In 2000, former KGB agent Vladimir Putin was sworn in as President of Russia. "The new Soviet leader has a black belt in karate," David Letterman later reported. "President Clinton also has a black belt. It's usually down around his ankles..."

[Russia's 'Balzakovskiy Vozrast' (The Balzac Age), a romantic comedy featuring four single Muscovite women, was inspired by the popular American series 'Sex and the City.' "I don't think there is any problem adapting [the show] for a Russian audience," public-relations manager Alexandra Rykova remarked. "Men are cretins all over the world."]