Leading Russian political figures in gardens and fields

President Dmitry Medvedev, Вeputy State Duma Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, St. Peterburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko  were observed working in the fields.

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© RIA Novosti . Valerii Melnikov

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Vladimir Zhirinovsky, deputy State Duma chairman and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, visited Lenin Sovkhoz. Together with party activists he helped workers pick strawberries. They collected about 500 kilograms of strawberries in half a day.
According to the rules, the activists received 10% of the harvest they had collected: about 50 kilograms of the freshest strawberries.
The activists took the strawberries to the Danilovsky Market where people could buy them for a low price.

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© RIA Novosti . Grigorij Sobchenko

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Vladimir Zhirinovsky is not the only person in politics who was observed working in the fields. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov planted trees during the annual city park clean-up day, which is traditionally held on a Saturday. April 2010

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© RIA Novosti . Igor Samoilov

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St. Peterburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko also grabs a shovel at least once a year during the traditional Saturday clean-up day.

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© RIA Novosti . Sergey Subbotin

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A spruce planted by First Vice-Premier Viktor Zubkov has been growing for two years already in Orenburg.

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© RIA Novosti . Sergey Guneev

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A fir tree that was planted by Russia's first lady, Svetlana Medvedev, at a memorial park near Lake Toya on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, is also two years old.

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© RIA Novosti . Vladimir Rodionov

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has first-hand knowledge of working the fields. He took part in the harvesting of sugar beets last year in Maloarkhangelsk, Orel region.

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© POOL

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is also familiar with farm work. In June 2007, when he was president, Putin visited the exhibition "Farm Day in Russia'' in Rostov-on-Don, where he inspected a wheat sheaf.

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© RIA Novosti . Sergey Subbotin

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Russia's ex-prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, knows how corn grows.

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© RIA Novosti . Eduard Pesov

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov planted a cherry tree in Japan in November 2008.