The press in some parts of the west are obsessed with celebrity and with spending and, every time the owner of Chelsea football club opens his wallet, readers who are interested are given as much copy as they can digest.

2011 Purchase

Roman Abramovich has been well known to the world’s press ever since he took over at Chelsea in the mid 2000’s. However, every major house purchase is faithfully recorded for the newspaper readership to pore over.

As recently as August 2011, Abramovich hit the headlines with his purchase of a £90m, 15 bedroom mansion in Kensington Gardens. This particular area of West London is colloquially known as millionaire’s row and the Abramovich residence was reported to be holding a tennis court, a health centre and a private museum for its owner’s six vintage Ferraris.

Impressive though this may be, the £90m spent here wasn’t in fact the highest amount that Roman Abramovich has spent on property in a single transaction.

A frustrating encounter with the National Trust

A west London base is perfect for Abramovich’s UK business deals and is of course just a short trip from Chelsea football club and their home ground at Stamford Bridge. However, attention was switched to Kensington Gardens after a frustrating attempt to redevelop a building compromising of nine flats in nearby Belgravia.

Back in 2010 it was reported that Abramovich had purchased the sprawling property with a view to converting it into a single dwelling for himself and his new family. Legal issues followed however and the major problem concerned the fact that the National Trust held a 50% share in the freehold of the property and under the terms of the agreement, the new owners would still have to open up parts of the house and gardens to the public at certain times in the calendar year.

Frustrated with delays and legal wrangling, The Abramovich’s turned their attentions to Kensington Gardens.

The full picture

Incredible sums of money have therefore changed hands on these two houses alone but they only represent a small fraction of the total Roman Abramovich property portfolio.

At the start of 2011, Abramovich had to declare his total wealth under Russian anti-corruption laws as he prepared to stand for re-election to the parliament for the province of Chukotka. The report at the time revealed that he owned a total of sixteen homes across the world including seven in the UK, although this was compiled before the purchase of Kensington Gardens.

The acquisition of the two London properties will continue to hit the headlines for a time and reports are unclear as to the current position with the National Trust. For the time being at least, the main Roman Abramovich house in the UK can be found at Kensington Gardens, – Millionaires’ Row, or in the case of its new resident, Multi-Billionaires’ Row.

Roman Abramovich house is a post from: Siberian Light

According to press reports, negotiations are taking place over plans to host a ‘Russian House’ at the iconic London Marble Arch, to celebrate Russia’s involvement in the 2012 London Olympics. London’s Evening Standard reports:

“A temporary multi-storey canopy will be erected around the arch and some of the surrounding parkland will be requisitioned.”

Pretty much every major country builds a temporary cultural centre of some kind in the Olympic host city – there are also plans afoot for a French venue at Billingsgate Market, and a Dutch House at Alexandra Palace for instance – but Russia has developed a reputation for hosting the best parties, a reputation it will be keen to protect as the host of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Apparently, the Russians first choice venue – the Royal Albert Hall – wasn’t available, so they’ve had to step down a tiny bit. But located within walking distance of plush Park Lane hotels, it’s a pretty good bet that it’ll attract plenty of rich Russian guests.

I wonder if they’ve realised, though, that Marble Arch is not just an iconic London landmark; it’s a very busy roundabout…

Russian Olympic Party at Marble Arch is a post from: Siberian Light

How is this possible, you ask? Simple. To support his charitable Gorbachev Foundation, and to hopefully raise up to £5 million, Gorbachev will be holding his 80th bash at the Royal Albert Hall.

According to the Gorby80.com website, set up specifically for the event, the party will take place on March 30th 2011, and tickets are already available – ranging in price from £35 to £100,000. The lower cost tickets are on sale at the Royal Albert Hall website already, but I’m not sure how you get hold of the pricier tickets (which, I’m reliably informed, include dinner, saving you a few quid).

If you’re wavering, then you should know that, although performers haven’t yet been confirmed,

To mark his achievements and to celebrate “the man who changed the world”, famous artists from around the globe will perform in a series of poignant duets on stage at the gala birthday party. The evening will be split into seven phases to mark important milestones in Mr Gorbachev’s life including his childhood, route to power, perestroika, international peace efforts and charity work.

If that’s not enough, guests rumoured to be attending include Gerhard Schroeder and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And if that’s still not enough for you, Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley have just been confirmed as members of the fundraising committee, which I’m told guarantees a good party!

Want to go to Gorbachev’s Birthday Party? is a post from: Siberian Light

Why I am writing about the i newspaper launch on a blog about Russia, you ask? Because it’s the new initiative of Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB spy turned businessman, who now owns four of the UK’s biggest newspapers.

i (yes, they’re determinedly sticking to the lower case i popularized by Apple with their iPod/iPhone/iPad brand, although there’s no indication of whether there will be an iPaper app for the iPad) is described by itself as “a new paper…combines intelligence with brevity, and depth with speed of reading”. Basically, I think that means it’ll be a stripped down, sexed up version of it’s parent paper the Independent.

At a time when the paid newspaper market is shrinking rapidly (so rapidly that Lebedev bought one newspaper, the London Evening Standard, recently and turned it into a free newspaper), it’s a real gamble for Lebedev to launch a brand new newspaper, let alone one that people will have to pay money to read. Even though i will cost only 20p (that’s about 31 cents), it’s still going to be a challenge to persuade people to part with cold hard pennies in exchange for a brand new newspaper that they’ve never heard of.

Lebedev told the press that the i launch would be a milestone for the British press:

“I am very proud to launch i, which will be the first quality daily paper to have launched in Britain since The Independent itself in 1986. I believe that a free press is a fundamental tool of a democracy, and I believe that newspapers still have a future, and a very important one.”

I’ll keep an eye out at lunchtime to see if I can find a copy, and let you know if it’s is any good…

i Newspaper is a post from: Siberian Light

HMS Belfast saw service across the globe during the Second World War – notably it is the last surviving ship that took part in protecting the Arctic Convoys that delivered supplies to the Soviet Union under the Lend Lease programme. Decommissioned in the 1960s, HMS Belfast is now an iconic part of London’s River Thames – it is moored as a museum ship between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. If you’ve ever taken a trip along the river you will almost certainly have seen it.

However, it’s an ageing WW2 battle ship, and in need of fairly regular maintenance just to keep afloat. Most recently, corrosion on its two masts was discovered, requiring the replacement of both. The Imperial War Museum, which operates the HMS Belfast museum wasn’t able to find the funds for repairs, until Russian companies, aware of the PR value of repairing a ship that helped to support the Soviet war effort, stepped in to help.

The companies – OPK, Severstal and Sovcomflot – have offered to fund the full repair of the masts, and a crew of contractors are currently working on board the ship. The eleven contractors, all from St Petersburg, are expected to spend three weeks working on the repairs. Elena Kirichek, a paint specialist with over 30 years of experience of working on Soviet and Russian ships told reporters that:

“It’s very interesting to see this vessel being preserved for future generations. It has been an honour for us to make our own contribution to the preservation of this wonderful ship.”

According to the London Evening Standard Newspaper, half of the contractors taking part in the work have decided to sleep on board HMS Belfast, which marks the first time in nearly 50 years that her cabins have been used.

Russian Company sponsors repair of HMS Belfast is a post from: Siberian Light

Flights from Heathrow to Moscow run at least twice per day, and sometimes as many as four times per day. Flights from Heathrow to St Petersburg and from Gatwick to St Petersburg only operate once per week from each airport.

Aeroflot Russian airlines also operates a large number of other flights into and out of London. It flies to and from Bangkok (three times per week), Beijing four times per week), Delhi (daily), Hong Kong (four times per week), Khabarovsk (twice a week), Shangai (four times per week), Seoul (three times per week), Tehran (three times per week), Tokyo (twice a week), and Ulan Bator (weekly). All in all, it would be fair to say that London is a major hub for Aeroflot airlines.

Almost all flights are using Aeroflot’s modern fleet of Airbus jets (usually the Airbus A321), with the occasional flight using a Boeing.

Aeroflot has a first class lounge at London Heathrow, which (if you have a first class ticket, naturally) you are free to enjoy. Offices with fax, telephone and internet access are available, as are newspapers, television and complementary drinks (soft and alcoholic).

Since October 2009, Aeroflot passengers flying into or out of London Heathrow, or London Gatwick, are able to take advantage of the new Aeroflot online check in system. This can be used from 24 hours before takeup, right up until 90 minutes before departure.

The Aeroflot London office address is 70 Piccadilly Street, London W1J 8HP. If you want to visit in person, the closest Tube station (Underground station or Metro Station) is Green Park, although it is also within walking distance of Piccadilly. The can be contacted by telephone on 0207355 2233, or by email – infres@aeroflot.co.uk Their website is aeroflot.co.uk

If you found this article useful, you may also be interested to read our articles on Aeroflot booking procedures, and about the Aeroflot Baggage Allowance (beware – Aeroflot’s baggage allowance for flights to and from Europe is much less generous than the allowance on its US flights).

Aeroflot UK is a post from: Siberian Light

And this massive billboard towers over Earls Court (see original on Flickr):

Has anyone else seen any more examples of snob.ru advertising to the ex-pat community around the world? Send me a picture and I’ll publish it here.

snob.ru – Adverts appearing across London is a post from: Siberian Light