“What did I know about Chechnya before last week? For someone who grew up in the 1990s the very word Chechnya meant a string of grainy images on TV showing people in battered camouflage outfits, shooting at each other amid destruction and ruin. Fear, wahhabis, Shamil Basayev, terrorism, mountains: these were the words that used to spring to my mind when someone mentioned Chechnya”. – Maxim Shemetov. Photo: Special forces officers stand guard during a government-organised event marking Chechen language day in the centre of the Chechen capital Grozny April 25, 2013. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Shaymaa Ismaa’eel, a 24-year-old Muslim woman passes by a group of angry protesters at an Islamic conference in Washington, DC on April 21, 2019. In response, she crouched in front of them and flashed a peace sign. The photo, posted on Instagram, prompted an outpouring of support. (Photo by Shaymaa Ismaa'eel/Instagram)

Habimana, 45, and her children walk to market to sell pottery on Idjwi island in the Democratic Republic of Congo, November 23, 2016. (Photo by Therese Di Campo/Reuters)

A young girl works at a construction site in Patiala district, Rajpura, India on November 20, 2019. (Photo by Saqib Majeed/Barcroft Media)

Police officers detain a demonstrator as people protest to defy a ban and march on Taksim Square to celebrate May Day in Istanbul, Turkey on May 1, 2023. (Photo by Dilara Senkaya/Reuters)

Viking re-enactors representing the rival armies of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons skirmish near Clifford’s Tower during the Jorvik Viking Festival on February 23, 2019 in York, England. The annual Jorvik Viking Festival held in York is recognised as the largest event of its kind in Europe. This year the festival remembers the role that the Viking women played during those turbulent times. (Photo by Christopher Thomond/The Guardian)

Father Bruno Lefevre Pontalis stands on the rooftop of Saint Francois Xavier church to bless the city of Paris during the national lockdown for Covid-19 at Easter, in Paris, France on April 12, 2020. (Photo by Nathan Laine/Bloomberg)

I had to stay late at work, Chubut, Argentina. “South sea elephant in Patagonia (Isla Escondida) They adopt very curious gestures!”. (Photo by Luis Burgue/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2020)