An employee make folkloric toys as a symbol of the New Year at “Biryusinka” Toy Factory in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on December 08, 2023. The factory continue to produce the folkloric toys of Ded Moroz (Santa Claus), rabbit and Snegurochka, which have an important place in Russian culture, to decorate Christmas tree for the upcoming Christmas and New Year. (Photo by Alexander Manzyuk/Anadolu via Getty Images)





An aerial view of cars passing through the Oktyabrsky Bridge while steam rises from the Yenisei River during –30 Celsius degrees as the water evaporates rather than freezing even in severe frosts during winter due to the design of Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station, located 50 km upstream of the river in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on December 8, 2023. (Photo by Aleksander Manzyuk/Anadolu via Getty Images)





Huge light sculptures of polar bears are installed as part of a seasonal decoration for the New Year and Christmas holidays in Moscow, Russia, 12 December 2023. More than 4.9 thousand light decorations have been set up in the centre of the capital and its outskirt districts, said Deputy Mayor Biryukov. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)





Women walk near an electronic screen on the facade of a building showing an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a quote from his annual end-of-year press conference and the Direct Line question and answer session, in Moscow, Russia on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)





Volunteer Anastasia Kozyr and her pony Dietrich ride an elevator at the Savyolovsky unit of a multi-profile palliative care centre in Moscow, Russia on December 14, 2023. Kozyr and her 23-year-old pony Dietrich have been visiting hospices for over a year, bringing some relief and spreading a little joy to patients who are in palliative care. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)





Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, December 14, 2023. (Photo by Vladimir Gerdo, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Photo)





A woman walks between Christmas trees at a Christmas market opened prior to incoming Christmas and New Year festivities in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, December 15, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





A child jumps from a pile of snow on Moscow's snow-covered Red Square, on December 17, 2023. The height of snowdrifts in Moscow on December 17, 2023 reached 38 centimeters, breaking an 82-year-old record in the entire history of meteorological observations. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)





In this pool photograph distributed by Russia's state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin submits his documents to be registered as a presidential candidate at the Central Election Commission in Moscow on December 18, 2023. The 2024 presidential election will be held over a three-day period from March 15 to 17. (Photo by Mikhail Klimentyev/Pool via AFP Photo)





Workers install decorations on a Christmas tree after a week's heavy snowfall in Podolsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 18 December 2023. According to meteorologists, one of the biggest snow falls in decades covered the Russian capital. A cyclone brought more than a week of constant blizzards to the Moscow region. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/EFE)





Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, left, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu look at examples of Russian Army uniform after a meeting with the top military brass in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, December 19, 2023. (Photo by Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Photo)





Yekaterina Duntsova enters Russia's Central Election Committee to submit her documents as a presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, December 20, 2023. Duntsova is a journalist-turned-grassroots campaigner and local legislator. She secured a nomination from a group of more than 500 supporters as required by Russian electoral law from those not running on a party ticket. Delegates from Russia’s ruling party unanimously backed President Vladimir Putin’s bid for reelection at a party conference in Moscow on Sunday. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





A Communist Party supporter stands between portraits of Soviet leaders Joseph Stalin, left, and Vladimir Lenin on Manezhnaya Square decorated for the New Year and Christmas festivities near the Kremlin Wall in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, December 21, 2023 marking the 144th anniversary of Stalin's birth. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





Communist Party leader and a lawmaker Gennady Zyuganov lays flowers at the grave of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin near the Kremlin Wall in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, December 21, 2023 marking the 144th anniversary of Stalin's birth. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





Street actors play chess with huge chessmen made in the form of characters from fairy tales written by the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, at a Christmas market opened prior to incoming Christmas and New Year festivities in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, December 22, 2023, with a statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin in the background. (Phoot by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





Participants attempt to set a Russian record by parking about 800 vehicles to form the shape of a Christmas tree during a flashmob marking the upcoming New Year and Christmas season in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia on December 23, 2023. (Photo by Alexander Manzyuk/Reuters)





People walk and play at a park decorated for the New Year and Christmas festivities with an Orthodox Church in the background in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, December 24, 2023. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





Steam train of Ded Moroz (Father Frost), the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, travelling all over the country ahead of the New Year, arrives at Belorussky railway station in Moscow, Russia on December 27, 2023. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)





Fishermen walk on the ice-covered Gulf of Finland in front of a warship during a snowfall in Saint Petersburg on December 26, 2023. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)





Russian politician Yekaterina Duntsova speaks to journalists after she appealed in Russia's Supreme Court a decision by Russia's Central Election Commission that refused to accept her initial nomination by a group of supporters, citing errors in the documents submitted, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, December 27, 2023. Duntsova lost her appeal against Russia's Central Election Commission's refusal to accept her initial nomination to run for president in March's election by a group of supporters. (Photo by Dmitry Serebryakov/AP Photo)