A woman says goodbye to a reservist drafted during the partial mobilisation, before his departure for a military base, in Sevastopol, Crimea on September 27, 2022. (Photo by Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill releases a white dove after a service marking the Holiday of Annunciation at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 7, 2023. In Christianity, Annunciation celebrates the revelation to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a son, Jesus. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)
Servicemen demonstrate their skills during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade which will take place at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square on May 9 to celebrate 78 years after the victory in World War II in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, May 4, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)
A woman takes photos of a child on a sports ground covered with hailstones following a hail storm in the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia on June 27, 2023. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)
People in historical uniforms prepare for a parade at Red Square commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Red Army’s defence of Moscow during the second world war in Moscow, Russia on November 7, 2016. (Photo by Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS)
People take part in the celebrations of Victory Day, which marks the 78th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Vladivostok, Russia on May 9, 2023. (Photo by Tatiana Meel/Reuters)
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)