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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.



Thursday, January 08, 2009 Updated at 31 December 2008 22:36 Moscow Time.

The Moscow Times » Issue 3853 » Career

Lara Mccoy Roslof / MT

Even before his election, Dmitry Medvedev popped up in souvenir items.

Treasure Hunt: A Sure Bet

03 March 2008By John Wendle / Special to The Moscow TimesNesting dolls have gone from enshrining Russia's political leaders to predicting them.

"I ordered the Dmitry Medvedev matryoshka in December," said a souvenir vendor on the Arbat.

"We still have Putin [500 rubles]," he said, pointing to one of the large lacquered, egg-shaped dolls. "But now we also have Medvedev [also 500 rubles], then inside is Putin, then Yeltsin or Gorbachev, then Stalin, then Lenin," said the vendor, who refused to give his name.

The Arbat vendor said that so far, only Russians are buying the Medvedev doll, in its black suit and cornflower blue tie painted against a Russian flag.

"Foreigners don't recognize him yet. He's like Zyuganov or Zhirinovsky," he said. "After March 2, foreigners will start buying him though," the vendor predicted confidently.

While nesting dolls are making predictions on the Arbat, Medvedev has still not made an appearance on the shelf of Putin portraits at the Moskva bookstore on Tverskaya Ulitsa. There, Putin dominates all categories, from the businesslike decision maker on the phone [1,842 rubles] to the thoughtful leader [1,846 to 4,870 rubles] to the steely-eyed sea wolf in a black karakul sailor cap [1,846 rubles].

One sales assistant laughed, but refused to give her name, when asked whether the bookstore were selling Medvedev portraits yet.

"Not yet," she said. "I don't think they'll take Putin away immediately," she added.

But even before Medvedev was elected, he sat front and center next to Putin, a business bet the vendor seemed willing to make.