Russian Boxing Federation lifts a portrait of late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin with a hot air balloon, close to city of Belogorsk outside Simferopol, Crimea, on May 11, 2020, to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II also called the Great Patriotic War, amid the coronavirus (COVID) pandemic. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

A man wearing a face mask walks past a picture of a Russian tank in central Moscow on June 18, 2020. Russia's President Putin on June 24 will preside over a massive military parade to mark Soviet victory in World War II, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP Photo)

A child is seen during celebrations of Reindeer Breeder Day, the main holiday of indigenous peoples of the Russian Extreme North, in the village of Nosok on Taymyr Peninsula in north-central Siberia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russia on April 17, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Ryumin/TASS)

A woman fills her ballot paper during the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament and local parliaments elections at a polling station in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, September 17, 2021. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

People take pictures near a Soviet flag flying on an embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia on June 17, 2023. The flags of Russia, the USSR, and the Russian Empire were installed on the shore to mark the anniversaries of each flag's adoption. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

“Exactly one year before the long awaited Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin went to Sochi personally to see how the construction is going. After receiving a report saying the ski jumps that were supposed to be ready in 2011, are not completed still, while their price has sky-rocketed from 1.2 billion to 8 billion roubles, he commented, “Good for you. Good job”, and then fired the vice president of the Olympic committee. Russian artist Vasily Slonov painted his view of the upcoming games, giving a new interpretation to the adored Russian mascot Cheburashka, and combining officially endorsed stereotypes of Russia with grimmer and less accepted ones”. – Ruskie.info. (Photo by Vasily Slonov)

Pro-Russian activists attack policemen guarding the burned trade union building in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on May 3, 2014. More than 30 people were killed in a “criminal” blaze in Ukraine's southern city of Odessa, as violence spread across the country during the bloodiest day since Kiev's Western-backed government took power. Ukraine's interior ministry said at least 31 people had died in the fire Friday, with local media reporting that pro-Russian militants were believed to have been in the burning building at the time. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP Photo)

Figurines of former pro-Russian separatist commander Igor Strelkov from the collection entitled “Toy Soldiers of Novorossiya” are on display at a workshop in Moscow August 29, 2014. A Moscow-based maker of toy soldiers has sought inspiration for his creations from Ukrainian rebels fighting government troops in the east of Ukraine. Toy soldier maker, Timur Zamilov, displayed his new collection of rebel fighters cast in metal on Friday, before they are due to go on sale. His new collection is entitled “Toy Soldiers of Novorossiya” (New Russia), a reference to regions in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatist fighters want full independence. Zamilov's selection includes models of Cossack soldiers, volunteers, soldiers bearing anti-aircraft missiles and even a miniature of prominent rebel leader Igor Strelkov. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)