Moscow, The Red Square and Vladimir Putin

The Red Square and the Kremlin

THE iron curtain was torn down and folded into memory long before I finally landed at the Demodedovo International Airport about an hour outside of Moscow. It was early spring when I got there some sixteen hours after I left Kuala Lumpur on an Emirates flight, with a short transit in Dubai.
 A lot has changed by then to a nation once thought of as nobody's friend and a harbinger of Armageddon. It came closest perhaps in 1966 when Khruschev lined-up a portion of his nuclear arsenal in Cuba, much to John F. Kennedy's and America's disdain.

 The world which at the time had not forgotten horrors of the Second World War, having fought another in the Korean peninsular and about to witness Indochina's decline into stone age, watched in suspense until some sense crept into Khruschev's mind and he turned his missile convoys towards home.
 But times did change since Gorbachev brought the walls down and dismantled Communism and in so doing, cut the once mighty proud Soviet Union to size and into democracy and market economy. That market economy part was most apparent when I stepped out of the airport and into downtown Moscow.
 Those behemoth somewhat pre-historic-looking black Russian limousines were nowhere to be seen. And the Moscow I entered into that day was not that dark and cold city crawling with men in trench coats, eight out of ten of whom could easily pass of as KGB operatives.
 Instead, when I stood outside of the Radisson for a smoke, I must have counted at least six Lamborghini Gallardos in the parking lot, parked in-between Mercedes Benzs, BMWs and Audis. Six Lamborghinis in a space no larger than a football field. Thats a lot of Lamborghinis.
 It didn't take me long to realise another fact -- that there were many, and I mean many, Maria Sharapovas in Moscow. The pin-up tennis star seemed to be everywhere I looked that even the lady manning the subway information booth looked like Maria Sharapova.
 But I got into some serious business the next day, when work took me to the axis of Russian, and previously Soviet Union power, the Red Square and the Kremlin.
 Before I got there, the Red Square I had in mind was lined up with some of the most devastating Soviet weaponry -- tanks, armoured personnel carriers and those destroyer of worlds, the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
 Now, those hardwares were always paraded during the Soviet Union's days and those ICBMs especially, were no playthings. The guy at the Kremlin could just give the order to 'launch' and the next thing you know some cities in Western Europe or America would simply cease to exist.
 Military parades were stopped after collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but was resumed in 2008 with Russia holding its annual Victory Day parade there to mark defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
 But the Square has also moved with the times and the entry of Russia into the free world's fold. Some well-attended concerts have been held there, including by Linkin Park, Scorpions, Roger Waters (a founder member of Pink Floyd) and also Red Hot Chili Peppers.

President Vladimir Putin

 That morning I was ushered by the guards to the perimeter walls of the Kremlin and in no time found myself inside what must have been the most beautiful hall I've ever seen. The paintings and sculpture in the hall was simply breathtaking, reflecting Russia's great past.
 No sooner had I taken in the wonderful surrounding within the hall when a figure I had seen so many times on television and the papers walked calmly into the hall - the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
 In person, Putin looked as the tough guy he was often portrayed as. He had a calm but confident disposition although his cold stare seemed unmistakably KGB. It has been reported that Putin is a gym junkie.
 After a short meeting with Malaysia's then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Putin disappeared into another room while I made my way out of the Kremlin. Surprisingly, I could walk quite freely within the compound. I would have been shot had I been seen wandering around the White House, I thought.
 The remainder of my stay in Moscow was spent walking about in the city which by then boasts some of the richest men in the world, a majority of whom made their wealth in the oil and gas business.
 But to a certain extent, I was disappointed for Moscow is becoming just like New York. The city is choked with traffic. Fortunately, many of the heritage buildings and sites remain preserved, including the Red Square which has been listed as one of the UN's heritage sites.

ENDS