Pillow Talk in Moscow : Gianni Murzi

Sometime in March 1997, I entered the poorly lit Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. I approached the line to the immigration officer’s booth, and a young woman, wearing a uniform that had been adapted by modifying the skirt into a tight fitting miniskirt, took my United Nations Laissez Passer and Italian passport. She nervously flipped over the pages of my red Laissez Passer, which had my visa, and my national passport, and her expression changed to a mix of confusion and disbelief. She seemed not to know what to do. After two long minutes, and as the rear door of her booth opened, I discovered that she had been secretly calling her supervisor for help. A quick conversation ensued in Russian, as the immigration officer showed the visa and the LP to her supervisor, who answered all her questions with a quick series of monosyllables, “Da! Da! yes, yes”, and “Davai, davai, Let’s go, let’s proceed.” As the supervisor left, the immigration officer stamped my LP, gave it to me without a word or a smile and let me in. I later learned that my diplomatic LP with a diplomatic Russian visa were unusual and rarely encountered by most immigration officers. What a welcome, indeed!

This is how my Moscow adventure started. I was to open an office with the help of the local UNHCR representation and Elena Fokina, a former employee of the Foreign Ministry and now UNICEF Liaison Officer. The Regional Office had set aside a modest budget to set up an office. I had no internet connection; my office space turned out to be small and dusty, full of unused documents, papers and cardboard boxes. In fact, I had been offered a cubicle in the UNHCR premises. There I was in a new city and country, faced with a mix of challenging tasks. I had to hire a minimum of staff, find office space, introduce UNICEF and its mandate to the federal government, assess the situation of children in Russia, discuss and propose programmatic approaches to government, and deliver results for children in a country of nearly 150 million people, divided into 85 federal entities - 63 Oblast or governorates and 22 republics. At the same time, I had to find an apartment to live, had to learn how to read the Metro signs in Cyrillic and a basic minimum of Russian.

Looking back, it was an “All in One” and “One in All” situation, where I functioned as the Representative, Programme Officer, Administrative Officer, Supply Officer, the Information Officer and children’s advocate all in the same breath. But there was even more. I had also been appointed as Special UNICEF Representative in Minsk and Kiev! This meant two other countries, neighbouring but hundred of miles away!

Mikhail Aleksanyan, centre, and Elena Fokina on the right
at an office retreat. A facilitator on the left

Several episodes were memorable. From the first few weeks of setting up UNICEF presence in the Russian Federation, I want to narrate two instances that had surprising and unexpected outcomes but reassured me that I was on the right track. When I asked to meet the Director General of the Federal Health Ministry, Dr. Anishkin (I hope I’ve spelt his name correctly) received me in a large hall, where he usually had his regular meetings with the Health Directors of the 85 federal subjects, either in person or during conference calls. The huge room had a long table, a good ten metres or more. On one side, in the middle were numerous phones and hanging on the wall behind the Director’s seat, facing the multiple phone apparatus, was an enormous map of the Russian Federation as long as the table. I felt overwhelmed. I had come to introduce UNICEF and its modest budget in front of someone who possibly managed million of roubles in a country with 11 time zones. Smilingly, I told him that I felt intimidated, hinting that he might have on purpose decided to receive me in that imposing hall. He returned the smile, if I remember rightly, acknowledged this with a good laugh and thereafter we became friends. With his help, we started HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in Kaliningrad, and introduced salt iodisation all over the country among other health interventions.

The other episode occurred at the ceremony marking the opening of the UNICEF office in the Russian Federation. We had invited President Yeltsin’s wife, Madame Yeltsina, and other dignitaries, among them several ministers dealing with UNICEF programmes and a Vice Prime Minister, Mr Sisuyev. I did my speech commending Russian advances in children’s health indicators but pleading to do more for young people to protect them from drug-related HIV/AIDS. At the end, Madame Yeltsina graciously invited me to have tea with her and other dignitaries. I obliged. At the start, while we were exchanging niceties and sipping our tea, she asked “Why were you comparing Russia to Africa? Our children are well cared for, we have no such a situation as you mentioned in your speech.” I felt cold sweat running along my spine. I almost panicked, but I managed to respond, “Madame Yeltsina, in fact, I did not compare Russia to Africa. However, the threat of HIV/AIDS exists and is real and we have data proving it.” At this point, Madame Yeltsina diplomatically changed the subject and tone and started to talk to the Lady Ministers seated at our table. My interpreter got lost either out of respect or perhaps for fear of what was being said about me by Madame Yeltsina and started stammering. I could not follow the conversation any longer. A couple of minutes later Madame Yeltsina stood up and left.

Madame Yeltsina, wife of President Yeltsin, left,  Oleg Sysuyev right, Gianni Murzi centre
at the Foreign Press Club for the official ceremony marking the opening
of the UNICEF office in the Russian Federation 

It was a Friday evening. A long weekend awaited me. I felt awful and depressed, as I was expecting Foreign Ministry staff to come and tell me any moment that I was PNGed, giving me 24 hours notice to leave with a 20 kilos suitcase. On Saturday, I bought the English language Moscow Times newspaper. It reported the details of the opening and inauguration ceremonies, but made no mention of any faux pas by UNICEF.

A week passed. The following Saturday evening, the President, Mr.Yeltsin, had a radio talk to the Nation. I was at home when a Russian speaking colleague working in the Geneva Regional Office called me in a state of great excitement and asked me to switch on the radio and listen to the President’s address. I understood a little. Later, with the help of the few colleagues I had managed to recruit, we got a transcript. The President was scolding his Government ministers for not doing enough for Russian youth, saying that young people were getting into injectable drugs and HIV/AIDS. Several times he said, “I am watching you!” It is then, that I realised that it was the power of Madame Yeltsina’s pillow talk that had brought about the change!! It was smooth sailing thereafter.

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