Russian Centre Welcomes Football Fans of Euro 2008

Guus Hiddink (1946- ), the Dutch coach of Team Russia

The Russian national team starts its fight for the medals of Euro 2008, the European football championship. It plays Spain, one of the strongest teams not only in Group D, but, in the tournament as a whole, this evening. However, Guus Hiddink, the head coach of the Russian team, is confident about his players’ skills and says that they will show the fans beautiful and spectacular football. The airport of the small provincial city of Innsbruck, the location of the Russian team’s match, is quite busy. Charter planes from Spain and Russia land every 15 to 20 minutes. There are no vacant rooms in the hotels. A Russian fan, Vladimir Domkovich, said that the Russian fans came to Austria to support their team and he hopes that they can win it all. Vladimir said, “All us Russian fans support Russia. All of us say that Russia will advance to the final. This is no problem”.

Some 10,000 Russian fans are expected to arrive in Austria. A Russian Centre was opened for them in the building of the Congress Centre in Salzburg on the eve. This is the headquarters of Russian fans. It will be the centre of cultural meetings for Russians who arrived in Austria to cheer on the national team. Several halls have already been equipped for various events. The largest hall has accommodation for 1,350 people. Meetings with players and coaches will be held there. Several monitors have been installed in the centre and fans can watch all the matches. The Russian Centre plans to mark Russia Day on Thursday. The holiday programme includes meetings with famous football veterans, famous actors, and musicians. The organisers are worried that the centre is too small. They did not expect such a large amount of fans.

10 June 2008

Svetlana Andreyeva

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28262&cid=63&p=10.06.2008

Russia Day: How Ordinary Russians Feel About It

The Call to Arms of Kuzma Minin in Novgorod in 1611

Konstantin Makovsky

1879

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The Russian parliament passed a “Declaration of Russia’s State Sovereignty” on 12 June 1990. This document declared the independence of the Russian Federative Republic from the Soviet Union. Next year, Boris Yeltsin, the then-president of the Russian Federation, decreed this June day as a state holiday under the name “Day of the Adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation”. So, from 1991 this “Day of Adoption….” of 12 June was made the number-one official holiday of Russia and a day off. Two years later, in 1993, this holiday was renamed “Independence Day”. To many people, this title sounded strange. Russia was never a colony like other nations marking an Independence Day, like, say, Bolivia and Argentina celebrating independence from Spain, or the United States from Great Britain. Nine years later, in 2002, when it became clear that most Russians did not understand “from whom they had declared independence”, this holiday was again renamed to become “Russia Day”. So, in 11 years, this date was renamed three times, a fact that may merit its entry into the Guinness Book of World Records…

This 12 June marks the 17th anniversary of this holiday, but it has yet to sink in with many Russians. According to a poll taken this June, only half of Russians gave the correct name of this holiday. Five years ago, only a third felt sure about it. Looks like tangible progress… however, when asked, “Do you take 12 June as a national holiday or just as an extra day off?” only a quarter of Russians said it was a “national holiday”. Five years ago this answer was given by 12 percent. Again, we have positive progress here, during five years the share of Russians for whom 12 June is a national holiday doubled, thanks in part to former President Vladimir Putin, who took special efforts to promote this holiday. For example, to add prestige to Russia Day, Putin used the occasion as a time to deliver the State Prizes of the Russian Federation. Each prize carries an award of 180,000 dollars. In one of his Russia Day speeches, Putin explained that this holiday was a tribute to “the historic choice that the Russian people conscientiously made at the start of the 1990s”. Sounds great, but, anyway, mid-June isn’t the best time for grand celebrations in Russia… too many people are off on summer holiday or are spending the day off at their country houses.

Any nation needs national symbols like an anthem, flag, coat of arms, and national holidays. The New Russia that emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union developed a set of new national symbols. Some are borrowed from its imperial past, like its tri-colour flag, the double eagle, and national holidays. Nevertheless, it takes time for ordinary people to get used to new national symbols, to digest them. Some of the new symbols failed, such as a new Russian anthem suggested by the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin. It proved to be so unpopular that Putin replaced it with the old Soviet anthem, although with different lyrics. Yeltsin also introduced Constitution Day as a national holiday to celebrate the new 1993 constitution of Russia. However, this day didn’t go down well with the general public, and Putin abolished it in 2005. That same year, the government introduced a new national holiday, The Day of National Unity to commemorate the popular uprising which ejected the Polish invaders from Moscow on 4 November 1612.

The Day of National Unity alludes to the fact that all classes of Russian society united to preserve Russian statehood when its demise seemed inevitable. Most observers view the introduction of the Day of National Unity on 4 November as an attempt to replace the old Communist 7 November Revolution holiday. According to a nation-wide poll taken last year, 4 out of 10 Russians feel that there’s no need for this new holiday. Some 20 percent gave a “hard to say” response. Today, the only national holiday marked by 95 percent of Russians is Victory Day, celebrated on 9 May. This is the only truly nation-wide holiday binding Russians of all walks of life, apart from New Year’s Day, of course. As for Russia Day on 12 June, only a quarter of Russians perceive it as a national holiday so far. I think this is normal, a new national holiday is a slow-growing plant. It has to mature over generations.

11 June 2008

Vsevolod Marinov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28291&cid=87&p=11.06.2008

The Independence of Kosovo can lead to the “Balkanisation” of Europe

Mitrovica in Northern Kosovo, a Serbian city under illegal Albanian occupation

Next Sunday, Kosovo is to announce its full statehood, a move that is regarded as a sequel to its unilateral declaration of independence made last February. Meanwhile, according to Newsweek magazine, “the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations are all turning a blind eye to the troubles in the Balkans”. What further troubles can be expected in the Balkans?

As Newsweek put it this week in an article by its correspondent Denis MacShane, “Europe’s recurring nightmare in the Balkans has returned”. As Kosovo is preparing to announce “full statehood” on 15 June, the West is overlooking the prospect of thus turning northern Kosovo into a new enclave, populated by ethnic Serbs who are vehemently opposed to being incorporated into this Albanian-populated quasi-state. In a sign of things to come, last March, in the northern city of Mitrovica, Serbs staged a full scale revolt against the NATO and UN forces that are attempting to enforce Albanian rule in this Serbian enclave. The result was one foreign soldier dead and over 80 others injured.

It’s not only Kosovo that is promising further trouble and turmoil for both Serbia and the rest of Europe at large. Suffice it to say that Macedonia is also fraught with further ethnic conflicts. During Macedonia’s election last month, the police opened fire and killed a political activist who was angry about the open stuffing of ballot boxes and other crude election manipulations; Newsweek reported this and added that “like the scorpion in the fable, Balkan politicians just keep stinging themselves to death”.

The magazine quotes the first Chancellor of the second German Empire as once dropping a casual and disdainful remark to the effect that “the Balkans were not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier”. The “Iron Chancellor” was, of course, proved wrong by the history that evolved in the Balkans, which set off a chain of events that ultimately led to both World Wars, the Cold War, and many of the troubles in the Middle East, problems that bedevil the world community today.

10 June 2008

Yuri Reshetnikov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28248&cid=87&p=10.06.2008

Tiny Ireland to Decide the Fate of the Lisbon Treaty

All signs are that the Lisbon Treaty is heading towards a shocking defeat with the “No” side now in the lead. A rejection of the treaty would be a disaster for the EU, which has barely recovered from the fallout after French and Dutch voters rejected its draft constitution in 2005. The fate of the treaty is now in the hands of tiny Ireland, which is to hold a referendum to ratify it, with voters going to the polls on this coming 12 June. The Lisbon Treaty aims to streamline decision-making in the EU following its recent expansion and would create a full-time EU president and foreign policy chief.

If ratified by all 27 EU nations, this new basic accord shall take effect early next year. So far, the Lisbon Treaty has been approved by 15 states, including EU economic powerhouses Germany and France. All the rest, except Ireland, are almost sure to join in shortly. Ireland is the only country in the 27-member bloc that shall vote on the treaty, in which vital reforms to the European Union are hanging in the balance. All other EU members, bitterly aware of the sad fate of the European Constitution that was turned down by France and the Netherlands, preferred to play it safe and put the matter into the hands of their national legislatures. If the treaty is rejected by Ireland’s fewer than four million voters, it is expected to cause chaos across the bloc, which covers 500 million people.

The most recent poll shows the number of people intending to vote No has almost doubled to 35 per cent (up 17 points) since the last poll three weeks ago, while the number on the Yes side has declined to 30 per cent (down 5 points). The No voters fear the treaty would undermine Irish sovereignty and increase their tax burden. Until very recently, the government of Prime Minister Brian Cowen was confident Ireland would vote in favour of the Lisbon EU reform treaty.

The adoption of the Lisbon Treaty initiated a chain of events that led to the eventual resignation of former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. The local political establishment feared that a nationwide referendum on the matter could turn into a vote of no-confidence in Mr Ahern and tarnish the country’s image. However, Mr Ahern’s resignation and the formation of a new Cabinet backfired on the pro-Treaty politicians, who focused too much effort on their own election campaigns at the expense of a treaty promotion effort. If on Thursday the Irish vote No, the Lisbon Treaty shall be stuck and the ripple effect from this is truly hard to foresee…

10 June 2008

David Brian

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=28245&cid=87&p=10.06.2008