A group of Soviet veterans dressed in Red Army World War II winter uniforms arrive to take a part in an opening of the busts of Soviet leader Josef Stalin, Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky on the territory of the museum-panorama “Battle of Stalingrad” on eve of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, once known as Stalingrad, Russia, Wednesday, February 1, 2023. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





Participants attend a ceremony to rebury the remains of Red Army soldiers, who were killed in World War Two, ahead of the 80th anniversary of Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, in the Volgograd region, Russia on February 1, 2023. (Photo by Kirill Braga/Reuters)





Men wearing Red Army soldiers uniform attend a parade marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the battle of Stalingrad in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, once known as Stalingrad, Russia, Thursday, February 2, 2023. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech as he attends commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the battle of Stalingrad in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, once known as Stalingrad, Russia, Thursday, February 2, 2023. The battle of Stalingrad turned the tide of World War II and is regarded as the bloodiest battle in history, with the death toll for soldiers and civilians estimated at about 2 million. The banner behind Putin reads “Stalingrad's Victory”. (Photo by Dmitry Azarov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Photo)





Participants dressed in historical uniforms march during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of Red Army over Nazi Germany's troops in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War Two, in Volgograd, Russia February 2, 2023. (Photo by Kirill Braga/Reuters)





Members of honor guards march at the Tomb Stalingrad during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall attending commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the battle of Stalingrad in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, February 2, 2023. The battle of Stalingrad turned the tide of World War II and is regarded as the bloodiest battle in history, with the death toll for soldiers and civilians estimated at about 2 millions. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





Amateur astronomers watch a green comet named Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) outside Omsk, Russia on February 1, 2023. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)





Children ride a model of World War II-era Soviet T-34 tank during a military historical festival at the family historical tank park outside St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, February 4, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





World War II-era locomotives arrive at the Finlyandsky railway station during a historic reconstruction marking the 80th anniversary of arrival of the first train with foodstuffs after breaking Nazi's siege of Leningrad, (now St. Petersburg) during World War II, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, February 7, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





A musher is pulled by a team of dogs during a regional sled dog racing competition outside Omsk, Russia on February 4, 2023. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)





People walk past a billboard depicting a soldier with the slogan “Thanks for the feat” in St. Petersburg, Russia, 06 February 2023. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA/EFE)





In this photo released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, Emergency service employees work at a site of a five-story residential building collapsed after the gas explosion in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, Thursday, February 9, 2023. Authorities say a gas explosion in an apartment building in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk has killed at least five people including a 2-year-old child. The explosion at 7:43 a.m. on Thursday caused two entrances of the five-story building to collapse, with 30 apartments destroyed by the ensuing fire. (Photo by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP Photo)





A man walks with nordic walking poles under heavy snowfall in central Saint Petersburg on February 10, 2023. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)





A participant playing the fairy tale character of Baba Yaga rides down a slope during Sunnyfest, an event exhibiting sledges constructed in an original and creative way, in Mamadysh town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia on February 11, 2023. (Photo by Alexey Nasyrov/Reuters)





General view of the start of the traditional cross country skiing mass race “Ski-Track of Russia” in Khimki, outside Moscow, Russia, 11 February 2023. Thousands of people took part in the competition all around Russia. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)





Pedestrians walk past a wall with graffiti and the inscription reading “No to war” left on a wall in the town of Chekhov some 75 kilometres outside Moscow on February 11, 2023. Despite strict government censorship and the threat of jail, residents of Russia's capital are finding subtle ways to express alarm and dissent over the Kremlin's year-long offensive in Ukraine. The messages are barely visible but omnipresent throughout Moscow, scrawled and graffitied on walls, pasted as stickers on drain pipes or carved into the wood of benches. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP Photo)





Russia's figure skaters Victoria Sinitsina (L) and Nikita Katsalapov perform in a show at the CSKA arena in Moscow on February 14, 2023. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)





Russia's figure skater Alexandra Trusova performs in a show at the CSKA arena in Moscow on February 14, 2023. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)





People stand in the sun against the wall of Peter and Paul fortress on the bank of the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, February 14, 2023. The air in St. Petersburg warmed up to 3 degrees Centigrade (37 degrees Fahrenheit). (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





A participant prepares a hot air balloon during The “Festival of hearts” Hot Air Balloons festival in Dmitrov, some 70 km north of Moscow, Russia, 17 February 2023. Nine enthusiastic pilots and members of different aeronautics clubs of Moscow region gathered at the first such festival for a joint flight on uncommon heart-shaped hot air balloons, organized by the “Aerowaltz” hot air balloon club from Dmitrov. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA)