July 22, 2009. Presentation of Azov City Gambling Zone in Krasnodar region. Azov City Gambling Zone is Russia`s answer to Las Vegas. Azov City is expected to be a federal gambling zone on the border of the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region
 

July 21, 2009. Matrosskaya Tishina legendary prison in Moscow. Matrosskaya Tishina is known to human rights campaigners as the worst of Russia`s infamous pre-trial detention centres, where tuberculosis, Aids and hepatitis are reportedly rife. Originally built as a temporary holding centre for up to 2,500 prisoners, the north-east Moscow building, surrounded by high barbed-wire-capped walls, currently houses 3,500. Picture: prison cell
 

July 21, 2009. Pechatniki Women`s Prison of Moscow. Dinner time for prisoners
 

July 17, 2009. People of St.Petersburg bring flowers to the portrait of Natalia Estemirova at Troitskaya Square of St.Petersburg. Natalia Estemirova was one of the leading members of the Memorial Human Rights Centre in the North Caucasus,she was kidnapped and killed on July 15, 2009
 

July 07, 2009. Russian writer and one of the last Soviet dissidents Vasily Aksyonov dies in Moscow. Vasily Aksyonov was a convinced anti-totalitarian. On the presentation of one of his last novels, he stated: `If in this country one starts erecting Stalin statues again, I have to reject my native land. Nothing else remains.`Pictured: Vasily Aksyonov in Moscow
 

June 30, 2009. Russians mourn Michael Jackson. Flowers and Michael Jackson`s portraits at the US Embassy in Moscow
 

June 29, 2009. Motor Yacht `A` owned by Russian Billionaire Andrey Melnichenko harboured in Bergen, Norway. Andrey Melnichenko is best-known for his energy and banking businesses. Motor Yacht `A` is 119m long and weighs approximately 5500 tones; the yacht was designed by Philippe Starck and Martin Francis and built at the Blohm+Voss shipbuilding yard in Hamburg, Germany. Mega Yacht `A` is reminiscent of a submarine warship. Her unique shape and name has brought `A` some attention, including being dubbed the `ugliest yacht in the world` by a Wall Street Journal columnist and incurring rebuke from yacht enthusiasts that the design makes this pleasure cruiser look like a `stealth yacht` or naval destroyer. The mega yacht`s name `A` is a tribute to Andrei Melnichenko and his wife Serbian fashion model Aleksandra Nikolic
 

June 26, 2009. Kaliningrad Amber Factory (pictured) acquaints with the richest deposit of amber in the world on the territory of the Kaliningrad region, with the laying conditions of amber deposits in the area of Yantarny town
 

June 23, 2009. SCARLET SAILS 2009 WATERSHOW IN ST.PETERSBURG,RUSSIA. The Scarlet Sails celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia is the most massive and famous public event during the White Nights Festival.The tradition is highly popular for spectacular fireworks, numerous music concerts, and a massive water-show including battle among tens of boats full of pirates on the waters of Neva river
 

June 19, 2009. Henri Loyrette ,director of the Louvre Museum visits Belarus. Pictured: Henri Loyrette while visiting National Art Museum of Belarus
 

June 15, 2009. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev in Kremlin
 

June 10, 2009. The legendary 18th-Century Butyrskaya Prison in Moscow was built under Russian czarina Catherine the Great. Currently Butyrskaya Prison ( Butyrka ) remains the largest of Moscow remand prisons. Besides criminals among its famous inmates were the influential revolutionary leaders of Russia (the founder of the KGB Felix Dzerzhinsky); lots of political prisoners sentenced to be sent to the Gulag (russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) and later from 60th to 80th many famed russian dissidents. Overcrowding continues to be a big problem for the prison`s administration and prisoners. Pictured: prison cell
 

June 02, 2009. JTI Petro - Tobacco factory of Japan Tobacco International in St.Petersburg, Russia. JTI Petro produces many of the company’s major international brands including Mild Seven, Camel, Winston, Salem , as well as russian cigarettes brands including Peter I, Russian Style, North Star...
 

June 01, 2009. Wedding Festival in St.Petersburg , Russia . Bride`s Parade
 

May 28, 2009. Princess Michael of Kent ( Baroness Marie Christine Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz ) attends the 2nd Imperor`s Gardens of Russia International Gardening Festival in St.Petersburg , Russia