From left to right: Sofia Shershunovitch and Vlad Parkhomenko of Russian London Ltd, Dmitry Nedaivozov

If you go down the Emperor pub in Tower Hill on a Thursday you'll be amongst the usual traders, brokers and insurers, but the chances are you won't understand a word.  They're all talking Russian.  Among them is the stunning figure of Alexandra Rodina, slim bond girl, in Calvin Klein suit. A sharp Aviation lawyer with top law firm Beaumont and Son, she is part of the Russian cool set, hard-working, cultured high achievers, sought after by City firms. The Crème de la Kremlin. Alex, knows cockney rhyming slang and orders Britney Spears (beers) because she says "No one speaks posh English in the City anymore."  She's tired of stereotypes of mafia, money laundering and new Russians hoovering up Bond Street jewellery.  She's lived in London 10 years, and worked hard, starting the first Russian newspaper with "Dima the squatter" when she was an usher in the Minema. Then she put herself through a law degree and passed 3 severe interviews to work at Beaumont.  Like many Russian women her statuesque, designer looks hides hidden steel.  "I can strip a Kalashnikov in 60 seconds with a blind fold and fire it with a gas mask" she grins.  She likes to use her military training when an army of 30 boys and girls go paintballing in Soviet Uniform and regularly thrash macho all male teams from the City.   It is often forgotten that the Red Army saved Europe from both Napoleon and Hitler.  Alex’s country put the first man in space. "Maximum respect to my main man Gagarin" she nods.

This red army is headed up by Andrei Lomin,  club owner and promoter, and his model wife, Sonia.  A young Malcolm McDowell lookalike, he presides like the Great Gatsby over Russian nights at Acquarium, the Old Street club with swimming pool.  It regularly plays host to Russian bands and Russian women dance in the seductive, sensual fashion you only see in Odessa and Murmansk.  Just as the Kirov left critics breathless last month with calls of "ballet heaven", the gyrating of high-heeled Lolitas from the LSE can also set hearts racing, and even fists flying.   Russian men may be cultured but they sometimes have to show their strength.  Russia's two greatest poets, Pushkin and Lermontov both died young in duels over women. Andrei sums it up: "Russian men have a whole range of skills and are strong in their soul.  A Russian man can build a house from the foundations, fix his car, but can also quote Dovstoyevsky.  In UK you have to ring for the AA or the plumber."  He's kind enough not to continue that a third of our population know Big Brother characters before Dickens'.  Today's London  Russians have a confidence built on Lenin's passion for education.  Andrei is now established in the London club scene, as a co-owner of Propaganda Bar in Wardour Street, hosting Goldie drum and bass nights on Sundays. No one would suspect he had a degree in Oceanology. Osward Boateng's wife Gyundel, is not just a Russian supermodel, she can also mend a telephone.

This confidence is embedded in Russians who have always believed, that they, not the Jews, were the chosen people.  The belief goes back to Filofei the 16^th Century monk, who declared Moscow the Third Rome. But it was the Soviet Regime that pushed many London Russians to maximalise their talents.  Violinist Yuri Zhislin, the dark-eyed, bearded saviour of the Russian school of violin, knows this.  He leads the Russian Chamber Orchestra in London, a talented group of music scholars:  "In USSR, if you went to a competition and didn't get first prize you might as well kill yourself or not come back. A lot of talented people practised to death."  The fact the West frowned on USSR made them more determined. "It was an atmosphere within the country.  Because the West didn't like USSR we wanted to show off." Their next concert is at Queen Elizabeth Hall on 18^th October, with dashing young ingenues like Maxim and Tatayana, who is 21 but has lived here since she was 14.  Her eyes are a piercing Slav green, but her flares and trainers are pure Notting Hill.  Anatolii Grigoriev, Kirov legend, remembers getting up at 6 to have a cold shower to the strains of the internationale. By contrast the Billy Elliots he now teaches at the Royal Ballet School are a long way off being Barishnikovs and Nureyevs. His exquisite, classical Dance of the Hours this year made the rest of the Royal Ballet School's numbers look like they were the warm-up act for Jim Davidson. 

This confidence in their ability is propelling London Russians to new heights.  21 year old public school-boy, Tolya Gorianov, is already organising gigs in Spitalfields, recently booking the cult band Night Snipers.  With a huge mane of hair he cruises around on his Piaggio scooter, partying with the LSE and MBA Russians and Ukrainians. The LSE had 54 Russians this year. They can buy Russian videos in Britannia Rd, King’s Cross, eat their favourite pelmenee and golubtsi in delis like Kalinka in Queensway, or plug into russianlondon.com, the diaspora web network. Set up by Dima Nedaivozov, a semi-professional footballer who used to play with Ribrov in Ukraine, it now has 2,000 hits a day. “There’s a Ukrainian community in Manchester. A Ukrainian village in Rochdale.” he says. When an important Kremlin politician hits town he finds himself invited to lavish parties in private houses with swimming pools in Hampstead. “They are full of glamourous women who I’ve never seen before.” 

Tolya’s friend Lera Ponton is a fashion designer, who creates vibrant wool patterns. Under her label Cool Wool has had several successful shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg and now sells in Sloane Street boutiques and North London. A flirtatious Cameron Diaz lookalike she started her business with a girlfriend who was 8 months pregnant, carrying a wadge of cash on a train across the border into Ukraine.  "We heard the guards searching the next carriage, with shouting and knocking, so my friend hid the money in her tights.  When the guards came in to search us she cried out that her water was going to break and they got embarrassed."  She's moved on now with her own flat in Regents Park and wealthy private Russian clients to take the pressure off. One client, a woman in Paris with her own mining company, bought the entire collection of 30 pieces without even seeing them. Lera's happy to be in London, especially as last month one of her close friends was shot in Moscow with a kalashnikov.  The 21 year old’s father, who was big in the steel business, had his Mercedes raked by masked attackers.  It's a grim reminder that Russia is still an investment risk. They are optimistic that soon they'll be free of their brutal history. GDP is up, Putin is rail-roading through legal reforms and the inexhaustible reserves of Russian gas are snaking westwards in huge unstoppable pipelines.  In the North Sea we've sucked out the last dregs like a toddler with an empty McDonald's milkshake.  In 2005 demand will exceed supply and the UK, like the most of the EU, will have to turn to mighty Russian gas giant Gazprom.

This kind of endurance is also seen at Church where they stand for over 3 hours without complaining.  Any English attendee, ready to pass out with his candle, will be snapped at to think of Christ, how much he suffered.  Father Vadim, heads the first Russian Orthodox Church in Chiswick, with glorious onion domes like St Basils in Red Square.  It has no sponsors and relies on fundraisers like Count Andrei Tolstoy who throws extravagant War and Peace Balls for the building appeal, where the Russian aristocrats like the Galitzines and dissidents dress up in tiaras and gowns.  The next event is a recital on the Thames on September 17^th.   As they become more successful the wealthy Russians are staying away.  "Life can be too good for some people" Father Vadim says. An energetic, impressive man, he feels Russian soul has been formed over hundreds of years. "I very much hope London Russians will save and improve their culture, and they will share it with English people and let them know more about Russian soul. So the  English will not just think of vodka, bears and Siberia but also ballet, Dostoyevksy and open their hearts to Russians.  Both sides will benefit as they grow closer"