A member of a local swimming club holds a Russian national flag as he dives in at the start of a 24-hour swimming marathon near the western Siberian city of Barnaul March 29, 2014. Thirty members of the club will swim in turn during the event, held to mark Crimea becoming part of Russia, local media reported. (Photo by Andrei Kasprishin/Reuters)

Netapp Endura team rider Slovenian Blaz Jarc (R) crashes into Katusha team rider Russian Viacheslav Kuznetsov (ground) during the 112th Paris Roubaix cycling race, in Roubaix, France, 13 April 2014. (Photo by Nicolas Bouvy/EPA)

A Sukhoi Su-35S jet fighter of the Russian Knights aerobatic team performs during the International Maritime Defence Show “Fleet-2024” in Kronstadt, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 21, 2024. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Artem, a 40-year-old Ukrainian commander, shouts a warning before his artillery team fires toward Russian positions near Pokrovsk in early October 2024. (Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

“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

In this photo taken on Monday, August 5, 2019, a family watches explosions at a military ammunition depot near the city of Achinsk in eastern Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, in Achinsk, Russia. Russian officials say powerful explosions at a military depot in Siberia left 12 people injured and one missing and forced over 16,500 people to leave their homes. (Photo by Dmitry Dub/AP Photo)

Russian servicewomen march during the Victory Day Parade in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2020. The military parade, marking the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, was scheduled for May 9 but postponed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). (Photo by Sergey Pyatakov/Host Photo Agency/AFP Photo)

Russian honour guards march during the military parade at Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 2018. Russia marks the 77th anniversary of the 1941 historical parade, when Red Army soldiers marched past the Kremlin walls towards the front line to fight Nazi Germany troops during World War Two. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)