Let the mad tea party begin.
Victors in December's State Duma elections will each receive a sparkling, new tea set, according to a opened by the government.
The specifics of the order, valued at 3 million rubles ($100,000), are exacting: The tea sets must be made of white porcelain with gold trim, and the teacups, for instance, must hold between 250 and 260 milliliters of tea and be between 55 and 61 millimeters tall, according to the tender, on Oct. 21.
Interestingly, the sets are not of equal size: 204 are "tea and coffee sets" for 12 persons each, while the remaining 450 are simpler six-person sets not intended for coffee consumption.
It was not clear which deputies would receive the smaller set and which the larger one.
Maxim Rokhmistrov, an official with the Liberal Democratic Party, joked that the discrepancy meant that the United Russia party planned to win 204 seats, Izvestia .
Nezavisimaya Gazeta in April that deputies would each receive a new iPad.
