Society lads and ladies collect their lions

Flamboyant leader of the LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky received his third Bronze Lion, for most "sociable" politician, at the annual Svetskiye Itogi 2000 awards that summed up society life.

The ceremony was held on the roof of a multi-story elite housing complex on Smolenskaya Naberezhnaya. Receiving his award, Zhirinovsky said that if he didn't get an apartment in the building, he'd close down the awards altogether.

The women's politician award went to Irina Khakamada, who didn't attend, saying she had a meeting in the Kremlin. Hearing this, a disapproving Zhirinovsky abruptly announced that he'd just come from the Kremlin and there was no one there.

The society-actress award went to Natalya Andreichenko, wife of actor Maximilian Shell, who has been spending more time in Moscow of late. She came to the awards with owner of the Pyotr Privalov jewelry house Marina Korotayeva, who received the award for society businesswoman. The society businessman award went to chocolate baron Andrei Korkunov and the society actor award to the absent Sergei Makovetsky.

News anchorwoman Yekaterina Andreyeva took the award for society TV personality, looking more like a schoolgirl at graduation than a society lady. Her male TV counterpart, Andrei Malakhov, currently working on a project called Bolshaya Stirka (The Big Wash), had to come running for his award from the other side of the roof where he was engrossed in society chit-chat.

Trading rock for the soccer field

The leader of the rock group Tantsy Minus, Vyacheslav Petkun, has made his debut as soccer trainer in the Arctic town of Naryan-Mar. Petkun began as a spectator at the match between the town's champion team Drakon and school team Molnia. By the end of the first half, the score was 2:1 in favor of Drakon.

Seeing the apathetic Molnia coach, Petkun felt sorry for the boys and decided to take over and share some of his own soccer experience. Petkun's instructions had their effect and the junior team was soon ahead with a score of 4:2. True, their adult opponents soon evened the score, but then came time for the penalties and with Petkun's advice to the goalkeeper Molnia won the day 9:8. Enthusiastic Naryan-Mar soccer fans said that no one had ever beaten Drakon before, while the victorious schoolboys had Petkun giving autographs and posing for photos with them.

Stars in the sand

Children at Kindergarten No. 712 and their parents got a big surprise when a collection of show-business personalities paid them a visit.

Singer Ilona Bronevitskaya, members of the Bozhya Korovka group and Russia-based American hairdresser and stylist George Rovals came to build a town in a big sand pit in the kindergarten's yard. The event was planned by the Sovzedzdiye charity foundation.

But cold weather and rain got in the way, and the trucks bringing the sand got stuck in traffic jams. That didn't stop the children from having fun, though. Rovals livened things up, driving them all round in a brightly colored car and the other stars set to digging with them in the kindergarten's old sand pit.

"It's easy to sit at home drinking tea and saying that the authorities never do anything for preschool children," Rovals said. "But people can do something themselves. Of course, it's hard to raise money for expensive playground equipment, but you can start with small things like a sand pit that don't cost much."