyo, Malaysia,
Thailand, and Australia. I would go there
for three or four weeks and do just a few
shows. I may do it next year, and that will
be when I rest.
On a different note. You collectengravings. Tell us about the most special
pieces in your collection.
For one, I have an engraving that took
me a decade to find. It’s a panorama of
Moscow of the 17th century. The artist –his name was Dmitry Indeytsev – depicted
Moscow as he saw it from the Kremlin
walls as if it were a 3D image. It took104

me years to find a panorama of Rome by
Giuseppe Vasi, a 17th-century original.
Why were the icons from your collection
exhibited in the State Historical Museum?
It was driven by both the museum andme. I just wanted to show my collection topeople. You can’t invite everyone to yourhome. The museum took the icons for amonth but kept them for six – it reached
an audience. The exhibition included over
350 icons. The money it earned will be
used to restore the monument to Mininand Pozharsky. It’s not much – about halfa million roubles, but if it needs more, we’ll
add some.
What was your first icon?
The icon of Our Lady of Korsun.
It’s not authentic though: the board

is old, but it’s a later painting. Now
I am more of an expert, and I support
contemporary icon painters as well.
There’s an artist in Mstyora – Andrey
Grachyov, who has no apprentices
because it takes him two years to makean icon. It actually pays, but young
people don’t want to do it, which isa shame. I am now paying off my debt fora 15th-century icon of St. Nicholas thatthe Bolsheviks sold abroad during the
Revolution with a whole lot of religious
artefacts. First, it found a home in New
York, then in a tiny gallery in London.
Then the National Gallery in London
was going to purchase it. It took mea while to haggle, because the pricetag was enormous. I somehow ended
up persuading them I would pay it off
in portions.

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PHOTOS: EKATERINA CHESNOKOVA, KIRILL KALINNIKOV / RIA NOVOSTI

Do you enjoy singing?
Sure, if my cords do the job. If not, there’s
nothing to enjoy, but it’s my problem.
If you take the stage, make sure you
perform, or don’t do it at all. If I had twoor three months to rest, I would go to
Crimea, which is the perfect place for vocal
cords to recover: there, the mountain air
mixes with sea air. There are many hiking
trails – it’s good exercise for the heart andlungs. I would take a vocal coach with me
and leave my phone at home.

What are you going to do with yourcollection?
I don’t want to sell it – that would breakby heart. I have a friend who collects icons
as well, but he has five times as many andthey are way more valuable than mine.
He is going to build a museum that would
ensure proper storage conditions. Lightand temperature are crucial for iconpreservation. If the museum has enoughspace, I’ll put mine in there so that people
get a chance to see them. But I’ll keepthem until then. If the museum doesn’t
work out, each of my children will geta share of my collection. Though they
are not really into icons yet – they are too
young for it. I started collecting icons
at the age of 34, after I almost died froman illness. I spent six months in hospital,
which changed my perspective on things.

PHOTOS: EKATERINA CHESNOKOVA, KIRILL KALINNIKOV / RIA NOVOSTI

Do you have family traditions?
For my birthday my children usuallypresent their poetry. They prepare, getdressed, and then recite poems about how
I’m the best dad in the world. We rarely
get together for the New Year. Last year,
I was working in Crocus City. My wifeand children were there as well, so wecelebrated a bit.

Rosenbaum. Alla Pugacheva. I’d love tosing something with Alla Pugacheva, ofcourse if she can do it, if she has the time.
I offered her a couple of pieces, but she
didn’t like them. But if there’s something
to her taste, I believe she’ll say yes.
Anybody else you would like to sing with?
Polina Gagarina. I offered her a song,
and it was to her liking. We’ll get to it assoon as I recover. I hope we can do it by
the New Year – that would be a wonderfulduet. I really enjoy duets. We had a truly
successful one with Irina Allegrova –Ya Tebe Ne Veryu (I Don’t Believe You).
It wasn’t my first one, but I see it as themost memorable. Orly Ili Vorony (Eagles
or Ravens) with Max Fadeev – he is a
big-time musician and an out-and-out
professional. If we take rock performers, we
had a beautiful duet with Diana Arbenina

called Berega (Shores). Great duets with
Timati, especially London. It was my idea,
but he developed the concept. And we dida magnificent piece with Joseph Kobzon
and Alexander Rosenbaum – Vecherniaya
Zastolnaya (A Drinking Song at Night).
Singing with Joseph Kobzon was mydream, and it came true.
What do you need to make you happy?
Happy? Something like USD 200
million. I’m just like everybody else.
There is no such thing as too muchmoney or too many friends. If I disregard
the demons I constantly keep fighting,I’m a fairly happy person. My children
are in good health. My limbs are in place.
We’ll get my cords fixed. If we fail withthe cords, I’ll switch to a different tone
colour, to a different voice. We’ll figure
something out.

Do you think Russian show business ischanging?
Over the 20 years I’ve been a part of it,
our show business has improved musicwise. If you listen to younger performers
like Timati, or songs produced by hislabel, they are fantastic. Or take Basta:
his music is beyond any words. Svetlana
Loboda is a stellar performer. Or takeDimash Kudaybergenov – you can feelthe divine touch in his beautiful tenore digrazia. Voices like his are so fragile thatthey need to be nourished and cherished.
Then Sergey Lazarev and Dima Bilan
are great singers. There are young guys
who do a great job and can fill a stadium.
They have their audience, which is good.
Things spiral up and level up. At least thisis something we’ve been taught.
Who is a big-time performer in your mind?
Old-timers are performers with a capital
P. They have their principles and theirrules for life. Joseph Kobzon. Alexander
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lifestyle_route

PRIMORYE TOURSBY CARNOTE:
the listed travel times are one way,
excluding traffic jams and any potential
weather problems. The meeting point isTsentralnaya Ploshchad.
RENTAL OF A TOYOTA LANDCRUISER WITH A DRIVER:
RUB 40,000 for 12 hours,
RUB 3,400 per hour.
RENTAL OF A TOYOTA CAMRYWITH A DRIVER:
RUB 36,000 for 12 hours,
RUB 3,000 per hour.
RENTAL OF A SELF-DRIVENISSAN X-TRAIL:
from RUB 7,100 per day.

2

SHAMORA (LAZURNAYA BAY)

This 3-kilometre wide sandy beach is thenumber one choice for the residents ofVladivostok. The beach rose to fame in
Russia more than 20 years ago, when therock band Mumiy Troll released its album
titled Shamora. In the 1970s, during the
campaign to eliminate Chinese names fromthe area, the bay was named Lazurnaya. Still,
the residents of Vladivostok continue to callit by its old name.
Journey time: 40 min
Duration of trip: 2.5 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 30 km

1

RUSSKY ISLAND3PRIMRING SPORTS
AND RACING COMPLEX

The island is known for hosting the APEC
summit in 2012 and its description in Evgeny
Grishkovets’s play ‘How I Ate a Dog.’ On
Russky Island you can take a walk along thecoastal battery of the Vladivostok Fortress,and visit the aquarium, the FEFU campus,
and the university embankment. If you
continue on through the forest, you can visit
some of the island’s lovely beaches, and you
may even meet some wild foxes on the way.

It was inevitable that such a complex would
be built near a city that is Russia’s leader
in terms of the number of cars per capita.
Extreme drift (including the annual Russia/
Japan drift battle), a motocross track, quad
bike, buggy and go-kart rentals – if the roar ofengines, the rush of adrenaline and unabated
excitement of the race are your thing, thenthis will make the perfect day out for you.

Journey time: 30 min
Duration of trip: 4 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 17 km

Journey time: 30–40 min
Duration of trip: 3–4 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 40 km

106

4

A-189

MILLIONKA

This is a central district of Vladivostok,
located between the streets ofPogranichnaya, Semyonovskaya, Admiral
Fokin and Aleutskaya. At the end of the 19th
and the first half of the 20th centuries it washome to Chinatown, with its opium dens
and Chinese theater. Now it has a wide
range of cafes and shops and is a populararea for tourists.
Journey time: 5 min
Duration of trip: 40 minutes
Distance from Vladivostok: 0 km

5

STEKLYANNAYA BAY

PHOTOS: ALEXANDER HITROV, SAIKO3P / EASYFOTOSTOCK / EASTNEWS, VITALY AN’KOV / RIA NOVOSTI, YURI SMITIUK / TASS

by Daria Mikolaichuk and Andrey Ostrovsky

Instead of pebbles or sand, the beachis made up of bits of glass and ceramic.
Previously a bottle and ceramic dump was
located close to the beach, and over time
the sea wore down the glass and ceramic
shards and they were washed back on the
shore. The bay is popular with Asian tourists
who take pieces of glass home with them assouvenirs.
Journey time: 35 min
Duration of trip: 2 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 21 km

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7

A-370

7

PHOTOS: ALEXANDER HITROV, SAIKO3P / EASYFOTOSTOCK / EASTNEWS, VITALY AN’KOV / RIA NOVOSTI, YURI SMITIUK / TASS

 1.5 HOURS

A-370

3

A-188

 1.5–2 HOURS

8 30–40 MIN

4 20 MIN

6

To get to this park you need to head northon the Khabarovsk highway. Immerse
yourself in the Oriental Garden, Labyrinth ofLove, and Dragon Park, which is just a small
share of the adventures you can and needto live through. Visit the Cossack dungeon
and Asiatic pagoda, the dwellings of the
longtime inhabitants of Primorye, the Bohai
and Jurchens. Emerald Valley brings you
this fantastic architectural and historicalmix, fused together on the shores of the
Pacific Ocean.
Journey time: 1.5 hours
Duration of trip: 5–6 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 110 km

2

 5 MINEMERALD VALLEYLANDSCAPEAND HISTORICAL PARK 40 MIN

A-370

5 35 MINVLADIVOSTOK
Tsentralnaya Ploshchad

А-188 30 MIN

1

6

TOKAREVSKYLIGHTHOUSE

Built in 1910, the lighthouse is working tothis day, guiding ships into the port fromthe Eastern Bosphorus. This is the bestknown and most photographed landmark in
Vladivostok. A man-made stony spit leads tothe lighthouse.
Journey time: 20 min
Duration of trip: 1 hour
Distance from Vladivostok: 8 km

8PRIMORYE SAFARI PARK

This park is home to 70 animal species from
Primorye Territory. Unlike your ordinary zoo
there are no bars or barriers and the animals
live in their natural environment. Visitors
can observe the Amur tiger from special
surveillance platforms. The safari park isalso known for the friendship between thegoat Timur and the tiger Amur, who lived forseveral months in the same enclosure.
Journey time: 1.5–2 hours
Duration of trip: 5–6 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 82 km

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PRIMORYE TOURSYACHT TRIP
NOTE:
the journey time is one way
as the crow flies, excluding any
potential weather problems.
The meeting point is Ulysses Bay
in Vladivostok.

VLADIVOSTOK
Port

RI

RD

IS

LA

ND

 40 MIN

POP

OV

IS

LA

ND

RENTAL OF A FERRETTI 550
YACHT:
RUB 90,000 per day,RUB 12,000 per hour.

KO

IS

LA

ND

5
RE

 1 HOUR

3

E 40 MINASKOLD ISLANDThis is the classic route around Russky
Island, giving you the opportunity to see
the grottoes, coves and headlands that are
difficult to reach on foot. During the walk
you will also be able to admire the working
lighthouses of Skryplev and Basargin fromafar, for which you need a special permit
to visit.

In the 19th century, the island was home togold miners and deer breeders. Nowadays,
it is uninhabited, but the deer still roam
freely. From the sea you can see steepbanks, vertical cliffs and bird colonies. You
can get out and climb up the rocky paths
to the old lighthouse, where you can see
abandoned artillery batteries and deserted
beaches. This place is all about its history:
Askold is still waiting for its own Jack
London, who can describe the wild passions
and mores that reigned here a century anda half ago.

Rikord is uninhabited, almost
completely covered with forest.
On its western shore you can visit
the ‘marine garden’, with one of
the top scallop fisheries.

Journey time: 15 minutes to the starting point
Duration of trip: 3 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 2 km

Journey time: 1.5 hours
Duration of trip: 5 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 50 km

Journey time: from 1 hour
Duration of trip: 4 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 40 km

108

EK

2

1

SIGHTSEEING WALKYN

2RIKORD ISLAND

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PHOTOS: PAUK/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP / EAST NEWS, IGOR ONUCHINRENTAL OF A LAGOON
500 MOTOR-SAILING
CATAMARAN:RUB 80,000 per day,RUB 13,000 per hour.

4

PUTYATIN ISLAND

 1 HOUR 40 MINUTESPU

The island stands out for its wonderfullandscapes, clear waters, rocky shores,
and rich history. At the end of the 19th
century, Putyatin was home to the estateof the merchant Alexey Startsev, son of the
Decembrist Nikolay Bestuzhev. He breddeer and ran a tobacco and mulberry farm,orchards, a vineyard, an equestrian farm anda porcelain factory.

TY
A

TI

S

N

A

N

LD

LA

O

IS

K

LA
N

D

PHOTOS: PAUK/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP / EAST NEWS, IGOR ONUCHIN/ RIA NOVOSTI, VLADIMIR SAYAPIN / TASS, YURI SMITIUK / TASS

D

IS

4
 1.5 HOURS

Journey time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Duration of trip: 6 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 58 km

1

3

REYNEKE ISLAND

5POPOV ISLAND

The island’s bays are wonderfully varied:
while the beach at Shtukino has grey sandand pebbles, on the opposite side of theisland you can find red boulders worn downby the waves. On the headland you can visit
the wreck of a steamboat, which for many
years served as a practice target for the
Pacific Fleet.

A long-inhabited island with a sandy
beach, whose fine sand has lent it thename Frantsuzsky (French). It boasts
steep headlands, secluded covesand hills covered with wildflowers.
The island is part of Russia’s first Far East
Marine Reserve, with its famous birdcolonies.

Journey time: 40 min
Duration of trip: 4 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 30 km

Journey time: 40 min
Duration of trip: 6 hours
Distance from Vladivostok: 25 km
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PRIMORYE TOURSHELICOPTER
AND PLANE TRIP
NOTE:
the journey time is one way,
excluding any potential weather
problems.

3

1.5 HOURSRENTAL OF A
EUROCOPTER EC-130
HELICOPTER:
RUB 230,000 per hour.
RENTAL OF ROBINSON
R-44 HELICOPTER:
RUB 89,000 per hour.

 1 HOUR

VLADIVOSTOK
Airport 1 HOUR

1

1

LAND OF THE LEOPARD
NATIONAL PARK

Researchers refer to the Land of the
Leopard National Park as “the most feline
place in Russia.” It is home to tigers, forest
cats, lynxes and Far Eastern leopards –the rarest large cats in the world, with only
90 or so adults in the wild. It is unlikely thatyou will come across any predators in thenational park, but you may well stumbleon paw prints or the scratches they leave
when sharpening their claws. You canalso see the photos and videos taken by
hundreds of camera traps installed aroundthe park.

The ridge is part of the Sikhote-Alinmountain range, with the most visited
peaks of Primorye Territory, which thelocals call by its old Chinese names Pidan(Mount Livadiyskaya on the map) andFalaza (Litovka). You can fly over one of thehighest peaks of Primorye Territory – Mount
Tumannaya.

Khanka is the largest freshwater reservoir in
the Far East and the largest lake in Primorye
Territory. It is famous for its abundance offish and coastal birds. The sturgeon fish
kaluga inhabits the lake, which weighs up
to 600 kg. Also you can see red-crowned
cranes at the lake.

Journey time: 1 hour
Duration of trip: 3 hours
Distance from airport: 60 km

Journey time: 1 hour
Duration of trip: 2.5 hours
Distance from airport: 60 km

Journey time: 1.5 hours
Duration of trip: 4 hours
Distance from airport: 170 km

110

2

LIVADIYSKY RIDGE

3

LAKE KHANKA

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PHOTOS: ADREY FEDORKOV / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, YURI EMELYANOV / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, NATIONAL PARK

2

4
6

 1.5 HOURS

7

 2 HOURS6TERNEY DISTRICT

Terney District covers more than 27,730
square kilometers, which makes it bigger
than Northern Macedonia. Flying over it,
you can see its ridges and rivers, the Far
Eastern taiga, the lake plateau and beautiful
coastline.

 1.5 HOURS

Journey time: 2 hours
Duration of trip: 4.5 hours
Distance from airport: 400 km
 1 HOURPHOTOS: ADREY FEDORKOV / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, YURI EMELYANOV / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, NATIONAL PARK«ZEMLYA LEOPARDA», NEUX-NEUX / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, IGOR ONICHIN / RIA NOVOSTI, YURI SMITIUK / TASS

5

7
5

ZOV TIGRANATIONAL PARKSIKHOTE-ALIN
NATURE RESERVE

You can take a flight to the taiga villageof Roshchino at the entrance to the park.
This is the Bolshaya Ussurka basin, thecentral Sikhote-Alin taiga, home to tigers,
brown and Himalayan bears and even red
wolves, where grayling and lenok play inthe shallows of mountain rivers, and relic
trout guard their prey in the creeks. Here,if you’re lucky, you can hear the beat of theshaman tambourine and visit the sacred siteof the Udege people, the Orochonsky Bog
natural landmark.

The park located in the Chuguevka
District of Primorye has 56 peaks over
1,000 m high. The highest point in
the region is Oblachnaya Mountain(1,854 m above sea level). Located in
the heart of Primorye, it is steepedin legend and mystery. They saythat somewhere near here VladimirArsenyev met (and even described in
his diary!) a flying man. You don’t need
to be a mountaineer to climb to thesummit as there are convenient wellequipped mountain refuges and wellmarked trails.

The reserve begins in the northeast of
Primorye in the village of Terney, locatedon the shores of the bay of the same name
(Lapérouse gave it this name at the beginningof the 19th century). The amazing SikhoteAlin Nature Reserve, with an area of morethan 400 thousand hectares, begins right on
the edge of the village. The first people todocument this area more than a century ago
was the tireless explorer Vladimir Arsenyev
accompanied by the legendary Dersu
Uzala. Due to its extraordinary biodiversity,with animals and plants from northern tosubtropical climatic zones coexisting here inharmony, in 2006 the reserve was included in
the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Journey time: 1.5 hours (by plane)
Duration of trip: 5–6 hours
Distance from airport: 400 km

Journey time: 1 hour
Duration of trip: 4–5 hours
Distance from airport: 326 km

Journey time: 1.5 hours (plane)
Duration of trip: 6–7 hours
Distance from airport: 660 km

4

UDEGE LEGENDNATIONAL PARKEEF 2019

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EXTREME

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS, ALEXANDER PIRAGIS, DRAKONYASHKA / SHUTTERSTOCK

FA R E A S T

WHAT TYPES OF ACTIVE TOURISM ARE RIPE
FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST?
by Irina Zhavoronkova

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According to Ernst & Young (EY), from2014 to 2017, the flow of domestic andinbound tourism heading to the Russian
Far East increased by 71.5%. In 2018,
the number of tourists reached a record
6.9 million people. The programme todevelop tourism in Russia for the period
up to 2025, in their optimistic projection,
hopes to increase the flow of tourists to
the Russian Far East by up to 20%.
Apart from the traditional typesof tourism, this forecast includes therelatively unusual sort. Recently, extreme
recreation and tourism have been
undergoing active development in the
Russian Far East. An increasing numberof Russian tourists are coming to the Far
East to engage in extreme sports. We took
a look at the top three most promisingtypes of tourism popular with extreme
tourists around the world.

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS, ALEXANDER PIRAGIS, DRAKONYASHKA / SHUTTERSTOCK

Running leap froma helicopter

For heli-skiers worldwide,
Kamchatka is already on the map

Heli-skiing, a relatively international typeof extreme recreation, has only recently
appeared in the Kamchatka. It operates
very differently from what the sport looks
like in Sochi or the Alps. The organizers
say that Kamchatka is the only place
where people can ride through the craterof an active volcano. Helipro was one of
the first companies to create a mountain
sports base there, known as the Snow
Valley Mountain Lodge. Several local tour
companies have also organized tours.

“It is too early to call heli-skiing aflagship for the tourism industry in
Kamchatka, but demand is growing
steadily. For example, this season wesaw twice as many tourists as we did lastseason. Approximately 60 to 70% of them
are from Moscow; Germans are the mostfrequent international tourists – they arevery skilled at snow sports. They see thisas an additional challenge: there are notmany places where you have the chance
to freeride down the slope of a volcano.
We hire the services of a private helicoptercompany to get people to the top of the

SAKHALIN ALPSOne of the main projects on Sakhalin Islandis the Gorny Vozdukh alpine ski resort,
located 600 metres above sea level on
Bolshevik Mountain in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
This resort has the largest skiing zone in the
Russian Far East; there is currently a totalof 25 kilometres of skiing trails in the park.
By 2021, investors plan to increase thevolume of skiing trails to 80 kilometres,
construct another six ski lifts, and build
more tourist infrastructure: hotels,
restaurants, stores, and spa complexes.
In January, authorities approved the project
to construct a suspended passenger

ropeway lift on Krasnaya mountain. This newropeway with six-seat detachable lifts will
span 2,376.21 meters and will be capable oftransporting 2.8 thousand people an hour.
19 towers will be built between stations to
support the cable route.

slopes. There are some problems, butthey are solvable, especially since regional
leaders want to improve infrastructure
and attract guests to the region. The
main issue lies in the kind of day-today conditions tourists face. But we aresuccessfully tackling this issue as well: thisyear we have seen the launch of ‘glamping’(‘glamourous camping’ – Ed.) at Anyuysky
National Park in Khabarovsk Territory,”says Founder and General Director of
RussiaDiscovery Vadim Mamontov.
Heli-skiing, both the sport andthe business, started in Canada. The
most famous company offering thistype of active recreation is Canadian
Mountain Holidays, who has an annual
sales turnover of over CAD 1.5 million.
Canadian companies serve as an example
of what is needed to be successful in thismarket. Ted Morton’s research ‘CanadianHeli-ski Industry’ identifies several key
success factors: location (good and stablesnow cover for freeriding paired witheasy access via transport and closenessto international airports), good service,
smart advertising campaigns, and theavailability of one-day tours. Moreover,heli-ski sessions are regulated by several
federal and regional laws at once, someof which concern necessary instructor
training and helicopter flights. The study
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notes that Canada boasts approximately
20 operators in the heli-ski industry andthere is no room for other companies toenter the market.
 COSTSThe cost of one flight starts at CAD 710(RUB 30–40 thousand just for the flight,
not including accommodations andtransportation to the resort), there is no
upper limit to the price: personalized
tours may cost tens of thousands ofCanadian dollars. A weeklong tour
to Kamchatka costs RUB 200–250
thousand (not including the price oftransport), while a single day tour
starts at RUB 60 thousand (also without
tickets to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy).

Keeping in mind that there are not as
many locations for good heli-skiing as
there are consumers actively involved inthis sport and recreation, the Russian Far
East has the opportunity to increase its
attractiveness to foreign extreme sport
tourists, especially since Kamchatka isalready on the heli-ski map – all that isleft is improving the service, which iswhat Russiatourism and Roza Khutor areplanning to do.
“In addition to adventure and extreme
tourism, there is also demand forexpeditions to Chukotka and Wrangel
Island, tours to the Sakhalin and Kuril
Islands, and whale-watching trips to the
Shantar Islands. And let us not forgetcruise tourism, since similarly positioned
Alaska sees a tourist flow of approximately

Kamchatka and Halaktyr Beachare considered the lodestone of
Arctic surfing

112-115_Far_East_Tourism_en.indd 114

Riding icy waves
Surfing is a form of active recreation thathas even caught the attention of Elon
Musk, who released a limited collection of
200 Tesla branded carbon fibre surfboards
for USD 1.5 thousand each. They sold out
in under a day.
Russia is a latecomer to surfing. It issaid that surfing was introduced to Russia
by the famous US surfer Tom Curren
in 2003. That was when he travelled toKamchatka to make a film about surfing.
Vladivostok is considered the Russian
surfer magnet city. In the 2000s, thecity saw its first professional athletes.
Vladivostok hosted the first Russian
surfing championship in 2010.
Time has passed, and Khalaktyrsky
Beach in Kamchatka has now made its
way onto a surfing magazine’s rating of‘places you’d never think to go surfing’.
This several-kilometre-long beach is ahalf hour’s drive from PetropavlovskKamchatskiy; it boasts three main surfing
spots, located relatively close to each other:Halo, Central (aka Old Place), and Curren(named after the very same Tom Curren).
Winter, water temperatures of +2°C, airtemperatures of –15°C, wetsuits, and
SOCHI IS COMING TO
KAMCHATKA
Rosa Khutor LLC, author and investor of
the Sochi ski resort by the same name, has
proposed building a tourist cluster called‘Three Volcanoes’ in Kamchatka. The projectis estimated to cost RUB 39.2 billion. Private
investments will account for RUB 15 billionof the project, and approximately 1,000 jobs
will be created. According to the project
creators, this new tourism cluster will attract
approximately 170 thousand new tourists
in 2024.
Three Volcanoes will be built near themountain Sopka Goryachaya and is planned
to have 17 km of skiing trails with two ski lifts
and a hotel with a 1,000-person capacity.
This resort has the chance to become one of
the leading heli-ski locations in the region.

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PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS

Kamchatka is an attractive destination
for cold-water surfers, competing with the coastsof Norway, Iceland, and the Lofoten Islands.
Russia is home to just six surfing hotspots,
two of which are located in the Far East:
Kamchatka and Vladivostok

a million people annually, which is a
thousand times more than we see in the
Far East,” said Vadim Mamontov.

BILLIONS ON INFRASTRUCTURE
The Russian government plans to allocate
approximately RUB 7.8 billion towards
the development of tourism clusters in
the Russian Far East. The recent federal
programme ‘Development of domestic andinbound tourism in the Russian Federationfor 2019–2025’ pays special attention to
the Russian Far East (Source (in Russian):www.minvr.ru). In January, Russiatourism
selected three Far Eastern regions(Buryatia, Primorye, and Khabarovsk
Territory) in which it will finance a total ofseven tourism-related critical infrastructure
projects in 2019.

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS

So you think you’re a diver?

boards – that’s how Britain’s The Guardian
reports on the crazy (in reality: not only)
Russians, who ride the waves in ‘Siberia’(in reality: the Far East is not Siberia). The
above statements are from the article titled‘Surf in Siberia’, which was practically the
first to break the news globally about the
new surfing mecca in Kamchatka.
Kamchatka is an attractive destination
for cold-water surfers, competing with thecoasts of Norway, Iceland, and the Lofoten
Islands. Russia is home to just six surfing
hotspots, two of which are located in the
Far East: Kamchatka and Vladivostok. The
other four are Sochi, Anapa, Kaliningrad,and St. Petersburg.
In Vladivostok, surfers catch waves
at the city’s Patrokl beach (Sobol Bay),the sandy Shamora Beach on Lazurnaya
Bay, and on Russky Island, which also
boasts board rentals and a tent camp.
Surfers also make their way to Nakhodka.
But the mecca of Arctic surfing is
Khalaktyrsky Beach in Kamchatka, where
the commercial international competition
Nixon Surf Challenge was held in 2014.
One of the first surfing schools in the
Far East – Snowave Surf School – posits
Kamchatka as the ‘place with the most wellstudied spots and stable waves in Russia’.
Surf tourism is increasing in popularity
every year. The peak season is, as a rule,
July through August/September.

 COSTSThe Kamchatka surf camp(accommodation in a large tent, food,and surfing lessons) costs RUB 90–100
thousand for 14 days, not including travelto the destination. For comparison: surf
camps in Bali cost approximately USD
1,500 (the same RUB 90–100 thousand,accommodation at a surf hotel, food, andsurfing lessons).

Primorye Cousteaus
Another prospective direction for thedevelopment of active tourism businesses
in the Russian Far East is diving. Primorye
is a unique destination for this type of
extreme recreation. The cold Sakhalin andwarm Korean currents meet off the coast,so subtropical flora and fauna mingle with
Arctic marine life. For example, one of themain attractions is a meeting with a Giant
Pacific octopus. They reach arounda meter in length and weigh 20 kilograms,
but there are giants that are human-sized
and weigh over 40 kilograms.
There’s also wreck diving, where
the divers explore wrecked ships. The
Japanese destroyer Hibiki and thetransport ship Indigirka are located not
too far from shore.
Ultimately, almost any point on the
Primorye coast is good for diving, from

Khasan to Rudnaya Pristan. Far Eastern
Marine Reserve in Khasan District is adiver’s mecca in the Japanese Sea, but
special permits are necessary to visit thislocation.
Primorye currently has a fair numberof dive clubs that adhere to PADI and
NAUI standards; there is even a Russian
National Dive League. Dive tourists mostoften visit during the gentle autumn
months (the ‘Velvet Season’ of August–
September). One of the main issues is theregion’s lack of ships equipped for diving
and most importantly a lack of captains,capable of taking those ships out to sea.
This is a fairly promising area ofdevelopment for small businesses,
since tours are not the only source ofrevenue. There are also equipment
sales and rentals and diving lessons(with certification in accordance withinternational standards).
 COSTS
Currently, dive safaris in Vladivostok
cost approximately RUB 50 thousand forseven days (depending on the route),
which is comparable with a weeklong
dive safari in Egypt: in both cases, theprice excludes the cost of flight tickets,
insurance, and equipment rental.
Globally, the cost of one dive starts
at USD 30, and the prices in Primorye
are comparable: starting at RUB 1.5–2
thousand per dive in a group of several
people.

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The healingtreasureof the taiga
THE EFFICIENCY OF PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGSPHOTOS: IGOR CHERI / SHUTTERSTOCKIS NOWHERE NEAR THAT OF PRIMORYE TERRITORY’SUNIQUE WILD PLANT LIFE

by
Vasily Solkin116

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In 1980, when I, a native of the central partof European Russia, arrived in Primorye,
I didn’t like the Ussuri Taiga at first: it was
just another botanical garden. Moreover,half the plants had scary prickles and thorns,
so I had to permanently break my habit of
grabbing onto tree trunks with my hands.
There were different smells and different
animals. At any moment, a huge living
breathing Amur tiger could jump out of thebushes. Or an unpredictable Himalayanbear. It doesn’t bear thinking about!
But after three years, it was as if aswitch had been flicked within me, andall of a sudden, I fell in love with thisincomparable blend of incongruities.

AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY FESTIVAL AT THE EEF 2019
For the first time, the ‘Far East Street’
exhibition will host the Festival of
Agriculture and Industry. Organizedby the Ministry of Agricultureof the Russian Federation, the event
will take place along the sea frontof the Ajax Bay. The venue will showcase
exhibits from all 11 regions of the Far
Eastern Federal District and will be able
to accommodate 2,000 people. In the‘Taiga Trades and Crafts’ interactive
zone and inside the ‘Tent of Regions’,
participants and guests of the Forum
will be able to learn about agricultural

products harvested in the Far East
(including wild plants), as well as taste
delicacies prepared using traditional
recipes. Such recipes include fern withmeat (Khabarovsk Territory), Amur
pelmeni with soy meat (Amur region),dishes made from Chukotka berries,
and the Jewish Autonomous Region’s
famous honey. At the Fish Market, guests
and participants will be able to sample
smoked Coho salmon, a salad madewith Magadan prawns, Ussuri solyankawith squid, and Buryat whitefish withpine nuts.

The root of life
This wonder of Far Eastern nature doesn’t
need any introduction. Humankind has
known about the healing propertiesof ginseng for a long time. The firstmention of the miraculous root, whichheals all ailments, appeared around fourthousand years ago. The plant was quickly
assimilated into myths and legends andhas been the bearer of nicknames suchas ‘the imperial root’, ‘the emperor’s
medicine’ and ‘the man root’; thelatter stems from the fact that ginseng
commonly resembles a person’s body, witha head, two arms and two legs. The root is
particularly well-known for this shape.

If I now began to list all the ailmentsthat ginseng can treat, there wouldn’t
be enough pages in this magazine. The
easiest answer is: everything! It stimulates
the immune system and improves the
body’s entire function. It also helps yourbody to fight off any disease. No wonder
the plant’s scientific name is Panax. It
comes from the Greek ‘panakos’, whichmeans panacea (literally: all-healing). And
irrespective of developments in modern
medicine, people still believe that theginseng root can extend one’s lifespan andeven protect against oncological diseases.

PHOTOS: IGOR CHERI / SHUTTERSTOCKHOW TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THE PRIMORYE HARVEST
There are three ways that you can
improve your health with the aid of
the wild Ussuri taiga. The first is thesimplest: go to a pharmacy which sells
manufactured tinctures made fromall of the unique plants. The second is
the most complicated: go to the taiga
yourself to harvest the roots, creepers,
berries and leaves. And finally, the third
is a sort of compromise for those who are
visiting Vladivostok for just a few days:
make sure you visit the city’s biggest
centre of commerce, Pervorechensky
market.

Here are some guideline prices:
Dried magnolia berries: 200g, 1,000
roubles;
Magnolia seeds: 200g, 1,000 roubles;
Magnolia creeper: 250g, 350 roubles
Dried Siberian ginseng root: 500g, 300
roubles
Aralia tincture: 1kg, 500 roubles.
Ginseng is very expensive due to its rarityand ‘Red Book’ status. But if you manage togain the trust of a seller, they might covertly
sell you half a litre of vodka infused withginseng root in the region of
8,000–10,000 roubles.

Prices for the imperial root have beenand remain, well, imperial. Consequently,
a special craft called ‘kornevka’ emerged
relatively quickly. At the end of thesummer, root pickers (kornevshchiki)
would go to the taiga for several days andseek out the legendary root among bright
red berries. It was not easy, but it waseven harder to collect it in the right way:
the highly valued root had to be preserved
entirely, with even the thinnest offshootsof the root which can be as thin as a humanhair. As a result, the process of extracting
the ‘root of life’ from the body of the sphereusing special wooden shovels could takemore than one day.
But the pickers’ hard work didn’t stop
there. Having extracted the root andspecially packaged them in envelopes
made of cedar bark, they had to deliver itto the buyer and manage to stay alive inthe process. Just as soon as the craft had
emerged, a special form of banditry had
emerged, too. Those who were too lazy
to go off searching for red berries in thetaiga for weeks on end began to wait forthe pickers with a gun in their hands andthey themselves would return home withthe root. Much blood was shed over theginseng root.
Today, the situation has changed
dramatically. In South Korea, China andRussia, ginseng is cultivated on specialized
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farms. Consequently, pickers aren’t indanger of losing their lives through abullet in the back, but they are threatenedby hunting inspectors, given that ginseng
has been entered into the Red Book (ofendangered species) in Russia.
However, in glorifying the miracle
root, we should also praise the leavesof the legendary plant. Experienced
Tayezhniki (literally ‘taiga inhabitants’)of generations gone by would always takea pinch of dried ginseng leaves with themin case they became injured. Like anobedient student, I too took some leaves
with me.
One day, during the forage, something
went wrong. A badger (seemingly a
good-natured slob but actually quite
vicious) bit my finger. It was hanging
off by the skin. In disbelief and realizingthat I wouldn’t be able to play the guitar
again, I wrapped my chewed-up finger
in dried ginseng leaves. And you won’t
believe the result: after a week of keeping
it bandaged up in the leaves, it turned outthat the fingertip had grown back, and I
can still play the guitar.

The younger brotherof legendary ginseng
Scrambling through the taiga in grovesof Eleutherococcus is no walk in thepark. Generally, you’ll get stopped by its
aggressive spikes, that will claim bits andpieces of your protective ware. But the
taiga hunters never hold a grudge against
it. That’s because in every local forest

GINSENG TINCTURE
There are lots of recipes for preparing
ginseng: in honey, milk, in a spirit
such as vodka, with radish or evenwith grapes. The original recipes were
Chinese, of course, but they were thensubstantially ‘Russified’. The mostpopular recipe in Primorye is as follows:
add 20g of the ground raw root to 200g
(or ten times more) honey and 1 litre ofwater. Mix together well and bring to theboil. After 10–15 minutes, add the sameamount of honey. Infuse for a day andthen take a teaspoon three times per day,preferably before meals.

118

Leaves like these make eleutherococcus easy
to spot in a taiga forest

HOW TO USE THE MAGNOLIA
BERRY
Magnolia berries go with everything:natural juice, compote, tea, tincture, etc.
The last one is probably the most useful.
The dried-out berries are best when they
are roughly chopped and left in vodka for
two weeks using a ratio of 1 litre of vodka
per 100g of berries. Take a teaspoon-full
before a meal.

in the USSR, there was a compulsory
plan to hand over the Eleutherococcus
root (Siberian ginseng) to the state. And
in doing so you could make a fair bitof money. Extracting the branch-like,intertwining roots from the stony forest
soil was not easy. But high demand forthis crude medicine bore professionals
who were capable of getting ahead of
the production outlined in the socialistprocurement plan. Consequently, thelocal ‘literakoka’ (as the tayezhniki calledit) became rare.
Why was the demand for the root of
this thorny plant so high? Eleutherococcus
basically contains all the properties ofginseng! You don’t need to go on tortuoustreks for days on end and you can produce
it on an industrial scale. Eleutherococcus
has not been assimilated into the same

sorts of myths and legends as ginseng.
And unjustly so: this plant is one of themost effective adaptogens, as solutions
made from it increase the body’s muscle
tone and stamina, increases the rate at
which the nervous system works as wellas an individual’s mental capacity. These
tonics don’t only substantially increase thebody’s resistance to infection and poison
but are also effective under all types ofradiation. They can be used to increase
Dried Magnolia vine berries are
the best to quell your hunger
and remove fatigue

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PHOTOS: KIRSANOV VALERIY VLADIMIROVICH, VIRTEXIE, BONDARENKO ALEXANDER / SHUTTERSTOCK

lifestyle_wild plants

PHOTOS: KIRSANOV VALERIY VLADIMIROVICH, VIRTEXIE, BONDARENKO ALEXANDER / SHUTTERSTOCKA REMEDY FROM SIBERIANGINSENG
According to local custom, you can
only ingest Siberian ginseng withvodka – no exceptions! The washedroot is crushed down a lot and thenvodka or a different spirit is poured
into it in a ratio of 0.5 litres per 100g.
Leave for 15 days in a container witha tightly-sealed lid and preferably shakedaily. You should take 1–2 teaspoons
per day, but only before lunch. It’s
particularly good for your cardiovascular system.

your appetite, raise your metabolism,
improve your vision, and also enhance themain reactions of your central nervous
system. Eleutherococcus helps yourskin to repair itself after it has sustained
varying types of damage. Ultimately, if I
hadn’t found some ginseng leaves after myfight with the badger, I definitely would
have used Siberian ginseng.

Happiness with a dashof spicy acidity
In a hiking bag next to my bunch ofginseng leaves, I always kept dried
Magnolia (or ‘limonnik’ in Russian) berries.

When I was not able to cook a meal on thehike or had nothing to cook, I would eat ahandful of those berries. And – even though
you won’t believe me – this handful wasenough to perk up my tired body and allow
me to happily scurry through the taiga until
sunset. Of course, I was sceptical. My seniorcompanions told me it would. And the wellworn tayezhniki knew what was what.
However, even people who had lived
in the taiga for years and years can’t becredited with inventing this. In Eastern
folk medicine, Magnolia has been used
to treat various diseases from time
immemorial. It’s said that in China,
it’s second only to ginseng in terms of
popularity due to the fact that it contains
lots of vitamins and minerals, has a tonic
effect, increases your strength, increases
your resistance to adverse effects, helps
with diseases of the respiratory, nervous
and cardiovascular systems, and iseffective in treating infectious diseases.
Finding ripe Magnolia is easy: thisclimber likes to weave its way aroundtrees along the banks of taiga rivers
and in September, at the time of ripe
berries, it blooms bright red leaves thatare somewhere between a currant bushand a grape bush. Moreover, it’s notjust the berries that are used but the‘body’ of the climbers as well: their finely
chopped pieces give a special tea-likearoma.
Why is this climber called ‘limonnik’in Russian, you ask? Because the berries
have a specific spicy, sour/bitter taste andlemon aroma.

got nothing on its spines. And if you findyourself skiing down the slope of the taiga
and decide to grab hold of a thin trunkor branch to correct your movement, be
careful: if this tree turns out to be Aralia,
you’ll remember that fateful decision for
the rest of your life…
Nonetheless, this ‘devil tree’ is quite
popular in both folk and traditional
medicine. Prepared in various different
ways, its tincture increases your immune
system capacity, activating your body’s
protective mechanisms and reducing yoursusceptibility to infections and adverse
environmental effects. Preparations fromthe roots of a medicinal plant are actively
used in radiation sickness and, unlike inchemical pharmacy, they don’t have any
toxic effects on the human body. As for its
effectiveness, aralia is often compared toginseng.

The aralia’s ubiquitous
spikes have earned it a folkname “devil’s tree”

Prickly spikenard
It’s not in vain that aralia is commonly
called the devil tree. Eleutherococcus has

ARALIA TINCTURE
To prepare aralia tincture at home, youneed to roughly chop the dried rootand pour vodka using a ratio of 10 parts
vodka, 1 part aralia. Leave for a traditional
two weeks, preferably in a warm placeand shake periodically. It’s recommended
that you take it no more than twice perday, and in the first half of the day, witha teaspoon.

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lifestyle_wardrobe

THE FOUNDER AND CEO OF GREY TAILORING ALEXEY KOROVANENKO TALKSABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PERFECT SUIT AND SIMPLY A GOOD ONE

120

PHOTOS: GREY TAILORINGA PERFECTLY
FITTING SUIT GIVESYOU CONFIDENCE
IN NEGOTIATIONS
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Grey Tailoring probably has
the best choice of fabrics
in Moscow

A hand-tailored suit will
highlight your status, making
a favourable impression

Alexei
Korovanenko,
Grey Tailoringfounder and CEO

PHOTOS: GREY TAILORING

What advice can you give our readers aboutchoosing a suit?
First of all, it is important to knowwhat you need the suit for. The moreexclusive and delicate the fabric,
the more rest it needs. That is why, if
you need an everyday suit, your best
fabrics will have a twist of no higher
than Super 130. For special occasions
you can consider more delicate fabrics
with a twist of Super 150, Super 170
or higher. Our Grey Tailoring boutiqueand model house presents one of
the largest collections of fabrics in
Moscow: Loro Piana, Zegna, Dormeuil,Scabal, Holland & Sherry, Ariston,Caccioppoli, Carnet, VBC, and manyothers.
Business people travel a lot. What suit would
be appropriate for long flights?
I would recommend special fabrics
Traveller and Loro Piana Zelander High
Tenacity for travelling and long flights,
such as Moscow–Vladivostok; theyhardly wrinkle at all and you’ll look asneat as a new pin. These fabrics arealso waterproof. You will not get wet
even if you are caught in the rain.
How did you come by the idea of starting a
Neapolitan model house in Moscow?

The idea grew out of our own need. We
have a consulting project in Moscow
and we always need to look just right.
Having tried several dozen different
tailors and factories, we realised that we
had to go to Naples for a perfect suit.
We met Enrico Manzo and his Sartoria
Principe d’Eleganza at Pitti Uomo. We
now present the Principe d’Eleganza
brand in Moscow exclusively. Manzo is
one of the most famous tailors in Naples.
He makes bespoke suits for the founders
and owners of Loro Piana and Zegna.
Production is headed by Antonella De
Rosa who worked for Kiton and Cesare
Attolini for over 20 years. There are 32
tailors at the factory and each suit iscut out by hand. This allows taking into
account all the nuances of the figure sothat each suit really does fit perfectly, as
well as fulfilling the most unusual wishesof the clients.

hand-made detailing. Edging is doneby hand with minute, fine stitches;
all buttonholes are also handmade. A hand-cut wide lapel that is
proportionate to the figure right away
gives you a hint that the suit is custommade. Another thing is that such a suitlets you use unusual buttons made of
mother-of-pearl, horn or walnut.
A personal monogram can be added to a suitor a shirt at a client’s request.
Generally, at the first meeting appearance
and attention to detail are crucially
important. You can say the right things, but
you will not be perceived right if you are notdressed appropriately or the suit does notmatch your status or the event. I can say by
my own experience that a perfectly fitting
suit adds confidence in negotiations andhelps you conduct them more successfully.

How does a Neapolitan suit differ from, let’ssay, an English one?
An English suit is more like a uniform;
actually its cut is more structured andrigid – it originated with a militaryuniform. The Neapolitan suit, on theother hand, is as light as possible witha natural or soft shoulder line. The suit
follows natural body contours; it ismore like a second skin. You can simply
forget that you are wearing a suit. It isalso of no small importance that Italianfabrics are more delicate, soft, light andsmooth to the touch.

I will take this opportunity to invite allreaders and EEF guests to visit us at the Grey
Tailoring boutique and model house at the
Crocus City Mall in Moscow for coffee orlimoncello.

Can you tell an expensive custom-made suitby some sort of details?
First of all, it’s the perfect fit. Secondly,
what makes each suit unique iswww.greytailoring.com

We also offer call-out service, where one ofour master tailors will come with a selectionof fabrics to your home or office in any city in
Russia, or even another country, to take yoursuit order.
I wish you a successful Forum!

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lifestyle_delicacies

Towards Fishing
SeasonIN RUSSIA TODAY, RED CAVIAR IS AS CLOSELY TIED WITH THE FAR
EAST, AS SCOTLAND IS WITH WHISKY OR THE US WITH BURGERS.
HOWEVER, NOT SO MANY PEOPLE KNOW THAT ON A GLOBAL SCALE IT
WAS NOT THAT LONG AGO THAT IT BECAME A LOCAL DELICACY
by Daria Mikolaichuk122

he fishing industry came to the
Far East in the 19th century. Explorers
wrote that at that time, only indigenous
people and their dogs ate red caviar; sailors
generally threw it away as fish tripe.
Moreover, lots of people from Primorye
did not regard caviar as source of food:caviar goes bad quickly and back then, you
could not stockpile it for future use. In
the Western part of the country, the foodproduct was sampled only at the beginningof the 20th century. After that, the delicacy
almost immediately became in demand as
an export good. Now, red caviar is one of themain delicacies – if not a symbol – of Russia,
like ballet, vodka or valenki (felt boots).
In 2014, Russia introduced import
restrictions on fish and seafood from several
Western countries, including from the US.
Since then, Russian producers have met
domestic demand for fish on their own.
According to data obtained by Rosstandard(the Federal Agency on TechnicalRegulating and Metrology), around 90%
of red caviar is supplied onto the Russian
market from the Far Eastern Federal
District, including from Primorye Territory,
Khabarovsk Territory, and Kamchatka
Territory, as well as Magadan and Sakhalin
Regions. The Far East produces four maintypes of red caviar: sockeye salmon, chumsalmon, coho salmon, and pink salmon.
Back when there were not any migrants
settling in the Far East, the Kamchadals(native people of Kamchatka) began fishingfor Atlantic salmon. They would spear thefish, catching them with nets woven fromnettle fibres and so-called trap nets, madefrom tree trunks and twigs and positioned
to block off rivers.
Nowadays, the fish are caught in asimilar way, with the aid of fixed nets, traps
and drift nets. Equipped vessels replaced
the natives’ ragged boats. Every year,
during the spawning season from June toNovember, the Far Eastern seas are full offishing trawlers.

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PHOTOS: EXEBICHE / SHUTTERSTOCK, YURI SMITYUK / TASSTRed caviar did not become a choice delicacy
until the early 20th century — after long being
regarded as nothing but dog food

PHOTOS: EXEBICHE / SHUTTERSTOCK, YURI SMITYUK / TASS

How caviar is produced
You can easily divide caviar producers
into two camps: those who work with itout at sea and those who process the raw
materials on the coast. In the case of theformer, only freshly caught fish is sent to
the factory ship. They extract caviar fromthe roe – the thin and transparent film
surrounding the ovaries – then salt it andput it in jars. If done at sea, the process
takes several hours. As for the latter,the fish is delivered to the base, which islocated on the shore, and only then does
processing begin.
The producer often cannot manufacture
the whole product straight away, so someof the roe are frozen. This allows the caviar
to be taken to different region, closer todemand. For that reason, you will noticethat the label on caviar jars will often showthat it has been produced in a city without acoastline, for example, Novosibirsk.
Experts agree that the product isdecreasing in quality. The longer roe wasinside the fish, the worse the taste, so caviar
produced at the factory ship is considered
the highest quality.

How caviar is preserved
Even a small shift in temperature during
the sea-to-counter supply chain can affect
the quality and safety of the product,says Elena Sarattseva, deputy director of
Roskachestvo (Russian trading standards
agency).
The ideal conditions for preserving
caviar are between –6 and –4 degrees

Celsius. Keeping it in these temperatures
stops the growth of bacteria by using onlya small amount of preservatives. An open
jar will keep in the fridge for no longer than
one week.

A record catch
According to data obtained by Alto
Consulting Group, the production ofcaviar increased by 154.3% in August 2018
year-over-year and amounted to 8,208.2
tonnes. As a result, the price of caviar fell by
between 30 to 40%.
In Kamchatka Territory, a fall in retailprices was also observed. In September
2018, the local price for 1 kilogram of pinksalmon caviar was between 1,300 to 1,500
roubles. By the end of December, prices
ranged from 1,700 to 3,200 roubles. To
compare, in 2017, prices for caviar in the
Territory started at 2,800 roubles. By the
New Year, prices for caviar remained low.
In 2018, a total of 676 thousand
tonnes of Atlantic salmon were caught inRussia. Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Ministerof Agriculture and Head of the Federal
Agency for Fishery, said that the record
catch was due to the fact that the state
had managed to deal with poachers. He
listed measures for protecting fish, such as
occupying breeding grounds, regulation
and abolishing drift nets.
The trend has continued this year, too.
Average wholesale prices for salmon caviar
in Moscow and Moscow Region decreased
by 26% year-over-year, as calculated by the
All-Russian Association of Fish Breeders,

Entrepreneurs and Exporters in May. In
April 2018, caviar on average cost 3,100
roubles per kilogram, whereas in April
2019, it would only set you back 2,300
roubles. Retail prices fell by 5%.
The Association values the market
potential of Russian red caviar at between
14,000 to 18,000 tonnes. The presidentof the organisation, Herman Zverev,
noted that about 90% of salmon caviar
produced in the country is supplied to thedomestic market. On average, one person
consumes 70–90 grams per year, which
equates to between 2–3 slices of bread
topped with caviar.

Rules for serving red
caviarWhen organizing dinners and receptions in
European countries, take about 1 ounce of
red caviar per guest – or about 30 grams of
it. Etiquette rules dictate that if red caviar
is served at the table as a separate delicacy,rather than as part of the main meal, it
HOW TO CHOOSE CAVIAR
HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS
HAVE THE FOLLOWINGCHARACTERISTICS:• All the eggs are the same size and colour• The caviar is packaged in a metal tin or
glass jar
• Very little salt has been added• The eggs are a uniform reddish colour• The consistency is grainy and thick• No additives, connective films, torn shells,
blood clots or white sediment• Pleasant fishy smell without
any sour notes
BAD-QUALITY PRODUCTS, ON
THE OTHER HAND, HAVE THE
FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS:• Production date is outside the breeding
season (June – November)• The can contains over 5% of juice from torn
eggs
• Pungent herring-like odour• Too low a price• Dark colour• Lots of torn and clotted eggs
• A crumpled or inflated can

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lifestyle_delicacies

It is customary to take red caviar withdry or semi-dry champagne. However,there are some exceptions to the rules:
for example, in Russia and Ukraine,
people often eat the delicacy with chilledvodka.

INTERESTING FACTS

Red caviar is one of the main delicacies – if nota symbol – of Russia, like ballet, vodka or valenki

must be presented on a special serving
dish known as an ikornitsa (caviar dish).
The delicacy is prone to absorbing metallic
flavours, so the dish is made of glass, silver
or porcelain.
There are many other ways to serve
caviar but remember the golden rule:
red caviar should be served cold, even if
it is eaten with hot food. In Russia, it iscustomary to eat caviar with pancakes(or blini) and with foie gras in France.

The most common and traditional
way of serving caviar is on pieces ofbread as open sandwiches. The caviar
is served on crackers, croutons orbaguette, decorated with olives, piecesof cucumber or lemon. A classic open
sandwich is made from a slice of whiteloaf with butter and a thin layer ofcaviar. Legendary Russian opera singer
Fyodor Chaliapin was a fan of thiscombination.

CHUM SALMON CAVIARPINK SALMON CAVIAR

THE LARGEST AND MOST EXPENSIVE

THE MOST WIDESPREAD

D I A M E T E R up to 7 mm

D I A M E T E R approximately 5 mm

C O L O U R amber/orange with a red tint
and noticeable fat blotches
T A S T E delicate and creamy;
the eggs burst in your mouth

C O L O U R light orange

THE SMALLEST AND MOST

THE RAREST AND HEALTHIEST

BRIGHT-COLOUREDD I A M E T E R approximately 3–4 mm

D I A M E T E R approximately 3 mm

C O L O U R burgundy

C O L O U R bright red or dark red

T A S T E a little bitter; an acquired taste

T A S T E a little bitter; tangy124• Staff at Zuma restaurant in Vladivostok
sampled over 70 kilograms of caviar tochoose the best to serve to Vladimir Putin, as
the head chef Egor Anisimov told journalists.
• On the Chinese border, customs officers
discovered an undeclared ten-litre containerof red caviar carried by a lady local to
Primorye Territory. The businesswoman
tried to eat it all at the scene just so she did
not have to hand it over to customs officers.

T A S T E classic taste;
to everyone’s liking

SOCKEYE SALMON CAVIARCOHO SALMON CAVIAR• At the Eastern Economic Forum in 2018,
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping attended theFar East Street exhibition on Russky Island.
Together, the politicians made pancakes,
ate them with caviar and then drank vodka.

• The well-known 90s poster ‘Life is good’,
which was created by the designer Andrey
Logvin, became a symbol of the new
Russian era of luxury. The work, whichfeatures the slogan written in black caviar
on a red caviar backdrop, became part ofthe collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery.

PHOTOS: YULIA FURMAN / SHUTTERSTOCK, SERGEY BOBYLYOV / TASS, ANDREY LOGVIN

676 thousand tonnes of Atlantic salmon werecaught in Russia in 2018, which marks a record
for domestic fishing since records began.
Around 500,000 tonnes of it were caught
off the coast of Kamchatka

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H I S T O R Y

125_Schmutz-history_en.indd 125

RUSSIANS ARE HERE TO STAY

> 126

THE ‘LIFELINE’
OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST> 132

The Amursky Bridge
in Khabarovsk

19.08.2019 17:33

history_vladivostok fortress

RUSSIANS

A R E

H E R ET O

S T A Y

by Andrey Ostrovsky photos Alexander Khitrov

PHOTOS: YURI CMITIUK / TASS, EAST NEWSVLADIVOSTOK FORTRESS HAS BECOME ONE OF THE REGION’S MAIN TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

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PHOTOS: YURI CMITIUK / TASS, EAST NEWSThe influx of tourists into Vladivostok isreaching record levels for Russia. There
are two main reasons for this: the factthat not everyone needs a visa to travel
there, as well as the fact that Vladivostok
is the closest European city for many ofRussia’s neighbours. It’s young (nextyear will mark its 160th anniversary), eclectic (with a mix of all styles and types ofarchitecture), hospitable and wide open
to the world.
An integrated resort and entertainment area that has been under construction for several years finally has been
completed. The city boasts the alreadythriving casino Tigre de Cristal (and a
few more similar establishments are on
their way) and the conveniently located Primorsky Aquarium, which has awonderful collection. What’s more, thereis the country’s only marine reserve, oldstreets and viewing platforms which havebeen successfully assimilated into thetricky terrain, and finally the low prices
to the favourable exchange rates. All ofthese elements draw tourists to the city,which just over a quarter of a century ago
had the status of a closed city-fortress andwas the country’s military fortress in the
Far East. Still, Vladivostok has one otherhuge advantage, which is entirely unique

FOREIGNERS IN PRIMORYE
In 2018, Vladivostok welcomed around
800,000 foreign tourists. The tourist stream
which saw the greatest expansion wasthat of the Republic of Korea, increasingby 120%. This year, it’s expected that the
number of tourists visiting from Korea will
equal the number of tourists visiting from
China, which has been the traditional leader
for many years. Five million tourists are
expected to visit over the next five years.

The forts of Vladivostok Fortress are the city’ssecure defences on land and sea

and cannot be found anywhere else in theworld: Vladivostok Fortress. There aren’t
many similar structures in the world, andnone of them are identical to one another.
The chance to visit each of them is a realtreat for history buffs and admirers offortress mastery.
The construction of the fortress began on the very first day when Russian
soldiers set foot on the deserted shores of
the Golden Horn Bay from the Manchur
military ship on 2 July 1860; the first guns
were unloaded and the construction of thefirst flèches and lunettes began. Building
officially was underway since 1889, but thebulk of the work took place between the
Russo-Japanese War and World War I. The
fall of Port Arthur identified key requirements for a fortress that was meant to be
impregnable.
And so it was built, using new or – as
we would say nowadays – innovative andcutting-edge technology. As construction was taking place in a mountainousand particularly inaccessible location,
the first steps in building the fortressinvolved the wide use of cable cars, alongwith compressors, concrete mixers, andlocal power plants.
It would be wrong to say that the fortress turned out the way that its build-ers and designers intended. The rate ofconstruction slowed down when WorldWar I broke out in 1914, as weapons andconstruction materials were sent to theWest. Still, the fortress was completed
after all. By that time, it had around 50
coastal batteries, capable of taking on
the most powerful of enemy ships, 16
forts, tens of coastal air shelters and half
canopies, along with many strongholds
and land batteries. All the main buildings were supplied with electricity andinterconnected with roads and cable cars.
Minefields could be rapidly deployedwith the fleet’s help when needed. Tunneland casemated barracks, along withkilometres of sub-galleries and tunnels,
were erected on the main forts to protect against artillery fire. Today, you
can stumble across fortifications almost
anywhere in Vladivostok, surrounding
countryside or on Russky Island, and theroads and radial highways connecting themain fortress objects have been transformed into city streets and avenues.
The forts are also worth mentioning.
Most of them are located on the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, spanning theUssuriysky and Amursky bays and protecting Vladivostok from onshore. A few
of them are on Russky Island, warding
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Viktor SHALAI,DIRECTOR OF THE ARSENIEV STATE MUSEUM
OF PRIMORSKY REGION AND DIRECTOROF VLADIVOSTOK FORTRESS OPEN-AIR MUSEUM

As you are aware, President Vladimir Putin
opened the Vladivostok Fortress openair museum last year. But creating andimplementing such a complex federallevel project out in the sticks (let us behonest here), let alone in a city withadministrative-centre status, throws up a
lot of unknowns. You undoubtedly need abreakthrough, and as far as I know we’vearranged just that. The transition of themuseum from a regional to a federal
institution, i.e. granting it federal status
and positioning it as a Museum of Historyof the Far East, will be the most effective
solution in my opinion. Fortunately, thisexact decision is currently being discussed
at a ministerial level. One of the major,
128

if not key, parts of this museum that will
fit perfectly is the Vladivostok Fortressopen-air museum. Nonetheless, it should
be noted that having unique fortified
constructions (forts, batteries, etc.)
does not necessarily mean that you can
immediately exploit their tourist potential.
Many of the facilities have different
legal statuses, so we can’t just makethem equal all of a sudden. It will require
painstaking work by lawyers, cadastralexperts and other specialists in the fieldof land, economic and legal relations.
All the more so because in its time,certain mistakes were definitely made. In
particular, a few years ago, a solid amountof the fortress facilities were transferred

to state ownership and introduced into
the Vladivostok municipality. Nowadays,
though, the city would gladly give it all
back, but it’s not that straightforward.
In any case, we really hope that by next
year we’ll be able to show the fruits of
our labour. I won’t pinpoint any names
because I don’t want to jinx it, but I’msure that one of the forts will become afully-fledged structure acquired by themuseum. The transition to a federal level
will bolster the museum and increase
its chances of implementing a whole
range of unique projects. Aside from the
Vladivostok Fortress open-air museum,
it could include structured branches
like the Eastern Museum of Russian
Literature, the Maritime Museum and theEthnological-Archaeological Village Park.
And ultimately, our dream come true isthe Museum of Civil War, which somehow
ended up in Vladivostok.

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PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS, ANDREY SOTROVSKY, YURI TUTOV / PHOTOXPRESS

history_vladivostok fortress

The fortifications were designedwith an eye to blending into thenatural landscape

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS, ANDREY SOTROVSKY, YURI TUTOV / PHOTOXPRESS

You can come across a fortified structure
anywhere in Vladivostok

off any possible attack from the sea. But
whereas the batteries blocking the troops
are scattered across the headlands, theforts are located high up on the hills.
Their multi-storey (mostly underground)powerful structures are immaculately
inscribed in the complex terrain, which
was exploited by Russian fortification engineers to enhance its defensive potential.
Nowadays, it is mainly of tourist value,as the dizzying heights of each of the 16
forts serve as a particularly unique platform which looks out over Vladivostok,
Russky Island, and the complex winding
geometry of the islands, bays and straitsof Peter the Great Gulf.
But back when the fortress was built,
tourism was the last priority. Following
defeats in the Russo-Japanese war and thefall of Port Arthur, Vladivostok acquired
strategic importance for the State as a city
port, which would become the beginning

Each of the forts overlooks
an astounding vistaof the Trans-Siberian Railway route as
the country’s main gateway to the East.
That is why the words uttered by one of
the main creators of the fortress, Major
General Alexei Shoshin became what wewould call today a slogan. Russian militaryengineers, builders, sappers, gunners, soldiers who built grandiose fortifications indifficult conditions, adhered to that: “Themotto ‘Russians are here to stay’ is themain inspiration to fortify the fortress”.
For that reason, Shoshin attached great
important to the appearance of the main
fortification structures. His order, issued
in May 1913 at the height of the construction phrase, is well known:“1. Our priority during construction,with the exception strength and stability,
must be perfectly executing the external
appearance of the structures.
“2. A lack of thorough work in thisregard, that is the rough and ugly appear-

ance of a building, is down to the builder’slack of attention and love for his work,and the outsider is given the impressionof negligence. Every last detail should
be done neatly, correctly and cleanly. Allconstruction lines, corners, edges, intersection lines of arches, planes, surfaces,etc., must be perfectly geometrically correct. Make sure the plumb lines are truly
plumb, and the horizontal lines are truly
horizontal. ”
At the end of the Civil War, the fortress
was disarmed, but it was restored in the
1930s when the new structures started
to appear. The most famous of those
was the Voroshilov Battery on Russky
Island. The immaculately built forts andbatteries served well for many a decade.
A surprising and rare part of Vladivostok
Fortress history is that over its century inexistence, it never actually fired a single
shot. But its very existence was of great
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history_vladivostok fortress“Russians are here to stay”

Despite its formidable cannons,
the fortress has never fired a single shotvalue: the fortress became one of the main
reasons that the Japanese government decided not to attack the country on behalfof Nazi Germany.
After many years of faithful and solid
service to its country, Vladivostok Fortressis now gradually being transformed into
the city’s key tourist attraction by the sea.
One of the most accessible points – thatof the Voroshilov Battery – is preserved
almost intact. Today, there is not onlya branch of the Museum of the Pacific

SIMPLIFIED VISA SYSTEM FOR ENTRY INTO VLADIVOSTOK
To get a visa, foreign citizens must go todate and allows you to stay in Russia for up
a special website of the Russian Ministry
to eight days. It is issued without consularof Foreign Affairs and fill in a form
frees, i.e. free of charge. Citizens of the(https://visa.kdmid.ru/PetitionChoice.
following countries can obtain a simplified
aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1).
visa: Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, China, India,
If your application is accepted, your visa
Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Morocco,
will be issued directly at the border. The
North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
application takes four days to process. YourSingapore, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey andvisa will be valid for 30 days from the issue
United Arab Emirates.

130

Fleet, but also the military-patriotic park
(Patriot), which is very popular among
Vladivostok residents and visitors.
For those who want to research thefortification structures independently,
an interactive and detailed map ofVladivostok Fortress is a must. It canbe found on the following website:www.fortvl.ru. Even better, you could getin touch with experts at the Vladivostok
digger club (www.vladdig.org), who offera choice of excursions for even the mostdemanding of tastes: from a whistle stop
tour, designed for two to three hours, totours lasting many days, which include
a detailed survey of most facilities, aswell as a trip down into the numerous
and sometimes very deep undergroundstructures.

PHOTOS: YURI SMITIUK / TASS

Today, the fortifications are the city’s
chief landmarks

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From Lisbon to Vladivostok

We drive your businessexpansion forward
market entry | accounting | ERP | import | legal | tax

Armenia | Belarus | Germany | Kazakhstan | Poland | Russia | Ukraine | Uzbekistan

Ulf Schneider
CEO & President+7 / 495 / 956 55 57+49 / 30 / 615 089 10
us@schneider-group.com
schneider-group.com

READ ONLINE
schneider-group.com/success-stories

Advertorial
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12.08.2019 16:44

The ‘Lifeline’ of theRussian Far East
IT IS NO SURPRISE THAT IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA THE CHINESE
EASTERN RAILWAY (CER) WAS CONSIDERED THE ‘CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT OF THE CENTURY’ – OR RATHER THE ‘TURN OF THE CENTURY
PROJECT’. IT WAS BUILT IN 1897–1903 USING THE MOST CUTTING-EDGETECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE AT THE TIME.
AFTER THE REVOLUTION OF 1917, IT WAS THE CER THAT FOR DECADESHELPED THE RUSSIAN COMMUNITY IN CHINA TO SURVIVE.
by Svetlana Kuzmina

132

There were no beaten tracks to Siberia
before Yermak; people travelled mostly
on the waterways and by towing. Starting at the end of the 16th century people
started travelling over land, but it took
more than half a year. One hundred years
later, such lengthy travelling becamea nuisance, while the way itself grew
longer – the Empire reached the Pacific
Ocean (Vladivostok was founded in 1860).
There was only one way to expedite
travel eastward: by building a railway.
The laying of the Trans-Siberian Railway,
begun in 1891, came to a halt a few years
later – the question of which way to go
on came up: should the railway follow theAmur River or use a short-cut throughManchuria (China). Sergei Witte, apowerful Minister of Finance at the time,endorsed the second option due to its
obvious geopolitical advantages, and his
viewpoint won the day.

PHOTOS: SMU CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

history_cer

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PHOTOS: SMU CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES / WIKIMEDIA COMMONSA Time Loop
The CER was built using state-of-theart technological and engineering ideas.
The difficulty was in the terrain that therailway had to go through, which included
numerous rivers and mountain passes.
There was a need for bridges and tunnels.
That is why the CER has a significantly
larger number of engineering structures
per 1 km of railway than the Trans-Siberian Railway. “I went through the mountain passes in the Alps and have neverseen anything like the Khingan. What isamazing is not so much the immensity of
the labour invested in it, as the splendid
victory of human thought,” wrote one ofthe passengers of the CER.
The very first challenge that the builders of the CER encountered was the delivery of construction materials: neither
segment of the Trans-Siberian Railway
was working yet, so it was decided to
begin at Harbin with subsequent deliveryof all materials by the Sungari, Amur andUssuri Rivers, even a special shipping
line was established for the purpose.
Alexander Yugovich, who graduated with honors from the London Royal
Academy of Engineering and had alreadybuilt the Trans-Caspian Railway and thePoti–Tiflis Railway across the Surami pass,never lacked for experience or wit. The
CER was built in segments of 70–150 km.
There were over 200 thousand Chinese
workers employed at the enormous construction (contemporaries compared it to
the Suez Canal).
The railway was put into service instages, just as it was built: the first Manchuria–Harbin segment was opened all
the way back in 1899, while the last one,with a branch to Port Arthur, was opened
in 1903. Then, Russia finally made a stepfrom the Middle Ages to the age of upto-date technology: it became possible
to travel from one end of the Empire toanother comfortably in just a couple ofweeks! The express train covered the distance from Moscow to Port Arthur in 13
days and 4 hours, while a passenger train
took 16 days and 14 hours. The voyage hadcost quite a penny: a first-class ticket on
the express was 272 roubles (approximately RUB 300 thousand in current roubles),and a third-class ticket on a passenger

Chita

Komsomolskon-Amur

Blagoveshchensk

Chinese Eastern
Railway

Sovetskaya
Gavan

Khabarovsk

Qiqihar

HarbinUssuriysk
Changchun

Vladivostok

Shenyang

Beijing
TianjinAnshanDalianPyongyang
Seoul

train was 64 roubles (about RUB 70 thousand currently). Arrival of express trains
at Port Dalny (present-day Dalian) was
coordinated with the same day departureof express steam-ships going to Shanghai
and Nagasaki.

Risen from the Ashes
The most remarkable thing is that the
CER not so much promoted the prosperity of the Russian territories as that of theChinese Manchuria. It is actually quite
understandable: the railway only provided
a short-cut for the Trans-Siberian Railway
and expanded the Empire’s presence in
the Far East for a couple of years, until the
Russo-Japanese war. Tokyo perceived the
CER concessions received by Russia asa threat to its interests and, all in all, theconstruction of the railway became casus
belli. Russia lost the war and the railway
had to be adjusted to transport cargo from
Vladivostok.
But the CER had never stopped, making Manchuria one of the most advanced
Chinese provinces in less than ten years.
By 1908, the population of Manchuria
nearly doubled from 8.1 to 15.8 million
and its excess led to tens of thousandsof Chinese going to Primorye to makea living.
The Russian Revolution destroyed theregular pattern of life as well as railway operations and the Chinese made an attempt
to get a hold of it. Under the agreementof 1896, the railway became the propertyof China at the end of 80 years of the dateit went into service (1983) or in 36 years

THE CER ENGINEERINGSTRUCTURESThe CER significantly exceeds the TransSiberian Railway and other lines by the
number of man-made structures per 1 km of
tracks. Altogether there are 1,440 of them;including 912 metal and 258 stone (arched)bridges, 230 pipe-culverts and flume boxes,
and nine tunnels. The largest bridge of
1,005 m is across the Sungari River near
Harbin. A tunnel 3,076.6 m long under theGreater Khingan Ridge (Dà Xīng’ān Lng)
is rightly acknowledged the most uniquestructure of the CER designed by engineer
Nikolay Bocharov. It is the second largest
in pre-revolutionary Russia after the Suramitunnel in the Caucus Mountains (3,987.4m). There is yet another know-how related
to the Khingan Tunnel: the Bocharov’s
Spiral. It means a loop of railway tracks witha radius of 320 meters and 2 kilometers
long that is used to slow down trains that
accelerate on a steep down slope.

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history_cer

Turncoat
The agreement between Peking andMoscow mostly existed on paper only. In
just a few years, the leader of the Chinese
government Chiang Kai-shek moved onfrom sharp criticism of the Bolshevik
Russia (“The red imperialism is more

By 1914, the Chinese Eastern Railway was transporting
70m poods (1.15m tons) of cargo a year

134

First-class fare from Moscow to Port Arthur was theequivalent of 300 thousand in today’s rubles

dangerous than the white”) to action: on
30 March 1926 the Commander-in-Chiefof Chinese forces in Harbin dissolved theelected public self-government bodies
and created a Temporary Committee
instead, composed only of Chinese. In
three more years a diplomatic exchangebegan. In May 1929, Chinese police
broke into the General Consulate of the
USSR in Harbin, detained the head of the
diplomatic mission Melnikov and his employees for six hours and beat his deputy
Znamensky.
On 17 July, Moscow announced severance of diplomatic relations with China
and in November the Special Red Banner Far East Army headed by Blyukher
conducted an operation to restore control of the CER. The raid was successful;
the Chinese army that outnumbered theSoviet one was defeated and the status quo
was restored at the CER according to thePeking and Mukden Agreements.
After the invasion of China by theJapanese in 1931, the CER stopped working and in 1935 there was nothing for
Moscow to do but to make arrangementswith Tokyo: the railway was sold for 140
million yen and the Japanese changed
the tracks to narrower ones, like those inEurope. When, in August 1945, the CER

became a war trophy of the winning country and changed its name to the Chinese
Changchun Railway, the tracks had to bechanged again to those used in the USSR
(1,524 mm). Property rights, however,were soon transferred from Moscow to
Peking, but this time, at the decision of
the Soviet government, which made a giftof the railway to the People’s Republic ofChina headed by Chairman Mao in 1952...
Sixty years later, there is one train on
the schedule of Chinese railways that
goes along the old CER route: a passenger
train number 4192/4194/4195 that covers
the distance of 1,529 km from Manzhouli
to Suifenhe in 25 hours. The railway is
still alive.

CER: THE PRICE TAG
The CER cost of construction, taking into
account the deadlines and engineeringsolutions, was quite high: one versta(1,066.8 meters) had cost 152 thousand
roubles. To compare: the cost of a versta of
the Ussuri Railway was 64.5 thousand and77.1 thousand roubles for the Trans-Baikal
Railway. The entire budget of the CER wasover 460 million roubles (over RUB 500
billion in current currency).

PHOTOS: SMU CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

after the end of construction, provided it
was bought out (1940). Peking decided
neither to pay nor to wait: in 1920 Major
Lo-Bin’s command forces occupied theheadquarters of the Russian Commander-in-Chief in Harbin and the CER’s rightof way. Soon enough, they returned therailway with all its facilities, realizing that
there was more loss than profit in a railway
encumbered by debt and with a fleet ofdecrepit steam-engines and cars. The
adjacent lands, however, were organized
into a Special District of the Three Eastern
Provinces of China and exterritoriality
for subjects of the Russian Empire waswithdrawn.
In May 1924, Peking found common
ground with Moscow, restored diplomatic
relations with the Soviet Russia and theroyal concessions were terminated. The
railway was to be administered jointly by
China and the Soviet Union. Under theaccord of 1924, only citizens of the Soviet
Union and China could work at the CER
and ex-subjects of the Empire quickly
queued up for a red passports, radicallyincreasing the population of the Sovietcolony in Manchuria: from 25 thousand in
1927 to 150 thousand in 1931. There werestill quite a few, however, who did not
acknowledge the Soviet rule.

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F O R U M

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BUSINESS PROGRAMME> 136

FORUM NAVIGATOR> 140

THE GREATER EURASIAN PARTNERSHIP> 147

FAR EAST STREET> 148

CULTURAL PROGRAMME> 150

SPORTING PROGRAMME> 152

А SPECIAL PLACE> 156

CALENDAR> 158

The Russky Bridgein Vladivostok

19.08.2019 17:35

BUSINESS PROGRAMME

BUSINESSPROGRAMME*The Resource Base of the Far East and theArctic: Current State and Development
Prospects
In partnership with Rosgeologia
The Far East and the Russian Arctic
zone are regions of special geostrategicinterest to the state and require the mostfavourable conditions for their socialand economic growth. These areas havesignificant potential with regard to crudehydrocarbons and solid minerals. What
steps and measures need to be adopted?
What stimuli will be the most effective inattracting investment to these regions, inparticular to their geological exploration?

NEW SOLUTIONS FOR
ACCELERATING ECONOMIC GROWTH
High-Tech Business: Identifying What Is
Needed to Achieve Fast Growth
The Far East already has a solid baseto launch innovative projects with ascience and technology centre. The
transformation of promising projects
into functioning high-tech businesses
remains an important issue. How can we
accelerate this process and get large andmedium-sized businesses to introduce
advanced technological solutions?
*Schedule as of 15 August 2019136

Advanced Special Economic Zones andthe Free Port of Vladivostok: Configuring
Preferences
More than five years have passed since
the establishment of Advanced Special
Economic Zones (ASEZ) and the Free Port of
Vladivostok (FPV) in the Far East. It is now
time to hold discussions with the current
and potential residents of ASEZ/FPV about
whether everything is working as it was
intended and as stipulated in legislation, andwhether investors’ expectations have been
met. Most importantly, is it easy to becomeand stay a resident of an ASEZ/FPV?

Productivity Leaders: Drawing on the
Asian and European Experience toSupport Regional Growth
In this session, partners from Europe
and the Asia-Pacific region will present
tried and tested methods for securing
steady growth in labour productivity
in order to make the economy morecompetitive. They will share theresults of implementing a culture oflean manufacturing, robotization, and

PHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia,
addresses the EEF plenary session

Increasing the Investment Appeal of the
Far East
This closed session will be attended by the
Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the
Far Eastern Federal District, the Ministerfor the Development of the Russian Far
East, heads of other federal government
bodies, and regional leaders in the Russian
Far East. Topics for discussion will
include fostering a favourable businessenvironment and making organizational
headquarters (project offices) based in the
Far East more efficient.

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digitalization. Other areas covered will
include implementing tools to boost
the business environment and raisea country’s export potential, reducing
red tape, improving the management of
human resources, and developing theemployment system.
A LSO• Preferential Regimes for Investors:
Current Progress and New Challenges• The Russian Continental Shelf: Is
Development Necessary?
• Long-Term and Affordable Capitalfor Investments: New Fundraising
Opportunities• From Raw Materials to Advanced
Processing: Achieving Growth in theForestry Sector• The Breadbasket of the Asia Pacific:
Increasing Food Exports from the Far East
• Developing Aquaculture: Initial Resultsand New Objectives• Investing in the Fishing Industry:
Achievements and Next Steps• Developing Far Eastern Hectares: New
Forms of Government Support• Special Administrative Districts: One
Year on• Solid Minerals Mining: How Can theInvestment Potential of the Industry Be
Utilized Most Effectively?
• Human Capital for a New Eurasia• Youth Economy: Problems andProspects for Development in View of
Russia–India Cooperation

regimes to attract investors. We mustclearly understand what actions need tobe taken so that the mechanisms used
to grant any preferences or benefits are
effective and accessible to the business
community.
SMEs as a Driver of Economic Growth
What can be done to increase the numberof people involved in the SME sector,
reduce bureaucratic barriers, and create
an integrated system for supporting small
businesses? How can the creation of newenterprises and startups be simplified,making Far Eastern businesses truly
competitive?

The Development Path for Petrochemicals
in the East: Projects, Support Measures,
Drivers of Growth
The Amur gas and chemical cluster,
Sakhalin, and Nakhodka could become
key hubs for creating a new petrochemical
production infrastructure. What needs tobe done to unlock this potential?

Digital State: New Business Models
Brought by Total Digitalization
What strategic national projects exist forbuilding a digital state to improve thequality of people’s lives and business? In
terms of the race for high technologies
in governance, what is the driver of andwhat is a barrier to development? Whatpublic services will be in demand among
citizens and the business community inthe new technological era?

Improving National Jurisdiction andProtecting Investors’ Rights
The global community has new ways
to improve the mechanisms for settlinglegal disputes and the legal regulationof business as well as to create special

Tourist and Recreational Zones of the
Far East: Smart Approach for Integrated
Territorial Development
The renewed strategy to develop Russky
Island, alongside Kronstadt, will act
as pilot projects for the use of smart

IMPROVING THE BUSINESSENVIRONMENTPHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSOver five years, the EEF has become a key event for
discussing current business issues in the Asia-Pacific region

management models in implementing
projects on integrated territorial
development in order to develop tourism.
Which new state support measures will
be aimed at developing tourist zones andterritories in the Far Eastern Federal
District? What will attract foreign
investors?
Olympism and the Asia Pacific: Global
Mutual Influence
What innovations can we expect to see
in Tokyo in 2020 and Beijing in 2022?
Where will the Russian national teamtrain for the upcoming games, and whatrole will the Olympic factor play in thedevelopment of the Russian Far East? How
are Olympic sports being reformed withthe development of commercially viable
products?
Including the Far East in Global Value
Chains: Effective Strategies
Given the Far East’s geographicalproximity to the countries of the AsiaPacific region that are actively involved
in global value creation processes, thecreation of an effective strategy forcompanies in the region to participate
in GVC is an important issue. What are
the parameters for the Russian Far East’s
participation in global and regional
value chains? How can the margins
of participation in these chains be
increased?
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BUSINESS PROGRAMME

occupy in the global processes of digitaltransformation of international trade?
The Digital Future of Transport Corridors
Running through the Far East: International
Experience and Russian Realities
In partnership with FESCO
Transport corridors running throughthe Far East are undergoing a processof digitalization, and paperwork ismoving online. As a result, transit times
from the Asia Pacific to Europe will besignificantly reduced in the near future,
while the volume of cargo entering
Russia will increase. Are Russiantransport market players ready forthese changes? What steps should thegovernment take?

A Leap Forward in Energy:
Efficiency, Innovation, Environmental
Sustainability
In partnership with Rosseti
It is clear that, across all sectors
within the fuel and energy industry,companies’ and countries’ readiness andability to undergo advanced innovative
development and build partnerships
has become central to preserving andincreasing their share of the market.
How can the sector’s investment
appeal be preserved during this periodof uncertainty? How can a country
maximize the value of their natural
resources and intellectual property
in the energy sector?
The Environment in the Far East:
Current Objectives and Long-Term
Prospects
Five projects covering key areas — waste,air, water, technology, and biodiversity —are being implemented over a six-year
period to 2024. How will these projects be
implemented in the Far East? What effectwill they have on the region’s investment
climate? What best international practices
could be applied?
Russia and the EAEU in the Asia Pacific:
Key Integration Factors and Prospects forStrengthening Business Ties
138

The potential for Russia and the EAEU’s
cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries
remains largely untapped. What are someof the key barriers to taking cooperation
to a new level?
Valdai Discussion Club Session
The Asian Mirror: The Pivot East throughthe Eyes of Asian Partners
The time has now come to holdan interim discussion and to draw
conclusions. Leading experts from China,
South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia,
and Vietnam will share and discuss theirviews on where the pivot East has beensuccessful, and where it has faltered.
The experts will also provide theirperspectives on how it could be further
developed. How is Russia’s pivot East
viewed in Asia? What has worked, andwhat has not? What Russian products andservices are in demand in Asia?
The Digital Transformation ofInternational Trade: E-commerce andBeyondIn partnership with the Russian Export
Center
The digital revolution presents newchallenges and new risks for world trade.
What is the image of the world trade of the
future and what are the key trends in digitaltransformation? What place should Russia

Human Capital: Lessons from RussianJapanese Cooperation
It is worth noting that the objectives of
Russia's national projects largely coincidewith the eight-point cooperation planwith Russia initiated by Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzō Abe in 2016. In three
years, the plan has led to the creationof over 200 joint projects. How canthese projects contribute to the social
development goals of Russia's Far
Eastern regions? What instruments can
the two countries’ national development
institutions create to support theimplementation of these projects?
Which cutting-edge Japanese medical
technologies will be implemented in Far
Eastern clinics?
ALSO• Improving Access to Financial Services
in the Far East
• Exploring the Far East: New Business
Opportunities in Tourism• Central Russia: New Opportunities for
Investors• Transforming the Construction Industry
to Increase the Investment Potential of
Far Eastern Regions• Infrastructure for the Data Economy:
New Opportunities for Cooperation
between the Far East and APR• Russia and the Korean Peninsula: New
Opportunities• Legislative Support for Arctic
Development

PHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

Sberbank CEO Herman Gref and Far Eastern Federal University
rector Nikita Anisimov are active participants in the EEF

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• Logistics in Russia and India: A Digital
Pathway to Uniting Asia and Europe• Infrastructure for the Data Economy:
New Opportunities for Cooperation
between the Far East and APR

NEW SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVINGQUALITY OF LIFE
Housing, Utilities, and the Urban
Environment: Effective Investments
Only the joint efforts of the governmentand business will make it possible toeffectively take an integrated approachto the development of the urban
environment and infrastructure. How
profitable could investment in the urban
environment and public utilities be?
Should investors be guided by people’s
preferences when implementing theirown projects?
Pathways to a Healthy Life in the Far East
A number of ambitious targets have been
set as part of a federal project entitled
Strengthening Public Health. Achieving
these will require input from government
bodies, preventative medicine and publichealth centres, and the public at large.
A number of pilot regions have been
selected in the Far East for this project.
What resources will be needed to increase
the number of years of healthy life in the
Far East?

PHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

How Women Leaders Can Shape theWorkforce of the Future
How does boosting women’s involvement
in shaping workforce potential impact
growth in modern economies? Whatskills do women need to develop in
this changing world and what new
professional roles are women taking onin the context of the fourth industrial
revolution?
Cultural People: Projects to Enhance
the Intellectual and Cultural Level of
Education
What initiatives are being implemented
to nurture and enlighten citizens in
cultural affairs? Do standards need to
be introduced in cultural educationand how will this help achieve thegoals of the national project? What

Participants appreciate the Forum for providing them with
an opportunity to draw attention to their stanceprospects exist for cooperation between
institutions, the government, andthe business community in mattersconcerning cultural education?

require additional investment? Will newtechnologies enable patients to manage
their own health?
ALSO

Systemic, Technological, and Informal:
What Charity Will Be Like in 2020
How will the sector change in the next
decade in Russia and abroad? Why arecompanies investing more and more in
the development of infrastructure for theactivities of non-profit organizations,charity, and volunteering in the regions
where they operate as opposed toindividual projects?
A Step Forward for Healthcare in the
Far East
With the emergence of virtual reality
tools, CRISPR, 3-D printers, personal
wearable devices, electronic medical
records, 5G mobile technologies, andthe growth of telemedicine, patients canovercome large distances and receive
medical care at a time convenientto them. Which promising medical
technologies will be the most soughtafter in the Far East? Are public andprivate medical organizations thatprovide e-services sufficiently regulated?
Which areas of digital healthcare• Threats to Biological Security in the Asia
Pacific: New Risks and Opportunities• A New Workforce for the New Economy:
Achieving a Major Improvement in the
Quality of Education• Private Investment in the Social Sphere:
New Support Mechanisms• An International Medical Cluster: To Be
or Not to Be?
• Providing Medical Assistance in Remote
Areas• Building the City of the Future: Where to
Begin?
• The Role of Young People in Creatingand Developing a Comfortable Urban
Environment• The East and Voluntary Work: How
People are changing the Far East for the
BetterBusiness Dialogues• Russia–China• Russia–Japan• Russia–India• Russia–ASEAN• Russia–Republic of Korea
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navigator

NAVIGATORFAR EASTERN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY(FEFU)

3 September
08:00–20:00

EEF
MAIN EVENTS

4–5 September
08:00–20:00

AJAX BAY, RUSSKY ISLAND,
VLADIVOSTOK

6 September
08:00–18:00

Participants are kindly requested toarrive at the Forum venue 30–40 minutes before the start of an event.
The journey time from the city centre to FEFU is approximately half anhour (depending on the traffic).
Travel times may be longer on
Forum event days.

INFORMATIONCENTRE

+7 (499) 7000 111

facebook-square

info@forumvostok.ru

en.forumvostok

forumvostok.ru

YOUTUBE

INTERNET ACCESSInternet access is available
free of charge at the Forumvenue.
Network name:
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Password:
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please follow the instructions
on the authorization web page
which is displayed when connecting
to the network.

* Information is valid as of 15 August 2019. Detailed information about the Forum can be found on the official website forumvostok.ru

140

EEF ONLINECOMMUNITY

forumvostok

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PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSEVENTS
ON THE SIDELINES OF EEF*

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

INFORMATION
AND SERVICES POINTS

At information and services points,
participants can obtain information on the
EEF programme, available services, anddirections around the Forum venue andother sites.



specified in the participant’s invitation
to the Forum.

MOBILE APP
The Eastern Economic Forum mobile app
is the best way to get the latest informationand learn about services offered at the Forum.
The mobile app can be downloaded fromthe App Store and Google Play (search term:‘eef 2019’).
All of the app’s functions and features are
fully available after entering the personal
web office login and password which were

EEF information and services points
are located:• At Vladivostok International Airport• In Accreditation Centre 1 (building М,level 1)
• At the Forum venue (buildings А, В, C)The information and services points
at the Forum venue offer the following
services:

PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS• Copying and printing of documents• Copying and recording information
to electronic media• Distribution of Forum informationmaterials

Key app functions:• Get information about the latest versionof the Forum programme• View video broadcasts of business events• Exchange messages with otherparticipants• Schedule meetings (‘Day planner’ section)• Create a personal event schedule• View the shuttle bus timetable• Navigate the Forum venue

BROADCASTS
OF FORUM EVENTS
The plenary session and other Forum
events will be broadcast live on TV
screens located at the Forum venue.
In addition to session feeds, the TV
screens will also display information
bulletins, navigation information,
session schedules, and much more.
Live broadcasts of businessprogramme events can also beviewed in the ‘Programme’ section
at forumvostok.ru and in the EEF
2019 mobile app. The broadcast
archive will also be available in the‘Programme’ section on the Forumwebsite.

PAYMENT FOR PARTICIPATION AND SERVICES
Participants can pay the participation fee and the cost of any
services provided by the Roscongress Foundation at the financial
services stands at the FEFU venue. The Forum financial services
stands also issue closing documents. A 5.5% commission fee
is charged when paying for participation and services at the Forumvenue. Cash and bank cards are accepted for payment.

LOCATION

DATE

TIME

Accreditation Centre 1(FEFU, building М, level 1)

3 September
4–5 September
6 September

09:00–20:00
08:00–20:00
08:00–15:00

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navigator

Participants should keep their badges and identity documents withthem at all times while at the Forum venue.
The badge is personalized and may not be transferred to third parties.
If the accreditation badge is lost or damaged, a participant should
go to the Help Desk or any accreditation point.

ACCESS TO THE FORUM VENUEThe EEF 2019 venue and a number ofcultural and sporting programme events
may only be accessed with an accreditation
badge.
Badges may be collected in person(upon presentation of the identity
document) or by power of attorney in oneof the accreditation points in Moscow or
Vladivostok. Participants are kindly asked
to collect their badges in advance.
If a participant’s badge is collected bya third party using a power of attorney,

the authorized person must present thefollowing:• The authorized third party’s passport• An original standard power of attorney*• A list of participants• Copies of participants’ passports**
To simplify and expedite collectionof accreditation badge a participant
may present an electronic ticketat an accreditation stand. The
electronic ticket is an A4-sized
document printed from a participant’s

personal web office at forumvostok.ru
displaying their personal information(country, full name, and organization),accreditation point locations andoperating hours, and other essential
information.
The electronic ticket is not a prerequisite
for obtaining accreditation; it does notserve as a replacement for ID and does
not grant access to the Forum venue
or events of the cultural and sporting
programmes.

COLLECTING YOUR BADGEPOINTADDRESS

DATE

TIME

Entrance № 7, ground floor,
12, Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya

26–30 August
31 August – 1 September
2 September
3 September

09:00–20:00
10:00–18:00
09:00–20:00
09:00–15:00

Accreditation Centre 1

Building M, FEFU, Ajax Bay,
Russky Island

21–31 August
1 September
2–5 September
6 September

10:00–19:00
10:00–23:59
24 hours
00:00–22:00

Vladivostok International Airport

41, Ulitsa Vladimira Saibelya,
Artyom

31 August – 5 September

07:00–23:00

Vladivostok Marine Terminal

1, Nizhneportovaya Ulitsa

1 September
2–5 September

12:00–22:30
08:30–22:30

Lotte Hotel Vladivostok

29, Semyonovskaya Ulitsa

1–2 September
3–5 September

10:00–20:00
07:30–22:30

MOSCOW
Roscongress Foundation Accreditation
Centre at the World Trade Center Moscow

VLADIVOSTOK

Before issuing a badge, an accreditation point attendant will make sure that the data specified in the personal web office at forumvostok.ru
corresponds to the ID document. In the event of any discrepancies, it will not be possible to issue the badge on the same day.

*A power of attorney form and an example of how to complete it can be found in the ‘Collecting a badge’ section at forumvostok.ru** Without a list and copies of the passports of all participants to be accredited, the power of attorney will not be valid. Copies of passports will be returned once badges have been issued

142

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ACCREDITATION OF PERSONAL VEHICLES
During the EEF, vehicular accessto the Forum venue will only be
granted to vehicles with an EEF 2019transport pass. On 3–6 September,there may also be limited vehicularaccess to Vladivostok International
Airport, recommended hotels,
and various cultural and sporting
programme venues.
More information on terms andconditions can be viewed in the personal
web office at forumvostok.ru, where
requests for personal vehicle

attorney at Accreditation Centre 1.
A power of attorney form and an exampleof how to complete it can be found inthe ‘Accreditation of personal vehicles’
section at forumvostok.ru.

accreditation and drivers’ badges can also
be submitted.
Once applied for, transport passes
and drivers’ accreditation badges canbe collected in person or by power of

POINT

DATE

TIME

Accreditation Centre 1(Building M, FEFU, Ajax Bay,
Russky Island)

21 August – 1 September
2 September
3–5 September
6 September

10:00–19:00
10:00–23:59
24 hours
00:00–22:00

FORUM MATERIALSPARTICIPANT BAG
Participant bags can be collected either in person (upon presentationof a badge or an electronic ticket) or by power of attorney.
The authorized third party must present:• The authorized third party’s passport• An original standard power of attorney*• Badges or electronic tickets for all participants whose bags thethird party is collecting* A power of attorney form and an example of how to complete it
can be found in the ‘Participant bag’ section at forumvostok.ru.
A third party acting on the basis of a power of attorney may
collect participant bags only if they have a badge allowing accessto the EEF business programme event zone.

LOCATION

DATE

TIME

Building С, level 5

3 September
4–5 September
6 September

10:00–19:00
08:00–20:00
08:00–15:00

PRESS KITS
Materials for media representatives can be collected
at the press centre.
LOCATION

DATE

TIME

Building G, level 1

3 September
4–5 September
6 September

10:00–19:00
08:00–20:00
08:00–15:00

ARRANGING
BUSINESS MEETINGS
Participants can use the ‘Day planner’ section of the personal
web office or the EEF 2019 mobile app to plan and arrange
business meetings. Meetings can be held both at the Forumvenue and off-site.
EY BUSINESS NETWORKING PLATFORM

 3–5 September, 08:00–20:00
6 September, 08:00–18:00

 Building А, level 3
The EY business networking platform is a specially equipped
space offering comfortable meeting rooms for participantsat FEFU.
Conditions for booking meeting spaces at the EY businessnetworking platform:• Meetings are held strictly to a schedule created by the online
system. Rooms can be booked by submitting an application.
• In order for a meeting room to be reserved for the selected
time slot, the meeting must be confirmed by the invitee
within 72 hours, but no later than one hour before the startof the meeting.
• Meetings are to be held strictly to schedule, lasting
25 minutes. Extensions may be made only if free space
is available.
• To be admitted to the meeting room, the meeting
participants must present themselves at the businessnetworking platform administrator’s stand and show theirbadges.
• If the meeting is not confirmed in advance, a room will only
be allocated if a free slot is available.
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THEMATIC ZONES‘HEALTHY LIFE’ AREAFAR EAST STREET 3 September, 09:00–20:00

 3–8 September, 09:00–21:00

4–5 September, 08:00–20:00
6 September, 08:00–18:00

 Building А, level 6
The ‘Healthy Life’ Area is a new feature
which will bring together world-renowned experts, government representatives, and business leaders, who will draw

ROSCONGRESS AND
GOVERNORS’ CLUB 3 September, 09:00–20:00
4–5 September, 08:00–20:00
6 September, 08:00–18:00

 Building А, level 4
A private club for the intellectual,business, and political elite equipped
to offer a superior networking
experience, and open exclusively
to Roscongress Club card holders,
Russian governors and presidential
plenipotentiary envoys.
The clubs are also accessible witha special invitation.
BUILDING TRUST AREA

upon international experience to discuss
key issues related to improving qualityof life and helping people to live longer
healthy lives.

 Ajax Bay Promenade, Russky Island
Guests of the exhibition will get an
opportunity to learn about the economic potential of 11 Far Eastern regions,
their tourist attractions, and cultural
traditions. Among the most significant
events are Fish Market and Taiga Trades& Crafts fair; presentation of innovative projects by FEFU young scientists;
interactive zones of the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environmentof the Russian Federation; Far Eastern Hectare and Far Eastern Village
exhibitions. Concerts, film screenings,
as well as ‘Beauty of the Far East’ and‘Far East Street Master Chef’ competitions will be organized. Also, a sailing
regatta, international mas-wrestling and
Go tournaments, as well as Far EasternGames will be held. Anyone wishing topass the qualifications of the Russian
national health and fitness programme
can try to do so.
From 3 to 6 September, the exhibition will
be open for EEF guests and participants;
7 September is a social day; and on
8 September the exhibition will be open
to all city guests and residents.

 3 September, 09:00–20:00
4–5 September, 08:00–20:00
6 September, 08:00–18:00

Innosocium LAB
The Innosocium LAB is a uniqueplatform that brings together
government, business, and non-profit
organizations to hold discussions witha social focus.
Innovation Space
The Innovation Space is a platform
created by the Roscongress Foundation
where experts can discuss innovative
projects, artificial intelligence, and thedigital economy.
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PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS Building А, level 3

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DINING AT THE FORUM VENUECOFFEE AND LIGHT REFRESHMENTS
NAME

LOCATION

TIME

Coffee break area

Building B, level 6
Building B, level 7
Building С, level 5

08:00–19:00(4–6 September)Lighthouse café

Building В, level 5

CAFÉS AND RESTAURANTS (PAYMENT REQUIRED)NAME

LOCATION

TIME

CATERING FORMAT

Panorama restaurant
Deck 12 restaurant
RUSSIAN FISH HOUSE
restaurant
Polina café
№ 1 Coffee Place

Building А,level 12Parking near
the building В
FEFU campus
Building А, level 6
Building В, level 5
Building С, level 6

11:30–17:00 (4–6 September)
08:00–21:00 (4–6 September)
12:00–22:00 (3–5 September)
12:00–18:00 (6 September)
08:00–24:00 (4–6 September)

Set menu

08:00–22:00 (4–6 September)À la carte

Tea, coffee, snacks,and desserts

For the list of recommended Vladivostok restaurants, see: forumvostok.ru, ‘Vladivostok restaurants’ section

ACCOMMODATION
For any queries regarding
accommodation, participants
may contact the hotel
accommodation services
at the Roscongress Foundation:

Villa Arte 4*
Acfes-Seiyo 3*
Arbat-Vladivostok 3*
Aurora Park Hotel 3*+7 (495) 212 0316
booking@forumvostok.ru

Avanta 3*

For media representatives:+7 (495) 212 0310, ext. 1183
mediabooking@forumvostok.ru

Equator 3*

VLADIVOSTOKHOTELS:

Recreation complex Mayak

Gavan 3*

PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

Meridian 3*
Costa Venezia
cruise ship

Primorye 3*

Lotte Hotel Vladivostok 5*

Zhemchuzhina 3*

Astoria 4*
AZIMUT Hotel Vladivostok 4*

RUSSKY ISLAND
HOTELS:

Tigre De Cristal 4*

FEFU 3* – hotel buildings 1–5

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FORUM SHUTTLE BUSES
During the Forum, regular free shuttle buses will run from the recommended hotels, Vladivostok International Airport
and Vladivostok Marine Terminal to the Forum venue and back, as well as around the FEFU campus.
MARINE TERMINAL – FEFU –MARINE TERMINALROUTE 4

DATE

ROUTE

TIME

INTERVAL

3–6 September

Marine Terminal –FEFU
FEFU – Marine
Terminal

07:30–10:30
11:00–15:00
16:00–20:00

30 minutes
60 minutes
30 minutes

ROUTE 2ROUTE

2 September
Airport – Marine
3–6 September Terminal – Airport
7 September

ROUTE 3ZOLOTOY ROG

DATE

ROUTE

3–6 September Hotels* – FEFU
FEFU – hotels*

TIME
12:00–20:00
06:00–20:00
05:00–12:00

ROUTE

TIME

2 September
3–6 September
7 September

Airport – FEFU –Airport12:00–20:00
06:00–20:00
05:00–12:00

INTERVAL

07:30–10:30
11:00–15:00
16:00–20:00

30 minutes
60 minutes
30 minutes

INTERVAL

60 minutes

4.2.

AURORA PARK HOTEL

DATE

ROUTE

TIME

3–6 September Aurora Park Hotel – FEFU
FEFU – Aurora Park Hotel

AIRPORT – FEFU – AIRPORT

DATE

TIME

* Hotels: Lotte Hotel Vladivostok, AZIMUT Hotel Vladivostok,
Astoria, Avanta, Zhemchuzhina, Primorye, Meridian, Equator,
Gavan, Arbat-Vladivostok

AIRPORT – MARINE TERMINAL –AIRPORT

DATE

4.1.

HOTELS – FEFU –HOTELS

4.3.
INTERVAL

60 minutes

07:00, 08:00, 09:00
18:00, 19:00, 20:00

TIGRE DE CRISTAL

DATE

ROUTE

TIME

3–6 September Tigre de Cristal – FEFU
FEFU – Tigre de Cristal

ROUTE 507:00, 08:00, 09:00
18:00, 19:00, 20:00

FEFU CAMPUS

DATE

ROUTE

TIME

INTERVAL

3–6 September

Around FEFU
campus

07:00–21:45
22:00–06:30

15 minutes
30 minutes

Shuttle buses only run to/from hotels indicated in the timetable. Guests staying
at other hotels can use the shuttle bus from one of the nearest shuttle bus
departure points.
The shuttle bus timetable is subject to change. Please check the latest timetablein the EEF 2019 mobile app and on the official Forum website (forumvostok.ru).
Uniformed transport coordinators with identification signs will be on duty at
shuttle bus departure points.

146

PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSROUTE 1

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THE GREATEREURASIAN
PARTNERSHIPON 3 SEPTEMBER 2019 A CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AS PART OF THE EASTERN ECONOMIC FORUM ENTITLED
A COMMON ECONOMIC SPACE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC: THE GREATER EURASIAN PARTNERSHIP.
THE EVENT WILL FOCUS ON INTERACTION BETWEEN THE GREATER EURASIAN PARTNERSHIPAND THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE CONTEXT OF A COMMON ECONOMIC SPACE,

PHOTO: TASSAS WELL AS INTERREGIONAL COLLABORATION IN THE FAR EAST

Economic relations in the megaregion
stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacificform a key topic for discussion at various
events. On numerous occasions, global
leaders have spoken of the need to establish a common space from Lisbon to Vladivostok. Russian President Vladimir Putin
has promoted the idea, which has also been
supported by German Chancellor Angela
Merkel. In addition, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker
has underscored the need for trade integration and closer alignment between the
EU and EAEU. These statements have
served to reinforce the importance of establishing a single economic and humanitarian space which could underpin longterm sustainable development across theentire Eurasian continent.
Crucially, during discussions on theidea, Russia has put forward the initiativeof a Greater Eurasian Partnership involving the Eurasian Economic Union, China,
India, Pakistan, Iran, the CIS, and othercountries and intergovernmental organizations. Primary measures proposed
under this initiative include simplifying and unifying regulation governing
collaboration within various industries,
investments, and technical and customs
procedures.
An important step in this direction
was made in 2016, when the Roscongress
Foundation spearheaded the signing of amemorandum covering collaboration andjoint action from Lisbon to Vladivostok.
International business representatives
declared their intent to foster and support
trade, attract investment, and remove redtape in the megaregion.
In order to develop and promote collaboration, the signatories of the memo-

randum – the Roscongress Foundation,
Banca Intesa, and Schneider Group –held a range of events. These aimed to
employ ties and step up coordination
within the EAEU in order to develop
relations with the EU.
The upcoming conference will provide
yet another platform to discuss aspects related to strengthening trade and economic
ties, and establishing a common economic
space from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Conference organizer

Special partner

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navigator

Far East
StreetCAN YOU VISIT ALL 11 REGIONS OF THE FEFD IN A SINGLE DAY? OF COURSE YOU CAN —IF YOU COME TO ‘FAR EAST STREET’ ON THE BANK OF AJAX BAY. ALONGSIDE PAVILIONSWITH VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS DEDICATED TO THE INDIVIDUAL REGIONS, GUESTS WILL BE
TREATED TO AN EXCITING CULTURAL AND CULINARY PROGRAMME,AS WELL AS MASTER CLASSES IN PREPARING

Amur
RegionPopulation: over 790 thousand
Currently, the Amur Gas Processing
Plant, the largest in Russia and one of
the largest in the world, as well thePower of Siberia gas pipeline are being
constructed in the region.The Eastern
Siberia–Pacific oil pipeline passes
through the region
Power engineering is a leadingindustry; the Zeya and Bureyahydropower dams are situated in theregionFAR EASTERN DELICACIES

Amur Oblast is home to the Vostochny
Cosmodrome
The region’s transportation network
includes three railway mainlines—
the Trans-Siberian Railway, theBaikal–Amur Mainline, and theAmur–Yakutsk railway; the Amur andLena federal highways; and two majorwaterways, the Amur and the Zeya

Republic of Sakha(Yakutia)

Republicof Buryatia

Kamchatka
RegionPrimorye
Territory

The largest administrative subdivisionof any country in the world

Adjacent to the eastern shore
of Lake Baikal

The only federal subject of Russia tospan three time zones

Population: — over 980 thousand

Kamchatka has 300 large andmedium-sized volcanoes, of which 29
are active

The Russian Far East’s southernmost
region, located at the boundary of thesubtropical zone

Fishery (river and sea fishing as well asprocessing) is the main branch of thelocal economy

Population: approx. 2 million

Copper, titanium, platinum, gold,
mercury, oil, natural gas, and coil are
extracted in the region

A major timber region

Population: over 960 thousand
Yakutsk is the world’s only city sited on
permafrost—and a city of over 300
thousand at thatFirst place in the FEFD in industrial
production
Russia’s top diamond-mining regionand one of the leaders in gold mining
Home to Russia’s largest uranium
deposit at Elkon as well as the Elgincoal deposit
One of the richest in rivers and lakes
among the country’s regions,
its rivers total 2 million km in length,presenting unique hydropower
opportunities. The Lena, the Aldan and
the Kolyma are the major navigableriversImportant branches of the economy
include oil and gas extraction, ironmining, and non-ferrous ore mining

148-149_Infographics-Far-East-Street_en.indd 148

Russia’s largest Buddhist region,
Buryatia is home to over a thousand
cultural heritage sites
Chief industries: aircraft construction(the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant manufactures Mi-17 helicopters and Su-39
planes), as well as shipbuilding, aviationand thermal instrument engineering, andrailway stock repairs
The Republic is rich in natural
resources including tungsten,molybdenum, asbestos, graphite, andcoal. The Yermakovskoye beryllium
deposit is the largest in Russia
Thermal power plants form the basis of
the Republic’s energy supply, with solar
power plants and a wind farm underconstruction

The Kamchatka Peninsula has over 14
thousand rivers and streams.
Hydropower, both run-of-the-river andtidal (in Penzhina Bay), is seeing active
development
Geothermal power development has
included the construction of large steam
power plants at the Mutnovskoye andPauzhetskoye hydrothermal spring sites.
Two wind farms have also been built

One of Russia's leading fishery regions

Has 100 coal deposits and two large
coal-shipping ports
30 tin deposits, 15 polymetallic ore
deposits, and the largest boron
deposit in Russia
Home to major shipyards
and aircraft factories, including theArsenyev-based manufacturer of Ka-52
helicopters
The main seaports are in Vladivostok
and Nakhodka
A well-developed railway network:
1,625 km, of which 970 km iselectricized;
Vladivostok is the main base of
Russia’s Pacific Fleet, whose largest
formations are stationed in Primorye
Territory

19.08.2019 18:16

Zabaykalsky
Krai

Jewish Autonomous
Region

The world’s only Jewish subnational
entity with official status

Situated along the Amur River routeand the Baikal–Amur Mainline

The only Autonomous Regionof the Russian Federation

A highly-developed agriculture,a number of industrial processing
plants, deposits of iron andmanganese ore, graphite, and gold

Population: approx. 160 thousand(82nd of 85)

Population: over 1 million (third mostpopulous in the FEFD)
Much of the land is mountainous,
with 65 ridges
Mining is the main industry; the region
has large deposits of copper (at Udokan),coal, uranium, lead, zinc, and gold ore
A significant part of the regional economy
is tied to servicing the 29th Combined
Arms Army, which is quartered there
Two major railways pass throughZabaykalsky Krai: the Trans-Baikal
Railway, which is among the region’slargest enterprises, and the Baikal–Amur
Mainline

Sakhalin
RegionChukotka
Autonomous Area

MagadanRegionKhabarovsky
Krai

One of Russia’s easternmost territories
and the only federal subject situatedentirely on islands (59 in total)

Russia’s northeasternmost region whichshares a maritime border with the USA

The Russian federal subject with thethird smallest population, at a little over
141 thousand

Fourth largest Russian federal subject
by area

Population: approx. 490 thousand
Ranks first in the FEFD in gross regional
product (GRP) and GRP per capita, andfourth in GRP per capita in all of Russia
One of the country’s leading oil andnatural gas producing regions. The oiland gas complex makes for about 90%
of Sakhalin’s industrial output
One of the leaders in fish and seafood
capture in Russia
The Region has eight airports anda heliport, eight seaports and 11 marine
terminals. The Vanino–Kholmsk train
ferry connects the region to themainlandAt around 50 thousand, it is second least
populated Russian federal subject after
the Nenets Autonomous Okrug

One of Russia’s leading gold, silver, tin,
and tungsten mining regions

Home to Russia’s northernmost town,
Pevek, and its easternmost, Anadyr

A major fishing region providing
domestic as well as export supply

One of the largest gold-mining regionsin Russia, Chukotka mines 10% of
Russia’s gold, including at the famous
lode deposits of Kupol, Mayskoye and
Karalveem, and placer deposits of
Ichuveem, Ryveem and Pilkhinkuul

A strong, hydro-based power grid
whose service extends to neighbouring
regions

Chukotka has rich deposits of silver,
platinum, tin, copper, and mercury
The Bilibino nuclear power plant is
Chukotka’s leading electricity supplier
Five federal seaports operate in
Chukotka: Anadyr, Pevek, Provideniya,
Beringovsky, and Egvekinot

2,323 km of paved motorways,
some with advanced surfacing

Population: over 1.3 million
Economy basis: ship and aircraft
construction, other mechanicalengineering
Economically significant industry:
fish capture and processing
A highly-developed metal andchemical industry
A strong timber industry complex; theregion ranks first in the FEFD, andthird in Russia, in timber harvesting.
Forest covers an area of 52 million ha
Two of the major railway mainlines
of Eastern Russia, the Trans-Siberian
Railway and the Baikal–Amur
Mainline, pass through Khabarovsky
Krai

A federal Kolyma–Omsukchan–Omolon–Anadyr motorway is underconstruction, which will provide
a year-round connection between
Chukotka and the Far Eastern road
network. 1,400 of its 2,300 km will run
through Chukotka
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cultural programme

CULTURALPROGRAMMECOMING BACK: THE LONG WAY
HOME. AN ART EXHIBITIONBY ALEXANDRA AZOVTSEVA

 1–30 September, 10:00–18:00
 The Pushkin Theatre (27, Pushkinskaya
Ulitsa, Vladivostok)

AN ESSAY ON A PAINTING:
LOW MARKS AGAIN FROM THE
COLLECTION OF THE TRETYAKOVGALLERY 3–10 September, 11:00–19:00
 Primorye State Picture Gallery(12, Aleutskaya Ulitsa, Vladivostok)

A selection of paintings from the Chineseperiod of this 20th-century Russian émigré
artist who lived in China and Australia.
Admission is free.

Well-known in Russia, this painting by
Fyodor Reshetnikov will be exhibited in
Vladivostok for the first time.
Admission by badge for Forum participants.**
YAKUT CINEMA DAYS

 4–6 September, 19:00–21:00
 Ussuri Film Theatre(31, Svetlanskaya Ulitsa, Vladivostok)

 3–5 September, 10:00–18:00
 Building А, level 6, Sberbank (office)
Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510) was a
distinguished representative of the
Quattrocento period of the Florentine
painting. After his death, he fell into
oblivion until the middle of the 19th
century, when the public rediscovered
interest in both the artist and his works.
Free admission for all Forum participants.
Starting 8 September, the painting will be
exhibited in the Grand Hall of the Primorye
State Art Gallery.

OPEN-AIR CINEMA BY THE
MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF THE
RUSSIAN FEDERATIONThe Sakhafilm State National Film
Company’s best films of recent years,
recognized at Russian and internationalfilm festivals.

 3–8 September, 19:30–23:00

Admission is free.

 Open-Air Cinema exhibition,

PRIMORSKY AQUARIUM

FEFU campus, Russky Island
At the Open-Air Cinema EEF 2019 guests
and participants will be able to watch
Russian movies and animated films released
between 2017 and 2019, and best short films
from the Koroche festival. Additionally, thevenue will host an Indian Cinema Night.
Free admission for all Forum participants.

 4–6 September, 10:00–20:00
 25, Ulitsa Akademika Kasyanova,
Russky Island
Primorsky Aquarium is the third largest
in the world. Its total indoor area exceeds
37,000 square metres: the building
shaped as a half-open white mollusc shell
can accommodate nearly five football**Information valid as of 15 August 2019. For more information about the Forum, please go to forumvostok.ru** Participants must cover excursions or any other additional services

150

PHOTO: ROSCONGRESS PHOTOBANKBOTTICELLI. MULTI-GENRE ARTIST.
ONE-MASTERPIECE EXHIBITIONFROM THE UFFIZI GALLERY

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fields. This is the first and only country’s
aquarium that is part of the Russian
Academy of Sciences. Over 500 speciesof sea animals are represented under theaquarium’s ‘shell’, the largest of them being
Pacific walrus, dolphins, and beluga whales.
Access for Forum participants is by badge.**‘MATRON’S JEWEL BOX.
ROMAN JEWELS FROM THE
STATE HERMITAGE COLLECTION’.
EXHIBITION OF ANTIQUEJEWELLERY FROM THE
HERMITAGE COLLECTION

 4–6 September, 11:00–19:00
 
Primorye State Art Gallery

painters are represented: Fyodor Rokotov,
Dmitry Levitsky, Vladimir Borovikovsky,
Vasily Tropinin, Orest Kiprensky, Karl
Bryullov, Ivan Aivazovsky, Vasiliy Polenov,
Ilya Repin, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov,
Mikhail Nesterov, Aristarkh Lentulov,
Robert Falk, Marc Chagall, Wassily
Kandinsky, and many others.
Access for Forum participants is by badge.**
2ND FESTIVAL OF CULTURES
AND ARTS ‘CONSTELLATION
OF THE FAR EAST’ 5–8 September, 13:00–20:00
 
Sportivanaya Naberezhnaya,
Vladivostok

VS Hollywood’ by the Primorye Regional
Philharmonic will lift the spirits and put
a smile on everyone’s face. The concert
consists of showstoppers from musicalbestsellers, such as Moulin Rouge, Mamma
Mia, Notre Dame de Paris, Burlesque,Romeo and Juliet, The Greatest Showman,
as well as the most well-known vocal
pieces from Hollywood movies, including
Pulp Fiction, The Mask, The Great Gatsby,
La La Land, and The Fifth Element.
Directed by Y. Alexeeva.
To access the event, you need to order a ticket inyour personal web office. Forum participants
must cover the cost of the ticket.
ADDITIONALLY:(12, Aleutskaya Ulitsa, Vladivostok)
The chamber exhibition tells about thediversity of Ancient Roman women’s
jewellery. The oldest showpieces werecreated on the cusp of the 1st century B.C.
and the 1st century A.D., in the early daysof the Roman empire; and the newest – inthe 3rd century A.D.
Access for Forum participants is by badge.**
EXHIBITION ‘RUSSIAN ART OF THE
16TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURIESIN THE PRIMORYE STATE ARTGALLERY COLLECTION’ 4–6 September, 11:00–19:00

During the Festival, city residents, aswell as Forum participants and guests,
will be able to enjoy concert programmes
featuring best choreographic,
instrumental and vocal ensembles
from Far Eastern regions – participantsof the ‘Far East Street’ exhibition,
as well as separate projects and concert
programmes. On 8 September (12:00–
17:00), a charitable family event GoodHearted Ice-Cream Day will be held.
The funds raised will be used to aid
Primorye children with oncologicaldiseases.
Free admission.

 
Primorye State Art Gallery

PHOTO: ROSCONGRESS PHOTOBANK(12, Aleutskaya Ulitsa, Vladivostok)
The collection of the Primorye State Art
Gallery boasts very interesting old andmodern Russian paintings from 16th
century and on, masterpieces by painters
who made a significant contribution
to the history of Russian art, and, mostimportantly, it allows to trace themilestones of Russian fine art developmentfrom academism and classicism to theItinerants and modernism. The ‘Old
Russian art’ section features icons ofNovgorod and Moscow schools, including
Our Lady of Kazan by Simon Ushakov,
copper plastics, such as kiot crosses, folding
icons, as well as covers and broidery. In
the ‘Russian art’ section the following

PRIMORSKY STAGE
OF THE MARIINSKY THEATRE:
4 September, 19:00 – Don Quixote,ballet (premiere)
5 September, 19:00 – joint performanceby the participants of the XVI Tchaikovsky
Competition from the Asia-PacificCountries
6 September, 19:00 – launch of Day of
Indian Culture in Russia (honoured guests:
the governmental delegation of India).
A performance by the Drishtikon DanceGroup
7 September, 19:00 – Aida, opera(season premiere)(15, Svetlanskaya Ulitsa, Vladivostok)

ARSENYEV STATE MUSEUM
OF PRIMORYE TERRITORY:
Opening of the exhibition dedicatedto the history of the Vladivostok Fortress.
Visitors find out about the uniquefortifications located in various partsof the city.

The new vivid, festive and dynamic
theatricalized show programme ‘Broadway

For more information, log on to your personal
web office.

BROADWAY VS HOLLYWOOD
SHOW PROGRAMME

 6 September, 19:00–20:30
 
Primorye Regional PhilharmonicEEF 2019

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sporting programme

SPORTING
PROGRAMMEThe EEF 2019 sporting programme
includes events in 14 different sports.
Many of them will touch upon the concept
of international cooperation, which is oneof the key topics in the Forum’s businessprogramme.
“The sporting programme presents
major international tournaments andexhibition matches, events for Forum
participants and residents of Primorye.
It has become a popular venue forpresenting sports and sports-oriented
investment projects,” said Georgy
Bryusov, Deputy CEO, Head of Sporting,Entertainment and Special Programmesof the Roscongress Foundation.
The annual International Jigoro
Kano Judo Tournament under
the patronage of the President of
the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin
and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō
Abe will be the central sporting eventof the Forum.
The first day of the businessprogramme kicks off with a traditional
race in support of the rare animals
protection in the Far East, which is tobring together the Forum participants*Information valid as of 15 August 2019. For more information about the Forum, please go to forumvostok.ru

152

and city residents. This year, it will takea new route in the Aquarium vicinity.
For the first time, the Forum is to hostthe leg of the world curling series amongmixed pairs of the WCT Pacific Ocean
Cup featuring the national teams from
Russia, China, South Korea, Australia,
and Japan. As part of the tournament, theRoscongress Cup will be held for EEF
2019 participants and accredited media.
The groundbreaking ceremony of an ice
arena for curling in Vladivostok will beheld during the days of the Forum. This
arena is to become a training base for the

PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSThe Roscongress Cup, a Platu 25 classregatta, is one of the most spectacularsports events at the EEF

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Russian team and a curling development
centre of the Far East.
Young people from 8 different
countries will participate in the 10th YouthSports Games of the APR, held under thepatronage of UNESCO. Mixed martial arts
gala tournament ‘Roscongress Vladivostok
Combat Night’ and a match meeting
between the Russian and Japanese national
sumo teams will make their debut in the
Forum’s programme.
Platu 25 class regatta for the Roscongress
Cup will be held in Ajax Bay for the fourth
time. Traditionally, the race has a ‘musical’edge to it – most of the 14 teams will
perform on yachts named after different
bands. The competition format includes
short dynamic races. The race route
will be set in front of the FEFU campus
embankment, close enough to the shore sothat Forum guests can observe the rivalry.
The International Colmar Coal Mining
Company Mas-Wrestling Cup withathletes representing 12 countries, as wellas the international Go tournament before
the 2020 World Cup in Vladivostok areto add an oriental flavour to the sporting
programme of the Far East Street.
The Russian Olympic Committee site,
dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the1980 Olympics, will open at Sportivnaya
Naberezhnaya in Vladivostok. Primorye
residents can attend the dragon boat
rowing, street ball, as well as football andbaseball tournaments.

THE UNIVERSAL PLATFORM OF
THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL HEALTHAND FITNESS PROGRAMME(RNHFP) AT THE FAR EASTSTREET AS PART OF THE FEEDFAR EAST GAMES 3–6 September, times TBA

 5 September, from 10:00
 Russky Island, Far East Street,
Pavilion of the Sakha Republic(Yakutia)

 Russky Island, FEFUINTERNATIONAL V-CUP GO
TOURNAMENT

 3–6 September, times TBA

RUSSIA VS. JAPANSUMO MATCH SERIES 5 September, 11:45–13:00
 Russky Island, Far East Street

 Russky Island, Far East Street, theRussian Go Federation universal
platform
CHARITY RUN IN SUPPORTOF THE RARE ANIMALSOF THE FAR EAST

 4 September, starting 07:00
 Russky Island, Aquarium

THE ANNUAL INTERNATIONALJIGORO KANO JUDOTOURNAMENT UNDER THE
PATRONAGE OF THE PRESIDENT
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATIONVLADIMIR PUTIN AND PRIMEMINISTER OF JAPAN SHINZŌ ABE

 5 September, 18:00–22:00
 Fetisov Arena, 284, Ulitsa Makovskogo,
Vladivostok
ROSCONGRESS VLADIVOSTOKCOMBAT NIGHT

 5 September, 21:30–00:00
 Costa Venezia cruise ship
THE 10TH YOUTH SPORTS GAMESOF THE AP 5–9 September

PACIFIC OCEAN CUP, A ROUND
OF THE WORLD CURLINGTOURNAMENTRUSSIA–JAPAN SUMO MATCH

 3–4 September, from 10:00

 4–5 September, from 10:00

 Ice Tiger Arena

 Russky Island, FEFU Okean National Children’s Centre,

ROSCONGRESS CUP. CURLINGTOURNAMENT FOR EEF
PARTICIPANTS

 4 September, from 17:00

PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

INTERNATIONAL COLMARCOAL MINING COMPANY
MAS-WRESTLING CUP

10, Artekovskaya Ulitsa, Emar Village,
Primorye Territory
MINERS’ GLORY TEAMCOMPETITIONS 6 September, 10:00–14:00
 Russky Island, Far East Street,
Pavilion of the Sakha Republic(Yakutia)

 Ice Tiger Arena
PLATU 25 CLASS REGATTAFOR THE ROSCONGRESS CUP

 5–6 September, from 10:00
 Russky Island, Ajax Bay

3 X 3 BASKETBALL
OPEN EAST CUP

 6 September 10:00–18:00
 Vladivostok, Ploshchad Bortsov
Za Vlast' Sovetov
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sportEEF MARTIAL ARTS DAY
A SPECIAL MARTIAL ARTS DAY WILL BE HELD AT THE EEF 2019 ON 5 SEPTEMBER AND SUPER TOURNAMENTS
IN JUDO, SUMO AND MMA WILL GRACE THE SPORTING PROGRAMME.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe of Japan in a lively discussion of matches unfolding on the tatami

JUDO BRINGS US TOGETHERThe key sporting event of the Forum willbe the international judo tournament
named after the founder of the sport
Jigoro Kano. The strong sporting
component of the Forum reflects its
key goals to enhance cooperation andregional development.
The idea for the tournament was
proposed by the 1984 Olympic gold winner
Yasuhiro Yamashita in the centenary of thefirst Russian-Japanese judo competition,
which Vladivostok also hosted in 1917. The
tournament is held under the patronage
of President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister ofJapan Shinzō Abe. Together with the
President of Mongolia, Khaltmaagiin
Battulga, they awarded the winner medals
and trophies in 2017 and 2018.
This time around, the competition
will be held between the global judo
giants – the national teams of Russia,
154

Japan, Mongolia, China, and South Korea,
made up of young men and women under
the age of 18 years. A tournament of
mixed teams will compete for the main
trophy. By the way, Tokyo 2020 will
host the Olympic debut of the mixed
team tournament. Also, at the EEF 2019,judokas will fight for glory in the malecategories up to 50, 55, 66, 73, and 90 kg
and in the female categories up to 40, 44,
52, 57, and 70 kg.
The competitions are included in
the International Judo Federation (IJF)
calendar. “The tournament in Vladivostok
is a wonderful example of how sport
can broaden opportunities for dialogue

VLADIVOSTOK AND OLYMPIANS
Judo will in fact arrive in Vladivostok
almost a month before the tournament
kicks off. The Russian team led by
2016 Olympics gold winner Khasan
Khalmurzaev and Rio 2016 bronze winner
Natalia Kuziutina will hold a WorldChampionships training camp at theJudo Centre in FEFU on the Russky
Island. The Judo World Championships
will be held in Tokyo from 25 August to
1 September. Largely thanks to the Jigoro
Kano tournament, judokas were the first
Olympians to test Vladivostok’s facilities
as they prepare for the 2020 Olympics.
Next year, the judokas will be followed
in Primorye by the Russian national
Greco-Roman wrestling, boxing, rowing
and volleyball teams. And this September,the top Russian judo fighters will returnfrom Tokyo to Vladivostok to holda series of master classes and meetings
for kids, which have become an integral
part of the Jigoro Kano tournament.
Marius Vizer and Yasuhiro Yamashita,
who was elected president of the JapaneseOlympic Committee this summer, will“THE TOURNAMENT IN VLADIVOSTOK IS
A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF HOW SPORT CAN
BROADEN OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIALOGUE”

PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

between countries,” said IJF President
Marius Vizer. The organizers are theRussian Judo Federation, the Primorye
Territory Ministry of Sports and theAdministration of the Territory. The
operator is the Roscongress Foundation.
The Fetisov Arena, the tournament’s
permanent home, is one of the largest
sports complexes in the Far East.

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also make the trip from Tokyo to the
EEF 2019. They will participate in thesession ‘Olympism and Asia Pacific:
Mutual Influence’ alongside ROC
President Stanislav Pozdnyakov, IOC
Deputy General Director Pere Miró, IOC
President for Korea and IOC member Lee
Ki-heung, three-time Olympic GrecoRoman wrestling champion Alexandr
Karelin and Tokyo 2020 Sports Director
Koji Murofushi. Igor Levitin, Aide to
the President of the Russian Federation
will moderate the discussion. At the EEF
2019, a cooperation agreement will also be
signed between the Olympic Committeesof Russia and Japan.

The Russian and Japanese sumo masters willcontinue their contest at the EEF’s Far East
StreetUFC champion Chris Honeycutt.
Shlemenko has won 58 of his 70 career
fights, earning the nickname Storm forhis attacking style. And Honeycutt, who
also has an aggressive style, is nicknamed
the Cutt. The organizers of this new
tournament are Telesport Media andthe Roscongress Foundation. For ticket
information, please go to your EEF 2019
personal web office.

PHOTOS: PHOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSA ‘STORM’ ON THE CRUISE SHIP
The topic of sporting exchanges between
the countries will be continued by acontest between the national sumo teamsof Russia and Japan, which will be held at
the Far East Street exhibition. “This is agreat opportunity to introduce Russians
to Japanese culture,” said Japanese

Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki ata sumo contest held on 16 June in Moscow
as part of Olympic Day. In that match-up,
the Russian giants won, coming out with
16 victories to 9 defeats. In Vladivostok,
the founders of sumo will be primed
to take revenge, and a no-holds-barred
contest is in the offing. “Last year sumo
was recognized by the IOC. We now havemuch work to do to get sumo includedin the Olympic programme, and thepresentation of our sport at global venues
such as the Eastern Economic Forumis of great importance,” said Roman
Iliev, President of the Russian Sumo
Federation.
The final act of Martial Arts Day
will be the debut MMA tournament
Roscongress Vladivostok Combat Night,
which will take place at the official hotelof the Forum – the Costa Venezia cruise
ship. The main event will see one of thebest middleweight fighters in the world,
Russian three-time Bellator champion
Alexander Shlemenko, take on American

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forum_roscongress club

A SPECIAL PLACE
2019 WILL BE THE ROSCONGRESS CLUB’S SECOND YEAR AT THE EASTERN ECONOMIC FORUM. HOWEVER,IT HAS BEEN LESS THAN A YEAR SINCE MEMBERS AND GUESTS OF THIS PRIVATE CLUB FOR POLITICAL AND
BUSINESS ELITE HAVE MET. LAST TIME, THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED ITSELF AT THE ST. PETERSBURG
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM IN JUNE
photo: Roscongress Photobank

The club’s atmosphere was perfect for informal talks. Russia’s Ministerof Industry and Trade Denis Manturov (upper photo, right) and Russian
Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky (lower photo, right) were spottedhaving one-on-ones

Aide to the President of theRussian Federation Igor Levitin
also paid a visit to the club

SPIEF 2019 was attended by 60 businessmen featured in Forbes’ list of Russia’s
richest people. Many of them visited the Roscongress Club, including Gennady
Timchenko, Principal Shareholder of Volga Group, and Viktor Vekselberg,
Chairman of Renova

156

PHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin (middle)
did not have the easiest time getting to the Roscongress Club –journalists swarmed around him

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Though the club caters to the business andpolitical elite, it offered a relaxed and lively
atmosphere throughout the Forum

Aide to the President of the Russian Federation
Andrei Fursenko and Head of the Talent andSuccess Foundation Elena Shmeleva are
education professionals with a lot to discuss

The founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma (centre),
who visited Roscongress Club at EEF 2018,
did not leave empty handed

Chairman of MSP Corporation Alexander Braverman(left) took part in nine SPIEF events. After wrapping
up his intense programme, he was finally able to takeoff his tie and let some steam off

The beautiful ladies of RC Service
provided the hospitality

Chairman of the Accounts Chamber
Alexei Kudrin stayed alert even on
the Roscongress Club premises

THE ROSCONGRESS
Rector of St.
Petersburg State
University of
Economics Igor
Maksimtsev(middle)appreciatedthe networking
opportunities
offered by the
Roscongress ClubC L U B C A R D I S YO U R K E Y
TO A WORLD OF SPECIALPRIVILEGES

Throughout her incredible career, two-time Olympic
pole vaulting champion Yelena Isinbaeva, has visiteda number of countries. EF Corporate Solutions CEO
Eduard Baldakov knows how to speak their language

PHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

Roscongress Club was visited bymuch of the French delegation, oneof the best represented at SPIEF.
The delegation included ex-French
President Nicolas Sarkozy

In 2019, 745 agreements worth
a record! RUB 3.271 billion weresigned at SPIEF. That calls fora toast!

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calendar 2019CALENDARCALENDAR OF UPCOMING ROSCONGRESS FOUNDATION EVENTS

Russia and abroad. The Forum is attended
by heads of state and government leaders,
representatives of major internationalenergy companies, leading global experts,scientists, and media representatives.

13TH INTERNATIONAL REALESTATE INVESTMENT FORUM
PROESTATE

The event is centred on the applicationof modern digital technologies in thefinancial sector. Almost 1,500 specialists
from Russian and international
companies, experts, and representativesof government executive bodies cometogether in Sochi every year. The Forum
programme includes an exhibition
zone, where market leaders and young
companies present their Fintech
achievements and plans, and a Fintech
Startup Contest.

 18–20 September
 Moscow
An annual event during which leading
real estate market players discuss topicalindustry issues in the form of open andconstructive dialogues. The Forum brings
together over 4.5 thousand real estate
leaders from 33 countries.
RUSSIAN ENERGY WEEK

 2–5 October Moscow
The largest international discussion
platform related to the development of
the energy sector and energy efficiency in
158

FINOPOLISFORUM OF INNOVATIVEFINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES 9–11 October SochiRUSSIA–AFRICA
ECONOMIC FORUM 23–24 October Sochi
The Forum is a strategically vital step
towards the creation of favourable
conditions for the development oftrade and economic relations between
the Russian Federation and Africancountries and will allow for thediversification of the forms and areasof Russian-African cooperation. The
event will be attended by African headsof state, representatives of Russian,African, and international businesses
and government agencies, andrepresentatives of African integration
organizations.
12TH EURASIAN ECONOMIC
FORUM IN VERONA

 24–25 October Verona, Italy
Attendees will discuss the politicalprospects for cooperation from theAtlantic to the Pacific and key issues
related to cooperation in areas such as
the energy sector, finance, interregional
cooperation, infrastructure projects,
agricultural and agrobusiness innovations,and innovative technologies.

PHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESSEVERY YEAR, ROSCONGRESSFOUNDATION EVENTS BRING
TOGETHER OVER 80 THOUSAND
PARTICIPANTS FROM 195 COUNTRIES.
THE FOUNDATION’S ANALYTICAL WORKINVOLVES THE PARTICIPATION OF
2,500 RUSSIAN AND INTERNATIONAL
EXPERTS. ITS FORUMS AND
EXHIBITIONS ARE COVERED BY OVER
10 THOUSAND REPRESENTATIVES OFRUSSIAN AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIAORGANIZATIONS.

EEF 2019

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calendar 2020

by representatives of executive federalbodies and the expert community
in Sochi. Practical proposals will be
developed based on these discussions,
aimed at implementing national projects
in this sphere.
RUSSIAN INVESTMENT FORUM 12–14 February
 SochiRUSSIA HOUSE IN DAVOS 20–24 January Davos, Switzerland
This is the official Russian residence forholding business meetings, negotiations,and informal conversations between
leaders from the business community,
politicians, economists, scientists, andrepresentatives of creative professions
during the annual World Economic
Forum (WEF).
HEALTHY LIFE FORUM

 12 February
 Sochi

ST. PETERSBURG
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
FORUM

 3–6 June St. Petersburg
The Forum is held annually under
the auspices of the President of theRussian Federation and involves theparticipation of foreign heads of stateand government leaders, representativesof major Russian and international
companies, representatives of leadinginternational media organizations, andthe expert community. The Forum hosts
discussions on global economic issues,meetings between leading politiciansand heads of major transnational
corporations, and signings of contracts
worth billions.

PHOTOS: FOTOBANK ROSCONGRESS

The topic of increasing healthy life
expectancies, something that affects
everyone in the country, will be discussed

The Forum is meant to present theinvestment and economic potentialof Russia, demonstrate territories’
investment potential, and provide an
opportunity for interactions and thestrengthening of relationships between
Russian federal subjects, business
representatives, experts, and the media
community.

160

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