Children slide down an ice-covered slope in Omsk, Russia on December 25, 2019. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)





The Spasskaya Tower, Red Square, the GUM department store and the St. Basil's Cathedral are decorated for the New Year and Christmas festivities are seen though a window of the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, December 26, 2023. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





Russian poets Artyom Kamardin (L) and Yegor Shtovba (R) stand inside the defendants' glass cage during their verdict announcement at a court in Moscow on December 28, 2023. Russian poets Artyom Kamardin and Yegor Shtovba maintained their innocence but were sentenced to prison terms by Russian authorities, who have cracked down on any criticism of the military operation in Ukraine. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)





People walk next to an ice sculpture dedicated to the Irkut MC-21 300 mid-range passenger aircraft, displayed at an ice sculpture festival during the International Exhibition-forum Russia at the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VDNH) in Moscow, Russia, 28 December 2023. The International Exhibition-forum Russia is designed to demonstrate Russias main achievements in technology, science, tourism and culture. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA)





Russian rescuers dressed as Father Frost descend from the roof of the Almazov National Research Medical Center to greet seriously-ill children ahead of New Year and Orthodox Christmas celebrations in Saint Petersburg on December, 28 2023. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)





Musicians dressed as Father Frost (the Russian version of Santa Claus) perform during their journey on a bus along Nevsky Prospekt Avenue ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations in St. Petersburg, Russia, 29 December 2023. Russians celebrate New Year's Eve on 31 December and Christmas on 07 January, according to the Russian Orthodox Julian calendar, 13 days after Christmas Day in the Gregorian calendar on 25 December. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA)





In this photo taken from video released by Russia Emergency Situations Ministry telegram channel on Saturday, December 30, 2023, Firefighters extinguish burning cars after shelling in Belgorod, Russia. Russian officials have accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the Russian border city of Belgorod. Two children were killed in Saturday's attack, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement on social media. He also said that an unspecified number of people had been injured. (Photo by Russia Emergency Situations Ministry telegram channel via AP Photo)





Police and the Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen walk on the Red Square with the St. Basil's Cathedral in the background in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, December 31, 2023. The Red Square is closed for celebrations on the New Year's Eve. (Photo by Marina Lystseva/AP Photo)





A bus drives past a New Year 2024 numerals decoration in central Moscow on December 31, 2023, on the eve of the New Year. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)





People gather outside Red Square and the Kremlin for the New Year celebrations in downtown Moscow late on December 31, 2023. (Photo by Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP Photo)





Russian President Vladimir Putin's New Year's message is projected onto a wall during New Year's celebrations at the Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, December 31, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





People gather near Red Square with the St. Basil's Cathedral, right, and the Spasskaya Tower, left, in the background, to celebrate the new year after midnight in Moscow, Russia, Monday, January 1, 2024. (Photo by Marina Lystseva/AP Photo)





People gather outside Red Square and the Kremlin for the New Year celebrations in downtown Moscow late on December 31, 2023. (Photo by Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP Photo)





Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, gestures as he speaks to Russian servicemen, participants of the special military operation in Ukraine during a meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo State residence outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, January 1, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Photo)





A woman looks from a window of a pavilion at a New Year and Christmas fair in downtown Moscow on January 2, 2024. (Photo by Vera Savina/AFP Photo)





A woman poses as she takes a walk on a frosty day in downtown Moscow on January 3, 2024, with the air temperature at around minus 24 degrees Celsius. (Photo by Vera Savina/AFP Photo)





Steam rises behind St. Paul Cathedral on a frosty day in the town of Gatchina in Leningrad Region, Russia on January 4, 2024. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)





An Icebreaker operates on the frozen Moscow River during a cold winter day in Moscow, Russia, Friday, January 5, 2024. The Russian capital is basking in unusually cold winter weather as temperatures reached around –18 C (–0,4 F) during a day and –20 C (–4 F) at night. (Photo by Yuri Degtyarev/AP Photo)





In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) attends a meeting with relatives of Russian soldiers, killed during the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on January 7, 2024. (Photo by Mikhail Voskresenskiy/Pool via AFP Photo)





In this photo released by Russian Orthodox Church Press Service, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, center, delivers the Christmas service in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, January 6, 2024. While much of the world has Christmas in the rearview mirror by now, people in some Eastern Orthodox traditions celebrate the holy day on Sunday, Jan. 7. (Photo by Oleg Varov, Russian Orthodox Church Press Service via AP Photo)