Photos of the Week: August 1-7, 2009

Paratroopers celebrating the national Paratroopers Day on Red Square, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009. The holiday dates back to the 1930s, when the Soviet Union created the airborne division of the armed forces.

Paratroopers hugging during the Paratroopers Day celebration on Red Square. In St. Petersburg, the festivities were held on Palace Square, which was also the location of U.S. pop star Madonna's concert on the same day. Vladimir Shamanov, commander of the Airborne Troops, suggested that Madonna's appearance was specifically for the holiday. "Let us consider that Madonna is coming to greet all Russian paratroopers. … It is a great honor to us."? 

Madonna performing during her "Sticky and Sweet" tour at Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009.

A boy watches a memorial bonfire at the medieval citadel in the Georgian city of Gori, near the de facto border with Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, some 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of the separatists' capital of Tskhinvali, late Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. A year after their war, Russia and Georgia are locked in a battle of words and images over how the world will remember the conflict. Georgia's official commemorations began with the lighting of a memorial bonfire before 1,000 people in Gori, an action whose location and timing underscore Georgia's contention that it was victimized by its giant neighbor.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, speaks with Pavel Skurikhin, the head of the Siberian Agrarian Holding as they visit the bakery in Zvenigorod, Moscow region, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. Medvedev visited the Zvenigorod bakery as a part of his working tour in Central Federal District.

In this photo taken on Monday, Aug. 3, 2009, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is seen feeding a horse in the mountains of the Siberian Tuva region during his short vacation.

Putin riding a horse together with a local boy while traveling in the mountains of the Siberian Tuva region during his short vacation.

Maria Sharapova, of Russia, reacts after making a shot against Alona Bondarenko, of Ukraine, during a tennis match at the Los Angeles Women's Tennis Championship in Carson, California, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. Sharapova won 6-4, 0-6, 3-6.

Dynamo Moscow's Marcin Kowalczyk and Celtic's Georgios Samaras, right, battle for the ball during their Champions League second leg third qualifying round soccer match at Arena Khimki stadium in Khimki, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. Celtic won 2-0.

A parkour practitioner shown jumping in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Moscow, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. Parkour is a discipline that appeared first in France, more similar to a martial art than to a sport, and is focused on moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible using the abilities of the human body.

Ossetians do push-ups on the soccer field at the stadium in Tskhinvali, the regional capital of Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009. Georgia accused Russia on Monday of trying to take more territory outside the breakaway province of South Ossetia as tensions rose before the first anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war last summer.

Guy Laliberte attends a training session for the International Space Station (ISS) at the Star City space center outside Moscow Aug. 3, 2009. The Canadian billionaire owner of Cirque du Soleil is on the countdown to become the world's seventh, and Canada's first, space tourist, slated to travel on a Russian Soyuz space craft to the ISS in September.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. The talks are expected to focus on Turkish support for a major Russian natural gas pipeline project that Moscow wants to build ahead of a rival European Union-backed pipeline.

Pro-Chechen demonstrators hold posters with faces of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, left, and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov during a protest in Istanbul against Putin's visit to Turkey Aug. 6, 2009.

President Dmitry Medvedev speaking with Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill during their meeting at the Gorki presidential residence outside Moscow, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009.

Berkut, special police unit, officers, right, cordoning off an area where members of the Kiev Patriarchate and nationalist groups are protesting against a visit of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill in Pochayev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. The poster depicting Kirill reads, "Ukrainians, Come to your senses! KGB (an acronym for Soviet State Security Committee) = FSB (an acronym for Russia's Federal Security Services) = RPTs (an acronym for Russian Orthodox Church)." During his trip to Ukraine, Kirill toured monasteries and holy sites in the pro-Russian east and south as well as the nationalist west, where the breakaway church is most influential. He was greeted by thousands of believers but has also seen angry protests by members of the Kiev Patriarchate and nationalist groups who opposed his visit.

Asif Mustafaev, a 31-year-old Barack Obama look-alike from Azerbaijan, center, standing near Red Square with his Stalin and Lenin counterparts. Before the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Mustafaev knew nothing about Obama, but now he hopes to one day meet and converse with the American president.