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)





Balls and lights are seen on trees decorated for Christmas and New Year celebrations during a sunrise over Red Square, with St. Basil Cathedral and the Spasskaya Tower, right, in the background in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, December 12, 2020. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)





People walk near huge light sculptures of polar bears installed as part of decoration for the New Year and Christmas holidays in a district of Moscow, Russia, 14 December 2020. Moscow's Mayor Sobyanin said that there will be no massive New Year celebrations in the city this year due to the ongoing pandemic of the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/EFE)





A woman wearing a face mask uses her smartphone walking through star shaped festive decorations set for the upcoming New Year and Christmas holidays outside a shopping centre in Moscow on December 11, 2020, amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)





A child slides down a snow drift in Red Square in Moscow, Russia on December 15, 2020. (Photo by Valery Sharifulin/TASS)





A woman at Central Market in freezing conditions of minus 43 degrees Celsius in the city of Yakutsk, Sakha (Yakutia) on December 13, 2020. Located in Russia's Far East, Yakutia is known for its severe climate. (Photo by Yevgeny Sofroneyev/TASS)





Medical workers transport a patient suspected of having coronavirus at a hospital in Zakamensk, Russia, in the Buryatia region on Friday, December 11, 2020. Russia has recorded more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19, and over 48,000 deaths. (Photo by Anna Ogorodnik/AP Photo)





Medical workers put up a Christmas tree at Ivanovo City Clinical Hospital No 3 that admits COVID-19 patients in Ivanovo, Russia on December 10, 2020. (Photo by Vladimir Smirnov/TASS)





This photo taken on December 14, 2020, and distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service shows, preparation to a test launch of a heavy-class carrier rocket Angara-A5 from the launch pad of site No. 35 of the State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation at Plesetsk launch facility in the Arkhangelsk Region of northwestern Russia. The Angara-A5 is the prospective heavy-lift rocket that is expected to enter service in the following years. (Photo by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP Photo)





Medical workers transport a patient suspected of having coronavirus from an ambulance helicopter to a hospital outside Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Russian region of Buryatia, on Friday, December 11, 2020. Russia has recorded more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19, and over 48,000 deaths. (Photo by Anna Ogorodnik/AP Photo)





A man drives a miniature engine in the seaside resort of Sochi, Russia in the run-up to Christmas and New Year on December 10, 2020. (Photo by Dmitry Feoktistov/TASS)





A woman cools off after taking a traditional steam bath (banya) at Sergei Benke's homestead in the village of Bobrovka, Tarsky District in Omsk Region, Russia on December 11, 2020. (Photo by Sergei Malgavko/TASS)





People pose for photographs at a Christmas tree and a 2021 sign in Lenin Square in freezing conditions of minus 43 degrees Celsius in the city of Yakutsk, Sakha (Yakutia) on December 13, 2020. Located in Russia's Far East, Yakutia is known for its severe climate. (Photo by Yevgeny Sofroneyev/TASS)





Women stand outside the GUM department store decorated with lights for the upcoming Christmas and New Year holiday season in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia on December 8, 2020. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)





A Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow on Thursday, December 10, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics in the first days of the rollout. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)





School teacher Dzhamilya Kryazheva leads a remote lesson in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on Friday, December 4, 2020. Kryazheva says she doesn't want to get vaccinated because the shots approved in Russia were rushed out. “I don't intend to experiment on my body. I have three children”, she said. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)





Journalists meet with patients given Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a hospital in Vladivostok, Russia, on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. While excitement and enthusiasm greeted the Western-developed coronavirus vaccine when it was rolled out, the Russian-made serum has received a mixed response, with reports of empty Moscow clinics in the first days of the rollout. (Photo by Aleksander Khitrov/AP Photo)





People walk past a Christmas tree made of gas masks in Ryazan, Russia on December 12, 2020. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)





Russian police officers wearing face masks patrol past festive decorations for the upcoming New Year and Christmas holidays in Moscow on December 9, 2020, amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)