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)

People watch as workers inflate a near-10 metre high giant spider by Singaporean artist Jackson Tan in Singapore's Marina Bay financial district on February 6, 2017. The spider is one of several inflatable creatures that will form the Art-Zoo, a section created by Singaporean artist Jackson Tan for the iLight Marina Bay annual light-art festival in the city-state. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)

Vladimir Putin looks at a model of the Tupolev TU-160 bomber, or Blackjack, that was presented to him on his arrival in Olenegorsk, Russia, August 16, 2005. Putin flew in the Tupolev TU-160 bomber and took part in the launch of cruise missiles in the Arctic north. (Photo by Reuters/ITAR-TASS/Presidential Press Service)

Deputies of the opposition fight with deputies of the majority for a second time in two days, during the second session of the newly elected Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on December 13, 2012. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

A view of Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, a sculpture by Vera Mukhina, at the main entrance to Moscow's VDNKh exhibition center in Moscow, Russia on September 27, 2017. (Photo by Dmitry Serebryakov/TASS/Barcroft Images)

The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) expedition 64 crew of NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov blasts off to the ISS from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 14, 2020. (Photo by Roscosmos/Handout via AFP Photo)

A Western honey bee feeds off acacia pollen at an apiary in Nagyszenas, eastern Hungary, 25 April 2020. The preparation of the bees for the acacia bloom began two weeks later than usual this year; due to the late frosts, this season's yield of Hungaricum acacia honey is expected to be lower. (Photo by Tibor Rosta/EPA/EFE)

Russian policewomen dressed in Soviet Army styled uniforms take part in the Victory Day parade in Volgograd on May 9, 2018. Russia marks the 73 rd anniversary of the Soviet Union' s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)