In modern Russia there are no free elections, therefore the political elite is almost constant.

Photo: Valentina Matvienko, Mayor of St. Petersburg, attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 17, 2011 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Global business leaders have gathered in Russia for the three-day conference. (Photo by Alexander Aleshkin/Epsilon/Getty Images)

It’s enough to make your head spin. The photographer Katherine Young set out to shoot spiral staircases in London, England to great effect, including this shot she calls the Downward Spiral Part III. (Photo by Katherine Young/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

In this February 22, 2018 photo, a couple looks at a bag made out of Venezuelan Bolivars in La Parada, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela. Each collector item produced by Richard Segovia, sitting at the table, fetches between $10 and $15 – a huge markup from the pennies that bolivars retrieve on Venezuela's black market. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

These Northern Lights “rainbows” have turned the sky greener than the Earth below. Vitaly Istomin, 26, spent several nights in freezing conditions under the stars in northern Russia’s Khibiny Mountains to capture the aurora’s “rainbows”. (Photo by Vitaly Istomin/Caters News Agency)

Bill Moreau watches as the Black Forest fire burns near his house near Black Forest Road Tuesday afternoon, June 11, 2013, near Colorado Springs, Colo. The Black Forest Fire was one of at least three significant wildfires burning in Colorado amid gusty winds and record-breaking hot, dry weather. (Photo by Christian Murdock/AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette)

This is the amazing moment a heroic hippo saved a gnu from certain death. After being bitten by a crocodile, the large antelope is seen being dragged slowly under the water. But in a miraculous turn of events, a nearby hippo is seen making its way across the water to help the animal in its hour of need. Photo: One of the biggest hippos protects the gnu as it makes its way back to the shoreline, guarding it from any further attacks. (Photo by Vadim Onishchenko/Caters News)

The sun rises between Sgurr nan Gillean and Knight’s Peak, Black Cuillin, Isle of Skye. (Photo by Adrian Trendall/Mountain Photo of the Year)

A mannequin with boots is stuffed upside down in the snow in front of a home in Nisswa, Minnesota, on March 18, 2013. (Photo by Steve Kohls/The Brainerd Daily Dispatch)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).