| Sociologists study the opinions of foreigners about Moscow Most foreigners living in Moscow believe that the Russian capital cannot be even closely compared with other European and American metropolises. This is the main discovery that the head of the capital’s department of international relations, Georgy Muradov, made for himself after familiarizing himself with the results of the second wave of the sociological study “Moscow Life through the Eyes of Foreigners.” At the request of the mayor's office, this study is being carried out by the ROMIR group of companies. The current survey was devoted to the image of the city and its cultural life. Experts from embassies, trade missions, private firms and research centers told sociologists about how visitors from far abroad live in the Russian capital. Each of them spent at least two or three years in the city, knows their way around here well and actively participates in economic and political life. “Such measurements are not cheap,” noted deputy head of the department Vladimir Lebedev. “But it is necessary to carry them out.” Every pretty girl first buys herself a mirror. Consider that we also bought ourselves a mirror.”
The picture in the mirror really did not look quite like European capitals, but this does not mean that it differs from them for the worse. According to ROMIR President Elena Bashkirova, refusal to compare means that Moscow is considered unique, which means we have something to be proud of. From the point of view of foreigners, we should be proud, first of all, of the monuments of Russian antiquity, of which a surprisingly large number have survived. Guests are also delighted by the abundance of architectural masterpieces of Art Nouveau, the width of the main Moscow streets, the greenery of parks and boulevards, as well as “Soviet romance” - for example, the All-Russian Exhibition Center complex and the underground palaces of old metro stations. True, the metro has recently become much dirtier and less ventilated, and the city authorities hardly inform visitors about the sights. But even without a guidebook, foreigners are happy to walk around the city.
Oddly enough, according to the majority of foreigners surveyed, the capital has a very good environment. In Moscow they can breathe easier, even despite the gas pollution, toxic exhaust from industrial enterprises and old cars. Moscow stores have quite acceptable quality of goods and service, transport functions well, and the population is rather friendly, although they speak little foreign languages. All respondents had heard about nationalists and skinheads, but no one had personally encountered them yet.
Foreigners also really like to go to Moscow theaters - the leader, of course, is the Bolshoi Theater, followed by Helikon Opera, Novaya Opera and the Operetta Theater, and among the dramatic ones - the Maly Theater, Taganka, Satyricon and Lenkom. In general, when speaking about leisure, foreigners name the full range of traditional Russian brands. Among them are Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Rostropovich, Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Tarkovsky, nesting dolls, vodka and pancakes. There is also something new. “They say that nightlife in Moscow is like nowhere else in the world. It’s hard for me to judge this, I myself have never seen Moscow nightlife, but it’s interesting and pleasant to hear,” notes Mr. Muradov. After the theaters, the favorite pastime of foreigners in Moscow is listening to jazz and rock in a club. The most popular clubs are “Chinese pilot Zhao Da”, “Bunker”, “16 tons”, “Junkyard”, “O.G.I.” and "Vermel".
True, foreigners do not always manage to get to the clubs. It's not just a matter of finding the way, because in Moscow there are almost no signs with Latin transcriptions of street names. Foreigners complain about the quality of gasoline, which often breaks down their fastidious cars, and everyone criticizes the traffic police officers: “They are ready to take money always and for everything, they really like to check documents and at the same time they behave outrageously.” From the point of view of foreigners, the traffic police in Moscow are only engaged in collecting bribes. None of the respondents ever received real help from the traffic controller. In addition to the corrupt traffic police, there are other complaints. Perhaps the main one is the price of living in the capital's hotels: the cost of the room does not always correspond to the quality of service, the owners of private apartments raise the rent too much as soon as they hear a foreign accent. But in general, guests in Moscow feel comfortable - even despite the dirt in the courtyards, broken elevators and a clear lack of public restrooms. Ivan SUKHOV |
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