A billboard depicting a soldier, with a slogan reading “Contract service. A real man's job”, in St. Petersburg, Russia, 02 June 2023. On 24 February 2022, Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared a “Special Military Operation”, starting an armed conflict. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA)

A woman fills her ballot paper during the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament and local parliaments elections at a polling station in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, September 17, 2021. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Military planes fly above a statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin during a Naval parade rehearsal in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, July 25, 2019. The celebration of Navy Day in Russia is traditionally marked on the last Sunday of July and will be celebrated on July 28 this year. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A Sukhoi Su-35S jet fighter of the Russian Knights aerobatic team performs during the International Maritime Defence Show “Fleet-2024” in Kronstadt, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 21, 2024. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A brig with scarlet sails travels on the Finnish Gulf coast during a rehearsal for the the Scarlet Sails festivities marking school graduation in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 27, 2020. This year the festival will not be held in the city center, but on the Finnish Gulf. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no spectators but the event will be broadcast on television. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Fire fighters, emergency service vehicles and a helicopter in Moskovsky Prospekt at the entrance to Tekhnologichesky Institut station of the St Petersburg metro in the aftermath of an explosion which occurred in a train at 14:40 Moscow timeon April 3, 2017. (Photo by Peter Kovalev/TASS)

Russian army servicewomen march during the Victory Day military parade at the Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, May 9, 2024, marking the 79th anniversary of the end of World War II. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Tsar Alexander II (1818–1881) known as “The Liberator” lying in state. He was mortally wounded by an assassination attack in St Petersburg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). March 1881