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Russia's Jewish community has set up a group to protect individuals and property amid an upsurge in anti- Semitic violence.
"We are facing the worst outbreak of anti-Semitism since the fall of the Soviet Union," Pinchas Goldschmidt, Moscow's Chief Rabbi, said. "Our appeals to the authorities have been largely ignored, so we have been forced to take steps to protect ourselves."
A visit to Moscow's main synagogue yesterday appeared to confirm his suspicions. Despite the discovery of a bomb in another synagogue last week, and the stabbing of a prominent Jew by a Russian neo-Nazi this month, there was no police presence. Instead, a guard provided by a businessman searched worshippers, who also had to pass through a newly installed metal detector as they gathered to pray.
The Security Foundation of the Russian Jewish Community, set up by Moscow's Jewish leaders, wants to extend this cover to other Russian Jews, who are fleeing the country in growing numbers. It is seeking donations from abroad.
The neo-Nazi Russian National Unity movement, whose members wear black shirts and boots and give fascist salutes, has been banned from holding public meetings in Moscow, although its members have been free to march and train in provincial cities. Rabbi Goldschmidt said that the small group was of less concern than the Government's apathy in the face of broader anti-Semitism in the media and mainstream politics.
Last year two prominent Communists used anti-Semitic language in the Duma, the lower house of Parliament, with impunity. Virulently anti-Semitic literature and videotapes are sold freely in Moscow metro kiosks. With presidential and parliamentary elections due next year, it is thought unlikely that, in the populist climate, the authorities will take any serious steps to protect Jews.
Jews in the provinces suffer badly, particularly those in southern Russia and the northern Caucasus, traditional home of the Cossacks,who led pogroms at the turn of the century. A Jewish housewife said yesterday that her family had been driven out of their home in Nalchik. "We were never physically attacked, but we were the target of daily verbal abuse," she said. Like most of the town's Jewish families, she said, the family was planning to leave for Israel or America.
(posted 2 August 1999)
The Christmas reception unfolding at the Rossiya Concert Hall is like a Who's Who of the Russian elite.
Top-ranking Cabinet members and politicians, law enforcement officials, diplomats, along with prominent scientists and artists all cluster in the Rossiya Concert Hall - a stone's throw from the Kremlin - eagerly awaiting the man of the hour at what appears to be the social event of the season.
Suddenly, the master of ceremonies hushes the crowd by trumpeting the awaited arrival: "The founder and the head of the board of trustees for the Russian Charitable Fund for Reconciliation and Accord, His Holiness, Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II!" The crowd parts and the patriarch, in his black robe and white and gold-trimmed kukol, or head cover, walks to the podium adorned by a row of artificial Christmas trees.
He is followed by a young woman in a clingy, low-cut evening dress - the president of the church's charitable fund, Gulya Sotnikova. Her lips a bright scarlet and her arms draped in fur, Sotnikova takes her place to the right of the patriarch.
Finally, one-by-one, the guests file up a small flight of stairs past the patriarch and Sotnikova - their hostess for the evening.
"Everyone asks me how I have made all of my connections," said Sotnikova, whose high-ranking guest list includes, among other dignitaries, the prime minister, the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, the defense minister, renowned theater directors and artists, the chief of the state customs committee and the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences - even the president's wife. "I don't have connections. People come to the receptions I organize out of respect for His Holiness. If Naina Iosifovna [Mrs. Yeltsin] comes, it is in response to the patriarch's invitation." But Sotnikova is being modest. Indeed, until Sotnikova headed the patriarch's main charitable fund and started hosting lavish receptions for the patriarch, the spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church rarely mingled socially among the Russian elite.
Sotnikova - with her frequent television appearances, silvery blue Jaguar, opulent locks of bright red hair, diamonds and youthful energy stands out against the robed images of clergymen or shawl-wrapped babushki who usually surround the patriarch. The contrast has raised more than one eyebrow.
Her friends say that any rumors of impropriety are sparked by envy - Sotnikova is, after all, one of the richest businesswomen in Moscow. Her critics are riled by what they call her proximity to and influence over the patriarch.
Some Russian newspapers have labelled Sotnikova the patriarch's "financial adviser," a term the provincial girl turned business manager laughs at. But she is not always lighthearted about the negative press she receives. At a recent interview a somber Sotnikova expressed her gratitude to the patriarch for not "leaving her alone in trouble." Even after a flood of critical media reports - all, she adds, bias and totally untruthful - and messy legal squabbles, she is still standing next to the patriarch.
WARY OF PRYING EYES
Having taken a heavy beating in the press, Sotnikova says she is weary of journalists digging around. Before agreeing to an interview, she gets the patriarch's blessing, and puts a pen and a blank piece of paper in front of the reporter and demands assurances that she will have a chance to inspect her quotes before publication. In spite of the late hour - well past midnight - we negotiate for a long time. "I have not read a word of truth either about myself, my company, or the fund itself," said Sotnikova, who also demanded to approve any photographs taken of her before publication.
That would not be the last negotiation in the process: As soon as a phone call to the patriarch's secretary, or the chancellor of the Holy Synod, or her business contacts at NTV was made, Sotnikova would know about it.
A day before publication, Sotnikova called to demand to "withdraw" her interview, saying that she, the patriarch and Alexander Solzhenitsyn were all working on letters to The Moscow Times editor to ask to withhold Sotnikova's quotes. After another three hours of excruciating inspection, Sotnikova - her face drained of blood and deep circles spreading under her eyes - finally signed off on her quotes from a June 27 interview. In parting, she said the media attacks had also taken a heavy toll on the 70-year-old patriarch, causing him physical distress.
THE LEGAL TROUBLE
The latest scandal involving Sotnikova broke June 24, when police conducted an impromptu search of Sotnikova's offices. The raid, police say, was a continuation of an investigation launched last December, when cargo from one of Sotnikova's planes was detained outside the airport soon after the plane returned from China. According to Sotnikova, the 40 tons of seized cargo belonged to her commercial company, Vertex.
Dec. 1, Moscow's organized crime fighting unit, also known as RUBOP, stopped five Vertex trucks on their way out of the closed Chkalovsky military airport that the shipping company uses as one of its bases.Sotnikova says the police hinted they were acting on a tip that the cargo was used to smuggle drugs.
Sotnikova said police implied the tip came from AO Russkoye Zoloto, but the firm denied the allegation. "We ourselves have problems with RUBOP, why would we give them information on her?" said Alexander Tarantsev, the president of Russkoye Zoloto, who once enjoyed warm relations with the patriarch, but they cooled considerably after Sotnikova arrived on the scene.
Vertex had declared the value of the cargo arriving that day to be $66,400, says Nikolai Danilov of Moscow Operational Customs, an investigative arm of the Moscow Customs Committee that is handling the Vertex contraband case.
But police estimate the seized cargo is worth at least $1 million, and opened an investigation. June 23, the customs committee charged Vertex with a fine equal to the value of the seized cargo - or about 25 million rubles.
But Sotnikova - ever ready to fight back - says the cargo seized was not from one shipment, but several cargos that had been accumulating at the airfield warehouse. She says she is contesting the case and expects it to be closed soon.
Sotnikova says she made an attempt to free part of the seized cargo - about 30,000 toys that were to be distributed to needy children for the New Year.
So, she turned to the patriarch for help. "I asked him to please appeal so the containers with toys could be checked and let go first of all. There were nearly 30,000 toys in the New Years cargo, and it was [already] December 1," Sotnikova says. "I filed a request with the General Prosecutor's office and His Holiness also wrote a letter asking to sort it out quickly and objectively." "[Prosecutor General Yury] Skuratov promised to do so, but sadly he had a lot of his own problems," she adds, giggling. By that time Skuratov had been suspended after Russian television aired a tape of the prosecutor with two prostitutes.
The patriarch had a reason to get involved. After media reports linked the seized cargo to the church fund, Alexy dispatched his personal lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena - a prominent member of Moscow's legal community - to investigate the matter. Kucherena is also defending Aeroflot in a legal battle with business tycoon Boris Berezovsky, and was the lawyer for former Justice Minister Valentin Kovalyov, who was sacked after Russian television aired a video of him frolicking in a banya with naked women.
The patriarch also made phone calls to Nikolai Bordyuzha, the head of the presidential administration at the time, Noviye Izvestia reported. But Kucherena insists that no power peddling was involved. "He could have told Boris Nikolayevich [Yeltsin] about it. But he didn't," Kucherena said.
After about two months of searching, the police found 2.8 grams of hashish, 1.4 grams of heroin and 16 pornography videos among the imports. Sotnikova says the drugs and pornography were planted there to sully her name.
"Can you imagine how difficult it is to find 1 gram of drugs in 50 tons of cargo? I don't even want to comment on it." Sotnikova fumes, adding that she later learned that the porno tapes were interspersed with sections from Russia's NTV Plus and TV-6 television programs. "Why would anyone in China be recording NTV Plus?" Even the Moscow Transportation Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating the smuggling case, suspects the drugs may have been planted. "The origin of these drugs is sort of murky," said Alexander Morozov, head of the investigation department.
Patriarch Alexy - who rarely gets involved in such public struggles - stepped in to defend Sotnikova, declaring that all the criticism about the Fund and its president were nothing but "slander." "It is hard for me to understand who and why anyone could dislike the Fund's charitable mission, the kindness and selflessness of its workers and its president, their genuine attempt to support the orphans, the disabled and the veterans," the patriarch told Itar-Tass in May. "It worries me that charity work sometimes provokes suspicion and hostility." The patriarch's concern is understandable. Rumors that Sotnikova introduces herself as the patriarch's wife have recently made their way into the Russian press. Most notably, a laundry list of compromising rumors appeared in the mainstream Noviye Izvestia this week. The daily also printed rumors that Sotnikova is dealing in fetal organs, and is the protege of former head of the State Customs Committee Valery Draganov.
Sotnikova and people close to her flatly deny the accusations. The attacks on the patriarch were especially sinister since the Russian Orthodox Church and its head is one of the few trusted Russian institutions, they say.
"Gulya is a rich person and she wants it to be known. She is not afraid.
And can such a bright, glistening woman not provoke envy and gossip?" says Luiza Khmelnitskaya, a professional musician and long-time friend of Sotnikova's. Khmelnitskaya, who has helped produce several of Sotnikova's shows and television projects, added that the young businesswoman is also extremely generous when it comes to giving away some of her earnings.
OSTAP BENDER IN A SKIRT
Sotnikova's full first name, Gulnaz, means "gentle flower" in her native Bashkiria, where she was born to a Bashkir theater critic and a Russian writer. She is in her mid-thirties, but does not disclose her exact age.
Sotnikova first came to Moscow in the mid-1980s, arriving with three different passports - each listing a different age. In order to apply for university programs as well as a Moscow residency permit, Sotnikova made use of the three documents, adding or subtracting years in order to qualify.
Using these documents - along with her amazing reserve of energy and charm - Sotnikova set out to conquer the Soviet bureaucracy. She managed to breeze through university entrance exams as a "national cadre" in the Bashkir Republic. Then, after transferring mid-study to Moscow, she almost simultaneously received a technical degree from the Moscow Communications Institute and an economics degree from Moscow State University By that time, it was early 1990. She already had a job at Moscow's giant AZLK car factory, was married, four-months pregnant, and had a Moscow propiska and a two-room apartment.
But her marriage fell apart. So, she left behind the apartment, borrowed some money and went into business. "I didn't start from ground zero," Sotnikova recalls, sitting in her kitchen. "I started with less than zero."
Now Sotnikova has got a lot more than zero. Her lavish apartment, meticulously converted from a eight-family communal flat in Moscow's prestigious Prechistenka neighborhood just two blocks from the patriarch's official residence, is filled with antique furniture, Art Deco lamps, oil paintings, and an opulent marble fireplace. Antique French inlaid cupboards adorn her hallway, some of them, as well as her office, are filled with dozens of pairs of shoes the color of tangerine, black or light blue.
Sotnikova says she has fulfilled her childhood dreams. She has traveled, given birth to a son and can give him a great education. Last year, she celebrated his 8th birthday at a posh Spanish resort, where Sotnikova shelled out for a fireworks display.
"I cannot call myself a very rich person. But I today can completely fulfill all the needs and interests of myself and my child. I can dress nicely, I can buy the jewelry I like, I can buy the cars I like. Yes, the silvery blue Jaguar..." she says about her trademark car. According to a recent statement in Noviye Izvestia, which Sotnikova confirmed, she at first tried to give the car to the patriarch as a present, but after he turned it down started using it herself.
But while Sotnikova is proud of what she has achieved, she turns philosophical about the worth of her money. "I do not understand makingmoney for the sake of money," says Sotnikova. "Some people want power and use money to realize that desire. There are people who save up to pass their wealth onto their children. Every person wants to reach a position of respect. I want my son to be proud of me."
BUSINESS: MAKING SERIOUS MONEY
Sotnikova made her first "serious money" by forming her own team, joining a small construction company called Tropos. They made their first fortune on the computer boom.
She eventually expanded into medical services and equipment, promoting such novel concepts as bio-rhythm testing, massage, weight-loss programs and electrical stimulation to clinics around Moscow.
"We got our hands into everything," Sotnikova says. "It was the time when I thought only the lazy could not be bothered to bend down and pick up money.
We didn't have enough people to get all our ideas off the ground." But Sotnikova's relations with Tropos soured after the company administrators siphoned off her earnings, she says. Seven months pregnant, she decided to break off again on her own, registering the Medical Multi-Purpose Center Argus in 1990, which later became Vertex. The center provided a wide array of medical services, including Moscow's first fee-for-services prenatal examinations, fertility treatment and deliveries at clinics run by the Fourth Medical Department, the elite Health Ministry unit that once treated members of the Communist Party Central Committee and the Soviet Cabinet. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union it has been transformed into the Presidential Medical Center.
FLYING HIGH
On a trip to China in the early 1990s, Sotnikova attended a reception at the Russian Embassy where she overheard that Russia's giant travel agencies - Sputnik and Intourist - were forbidden from flying charter flights to China. She recalls sitting down and calculating that such flights could be highly profitable. Then, as she tells it, she "managed to get the permission from the Chinese government to open charter flights." Sotnikova would not discuss how she persuaded the Chinese.
Later, riding the powerful tide of the shuttle-trading business that created many Russian self-made millionaires, Vertex opened up the first line of combined flights from China, with cargo planes simultaneously carrying passengers and their goods. For seven months, Sotnikova says, Vertex monopolized the market, and she later addedflights to Turkey, the Arab Emirates, India, Korea and Thailand. In 1994, Sotnikova, whose legal last name is Tsurko by her first husband, registered an airline, Vertex-aero. At the same time, Sotnikova set up a tour operator, Vertex-tour, an investment company, Vertex-trust, and a trading company, Vertex-trading, which she organized together with her friend and partner Arkady Vartanyan, a part owner and a manger of Imperial, the company that runs Serebryany Vek restaurant, located just across from the famous Metropol Hotel.
Vertex did not buy planes for her airline, but leased them from Aeroflot.
She often employed as many as 30 cargo planes a month, which accounted for as much as 90 percent of Aeroflot's cargo business. Anatoly Bunimov, deputy head of Aeroflot's shipping department said that Vertex is one of the airline's major business partners. A plane working the China route could make as many as 15 flights a month, each carrying between $500,000 and $1 million worth of goods and generating about $3,000 to $4,000 in profits per flight, Sotnikova said.
However, experts in the transport business point out that the real money in the cargo business is made by shepherding the goods through customs - another service that Sotnikova provides.
At some point, Sotnikova says, she stopped working with individual shuttle traders and switched to providing services for large clients. Vertex was working as a full service trading company: demonstrating samples produced abroad, taking orders, transferring money to the foreign producers, importing the cargo, processing it through customs and selling it on Russian soil.
The shipping company rose to such prominence that would-be competitors shied away from the market. Vertex' main competitor was Eastline, a shipping company that was launched with the support of Kremlin big wig Oleg Soskovets.
Sotnikova, on the other hand, has always claimed that she built her success on her own, with no special privileges. "There were times when Gulya, tired and on the verge of fainting, told me: 'No one will believe that I have done it all by myself!" said Khmelnitskaya, a friend who has known Sotnikova for the past 5 years.
But others are dubious that the provincial girl's success can be attributed to ingenuity alone. Alexei Ponomaryov of Intar, a smaller shipping company, implied it is practically impossible to build a major transport company in Russia without the support of the government. Sotnikova's access to the Chkalovsky military airport, he said, illustrates that she has some higher connections.
"Chkalovsky is near Star City [the Russian cosmonauts' training center], and it has the highest level of state security protection. To fly there isbasically impossible," Ponomaryov said, adding that it is off limits even to the tax authorities. "It has its own customs department. To order to get access to Chkalovsky, one needs direct connections to the military top leadership." Sotnikova said she flies to Chkalovsky because she leases military planes.
OLD SCORES SETTLED
According to Russkoye Zoloto President Alexander Tarantsev, it was a succession of men who landed Sotnikova support. Tarantsev says he has known Sotnikova since 1992, when she was married to his friend Oleg Akayomov. At the time, Akayomov was an influential official at the State Property Ministry where he was one of its leading specialists at the department for state management and real estate.
"While Akayomov was her husband, she gained a firm footing in the business world and took off," Tarantsev said in an interview at his dacha last week.
"She had vast connections, and it looked like he was helping her. This is a normal thing: a husband aiding his wife. Nothing wrong with that." Tarantsev is likely to be biased as far as Sotnikova's successes are concerned: He admitted that his once close relationship with the patriarch grew increasingly distant as Sotnikova rose to prominence in the Church's circle.
Russkoye Zoloto, which owns several Moscow open-air food, electronics and general customer goods markets and shopping centers, and has investments in banking, jewelry manufacturing and film production, has also not managed to keep its name free from scandal. In recent years the company has been investigated for its connections to several contract murder cases which arose over the control of certain Moscow shopping centers and a night club.
It was also subjected to a contraband investigation. Neither case, however, ever made it to court. Tarantsev himself was in the limelight last year when he was arrested in the U.S. for not disclosing his prior criminal record on his visa application. The charge was eventually thrown out of a Florida court. In Soviet times, Tarantsev spent eight years in prison for running underground - and at that time illegal - production shops.
Until recently, Tarantsev contributed heavily to the Russian Orthodox Church, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to the reconstruction of the Cathedral of the Christ the Savior alone. Russkoye Zoloto donated one of the few surviving articles linked to the original Cathedral, an original painting by Vasily Vereshchagin used to create a fresco and a replica of a patriarch's throne made of precious wood. The company also financed at least 15 television programs prepared by the PITA, theOrthodox Informational Television Agency, headed by the patriarch's spokesman, Nikolai Derzhavin. Each cost between $40,000 and $50,000, said Alexander Semonin, general director at Russkoye Zoloto. But lately, support for the church has been scaled down.
"We had good relationships, relationships of people who understood each other, until the moment when our Miss Sotnikova got close to him," Tarantsev said. "As far as I know from the people close to the patriarch, [Sotnikova's] old spite and hatred led her to present me as the worst man in the universe next to Hitler." According to Tarantsev, the animosity surfaced in mid-1990s, when his company tried to venture into the shipping business with China, and at some point overshadowed Sotnikova's Vertex. Later, Tarantsev says, Russkoye Zoloto pulled out of the transport market to steer clear of Eastline's business interests.
MEETING THE PATRIARCH
Sotnikova first sought an audience with the patriarch to invite him to one of her now famous Christmas receptions. The parties started in 1994 - at first just for Vertex employees and clients, but she soon packed the guestlist to include Moscow's political and cultural elite. The idea to invite the patriarch surfaced after her receptions became prestigious, she says.
By that time, Sotnikova and her companies had contributed $125,000 for the restoration of the Cathedral of the Christ the Savior. After that, Sotnikova says, she risked sending an invitation to the patriarch and asking for an audience.
"If back then I realized how difficult it was to get an audience with His Holiness, how practically impossible it was, especially for a person in my position as a businesswoman, I would never have worked up the courage," Sotnikova confides, recalling how she finally tip-toed to the patriarch at the Danilovsky Monastery conference hall, in her floor-length mink coat, to hand him an invitation. To her surprise, she recalls, soon there was a phone call inviting her to come for a meeting.
"I remember how struck I was by his simple manner," Sotnikova says.
"But he has an amazing quality about him - the more I talk to him, the more veneration I feel, even now, after so much time has passed and he is my son's Godfather," adds Sotnikova, whose night table is decorated with a small snapshot of the patriarch and herself at an official event. Above her bed the ceiling is painted with a fresco of an angel holding his hand up in the sign of a blessing.
In 1996, when the patriarch first appeared at her Christmas reception, Sotnikova recalls, they talked for a while. "I told him about our construction business, I explained several of our charity projects, hewas interested and said that he would support them," she recalls. "From that moment, our cooperation began."
THE FUND IS BORN:
Indeed, the Russian Charitable Fund for Reconciliation and Accord was established soon thereafter in January 1997 with Sotnikova as its president.
As a reward for the patriarch's loyalty to President Boris Yeltsin in the 1993 stand-off with his outlawed parliament, the Church received some profitable excise privileges and tax breaks from the Kremlin. For several years, the Church earned money by importing cigarettes and alcohol and exporting oil. But many of these privileges - including the privileges on cigarette and alcohol imports - were revoked after several scandals surrounding the abuse of these charitable perks arose. Now the fund, along with the Sofrino religious items factory, is one of the Moscow Patriarchate's important financial vehicles. In addition to supporting orphanages and veterans' groups, the fund is also used to develop educational programs.
"Back when the fund was organized, although the fund was organized by His Holiness and could have received tax breaks and other exemptions, we decided that it shouldn't get any," Sotnikova says. "It was very important to me that we make the money ourselves." Sotnikova says she transferred most of her cargo business to the charity.
Now, she says, the shipping company is one of the major revenue generators for the fund. "I transferred to the Fund the parts of the business that involve simple and transparent bookkeeping," Sotnikova says. "So basically, today it is a respectable transporting corporation." By transferring her shipping business to the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church, Sotnikova gains a great deal. She benefits from the patriarch's influence allowing her to expand the transport company. This, in turn, benefits her Vertex trading company, which relies on the Fund to shuttle the goods. While some may see this as a conflict of interest, Sotnikova says it is a normal business arrangement: in exchange for donating part of her business to the Church, she increases her opportunities for expansion. Vertex accounts for a vast percentage of the Fund's earnings. It is not clear, however, whether Vertex gets any tax breaks from using a charitable shipping company.
The patriarch's authority and his reputation, Sotnikova says, allow her "to make very important contracts and expand the field of our activities considerably. If he gives an audience to a person who could be helpful to the fund in one way or another, he often recommends that person talk to me." Sotnikova says she is well-known today. "Today when I have questions - most of the time related to the Fund - and need to turn to high-ranking members of government, I am never turned down," Sotnikova says. "They see me not as Gulya Sotnikova, but as the president of His Holiness' fund." Sotnikova's position as the Fund's president also allows her to mix charity work with business. According to Khmelnitskaya, Sotnikova was the patriarch's messenger to Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko last year to request the release of ORT reporter Pavel Sheremet, who was detained for his straight-forward reporting on Belorussian customs. During her meeting with the president, Sotnikova - eyeing Belarus' well-maintained and underused fleet ofcommercial planes - also established some useful business contacts. After the meeting, Lukashenko made a direct order to assist Sotnikova in leasing the jets, she says.
Neither Sotnikova nor the patriarch disclose the total budget of the fund.
Sotnikova explains her reluctance by considerations of business and safety.
Alexy's assistant Derzhavin, in a response to a request for an interview and information, wrote that the short notice did not allow him to present the newspaper's questions to the patriarch, a typical formal way of declining requests for interviews with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
But some of the fund's expenditures allow a glimpse into the scale of its earnings. Last June, during a campaign to help Russian orphanages, the fund spent about $1.2 million on food, clothing, medication and other supplies.
This year, during a similar campaign, the fund spent $720,000 of its own money and raised another 800 million rubles in donations, as well as loads of clothes, medication, toys and books, Sotnikova says.
THE PATRIARCH'S INFLUENCE
Sotnikova, who grew up without a father, says the patriarch has great influence on her. "But even with his simplicity - and even tenderness - he keeps his distance amazingly. I can always feel that distance. This is something that our politicians are lacking. " It is perhaps surprising that a woman from a traditionally Moslem republic would become so prominent in the patriarch's circle. But religion had never been a major influence in her life, Sotnikova explains. One of her husbands took her to the Armenian Apostolic Church to be baptized. The patriarch later performed a confirmation service for her - a church ceremony that receives a believer from a different denomination into the Russian Orthodox Church. He baptized her son, Maxim, on the same day at a small church near his residence in Peredelkino. "For Maxim and I, it is such an amazing joy to have such a man as our Godfather. His Holiness personally baptized him in the spring, about two years ago," Sotnikova says. "Maxim remembers everything, and I remember stepping out of the church and flowers were everywhere..."
(posted 2 August 1999)
There is no need to persuade RM readers that the Russian Orthodox church as a whole and its patriarchate in particular are not political organizations. Just as there is no need to persuade them that the patriarchate, and even more so the church as a whole play a substantial role in politics.
An organization which participates in political actions is not necessarily political. For example, labor unions. But an organization which participates in politics and maintains some kind of political line (even defined by most general traits as in the case of unions) thereby represents some portion of the political spectrum, that is, it is, in the direct sense of the word and not the juridical, a political party. It remains only to specify what kind.
It would be necessary to begin with the "history of the question," but a more or less detailed review will not fit into a newspaper article. Therefore we restrict ourselves to two instances. First, the patriarchate tried for a long time to hold itself apart from politics. Especially after the unsuccessful (of course, not its fault) peace mediation between the hostile branches of government in October 1993. Second, the patriarchate took part in the "World Russian National Sobor" (VRNS) which could be characterized as a "national patriotic" organization.
Metropolitan Kirill, who joined VRNS during 1995, drove out of it all who could be called radicals so that the patriarch, who became president of the "sobor" in December 1995, could head an organization that was rather moderate. In a strange way VRNS constituted a forum (in which at the start even Yegor Gaidar could take part) and an amorphous "national patriotic" coalition, which adopted resolutions in support of the restoration of an Orthodox monarchy, reunification of the Russian people within approximately the 1913 boundaries, and strengthening of state control of the economy.
The absurdity of this composition, obviously, is explained by the fact that the patriarchate needed just such a forum where the patriarch and Metropolitan Kirill could not simply converse with political leaders as equals but receive them "on their own territory" and thus aspire to greater influence. In the attempt to create some kind of organization connected with the patriarchate, they drew together "national patriots" of all stripes and to some degree remade "national patriots" as they chose.
It is possible that the patriarchate had insufficient desire to create its own political representation, but rather simply did not consider it necessary and restricted itself to support for the periodically activated VRNS. On the other hand, it is impossible not to recognize that Metropolitan Kirill at least did not speak against the ideological resolutions of the sobor and until recently these resolutions could be taken as the voice of the metropolitan himself, who was responsible for the "external," that is the political, activity of the church.
VRNS could fulfill the role of the "political wing" of the church so long as the distance between the church and politics remained on the whole what it had been in 1994. (The church permitted itself to lessen this distance only in the period of the presidential elections of 1996, although at the time a political party was not needed for interference in politics, but only a show of support personally for Boris Yeltsin). The situation changed last fall, when the general panic served as a basis for clearer activity by the patriarchate.
On 9 October, on invitation of the patriarch (and VRNS, but subsequently the sobor was barely mentioned) representatives of various political forces came directly to St. Daniel's monastery. The topic was supposed to be stabilization and political reconciliation. The "assembly" was called "Russia, path to salvation."
RPTs was represented by the patriarch and Metropolitan Kirill. Not all politicians came by any means. The president was not there, nor the prime minister or speaker of the Federation Council. To be sure the president was vaguely represented by Andrei Loginov, the head of the administration for matter of domestic politics. There also were no liberals or members of Yabloko at the meeting. The list of politicians ran from centrists like Yury Luzhkov and Ramazan Abdulatipov, to leftists Gennady Seleznev and Nikolai Ryzhkov. "Obshchestvennost" was represented by the cochairman of VRNS, Valery Ganichev, the head of the Russian land movement, Elena Panina, movie director Nikita Mikhalkov, and actress Ekaterina Vasileva.
After talking about politics, economics, and spirituality, those assembled adopted a resolution in which they expressed their readiness "to begin a joint search" for a way out of the crisis. They even agreed about the need for beginning some "constitutional process." Of course, the assembly had no direct political consequences, but this time the role of the church as the organizer of the conversations was not in vain, in contrast to 1993, and it could nourish some optimism in those who hoped for further politicization of the activity of the patriarchate.
Subsequently the speeches from the patriarchate (and occasionally from Alexis II personally) on such frankly political questions as confirmation of the boundaries with Ukraine, the new military doctrine of NATO, or impeachment of the president have turned the existence of a political line of the patriarchate from the object of discussion to an indisputable fact. It remained to find an organized implementation of this line which was more effective than the World Russian National Sobor.
It seems that the patriarchate, as before, did not want to create a "church party" and tried somehow to distribute its political participation. But in practice no distribution was achieved inasmuch as right at this time there arose a movement that was so ideologically close to the position of the patriarchate. This was "Fatherland" [Otechestvo].
The inevitability of the union of Fatherland and the patriarchate can be explained at least by three causes. First, Fatherland is primarily the "party of Luzhkov." The patriarchate simply could not refuse to support its constant ally.
Second, the threat of communist revanche and the threat of a general deconstruction of the political system and social order, which seemed quite real after the August crisis, forced the church again to get involved in the real political struggle for its interests. The naming of a new prime minister did not dispel the crisis. Fatherland, broadly using what were really communist leaders (in ideas and ways of thinking), such as the rector of MGU Viktor Sadovnichy, nevertheless remained a basically noncommunist movement. It was difficult to say whether Luzhkov had the power to resist the growing chaos, as was widely thought, although many viewed him as the force that could effectively deal with the communists who were raising their heads. Without doubt, the anticommunism of the patriarch and his associates, which showed itself so clearly in 1966, could not help playing its role this time.
Third, although the program of Fatherland is extremely vague, it distinctly shows an imperial spirit and antiwesternism (restricted by the rejection of war), economic antiliberalism (restricted by the practical acceptance of the existing economic system), "defense of the workers" (without exaggerating the leftist ideology and without soviet revanchism), importance of the protection on a state level of traditional moral values (without an hysterical tone), and a generally defined openness to ideas of "national patriots" (with unconditional rejection of any radicalism and racist rhetoric). All of this fully corresponds to the contemporary ideological orientation of the patriarchate.
This orientation does not have any expression in an official document of the synod, much less a local council. But we would hardly be mistaken if we put confidence in the detailed statements of Metropolitan Kirill [The circumstances of modern life] and the patriarch himself [The world at a crossroads] which were published recently in Nezavisimaia gazeta. Metropolitan Kirill's article has already been commented on in RM by Anatoly Krasikov [Metropolitan Kirill and human rights]. Alexis II's article of course needs detailed analysis, but for us now it will be sufficient to make a brief comment. The patriarch has spoken simultaneously against marxism and the consumer society and he has counterpoised the liberal view on the state to his traditional definition of ethical and confessional concepts, directly declaring the need for government regulation of ethical problems and the preservation of Russian worldview and cultural standards (as they have developed) instead of western (that is, liberal) ones. In essence the issue is the opposition between some traditional Russian (as well as Serbian, Muslim, etc.) values and "imposed" liberal ones. The understanding of "traditional" by Fatherland and the patriarchate turns out to be very close.
As the grounds of his position Alexis II advanced two theses: the necessity of "acceptance of the equality of the humanist and theocentric views of the world and their equal rights to influence world events," and recognition that "each nation, each culture, religion or philosophical system has a right to its historic self-realization." Both theses essentially distinguish the position of the patriarch from the positions of the Moscow mayor. Yury Luzhkov is extremely far from theocentrism and is hardly prepared to follow the idea of the "right to self-realization" as openly as the patriarch. Luzhkov would easily agree that Serbs are completely just in defending Kosovo field by force of arms, but the patriarch cites as an example the Chechen people defending their right to live "in accordance with their own notions of good and evil" against Russian imperialism (incidentally the Kosovo Albanians could serve as no worse an example). In other words, the patriarch places the integrity of a worldview approach above political strategy, which Fatherland never would do.
And so the patriarch and Fatherland are natural allies, but the boundary between them becomes rather clear. Fatherland, as is known, is a movement not simply of the center but of the left-center. The Moscow mayor who heads it accepts Orthodoxy on the level of "general spirituality." The patriarchate operates as a party with a clear religious priority. This shows itself, of course, not only in general worldview declarations but also in specific demands, such as the restriction on activity of religious associations preying on its actual or potential flock (although in this there is no disagreement with Fatherland), or the restoration of religious education in secular schools.
Besides, the patriarchate is not a one-hundred-percent ally for the Luzhkov movement. After all its basic concern is the protection of the interests of the church and for this it is more important to have proximity not to one or another political party but to governmental power as such. We recall that at the last birthday of the president there were only three guests who were not relatives: the heads of the government and the administration and Patriarch Alexis II. So that at a time when there was real tension in relations between Yeltsin and Luzhkov, the patriarchate could not display too clearly its preference in allies. The patriarch's declaration of 24 May about the need for the elimination of the necropolis on Red Square can be considered more pro-Yeltsin than pro-Luzhkov. (But perhaps it would be better to say that Alexis II took an independent political course.)
On the other hand, whether by virtue of a natural inclination of "national patriots" for the politicization of the church or because of overarching foresight on the part of the patriarchate itself, contacts even with the communist patriotic organizations have not been interrupted. The Russian Land Movement (RZD) of Elena Panina plays the role of the necessary link; she is still a part of the leadership of VRNS, having shown herself a loyal ally of the patriarchate. Metropolitan Kirill himself is a member of the leadership of RZD.
By the end of 1998 RZD had signed an agreement on cooperation with the "National patriotic union of Russia" (NPSR) and on 15 December it conducted a congress at which it managed to assemble both communist patriots and centrists, from Yury Luzhkov and Mikhail Shmakov to Nikolai Ryzhkov and Viktor Zorkaltsev (just like at the "assembly" that happened soon before). At a press conference after the congress Archimandrite Feofan Ashurkov explained that the church can "aspire only to play the role of arbitrator and to facilitate the maintenance of peace within society." Under the circumstances the issue clearly was the maintenance of peace between centrist forces, principally Fatherland, and the communist patriotic opposition. The patriarchate declared it readiness to play the purely political role of "arbitrator" in inter-party relations.
It is difficult to say how effective this arbitration can be, but in any case neither side can reject it since both value too highly good relations with the church. The communists did not fret too long even over the patriarch's encroachment upon their holy "relics" on Red Square, although now that there is a wave of rumors about the approaching "removal of the bodies," the patriarchate has not returned to this topic. Such a situation permits the patriarchate to avoid choosing political partners and to advance its own positions. Consequently it is easy for us to determine what kind of political party it is. The issue, of course, is not some simple ideological "charter." In general there is rather little of that in Russia. But if one tries to express it as concisely as possible, then the patriarchate is a public organization with clear political priorities, which in the ideological and practical spheres are very close to Fatherland, though not to any degree in opposition to the government but lobbying it for the interests (as it perceives them) of the Russian Orthodox church.
Of primary interest is the question just how such an organization is going to participate in the electoral campaign that is now beginning. But this is a somewhat different topic. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 2 August 1999)
An article titled "Faith and courage" was published in the newspaper "On Military Duty." In this article the executive director of the Society of Christian Military Personnel of Transbaikal, Aleksei Mochalov, described the goals, tasks, and nature of the activity of this society. Some time later the same newspaper published another article whose author was the editor of the newspaper "Orthodox Transbaikal," Alexander Yaremenko. He sharply criticized the entire Society of Christian Military Personnel. In particular, Alexander Yaremenko posed the question: "What goal could such an organization as a 'Society of Christian Military Personnel' have when it was created with the immediate participation of the special services of the NATO military and their allies from the sects of Baptists and Pentecostals in Russia? . . . . We will not be mistaken if we say that the Society of Christian Military Personnel was created in order to deprive our army of its true spiritual bases established over centuries and to transform the armed forces of Russia into some kind of 'universal' military organization which is incapable of conscientiously rising to the defense of our Eastern Orthodox Slavic civilization, against which the West does not conceal its hostility and hatred." Evidently assuming all Russians, Alexander Yaremenko poses the question at the end of his article: "Why are we again making concessions to the enemy?"
Immediately after the appearance of both articles a Radiotserkov reporter requested an explanation and comment from the president of the Society of Christian Military Personnel of Transbaikal, Russian Army Captain Andrei Cheprasov. Andrei Cheprasov described how the society's workers in several military units have often been forbidden to hold meetings with soldiers and officers on religious and ethical topics. In one such unit the commander explained the reason for such an attitude: "We are afraid of you." In Andrei's words: "Many soldiers are afraid even simply to talk and to discuss, and some do not even want to listen to anything." Because the situation regarding the activity of the Transbaikal Society of Christian Military Personnel is becoming increasing tense, at the present time the society is undertaking attempts to be received by the Orthodox bishop of Chita and Transbaikal, Innokenty. But according to workers of the Society of Christian Military Personnel, nobody will be able to put a stop to the work of preaching the Gospel which God began among soldiers in Transbaikal, no matter who they are. (tr. by PDS).
(posted 31 July 1999)
Catholic church consecrated in Yurga
On 25 July a Catholic church was consecrated in the city of Yurga, Kemerovo province. The consecration was performed in a solemn liturgy by Bishop Joseph Werth in the presence of four Catholic priests from Kemerovo, tomsk, and Novosibirsk. This small city of Kemerovo province still does not have its own priest, although there is a Catholic parish. A year ago a wooden building was purchased and then remodeled for the church. At the consecration ceremony a whole busload of guests came from Kemerovo as well as a Polish priest, Fr Darius Lisakovsky. It is he would comes every other week to Yurga to celebrate the sacraments. Guests also came from Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Berdsk, and Ukraine to take part in the ceremony. This is the second consecration in Russia in the current month. On 4 July a Catholic chapel of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was consecrated in the city of Kuibyshev, Novosibirsk province. This prefabricated church was brought from Germany and built in four days by German builders with means from the German charity fund "Renovabis."
First mass of Italian priest in Novosibirsk
On 1 August in the Novosibirsk cathedral church of the Transfiguration of the Lord the first mass of a young Catholic Italian priest from the Society of the Brotherhood of Saint Karlo Borromeo, Fr Gampero Karuso will take place. It is considered that parishioners who participate in the very first mass of a newly ordained priest receive a special blessing. After the mass the priest will bless everyone by laying his hands on the head of each parishioner and they kiss his hand. Gampero served as a deacon last year several times in Novosibirsk, and he recently was ordained in Italy.
First conference of Russian Catholic episcopate
On 8 August, on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, there will be a solemn celebration of the second anniversary of the Novosibirsk cathedral church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Before this celebration, on 5-6 August there will be the first conference of Catholic bishops of Russia. At the present time there are four of them: Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusievicz of the European part of Russia, Bishop Clemens Pikkel, Bishop Joseph Werth of the western region of the Asiatic part of Russia, and Bishop Jerzy Mazur of Eastern Siberia. At the conference the bishops will discuss current problems of the Catholic church in Russia. On 18 May Pope John Paul II issued a decree dividing the Asiatic diocese into two independent parts, with Bishop Mazur becoming apostolic administrator of Eastern Siberia with its center at Irkutsk. Before this, the diocese of the Asiatic part of Russia had been the largest Catholic diocese in the world.
Robbery in Catholic cathedral
A crown disappeared from the head of a Madonna and a rosary of precious stones disappeared from her hand in the Catholic cathedral of Novosibirsk. The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was sent last year from Fatima as a gift to the church. The church received the crown from German believers. The leadership of the cathedral requested help from the police. The city television made a film for news concerning the incident. In his interview Bishop Joseph Werth said: "When in Switzerland my briefcase with a mitre was stolen, the police returned it to me in two days." The police called the bishop on the day after the crime and said that "although this is not Switzerland, the crown has already been found. Thethieves managed to sell the rosary, but it soon will be recovered." Before the liturgy, the lieutenant of the central department of ROVD came himself to the church and handed the sacred objects to the bishop. It seems that the robbery was committed by two young homeless persons. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Radiotserkov
(posted 31 July 1999)
Several years ago in one of the central newspapers I happened upon an interview with a certain priest. Among other things he was asked his evaluation of protestants and Baptists who then were at every street corner handing out pocket New Testaments. Did the father priest think that their New Testaments were good but their faith bad? The father explained this question without any doubt. For now, he said, we have our hands full. We are regenerating Sacred Rus. So let them hand them out; it's less work for us. After we have restored the forty forties [i.e., churches of Moscow--tr. note], then we will deal with the protestants.
This sentence simply delighted me with its naked cannibalism. At that time I first met genuine Russian spirituality, which is instinctive, natural, and magnificent but which also easily transforms itself into obscurantism and the cudgel of mass anger. It is transformed just as easily as the church domes are transformed into a steel helmet on the graphic of the "Russkii Dom" [Russian Home] broadcast. This broadcast is the mouthpiece of that spirituality, and its scope can be comprehensively defined by the famous slogan "For God, Tsar, and Fatherland." For these citizens God represents what is instinctive and natural, the Fatherland is the power of the cudgel of mass anger, and the Tsar represents both of these.
God and Tsar
All Russians believe in God. This is an axiom for the anchor of RD, Alexander Krutov. Proceding from this he builds his discourse with the population.
"Do you go to the monastery?" he asks a native of Valaam island.
"Of course not," the yokel shrugs his shoulders. "I'm not baptized."
"So get baptized?" Krutov reproaches him. It creates the feeling that this provincial should be ashamed for the wasted years.
With this same brusqueness the anchor turns to Patriarch Alexis II himself. "Tell us, will the Valaam cloister ever be regenerated in the same spiritual strength.?"
It is immediately obvious who here is the real zealot for the faith. However, I would be more interested in the religious beliefs of Comrade Krutov rather than those of His Holiness. There's a problem here: The Russian Orthodox church has not canonized Nicholas II because opinion on this within the hierarchy is divided. But for "Russkii Dom" everything is clear: the emperor is a saint; we even are shown a church decorated with his icons. Its name remains a mystery (in general RD does not suffer from love for precision), but informed people explained to me that there is in Moscow a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which actually has canonized Nicholas. The schismatics, it turns out, are actually the church. Or else, to speak frankly, they are heretical.
But Krutov and company do not condescend to such petty matters, because the profound truths have been revealed to them and great miracles are clear. For example, the Catholics have in their shrine at Lourdes a single Virgin that cries tears of oil; too bad, but that's all. Here in Sacred Rus recently a real competition in oil-crying has broken out. In a single broadcast of Russkii Dom I learned that, first, reporters had hardly left Valaam when the icon of saints Sergius and German began to exude oil (to be sure, during the broadcast they restrained themselves); second, recently while one woman prayed before the icon of Nicholas II she "raised her eyes and there were seven streams of oil on the icon even in defiance of the laws of physics." The report about the third miracle seemed more like commentary on a sporting event: "Throughout the church a wonderful aroma wafts. Streams of oil flow down the icon case. Then the icon of the Mother of God begins to exude aroma. This is happening right in the hands of the woman parishioner! The icon is miraculously warming up (wouldn't it warm up in her hands?--A.B.), and oily stains are emerging on the Virgin's shoulders. . . ."
Well, so be it. An oil stain is a true sign. Oh, our sins are grave. . . .
Incidentally, that last prayer service was conducted in honor of the "processional flight" around Russia; it seems there was such a thing. The devout fliers also observed miracles, namely, a pattern on a frozen window that resembled a crown and a rainbow in Zapoliarie. During the their time free from observing visions the crew of the "flying chapel" (sic!) came out to the people and conducted educational work. For example, the following: "The word 'demonstration' is a translation from the Greek meaning 'meeting of devils': demon--stratsia." For the especially enlightened I will report that the translation from the Greek of "demonstratsia" would mean "people's forces," but actually the word is from the Latin. However, that is not surprising. Once at Russkii Dom I was informed that the advent of Antichrist is described in the ancient secret Jewish books and his name is "Messiah." As regards "Messiah," they are not making it up. It translates into Greek as "Christ." Which is to say how dangerous these Jews are. But now let's move on to another persona of Russkii Dom.
Tsar and Fatherland
"In the murder of Nicholas II did the two-thousand-year-old struggle that has been conducted against Christianity since the crucifixion of Christ find its logical culmination?" Krutov insinuates delicately. It turns out that the answer is "no." What is happening now is more beastly. "On 17 July Orthodox people will mark the memorial day of the ritual murder of the tsarist martyrs" (to be exact, placing people against a wall and then pouring acid on them is an ancient cabbalistic ritual), and the Moscow authorities will make this sorrowful day a beer holiday! In order to show "how this blasphemous bachenalia ended, which was conducted on the holy days of the Orthodox calendar" Russkii Dom showed a tape of the recent tragedy in Minsk. It seems that dozens of children died at the Nemig station because "some organization headed by Mister Shulman designated a Shabash for Trinity day." Since the music for a time drowned out the services in neighboring churches, the Lord sent a cloud so that no one could prevent the Orthodox from praying in peace. After all, rock music in and of itself is an "integral part of the satanic subculture" (evidently satanism also has an ordinary culture), so that the satanists celebrated on the square a "genuine mass which culminated as do all masses with large animal sacrifices." In general, a dog's death for dogs. Those who are wise go to church and do not frequent shabashes.
The views of Russkii Dom are also redolent with such humanism. "In our country from one to one and a half million Chinese are living illegally. Imagine what a Kosovo there could be within the Russian federation," Krutov says with restrained hope, because, it is clear, we could create a "Kosovo" only if we declared the Chinese illegal, and not they us. Finally the position of the broadcast is explained by Professor Leonov, who appears on Russkii Dom as a regular expert. Amazingly he delivered an assessment of the conflict around Baikonur: "This happens everywhere. So our rocket blew up and poured some nuclear fallout of the territory of Kazakhstan."
Small matter! It merely evoked a sharp reaction from Kazakh authorities. And Krutov strikes me: he sits there and nods. Really couldn't he make a sincere and stern rebuttal: We don't need Baikonur because rockets tear the heavens and drive God away from the clouds.
Primarily, of course, this is disturbing for our future international relations. But I clearly understand the position of such professors. So long as all icons in our country are not sobbing and all satanists have not been killed off, let the West flood us with money. And when finally we have complete and irreversible prosperity, then we will show them, the infidel dogs. . . ! (tr. by PDS)
(posted 31 July 1999)
Six million dollars are needed in order for the State Museum of the History of Religion [formerly the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism--tr. note], which is located in Kazan cathedral of St. Petersburg, to be moved to another building, according to a statement from the director of the museum, Stanislav Kuchinsky. This is the sum, according to him, that is needed for completing the repairs of the new location for the museum on Post Office street. In 1991 divine services were begun in the building of the cathedral with the oral permission of the museum's administration. Recently city mayor Vladimir Yakovlev gave a promise to Patriarch Alexis II to return the cathedral to the church by the bimillennium of the birth of Christ. Vladimir Yakovlev threatened to replace the director of the museum if the last exhibit is not removed from the cathedral by 22 October. "I consider that the Kazan cathedral can be returned to the diocese even those to be sure the sauna and the restorant in the building on Post Office still are not ready, but they can be finished up later," the mayor said. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 30 July 1999)
On 26 July His Eminence Metropolitan Irinei of Vienna and Austria fell asleep in the Lord in Munich after an extended illness. The day before, on 25 July, Bishop Avenir of Znopol (Bulgarian Orthodox church) and Archpriest Khrizostom Peinburg administered the holy sacraments of Christ of extreme unction and holy communion to Master Irinei.
In connection with the blessed death of Metropolitan Irinei, His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Run sent the following telegram to the rector of the Saint Nicholas cathedral in Vienna, Archpriest Nikolai Orlov:
"I have received the sad news about the death of His Eminence Metropolitan Irinei of Vienna and Austria. I express to the bereaved clergy and laity and all who knew the late archpastor my profound condolences. I knew the metropolitan over the course of almost forty years. In all obligations that the hierarchy laid upon him he was faithful without reproach to Mother Church. I recall my last conversation with the deceased in advance of his eightieth birthday. In my mind I give to the departed archpastor the farewell kiss on the day of his entrance onto the way of all flesh and I pray for the repose of his soul in the heavenly habitations."
A telegram expressing condolences to Archpriest Nikolai Orlov also was sent by the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. (tr. by PDS)
(posted 30 July 1999)
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