6/7: Culture Lecture, Father Chaplin, and Baker Botts Law Firm

For the final time, Professor Domnina gave us a lecture on Soviet culture. The topics ranged wildly. She covered everything from the metro system, Soviet chocolate, the communist youth, ice cream, and the All-Russia Exhibition (which we will be visiting on Saturday). Although everything she covers in her lectures is interesting, I guess the one thing I found most fascinating was that Russians regard ice cream as a snack rather than as a desert. Because of this, the ice cream is much heavier in order to tide one over in between meals. I have to say that the ice cream here is much better than American ice cream. The West is known for their sorbets and low-fat mixes, but Russia has the real stuff. It's delicious, but also very fattening. I guess Russians get fat on ice cream during the summer so they have more insolation for the rough winters.

Father Vsevolod Chaplin

Next up, we took the metro to a dilapidated part of Moscow so we could visit Father Chaplin, one of the patriarchates of the Christian Orthodox Church. Father Chaplin has proven controversial as of late, attempting to form an "Orthodox Church Party" in the Duma, saying women should dress more conservatively, calling for the ban of novels that "justify pedophilia," and decrying the injustices of modern capitalism. He is the spokesman for the Orthodox Church and had to deal with a lot of press when Patriarch Kirill (the pope of Eastern Orthodox) was caught wearing a $30,000 watch. The Father Chaplin that we met didn't seem at all like the Father Chaplin we have been reading about. He was a quiet, old man who seemed almost nervous to be in a room with twelve American students. He spoke very low and monotonously and often stuttered when he was answering a pointed question. Even more surprising was that he appeared more toned down than we expected. Very few of his statements were controversial and after our eyes lit up when he said that church and state should not be completely separate, he became even more moderate in his tone. I asked him about recent statements by opposition leader Alexey Navalny that the Orthodox Church should act as a mediator between protestors and the government in abiding by their demands. His long-winded tangent-ridden ten minute response can be condensed into "We support dialogue between the government and the protestors, but the Church is against any sort of revolution." He made some semi-controversial remarks about Putin never really formulating his religion and questioning his devolution to Orthodox Christianity, but most of the things he said were reasonable. There was mention a religious revival occurring in Russia, improving relations with the Roman Catholic Church, and he called for an end to corruption in the government. Maybe we didn't press him on his stances hard enough, but he did not come across as the fiery figure were were imagining. Father Chaplin just seemed like a cranky old man who was set in his ways.

Jason Bennett

Baker Botts Law Firm (which I kept calling Bertie and Botts, thinking of the every-flavored jelly bean producer from Harry Potter) was also unexpectedly interesting. Tired and worn from weeks of traveling, most of the group was not looking forward to visiting a law firm, which could be done any day in America. Jade's mom worked at the New York office of Baker Botts and thought it would be a good idea to have our group pay the Moscow branch a visit. The first thing everyone noticed when we were led into the conference room was a table fully of coffee, tea, soda, and snacks. It seems like only the American places we go to give us free food. After a mad dash to the snack table, we settled down into comfortable and tidy office chairs. We were met by Jason Bennett, a lawyer at the firm who specializes in oil and gas law. Jason was very enthusiastic and informative. He gave us a briefing on doing business in Russia, similar what what Mr. Somers did for us at the American Chamber of Commerce. He said that Russians tend to develop their business through relationships rather than developing relationships through business. In other words, if a Russian businessman is good friends with a government official, he might cozy up to him for tax privileges, rather than meeting with clients and earning an honest profit. The feeling of responsibility for the firm as a whole is subverted by the desire to get ahead and not get fired. He also mentioned that the bureaucracy in Russia is difficult to get through. Of the 45 staff who work in the Moscow office, six of them are hired just to make sure that they are in compliance with government regulations. This creates a lot of wasted resources and inefficient business practices. Jason's stories about applying to school in Ukraine were fascinating and hilarious, and he made an effort to get to know us by asking about our first impressions of Russia. I asked him about British Petroleum's recent decision to stop doing business in Russia, wondering if this was part of a general trend. He said that it was a trend in the oil and gas sector, because the government is reserving drilling in vast areas of land only for government-owned oil companies. With business in the service, real estate, and technology sector, he said that foreign companies are investing more heavily in the Russian economy. According to Jason, Russians don't have the same mentality of worrying about the future, because their history has been full of so many times of hardship that the situation can't get much worse. Because of this, they are much more willing to take risks and start up new businesses. Russia has a rising entrepreneurial class that is just trying to get its foot in the door.

For dinner, we went to an American restaurant, simply out of curiosity for Russia's portrayal of American culture. There were a lot of cowboy boots, skinny jeans, and American flags everywhere. On the menu: steak and potatoes, burgers and fries, and pasta. I guess our southern culture is more visible to Russians than that of the North.