This year, Russia Day (June 12) was celebrated with a piano recital by the winner of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015, Dmitri Masleev. So the reception hosted by the Russian consulate general was held three days early, on June 9.
Explaining the choice of June 12, consul general Alexey Idamkin recalled how on the day in 1990 the first congress of people’s deputies of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR, part of the Soviet Union) adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. “The document declared the primacy of the Constitution and the laws of the Russian republic over the Soviet Union’s legislation,” the consul general said.
The hall at Taal Kutir convention centre in Eco Park was lined with photographs from different regions of Russia. “You don’t need to go to Norway to see Northern Lights. You can do so from Murmansk in northwest Russia too,” said Ekaterina Lazareva, the consulate’s head of protocol. The diversity of subjects was geographical, cultural as also religious. There were photographs of religious practices at the Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg in central Russia as also Muslim-majority Dagestan in the south. There were glimpses of life in the icy far east too — fishing season customs among the Koryak ethnic group in Kamchatka and people on sledges surrounded by reindeer in Chukotka, among others. “These pictures are from a nationwide photography contest. We are planning an exhibition of the entire lot soon,” said Lazareva.
The most popular counter was the one serving Russian vodka and dishes like Chicken Pelmeni and Pirozhki.
After dinner, there was a spot of dancing with Irina Pokatova, Marina Vorobeva and Natalia Filimonova hitting the floor.
