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)

Protest posters are attached to the walls surrounding the “Occupy London” camp outside St. Paul's Cathedral on November 01, 2011 in London, England. The Dean of St. Pauls Cathedral The Very Reverend Graeme Knowles resigned yesterday over the church's handling of the anti-capitalist “Occupy London” demonstration, which continues to occupy the grounds outside the cathedral. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Members of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire a 41 gun salute in Hyde Park to mark the 60 anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on February 6, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Girls in ballet dresses pose near St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia on July 19, 2023. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)

Actress Bai Ling poses for a picture in front of St. Basil's Cathedral at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, July 1, 2015. (Photo by Ivan Burnyashev/Reuters)

Fireworks explode above St. Basil's cathedral during a rehearsal for the “Spasskaya Tower” international military music festival at Moscow's Red Square, September 4, 2015. Military bands from different countries will participate in the annual tattoo starting on Sunday. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

A young woman holds her smartphone at Red Square with the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower, right, and St. Basil Cathedral, center, in the background in Moscow, Russia, Monday, July 25, 2016. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)