Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (back) attend a reception to honour graduates of military academies at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, June 28, 2016. (Photo by Alexei Druzhinin/Reuters/Sputnik/Kremlin)

A participant wearing Kokoshnik, the Russian traditional headwear, walks out of the water during winter swimming festival in the town of Podolsk, south of Moscow, Russia January 5, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A young couple rest on a bench, as a street actor wearing an Angel costume speaks on the phone in Nikolskaya street near the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A diver in a pool at the Army 2021 International Military and Technical Forum, at the Patriot military park in Moscow Region, Russia on August 22, 2021. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/TASS/Alamy Live News)

A woman leans against the colonnade of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (also known as the Victory Museum ) – the largest museum of military history in Russia at Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow on August 18, 2023. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

Police officers detain a man during a gathering in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny near the Wall of Grief monument to the victims of political repressions in Moscow, Russia on February 17, 2024. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Participants of an unauthorized opposition rally gather in Tverskaya street in central Moscow on June 12, 2017. Authorities detained Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and hundreds of his supporters on Monday, as they mounted demonstrations across the nation against government corruption. Over 200 were detained in Moscow and Saint Petersburg an hour into the protest, according to an NGO that tracks arrests, with Navalny himself picked up by police in his building as he was headed to the event. (Photo by Vasily Maximov/AFP Photo)

North Korea has closed its borders in fear of the spread of the Ebola virus. But at a time when the secretive state was still welcoming tourists, former aid worker Andrew Macleod made the journey to the repressive nation. Andrew's holiday snaps and camera footage provide a unique insight into the reclusive country, where he came across deserted motorways, metro stations plastered with propaganda and attractive border guards. Here: a female traffic police officer in the snow in February 2013, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by Andrew Macleod/Barcroft Media)