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 municipal worker cleans the monument of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin from a crane during preparations for the 153th anniversary of Lenin's birthday in St. Petersburg, Russia, 18 April 2023. The monument to Vladimir Lenin at the Moscow Square was installed in 1970. It was made according to the project of the sculptor Mikhail Anikushin and is the tallest monument to Lenin in St. Petersburg. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Photographer Alexander Lepeshkin spends whole nights at Clumba parties, or costume parties where the young creatives of Russia put on their most flashy and drink. His photos capture candid moments of alcohol-enhanced connections and collapses, but he says he’s not a party photographer – he’s a youth photographer. Photo: A Loshadka party in St. Petersburg, 2010. (Photo by Alexander Lepeshkin)

A man takes a dip inside a chapel during celebrations of the Orthodox Christian feast of Epiphany in Saint Petersburg, Russia on January 19, 2020. (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)

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)

A woman poses for a picture next to a caterpillar-tracked Bentley Continental GT, which was modified by Russian car engineering enthusiasts, during a demonstration in St. Petersburg, Russia on June 7, 2019. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)