Though it looks like a regular snapshot, it actually illustrates a few things we discovered during our weeks in Russia:
First of all, Russians like their weapons. There are many arms everywhere and many remains of the different wars. This guy was stopping us in the middle of nowhere and demanded to see our passports. You do not argue with a guy like this, who had another revolver, a rambo-knife and some assorted toys hidden in his clothes.
Second thing is that Russians that might look angry or intimidating almost all turn out to be nice, friendly and helpful. This guy introduced himself, his name is Ahmed. It was still not sure what he was guarding -and who was paying him to do so- but he helped us and was happy to pose with the team
Last but not least this shows that the East-European girls are beautiful and they like to pose!
Marina was our translator, helping at the many points where only Russian was spoken. She is actually from the Ukraine, but speaks fluently Russian as well as English. All the local girls we met wore very short skirts and were natural models, seemingly posing out of habit. We did not complain :)