A snow removal machine drives during snowfall in St. Petersburg, Russia on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





A street performer wearing an angel costume and earning money by posing for photos, walks in central St. Petersburg, Russia on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





Participants douse themselves with icy water during a winter swimming tournament in Tyumen, Russia on December 11, 2022. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)





In this image released by the Russian Emergencies Ministry press service, smoke from a fire billows from a shopping center in Balashikha, outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, December 12, 2022. The fire at the Balashikha compound it started in a warehouse area and later expanded into part of the building. Fire crews managed to contain it in an area of about 9,000 square meters (97,000 square feet) and prevent it from engulfing the entire building. (Photo by Russian Emergencies Ministry press service via AP Photo)





Members of the Beryozka Folk Dance Ensemble founded by Russian choreographer Nadezhda Nadezhdina perform during a concert titled Russian Choreographic Miracle marking the 75th anniversary of the ensemble's founding at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow on December 12, 2022. Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS)





A pedestrian holds an umbrella as he walks past Christmas decorations during rainy weather near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow on December 13, 2022. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP Photo)





Young women sing carols as they hold candles to celebrate St. Lucia's Day in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Catherine in St.Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, December 13, 2022. The Church was built in the 19th century by and for Swedish expatriates in Saint Petersburg, and it is usually called the Swedish church. In the Soviet era the Church was used as a sport hall. St. Lucia is the patron saint of vision. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





A woman walks on the street during snowfall in Moscow, Russia, 14 December 2022. The height of the snowfall in Moscow has reached 16 to 19 cm. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Cadets from the Republic of Mali attend the solemn events dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation in Moscow, Russia 15 December 2022. The Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School trains officers for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation – qualified specialists in programs of higher, secondary, additional and postgraduate military education. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE)





Children play with snow cleared from a square in Moscow on December 17, 2022. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)





Performers wearing Nutcracker and the Rat King costumes walk at a Christmas market in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, December 18, 2022. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





A family poses for a picture in front of Christmas and New Year decorations in Moscow on December 19, 2022. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)





An entertainer walks during snowfall at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow, Russia on December 18, 2022. (Photo by Yulia Morozova/Reuters)





Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, awards founder of the WarGonzo media project Semyon Pegov with the Order of Courage during an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin's St. Catherine Hall in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, December 20, 2022. (Photo by Valeriy Sharifulin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Photo)





In this image made from video provided by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry press service on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, firefighters work at the site of gas explosion, near the village of Yambakhtino, some 50km (31miles) south of Cheboksary, Chuvashia region, Russia. An explosion on a section of Europe-bound natural gas pipeline in western Russia has killed three people but hasn't affected export supplies, officials said. The explosion ripped through a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline in the Chuvashia region during repair works on Tuesday. (Photo by Ministry of Emergency Situations press service via AP Photo)





Russian Communist party supporters march to lay flowers to the tomb of late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during a memorial ceremony to mark the 143-rd anniversary of his birth at Red Square in Moscow on December 22, 2020. While historians blame Stalin for the deaths of millions in purges, prison camps and forced collectivisation, many in Russia still praise him for leading the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)





A Communist party supporter wearing a portrait of Soviet leader Josef Stalin lays flowers at his grave marking the 143rd anniversary of his birth near the Kremlin Wall in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, December 21, 2022. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





A swimmer rubs his body with snow after swimming in the icy sea of Amur Bay in Vladivostok, Russia on December 21, 2022. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





In this handout photo released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a nursing home in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, Russia, Saturday, December 24, 2022. Russia's emergencies ministry said Saturday that 20 people were killed in a fire at a nursing home in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. The fire broke out before dawn in the two-story wooden building in the city 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow. (Photo by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP Photo)





A Moscow rescuer dressed as Father Frost (or Ded Moroz, Santa Claus) greets young patients as he descends along a wall from the roof of Morozovskaya Children's hospital during a charity landing party of Fathers Frost organized for seriously-ill children ahead of the upcoming New Year and Orthodox Christmas celebrations in Moscow, Russia, 26 December 2022. Most of the children who receive medical care in the hospital are not recommended to attend crowded places and events. A team of 40 Fathers Frost accompanied by Snow Maidens visited the young patients as part of the fifth anniversary festival of good deeds “Winter in Morozovka”. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/EFE)