Children talking
«WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU AND TO YOUR COUNTRY TEN YEARS FROM NOW?»
We have asked pupils of Kazan School of Choreography to answer this question
Best picture
TRADITIONS OF SABANTUY
The old people remember that in the villages, after the feast of Sabantuy, everybody discussed for months the smallest details of the main feature: the wrestling match. The winners received a sheep as a prize and became local heroes. Their fame and glory lasted for the rest of their lives.
The President
Mintimer SHAIMIEV
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE IS THE MAIN LAW
«In a country like Russia where peoples of so many different nationalities live together, we need a very sound policy to deal with anything concerning an increased self-awareness in relation to national identity. I cannot imagine for Russia any future other than that of a democratic federal state, and as we make progress in that direction we shall have to deal more and more with problems of that kind. It is a big mistake to deny their existence. Those who have no experience in this area may underestimate their complexity. In Tatarstan, after many painful years, we know firsthand what it really takes to preserve concord between different nationalities».
Panorama FACES
Sovereignty
A GENETIC URGE TO BE INDEPENDENT
Any state entity must have a legislation and, even better, a Constitution. If such an entity is part of another, bigger state, as is the case with Tatarstan, some conflicts of laws become inevitable. President Putin has recently issued a decree concerning the establishment of a commission to «prepare proposals for amendments to be made in the treaty signed by the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan concerning the delimitation of terms of reference and the mutual delegation of powers between government authorities of the Russian Federation and government authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan». Marat Galeev, member of the above commission, member of parliament of the Republic of Tatarstan and member of the Presidence of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, has granted an interview to «Ogonyok» to comment on the present state of relations between Russia and Tatarstan
Facing the world
TATAR DIPLOMACY
Looking at their past Russians say that Peter the Great made a first opening in the wall that had separated them from the rest of Europe. Today, Tatarstan aims at achieving the same. To talk about Tatar diplomacy is not anymore an overstatement; it is now a fact of life. Timur Akulov, State councilor of the President and head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Tatarstan, spoke to «Ogoniok» about the ways and means deployed by Tatarstan in its conquest of the world.
The capital
LET US NOT DAMAGE THE CITY
Walking in the streets with the local mayor is not just a promenade; for the mayor, it is also part of his work. Whenever accosted by a civic—minded compatriot — of which there are many — he has to answer his queries, or at the very least his greetings
On duty
RUNNING THE TIME
For ages now, the matter of keeping good time in Kazan is administered from the top of Spasskaia Tower of the city’s Kremlin. From there, the main clock of this ancient town dispenses hours and minutes to its million plus inhabitants. For the last twenty years or so, keeping the timing of city life smooth has been the responsibility of Viktor Vrachev. The tower is his almost exclusive fief, and he is the only one to deal with the clock. So in a way, he is the local boss of time. But he has got his superstitions, and he does not treat time lightly, not inside the tower at least. He says: «Sure I can stop or launch the clock at will. But I cannot stop time, its the other way round. We all have our own time: me, you, the city; and lets leave it at that».
Housing
THE HIDDEN VALUE OF 1% OR THE URGE TO BUILD
They built houses that in fact were becoming derelict even before construction was finished
Heritage
TEMPLE OF RESTORATION KAZAN
Irina Aksenova-Nugaeva, member of the Union of artists and of the Union of architects and author of many projects, gives her best to the restoration of churches, mosques and theaters. She is also the director of what is called Workshop for Arts, Reconstruction and Architecture. Its abbreviation, as it is spelled in Russian, stands for «temple». And it is indeed a Temple of Restoration
Crime
Àsgat SAFAROV:
WE SHALL GO AFTER THE NEXT BIGGEST GANG...
Over the last few years, many big Russian towns — like St Petersburg, Yekatirenburg or Vladivostok — have been referred to as ganglands, Mob territory, crimes fiefs. Kazan was one of the very first cities to earn these labels early on in the recent history of Russian capitalism. This interview, granted to «Ogoniok» by general Asgat Safarov, Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Tatarstan, deals with how the spreading of crime is being fought
To be a man
COMMUNITY POLICING AS A WAY OF LIFE
Early on, Ilsur Nuriahmetov wanted to fly in the skies and joined the Aviation College. After an accident, he moved underground and got himself a job with a mining company. Today, he has his beat on the ground — as a simple community police officer in Kazan. But he has the respect of everybody in his district, up to the last wino
Made in Òatarstan
WINGS OF REPUBLIC
Take-off!
Big chemistry
THEORY OF ORGANIC COMBINATIONS
The director of Kazanorgsintez was exceptionally wary of us when we met first.Having ascertained that we were not some scoundrels he quietly said: «Actually we don’t need advertising»
Destiny
USMAN AND REGINA
It is nice to believe that somewhere out there is a fabulous El Dorado country. It is even better to realize this land is located in the neighborhood. There is always a last option: if all else fails, I will drop everything I do here and move over to Almetyevsk. Almetyevsk is beautiful, clean, the signboards could indeed create the false impression that only rich people live here
People and deeds
THE BIG ACHIEVEMENTS OF A SMALL TOWN
Maybe Nizhnekamsk is really what it seems to be — a clean and compact town. The most convenient town to live in the whole country in fact. It’s not a coincidence that the famous politician Zhirinovsky was outraged when he visited the town. The locals still laugh when they recall how Zhirinovsky who visited their town in an attempt to win more votes for election was shouting: «You have entrenched yourselves here! There are only oligarchs in your town! If I come into power I will take you out of your cars and put you straight on the donkeys!»
Time never stops
CROSS-COUNTRY ABILITY
You have to trust my word: there is real growth of industrial production in our country. And if you still don’t believe me you can just come up to any car parked in the street and touch one of its tires. The design bureau at the plant has been designing new tire models for quite a while already, because the times when the only quality parameter of a wheel was its durability are long gone
BEAUTY IS AN ALMIGHTY POWER OF PROMOTION!
On the average there are more beautiful girls in Tatarstan than in the country overall. Probably because of the well-known rule of eugenics: in the areas of mixing of races, the percentage of smart and beautiful people is always higher purely due to genetics
Economics and life
250 «KAMAZ TRUCKS» AND ONE «OKA»
Unfortunately, the plant that KamAZ management inherited from the Soviet planned economy was just too big. Figuratively speaking, all these years they had to carve a wooden spoon with a huge axe instead of a nicely fitted knife. They had to handle it very carefully to make sure that they don’t injure themselves and those around them
Money
CREDIT OF TRUST
Lending is the essence of banking, its alpha and omega. The point of application of its forces and a source of income
The inside workings of success
INSIGHT INTO TAIF
TAIF, a major group of companies, is considered as very secretive, and Albert Shigabutdinov, its CEO, readily admits: «We are that way. Our golden rule is not to publicize any ideas that we haven’t implemented yet». He knows that empty promises don’t pay and that a premature disclosure of future plans heralds unfair competition and subsequent bureaucratic quagmire
Panorama
Our brand
DOUBLE ASSEMBLY
Vyacheslav Zharekhin, deputy general director for commercial issues of the Chistopol Watch factory visited many countries of the world. He recalls: «Whenever you arrive in a country and you start mentioning Chistopol as the place you are from, mention the Vostok Watch factory, people start nodding politely but at the same time they are evidently doing their best to recall where this place is. But you only have to mention the «Komandirskiye» (Commanders) watch and everything suddenly becomes clear and well understood»
Business people
BUSINESS MAIN POINT — DON’T INTERFERE
We set up the well-known one-window registration system. Thus, Kazan became the only city in Russia where practically anyone can register an enterprise within 24 hours in one place, without leaving the registration window, saving time and, we might as well admit it, lots of bribes. Now, it can be done right here, at the ground floor
Tested personally
SMALL BUSINESS
The same capacity as one and a half irons
Land and people
«Russia just has to arrive at an agrarian cult»
WRITE ONE RUBLE, HOLD THREE IN MIND
Our agriculture is our main military secret. A foreigner will never be able to see the arithmetic of our village. Marat Akhmetov, Minister of Agriculture of Republic of Tatarstan, vice-Premier of Tatarstan Government, tells the Ogonyok correspondent of the formulas that can be used to calculate farmers happiness
COW’S HAPPINESS
Im a city guy, but I like going to the country. Im quite aware of all the delight of milk fresh from the cow, young radish or freshly baked bread. However, all that was in the past, in the grandmother time. I am not aware of the things occurring in the village now.I mean that the country lived through the next velvety bourgeois revolution, the social system changed, and private property has to substitute collective and Soviet farms, hated and imposed in a forced way. They just had to die immediately, as vestiges of the old epoch. It is not quite clear, why they survive.In order to see what is happening in our agriculture, I set out for the collective farm «Sickle and Hammer»
Knowledge — is power
RECTOR’S SPECIAL LANGUAGE
Myakzum Salakhov was recently elected new Rector (number 33) of Kazan State University. A Rector cannot be a person no one knows at the University. He graduated from the University, then headed a chair, and then became a Prorector
EDUCATION AS A KNOW HOW
There are many encouragement programs in many cities of the Republic including grants to the pupils who reached marked success in a subject. This is the way we recognize a persons work. It does not matter very much that the person is a schoolchild
Generation neõt
IN KAZAN EVERYONE KNOWS HOW TO HELP ORPHANS
It is fine that we still have good people that pity orphans and render assistance to orphanages. It is much more important if mercy is not limited by occasional actions, and some people take upon themselves responsibilities for the destiny of unfortunate children
Life and science
SCIENTISTS CANNOT WALK LIKE SOLDIERS
I know some scientists: they are all «not from this world». They are not (or little) interested in money, they sit at work till late hours, their days-off and vacations are devoted to scientific calculations and preparation of symposium papers. Generally, they live with an air of detachment, in the world apart from the usual human world. Such a person is Kev Salikhov, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Professor, Director of Kazan Ye.K.Zavoisky Physicotechnical Institute, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences, Lenin Prize Winner. He dreams of some high matters. However, without those matters our life today could be just as hard and primeval as in the Stone Age
A version of the past
MALLEABLE HISTORY FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
Each state cultivates its own historical myths. Some want to justify their deeds; some others want to look exceptional. Russia’s myths paradoxically sound rather like self-indictments. Rafael Khakimov, MH, political counselor of the President of Tatarstan, shares his views on how far our history can sometimes be stretched
Nation
RUSSIA: THE MORE DEMOCRATIC, THE STRONGER
Have you ever tried to stay far away from your relatives, friends and just good acquaintances? Not the very best feelings, right? At the same time, many peoples of the globe live exactly like this: all over the planet Earth. The Tatars are referred to the type of peoples that live everywhere in the world but try not losing connections with each other wherever they are. The World Tatar Congress is involved in support and development of such connections. We are talking with Indus Tagirov, Chairman of the Congress Executive Committee, and trying to clarify the details of the situation that has been advancing for years
Family business
BACK TO THE SOURCE
Faces of Almaz Holding
Religion
EVERYBODY’S BLOOD IS RED,
and We Have Nothing to Share
ONCE YOU’VE BUILT MOSQUE, TIME FOR CHURCH
The room did not smell of incense. Well, the smell was there, but it wasn’t very distinct. The walls were lined with paintings from «The Life of Saint Father Sergy». In the reception area, a secretary was busy sending faxes or checking e-mails that were sent to the Russian Orthodox Eparchy in Kazan. Archbishop Anastasis, Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan, disengaging from discussing seemingly never-ending problems on the phone, suggested that I start asking my questions, and I immediately jumped at the chance.
Road to temple
FAITH CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT ACTIONS
We were told that the Raifa Monastery can’t be visited only once. The idea is that once you’ve visited this «Christland» (this is what Kazan residents call this famous place) once, you will keep coming back. As to us, we have nothing against this popular belief and would love to visit Superior Vsevolod sometime again
Panorama CULTURE
Traditions
ON OPERA
Nights, crowds of ticket-seekers would tear the box-office apart
Backstage
NURIEV’S SMILE REMINDED US OF JOCO NDE
Many famous men lived a lifetime of rejection and vilification only to see their names given to festivals after their death. By contrast, the Rudolf Nuriev Festival of Classical Ballet in Kazan got its name with the great dancers own approval
Talents
CHOICE
Kazan School of Choreography is now younger than the youngest of its pupils. But very soon — in 2003 — it will be 10 years old
Melomania
RASHID KALIMULLIN
«It feels good to know that nowadays, musicians consider it an honor to be invited to perform in Kazan»
Change of guard
THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE THEATER
The biography of Renaissance
Outing to a museum
A HOUSE OF GREAT LIVING FRIENDSHIP
As I was strolling down the main street — the Pushkin street — I came in front of an old building with a sign on the wall saying: «Maksim Gorki worked here as an apprentice, in the Semenov bakery in the basement». Then, as I was turning into the Gorki street, I had a sense of dàvu: another sign on the wall said the same thing, that Gorki had spent time there, as an apprentice in a bakery. I got confused. I went around the building and found myself at the entrance. That was the Museum.
The cultural dimension
INITIATION TO THE MYSTERIES OF THE EAST
There are moments when I feel like I could write poetry. Come up with solemn lines and not be ashamed of it. Speak out my strange dreams. Free myself from the grasp of the form and forget about rhymes. I would climb up the hills through the narrow dark alleys of Kazan, I would dream watching the Kaban lake, and the Kamal Theatre that seems to spring out of it, and then the lights would die away and I would sink in the mysterious darkness of the night with the rest of the city. «Oh Kazan, my joy and sorrow! Oh you who radiate happiness and light!» In the darkest night, marred by the decay of its old buildings and the primitivism of the recently acquired new civilization, that is still the city so ably described by Tukai
Workshop
THE TEACHER
In Tatarstan, he is a Renaissance personality who joined in himself many flows of his peoples spiritual culture: philology, music, and fine arts. Both personal and creative life of Urmanche is unique, or even exceptional for Tatar arts
Panorama SPORTS
Sport
TODAY IS BETTER THAN YESTERDAY
The players of Kazan hockey team «Ak Bars» have no intention of resting on their laurels after claiming silver in the Russian superleague championships and have their sights on more precious metals in the future. Critics had assumed that Yuri Moiseev’s protégés would stay in the shadows — that the psychological battle of taking on such giants as Yaroslavls Lokomotiv, Omsk’s «Avangard», Cherepovets-based Severstal and Moscow’s «Dinamo», would prove too great
Company
«TAIF-TELECOM»
Let the sun of «Suntel» shine forever
Parliament
LEGAL FIELD
of creation and cooperation
Economy
REFORMS SHOULD NOT BE THE END IN ITSELF
In the times of the Soviet Union the slogan «Russian and Tatar are brothers till the end of time got worn out transforming into a false clang». Is it still actual today? Since the beginning of reorganization, during the sovereignties parade Tatarstan was defined as the center of separatism, presenting the threat to the integrity of Russia. Today these talks quieted down, and nevertheless the center still looks upon the Republic with circumspection. Having spent some time in the Republic I felt convinced that such circumspection is groundless. How deep is the economy and the culture of the Republic interlaced with the economy and culture of the country? Can Tatarstan do without Russia, and can Russia do without Tatarstan today? — these questions opened our interview with Rustam Nurgalievich Minnikhanov, the prime minister of the Republic of Tatarstan
