In one of the planet’s most desolate and harsh terrains, the Altai Mountains which run from Siberia in Russia down to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, hunting with eagles is currently only practiced by a handful of Kyrgyz and Kazakhs. This form of falconry, the practice of hunting with the aid of birds of prey, can be traced back as far as 4,000 years in Central Asia. Here: after a successful hunt, a proud hunter rewards his eagle by feeding it the lungs of the prey, which is considered the most highly prized part of the animal. (Photo by Tariq Zaidi/The Washington Post)

Visitors watch as Grigory Broverman, a member of the Cryophile winter swimmers club, pours a bucket of cold water over his 6-year-old daughter Liza during a flash mob, part of a celebration of Polar Bear Day at the Royev Ruchey Zoo in a suburb of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, November 29, 2015. The air temperature was around minus 5 degrees Celsius. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A general view shows the Krasnoyarsk hydro-electric power station on the Yenisei River near the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, January 13, 2016. The power plant, owned by EuroSibEnergo company, part of En+ Group, with a generating capacity of 6,000 megawatt (MW), has a ferro-concrete dam 124-metres high and 1065-metres long and is the second largest Russian hydroelectric power station. About 85% of the energy generated is intended for the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter, according to representatives of the power station. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Russians play accordions as they walk near the building of the Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) in Lubyanskaya Square to mark May Day in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 1, 2016. As in Soviet times, about one hundred thousand of cheerful workers paraded across Red Square despite a chilly rain, but instead of red flags with the Communist hammer and sickle, they waved the blue flags of the dominant Kremlin party and the Russian tricolor. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A member of the “Sibspas” Siberian search and rescue group dressed as Santa Claus (R), waits for his team mate, dressed as Father Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, as he climbs the rock named “The Fourth Stolb” (the Fourth Pillar) at the Stolby national nature reserve during a training session of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, outside the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia December 15, 2015. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A Russian Orthodox believers dips in the icy water during a traditional Epiphany celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, January 19, 2022. Thousands of Russian Orthodox Church followers plunged into icy rivers and ponds across the country to mark Epiphany, cleansing themselves with water deemed holy for the day. The temperature in St. Petersburg is –1C (30F). (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Russian Olympic Committee's goaltender Mariia Sorokina (foreground L) and teammate Veronika Korzhakova (foreground R) attempt to stop a shot by Switzerland's Phoebe Staenz (R) during the women's preliminary round group A match of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games ice hockey competition between players of Russia's Olympic Committee and Switzerland, at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing on February 4, 2022. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Reuters)

In this photo taken on Saturday, March 9, 2019, a visitor dances in front of a sculpture burning at the Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) festival at the Nikola-Lenivets art park in Nikola-Lenivets village, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south-west of Moscow, Russia. As part of the celebrations of Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) Holiday in Russian, a folk holiday which heralds the beginning of spring, contemporary artist and park founder Nikolay Polissky built a giant sculpture made of wood and hay which was burnt to ashes during a traditional bonfire. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./AP Photo)