Article 02

Evelina Rioukhina, UNECE

For many of my colleagues the image of Moscow is associated with the Red Square and the towers of the Kremlin. For some of them Moscow means a little bit more – the Bolshoi Theatre, the Tretyakov Gallery. Nowadays, more and more people from all over the world are getting acquainted with this city, hitherto a forbidden and unrealisable dream. And the more you get to know Moscow, the more you discover new and unknown places and features.

Even for Muscovites the image of the city is constantly changing. Each time when I go to Moscow, I cannot help being astonished at the changes in the appearance of this city. The face of Moscow flourishes from year to year, maybe even from month to month. The architecture of this city is also changing. If in the 1960s the first sky-scrapers in the Kalinin Avenue in the centre of Moscow, built in the modern architectural style, were the buildings of 24 floors, today the highest apartment building in Moscow has 44 floors (is currently at the final stage of its construction), and there are plans to construct much higher buildings in the near future. The famous seven peak tower buildings of Moscow, built in classic architecture style in the 1950s, represent the seven chef d’oeuvres of the so called “neo-socialism” and considered as outstanding and unique constructions (among them are the buildings of the Moscow University, of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, of the hotel “Ukraine”, etc), but they are relatively not very high (the highest has 36 floors). However, soon Muscovites will be proud to have the highest tower in the world. The Moscow TV Tower Ostankino, built in 1970s, has now 540m, just a little bit lower than the CN Tower in Toronto of 553m (Guinness Book, 2003, see the note below). The Ostankino TV Tower is currently under reconstruction after the fire, which damaged the tower in 2000, and according to the recent project its new height will reach 562m.

There are several plans for reconstructing the central part of Moscow within the area of the small Ring road. In one of such plans it is proposed to rebuild the central part with sky-scrapers for offices, preserving however the historical or architectural buildings, and to build further residential apartment blocks in the outskirts of Moscow, near the big Ring road. Other plans are more moderate. No matter which of the plans is carried out, there always will be the Red Square with the St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin Walls. The future of the Lenin Mausoleum is more vague, as there are many disagreements on this particular issue, but history will have its word to say on this subject as well. In other words, all those who have never been to Moscow, in any case see its heart, which will always remain its heart. Just recently I had to spend several days in Moscow and visited many places and organisations of various nature. Without going into detail and analysis of changing or unchanging processes, suffice it to say that there are changes not only in the appearance of the city, but also in the mentality of the people, in their attitude to different things. Just two small and totally different details will illustrate such changes.

Horse militsia in the centre of Moscow.

Passing in one of the streets, I noticed an interesting bookshop with a French name and went inside. The owner by the name of Emmanuel, turned out to be from France, his bookshop has just recently opened and he is full of enthusiasm. I think this news will be interesting for those who are particularly fond of the French language and fran- cophonie. It is true that Muscovite are fond of the French language, French literature, and French poetry. The bookshop consists of two parts, one of which contains a wide selection of classics and modern French literature, both in French and translations into Russian. The other part reminded me of our Naville near the “Bar de la Presse”, the same choice of magazines, some of them are even translated into Russian. I asked about several books, which I could not find here, immediately I was given the order card through the company in Germany, which provides any book published in any country and at a reasonable price. I know that many people like books and have rich libraries in their apartments, with selected editions of rare books, and if now they have the possibility of getting any book published in any part of the Globe, especially in French, it is a very pleasant innovation for Muscovites.

I also decided to ask questions, which my international colleagues often ask me before going to Moscow. Two young officers, Svetlana and Irina, received me for discussion. I showed them our UNSpecial magazine, and explained the purpose of my questions. The discussion turned out to be long and warm-hearted, and here is just a brief summary of this interview.

My colleagues often ask when will it be possible to enter Russia without a visa. It is not easy to answer this question right now, especially as we are all facing a very insecure time at the moment. What we can tell you is that there was a proposal that the visitors should be able to obtain an entry visa on their arrival in Russia. A draft regulation was prepared and presented to the Duma some time ago. This question should be duly examined before a decision can be made. The question of entry into Russia without a visa is not yet on the agenda. There are many different reasons for this. Maybe the day will come when this is possible, but not in the near future.

Many of my colleagues have heard about the very high level of criminality in Moscow, many of them are scared by the bits of information that come to them from the media and which from far away seem very frightening – that it is dangerous to walk in the streets or to take the metro in the evening, even to travel by taxi is risky. Can you comment on this situation ? Unfortunately, the level of criminality is still very high, but we are doing our utmost to reduce it. The peak of criminality when it was dangerous to go out in the evening or to come back from the theatre – has been overcome. Taxis are perfectly safe in Moscow, there is a private network of taxis and also state taxis, and both are safe at any time. Order in the streets has been established by the increased number of militia, also there are a large number of militia in the metro and it is absolutely safe to take metro not only after theatre performances, which usually end around 9 or 10 pm, but until midnight. And the Moscow metro is so beautiful! The situation in Moscow is no worse than in any other big city, but of course, there are still many things which should be done.

What problems can you mention which you are facing in your work? It is difficult to answer your question on the spot, and also you will understand, we can talk about some things, and not about others, just like representatives of the relevant services in any other country. But still the problems, which we would like to mention – and which perhaps you had noticed yourself – are the problem of drug-taking among teenagers, the problem of alcoholism, and the problem of homeless and abandoned children.

Could you describe any of the events that have marked your professional career, as far as you are able to tell us about them ? Nowadays many people pronounce the word “terrorism”. This is awful and very dangerous. The most striking and horrible time in our memory was the period when several years ago in Moscow there were explosions in the high-rise apartment blocks, these explosions were happening at night, during the time when innocent people, families, children were sleeping. We were working 24 hours a day during this time. Muscovites were horror-struck wondering which apartment block would be blown up the next night, the inhabitants of the apartment blocks were on constant duty in the entrance of their houses, many people were afraid to stay in the apartments at night and tried to put up tents outside in the streets. Of course, all possible measures were taken quickly, the entrance to each building was frequently checked to secure the inhabitants, still there were many victims, a lot of panic and horror, and this period marked us profoundly.

I will not ask about your salary, that would not be ethical. But I assume that your salary is pretty low and that perhaps your colleagues in the private sector are earning ten times more. Why do you stay here ? Would you like to change your job for the private sector ? Yes, you are right, in the private sector, in the banks or private companies the salaries are much higher and many of our colleagues have gone there. But not all. There are many who stayed and who would not go. There are many people of conviction among us. It is true, that our salaries are not high, but we have some benefits, in other words, we can live, of course, but we cannot afford luxury. And the moral value is very important for us – we strongly believe in our jobs, and we feel that we are needed for our Motherland and that we contribute to the security of our citizens, and also for the safety of all those, for whom you are taking our interview and who are planning to visit Moscow. Please tell them – welcome to Moscow and we will try that you all feel warm and safe in our city !

I thanked the two young officers, and I was especially touched by their smiles, the charm of which was not less because of the strict military uniform. Beyond this smile one can feel huge warmth and a big soul. And frankly speaking – Moscow is famous for this – in Moscow there are people with charming smiles, enormous souls and warm hearts. And the hospitality of Muscovites is just legendary. Come to Moscow, you will see all this for yourself !

Note: The third highest tower in the world is the Oriental Pearl in Shanghai (468 m), and the fourth place belongs to the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (421) m ; among ten highest towers is also The Tour Eiffel (320,75 m) ; the Seoul Tower is given in some sources as the third highest tower (480 m above sea level, but the heights of the tower itself is 262 m).