A participant, riding a horse and dressed as a knight, presents flowers to women during an event marking Valentine's Day in central Moscow, Russia, February 14, 2016. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

“Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in Ukraine and Southern Russia. They inhabited sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins, and played an important role in the historical development of both Ukraine and Russia”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Кубанский казачий хор (Kuban Cossack chorus) - Розпрягайте, хлопцi, коней (Unharness The Horses, Guys!) – Ukrainian

Aeroflot employees with a puppy at the canine service of Aeroflot at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow Region, Russia on October 2, 2020, that has started to train service dogs to detect COVID-19 in people. (Photo by Vladimir Gerdo/TASS)

A civilian trains to throw Molotov cocktails to defend the city, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Zhytomyr, Ukraine March 1, 2022. (Photo by Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters)

A Ukrainian servicewoman walks at a position, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Luhansk Region, Ukraine on April 26, 2022. (Photo by Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters)

Long-eared owl chicks sit on a spruce branch in a park near St Petersburg, Russia on March 3, 2025. (Photo by Artem Priakhin/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A ballet dancer stretches backstage during Nacho Duato's “The Nutcracker” at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia November 21, 2015. For theatregoers in St Petersburg, Nacho Duato's “The Nutcracker” demonstrates the global appeal of a Christmas classic. When the curtain rises at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, among the oldest opera and ballet houses in Russia, it's the culmination of hundreds of hours of toil and sweat by dancers, costume makers, set designers and musicians playing the famous score by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. (Photo by Grigory Dukor/Reuters)

Aluminium ingots are stored at a foundry shop of the Rusal Khakassia aluminium smelter outside the town of Sayanogorsk, Russia, September 3, 2015. Russia's Rusal has decided to delay a decision on its possible first dividend since listing five years ago though its second-quarter core profit more than doubled thanks to cost cuts and a weaker rouble. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)