Izvestia (Moscow) - September 8, 2008.

Summer vacations are over for business people, and despite the attraction of the off-peak season, business matters have summoned all the martyrs of the capital to Moscow. RosBusinessConsulting held a reception for three thousand people to simultaneously mark the start of the new business year and its 15th anniversary.

It is clear from the setting that the hosts wanted to prolong the summer and celebrate the anniversary in warm countries – “by the sea or by the ocean” – in the summer nesting places of Russia's business community. At the entrance to the central Manege exhibition hall, which was transformed into a banquet hall for the occasion, the guests were welcomed by the stern of a vessel named RBC. Right on spot, near the ‘gangway,’ the company’s General Director Yury Rovensky (minus the captain’s cap) accepted gifts and congratulations. Next to him, on the ‘embankment,’ sailors and girls wearing kerchiefs over their heads danced to the Waltz of Sevastopol.

“Will they play the Farewell of Slavianka (Slavic Woman)?” Alexei Zhitinkin said sarcastically. Before the ship sailed towards the set tables, the guests were offered cigars and strong drinks. Waiting for the others to arrive, politicians and business people, refreshed and suntanned, shared their news with one another: the Olympics results, South Ossetia and what we get for it, if anything.

Just as someone thoughtfully voiced the question of whether or not we should be prepared for the deportation of Russians and Georgians to their registered places of residence, X5 Retail Group Managing Director for Corporate Relations Yury Kobaladze quickly responded, “You have to keep me.” And he then whispered to a high society columnist, “I am no longer Kobaladze, but Karapetian. I think it’s more reasonable now.” Just a day later, however, Kobaladze was spotted in a fashionable, expensive restaurant, Semifredo, where he carelessly revealed himself, as captain Rybnikov, by answering to his real name.

Following Yury Kobaladze, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov also appeared in the restaurant. Yury Rovensky, in the meantime, found himself a rival for the position of captain of the ship: President of Russian Financial Corporation Andrei Nechayev, who came up in a white suit with the compulsory pipe in his mouth and only the beard missing. Instead, former banker Sergei Rodionov turned up with a newly grown beard, which lent his image a tang of Bohemian style and made the banking idol appear more human.

The organizers took into account all the touches of subordination. The guests were seated based on the color of the stripe on their invitations. VIP de les VIP - X5 Retail Group CEO Lev Khasis, President of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunian, lawyers Mikhail Barshchevsky and Anatoly Kucherena, political analyst Igor Bunin, co-owners of Wimm-Bill-Dann David Yakobashvili and Sergei Plastinin, Uralsib Vice President Alexander Vikhrov, President of the Moscow Association of Entrepreneurs Andrei Podenok, lawyer Natalya Barshchevskaya, and General Director of the Russian Media Group Sergei Kozhevnikov all searched for the golden tables assigned to them. Second-tier VIPs sat down at red ones, while green tables were for the rest. The hosts’ tables – blue – were self-consciously moved to the back of the hall.

The ceremony started with greeting telegrams from President Dmitry Medvedev and State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov. The show was then opened by Eurovision winner Dima Bilan – without Yana Rudkovskaya or Yevgeny Plyushchenko, but with professional dancers. For the celebration, Dima dressed himself up in a black coat. “Why did Bilan win Eurovision? Because he has been a member of the Liberal Democratic Party for five years,” announced Vladimir Zhirinovsky while mounting the stage.

Singer Oleg Gazmanov sang a hymn composed especially for the occasion. He had no time to learn the lyrics, so he peeked at his notes every now and then. Just as Gazmanov left, the entire space in front of the stage was taken up by the Choir of Turetsky, the stage itself being too small for them. Dancing broke out in the aisles to a medley of the best hits ever.

By that time, however, some guests had already left, each taking away a present: a small box of tea and the book How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere by CNN presenter Larry King, which has been highly relevant for most of RBC’s gatherings recently.