Sharon Stone + Russia: A Love Story

Starlets for hire are no new thing, but one has been making a splash in Russia recently. Sharon Stone is suddenly everywhere.

It started a couple of years ago, when she became the favorite of Telman Ismailov, an Azeri-born Russian oligarch who made millions in property, including fancy hotels and Moscow’s Cherkizovsky Market, a sprawling bazaar that thrived on selling knock-off goods and employing thousands of illegal immigrants (it was shut two years ago). Putin was said to be really pissed off when Ismailov “invited” Stone (and others) to the opening of his new hotel in Turkey just weeks after the scandalous closure.

His anger certainly wasn’t directed at Stone. Since then, she has showed up in Russia several times, most famously at the sham Federation Fund charity ball where she looked on starry-eyed as Putin sang his rendition of Blueberry Hill.

Stone is never really “invited,” of course. She’s paid $250,000 per appearance, according to a source cited in this fun column by The Independent’s Shaun Walker.

And some are now wondering if Stone will ever be back. Last week, Stone showed up at a music awards show in Moscow, gushing on and on about how she loved everything Russian. The next day, she was in Georgia, attending the premier of a film about the 2008 Georgia-Russia war over South Ossetia and playing hugs and giggles with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. I don’t imagine that Putin, who once reportedly threatened to hang Saakashvili “by the balls,” is too happy.