Ramzan Kadyrov, president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, along with Russia’s elite Dmitry Kozak, Alexander Tkachev and Dmitry Medvedev sat in a conference while the four passed the iPhone back and forth as Kozak boasted the device’s features to Kadyrov.

Aside from the Russian elites, more than 500,000 people in Russia are iPhone users even if the iPhone is not yet officially for sale in the country.

“Russian people love anything that is forbidden,” said Eldar Murtazin, head analysis of Mobile Research Group in Moscow.

“The iPhone sales in Russia are the third-highest in the world, after the United States and China (where the phone also cannot be sold legally,” he added.

The 8GB iPhones are purchased in bulk in the U.S.,

which are being sold in Russia for $700 (twice the price in the U.S.). However, when the current iPhone was launched in the U.S. last year, the iPhones in Russia were sold at a whopping $1,800. Today, the iPhones are being sold at electronic stores and various stalls throughout Soviet Union.

In the U.S., AT&T is Apple’s exclusive carrier, making the device locked in usage on other wireless networks. In Russia, an extra $40 could unlock the iPhone and install a Russian language pack, making the device work with various cell phone operators.

A spokesperson for Apple Moscow only said that the iPhone is still not for sale in Russia. Apple officials at California made no comment when asked to respond to the illegal iPhones in Russia.