Russian soldiers write home while serving on the Eastern Front during World War I, circa 1915. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Russian supermodel Irina Shayk shares a snap from an “island summer nite (sic)” in the last decade of August 2022. (Photo by irinashayk/Instagram)

Members of a cheerleading team warm- up during the Russian Cheerleading Championship of students in Moscow on November 20, 2016. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

A man and a woman take a selfie on Russian Navy Day in St Petersburg, Russia on July 26, 2020. (Photo by Roman Pimenov/TASS)

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 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 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)

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.