This handout picture released by the Gagarin Cosmonauts' Training Centre on October 17, 2023 shows Marina Vasilevskaya (L) flying during a parabolic flight aboard a zero-gravity simulator, a Russian IL-76 MDK aircraft used for cosmonauts' training flights in weightlessness, in Star City outside Moscow. (Photo by Pavel Shvets/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center/AFP Photo)

A person stands on a car while looking at Auroras, caused by a coronal mass ejection on the Sun, that illuminate the skies in the southwestern Siberian Omsk region, Russia on November 6, 2023. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)

A woman bathes into the icy water on Epiphany during a traditional Epiphany at the Great Palace Pond with the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ostankino in the background in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, January 18, 2024. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A honour guard soldier gives a flower to a girl on International Women's Day in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, March 8, 2024. International Women's Day on March 8 is an official holiday in Russia. Per tradition, men give flowers and gifts to female relatives, friends and colleagues, even though in the past two years flowers have gotten more expensive. Marches, demonstrations and conferences are being held the world over, from Asia to Latin America and elsewhere. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A boy wears a medieval helmet during a festival dedicated to the Day of Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. The Day of Russia is celebrated annually on 12 June. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Most Russians intending to vote for Vladimir Putin in Sunday's election say stability is at the root of their faith in their candidate – though many young voters believe it's time for a change of leader. Putin, 65, is expected to win a fourth term in office with 69 percent of the vote, according to the latest survey by a state-run pollster. Reuters correspondents and photographers who travelled around the country talking to voters ahead of the March 18 election found nothing to contradict expectation of an emphatic Putin victory. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

17 people were photographed by Reuters apparently casting ballots at more than one polling station Sunday during Russia’s presidential election in the town of Ust-Djeguta, southern Russia. Many appeared to be state employees, and some showed up in groups and in mini buses bearing the names of state-provided services. Voting twice is a misdemeanour under Russian law and those caught are heavily fined. But when shown these pictures, election commission member Leila Koichuyeva said: “They could be twins”. Here are a few. (Photo by Reuters/Staff)

Fifth-grade students of the General Yermolov Cadet School get prepared before their first military tactical exercise on the ground, which includes radiation resistance classes, forest survival studies and other activities, in Stavropol, Russia, September 10, 2016. Picture taken September 10, 2016. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)