Saturday February 8, 2003, Moscow, Russia

Moscow Mobile Phone Companies

A pedestrian in Red Square using a mobile telephone.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Wednesday January 1, 2003, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial in 2003

New Year's Ball in the world-renowned Mariinsky Theater, home of the Kirov Opera and Ballet. Before the revolution, the theater was under royal patronage; Fiodor Shaliapin sang on its stage and Anna Pavlova danced there. During the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad the hall was severely damaged, but it was soon restored. Since then it has presented the cream of Soviet and Russian artists, including Rudolph Nureyev.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

January 2003, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial in 2003

Petersburgers make the most of the city's famous parks and waterways at any time of the year. Despite temperatures down to minus 30 degrees Fahreheit (minus 35 Celsius), hardy winter swimmers known as walruses bathe daily in the River Neva next to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where all the Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Alexander III are buried.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

January 2003, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, January 2003. Petersburgers make the most of the city's famous parks and waterways at any time of the year: a bridal party shivers by the River Neva in temperatures of minus 25 Celsius.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Thursday May 9, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 09/05/2002. Parades and celebrations mark Victory Day in memory of World War Two, known in Russia as The Great Patriotic War.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Tuesday January 7, 2003, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

St Petersburg, Russia, 07/01/2003. The Church of the Resurrection of Christ, also known as the Church on Spilled Blood because it was built on the spot were Alexander the Second was blown up by People's Will terrorists in 1881.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

August 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 2002. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chronicler of Russia's under class, would still recognise much in his native city. A homeless man on Palace Bridge with the Hermitage behind.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

January 2003, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial in 2003

Winter in the Russian north brings short, dark days and temperatures down to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 35 degrees Celsius). While one-third of Russians officially live below the subsistence level, a woman on a frozen trolleybus stares past advertising for fur coats.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Saturday November 9, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 09/11/2002. Hali Gali, Russia's most scandalous nightclub: erotic dancers parody Russian culture.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Tuesday May 21, 2002, Moscow, Russia

Mikhail Khordokovsky

Moscow, Russia, 21/05/2002. Mikhail Khordokovsky, CEO & Chairman of the giant Yukos oil company, at the Yukos headquarters.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Sunday July 28, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 28/07/2002. Peter the Great founded the Russian Navy, and St Petersburg remains the home of the fleet. Drunken sailors party on the streets on Navy Day.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Tuesday January 7, 2003, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial in 2003

Orthodox Christmas midnight liturgy in Kazan Cathedral. The cathedral was initiated by the son of Catherine the Great; designed, astonishingly, by a serf, to resemble St. Peter's in Rome, and dedicated to the protector saint of the Romanoff family. It was converted into a museum of atheism by the communist state and finally returned to the Orthodox patriarchate in 2000.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Sunday July 28, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 28/07/2002. Peter the Great founded the Russian Navy, and St Petersburg remains the home of the fleet. Sailors shout out the salute to admirals sailing past while reviewing the fleet.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Thursday May 9, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 09/05/2002. Parades and celebrations mark Victory Day in memory of World War Two, known in Russia as The Great Patriotic War.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Friday June 21, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 21/06/2002. The summer solstice weeks known as White Nights. Dancing to the Mariinsky Orchestra in the Peterhof Palace throne room at the Stars of the White Nights midsummer ball.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Tuesday January 7, 2003, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

St Petersburg, Russia, 07/01/2003. Orthodox Christmas Ball in the Yusopovsky Palace, where Prince Yusopovsky and friends assassinated Rasputin.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Thursday November 7, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 07/11/2002. Communist supporters march and demonstrate in the city centre to mark the 85th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution of October 1917, which began in the city.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

August 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 2002. Petersburgers make the most of the city's famous parks and waterways at any time of the year. Sunbathing by the Peter Paul Fortress on the River Neva.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

May 1998, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Vaganova School Of Ballet

Saint Petersburg, Russia, May 1998. The Vaganova School of Ballet is Russia's leading ballet school, and has been responsible for training generations of Russia's most famous dancers. It's main role is the production of dancers for the world famous Mariinsky Theatre [formerly the Kirov].

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Thursday November 7, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 07/11/2002. Communist supporters march and demonstrate in the city centre to mark the 85th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution of October 1917, which began in the city.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Sunday July 28, 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 28/07/2002. Peter the Great founded the Russian Navy, and St Petersburg remains the home of the fleet. Governer Yakovlev reviews the fleet on Navy Day.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Sunday February 10, 2002, Moscow, Russia

Moscow street scenes

Scenes inside the GUM department store on Red Square: shoppers around the L'Oreal perfume section, and Bennetton children's fashoin show.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

January 1997, Moscow, Russia

Russian bath house, Moscow

After years of neglect, Sandunovskaya Banya, Russia's most famous public bath house, has been restored to its former spendor. Located close to the Kremlin, the 100 year old baths used to be popular with Communist Party cadres. Today they are a favorite meeting place for Moscow's nouveau riche.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Moscow street scenes

Western advertising on Vasily Spusk on the edge of Red Square, with the Kremlin & St Basil's Cathedral behind.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

Moscow, Russia

Schools in Moscow

The elite Moscow Economics School is Russia's most prestigious - and expensive - school, where the children of the country's rich receive the best education that money can buy. A portrait of Tchaikovsky looks on as pupils practice in the school's well equipped music class.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

June 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 2002. The summer solstice weeks known as White Nights. Crowds gathered by the Hermitage to watch Palace Bridge open at 2 am for the night shipping.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

August 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 2002. Petersburgers make the most of the city's famous parks and waterways at any time of the year. Sunbathing by the Peter Paul Fortress on the River Neva.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

August 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 2002. Petersburgers make the most of the city's famous parks and waterways at any time of the year. Pleasure boats behind the Hermitage on a late summer evening.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris

August 2002, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Russian Federation

Saint Petersburg Celebrates Tricentennial In 2003

Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 2002. The long abandoned Konstantinovsky Palace is being completely reconstructed as a country home for President Putin, where he will welcome world leaders in May 2003 for the city celebrations.

Credit: Jeremy Nicholl / Polaris