Russian jailed in L A for stalking actress Duff

Los Angeles, Jan 21: An 18-year-old Russian immigrant has been sentenced to four months in a Los Angeles jail for stalking actress-singer Hilary Duff.

Maksim Myaskovskiy was ordered held in Los Angeles County jail immediately after he pleaded no contest yesterday to the stalking charge. He was also sentenced to five years' probation by Judge Thomas Sokolov in Torrance Superior Court, south of Los Angeles.

Myaskovskiy was arrested in November after a private investigator working for the 19-year-old Duff alleged the youngster had threatened to kill her.

About a month earlier, Duff and her then-boyfriend, rock singer Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte, had sought restraining orders against Myaskovskiy and his roommate.

Duff, who rose to fame in the Disney children's TV series ''Lizzie McGuire,'' has appeared in such movies as the ''Cheaper By the Dozen'' comedies and ''Material Girls.'' She has also topped the U.S. pop album charts.

REUTERS