Russia

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Keenan Kampa, seen here at the Reston Town Center on Aug. 31, 2012, became the first American ballerina to graduate from the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the first American to join the illustrious Mariinsky Ballet. (Eva Russo/Special to The Washington Times)

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Keenan Kampa, seen here at the Reston Town Center on Aug. 31, 2012, became the first American ballerina to graduate from the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the first American to join the illustrious Mariinsky Ballet. (Eva Russo/Special to The Washington Times)

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Artist Alexei Sergiyenko shows off his paintings of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the opening of the exhibition "Putin: The Most Kind-Hearted Man in the World" at the Flacon design workshop in Moscow on Sunday Oct. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

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In this handout photo provided by the International Mammoth Committee in Russia on Oct. 5, 2012, the carcass of a 16-year-old mammoth that was possibly killed by humans tens of thousands of years ago and was excavated on the North Siberian Taimyr peninsula on Sept. 28, 2012. Russian scientists say it's one of the best-preserved bodies of a grown mammoth yet found. (Associated Press/Sergei Gorbunov, International Mammoth Committee in Russia)

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This fracking site in Washington, Pa., is one of many in the country shaking up world energy markets as the U.S. moves toward no longer needing to import natural gas. The stakes are particularly large in Russia. “This is where everything is being turned on its head,” said Fiona Hill, an expert on Russia at the Brookings Institution. (Associated Press)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, stroll at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Government Press Service)

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**FILE** Russian President Vladimir Putin walks prior to a Sept. 26, 2012, ceremony of receiving credentials in Moscow's Kremlin. (Associated Press)

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Tunin Moscow, Russia

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Russian opposition lawmaker Gennady Gudkov, left, and his son Dmitry react while listing during a plenary session of the State Duma, the lower parliament chamber, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012. Russia's lower house of parliament is voting Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, to expel Gudkov, who has angered the Kremlin with his scathing criticism and participation in opposition rallies. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reacts as she meets fellow leaders for the group photo on the final day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)