Mini-pigs perform during the presentation in Balashikha, Russia on December 19, 2018. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A female brown bear with cubs fishing on Lake Kronotskoye as part of the South Kamchatka, Russia on Sanctuary, August 13, 2017. (Photo by TASS/Barcroft Images)

A view shows a church in front of a high-rise apartment building in Saint Petersburg, Russia on October 30, 2019. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

Cars slowly move along a bridge in traffic jam in central Moscow, Russia on December 11, 2018. (Photo by Yuri Kadobnov/AFP Photo)

School leavers celebrate their graduation in Moscow's Red Square in Moscow, Russia on June 20, 2019. (Photo by Artyom Geodakyan/TASS)

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 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)

Take me away, deer, Russia. The Nenet people of Arctic Russia use reindeer and sledges as a prime mode of transport. The animals’ navigational ability means that in severe conditions they are sometimes the only hope of survival. (Photo by Kamil Nureev/Smithsonian Photo Contest)