Those who gathered in the Virus club to celebrate International Women's Day were greatly surprised to see presidential candidate Umar Djabrailov performing as a DJ.

Djabrailov emerged out of a crowd of monster dummies featuring The Fifth Element characters that met guests at the entrance. He displayed his favorite "young" image wearing a T-shirt and leather jacket.

Djabrailov, an ethnic Chechen, is the president of the Plaza Group — the company that manages a number of major real estate projects in Moscow, including trade and business centers such as Smolensky Passazh, the Okhotny Ryad, and the Rossiya Hotel.

As the owner of Virus, Djabrailov has appeared in the club several times before. This visit was remarkable in that he appeared as a presidential candidate and treated the visit as a campaign highlight.

"Even if I fail to become the president of Russia I will not be upset," he said. "Participation in a presidential race is a great opportunity for self-promotion. But my paramount goal is to make it so that people of the new millenium can be proud of Russia."

In all, Djabrailov spent only a few minutes at the DJ booth and left before the track was over. He was received, however, with great enthusiasm.