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Viewing cable 09YEKATERINBURG31, TYUMEN, TOBOLSK SPARKLE IN THEIR OWN WAYS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09YEKATERINBURG31 2009-05-23 08:05 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Yekaterinburg
R 230805Z MAY 09
FM AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1281
INFO AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 
AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 
AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 
AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG
UNCLAS YEKATERINBURG 000031 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/RUS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON SCUL PGOV RS
SUBJECT: TYUMEN, TOBOLSK SPARKLE IN THEIR OWN WAYS 
 
1.  Summary:  Consul General traveled to Tyumen and Tobolsk May 
18-20.  In Tyumen, we opened a photographic exhibit, saw the 
newly renovated American Corner, met with the rector of the oil 
and gas university and visited the offices of the Halliburton 
oil services company.  In Tobolsk, we met the mayor and toured 
the superbly restored kremlin complex. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Tchaikovsky exhibit renews ties 
 
2. The PAS-produced photographic exhibit, "Tchaikovsky in 
America," which celebrates the great composer's participation in 
the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891, was warmly received at the 
Tyumen philharmonic on May 19.  Philharmonic director Mikhail 
Birman recalled the performance of the U.S. Air Force Jazz Band 
Check Six in Tyumen in 2005 and expressed his interest in having 
more U.S. musical acts visit the city.  Birman, a concert 
pianist, and Tyumen Philharmonic conductor Anton Sharoyev, a 
violinist, fondly reminisced about their concert tour of the 
U.S. in the late 1990's.  The opening received extensive print 
and broadcast media coverage. 
 
----------------------------------- 
American Corner ready to go 
 
3.  We were pleased to learn that Tyumen's American Corner, 
located in the city's main library, had hired a new coordinator 
and was about to become fully functional again.  A series of 
calamities, including burst pipes last fall and the sudden 
departure of the previous coordinator had limited the corner's 
activities for several months.  With extensive renovations to 
the library now complete, we were encouraged by the positive 
attitude of the library's administration and the enthusiasm of 
the new coordinator, a recent university graduate and former 
participant in the U.S. Summer Work and Travel program. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
Tyumen - Oil service industry center thrives 
 
4.  Nikolay N. Karnaukhov, rector of the Tyumen State Oil and 
Gas University, told the CG that the future of Russia's energy 
industry remained with oil and gas.  He said that his 
institution, which has over 60,000 students in Tyumen and other 
branches in the region, works closely with Russian and 
international companies to develop technologies to exploit 
reserves under difficult geologic and climactic conditions.  The 
rector said that his university has extensive contact with U.S. 
and other western institutions, but most of it was based on 
personal relationships between academics.  Meanwhile, 
Halliburton representatives said they were in the midst of a 
three-year service contract with TNK-BP.  A 30 percent drop in 
revenues due to the effects of the global economic crisis had 
forced the company to cut some staff, but the managers we met 
with expressed confidence that the company could weather the 
downturn without further significant layoffs. 
 
5.  Tyumen has clearly benefited from both its status as center 
of the oil service industry serving Western Siberia and an 
enlightened administration.  It is a bustling, exceptionally 
clean city with lots of greenery and numerous public parks. 
Dozens of late 19th century architectural gems have been 
preserved and intelligently integrated into the modern 
cityscape.  An extensive development project along the steep 
embankment of the Tura River is in the early stages of 
construction.  From a high point above the river, we counted 19 
construction cranes rising along the horizon. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Tobolsk - Siberia's historic capital reborn 
 
6.  On May 20, CG paid a courtesy call on Tobolsk mayor Ivan 
Fillipovich Olenberg.  The city's main industry is the Neftekhim 
petrochemical plant, which employs about 5,000 people.  The 
mayor said that unemployment was low and stated flatly that 
there was no significant foreign investment there.  He said the 
city had exchanges with Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the 1990's, but 
since then the relationship had languished.  Olenburg is 40.  He 
served in the military and then the police until 2005.  He has 
been mayor since 2007. 
 
7.  The mayor's apparent disinterest in foreign contact is a 
shame because Tobolsk is in the midst of a 5-year renovation 
program that is sure to restore its status as the "Pearl of 
Siberia."  Rich in history, Tobolsk is variously known as the 
Tsarist capital of Siberia, the place of exile of the 
Decembrists and rebellious Poles in the 19th century, and the 
city where Tsar Nikolai II and his family were held for 8 months 
before being transferred to Yekaterinburg in April 1918.  Sites 
relevant to this history abound in the town, but none sparkles 
like the spectacularly restored kremlin complex, whose white 
walls and golden domes dominate the old town from a line of 
bluffs high above the Irtysh River.  According to the city's 
deputy administrator for tourism, about 15% of the city's 
130,000 visitors in 2008 were foreigners.  Though the CG's 
comments reflecting the U.S. desire to expand contacts with 
Russians in a broad range of spheres were narrowly interpreted 
in media reports to mean tourism, Tobolsk's restoration 
certainly speaks of its potential in this regard. 
 
 
SANDUSKY