British model Joanna Halpin has been announced as swimwear brand Seafolly Australia first British global ambassador. Joanna was captured by renowned photographer Steven Chee on the picturesque shores of Shelly Beach in the Sydney suburb on February 10, 2023. (Photo by Steven Chee/Seafolly/The Mega Agency)

English actress Sophie Turner, from left, American actress Chloe Grace Moretz and Thai-Norwegian actress and model Urassaya Sperbund attend the Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2023-2024 ready-to-wear collection presented Monday, March 6, 2023 in Paris. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP Photo)

American actress and model Julia Fox is seen on the 'One Night Only' movie set at the 'White Horse Tavern' in the West Village, Manhattan on December 02, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

A model holds a 18,18 carat pink diamond called “Fortune Pink” that could fetch 30 million U.S. dollars during a preview at Christie’s before the auction sale in Geneva, Switzerland on November 2, 2022. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

(L-R) Models Jasmine Tookes, Paloma Elsesser, Barbara Palvin and Ashley Graham prepare backstage at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2024 on October 15, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Victoria's Secret)

Model Kendall Jenner presents a creation during the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, November 30, 2016. The pulse-quickening, celebrity-filled catwalk event of the year: the Victoria's Secret fashion show takes place in Paris with performances from Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Taken by photographer, Denis Budkov, 33, the Plosky Tolbachik is one of a cluster of volcanoes located in the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia. After taking a lucky group of tourists to the crater of the flat volcano, the Russian photographer managed to get less than 300 metres away from the spurting jets of lava. Photo: The underground entrance to the volcano resembles a scene from the latest Hobbit movie. (Photo by Denis Budkov/Caters News)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.