RUSSIAN PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV SELLS PHOTOGRAPH AT CHARITY AUCTION FOR $1.7 MILLION

PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV HAS OUTDONE HIS POWERFUL PREDECESSOR, AS AN ARTIST. A PHOTOGRAPH MEDVEDEV TOOK OF THE KREMLIN, OR FORTRESS, IN A SIBERIAN TOWN SOLD FOR $1.7 MILLION AT A CHARITY AUCTION RECENTLY, SURPASSING THE $1.1 MILLION PAID LAST YEAR FOR A PAINTING BY PRIME MINISTER VLADIMIR PUTIN. MEDVEDEV'S BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO WAS SNAPPED UP BY MIKHAIL ZINGAREVICH, A BOARD MEMBER FOR ILIM GROUP, THE PULP AND PAPER COMPANY WHERE MEDVEDEV ONCE WORKED AS A LAWYER. ZINGAREVICH SAID HE PLANNED TO HANG THE 27 BY 38 INCH PICTURE IN HIS OFFICE. PROCEEDS OS THE AUCTION WILL GO TO BUY FURNITURE FOR WORLD WAR II VETERANS RECEIVING LONG-PROMISED APARTMENTS, EQUIPMENT FOR A CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL AND A NEW KITCHEN FOR AN ALCOHOL REHABILITATION CENTER. PUTIN, STILL SEEN AS THE MORE POWERFUL LEADER AFTER PASSING THE PRESIDENCY TO MEDVEDEV, LAST YEAR DONATED A PAINTING OF A FROST-RIMMED WINDOW IN A TRADITIONAL WOODEN HUT. MEDVEDEV, AN AVID PHOTOGRAPHER, ALSO CHOSE A SCENE STEEPED IN RUSSIAN TRADITION. HIS PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN FROM THE AIR, SHOWS THE WHITE STONE WALLS AND TOWERS OF THE KREMLIN IN TOBOLSK. THE TOWN IS KNOWN AS ONE OF THE FINAL HOME'S OF RUSSIA'S LAST CZAR AND HIS FAMILY DURING THE TIME OF THE 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.