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)

Sukhoi Su-30SM jet fighters of the Sokoly Rossii (Falcons of Russia) aerobatic team fly in formation during the International Army Games 2016, in Dubrovichi outside Ryazan, Russia, August 5, 2016. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov of Russia perform in the Pairs Short Program during day one of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Rostelecom Cup at Megasport Arena on November 20, 2020 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)

Yaroslav Segeda at the top of a high rise building in Kudrinskaya Square, Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Yaroslav Segeda/Caters News)

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

Revellers celebrate New Year's Day in central Moscow, Russia, January 1, 2016. (Photo by Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters)

A participant has his body painted before a regional bodybuilding championship in Stavropol, southern Russia, April 10, 2016. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

An elderly woman plays an accordion in Moscow, Russia on October 3, 2017. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)