A boy watches fireworks from a military range weapon, marking the Defender of the Fatherland Day celebrations, at the Artillery Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, February 23, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A man does physical exercise during sunset over the Finnish Gulf coast in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A worker cleans a statue of the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin at Moscow Square in front of the House of Soviets in Saint-Petersburg on April 21, 2022. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)

Members of an electoral commission destroy unused ballots, after polling stations closed on the final day of the presidential election in Saint Petersburg, Russia on March 17, 2024. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

A Russian Orthodox believers dips in the icy water during a traditional Epiphany celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, January 19, 2022. Thousands of Russian Orthodox Church followers plunged into icy rivers and ponds across the country to mark Epiphany, cleansing themselves with water deemed holy for the day. The temperature in St. Petersburg is –1C (30F). (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A ballet dancer stretches backstage during Nacho Duato's “The Nutcracker” at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia November 21, 2015. For theatregoers in St Petersburg, Nacho Duato's “The Nutcracker” demonstrates the global appeal of a Christmas classic. When the curtain rises at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, among the oldest opera and ballet houses in Russia, it's the culmination of hundreds of hours of toil and sweat by dancers, costume makers, set designers and musicians playing the famous score by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. (Photo by Grigory Dukor/Reuters)

People watch a brig with scarlet sails floating on the Neva River during the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

People watch fireworks commemorating the 76th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War in St. Petersburg, Russia, May 9, 2021. (Photo by Chine Nouvelle/SIPA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)