The Real Far East
Monday 9 January to Thursday 12 January 2006 at 2.20pm
(This series was first broadcast in October 2004)

New opportunities and pressures are bringing dramatic change to the outer reaches of Russia. Throughout the Soviet period, the Russian Far East remained largely inaccessible. It is a physically remote and strategically critical region, populated by a mix of exiles, immigrants and military personnel.

The decline in Russian military spending, the collapse of state supported industries and the corruption of local administrations and a parlous economy combine to make life in Russia's 'Wild East' far from easy. The region is in flux

The Real Far East offers listeners around the world an insight into life in one of the most remote, difficult and politically volatile regions of the former Soviet Union. It is a four part series for Radio National and the BBC World Service, produced by award winning Radio Eye producer Tony Barrell with the BBC's Neil McCarthy.

Tony Barrell's book of the series The Real Far East is available in ABC shops (published by Scribe)

Neil and Tony Tony in Vladivostok Vitaly and Ludmilla Krasner Sergei and Tatiana Doncan

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Programs

Vladivostok: Lord of the East

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Vladivostok (which means 'Lord Of The East') was founded in Tsarist times to defend the fringe of the then Russian empire from encroachments by China and Japan. It was a 'free port' known for its frontier characters and rough way of life. In Soviet times it was closed off to all foreigners (and most Russians) and remained that way until the end of the Cold War. Now it feels like a capital city in rambunctious decay. It has cowboy politicians and potholes in the roads the size of bomb craters.

The entire region of the 'Real Far East', as Tony Barrell calls this zone of Russia that lies between Siberia and the Pacific, is depopulating at an alarming rate. But Vladivoistok still has something special. It's an ocean city with an Asian prospect. Can it and the region stay Russian, or will it become Chinese? [ more ]

Khabarovsk: Child of the Amur

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Ivan the
accordion player

On its long journey from Mongolia to the Sea of Okhotsk the mighty Amur River forms the boundary between China and Russia. Aside from the forests and the fish the 'jewel' of the region is the city of Khabarovsk. The poet Misha Korchmariov calls it 'the child of the Amur'. The riverfront is so wide and gracious it feels like you're on the ocean front and that Kharabrosk is a sea-side town.

Like a beacon on three hills, the city has been upgraded by a lavish urban renewal program. Where once there were but two Russian Orthodox churches, soon there will be 15; paid for by the state.

But the Amur is polluted by chemicals from industry and mechanised farming across the border in China. The Amur's villages are de-populating and no capital is flowing in. Painter-teacher Vitaly Krasner is in no doubt why things are going bad. As he stares at the ruins of a derelict school in the neighbourhood known as 'Zone 5' he denounces the 'looting' that is still going on in the name of 'perestroika' and fears that if something isn't done by the central government there will be a serious crisis in the region.

Sakhalin Part One: Penal Colony

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In 1890 Anton Chekhov took a tour of the penal colony that was then all that existed on Sakhalin Island. His report was published as a book in which he detailed the futile horror of the Tsarist penal system. Soon afterwards it was stopped - at least on Sakhalin.

The Japanese influence on the island, which until 1945 was half theirs, is now negligible but exactly a hundred years after his death in 1904 Chekhov is well remembered. There are museums, statues, a theatre complex and a town named after him.

After a long train journey north, Tony is surprised to find in the town of Nogliki that despite Chekhov's pessimism in 1890, a substantial community of indigenous Nifkh people has survived the deprivations of institutional discrimination and rampant alchoholism and is making serious attempts to keep their old culture alive.

Sakhalin Part Two: Treasure Island

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If it hadn't been for the rich deposits of oil and gas that have been discovered in the offshore shelf around the island it might have disappeared into total obscurity and decay, but now all eyes are on Sakhalin. Some believe it will save the Russian Federation from economic disaster, others think it is being ripped off mercilessly by foreign energy giants. The truth lies somewhere in between.

Conservative estimates imagine oil fields as large as Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, these fields are mostly in areas where the sea is badly affected by ice in winter. What to do? One idea is to pump the oil and gas on shore, pipe it through the (almost 1000 km) length of the island to a huge oil and LNG export terminal down south and then sell it to China, Japan or the USA. The downside to that idea would be the possible destruction of the Western Pacific Grey Whales and the continued impoverishment of the local people.

If the island can't get its fair share of the energy bonanza proceeds and no-one puts the money back into its crippled infrastructure, the Treasure Island might become a desert island after all.

Audio on demand for this series is also available from the BBC World Service.