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The Moscow Times Moscow Guide – Winter 2008

Since the middle of autumn one of the most important topics of discussion, could only be … no, not the financial crisis… New Year! The winter issue of The Moscow Times Moscow Guide is entirely devoted to New Years celebrations. Seven great ideas for celebrating the “Night of Nights” will help readers finalise their plans and choose how and where to party, give fresh ideas and lots of practical advice.

And don’t forget – problems will come by themselves, but happiness and luck need an invitation. That why the more cheerful and light-hearted your celebration of the coming holiday is, the happier and more successful 2009 will be for you.

The Crisis: Signs of a Kremlin Fearful Of Unrest
Sociologist Yevgeny Gontmakher has painted a disturbing picture of what might emerge from the financial crisis, forecasting continued unemployment, huge protests and spreading violence.

Market Matters: Huge Grain Harvest No Boon for Farmers
This year Russia is enjoying the biggest grain harvest it has ever seen -- and farmers couldn't be more worried.



Tuesday, January 06, 2009 Updated at 31 December 2008 22:36 Moscow Time.

The Moscow Times » Issue 4025 » News

Obama Gets Telegram, No Spot in Speech

06 November 2008By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff WriterPresident Dmitry Medvedev appeared in no hurry Wednesday to congratulate Barack Obama on his victory in the U.S. presidential election, sending the senator a telegram after eschewing an opportunity to acknowledge the win in his state-of-the-nation address.

"I hope for a constructive dialogue with you, based on trust and consideration of each other's interests," Medvedev said in a plainly worded note sent to Obama and posted on the Kremlin's web site late Wednesday afternoon.

Despite several references to the new U.S. administration, Medvedev refrained from mentioning Obama in his speech at 12 p.m. — long after it was clear that the Illinois Democrat had won.

The apparent hesitance came despite the fact that Medvedev has said he would prefer that Obama, 47, become the next U.S. president instead of his rival, Arizona's Republican Senator John McCain, 72.

"It would be easier to work with people with a modern outlook, rather than those whose eyes are turned back to the past," Medvedev said in February, before he was elected president himself.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday refrained altogether from commenting on Obama's victory.

Other top Russian officials and politicians were cautious in their predictions of how an Obama administration would affect U.S.-Russian relations, with many predicting changes to U.S. foreign policy but no consensus on their direction or depth.

Still, officials in the Cabinet's economic bloc welcomed Obama's win, saying his presidency would be better for the global economy than that of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

"The U.S. elections will have a positive effect on the global economy because of the new expectations," Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters Wednesday. "Now, these expectations are tied to absolutely new principles in politics, which will be directed toward stabilizing the global financial system."

Obama's team of economists will reconsider and refresh the bailout measures being implemented by the Bush administration, he said.

Both Medvedev and Putin have repeatedly blamed the United States for the financial crisis, which has knocked about two-thirds of the value from the country's stock markets since this summer.

Independent economists have argued that Russian stocks suffered worse than those in other emerging markets because the effects of the global crisis were combined with Putin's heavy-handedness in the economy and major capital flight after the August war with Georgia.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov tied Obama's victory to a global increase in stock prices Wednesday. "The first reaction of the stock market says that there is hope," he said.

Russian stocks also jumped in early trading, with the MICEX Index rising more than 13 percent before falling back to close up 1.1 percent (Story, Page 7.)

Medvedev's top economic adviser, Arkady Dvorkovich, said that under Obama, the United States would engage in a closer dialogue with Europe, Asia and Russia to find a way out of the financial crisis.

"This dialogue will begin in the near future in Washington. We will look for solutions together," Dvorkovich said, Interfax reported.

Medvedev will travel to Washington on Nov. 15 to attend a summit on the financial crisis. It was not clear Wednesday whether he would meet with Obama during the visit. Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, said a meeting was possible.

Obama, he said, must "find courage" to abandon the United States' unilateral approach in its foreign policy and embrace the idea of collective action.

Kosachyov warned, however, that any change would come slowly because the new president will be influenced by advisers whose vision of Russia differs little from that of the current White House.

The Bush administration has managed to worsen ties with Russia more than with any other major country, and Obama's election "instills hope that a dramatic page in the relations of the two countries will be turned," Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov said.

Obama's win will also help soften ties between NATO and Russia, strained by the conflict with Georgia and U.S. plans to build a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe, said Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's envoy to NATO, Interfax reported.

He said Obama's arrival would also lessen pressure imposed by Washington on its European NATO partners to limit cooperation with Russia.

Alexander Khramchikhin, a defense analyst with the Institute of Political and Military Analysis, said that with Democrats in control of the presidency and Congress, the United States was likely to cut defense spending and would probably lose interest in the planned anti-missile system.

Still, Khramchikhin called for patience to see whom Obama picks for key appointments before jumping to any conclusions. The senator has said he would also invite Republicans to work in his White House.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, of the Politika think tank, and Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov agreed that Obama has not yet fully developed his attitude toward Russia, although they pointed to staunch Russia critics in his retinue.

"Obama is an open book, a story to be written," Nikonov said. Obama and Medvedev are from the same generation and start their day by logging online, not looking at briefings prepared by their aides, he said.

But Obama's top foreign policy advisers present a mixed picture, he said. Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski has not been a fan of Russia, Nikonov said, while country adviser Michael McFaul "is evolving." He is also advised by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Zyuganov called Obama "young and interesting," but agreed with Nikonov that among the senator's advisers were several "Russophobes."

Staff Writer Anna Smolchenko contributed to this report.