A person waves a drum while other people wearing traditional Russian village-style clothes celebrate the summer solstice near a bonfire in the village of Okunevo, about 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) northeast of the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia, on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. The festivities of Ivan Kupala, or John the Baptist, are similar to Mardi Gras and reflect pre-Christian Slavic traditions and practices. (Photo by Evgeniy Sofiychuk/AP Photo)

Fighters of Wagner private mercenary group pull out of the headquarters of the Southern Military District to return to base, in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia on June 24, 2023. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

People look at smoke and flame rising from the Nevskaya Manufaktura textile factory founded by English merchant J. Thornton in 1841, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 12, 2021. The emergencies ministry said the fire had broken out over several floors of the red-brick Nevskaya Manufaktura building on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment of the Neva River. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

An employee walks past a rotary dredge working at an open-cast iron ore mine of the Stoilensky mining and concentration plant (GOK), owned by the Novolipetsk (NLMK) steel mill, in the city of Stary Oskol in Belgorod region, Russia, August 4, 2015. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Russian policemen detain a participant taking part in an unauthorized protest against Russia's partial military mobilization due to the conflict in Ukraine, in downtown of Moscow, Russia, 24 September 2022. Russian President Putin announced in a televised address to the nation on 21 September, that he signed a decree on partial mobilization in the Russian Federation. Russian citizens who are in the reserve will be called up for military service. On 24 February 2022 Russian troops entered the Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared a “Special Military Operation”, starting an armed conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/EFE)

Russian policemen detain a person taking part in an unauthorized protest against Russia's partial military mobilization due to the conflict in Ukraine, in downtown Moscow, Russia on 24 September 2022. Russian President Putin announced in a televised address to the nation on 21 September, that he signed a decree on partial mobilization in the Russian Federation. Russian citizens who are in the reserve will be called up for military service. On 24 February 2022 Russian troops entered the Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared a “Special Military Operation”, starting an armed conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/EFE)

“Nicholas II (Russian: Николай II, Николай Александрович Романов, tr. Nikolay II, Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov) (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 – 17 July 1918) was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church. Nicholas II, his wife, his son, his four daughters, the family's medical doctor, the Tsar's valet, the Empress' lady-in-waiting and the family's cook were murdered in the same room by the Bolsheviks on the night of 16/17 July 1918”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Tsar Nicholas II (1868–1918) with his wife. (Photo by W. & D. Downey/Getty Images). Circa 1900

Flowers are left on the ground near the Borisovskoye cemetery during the funeral of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)