Military planes fly above a statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin during a Naval parade rehearsal in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, July 25, 2019. The celebration of Navy Day in Russia is traditionally marked on the last Sunday of July and will be celebrated on July 28 this year. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Russian woman takes selfie near military vehicle during the rehearsal for a military parade in Moscow, Russia, 29 April 2019. Russia will hold a Victory Day military parade on 09 May 2019 to mark the 74th anniversary since the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE)

In modern Russia there are no free elections, therefore the political elite is almost constant.

Photo: Valentina Matvienko, Mayor of St. Petersburg, attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 17, 2011 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Global business leaders have gathered in Russia for the three-day conference. (Photo by Alexander Aleshkin/Epsilon/Getty Images)

Dancers perform during the opening ceremony before the Russia 2018 World Cup Group A football match between Russia and Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on June 14, 2018. (Photo by Sergei Bobylev/TASS via Getty Images)

In an observance of Epiphany, Russian Orthodox believers swim in an icy pond outside Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. (Photo by Olga “Zwezdochka”)

A girl walks an Akita-inu dog dressed in a military uniform in Vladivostok, Russia on April 9, 2019. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)

Women are reflected in a puddle as they walk across Red Square in Moscow, Russia on April 26, 2018. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP Photo)

A girl walks an Akita-inu dog dressed in a military uniform in Vladivostok, Russia on April 9, 2019. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)