Meeting in...Moscow
Published : July 2008
Lonely Planet’s Tom Hall reports on doing business, Muscovite-style
Moscow is an exclusive place these days. Local tastes have gone upmarket – you’re not anyone unless you can secure a table at the latest exclusive nightspot dressed in western high-end brands with money to buy the best of everything. There’s plenty of money sloshing about – and plenty of people seeking to do business to get more of it. And while there are plenty of exclusive restaurants, clubs and bars, there’s also a lively city scene for everyone to enjoy. Moscow is a good city in which to be a rich man, but it’s also one which values outside influences, making it a fascinating and rewarding place for westerners to come and work.
That said, the days of assuming that doing business in Moscow – and much of Russia – will be like working in the wild west are, largely, long gone. Expect business dealings to be professional and courteous, but blunt and to the point. If you’re visiting as a guest of a Russian company they may attach a local guide to you for the duration of your trip to make sure you’re okay and have a good time. This should leave you free to concentrate on the deals you’re there to make. Here you’ll be expected to know your stuff: business procedures can be arcane and if you can’t get your head around it, you won’t succeed. Homework and local contacts are essential.
Normal rules apply on timings, too: don’t be late. Meetings will often end with invitations for evenings out on the town which can include lots of booze – but not always. If you don’t want to drink, declare yourself out of the running early on. Once you get started it’ll be harder to stop. Kamergersky Perulok and Ulitsa Arbat are the best-known drags for eating, drinking and shopping. Some English is spoken, but not much: many Russians are too shy to practice in public. In private, they may open up more.
When you do get out of the office, Moscow is fascinating. Lenin and his chums are still pulling in the crowds in Red Square, and the Kremlin’s museums and cathedral are rightly unmissable. But the Russian capital is also stuffed full of relics from the Soviet era, from the tanks of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, to the Cold War behemoth that is the All-Russia exhibition centre. The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum will remind you that Moscow can match St Petersburg for the finer things in life, too.
The recent Champions League Final highlighted that Moscow isn’t as wellserved as other cities for accommodation. It’s better than it used to be but you are still faced with a choice between Soviet era concrete blocks – some of which have been very nicely renovated – or the international business chains. Book ahead and try to be close to where you’ll be working. If you’re not, you might be looking at a Metro ride – but the Metro is a tourist attraction in itself with elaborate stations full of chandeliers and statuary.
Reading this, you’d be forgiven for thinking Moscow is something of an unusual city to visit. It is, and this is one reason to go and see it as it is right now: a fast-changing, exciting city at the heart of all things modern and Russian. You might, if you get things right, make a few bob too. END
Tom Hall is a travel editor for Lonely Planet.