Russian honour guards wearing protective masks attend the opening ceremony of the 6th International Military Technical Forum “Army 2020” and Army Games in the military Patriot Park outside Moscow on August 23, 2020. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks via video call during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, December 17, 2020. This year, Putin attended his annual news conference online due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A Russian female military cadet marches in front of the Eternal Flame at the WWII memorial complex at Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow on February 17, 2021, during a rehearsal for the upcoming February 23's Defender of the Fatherland Day. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)

Police detain a demonstrator during an action against Russia's attack on Ukraine in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine resumed on Wednesday, with people taking to the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg and other Russian towns despite mass arrests. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A Russian Su-35S combat aircraft and a Tu-95ms strategic bomber fly in formation above a church during a rehearsal for the flypast, which is part of a military parade marking the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Moscow, Russia on May 4, 2022. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill releases a white dove after a service marking the Holiday of Annunciation at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 7, 2023. In Christianity, Annunciation celebrates the revelation to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a son, Jesus. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

A pro-Russian activist aims a pistol at supporters of the Kiev government during clashes in the streets of Odessa May 2, 2014. Police said a man was shot dead in clashes between a crowd backing Kiev and pro-Russian activists in the largely Russian-speaking southern port of Odessa, which lies west of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in March. (Photo by Yevgeny Volokin/Reuters)

A pro-Russian supporter with the Russian national flag on her shoulders takes part in a meeting in Simferopol, March 6, 2014. Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum within 10 days on the decision in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)