Category: Russia

Russian Yalie Encounters Disheartening Welcome at Russian Immigration

I have been in Russia for a while, busy re-uniting with the family and long-lost friends. I was supposed to have an internship in Hong Kong this summer, but things got immensely messed up (more venting on my part will come in a much more detailed post later), so for the next month I am a correspondent of a local newspaper, a TV anchor and a host of my own TV show (a little one, but still, a real one). Things are keeping me busy, so I don’t really have time to blog, but here is an interesting observation about Russia.

If a holder of an American passport or a Green Card flies into the US, they go through customs much faster than all those unlucky visa holders. The queues are always shorter, there seem to be more immigration officers on hand, and the smiles they dispense at the citizens are always nicer (NB: my personal observation, not a documented fact). If you enter Hong Kong with a permanent resident card, you just swipe the said card through a terminal — an voila, welcome home. This trend in general is true for the rest of the world — except for Russia.

Entering the Russian Federation is much easier for the foreigners than for the citizens of the Russian Federation. I was flying into Pulkovo-2 (international abbreviation LED) — an airport in St. Petersburg, which is dominated by the Russians returning from their European vacations. There are only two immigration booths for the Russians, while there were four or five for the foreigners.

The extremely unfriendly, sulking immigration officer (by the way, the ones working with the foreigner did smile at them; I tried taking a picture to prove, but was yelled at by the local security agents) went through an extensive number of visas in my passport and muttered something like, “why the f*** do you travel so much” (quoted verbatim, translation mine). She asked me how I “dared studying at the foreign university.” (because Moscow State is so much better than Yale, of course!) Then she asked me why my traveling passport looks worn-out. (because I travel a lot? An obvious answer). Then she finally — and very reluctantly — let me into my own country. I didn’t know if I should show extreme gratitude I was reluctantly allowed into my motherland — that’s what their demeanor suggested.

Welcome home, I guess.

PS: Apparently, Russia is actually one country with Belarus — or at least a union with it, according to the sign above the immigration booth at Pulkovo-2.

How I Became A Russian Dating Scammer

What do I and Russia’s new first lady have in common? We are both dating scammers.

Well, not us, but Russian women with the same names. At some point, I googled my name to see how my blog was doing in the rankings, and one of the links that came up in the top 20 was “dating scammer Anna Ershova.” Upon clicking on the link and seeing a picture that differed very much from my visage, I realized my reputation was not in any danger. Even though we share one name, she is 30 and comes from Rostov-on-Don. According to John, who submitted her profile,

She is very skillful woman with using copy and paste contents in mail.
She requested much and many.
Very quick temper.
And her photo on the site may be photos when she was very young age or much decorated. Pay attention.

I found this fascinating, but not worth investigating, and went back to studying for finals. Now that I am done with my freshman year, I have a bit more time to investigate this interesting phenomenon. It’s even more exciting, because there is a dating scammer whose name is the same as President Medvedev’s wife — Svetlana Medvedeva. She is listed under a Russian Marriage Scams category on a website that appears to be originally dedicated to computer programming. (I wonder if its founder got scammed by a Russian bride wannabe?) Her semi-provocative photographs are accompanied by an e-mail Ms. Medvedeva’s potential victim received. Here is an excerpt:

You know for these some letters I have fallen in love with you very strongly. I for a long time did not test anything to men, and you seem have demented me… I very much want to arrive to you but unfortunately I have no such opportunity… I must have registration of visa and passport, so I must pay about 250-290 $ US for those things. This amount includes: payment for visa and passport registration, payment for promptness because sometimes registration borrow 4-6 months. Also this price include Interview in embassy and medicalsurvey… I will have work visa so my firm will pay for tickets so you must not worry about tickets or money for tickets because my working firm will pay for this. But I must ask money help from you … because I do not have any money right now. So please try to find way to help me this money sooner, so I might pay for it because as you may understand it will borrow sometime. So if you would send money help that amount today or tomorrow I will be able to pick up your money help faster and pay for it, so it would take less time…

Both of these two websites have other profiles of Russian or post-Soviet dating scammers. One of them even offers “The Complete, No-Nonsense Anti-Scam Guide For Men Seeking a Russian Wife.” Why a Russian wife? There are slightly under 200 countries in the world, so why not look for matrimonial happiness elsewhere? The RussianWife website claims:

We are owned and operated by an American who is very happily married to a fantastic Russian woman. I have been to Russia several times, and one thing I was struck by was how many fantastic women over there who are alone.

This is indeed true. Russian men live significantly less than Russian women; alcoholism and domestic violence are a huge issue, and, unfortunately, many Russian women struggle to find a partner. But do all marriage agencies and their clients have such altruistic motivations?

Russian marriage agency offering single Russian women, young Russian girls and mail order brides for dating and marriage.

This is what the agency Your Bride offers. Sounds a bit like a marketplace: you have your pick of a Russian bride, all combinations of eye color/hair color/age/weight/height possible. Not satisfied? We’ll ship you another one.

Here is one question I would like to ask any man who ever used any of these services: What kind of women do you think would gladly provide their information to be in a website like this? I would imagine that an overwhelming majority of single Russian women would prefer submitting their profiles to a website that would present them as humans, not as bride meat.

There are a plethora of scammers who try to get money from the naive foreigners. While in some cases it may be difficult, if not impossible, to recognize them, sometimes it is fairly obvious. CNN features a story about two young Russian men who collected $56K from Westerners. No women were involved in this scheme; this means the eager Western men parted with their money without even speaking to their “loved one” on the phone (not to mention videochatting). Were they so infatuated by the photographs and sweet e-mails? Did they think there were no telephones in Russia? (the “woman” wrote her e-mails in English, which means the two criminals couldn’t use “her” lack of language skills as an excuse) Why didn’t they spent the money on a ticket to Russia for themselves? The actions of the Russian men were doubtless illegal, but a little bit of common sense on the part of the Western men would have helped prevent the crimes.

By the way, the Russian-speaking internet is full of stories about Western men who would engage in an online relationship with a Russian lady, then invite her over, where she would learn her knight in a shining armor is in fact homeless/a father of six children he had never mentioned/has a different job from what he claimed to have/disabled. It looks like Russian brides and their potential Western husbands are even.

Duocracy: A Term Du Jour of Russian Politics

A friend recently posted this on my Facebook wall:

Your capital city is quite beautiful 😉 I watched the president taking his oath yesterday, it was quite interesting. Do you think he will try and remove Putin from power at some point or will let him complete his term as PM?

Now, this is an interesting question. Ever since Medvedev was elected, there was a feeling there are two presidents in Russia. There were and are numerous pictures of Mr. Medvedev by Mr. Putin’s side. They seem to form the most harmonious political tandem I have ever known.

Historically, a Prime Minister is a position of no real political power in Russia. The dynamics of the PM-president relationship will doubtlessly change now that Putin is a PM. I believe that the constitution somewhat limits PM’s power, but constitutions can be changed.

Duocracy, however, is unprecedented in Russian politics. There have always been “gray cardinals,” but it is difficult to believe Putin will agree to be one. However, I doubt President Medvedev will attempt to oust Mr. Putin. Medvedev does not appear to be power-thirsty enough to so. Putin is also older and more experienced than Medvedev. The latter is 55 and used to work as a spy, which, I would imagine, provides one with a lot of useful life experience for a politician; the former is 42 and was “just” trained in law. It seems that Mr. Putin can be a valuable adviser to Mr. Medvedev (unfortunately, mostly in how to make Russia autocratic).

To make Mr. Putin a PM was part of Medvedev’s presidential campaign. There were rumors that it was only a fake promise to attract voters, but the promise was been fulfilled today. Vladimir Putin is announced to be a Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. There is certainly at least one positive side to it.

Russia is a huge country and one of the problems that politicians face is that one leader is not enough to keep everything under control. I am not a fan of Putin’s, but I have to admit that corruption has decreased since he was elected 8 years ago. Russia is not as chaotic anymore. Who knows, duocracy may actually benefit the country and keep thing more civilized and organized.

I am more than confident that tomorrow both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin will be watching the Victory Day parade side by side on the Red Square. Welcome to the world of duocracy.

Svetlana Medvedeva: Introducing Russia’s New First Lady

Svetlana Medvedeva is the new Karla Bruni. Or the new Jacquie Kennedy. At least that’s what the visitors of my blog think: many of them accessed it while searching for “Svetlana Medvedev nice body,” “Svetlana Medvedeva nationality” etc. Interestingly enough, nobody searched for Dmitriy Medvedev himself.

So here are some comments.

Russia’s new First Lady’s name is Svetlana Medvedeva, not “Medvedev.” Her husband’s last name is Medvedev, a typical Russian name ending in “ov/ev.” For female last names, one adds an “a” to that ending, making it “ova/eva.” For instance, my dad’s name is Ershov, my mom’s and mine are Ershova. My parents used to receive letters from my Hong Kong high school in which they were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. Ershova, which sounds really weird to any Russian.

As far as her “nationality” is concerned, I believe she is Russian Russian, just like President Medvedev. By the way, he is officially a President now, the inauguration ceremony was held on May 7.

For those interested in her “nice body,” I am not an expert, but she definitely has a distinctive sense of style. She already appears to be involved with more different charity causes than Lyudmila Putina was. The Independent has an informative article about the high school sweethearts’ love story and their careers.

In a couple of hours ex-President Putin is supposed to be appointed prime minister. Russia has an exciting first lady, a new President, and an ex-President, who is going to be a new (powerful?) prime minister. Let’s see what’s going to happen.

Russian Yalies and their Pet Hedgehogs and Squirrels

I was recently confronted by a fellow Russian student at the Bass library and asked if I owned a hedgehog.

“So, is it you who has a hedgehog?”
“Excuse me?”
“There was an article in the Yale Daily News about how we crazy Russian students have hedgehogs and squirrels living in our dorms…”

The YDN website had been down for over a week, courtesy of Aliza Shvart’s case, I suspect. Now that it is up and running again, I found that article. Entitled “Furry, Feathered Creatures Bring Home Back to Yale,” it describes how some students choose to violate the Undergraduate Regulation by having a pet. The two students who have the weirdest pets –- squirrels and a hedgehog –- are Russian. Apparently, we acquire our habit of having weird pets while hanging out with our pet polar bears (sharing a bottle of vodka with them, of course). Just kidding.

I guess I am a proper Russian Yalie, because I like both hedgehogs and squirrels. And I do have a hedgehog in my suite… a plush one that I got for Valentine’s from a friend. My family kept a hedgehog for a couple of months, when I was a child; we found him in the city in the fall. One of his paws was frostbitten and he looked like he wasn’t doing so well on his own, so we decided to host him for the winter. He was cute, friendly, and nocturnal. He loved sleeping in my mom’s shoes and boots, choosing an arbitrary pair every night, so she never knew which one had needles in it in the morning. We loved him, but he would have been much happier in his natural habitat. In the summer, we set him free in the woods and he ran off happily.

I do like squirrels a lot, but I have never had a completely positive squirrel experience at Yale. I encountered a squirrel in my floor’s bathroom once, and I was more frightened than it was. Another incident involved a bouquet of roses in my room and a hungry squirrel that was trying to feed on it (how it snuck into my fourth-floor suite still remains a mystery). It was chased away by my angry boyfriend, who had given me the flowers.

I still don’t know who the hedgehog-loving Russian freshman is; the only other Russian freshman I know claims it is not her. Go figure.

One final word of advice to the YDN: if you are really concerned with protecting privacy of those you are writing about, do not bother with coming up with a fake English name for her if you are going to refer to her as a “sophomore from St. Petersburg, Russia.” There is only one Russian Yale undergrad from St. Petersburg, as one can easily learn from Yale Facebook. Clearly, Yale really needs more Russian undergrads … to make sure all squirrels and campus are well-fed and taken care of!

PS: Recently, I spotted a really cute pig named Isosceles on Old Campus. It belongs to someone living off-campus and it comes to Old Campus to feed on acorns. Now, that’s an exotic pet. Russians, beat that!

Yalies Get Excited Over a Downed Plane

MOSCOW — Georgia accused Russia on Monday of violating its airspace and using a MIG fighter jet to shoot down a Georgian reconnaissance drone over the separatist territory of Abkhazia on Sunday.

Several of my classmates and professors got really excited over watching footage of what appears to be a Russian jet shooting down a Georgian plane. So I thought I’d share it with you. There is even an English commentary by a Georgian military official. I am not an aviation expert, but the video appears to be real. Oh, and the Russians have been denying their fault. Most of the Russian newspapers I read only commented that the Ministry of Defense (should it be ‘offense’?) believes Georgia is making everything up. For instance, here (in Russian only) a fairly reputable Russian newspaper cites the Ministry of Defense spokeperson’s comments that call this incident “a hoax.” I guess Russians are not aware of that YouTube video just yet…

Russians “Pick” Orthodox Christianity

A couple of days ago, I wrote about Russia’s bothersome attempting to introduce an Orthodox Christian version of Valentine’s Day. Today’s issue of the New York Times has me even more worried: “At Expense of Others, Putin Picks a Church:”

This close alliance between the government and the Russian Orthodox Church has become a defining characteristic of Mr. Putin’s tenure, a mutually reinforcing choreography that is usually described here as working “in symphony.”

Mr. Putin makes frequent appearances with the church’s leader, Patriarch Aleksei II, on the Kremlin-controlled national television networks. Last week, Mr. Putin was shown prominently accepting an invitation from Aleksei II to attend services for Russian Orthodox Easter, which is this Sunday.

Even though Moscow has always been a beacon of Orthodox Christianity in Russia, Russia’s Muslim population is around 15-20% of its total population (10-15% of the total population are practicing believers, according to the World Factbook); a significant percentage of the population is Buddhist. Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans etc are also fairly well-represented in Russia.

Apparently, according to Kremlin’s bizarre logic, since the incumbent President belongs to Orthodox Christianity, no one should care about other religions. Did anyone just mention the word ‘democracy’?

Valentine’s Day: Not Good Enough for Russia

It is with great sadness that I observe growing nationalistic trends in Russia. Russian leadership goes to great lengths to get rid of the “negative Western influence.” Did you really think the Cold War was over?

Svetlana Medvedeva, the wife of Russian President-elect, recently announced her wish to introduce a Russian analogue of St. Valentine’s Day — and a religious one, too!

Russia has been embracing Christianity a lot more recently (Remember these pictures of bare-chested Putin wearing a crucifix?). Putin is quite a regular at the Christmas, Easter etc services. Now photos of Mrs. Medvedeva wearing a headscarf (all women are supposed to wear them inside an orthodox Christian church) and lighting a candle or talking to a priest are all over the Russian newspapers.

The holiday is supposed to celebrate two Russian Saints, Peter and Fevronia. Peter was a Russian prince. An evil serpent in a human form was paying supposedly unwanted nightly visits to his wife’s sister.

Peter, a noble Russian guy, killed that serpent, but the latter’s blood left his body covered in painful ulcers. Then he met a very wise peasant girl named Fevronia who asked him to marry her in exchange for curing him. He said he would marry her, but, in a typical Russian fairytale fashion, ignored his promise as soon as she helped him. But then his
ulcers came back, so he had to marry her. The prince and princess ruled over their share of Russia, became popular with the peasants, and lived happily ever after. When they died, they were buried apart at first, but then it was discovered their bodied ended up in the same coffin.

This story is warm and fuzzy, but I have a couple of questions to ask. Given that Fevronia blackmailed Paul into marrying her, can this holiday be viewed as a celebration of a female empowerment? Or as an indication to Russian women about how to treat their men?

As an atheist who is particularly allergic to the orthodox Christian tradition, I find this holiday disturbing. Valentine’s used to be a religious holiday, but it was consumerized a long time ago. So what is going to happen to Valentine’s in Russia?

If this “authentically Russian” holiday is indeed introduced to Russia, the number of holidays when single people feel miserable will be doubled. Or, if Presidents Medvedev and Putin like the plan, selling and buying traditional Valentine’s cards and gifts will be, you know, discouraged. After all, Saudi Arabia introduced a ban on selling red roses on Feb 14, 2008. Iran and Kuwait made repeated attempt to ban the holiday altogether. Russia is already following these countries’ example in terms of reducing democracy; isn’t it about time it banned Valentine’s, too?

The Joys of Obtaining a Russian Visa

Are you craving adrenaline? Are you looking for challenges? Are you willing to explore the unknown? Apply for a Russian visa.

Throughout my life, I have had to deal with all sorts of visas. I signed papers with a promise that I am not a journalist for a North Korean one ; I certified that I would not do anything newsworthy for a Chinese one (I am still not sure what they meant by it); I went through the fingerprint scanning process for the US one and filled out the 18 page long Hong Kong trainee visa application. One visa that I have never had to get is a Russian one. Lucky me.

When my boyfriend decided to brave the Russian winter, I thought getting a visa would be a bureaucratic, yet civilized procedure, just as everywhere else (yes, including North Korea!) . What naiveté. Applying
for his visa made me consider it a survivor test: only the strongest get to go to Russia.

There are two basic visa options for those who wish to visit Russia. It can be a home stay visa, for those who wish to stay with their Russian friends. There is also a regular tourist kind. Both of them require a
tourist to obtain an “invitation” and to submit it along with his/her application.

An invitation for a home stay visa is almost impossible to get. An inviting party has to have a local branch of the department of visas and registration approve their invitation. The wannabe hosts are asked to submit a prove of their income (for only the rich people should be hosting foreigners); I heard of police officers turning up at their houses to check what they looked like (so that a foreign guest would not be offended by less than luxurious living conditions). The entire procedure is said to take 45 days, but it can last for two or so months. The department’s offices are usually located only in larger cities, so if one’s hosts live in a village, they will have to endure a lot of travel.

Getting an invitation for a tourist visa is tricky in a different way. In theory, one is supposed to book a hotel online; then the hotel issues an invitation. But booking a Russian hotel online proves challenging even for a Russian-speaker: the transactions don’t always go through and the websites are difficult to navigate . Those who do not happen to have any Russian-speaking friends by their side have to resort to using several overpriced websites in bad English. If you master the process, however, there is yet another challenge: not all hotels are allowed to issue invitations. But no worries: if you wish to stay at a nice private hotel (which are oftentimes much better than the government-approved old-school ones), you can still obtain your
invitation from a Russian tourist agency that will issue it in the name of a government-friendly hotel. It is just that I haven’t found any which have any forms of online payment available.

I had my friend in Moscow obtain an invitation from a tourist agency, pay cash, and e-mail me the invitation. The embassies do not accept “copies of the invitations,” and an attached Microsoft Word document is considered more “original” than a faxed copy. And here comes another challenge: Once you have an invitation and a filled out application form, you have to pay the application processing fee.

There are only two ways to pay for obtaining one’s visa: money order or cashier’s check, so a trip to a local post office/bank rather than writing a personal check is required. Most countries’ embassies I have dealt with are perfectly happy to accept personal checks – or cash. I guess we Russians are just way too cool for that.

Got that money order? Go mail it off. Oh wait, no so fast…

The websites for the embassy in D.C. and the consulate in NYC provided us with contradicting address information. When we called the consulate, they did not seem to know enough English, so I had to talk to
them. I did not mind, but they kept telling me they did not know anything (because, you know, the consulate is there to host Russian-themed parties, not to advise those few foolish Americans seeking to

visit Russia). They told me to call a number in D.C. that I had never reached even though I had been trying for three days straight (it seemed that nobody bothered picking up).

It was only after my boyfriend got his visa that I made an important discovery. Like all other things Russian, there is a shortcut that is paved with money . If you pay a US-based tourist company $60 or so, they will issue the invitation right away. For additional $30, they will register you (another bothersome formality) in Moscow/St. Petersburg without ever asking where you are really staying. A Yale professor who often goes to Russia promised to hook me up with a really nice deal: a DC-based agency that is trustworthy, friendly and efficient. So if anybody needs the information, drop me a line.

One thing bothers me: I am not still not sure all these agencies are legal. They cheat the system and provide the immigration authorities with false information. Surprisingly, the government is perfectly aware of their activities and does not seem to mind. Neither do immigration officers. According to a Russian lawyer friend, these agencies are not legal – but they are not illegal, either, like so many things in a country with a flawed legal system. So if you are persistent enough to do extensive research and stubborn enough to obtain the
paperwork and have some money, welcome to Russia.

Just one thing: recently the Ukraine announced that the EU and US residents can visit it visa-free. The Ukraine has all that Russia has to offer – similar architecture, similar language, similar national cuisine – only more democracy and a warmer climate. The tickets to the Ukraine are priced at an amount similar to those to Russia. So really, if you want to spare yourself the bureaucratic trouble and enjoy Eastern Europe, go for Kiev, not Moscow.

The Troubles of Paying Taxes At Home While Abroad

I have never had to pay taxes. In fact, I don’t even have a Russian tax identification number since I am never in the country long enough to go through all the bureaucracy. Recently, the Office of International Students and Scholars at Yale kindly informed me I had to file a tax return to the US government. Since they provide every international student with the tax software, I was anticipating a fairly easy process.

The process was not as painless as I hoped, but I have survived (although answering endless questions on whether I was secretly married in 2007 or had a citizenship I was hiding from the IRS was not really pleasant). At the end there was a nice surprise: I qualified for a fat tax refund.

I got curious and went to the IRS website to investigate. It turns out the US has a number of bilateral tax treaties with various countries. According to the IRS, “residents (not necessarily citizens) of foreign countries are taxed at a reduced rate, or are exempt from U.S. income taxes on certain items of income they receive from sources within the United States.[1] <#_ftn1>” According to the software, I qualify for a tax refund because of the tax treaties with Russia. A 27-page long document provided by the IRS explains the treaty; it was signed in 1992 by President Bush. I went through the entire document and learned that this tax refund means I have to pay tax in Russia.

Now, I really want to be an honest Russian taxpayer. My question is, how do I become one?

All employed Russians are supposed to have an Individual Taxpayer Number (ITN), which is akin to a SSN. Getting one is a fairly tedious procedure. One cannot get one at the embassy, it has to be done in Russia. Provided I waste lots of my summer time and do it, what happens next?

A Russian friend of mine was in a similar situation last year. She received a nice scholarship from her college, filed her tax return, received her tax refund and then decided to pay tax in Russia. When she
went to the Russian IRS, they laughed at her. Just proving she had an income required much paperwork, all translated into Russian and certified by a notary, which is fairly expensive. Providing she had gone through all this trouble, she probably would not be able to actually pay the tax. Russians do not write checks, and transferring money from her American account (the only one she has) to the Russian IRS account is insanely expensive. And the best part of it is: the IRS officers told her not to bother. Apparently, unless she reports it herself, no one in Russia will ever know if she received any money from the private college in the US. And since her income is not in the 7 digits bracket, they
“don’t really care.”

I will do my best to pay taxes in Russia. I am just not sure I will be able to.