The body of an unidentified man lies on a road barrier near a village recently retaken by Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. Ukraine's second-largest city, has been under sustained Russian attack since the beginning of the war in late February. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

A Ukrainian serviceman from an anti-drone mobile air defence unit uses his mobile device near a ZU-23-2 anti aircraft cannon as he waits for Russian kamikaze drones, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson region, Ukraine on June 11, 2024. (Photo by Ivan Antypenko/Reuters)

People jump over the fire wearing traditional Russian village-style clothes as they celebrate the summer solstice with a bonfire in the village of Okunevo, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia, in Okunevo, Russia, late Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Photo by Evgeniy Sofiychuk/AP Photo)

Young Russian women dance to the music of Soojin on the pedestrian of Nikolskaya street near Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, July 18, 2024. Seo Soo-jin, better known mononymously as Soojin, is a South Korean singer, dancer, and rapper, who has many fans in Russia. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Children carrying guns and flags or wearing Soviet-style uniforms have become a common sight at Victory Day parades and other events in Russian-controlled Crimea. Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists have warned that such displays point to a growing trend of promoting Russian patriotism among kids on the Crimean peninsula, annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Here: A young Crimean girl wears military-type clothes during a Victory Day celebration in Sevastopol on May 9, 2018. (Photo by Oleksandra Surgan/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Russian support personnel work to help get Expedition 29 crew members out of the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft shortly after the capsule landed with Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, and Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa on November 22, 2011 outside of the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. NASA Astronaut Fossum, Russian Cosmonaut Volkov and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Astronaut Furukawa are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station (ISS) where they served as members of the Expedition 28 and 29 crews. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)

For many of us, simply bending over to touch our toes can be a difficult. But it's not a problem for the world's bendiest woman Julia Günthel aka Zlata (27). Russian-born Zlata can twist herself like a snake into the most extreme poses imaginable – and has broken numerous world records for her flexibility. The former gymnast, who is 5ft 8in, is so flexible she can cram herself into a 50cm squared box. Photo: Russian-born Zlata is pictured in Fifties style glam while still managing to bend herself in half. (Photo by Barcroft Media)

“Exactly one year before the long awaited Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin went to Sochi personally to see how the construction is going. After receiving a report saying the ski jumps that were supposed to be ready in 2011, are not completed still, while their price has sky-rocketed from 1.2 billion to 8 billion roubles, he commented, “Good for you. Good job”, and then fired the vice president of the Olympic committee. Russian artist Vasily Slonov painted his view of the upcoming games, giving a new interpretation to the adored Russian mascot Cheburashka, and combining officially endorsed stereotypes of Russia with grimmer and less accepted ones”. – Ruskie.info. (Photo by Vasily Slonov)