But while the magazine's mission may be earnest, its name is "a joke, " as Editor in Chief Vladimir Yakovlev puts it.

FORBES: Focus

Not all have chosen happily: a petition to recall Vladimir Yakovlev, the ineffectual governor of St Petersburg, attracted some 250, 000 signatures last month.

ECONOMIST: The Kremlin versus the outpost

He has backed at least a dozen winning candidates in recent regional elections, including Vladimir Yakovlev, mayor of Russia's second city, St Petersburg.

ECONOMIST: Russia

Picco quietly left a few weeks later, however--about the time that a scandal flared up in the media over a corrupt U.N. procurement officer, Alexander Yakovlev.

FORBES: Freedom's Edge

This coalition of two separate movements, Fatherland and All Russia, was formed in 1999 by the mayors of Moscow and St Petersburg, Yury Luzhkov and Vladimir Yakovlev.

BBC: News | Russia at the polls

The exploits of Messrs Sevan, Yakovlev and others may have done more than just a terrible disservice to the wretched people of Iraq they were paid to help.

ECONOMIST: Corruption at the heart of the United Nations | The

Dima Yakovlev - a 21-month-old toddler who had left the home only a few months earlier - died of heatstroke after being accidentally left in a car by his adoptive father in Virginia.

BBC: Toddler death stirs Russian polemic over US adoption

Mr Yakovlev denies any hand in these abuses.

ECONOMIST: Russia

World Bank President James Wolfensohn also received an invitation, as did a host of other dignitaries, including the current governor of St Petersburg, Vladimir Yakovlev, and a possible rival for the post, Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matvienko.

BBC: Press review: Politics take centre stage

Mr. Yakovlev (interpretation from Russian): I fully agree with the previous speaker that perhaps the most important condition for universal dialogue in the area of culture and not just in the area of culture, is depoliticization of that dialogue.

UNESCO: Dialogue among civilizations: Address by Alexandre Yakovlev (Russian Federation)