Elada Lvovna Nagornaya (b. 2 August 1973) — wife of the Nizhny Novgorod Mayor Oleg Sorokin, leader of the Nizhny Novgorod glamour industry. Director of the advertising and marketing department of the Stolitsa Nizhny group of companies, honorary consul of Hungary in Nizhny Novgorod.

Biography

Born on 2 August 1973 in The City of Gorky into a family of office employees.

Higher education, in economics.

Married, has two sons. Her husband is Oleg Sorokin, head of the city of Nizhny Novgorod.

In 1990, after finishing school, she entered the economics faculty of the Moscow Commercial Institute, from which she graduated in 1996.

She began her working life in 1990 as an accountant at the Information and Computing Centre of the Trade Administration of the Gorky Executive Committee.

In 1996, on graduating from the institute, she and her husband set up the commercial enterprise Broster, which quickly became the leader of wholesale trade in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Under her leadership the enterprise began to cooperate actively with major Russian and global brands.

In 1998 she opened in Nizhny Novgorod a representative office of Valentin Yudashkin's Fashion House, the first haute couture label to appear in the city. Over seven years of the office's successful work she organised, together with Nizhny Novgorod theatres, ten Valentin Yudashkin shows, which became landmark events in the city's public life.

In that period she took up charitable work : raising funds for the restoration of the Nizhny Novgorod Historical Museum and helping children's homes.

"Stolitsa Nizhny"

In 2005 E.L. Nagornaya took charge of the advertising and marketing side of the Stolitsa Nizhny group of companies, the largest construction and development holding of Nizhny Novgorod. Under her leadership, branding and promotion concepts were developed and successfully implemented for large-scale development projects, among them the Etazhi and Respublika Shopping Centre shopping centres, the Stolitsa Nizhny business centre, the Fantastika shopping and entertainment centre, and the Sedmoe Nebo residential neighbourhood. She brought in such leaders of world retail as Castorama, Obi, Real, Auchan, Zara, TopShop, Mango, Karen Millen, CK Jeans and so on.

E.L. Nagornaya devised and carried out projects that became major cultural events of the city: creative competitions for talented children and young people, in which more than 2,000 people took part; concerts by Russian and foreign pop stars held at large open-air and indoor venues in the city. She created the Stolitsa Nizhny fashion theatre, which performs at large city events.

E.L. Nagornaya prepared the participation of the Stolitsa Nizhny group of companies in Russian as well as international architectural, construction and trade exhibitions such as MIPIM and MAPIK (France). Taking part in these exhibitions brought the Stolitsa Nizhny group of companies awards, among them:

  • the gold medal of the Interarch international architectural triennale in Sofia for the Etazhi shopping centre (2003);
  • the special jury prize of the Rating of Shopping Centres of Russia for the promotion of the Respublika shopping centre (2005);
  • a nomination for "Best Regional Class A Business Centre" at the Commercial Real Estate Awards for the concept of the Stolitsa Nizhny business centre (2006);
  • a win in the "Large Shopping Centre" category of the Commercial Real Estate Awards for the concept of the Fantastika shopping and entertainment centre (2009);
  • the title "Best Development Project on the Russian Real Estate Market" in the "Retail Property" category of the national stage of the FIABCI PRIX D’EXELLENCE world competition (2010).

Bellissimo

In 2005 E.L. Nagornaya created and headed the Bellissimo media project, which comprises a magazine, a television programme and a website of the same name.

This cultural and educational project, covering landmark events and personalities on the city and national scale, currently holds a leading position in the Nizhny Novgorod media market.

Details of the appointment

"My candidacy, after clearance with the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, was put forward for the post of honorary consul of Hungary.

This happened on 14 July (2011) at a meeting with the ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to Russia, István Íjgyártó. After that I went through an interview in Moscow.

The other day it became known that the minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Hungary had recommended my candidacy for the post of honorary consul of Hungary in Nizhny Novgorod," Elada Lvovna told correspondents of Newsroom24.

Record of the opening ceremony

"Gorod i Gorozhane", 23 May 2012

Taking part in the opening ceremony were the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to the Russian Federation István Íjgyártó, Valery Shantsev, the head of the city Oleg Sorokin and a representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Malov.

On arriving at the event, Valery Pavlinovich immediately presented Elada Lvovna with a lavish bouquet of flowers and wished her success.

- We will promote this direction, because we want Nizhny Novgorod and the Nizhny Novgorod region to be known all over the world. This will encourage the development of business ties, as well as ties in the humanitarian fields, noted the governor, who was in excellent spirits.

Incidentally, a consulate of Sweden will shortly open in Nizhny Novgorod; it will be the ninth such institution in the city. According to the head of the region, a consular patent has already been signed appointing the general director of GAZ Group, Bo Inge Andersson, to the post of honorary consul of Sweden in Nizhny Novgorod.

The ambassador of Hungary, István Íjgyártó, expressed his delight at the opening of the consulate.

— My colleagues and I are very glad that Elada Nagornaya is helping us to restore very important ties that have been missing for far too long. It is now very important to build up bilateral cultural relations, and we strongly support this process. Establishing tourist links is no less important.

The representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nizhny Novgorod Region, Sergey Malov, drew the audience's attention to the fact that Elada Lvovna is in general the only woman in such a responsible position.

— Elada! You will certainly become a consul of goodness and beauty, declared Sergey Geraldovich, addressing the guest of honour. After which he expressed his delight for the fashionable men and women of Nizhny Novgorod.

— Now our city will finally get fashion houses with the new European trends. Good luck to you in this.

In conclusion to his emotional speech, Mr Malov confirmed that a direct Nizhny Novgorod – Budapest flight would appear before long. With the opening of the consulate it will be easier to obtain a visa to that country, and in the future it will all come down to a visa-free regime altogether.

Perks and privileges of an honorary consul of Hungary

Of late the institution of the honorary consulate has been in ever greater demand. The Russian Federation both appoints its own honorary consuls in foreign states and receives them at home.

Under Chapter III of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, an honorary consul enjoys a number of perks and privileges. Here are just some of them:

  • Russia, as the receiving state, is obliged to accord an honorary consul such protection as may be required by reason of his official position.
  • An honorary consul enjoys immunity from the criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction of the Russian Federation in respect of his official activities.
  • An honorary consul may not be detained or arrested except in the case of prosecution for a grave crime or the execution of a court sentence that has entered into legal force.
  • An honorary consul is exempt from all taxes, dues and duties on the remuneration and salary he receives from the sending state for the performance of consular functions.
  • Since the vehicle of an honorary consul is regarded, in accordance with international practice, as the territory of a consular post, the flag of the represented state may be mounted on it, and the use of special registration plates is also provided for : red colour, series 900, a special letter series.

Stories about herself

— Hello, Roman Skudnyakov is in the studio. You are watching the programme "Without a Tie". At the age of 24 this person opened the borders of closed Gorky to high fashion, and today she is opening the borders of other countries. Our guest is the Honorary Consul of Hungary in Nizhny Novgorod, the wife of the head of Nizhny Novgorod, Elada Nagornaya. Elada Lvovna, hello.

— Good afternoon, Roman.

Well, how does it feel — a year and a half already in the status of the first lady of Nizhny Novgorod. Did you ever think about that in your childhood and youth?

— Roman, well, you have certainly started, you know, very frankly... I am quite comfortable as the wife of the head of the city, but I am confident enough in myself and have been able to stand up for myself all my life. So, on the whole, nothing has changed in my life over these year and a half.


— With the first money they earn on their own, boys and girls buy ice cream, or go to the cinema... But I know that you managed to earn quite a decent sum, and you bought gold earrings. Where did you find such a well-paid job?

— In my grandmother's vegetable garden.

— At your grandmother's... What grandmothers there are! So, and what did you do?

— I picked berries.

— Berries?

— Yes. I picked a lot of berries and then, thanks to the fact that I had picked them and sold them successfully, I was able to buy the earrings.

— Tell me, it often happens that when you strive for some goal long and hard, then when you achieve it the emotional charge falls away and the enthusiasm disappears. How was it for you? Had your wish not vanished by the time you bought those gold earrings?

— You know... Actually, the idea of buying gold earrings came not from me but from my aunt. She told me that I was already a grown-up girl and that at that age I could earn the money myself, and suggested that option. And my mind was on the fact that I had to do what the grown-ups had told me. That is, the task was not to buy those particular earrings, but to carry out the assignment my parents had given me.

— After school, I know, you entered an institute and immediately started working. Generally speaking, teachers are not very fond of students who study and work at the same time, because such students, so to speak, often merely serve their time within the walls of the university. How did you manage to combine work with studies?

— You know, I enrolled straight away in the extramural department, and I want to say that my work experience always, on the contrary, helped me in my studies. Because practical knowledge is a great thing. Theory is theory; to this day, even when I hire employees, I always run into one and the same thing — here is a seemingly wonderful person: a student, graduated from a university, perhaps even with top marks. You start asking some elementary things — it doesn't work. You ask: "And apart from studying, have you ever worked?", "No, never, I only read books". So in my life it worked out the other way round, I was able to gain practical knowledge together with theoretical knowledge, and I am very grateful, and I advise it to everyone. Practice together with theory is always a great thing.

— Indeed, it is not quite right when our students enter a university and for 6 years receive exclusively theoretical knowledge without having practical skills. Can anything be changed in this situation, in your view?

— I believe that it certainly can be changed, and if our universities, the heads of universities, communicated more with large companies, with the human resources services in those companies, there would definitely be ways out of this situation...

— Any human resources service in a large company would in principle even be interested itself in students who are studying at institutes getting practical training during the summer periods, so that by the time they leave the institute and receive their education they would already have practical skills, and could go on to continue their professional education in those firms.

— "It's all about the tie" is our traditional section. Many public figures — and your husband is undoubtedly a public figure — make use of advice from their wives on how one ought to dress. Do you help with advice?

— You know, not any more now. Earlier, when my life turned out in such a way that I spent a lot of time beside the great fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin, I of course learned myself in my time and then gave my husband a lot of advice, and Valentin gave him a lot of advice too. Today he has fully mastered this art, and my involvement is no longer needed.

— The section "Uncut" — short questions, short answers. We have already discussed the fact that you already have the status of first lady. For many people protocol becomes a real ordeal; for example, right now the new president of France, François Hollande, is fighting for the right to drive to work in his own car without a motorcade. And do you often have to struggle with protocol, and has anything changed at all?

— You know, I...

— For example, you may not wear a short skirt or jeans.

— Well, I think that I am allowed to wear jeans, I am allowed to wear a short skirt. It just has to suit the occasion where it is appropriate to wear it. A dress code is, on the whole, a great thing and no one has ever abolished it. And let me remind you once again, I was a very young girl when I met Valentin Yudashkin, and my coming of age took place, I suppose, in his good hands, so I clearly understand when and in what way one should dress, and for me this is a natural state, it is harmonious for me.

— By the way, you worked with your husband in business at one time, and as I understand it, some matters could not be settled at work and had to be settled at home. Tell me, in this practice were there more pluses or minuses — on the one hand there is the chance to settle some work matters at home, but on the other hand the likelihood of quarrels arising was surely greater.

— Oh, Roman, you are right — both of those, it is all there. In some ways there are pluses in the fact that we worked together, at home you can discuss something over a cup of tea that you did not have time for at work. But sometimes there were quarrels too, because everyone has a different position and sometimes we do not agree with each other.

— By the way, for spouses who now have the choice, for a man and a woman — to work in one business, in one enterprise — would you advise them to try it?

— You know, I am asked this question quite often. It all depends on the people, no single rule can be found here. For some it is probably harmonious, for some it is right, and for others it is definitely not suitable. There is no single formula for solving this question.

— Do you often give way to your husband in business matters?

— Well, if I know that I am right on the matter, I will fight to the last.

— They say, by the way, that you are a very tough manager.

— Yes, that is true.

— And they say that you do not rate women's work very highly. Am I wrong?

— No, on this you are wrong. I am a tough manager, but I respect and value women on a par with men, and sometimes I value them even more, because a woman is more hard-working, definitely.

— More hard-working, I see... I think many of the men watching us will argue with you.

— All right.

— I will not argue, that will be your position, I yield.

— Thank you.

— You opened your own business at the age of 24 — the Nizhny Novgorod representative office of Valentin Yudashkin's fashion house. I know that your elder son is already 20.

— Yes, that's right.

— As far as I understand, he wants to open his own business, but you do not allow him to do it. Don't you believe in him?

— We believe in him very much, he is a good boy of ours. All parents praise their children, but he is hard-working, studies well, gains a great deal of knowledge not only at the institute — besides the institute he is constantly learning all sorts of additional subjects. And of course we very much want him to study as much and as long as possible, but genes probably take their toll and yes, indeed...

— He will insist after all.

— Yes, he has already insisted. In the near future he will open his own business.

— That is, he is already preparing business projects, doing the calculations?

— Everything, everything is ready, it is already the final stage of implementing the project, and mum and dad are absolutely not helping him, it is his own project from the idea to the implementation.

— Could you have imagined that 20-30 years ago young people of 20 would be drawing up their own business plans and business projects. How realistic was that at the time, how realistic is it now? Are there more opportunities today?

— You know, my husband and I also started our own business more than 20 years ago.

— At roughly the same age, then.

— Yes, my husband was a little older, I was even younger — 18. We built our own business, so I do not think that the difference in time — 20 years ago or now — changes anything; the main thing is that a person's inner make-up should be exactly that, with that orientation: "I want it — I'll do it".

— In Venezuela the family comes first and only then work. Often even men give up their hobbies — fishing and football — in favour of their children and the home, and take pride in the amount of time they devote to the family hearth. And do you have anything to be proud of on that front?

— Unfortunately, no.

— At least it's honest.

— Yes. Unfortunately, no. We very much love being together as a whole family, we greatly value that time, but unfortunately we do not have much time itself, so we have to make do mainly with weekends.

— And the children are not offended?

— The children are used to it. It has always been that way with us.

— The main topic in the spotlight is women's style. Aeroplanes and information technologies are making our world smaller. Globalisation — it is still easier to move from one city to another, capitals no longer differ so greatly from big cities. We see that everything is becoming uniform for us — from architecture to cuisine to people. Tell me, if we come to another country — are the people already uniform as well? Would you notice a Russian woman in Paris?

— You know... with every year this difference is disappearing.

— Disappearing?

— Of course. If ten years ago a Russian woman could be spotted immediately even from a distance, today everything has become, let us say, so available to us, and I believe that Russian women are doing well, we can always be proud of ourselves. We master everything very quickly and learn everything. If earlier one could easily identify a Russian woman by her high heels already at breakfast in the hotel, or bright make-up, then today, of course, there is none of that, and we all speak foreign languages quite well and know both the culture and the customs — that is all fine.

— According to fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev, a Russian woman is very easy to recognise abroad. If you see a woman in Paris dressed in the latest fashion and made up, then she is definitely Russian. Will you agree or argue?

— That is probably not a Russian woman but a fashion victim. That is something slightly different...

— A fashion victim — is that sad or is it fun?

— I think it is sad. Yes, I think so. Versace once said on this subject that if a woman changes her appearance radically, as a matter of principle, from season to season, then that is of course a fashion victim. And it is true. Still, in my understanding, inasmuch as I worked a great deal precisely in fashion, yes, and had many opportunities to look at my clients, to look at how it is customary to dress in Moscow, and at what correctness in fashion is... Everything is good in moderation, and above all the outer must necessarily be joined with the inner, be harmonious.

— That is, not fashion for fashion's sake.

— Of course.

— Well, by the way, an enormous number of fashion magazines and programmes are being produced now, and you have a hand in that too. There is a conviction that a woman has absolutely no need of such programmes, that she herself, if she is a real woman, ought to know what to wear and where. Will you argue or agree?

— I will argue. All the same one has to learn this, as with everything in our life in principle — for example, how to do sport, how to understand paintings, how to cook food well. It is the same with the ability to dress, it is a great art, one has to learn it, and if there are specialists nearby who can help you, then you certainly ought to heed them.

— a great many people on the internet are speaking out and saying that young people wear tight low-waisted jeans which, in the experts' opinion, visually shorten and distort the legs. Do you agree with this statement by the experts, and should one be guided by the majority at all?

— Well, I fully agree with the experts' opinion; there are of course nuances of one's own, for example one can put on a high heel in that situation, and then the legs will not look shortened...

— But they'll look crooked!

— Crooked? Well, a heel also corrects the legs, by the way, all the more so if it is with trousers. As for whether it is right or wrong to wear that, well, to each their own, so if you are good-looking, then wear them, please. If you are not good-looking, better not to.

— By the way, do you yourself take anyone as a model in style?

— I have never taken anyone as a model, I always wanted to have my own style...

— The section "On the Edge", the sharpest questions from Nizhny Novgorod residents. Alexander Vitalyevich Solonitsyn, Moscow District: "There will be a dozen or so honorary consulates in Nizhny Novgorod, but what is the use of them if you still have to travel to Moscow for a visa anyway?" Please answer.

— I will answer. Of course, the visa matter is a good and necessary one; I hope that within the next year or two we will also set up a Hungarian visa centre. We have already discussed this with the ambassador...

— So the work is under way?

— The work is under way, it will happen. But an honorary consulate is, above all, not about visas, it is an entirely different story. In creating the honorary consulate we are helping our fellow Nizhny Novgorod residents to become better acquainted with another country. That means culture, and education, and economic relations, and the accessibility of trips to that country. That is, the main work consists precisely in this.

— Aren't you sorry that people in Nizhny Novgorod know little about Hungary, although the country is an interesting one and there are, as far as I know, many inventions there. What have you gained for yourself since you began to hold such a post?

— You know, the first thing that struck me was the similarity between Nizhny Novgorod and Budapest — here we have the upper Nizhny, there Buda and Pest, there the Danube, and here our great rivers, the Oka and the Volga; there are similar churches in the lower part of our city and in Budapest. So it is a beautiful city, and I very much want our Nizhny Novgorod residents to have the chance to visit it and to have trips there that are truly affordable in terms of pricing. There was a trend, remember: first we travelled to Egypt, then to Turkey, then to Karlovy Vary. So now my task, as I see it, is to make visiting a wonderful European capital affordable...

— A trend towards Budapest.

— Yes, yes.

— Darya, Soviet District: "After Natalia Vodianova's success, many girls wanted to become models or designers. But the lucky ticket goes to only a few, and girls from the provinces have no chance at all." What would you say?

— No, well, girls from the provinces do have a chance, which is exactly why, for example, the very person your viewer is talking about is Natalia Vodianova...

— But there are few such examples.

— Few, but what can you do — excuse me, but there are also very few poets, and artists, and geniuses, so not every girl should assume she will become a great model tomorrow. I would advise doing something else.

— Here is an interesting question: "There are children today who say: 'Mum, I want to be a model.' Would such a conversation please or upset you as a mother? If you suddenly had one."

— Oh, well, first of all, thank goodness I have boys, and with them there is somehow less trouble in that direction.

— They did not want to become models, and you were already glad of that.

— Yes. Well, by the will of my fate, let us say, my work has been very closely connected with models, so I can allow myself to say that it is better not to be a model.

— And why "thank goodness, boys"? Mothers often want girls.

— No, I wanted one too... I would like to say that with boys it is simpler in this particular matter. Of course, they have their own subtleties, but as far as modelling, or design, or anything else that is difficult for parents, boys do not have that. They listen to us, on the whole.

— Questions from readers of the newspaper "Аргументы и факты. Нижний Новгород", Olga Davydova: "In the city centre you can no longer take a step without running into a museum or a gallery. Who needs them if most people not only do not go to them, but do not even know anything about them?"

— A pity...

— Well, apparently Olga... And not only Olga, in fact...

— You know, this is a very serious question in general. Unfortunately, there was a stage in our life, probably starting from the nineties, when in society... when we were busy with completely different problems and forgot that, after all, a person's inner life matters very much — a harmonious one, the growth of the personality... This concerns not only this viewer, it concerns all of us. You will agree, we lived at a time when we had to think about how to earn a bit of money, for ourselves, for our children, for our parents, and we forgot that our society, like all other societies, needs its cultural heritage, must know it, must value it, understand it, and bring up its children in it...

— Well, you speak about this nicely, but you are a busy woman — do you manage to go to museums?

— I manage very well, yes. Last year we were in Madrid and went to the Prado museum. It was during the day. In every room there were small children on the floor, like peas, sitting right on the floor, in school uniform with backpacks. After school their teachers take them to the museum, and there they sit in front of these masterpieces while someone tells them something. Of course, maybe at seven they do not understand, but if at seven they are already being taken to museums, if they are brought up on beauty and love of art, then of course by eighteen the personality will be shaped completely differently. And I believe that today we — the people of Nizhny Novgorod, Russians — absolutely must return to our roots.

— What is stopping us?

— Nothing is stopping us. It is simply that for many years we did not popularise this, did not promote it. Today that time has come. It is the task of each of us, of every adult, to convey it to our children.

— Did you succeed?

— I did. I take my children to museums with pleasure, to our art museums, and I take them to Arsenal. Incidentally, it is easier for children to get to know contemporary art first, and only then the classics.

— So in fact a great deal depends on the parents, there is no need to wait for the school, for the kindergarten, or anything else. That is, every parent understands this...

— Every parent for themselves.

— "The formula for success." The great Coco Chanel once said: "Every day I begin to live anew" — and what is your formula for success?

— My formula for success is this: "That life should be full of work, family, personal life, the desire to learn something new, to be understood and to understand people." That, probably, is my formula.

— Now we move on to our traditional feature. If you answer our question correctly, you will receive the book "The Nizhny Novgorod Book of Records and Achievements".

— I have one, by the way.

— The second book is "Walks, pardon me, with Grandmother".

— A wonderful book.

— Before I ask the main question, the one you will have to answer, here is a preparatory question, let us say. Do you know that, according to a well-known joke, women and flowers are alike?

— I do not know, that is in jokes...

— Both need to be tended. That is the joke. By the way, how do you feel about jokes about women — for instance, "A woman at the wheel is like a monkey with a grenade"?

— None of that is true.

— Not true?

— Women drive a car no worse at all than men.

— And do you drive, by the way?

— I do.

— Did you learn without fear?

— Oh, when I went to take lessons my husband told me I would never learn to drive a car, but I have been behind the wheel for 20 years now and have not had a single accident.

— How could he judge you like that! You were probably offended and decided to prove it — "I can!".

— Yes, probably.

— So, coming back to flowers. In general, are flowers the best present for you or not?

— How do you know?

— I do not know, I am simply guessing.

— Yes. I love flowers very much.

— And which flowers do you like most? Grand ones, roses, tulips, cornflowers...

— Lilies of the valley.

— Lilies of the valley? Is something connected with these flowers?

— Well, it seems to me they are so delicate, so fine and so tender. Inwardly that is very harmonious for me.

— What was done in medieval Europe to people who destroyed flowers or trees? After you have told us about your lilies of the valley, I put this question to you with four possible answers as to what was done with them: they were punished, rewarded, executed or canonised? So, medieval Europe...

— I am trying to remember... Now, wait a moment. So, the homeland of perfumery is Grasse, right. Let us play "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

— Yes, we shall use logic.

— Yes, logic! So, Grasse. Let us recall the film "Perfume", which was being filmed when he gathered flowers in the meadows, grew them and so on... He was practically considered a shaman when... Let us have them again, what are the options...

— The options. So, what was done with them: such people were punished, rewarded, executed or canonised?

— Well, punished, perhaps?

— I do not know, it is your answer.

— Well, let us say — punished.

— Perhaps they were executed on the spot, no? Or maybe rewarded, maybe they were given some money as a reward?

— Punished.

— Punished?

— Yes.

— Are you sure? Well, how might they have been punished, what do you suppose? I accept your answer...

— Well, anything at all... How were they punished? They were deprived of something or put away somewhere, well, I do not know... Executing is too cruel. Although in the Middle Ages the rules were very cruel.

— So, are you changing your answer or not? Your final answer?

— Well, let us say — executed.

— Executed?

— Yes.

— Certain?

— Read them out once more.

— Punished, rewarded, executed, canonised.

— Well, let us say — executed. Although it is very cruel.

— So you are sure it was executed?

— I have already given my answer, it seems to me it is wrong to doubt any further.

— So, finally, so that I may accept the answer.

— Executed.

— Executed. In the Middle Ages there were few gardens, so cultivated plants were valued and protected. There were laws against those who destroyed flowers or trees. For instance, in 1187 a law was passed under which a person who damaged a grafted tree was punished by having his toes burned. In the 13th century, in the German town of Augsburg, anyone who damaged another person's garden was nailed to the pillory, had his right hand cut off and was banished for ever. Well, it seems to me our vandals in Nizhny Novgorod today are very lucky that nothing of the sort happens to them. Perhaps we should bring the practice back from the Middle Ages, what do you think?

— Let us not be so cruel, we live in the 21st century...

— Well, there you are, see how I threw you off.

— You did, you did. But I did say it correctly at first — punished!

— Well, all the people of Nizhny Novgorod who were watching were rooting for you. I think that the support you have from the residents of Nizhny Novgorod will be the greatest reward for taking part in our programme today. And, accordingly, that book you wanted so much. With no hint intended at all! "Walks with Grandmother".

— Thank you very much, Roman.

— Elada Lvovna, I am handing over to you the questions we did not have time to answer, so that you can answer them personally. I wish you success, I wish success to your husband, and I hope you will have some personal time to spend with your family.

Roman Skudnyakov's programme "Bez galstuka" on the TV channel "Volga", 18 June 2012

Interesting facts

  • In the influence ranking of figures of the Nizhny Novgorod elite compiled by the so-called "political practice agency «ПолиТ.Тех»", Elada Nagornaya holds a confident first place among all the women included in that ranking. And this is no accident. Elada Lvovna is one of those who work hard and successfully. As a top manager of the "Stolitsa Nizhny" group of companies and head of the Bellissimo media holding, Elada Nagornaya also holds the post of honorary consul of Hungary in Nizhny Novgorod. Many men might envy such a capacity for work and such managerial talent.

See also