June 12,2013. Moscow,Russia. Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced in Kirov to five years in jail for theft on Thursday,July 18, it is an unexpectedly tough punishment which his supporters said proved President Vladimir Putin was a dictator ruling by repression. Pictured: Anti-Putin rally in Moscow. One of the leaders of Russian opposition Alexei Navalny with his wife Julia (L) participating in the rally.

January 29,2013. Moscow,Russia. Pictured: First capsule hotel Sleepbox Hotel Tverskya with fifty windowless pods opens in central Moscow.

Beauty Contest `Chechen Beauty` (Miss Chechnya) in Grozny

June 17,2013. St.Petersburg,Russia. Pictured: Japanese Chemist Akira Yoshino (吉野 彰)at the press conference. Asahi Kasei Fellow Dr. Akira Yoshino has been chosen for the 2013 Global Energy Prize in recognition of “his ground-breaking work in the development of the lithium-ion rechargeable battery, the beating heart of mobile electronic devices, electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.”

At the Maternity Hospital in St.Petersburg

`Russian Expo Arms` russian weapons exposition.

Maurice Bejart Ballet in Moscow.

Women`s boxing World Cup

HAIRWORLD - 2006 Competition in Moscow.

Franz Josef Land (also Franz Joseph Land or Francis Joseph`s Land). Franz Josef Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast of Russia. Pictured: monument to Nikolai Chudotvorets (Wonderer-Worker)and a chapel (back) on Alexandra Island, one of 191 ice-covered islands of Franz Joseph Land.