Humor is king on TV show KVNWhere even Putin, Medevedev trade jokes P.07

A magical night in MoscowRussian ethno-rock group plays ragas

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Steel giant and its Indian dream Severstal to launch $5 bil-lion plant in KarnatakaP.03

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BANGALORE ● MuMBAi ● NEw DELhi ● WedNeSdAy, deCeMBeR 22, 2010

A Report from The Tmes of India. In association with Rossiyskaya Gazeta

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...Marching towards a common future

Iconic Indologist Ivan P. Minayev is back in spotlight with his book on a Russian trader's voyage to India.

Russian pundit traces the wonder called India

In February, 1880, The Times of India reported with much rel-ish about the meeting of a Rus-sian scholar with learned In-dian Sanskrit pundits. Ivan Minayev deeply impressed In-dians with his extraordinary and refined knowledge of this ancient language. A Russian's mastery of Sanskrit may have created a splash in India at that time, but that was be-cause not many knew about the Russian School of Indo-logical Research. Starting from Gerasim Lebe-dev, who is considered a pio-neer in this field, many out-standing Russian researchers had engaged in comprehen-sive and insightful research into the fields of Indian histo-ry, political structure, econo-my, culture, philosophy, reli-gion, literature and arts. India and Indian culture have never ceased to interest Rus-sian scholars and Russians. Ivan P. Minayev (1840 –1890) holds a special place in the galaxy of such renowned scholars. His encyclopedic knowledge of India, extraor-dinary language skills, inex-haustible enthusiasm com-bined with the aspiration to realise India as a living entity, an indissoluble unity of the past and the present, which he was so lucky to witness, enti-tles him to a place in the con-stellation of the best research-ers of the world.

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relations. However, I believe the most enduring contribu-tor to affinity between the two nations is how closely their best minds have resonated with one another. The year 2010, therefore, rep-resents a special year in India-Russia relations. It makes us recall with amazement how two of the greatest men in the history of India and Russia – Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tol-stoy – established a deeply

there are several ways through which the closeness of relations between two nations

can be judged. Since the economy has now come

to occupy the centrestage, the role of trade, technology and defence has become far more prominent in bilateral

Linking minds and heartsdialogue from tolstoy and Gandhi to tech and trade

CoNTINued oN PAGE 6CoNTINued oN PAGE 4

Sudheendra Kulkarni

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The old and the new effortlessly mingle in the multi-faceted partnership as India and Rus-sia build on centuries-old cultural communion and redefine their time-tested ties in the 21st century. Russia wants to see India as a key pil-lar of a shifting global order and so does In-dia, argues Andrei Volodin, a Russian strategic expert. Rajiv Sikri, a former Indian diplomat, could not agree more, but asks the two coun-tries to focus on the younger generation to build wider public support for this vital rela-tionship in an emerging multi-polar world.

TwicE a mOnTh in TwO dailiEs

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philosophical relationship a hundred years ago. It marks the centenary of the publica-tion of Gandhiji’s seminal book ‘Hind Swaraj’, which was sig-nificantly shaped by Tolstoy’s life-trans-forming influence on the Mahatma, who was then conducting his initial “Experiments with Truth” in South Africa.

INdIA & RuSSIA Vision 2010:

Re-discover the old, embrace the new

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BOOKMARKS02 RUSSIA INDIA REPORTIN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA THE TIMES OF INDIA WEDNESDAY_DECEMBER 22_2010

www.skolkovo.ru The Moscow School of Manage-ment SKOLKOVO www.russiaprofile.org Analysis of business, eco-nomic, political and cultural trendsEconomy

RACHEL MORARJEEBUSINESS NEW EUROPE

With BRIC becoming the new land of opportunity, Moscow’s Skolkovo School of Management is teaching students skills for succeeding in emerging markets.

Want to succeed in emerging markets? Try MBA in Russia

Education Skolkovo School aims for 240 MBA students annually by 2014

When Kane Cuenant, a Cana-dian student, was looking at MBA programmes, he thought about studying at Harvard, MIT or even Tsinghua Univer-sity in China. But he finally opted to study at Moscow's newly opened Skolkovo School. “I looked at different schools in developed markets, but it didn't seem real enough. I knew that I wanted to work in emerging markets and wanted to truly understand how to do it," he says.Cuenant is among the � rst 40 graduates of the Skolkovo School of Management at Moscow completing their MBAs. What attracted him to the school was its emphasis on learning practical skills in the markets he really wanted to work in, he says. Skolkovo's � rst MBA graduates hail from as far a� eld as Germany, India, Brazil, as well as from Russia and the rest of the former So-viet Union.With economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) projected to be among the � ve largest economies of the world, as predicted by global investor Goldman Sachs, the young and ambi-tious in Western countries are eager to try out B-schools in emerging markets. This is what explains Cuenant’s choice to study at the � rst Rus-sian management school that aims to be a global player. Skolkovo's English-language syllabus is designed to teach graduates from around the world the day-to-day realities of doing business in an emerg-ing market."We are trying to bring reality into the classroom," says Skolkovo's dean Wilfried Van-honacker, who has shifted the emphasis from classroom

learning to a programme where graduates spend over 70% of their time in the chal-lenging environments of emerging market companies. He moved to Russia in 2008 after setting up the interna-tionally acclaimed China Eu-rope International Business School in Shanghai, which has made it to the Financial Times top-20 ranking B-schools. Multinationals will see most of their growth in the next 20 years in dynamic emerging markets where the business climate is volatile and uncertain, and managers face talent crunch, and infra-structure and institutional gaps. The Skolkovo MBA is designed to prepare students mentally and emotionally to face these challenges, the dean explains. “Traditional busi-ness schools were not prepar-ing the talent the market need-ed - entrepreneurial leaders for difficult environments,” adds Vanhonacker.

Students at Skolkovo must vault hurdles such as living for two months in a dormitory in a Chinese factory town, deal-ing with the reality of a manu-facturing business in the workshop of the world, or helping Russian bureaucrats draft laws that will then be passed by the country's par-liament. The programme fea-tures the building blocks of MBA courses in the West, such as � nancial accounting, mac-roeconomics and marketing, but also puts graduates in stressful situations in alien cultures to bolster their ability to cope. For many Russian stu-dents, it means understanding corporate life in China, India and the US, as well as their na-tive land.The sheer volume of paper-work, Cuenant says, needed to get things done in China and Russia really took him by sur-prise. "A common banking task in the US requires one form, three or four pieces of in-formation and one signature. In Russia, the same task re-quires four forms, � ve pieces of information and four signa-tures. In China, there are at least seven forms.”However, despite the stresses of experiential learning, the

small classes enable the school to give the students one-on-one career coaching, as well as leadership development class-es. Each student works with a mentor from the business world who can help the stu-dent hone his skills and pro-vide them with an insight into life in different companies and environments. Teachers also handpick groups of students to work on projects, trying to re� ect the personality and cul-ture clashes graduates will face in real life. The school aims for 240 MBA students annually and 300 ex-ecutive MBA students when it reaches operational capacity in 2014. Skolkovo's � rst MBA class in 2009 had 40 students, 33 students in 2010, while 21 students signed up for the 2009 18-month EMBA, which allows working students to study part-time, rising to 37 in 2010. "The value of working with government officials in developing markets is some-thing you just can't teach in a classroom,” says Cuenant, who hopes to continue working in Russia when he graduates. “Most of the students who sign up at Skolkovo are not after a simple desk job. They want something more.”

Skolkovo School of Management in Moscow is attracting students from around the world

Skolkovo's syllabus is designed to teach graduates realities of doing business in an emerging market.

WHAT'S NEWENERGYROSATOM IN TALKS WITH UCIL FOR SAKHA URANIUM DEAL

DEFENCE INDIA TO GET 80 MI-17V-5 MILITARY HELICOPTERS

Russia's state-owned atom-ic power corporation Rosa-tom is negotiating with Ura-nium Corporation of India for jointly developing uranium reserves in the republic of Sakha, says Sergei Kirienko, head of Rosatom. The Rus-sian government is under-stood to be keen to retain the controlling stake. The to-tal reserve in the Elkon fields in Sakha is estimated at

A contract for the supply to India of 80 Russian Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters and spare parts will exceed $1.345 billion. Supplies are due to begin next March.The contract between the In-dian Foreign Ministry and Russia’s Rosoboronexport state arms exporter was signed in December 2008.India is planning to use the

FRIENDSHIPMORE INDIANS TUNING IN TOTHE VOICE OF RUSSIA

India has a growing audience that shows a keen interest in Russia’s political, economic, public and cultural life.This trend was highlighted by the Fifth All-India Conference of Voice of Russia Listeners’ Clubs, which took place in New Delhi early December. The Russian radio station launched its Indian broad-casting service five years be-fore Russia and India estab-lished formal diplomatic rela-

tions when India became inde-pendent in 1942. In the 1970s and 80s, Radio Moscow (the Voice of Russia today) main-tained daily programming in 12 Indian languages. Russian ra-dio listeners’ clubs are now be-ing set up in India. Today, the VOR in India broadcasts in Hin-di and Urdu and is accessible in major Indian cities as New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Siliguri with a potential audi-ence of 31 million people. RIR

229,800 tonnes, second only to the world’s biggest reserve of Olympic dam in Australia. Development at the site has al-ready been initiated by one of Rosatom’s units, Atomredmet-zoloto, or ARMZ by establish-ing a subsidiary named ‘Elkon Mining’. The production capac-ity of the mine is projected at 5000 tonnes annually at an in-vestment of 91 billion rubles ($3 billion). Itar-Tass

Russian helicopters to airlift troops and hardware, in search and rescue operations to evac-uate the wounded and also for combat purposes. The fresh deliveries, which are to be completed by 2015, will boost the IAF's medium haul helicop-ter strength from the present 52 to 132. The helicopters are equipped with new flight and navigation system. Itar Tass

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Website of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in India

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PRESS SERVICE OF VOICE OF RUSSIA

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03BOOKMARKS

BusinessRUSSIA INDIA REPORTIN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA THE TIMES OF INDIA WEDNESDAY_DECEMBER 22_2010

www.rbcnews.com Business newsen.rian.ru/business RIA Novosti newswirewww.businessneweurope.eu Business magazine focusing on emerging European markets

VLADISLAV KUZMICHEVRIR

Alexander Krasovsky, Sitronics' pointsman for India, talks about his love for Bollywood, his tryst with Taj Mahal and unveils plans to set up new ventures here.

From metro security to smart city, India is a top global priority

High-Tech Sitronics set to open its third R&D billing centre in India

Do you share any personal ties with India? Sure. My father was a yoga en-thusiast and tried hard to get me interested. I even learnt a few asanas, but then took up boxing and pentathlon. I was brought up on Indian � lms. I watched Sholay about � fteen times. I can probably recall some twenty Bollywood mov-ies that I enjoyed most as a boy. The friendly relations between India and Russia have even helped me avoid some trouble. During one of my first busi-ness trips to India, I asked my driver to take me to Agra to see Taj Mahal. But on our way from Delhi, we passed the scene of an accident. Our car arrived shortly afterward, but locals blocked the road and were about to take their anger out on other drivers. Luckily, an elderly Indian spotted my T-shirt with "Russia" printed across it and asked me if I came from Russia. When he heard that I was Russian, we were allowed to drive on.

It was recently announced that Russia and India may use Si-tronics facilities to launch joint projects. Sitronics is a large company doing business in 30 countries around the world and export-ing its products to 60 countries. We have our own high technol-ogy production in Russia, Greece, and Romania, and strong R&D centres in the Czech Republic and Russia. We see India as more than just a big market. Russia and India have vast territories with irregular infrastructure coverage, gap-ing digital divides, and com-plex multi-layered government systems. Solutions expected from such an advanced, high-tech company as Sitronics should address the large-scale infrastructural needs that our Indian colleagues demand. We are well positioned, with exten-sive experience on the large Russian market, appropriate

technology and proven solu-tions. For example, we produce 300 m electronic tickets with imbedded chips for public transport, our billing systems support around 140 m mobile telephone subscribers, our SIM cards are used by all major Rus-sian mobile operators, and major Russian banks place or-ders for our chip-based bank cards. So we offer these and other products to our Indian customers. For example, our billing solution is already used by Sistema Shyam TeleServic-es, thus helping service up to 100 m subscribers. We have begun delivering electronic

transport tickets and are ready to deploy a city traffic manage-ment system as a part of our larger Smart City package.

Do you have any localisation plans for India?We plan to set up a new billing centre in India. Sitronics de-veloped the billing technology in R&D centre in the Czech Republic and further fine-tuned by our Russian R&D team. When we came to India and began offering our billing solutions, we succeeded fol-lowing a tough tender to sell it to Sistema Shyam TeleServic-es. However, we were told to bring in an Indian software partner to bring our billing system in line with local needs. Hence, the decision to create our third research and devel-opment centre in India.

Can you give any statistics to quantify your cooperation with India?Over the last year and a half alone, we landed over $200 m in deals with our Indian part-ners. These include delivery of radio-relay systems, billing software, etc. For example, we earned several million dollars on sales of the so-called RUIM

Sitronics focuses on industrial customers who need 90-180 nanometer chips

Alexander Krasovsky, vice-president at Sitronics

cards. They are the equivalent to SIM cards in GSM net-works, but are designed for CDMA mobile standards. We are the sole supplier of these cards to Sistema Shyam TeleServices.

How high does India rank among your other sales mar-kets?We have an active presence selling our products in 60 countries. Of course, Russia is our number-one market, but India is one of our top interna-tional priorities. We are con� -dent in our understanding of the local market and consum-er mentality, and expect that India will be introducing com-plex, but very important proj-ects for raising the quality of life, such as Electronic Gov-ernment and Secure City. That is why we have our rep-resentative office in India to facilitate contacts with local customers.

What other projects do you have in mind for India?We are currently testing a Si-tronics intellectual video se-curity system in a pilot zone of the New Delhi metro. If the pilot project is successful, we hope for a government decree to install the system on a larg-er scale. Another issue that both Russia and India have in common is terrorism. We can offer effective and, in some cases, unique security solu-tions. But before we have the deal, we have to bankroll a pilot project in India. We are talking to Indian state admin-istrations and some munici-palities, offering our solutions. For operations across a large and patchily developed terri-tory it is critical to have access to such technology as Dateri-um mobile data centre. We have already sold our first MDC in India. Imagine a stan-dard 20-feet container � tted with sliding mounting racks that can carry all the network and communication equip-ment, servers, � re� ghting sys-tem, climate control, and next to it is a diesel generator. It’s all a turn-key job. All the equip-ments can be manufactured in just two months and delivered to any site on the planet with temperatures ranging from minus 55 to plus 55 Celsius. No need to construct or outfit a special building. This pack-aged solution is in great de-mand, especially in India, where construction and land allocation can be challenging. I should also mention a tool for monitoring traffic based on the GLONASS system, to which India has also sub-scribed. The monitoring sys-tem is called Nika. The sales have already started.

NATALYA FEDOTOVARIR

Severstal is set to make its first major steel plant in India. If the mammoth project is successful, other Russian steel makers may follow suit.

Severstal to set up giant $5 bn steel plant in Karnataka

Industry Signs MoU with NMDC

Russian steel giant Severstal plans to launch a $5 billion steel production project in India. In December, the com-pany signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian state-run NMDC. The steel mill will become Severstal’s biggest project and the big-gest international venture for the Russian steel industry in general. An NMDC manager said that the two companies would ei-ther negotiate equal holdings or a controlling stake for NMDC. The construction of the plant, which will be locat-ed in Karnataka, is due to begin in 2012. The facility would have an initial capacity of 2 million tonnes a year, said NMDC � nance director Swa-minathan Thiagarajan. “The 2 million tonne output is quite modest, accounting for about 3-4% of the local market. But this will be enough for Sever-stal to assess the plant’s � nan-cial efficiency and the market potential,” says Dmitry Ku-manovsky, director of research with the Lenmontazhstroy in-vestment company. Besides, an equal 50% stake in a joint venture with NMDC, an Indi-an state mining company, will secure ore supplies and � xed prices for further project ex-pansion to � ve million tonnes, he said. The joint venture be-tween Severstal and NMDC will also set up two subsidiar-ies to mine coking coal in Rus-sia and iron ore in India.

The Indian project marks Sev-erstal’s shift from the West to the East. In a recent interview with a Russian national TV channel, Severstal’s owner Alexei Mordashov said Eu-rope was no longer attractive for steel makers. According to Severstal’s major shareholder, the most attractive markets today are India, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Af-rica. The Russian tycoon sin-gles out India as the best op-tion. Based on projections from India’s ministry of steel, the consumption rate of steel will be up by 10% in 2010 from 65 m to 73 m tonnes. Yet more steel – upto 200 m tonnes by 2020 - will be needed to fuel advancing industrialisation and economic growth. According to preliminary es-timates, the new facility envis-aged by Severstal and NMDC will cover 2,500 acres (10.12 square kilometres). Severstal will also bring in ad-vanced steel-making technol-ogy, which is not available in the local market. The mill will turn out special automotive and electrical grades of steel, high value-added products, for the fast-growing automo-tive and power sectors of the Indian economy. NMDC will benefit from its cooperation with Severstal as the Russian company has a signi� cant coal-mining oper-ation, which provides coking coal for making rolled steel. Severstal is spearheading Russian entry into the Indian market. Other Russian steel companies that have been eye-ing India for some time will closely watch the competitor’s moves. If the project works out, other Russian players may step into the Indian scene.

At the Cherepovetsky Metallurgical Plant (Severstal group)

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bookmarks04 en.fondsk.ru Strategic Culture Foundation magazinewww.russiaprofile.org Analysis of business, eco-nomic, political and cultural trendswww.cdi.org/russia/johnson Johnson’s Russia Listopinion

Russia india RepoRtin association with rossiyskaya gazeta, russia tHe times of india wednesday_december 22_2010

andrei Volodin

poLitiCAL AnALySt

Relations between the Soviet Union and India began to transform into a strategic alliance

after the Sino-Indian border conflict in 1962. The USSR, which at that time was at ide-ological odds with China, quick-ly came forward with military assistance for India at the crit-ical moment when the West chose to stay above the fray. In the 1960-70s, our ties with India

Perspective it is critical to find the right place for india in Russia's prioritised agenda and make sure that india reciprocates

new shifts: Moving from an alliance model to strategic partnership

acquired all the characteristics of strategic cooperation: simi-lar or consonant positions on fundamental issues of interna-tional politics; close coordina-tion in international organisa-tions; well-established interactions between govern-ment institutions; and trusting relations between heads of state. In the 1970s, Soviet foreign pol-icy regarded India as an effec-tive counterpoint to China, es-pecially in the light of the budding Sino-American rap-prochement.

After the tragic death of Indira Gandhi in 1984, the new Indian government led by Rajiv Gan-dhi took subtle steps towards a more diversified foreign policy (including improved relations with the United States and China) that did not, however, af-fect the level and quality of So-viet-Indian relations. In the late 1980s, relations start-ed stagnating when systemic defects began to take their toll on the rusting Soviet economy and, as a consequence, on the ef-ficacy of the USSR’s foreign policy.

Russia’s geopolitical, economic, cultural and ideological with-drawal from India in the early 1990s left the Indian elite with a rather negatively stereotyped perception of Russia. To make things worse, the diverging paths of economic transforma-tion in the two countries nar-rowed the ground for bilateral ties, confining them to arms sales and cooperation in nucle-ar power.With China geopolitical inten-tions arousing anxiety in India, and having lost Russian sup-port in the 1990s, India started

looking for a counterbalance against the growing influence of China on the global scene and secured political backing from the Clinton administra-tion. At the beginning of the new century, India’s ruling elite came to regard Russia with a more favourable eye. With Putin at the helm, Russia unearthed the idea of “returning” to Asia and, in this new strategic think-ing, India was recognised as a key player in the club of emerg-ing locomotives behind the global economic growth.In the early years of the third millennium, the now more pow-erful and confident India con-tinues to seek its place in the post-bipolar world. There are two global trends that define its course: first, the continuing eco-

nomic and military supremacy of the United States, and sec-ond, the rapid ascendance of ‘the Celestial Empire’ to the po-sition of a new world power. Political forces pursuing strate-gic convergence with the US skillfully leverage mass media for their cause, but they may be overestimating India’s signifi-cance in the Asian strategy of the US. Apparently, the Indian leadership realises that they were too rash in downgrading the status of Russian-Indian re-lations. At the same time, Delhi has serious and justified con-cerns regarding Russia’s ap-proach to economic collabora-tion and the lack of a focused dialogue on current and future issues of bilateral relations.

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This year also marks the cente-nary of the death of the great Russian writer. Indeed, in a let-ter to Gandhiji, one of the last that Tolstoy wrote before his death, he remarked that the philosophy of Satyagraha was of “the greatest importance, not only for India but for the whole humanity”.The year 2010 is the 150th birth anniversary of one of the great-est Indian friends of Russia, Gurudev Rabindranath Tag-ore. The poet’s insightful ac-count of his visit to the erst-while Soviet Union in 1930 is one of the precious gems in the invaluable treasure of his writ-ings. While Tagore admired many positive changes that had taken place under socialism in the USSR, especially in the field of education, he also had prophetically pointed out that suppression of freedom of thought and expression under

Stalin’s dictatorship would not last long. Not surprisingly, when Stalin’s era was over, Rus-sian people’s love for Tagore knew no bounds. It is said that the celebration of his birth cen-tenary fifty years ago was an event second only in impor-tance to Yuri Gagarin’s pioneer-ing spaceflight in 1961!And then, 2010 also recalls to our mind the 75th anniversary of the Roerich Pact and Banner of Peace, which bears the name of Nicholas Roerich, one of the towering figures in 20th centu-ry art. The legendary painter belongs as much to India as to Russia. Living the last 25 years of his life like a rishi in the lap of the Himalayas, and painting with creative abandon, he be-came an embodiment of deeper cultural and spiritual values shared by India and Russia. These are indeed universal val-ues, as is testified by the Roerich Pact, which made an impas-sioned appeal for the protec-

that Russia would be trapped in chaos, and that such a situa-tion could be used to pillage its resources and pin it down stra-tegically, have been badly dis-appointed. Today Russia has re-emerged as a self-confident Eurasian power, indispensable for the stability and progress of both the East and the West. Russia, like India, is beset with many domestic challenges. Its most pressing problems are the need to modernise its economy, which is hobbled by an ineffi-cient public sector; the need to fight rampant corruption in the governance system; and the need to arrest its declining pop-ulation, characterised by low birth rates. However, neither Medvedev nor Putin has minced words in talking about these challenges. Medvedev’s address to the Russian Parlia-ment on November 30 was re-markable for the emphasis he placed on combating the “de-mographic crisis” by improv-ing the educational, healthcare and livelihood conditions of his people. The people of India would be extremely pleased to see Russia succeed in sur-mounting its challenges.As we enter a new decade of the 21st century, both India and

the india-Russia relations have stood the test of time. this is not rhetoric, but a fact of history.

tion of cultural, artistic, educa-tional and scientific institutions and historic monuments around the world.As India warmly welcomes Russia’s youthful president, Dmitry Medvedev, it is neces-sary to remind ourselves of the most harmonious and ever-lasting melodies in India-Rus-sia relationship. When nations remain wedded to the core human values commonly es-poused by their great personal-ities, there is no danger of being swayed by the temporary ups and downs in this or that aspect of their bilateral relations.The India-Russia relations have stood the test of time. This is not rhetoric, but a fact of his-tory. It is true that our ties stag-nated in the 1990s due to ne-glect and misjudgment on both sides. Happily, they have now started to regain vigour. We in India have watched with im-mense admiration how the strong and farsighted leader-ship of Russia, represented by President Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has helped their great country over-come the turmoil caused by the collapse of communism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Those who had hoped

were the sole superpower left to dominate the world, are now unpleasantly shocked that their superpower status is vanishing. China and India have emerged as the two principal drivers of the global economy. Along with Russia and Brazil, the BRIC group has become a crucial pil-lar of the new world order. India’s own rapid economic progress has opened up un-precedented new opportunities

india's President Pratibha Patil with russian school children dressed in indian attire during her visit to moscow last year

re-discoVer the old, embrace the new

Linking minds and hearts

$9.8 billionExpected amount of bilateral trade in 2010. The countries’ leaders set the goal of doubling it in the next 10 years.

$15 billionPossible value of In-dia’s orders for Rus-sian arms over the next four years, ac-cording to military experts.

16Number of nuclear reactors that could be built in India with Russia’s help over the next 15 years.

the numbers

Russia have an unprecedented opportunity to embark on a new phase of strategic partner-ship. The world has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War two decades ago. Those who gloated that they

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05BOOKMARKS RUSSIA INDIA REPORT

IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA THE TIMES OF INDIA WEDNESDAY_DECEMBER 22_2010

www.russiancentre.org.in/eng Russian Centre of Culture and Science in New Delhiwww.russian-centre-mumbai.com/en The Cultural Centre of Russia in Mumbai Opinion

Andrei Volodin is a political scientist, PhD (History), pro-fessor.

Indians should open their minds and hearts to the creative geniuses of Russia.

RAJIV SIKRI COLUMNIST

Russia and India matter greatly to each other, but they don’t really understand each other

very well. Over the last decade, the relationship has evolved into a more equal one, since Russia is no longer a superpow-er and India a developing coun-try. As rising powers, the two countries share the goal of cre-ating a multipolar world. They support each other’s priorities and policies in their strategic neighbourhoods. While diver-sifying their foreign policy op-tions, they have been careful not to jettison a decades-old mutually bene� cial strategic partnership of trust.The defence relationship is vital. Despite many problems, it is neither easy nor desirable for India to jeopardise this long-standing relationship. Russian military equipment remains competitive, sturdy and reliable. Russia is willing to sell state-of-the-art products, including a nuclear powered submarine and an aircraft carrier, and en-gage in joint research and devel-opment of new products. However, it is not enough to have a good defence relationship. In-creased and diversified trade and economic cooperation are essential to invest India-Russia relations with long-term stabil-ity. Since India is an energy-de-ficient country and Russia an energy-surplus one, energy is an important area of greater coop-eration. The problem is that in both countries, business is now most-ly in the hands of a largely West-oriented private sector, which governments can only try to nudge and persuade. Bureau-cratic complexities and rigidi-ties on both sides present addi-t ional hurdles . Indian businessmen have poor aware-ness of opaque and frequently changing tax, customs and other rules and regulations in Russia. Two persistent and fundamen-tal problems that have defied solutions are the enormous dif-� culty that Indian businessmen and visitors face in getting visas for Russia, and the weak bank-ing links between the two coun-tries.A fundamental weakness af-� icting the India-Russia rela-tionship is that political good-w i l l i s n o t b a cke d by

Trends Ease visas and boost trade

Bridging the gap: Focus on youth

Rajiv Sikri is a former Secre-tary in India's External Af-fairs ministry.

people-to-people linkages. Per-ceptions on both sides tend to be shaped by Western prejudices, and do not conform to contem-porary realities. The new generation of Russia’s ruling elite views India quite differently and understandably does not have any nostalgia for Soviet times. It also tends to look to the West for business linkag-es. Russian perceptions of India are outdated and stuck in the time warp of mid-20th century India, and there is little under-standing of the richer, self-con-� dent and savvier India of the 21st century. Perhaps some Rus-sians feel that India has no al-ternative to Russia and that India is not giving Russia the at-tention and importance it de-serves.Likewise, most Indians do not know that Russia is a strong, modern and stable country. India is also ignorant of, and lacks con� dence in many Rus-

sian technological capabilities, since Russia is weak in transfer-ring them on a cost-effective basis to the civilian sector. In-dia’s elite also seems to have fall-en under the spell of new suitors that appear more attractive than a known and trusted old partner. The general public too remains somewhat ignorant about the signi� cance of India’s relations with Russia, as Russia does not touch the lives of most ordinary Indians.It is imperative that both sides think creatively about ways to create wider public interest and understanding for the relation-ship, particularly among the in-creasingly in� uential younger generation in the two coun-tries. India will need to build direct contacts with the entire spec-trum of stakeholders and inter-est groups in the political, eco-nomic, military and other spheres throughout Russia. Similarly, Russia will have to learn of ways to deal with new centres of power and in� uence in India.

It is imperative to think creatively about ways to create wider public interest for the relationship.

for India-Russia economic re-lations, which have not kept pace with its strategic ties. The ambitious Russia-aided Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu is a shin-ing example of what a visionary political initiative can achieve. In the coming decade, it is both possible and necessary to em-bark on many new, and more ambitious initiatives, including those that India’s public and

private sector companies can execute in Russia. Cooperation in breakthrough technologies should be an area of special focus in the coming years.Besides expanding economic cooperation, it is far more im-portant that the new genera-tions of Indians and Russians are made aware of the undying well-springs of our cultural and spir-itual values, as articulated by Mahatma Gandhi, Tolstoy, Tag-ore, Roerich and scores of other luminous lights in the past. The

lure of materialism alone cannot guarantee happiness for the youth, either in India or Russia. It cannot even ensure the health of our precious environment. Our two societies have to be-come more strongly rooted in our own cultures and also learn from each other. In this context, I would attach great importance to expanding and deepening contacts be-tween the enlightened repre-sentatives of the Russian Or-thodox Church, which has

French political scientists de-scribe the transition from a un-ipolar to a multipolar system in terms of a “loose geometry” pol-itics. The concept implies de-ideologisation and potential co-existence of several models or formats of international rela-tions. In other words, concur-rent engagement in different political and economic blocs becomes a � exible and effective way of pursuing national inter-ests. In my view, it would be reason-able to consider the relations between Russia and India from this loose-geometry perspec-tive. In his recent annual address to the Russian parliament, Presi-

dent Medvedev has for the � rst time talked about the equal sig-nificance of the Western and Eastern components of Russian foreign policy. No less impor-tant was the inclusion of India, along with China, Japan and South Korea, on the list of Rus-

sia’s “privileged” strategic part-ners. Now it is critical to � nd the right place for India in the pri-oritised agenda and make sure that India reciprocates.The ten years of strategic part-

nership have clearly demon-strated that Russia wants to see India as one of the pillars in the post-American global frame-work. In all fairness, we expect India to respond in kind by re-affirming “Nehru's course" as its long-term foreign policy. Then it would be easier to allay fears of China’s runaway growth on one hand and pursue a meaningfully diversi� ed for-eign policy, on the other. What makes the strategic ap-proach to bilateral relations even more important is the in-creasing dependence of the global economy on the recovery and growth potential of China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, and other major players, and development of economic links between them.

RE-DISCOVER THE OLD, EMBRACE THE NEW

revived itself in the past two de-cades, and Indian religious-spiritual establishments. This area of spiritual intercourse did not receive much attention in the past. But today its necessity is self-evident. It is heartening to know that yoga has become widely popular in Russia. Sim-ilarly, India should open its minds and hearts to the cre-ative geniuses of Russia. When the beautiful churches, tem-ples, mosques and monasteries in Russia and India begin to talk to one another; at the same time as our businessmen, scien-tists, artists, diplomats and po-litical leaders increase their mutual interaction, Indo-Rus-sian relations will doubtlessly acquire a never-seen-before so-lidity in the 21st century.

Sudheendra Kulkarni who was an aide to former PM AB Vajpayee, is currently chair-man of the Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai.

In world politics, interactions between states are conven-tionally categorised into three levels: strategic alliance, stra-tegic partnership, and good neighbours. As an expert in Indian studies, I would de� -nitely welcome the “Soviet” alliance-level relationship be-tween Russia and India. But since such exclusive arrange-ment is highly unlikely in the modern loose geometry of in-ternational linkage, it is the strategic partnership that will best serve Russian long-term interests, thus validating the historic choice made a decade ago.

Russia wants to see India as one of the pillars in the post-American global framework.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

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time travels: scripting the wonder called india

seminal research works on the history of Buddhism and Pali philology, as well as transla-tions of early Buddhist texts and studies of this doctrine and phases of its development. His major work, “Buddhism. Research and Materials” (Vol-ume 1, Edition One and Two), published in 1887, was based on a composite cultural, his-torical and social methodolog-

ities of its main branches and movements based on this be-lief. The Russian scholar also at-tributed great importance to the translation and publica-tion of ancient Indian texts, actively contributing to the introduction of these rare manuscripts to the Russian and European academic com-munity. His excellent com-

ivan minayev, an erudite scholar and indophile, who transmitted indian culture to russia and the world

Minayev was no ordinary sa-vant. The Russian scholar de-serves special praise since he, unlike many of his Western colleagues who mostly con-centrated on the so-called “classical” India, found con-temporary India an equally important field of research. For the first time in Russia, he articulated the task of com-posite interdisciplinary ap-proach towards the studies of Indian realities based on the conception of the uninterrupt-ed process of cultural and his-torical evolution.From the methodological point of view, it was a break-through of sorts, pioneering the path towards the research into this country given the dy-namics of its culture-histori-cal and socio-political devel-opment. Minayev gained global recognition due to his

continued from Page 1

dmitry zaikaRiR

a concert by sitar maestro ravi shankar at the bolshoi theatre in 1988 filled russian musicians with dreams of india. now, a russian group recreates the magic of ragas.

From Lenin to Ravi Shankar: Ragas play on forever....music A magical night in Moscow: All Safety Magic’s rehearsals and concerts begin with the singing of ragas

It’s a magical experience: lis-tening to Indian ragas on a cold and dark December night at a Moscow club, and suddenly be transported to an Indian tem-ple. No one was really prepared for it, especially as the nine mu-sicians on the stage were typi-cal exponents of the Russian underground, a group called Safety Magic. Every one of them had come to know India in his own way, through the cul-tural centre sponsored by the Indian embassy in Moscow, for example, or at the India-USSR festivals in the 1980s.One of the group’s founders, Pavel Novikov, was lucky to live

ethno-jazz-rock group safety magic performs at a concert

1824 india Lithographs. a mosque and gravesite at benares

mand over Pali and Sanskrit, as well as the knowledge of many contemporary Indian languages and some Pahari dialects, allowed him to com-municate freely with various strata of people in India living in the regions and territories which he travelled across, col-lecting and accumulating unique historical data, which he subsequently commented upon in the notes of his jour-neys to India, Nepal and Cey-lon in 1874-75, to India in 1880 and to India and Burma in 1885-86. After his expedition to Garh-wal and Kumaon regions, Mi-nayev compiled a unique an-thology of the local folklore – fairy tales, legends and rare pieces of the so-called “folk farce”, which had been per-formed during the Almora market. The Russian readers were greatly impressed by these publications. Legendary Russian author Leo Tolstoy

commented enthusiastically in 1877 on the publication of Minayev’s “Indian Fairy Tales and Legends, collected in Ku-maon in 1875”.However, despite the broad range of Minayev’s research, most of of his writings remain unfamiliar to Indians. After a gap of almost fifty years, when his “Travels in and Diaries of India and Burma” was pub-lished from Kolkata, another masterpiece, “Old India: Notes on Afanasy Nikitin’s Voyage Beyond the Three Seas”, is now being brought out by the Rus-sian embassy jointly with the Eurasian Foundation to com-memorate the 170th birth an-niversary of its author.While commenting on the 15th century travelogue of the mer-chant from the city of Tver, who happened to be the first explorer of the Indian market, the Russian scholar analysed in detail Nikitin’s observations and also described many as-pects of medieval India’s socio-economic, political and day-to-day life in historical perspective, tracing the gene-sis of their development upto the 19th century. He compared medieval India, as gleaned from Nikitin’s travelogue and other sources, with the situa-tion in the colonial India. The travel notes of the merchant from Tver, who pioneered trade relations between Russia and India, looks set to get a second life, which looks very symboli-cal in the context of a break-through summit meeting be-tween the leaders of these two countries.

and study music in India. After graduating from the Saratov Conservatory in flute, Pavel de-cided to study the Indian music and enrolled in the Shri Ram Bhartiya Kala Kendra Acade-my in Delhi. There he learned to play the tabla and studied clas-sical Indian vocals; he also learned to play the bansuri (flute) with the maestro, Harsh Wardhan. Pavel took an Indian pseud-onym, Pravin, and, after his re-turn to Russia, quietly began teaching his musician friends ragas. Today, even when he is not around, Safety Magic be-witches audiences with its soothing Indian rhythms and drawling songs. The leader of Safety Magic, Dan (Daniil) Lerman, began playing the drums in the 1980s. Young “hippies” would gather at Jaltarang, an Indian restau-rant, near Chistye Prudy in the heart of Moscow. They drank

coffee with cinnamon and lis-tened to music. “In those days, there were splendid festivals of India in the USSR and Soviet festivals in India. Indian musi-cians came to Moscow and I was lucky to get into a few con-certs,” recalls Pyotr (Ragu) Ni-kulin, who plays an exotic wind instrument, the didjeridu, cre-

ated by Australian aborigines. “We listen and one way or an-other, we reproduce different music, not just Indian. There’s good music and bad music. I advise you to listen to more good music and all the right vi-brations will come to you.” Dan Lerman first sensed those vibrations while listening to a

record by John McLaughlin and his Mahavishnu Orchestra, a jazz-rock fusion group from the 1970s. Dan followed the ex-ample of his idol and found himself an Indian guru, Hash-mat Azami Ali Khan, then a popular teacher of drums and tabla in Moscow. True, each member of Safety Magic began by studying classical guitar in an ordinary Soviet music school. But everything changed after a concert by Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar at the Bolshoi Theater in 1988. Dan began dreaming about a sitar, eventually hitting upon a tam-bura (a long-necked Indian lute) that he still plays today. Now, all Safety Magic’s re-hearsals and concerts begin with the singing of ragas. “In music, we adhere to the Indian principle. It’s not at all like the principle in Europe where you come out on stage and have to do something. Indian musi-

cians simply live in their music,” says the group’s bass guitar player, Mikhail Avsharov. Safe-ty Magic tries to attain “a pres-ence in the moment and open-ness to everything”. Those members of the group who can-not go to India have found a place to learn about Indian cul-ture at the Indian embassy’s Jawaharlal Nehru Center in Moscow. “People go there. They’re drawn by the nominal fee for lessons in real yoga, in Hindi,” says Dan. Music lovers today gather mainly on the pages of YouTube. Safety Magic is saved by festi-vals where groups like theirs can really let loose. Indeed, Safety Magic first began to be talked about after their appear-ance at a festival in the village of Shushinskoye in Krasnoyar-sky krai, where Vladimir Lenin once lived in exile. The audi-ence there somehow felt espe-cially close to Indian rhythms.

ical approach to this phenom-ena. In the course of his analysis, which makes this study really unique, the schol-ar correlated archaeological discoveries, epigraphical and written sources related to the history of Buddhism with the day-to-day and religious life of Buddhist sangha, various aspects of Buddhist congrega-tions, as well as with the activ-

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07bookmarks Russia india RepoRt

in association with rossiyskaya gazeta, russia tHe times of india wednesday_december 22_2010

rt.com/Politics/2008-03-02/medvedev_laughs_at_himself.html Mr Medvedev shares the joke at KVNen.wikipedia.org/wiki/russian_jokes Joke info humor.rin.ru Russian jokes and anecdotes Lifestyle

eVgeny tiPikinspecially foR RiR

a survivor from soviet times, russia's oldest satirical tV show continues to remain a blessed place of fun and wit where people can laugh at their leaders and themselves.

humour is king: kVn - the three funniest letters on russian tV

entertainment 'Merry and Quick-Witted' show will celebrate 50 years in 2011; putin even laughed at jokes aimed at him

Dmitry Medvedev’s rise to the presidency was, in a word, un-expected. But as it became public that Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister would be Pu-tin’s likely successor, a team from Moscow State Universi-ty performed a skit on televi-sion, with Medvedev in the front row, roaring with laugh-ter. The students portrayed Medvedev’s fictional high school reunion. His former classmates fawned over the president-to-be, asking if he remembered them and laugh-ing uproariously at his lame jokes. A clueless former class-mate arrives, boasting: “I’ve been in the woods for the past five years – no TV, no radio…nothing!” Oblivious to Medve-dev’s fame, the guy smacks him on the back and says “What’s up, Dima?” When they pose for a class photo, the un-knowing hero gives the future president bunny ears. Tell this

story to any Russian, and he’ll respond, “only on KVN”.The KVN is as recognisable a Soviet brand as the Bolshoi Ballet or astronaut Yuri Ga-garin’s smile. When it debuted on national television in the 1960s, KVN, or Klub Vesy-olykhi Nakhodchivykh (The Club of the Merry and Quick-Witted), was the only legal form of unorthodox thought. Today, this humorous survivor from the Soviet civilisation is a one-of-a-kind show, an orig-inal creation that wasn't bor-rowed from the West.The games and skits between teams of college students is played out in front of a live studio audience. At first, it consisted of competitions in-volving general knowledge, but it evolved into contests of wits that favoured the player who made the smartest joke. The key to the show became improvisation, jokes and put-ons. It began in its first incarnation in 1956. Like a bolt from the blue, Khrushchev delivered his secret speech denouncing Stalin at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party. His un-masking of the personality cult was like a breath of fresh

both Soviet and Russian TV. KVN soon became a social movement. Copy-cat “KVN-chiks” were put on at universi-ties, factories, schools and pio-neer camps. KVN went around the country auditioning teams, the best of which wound up on television. Since the teams often made ironic remarks about Soviet reality and ideology (those were the jokes the audience liked best), the show was soon no longer live, but taped. And ideologically dubious humour was often edited out. More recently, the game has been played in Western Eu-rope, Israel and the US. The first international competition — between the former Soviet Union and Israel — was held in Moscow in 1992. A world championship between teams from the United States, Israel and the former Soviet Union took place in Israel in 1994.In the old days, KVN had been a sort of valve through which — along with laughter — the steam of social tension was re-leased. The media atmosphere in Russia has since changed, and KVN has become one of many comedy sketches. Putin even appeared on the show several years ago to congratu-late the team on its 45th anni-versary. However, it is still one of the few places — perhaps the only one — that has brought former president Vladimir Putin to laugh at a satirical dig aimed at him.

air — and freedom. Next year, Moscow hosted the World Youth Festival. The Soviet in-telligentsia was brimming with hope, creative projects and brilliant ideas. It was then, during the so-called “Thaw”, that producers came up with the idea of “enlivening” Soviet television, still largely con-trolled by the ruling regime.The message was completely new for Soviet TV: the partici-pants included not only the hosts, but also members of the audience. Filmed live, they took part in various contests. The show helped to demon-strate that after decades of being stifled in the name of the party and state, every person could be interesting on his own and, more significantly, have his own opinion. This was a fantastic breakthrough, a revolution of sorts.In the beginning, the show was not yet KVN, but VVV — or Vecher Vesyolykh Voprosov (An Evening of Merry Ques-tions). After only its third show, VVV was taken off the air by the Soviet authorities in the wake of an “incident”. VVV had decided to award a prize at the next taping to any audi-ence member who arrived at the studio dressed in a fur coat, hat and felt boots (it was then the middle of summer) and carrying a newspaper dated December 31 of the previous year. Unfortunately, when the show’s host announced the conditions, he forgot to men-tion the newspaper. When the next show was scheduled,the studio was stampeded by hun-dreds of people in fur coats and felt boots. Chaos ensued. The show was yanked. All eve-ning, televisions tuned to VVV showed the message: INTER-RUPTED FOR TECHNICAL REASONS.This interruption lasted four years until KVN was reborn in 1961. It was originally filmed in black-and-white and be-came hugely popular over-night, eventually becoming the longest-running show on

Performers at the kVn show let themsleves go, driving a rapt audience wild with laughter

Humour can be frustrating. As ironic as that might sound, it’s true. When I first arrived in Rus-sia, it completely escaped me. Because the Russian language – with its word-plays and fluid syntaxes – is a major precursor of Russian humour. As I got bet-ter with my language,, things started to make more sense. It was my search for this mo-ment that led me to discover that unlike Indian humour, Rus-sian humour draws heavily on the country’s political history. Though during Soviet times po-litical leaders were left large-ly “untouched” (perhaps only in public), today many provide unimaginable fodder to tickle the Russians. There are many jokes like “A man ran through the streets of Moscow shout-ing: 'Krushchev is a swine!' He was seized and given 21 years punishment: 1 year for defama-tion, and 20 for leaking state secrets.” My personal favourite illustrates how the Soviet media was often forced to paint a rosy picture even when the defeats were insignificant. The anec-dote goes - Nixon and Brehznev (Soviet leader 1964-82) run a race around the Kremlin. It's the height of the Cold War and Nix-on wins. A Soviet journalist asks, "How do we report that?" The Kremlin official answers, "Say General Secretary Leonid Brezh-

nev took the honourable second place." And Nixon? "Say that he only managed the second to last position." But Russian jokes are certain-ly not limited to politics or po-litical leaders. Many draw in-spiration from diversity of the Russian and former Soviet pop-ulations. Just like Indian hu-mour is packed with Santa-Ban-ta jokes and Indians can spend all day mimicking accents from other states, the Russians in-dulge in jokes about the Ukrai-nians, Tajiks and Uzbeks. While such humour is often soft(er), sometimes it comes in the form of the unibrowed Ravshan - a construction worker from Cen-tral Asia working in Moscow – in the popular TV series, Nasha Rasha (Our Russia). Ravshan speaks bad Russian and always gets things wrong for which his boss scolds him and calls him an idiot. But when the boss is not around, he and his friend, Jumshud, engage in deep philo-sophical conversations translat-ed to Russian using subtitles.Russians are also infinitely more serious about their humour than Indians. While there have been shows like Comedy Cir-cus, nothing comes close to Russia’s university teams and comedy leagues participating in KVN (Club of the Merry and Witty). As for Russia, perhaps it’s time they got their own Ra-jnikant. After all, nothing makes my stomach hurt like “Rajnikant gave Sheila her jawani.”

oPinion

They have their own santa-Banta jokes

aanchal anand

JouRNalisT

Laugh gently at my jokes!...Traffic police stops a car.Policeman: “Have you drunk vodka today?” Driver: “No.”Policeman: “Breathe into the tube... Well, no alcohol is de-tected... Maybe the tube is bro-ken.” (Breathes into the tube himself.) “No, it’s working!”..."I can not sleep well because of this global financial crisis!"Well, I sleep like a baby!" "Re-ally?" "Yes, I wake up each hour and cry!"..Lenin proved that the state could be run by people. Stalin proved it could be run by a sin-gle person. Khruschev proved it could be run by any person, and Brezhnev proved it couldn’t

be run at all. ...Two Muscovites meet. “How’s life?” “Fantastic.” “Do you read the papers?” “Of course! How else would I know?”...A foreign architect invited a Russian architect to his home. He showed his guest around the house. "This is the hall," he ex-plained, "and this is the sitting room. This is my study, those are the children's bedrooms, this is the main bedroom... Then there are the kitchen, the dining room, the two bathrooms, the lavatory . . ." "It's a very good layout," says the Russian guest. "We have much the same, only without the partitions..."

KVN was a valve through which, along with laughter, social tension was released.

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BOOKMARKS08 RUSSIA INDIA REPORTIN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA THE TIMES OF INDIA WEDNESDAY_DECEMBER 22_2010

www.fifa.com/worldcup FIFA website www.russia2018-2022.com/en Russia 2018 bid www.government.ru/eng/power/60 Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth PolicySport

ILYA ZUBKORIR

With barely one stadium in place, Russia surprised many by winning 2018 World Cup bid by deftly playing the development card that played well with FIFA bosses.

Scoring big in 2018 World Cup raceFootball The Cup can cost Russia $10bn to 50bn; Putin confident Russia will create Europe-like facilities, airports, roads

When Sepp Blatter, president of the International Soccer Federation FIFA, pulled a piece of paper with the word "Russia" written on it from an envelope on December 2, even those Russians who had been doubtful of a victory were ec-static. After a tight race against competitors like Brit-ain, Russia won the bid to host 2018 World Cup soccer for the � rst time in the history of the game. Two years ago, when Russian leaders � rst started talking se-riously about taking a shot at the world’s greatest sports event, there were sceptical sniggers. However, the victory turned out to be impressive, and came after just a second round of voting. The decision � nally went in Russia’s favour as it � tted the FIFA’s mission to use the game as a tool to de-velop countries, give momen-tum to investment, and thus create a better life for millions of people. “Our country has everything that’s needed to host a World Cup. We are building a new Russia. With your help, we’ll achieve more. So let’s do it together!” These were the words of First Depu-ty Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov at the presentation of the Russian bid. Judging by the voting results, the FIFA Executive Committee en-dorsed this view.The powers-that-be in Mos-cow repeated the development mantra with great panache as they had done with the bid to host 2014 Winter Olympics when Sochi, the host city, was lagging behind rivals in terms

of both facilities and infra-structure. Russia’s bid show-cased only one truly function-ing stadium – Moscow’s Luzhniki. The rest are either under construction or on paper. Sure, it looks impres-sive in colour pictures: 16 spanking new, beautiful, ul-tramodern arenas in 13 towns, each with something attrac-tive to offer. The work is cut out, but no one’s complaining. Neither the international companies that will take part in the projects, nor FIFA, which will open up a large and

promising market, and cer-tainly not Russia, which will create thousands of jobs and make a giant leap forward in terms of development.Now that the initial euphoria has subsided, the question on everybody’s minds is: “What next?” Clearly, a lot has to be built from scratch apart from stadiums. While Moscow, St Petersburg, and to a certain extent, Kazan and Sochi in eight years’ time will be able to host thousands of tourists and fans, the other regions are worse off. Host cities will need at least new airports, moder-ately priced and high quality hotels and reasonable enter-tainment such as restaurants, cafes and malls. Besides, thou-sands of miles of motorways and railroads will need to be built. But nobody can put an

exact price tag on this huge construction effort. After he arrived in Zurich on the heels of the Russian win, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pro-jected the spending at around $10 billion. The actual num-ber will be much higher, say experts. The budget for Sochi 2014 has already tripled. An-alysts estimate the cost of the World Cup 2018 to Russia at a stratospheric $50 billion, that will make it the country’s most expensive entertainment in history. Interestingly, only $3.8 billion has been appropriated for the construction of stadiums, plus another $1.4 billion to build new airports. At $11 billion, spending on the tourist infra-structure dwarfs both. A well-developed transportation net-work criss-crossing European

Russia could set the country back by upto $35 billion. “We will leave nothing behind. As far as football is concerned, I hope we’ll be able to create an environment on par with Eu-rope’s, while airports and mo-torways will serve people for many years to come. Infra-structure spending has al-ready been put into the bud-get,” said Putin. Like most Russians, government offi-cials say the championship is a tribute to the power of the state and its ability to trans-late large-scale projects into reality. They also see it as an unprecedented opportunity to improve domestic living stan-dards. As for dividends, they are expected to come later – in the form of foreign invest-ment, tourism and a quality transportation system.

" I voted for Russia. England clearly had a great bid. But in the

end, I look at England and say: "What more would we have when we’re finished other than what I am certain would have been a great World Cup?’… I believe that when we’re finished in Russia, we’ll have accomplished a lot of different things..." From interview to 'Soccer America'.

THE QUOTE

Chuck BlazerAMERICAN MEMBER OF FIFA

The decision went in Russia's favour as it fitted FIFA's mission to use soccer to develop countries.

IT ALL ADDS UP

50 bn dollars - the price tag of the World Cup

for Russia. The federal budget will supply $10 bn, the rest to come from big business.

3.8 bn - will be alcocated for building stadi-

ums. The Russian bid features sixteen arenas.

35 bn - for new roads and rail-ways. By 2018,

a toll motorway will connect Moscow and St Petersburg.

1.4 bn - on airports upgrade. The 2018 World

Cup will become a litmus test for Russian airlines.

11 bn - is planned for tourism infrastruc-ture. Russia needs to

build or renovate 19,000 hotel rooms, FIFA said.

Andrey Arshavin, star Russian player, has promised that his country will deliver the “per-fect” tournament in 2018

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