An officer of the Afghan border police throws an assault rifle to a policeman participating in a military exercise on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan, Monday, September 7, 2015. Twelve female and seventy male border police personnel participated in the military exercise near the border with Iran in Herat province. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi/AP Photo)

A model prepares backstage at The Blonds fashion show during Fall 2016 MADE Fashion Week at Milk Studios on February 17, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

Signage is displayed at the Stuff Magazine September fall fashion issue preview August 14, 2007 in New York City. Ivanka Trump appears on the cover of the issue. (Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images)

Spectators react as a competitor races past in the annual donkey festival in Salcedo, Ecuador, Saturday, September 10, 2022. (Photo by Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo)

An Argentina soccer fan watches the team lose to Saudi Arabia at a World Cup Group C soccer match, played on a large screen in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos, Aires, Argentina, early Tuesday, November 22, 2022. (Photo by Gustavo Garello/AP Photo)

A member of the Fientan group, a contemporary dance company of young deaf and mute people from Burkina Faso, performs during the Market for Performing Arts in Abidjan (MASA), at the Culture Palace in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

The Kremlin's Spasskaya (Saviour) Tower, covered by scaffolding, is seen behind the mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin at the Red Square in Moscow, December 23, 2014. The restoration works will last until the spring of 2015, according to local media. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)