Women soldiers in Russia have competed to display their skills at cooking, tossing grenades and stripping Kalashnikovs in a contest called Make-up Under Camouflage.
About 60 participants were due to compete yesterday at a training base in Pereslavl-Zalessky, 80 miles (130km) northeast of Moscow. The challenges were organised as part of national celebrations in the run-up to International Women’s Day on Tuesday, which is a public holiday in Russia.
“Alongside the traditional military disciplines, the female finalists must sparkle with their abilities and talents,” the Ministry of Defence said. “The contest involves creative, culinary and intellectual competitions.”
International Women’s Day follows Defenders of the Fatherland Day on February 23, which has become an unofficial “Men’s Day”. Both are rooted in the Soviet era and taken seriously by Russians, who congratulate loved ones and organise gifts, speeches and celebratory meals at their workplaces.
This week, traffic police in the Nizhny Novgorod region handed out flowers to women drivers. The force said officers had decided to start early so that their bouquets would be a pleasant surprise.
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Women they pulled over began to search for their documents until they received roses instead of fines from the “flower patrol”, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported.