Maverick leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky (left) and leader of the Agricultural Party Mikhail Lapshin (right) get ready for the pre-electoral debates on television held in the run-up to the parliamentary election.

Former chairman of the Russian Central Bank Victor Gerashchenko (left) and former chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Dmitry Rogozin (right) get ready for the pre-electoral television debates held in the run-up to the parliamentary election.

Russian political expert, director of the Effective Policies Foundation Gleb Pavlovskyu arrives at the NTV studios to attend the pre-electoral debates held in the run-up to the parliamentary election.

A make-up specialist of the NTV channel gets Russian political expert, director of the Effective Policies Foundation Gleb Pavlovsky ready for the pre-electoral television debates held in the run-up to the parliamentary election.

Make-up specialists of the NTV channel deal with the participants of the pre-electoral television debates - maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky (left) and political expert Gleb Pavlovsky (right). The television debates were held in the run-up to the parliamentary election.

Unified Energy Systems of Russia CEO, a leader of the liberal 'Union of the Right Forces' (SPS) party Anatoly Chubays gets ready for the pre-electoral television debates held in the run-up to the parliamentary election.

Former chairman of the Russian Central Bank Victor Gerashcenko (left) and pop-singer Arcady Ukupnik (right) get ready to take part in the NTV show 'Freedom of Speech'.

Outgoing chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Dmitry Rogozin readies to take part in the NTV show 'Freedom of Speech'.

Vice-chairman of the 'Union of the Right Foreces' (SPS) Irina Khakamada (left) and Unified Energy Systems of Russia CEO Anatoly Chubays (centre) take part in the NTV show 'Freedom of Speech'.

Maverick leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky takes part in the NTV show 'Freedom of Speech'.

'Union of the Right Forces' (SPS) party leaders Irina Khakamada (background left) and Boris Nemtson (background right) get ready to take part in the NTV 'Freedom of Speech' show.

Leader of the Union of the Right Forces party (SPS) Boris Nemtsov (left) and Anatoly Chubays (right), CEO of Unified Energy Systems of Russia (UES - national electricity grid), attend the Freedom of speech talk show. The event was held in the Ostankino TV centre.