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Do Russians drink vodka for lunch? ������ Deputy Director-General Alexander Alekseev made the point that they didn't but Vladimir Pozdnyakov, Russia's Consul General in Marseille, said he was "not so sure" ... suggesting that they might, "just a little bit, on some special occasions..."

 

Vodka was the only thing Russian that was missing (along with Slavic melancholy) at the celebration of ������'s Russia Day on Friday 19 July. For the rest, it was all there: the food, the songs, the dances, the images of Mother Russia ...

 

More than 600 ������ staff and contractors participated in the event organized by Olga Star and Igor Sekachev had organized.

 

Experts on Russian singing and dancing (and there are at least 26 at ������) assured that the five singers and dancers of Marseille's were among the best they had ever seen.

 

Vladimir Vlasenkov, Deputy Head of the Russian Domestic Agency, who was participating in the Unique ������ Team week at ������, said "it was not very common, even for him, to witness such a beautiful expression of Russian traditions."