News 2002

Skazka - Russian Society of Trondheim >

Pycckuù

News

for year 2002

I. Information and links

December 23. Yet another (old) result of UDI propaganda: Article about asylum-seekers in Ukrainian newspaper Podrobnosti.
December 16. New book "Et bukk for far" ("A bow to the father") features works by Boris Shergin about Pomor life, and unique photographs. All text is both in Norwegian and in Russian (cover, ISBN 5858790100, 368 pages, kr. 200).
December 10. The first site about Russians in Iceland has opened. Unlike other Scandinavian countries, Russian diaspora in Iceland was not represented on the Web before.
December 8. Oslo. Norwegian National Opera stages "Queen of Spades" by P. Tchaikovsky. Premiere on February 15th. Sung in Russian with Norwegian subtitles.
November 24. Stavanger. St. Irina Parish now has their own priest, Dimitry Rumyantsev. Press release in Russian.
November 18. Trondheim. New additions to club film library.
November 17. Now immigrants arriving under the program "Work on oil platforms", will finally have a real chance to end up on Norwegian oil platforms :-)
November 16. Putin has visited Oslo on November 12. The President has met the King, the Prime Minister, and representatives of large commercial companies. Several joint agreements have been signed, including economic ones. He has also met Chancellor Schroder who was in Oslo. A hundred of Chechen protesters were kept 150 meters away, well out of sight.
- Photo gallery of the visit
- Articles in Aftenposten
- Official agreements: Joint statement from Putin and Bondevik | Collaboration in the area of telecommunications | Border cooperation and economic crime | Cooperation between Defence ministries | Sport cooperation.
November 14. Report from Norwegian-Russian church meeting, which took place in Oslo on November 11.
November 2. Kristiansand - St. Petersburg. Foundation Hjelp til Russland will build a children's home in Vyborg and renovate a cantina in one of St. Petersburg prisons; see articles in Dagen and Fædrelandsvennen.
October 29. Oslo. Exhibits "I Am the Light of the World" and "Space of Hearts" are open in Forsvarsmuseet. The exhibits show Russian icons and frescoes of XIV - XVIII centuries, and naive paintings, respectively.
October 28. Refugees from Chechnya living in Norway are going to report V. Putin to the police as the one responsible for their tortures. The President is to visit Oslo on November 12. Of course, the MFA of Norway has replied that he has full immunity and no complaint can ever be taken.
October 25. "Russian Boulevard" is a new Russian newspaper published in Bergen. You can download the issue no. 0: PDF (1.0MB) | MS Word (1.3MB).
October 23. If you lived in Chechnya at the time of war, you can apply to participate in ISFiT 2003, which will be held in Trondheim from February 25 till March 16. Your current country of stay doesn't matter; ISFiT pays the travel expenses. Application deadline is November 15. The most welcome guests would be students from Chechnya.
Note: this announce was received before hostage-taking in Moscow.
October 23. Norway regularly arrests Russian ships, because of financial disputes between their owners, breach of fishing regulations, etc. Unfortunately, it always results in miserable conditions to the crew and to their families in Russia: no income and no money for food. Some crews had to abandon the ships. In October, eleven ships were held in the ports of Northern Norway. In the case of trawler "Elizabeth", however, Norwegians reluctantly pay the crew.
October 21. UDI has published a brochure in Russian "Specialists - working in Norway as a skilled worker" (PDF, 770KB). I think, the mere fact that it is published in Russian is remarkable.

The brochure is also available in Norwegian, English and Polish. It doesn't answer the question of how to find an employer in Norway, only explains immigrant regulations. Original PDF files on UDI site are 30MB large, making them especially suitable to download over Russian networks :-).
October 17. Oslo, October 11-31. Exhibit "Treasures of the Russian State Library: Russian books - XVI through early XX century" is open in the University of Oslo Library.
October 11. Middelalderforum journal distributed a call for papers for special issue "Russia and Scandinavia in the Middle Ages".
October 8. Trondheim. On October 11, fifty years ago, Victoria Bachke opened the doors of Ringve Museum. I wonder how the current wave of Russian immigration will be remembered in Norway?
The jubilee concert at Ringve starts at 19:30.
October 7. Oslo. Russian course for beginners. Registration until October 14.
October 5. If you hate to play violin as much as your father would like you to, just run away and ask for asylum. Indeed, whole orchestra of adults do it; why a 15-year old Russian girl can't?
October 5. The Winter Queen by B. Akunin has been translated into Norwegian, and is available in the stores. Here is the book cover.
October 3. Exhibit Norway-Russia 2004/2005 has an open position for a Russian-speaking employee who'll work with the museum pieces, databases and organization of the event.
October 1. National football teams of Norway and Russia will meet in Norway on April 30, 2003, for the first time since the Soviet Union collapse.
September 26. Deadline for scholarship applications for study and research in Russia is October 1st.
September 24. Every search in Norwegian press turns up something bad about Russians. This time, prison in Vadsø is complaining about too many Russian inmates. However, positive articles can be also found.
September 23. Chekhov in Norwegian - article about "Ibsen meets Chekhov" festival (in Russian).
September 12. Trondheim. New additions to club film library.
September 9. News from TV2 on September 6, the Independence day of Chechnya: refugees from Chechnya march on the streets of Oslo, but many of them are still being sent to Greece because they are coming to Norway with Greek visas.
September 6. Moscow. Monument to Nansen will be unveiled on September 18.

The sculpture made by Vladimir Tsigal is placed in front of the Russian Red Cross office on Bolshoi Løvshinsky pass (pereulok). The opening ceremony starts at 15:00. For additional info, contact "Friends of Norway" society.
The monument is built on donations from UDI and The Museum of Fram ($13250 together), the Armenian Union of Russia ($17000) and commercial firms ($8000). The Government of Moscow pays for the installation of the sculpture.
See also: Russian press about monument to Nansen.
September 6. Boats and crews wanting to sail the historical trade route Norway-Russia next summer in Russia can register now.
September 6. Det Norske Teatret added Duck Hunting by A. Vampilov to the repertoire. The premiere was on September 5.
August 29. VG reports on what and how Russian surveillance plane photographs in Norway under "Open Skies" treaty, and shows a couple images.
August 28. Russian Embassy informs about nine cultural events: concerts, exhibits, film festival that will take place in Oslo and Bergen from September till October 2002.
August 23. Wharf in Kaliningrad is holding a Norwegian ship hostage.
August 22. Russian national TV (ORT) has shown a reportage from Norway about unlucky and screwed Russian asylum-seekers.
- View reportage by ORT. Why do you think the Russian TV blurred the name of asylum agency and face of employee?
- TV2's articles about Russian reportage
- ITAR-TASS about these reportages
August 14. Recent essays about life in Barentsburg: What the ministers haven't seen and The Change (both in Russian) | More about Russians on Svalbard.
August 11. The first "pure Norwegian" satellite to be launched next year (atop a Russian booster) is built by students, including a Russian student in Narvik (more about this project at rocketrange.no | HiN | Aftenposten).
August 4. All churches in Norway receive state subsidy for every registered member.
If you belong to the Russian Orthodox Church by faith, you can support it in Norway by formally becoming a member. While the membership is free to you, the church gets NOK 400 per year. Just fill in the form (MS Word, 30KB) and mail it. Conditions apply:
1. You can only be a member of one church.
2. You must inform St. Olga parish in Oslo when you change the address or move out of the country. The list of members is submitted to the authorities and checked against Folkeregister every year. If many records disagree, the church may lose its right to subsidy.
A stronger number of members makes possible widening the church activity in Norway.
July 31. Short video: Moscow Male Chamber Choir of St. Basil performing on Nordregate in Trondheim (the choir did concerts in Trondheim and Oslo diring this visit); however, this record doesn't do justice to the quality of their singing.
Adresseavisen also run a big article about choir's stay in Trondheim (850KB).
July 23. The Norwegian Royal Archive published a complete list of Soviet citizens repatriated from Norway in 1945 (78522 people total) | See also World War II category in the Russian-Norwegian directory.
July 22. Russian mafia in Norway has been selling Norwegian documents, including passports, and trafficking people using the Norwegian "asylum industry". Now, this is in the press:
- Articles and streaming video from TV2, including video in Russian filmed with a candid camera.
July 20. The Ministry of Local Government (Kommunaldepartementet) will invite one Russian and one Ukrainian TV-channel to film one of the worst Norwegian camps for asylum-seekers. Asylmottak in Hoboel is a tent camp for people whose applications were classified as openly groundless. They live there for about three weeks and then are sent back to the home country. Food quality and living conditions are reported to be low. After the application is refused for the first time, those who choose to file a complain no longer receive any pocket money.
- Article in Aftenposten
- Short video on TV2
July 16. The power of advertising.
Lawyer's office Steenstrup Stordrange, which earlier advertised legal advice for Russian immigrants, asked to remove all links to them "because of the volume of useless calls they receive".
I think we can start charging a fee for de-listing from certain categories of the directory :-).
July 9. Oslo. New Russian language course for Norwegians to start in this fall.
July 2. TV2 filmed a Norwegian lawyer Terje Tune preparing false histories for asylum-seekers from ex-Soviet states (articles and streaming video; crashes Netscape). Terje Tune was earlier employed at UDI; now he is receiving state subsidies, and tops it off by taking extra cash from his clients. The director of UDI Trygve G. Nordby said all the cases where he was involved would be re-evaluated. For this story, TV2 used a Russian asylum-seeker with hidden camera (Aleksander Voda).
- All publications from TV2 about this scandal; see especially Fellow asylum-seekers angry at Aleksander Voda, with short video in Russian.
- Continuation of the story in Aftenposten; 209 asylum-seeker's cases will be checked; Others are satisfied with legal assistance
See also other reportages about asylum.
July 2. President Vladimir Putin will visit Norway on November 13-14, 2002.
June 20. How you can use your knowledge of Russian in Bergen.
June 17. The TV news story about Russians in Trondheim is now available for viewing via Internet.
June 4. June 16-25. A group of Cossacks visit Underdal. Yes, a Norwegian village can have its own international relations.
May 31. Universitetsavisa ran an article (PDF, 200KB, in Norwegian) debating whether it's better to import students from Russia and the Baltic States, or from Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The rector and vice-rector of NTNU argue that it's better to get students with similar cultural background from the Eastern Europe, while local student organizations disagree.
May 22. TV2 about Russian asylum seekers (articles and broadband streaming video; may not work in Netscape):
- Russians coming, with 25-minutes video in Russian, with Norwegian subtitles (May 22)
  
  The video is filmed by a journalist with a camera hidden in his dress. He bought services from "asylum travel agency" in Moscow and travelled the whole way through Europe and Sweden to Norway. This is a must-see.
- Everybody gets asylum in Norway (May 22)
- Russia admits people smuggling problem (May 21)
- Interview: I smuggled 50 Russians into Norway, with video (May 20)
- Chechen asylum seekers thrown away to Greece: video (May 20)
- "The new tourists", with 25-minutes video about life in asylmottak situated in a former hotel in Skibotn (April 24)
- You can find more videos about asylum in the TV2 archives.
May 18. Historian Michael Stokke (mi-sto@online.no) is looking for any information on Soviet POWs who volunteered to the Germans, contacts with former volunteers, etc. | About Russian POWs in Norway...
May 9. "Friends of Norway" society exists since 1958. However, it has been hiding from the Internet until about yesterday.
May 6. Research and cooperation grants:
- Nordic cooperation with Baltic countries and Northwestern Russia gets 14 mill.kr. for 2002/2003.
- Scholarship programme for collaboration between Norway ans Northwestern Russia 2002/2003 and cooperation 2003-2006: application deadline on June 15.
April 25. Trondheim. !
April 19. Det Norske Teatret puts on a new play "Mine herrar, vi maa redde maanen" based on works of Gogol, Dostoevsky and K. Hamsun. Premiere on May 4.
April 11.
Photo exhibit Nationalities in Czarist Russia can be now viewed in Gamvik museum (Finnmark), and on the Web.
April 11. Oslo. Exhibit of Estonian national costume opened in Norsk Folkemuseum.
April 11. ALTiNOR - a new firm (established in Trondheim by Elena Karlsen) offers help in cooperation between Russia, Norway and Finland, and also translation services.
March 19. Trondheim, March 20. Troendelag Medical Society Fund donates 1.2 mill.kr. for repair of the tuberculosis hospital in Murmansk. The ceremony is being attended by the counsellor of embassy Vladimir Kravtschenko.
March 18. You always see job offers with deadlines that have just passed :-)
- Head of the Moscow office of the Norwegian Trade Council
- Norwegian lector in the Moscow State University
- Norwegian lector in the St. Petersburg State University
- Norwegian lectors in the universities of Tartu and Vilnius
March 12. La oss snakke norsk - series of work-books for Russians studying Norwegian language. Published in St. Petersburg.
January 15. New additions to club film library (58 cassettes, dictionary)
January 12. Det Norske Teatret added Anna Karenina to their repertoire. Many performances are scheduled after the premiere on January 12.
January 12. Members of Skazka should pay their membership fee for year 2002 until the end of January. Please give kr. 50 to any board member, or transfer it to our bank account.

II. Event announcements

in the order as they were received

December 20. Oslo, January 11. Festive New Year evening with performance, bar, disco.
November 23. Oslo:
- November 28 at 19:00. Lecture "Social welfare in Norway". Contact tel. 22677190, 40204378.
- December 15 at 14:00 and 16:00. Russian New Year for Children. Contact tel. 22677190, 40204378.
- Book the Father Frost and Snegurochka to visit your child at home: tel. 91695541, elenavolik@hotmail.com
P.S. When you call and ask for additional information, please hint that it is really, really better to send me announces electronically rather than as long faxes. Unfortunately, I don't always have time to type all the text from faxes by hand.
November 19. Oslo, November 29. Piano concert with Natalia Strelchenko.
November 16. Trondheim. Russian ballet isn't coming this year, but Russian conductors and musicians frequent Trondheim: don't miss concerts by Trondheim Symphony Orchestra on February 13 and April 3.
November 12. Oslo, December 7-8 (but not 13th). Church Christmas fair.
November 10. Bergen, November 25. "Sisters" by S. Bodrov Jr. is shown in Bergen filmklubb. Original sound, Swedish subtitles.
November 6. Trondheim, November 11. Panel discussion "Human rights in Russia", at 19:00 in the Public Library. Participants from NUPI, Helsingforskomiteen, Flyktningerådet and Amnesty. Organized by Trøndelag office of Amnesty International Norge, as a part of the International Week in Trondheim.
November 5. Oslo, November 17. Free concert and fund raiser for Oslo Kristi Forsamling's work in Russia.
October 30. Oslo, November 5. Lecture by Indra Øverland, with pictures from her long trip to Caucasus and Central Asia.
October 22. Oslo, until October 27. Norwegian paintings from Victor Kalinin in Galleri Kampen.
October 18. Bergen, October 23. Concert of young musicians from Moscow, at the closing of exhibit about Tchaikovsky.
October 17. Oslo, October 20. Borscht and Russian songs in Folkemuseum.
October 13. Bergen, October 17-23. Russian and Baltic films are shown on Bergen International Film Festival:
- Russian Ark by A. Sokurov
- House of Fools by A. Konchalovsky
- Metamorphosis by V. Fokin
- Good Hands by P. Simm
"House of Fools" by A. Konchalovsky received honorary mention in the competition programme. This film will be distributed theatrically in Norway.
October 9. Riksteatret put on a new play "Raskolnikov" based on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. The play is being shown in many places across the country, see under Raskolnikov in the tour schedule.
October 6. Oslo, October 24-31. Nine films from St. Petersburg in Cinemateket. As usual, all films are screened with the original soundtrack and English(?) subtitles.
September 26. "Ecclesiastes" choir gives concerts in many churches in Norway, from September 27 till October 12. The musicians and singers come from Minsk, Riga, and various places in Ukraine. All concerts are gratis; about choir in Norwegian.
You can listen to selected songs from the concert.
September 26. Leksvik (near Trondheim), September 27. Concert of Academic choir of Pudozh (Karelia).
Transportation from Trondheim: boat to Vanvikan leaves Pirterminalen at 17:05. Free bus to Leksvik is provided on the other side of fjord. Concert starts in Leksvik Church at 19:00; tickets kr. 80/60.
See also: Contact info for the choir and local organizers.
September 23. Oslo, October 7. Youth Assemblies of Art: Concert of young Russian musicians.
September 23. Oslo, September 16-30. Exhibit on 200 year anniversary of the MFA of Russia in opened at one of the departments at UiO.
September 19. Oslo, October 25-27. Concerts of "Veslyana" dance group, "Yarmarka" trio and a gipsy group: poster | info in Norwegian from the Embassy | in Russian on norge.ru.
September 16. Trondheim, September 26. The Wedding by Pavel Lungin shown in Filmhuset Rosendal. Tickets kr. 30+100 (film + membership in Trondheim Filmklubb).
September 14. St. Olga parish in Oslo organizes lectures in Norwegian: next lecture on September 28; full list of events.
September 11. Oslo, September 14. Russian outing on the fjord.
September 9. Oslo, September 17. Slide show and lecture about upcoming exhibit "Norway-Russia 2004/2005"
September 6. Vardø, September 27-29. Choirs from Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, Russian Orthodox priest participate in the Festival of Archangel Michael.
September 3. Oslo, September 1-10. Cinemateket shows Russian films based on works of Chekhov:
- Black Eyes (1, 3)
- The Lady with the Dog (4, 5)
- Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (8, 10)
August 29. St. Petersburg, October 5-7. Theatre "Baltic House" and Nationaltheatret present two plays (5, 6) based on the works of contemporary Norwegian writer Jon Fosse; also Det Aapne Teater presents a play (7).
By the way, Nationaltheatret (in Oslo) has Chekhov's "Three sisters" in its current repertoire.
August 28. Oslo. Russian language course from Norwegian-Russian Cultural Centre starts on September 23.
August 26. Oslo, September 17. Concert of string quartet from Belorussian National Chamber Orchestra.
August 22. Oslo, September 6-7. Groups from Lithuania, Moscow come to the 4th International Gipsy Festival.
August 18. Oslo. Concert on September 26th and 27th: works of Glinka, Prokofiev, Stravinsky.
August 18. The renowned Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov tours Norway: recital in Trondheim on September 22, in Oslo on September 25, in Sarpsborg on 26th (Metodistkirken), and in Stavanger Konserthus on 28th.
July 30. Oslo, August 1-2: Moscow Male Chamber Choir of St. Basil sings in Oslo Domkirke. Concerts begin at 19:30. Tickets kr. 200/100.
July 3. Oslo, July 6: Get-together for users of Russisk.org (one year anniversary of their site).
June 22. Moscow, June 21-30: Nine Norwegian films are shown on the XXIV Moscow International Film Festival.
June 21. St. Olga parish in Oslo: services in June-August.
June 17. Bergen, June 27-28: Arne Haugen defends doctoral dissertation "The Establishment of National Republics in Soviet Central Asia". Anyone can attend.
See also: Arne's master thesis (1995).
June 14. Moscow, June 14-15: Conference on Norwegian-Russian relations after 1917.
June 13. Oslo, June 15: Russian disco (Safari Club).
June 9. Bergen, June 10-15: Russian Culture Week in Bergen. Concerts and art exhibit.
May 25. Trondheim, July 30-31: Moscow Male Chamber Choir of St. Basil sings in Nidarosdomen and Vaar Frue Kirke. This choir visits Trondheim every summer during St. Olav Festival.
May 17. Oslo, June 4: Concert and Annual meeting of Norwegian-Russian Society of Oslo.
May 17. Oslo, May 29: Lecture about employment and rehabilitation.
May 10. Narvik, May 30 - June 1. Conference on Russian prisoners of war in Norway.
May 8. Bergen, May 20. Piano concert and lecture on Russian music by Alexander & Olga Radvilovitch from St. Petersburg.
May 6. Oslo, May 14-20. Photo exhibit Chechnya: The difficult road to peace. The ambassador of Russia attends the opening ceremony on May 14.
April 26. Oslo, May 14. Norwegian-Russian Society of Oslo invites to a Chamber concert.
April 19. Oslo, April 25. Thematic evening about Orthodox Easter.
April 19. Oslo, April 28. Lecture on Norwegian dance and its connection with Russia by Waldemar Hansteen.
Sunday, April 21, at 13:45. TV2 shows "Prisoner of the Mountains" (with Norwegian subtitles, as usual). It may be possible to watch it live over Internet.
April 18. Oslo, April 20: Russian disco. Starts at 20:00; entrance kr. 60. Peder Claussonsgt. 4 "Safari Club" (T-bane Stortinget, then walk on Akersgt. towards Dagbladet). Contact phohes 98645376, 99322476, 97708177.
April 11. Bergen, April 26: Alexandra N. Leontieva defends doctoral dissertation "Stories from the Beer Kiosk: Contemporary Russian Folk Narratives in Mikhail Weller's Nevsky Prospect Legends". Anyone can attend. More info about the defence.
March 21. Oslo, April 18: Evening consecrated to the memory of Andrey Tarkovsky.
February 27. St. Olga parish in Oslo: services in March.
February 27. Bergen, March 20: Lecture about Nikolai Gogol.
February 24. Oslo, February 27: Meeting of Women's club: lecture on the practice of employment and rehabilitation for foreigners.
February 21. Oslo, February 23: Russian disco in club "Catwalk", Kr. Augusts g. 14, 21:00-03:30. Age requirement of 20 years or older. Dress code. Ticket kr. 100.
February 13. Oslo, February 19: Concert "Rural Dreams" by Moscow Art Trio.
February 8. Sandvika (Oslo area), February 28 - March 8: Baerum Teaterselskap stages "Revizor" by Nikolai Gogol.
February 8. Oslo, February 14: Open meeting on discrimination of Russian women in Norway, then annual meeting of the Norwegian-Russian Cultural Centre.
February 1. Trondheim, February 7: Natalia Swahn defends doctoral dissertation "The role of cultural differences between Norway and Russia in business relationships..." (dispute in English). Anyone can attend.
January 25. Oslo, February 6: Russian poetry evening.
January 23. Trondheim, April 10 at 18:00 in Filmhuset Rosendal: Luna Papa (with Norwegian subtitles). Tickets kr. 30+100 (film + membership in Trondheim Filmklubb).

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