A pro-Russian activist aims a pistol at supporters of the Kiev government during clashes in the streets of Odessa May 2, 2014. Police said a man was shot dead in clashes between a crowd backing Kiev and pro-Russian activists in the largely Russian-speaking southern port of Odessa, which lies west of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in March. (Photo by Yevgeny Volokin/Reuters)

Members of a newly-formed “Siberian Battalion” within the Ukrainian Armed Forces take part in a military training exercise outside Kyiv on October 24, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A newly formed “Siberian Battalion” as part of the International Legion within the Ukrainian Armed Forces is made up of Russians who have come to fight against their fellow citizens. They were a varied group-both ethnic Russians with long-standing opposition views and members of minority ethnic groups. (Photo by Genya Savilov/AFP Photo)

Russian communists lay flowers at Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's tomb on Red Square next to the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, December 21, 2015. Russian communists are marking the 136th anniversary of Josef Stalin's birthday. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)

Russian servicemen stand next to a Russian Yars RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile system before a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade, with the Moscow International Business Center also known as “Moskva-City” seen in the background, at a range in Moscow, Russia, May 5, 2016. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Russian cadet preparing before the International Kremlin Cadet Ball in Moscow, Russia 12 December 2017. More than 1500 students from all Russian cadets school attend in Cadet Ball. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE)

Russian actor Dmitriy Grachev (C) parodies Vladimir Putin as he presents a creation by Russian designer Ilya Shiyan during the Moscow Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2019-2020, in Moscow, Russia, 24 March 2019. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/EFE)

The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft carrying the crew formed of Kathleen Rubins of NASA, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS) from the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on October 14, 2020. (Photo by Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters)

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)