A municipal worker sits on a bench, next to a statue, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, during the 2018 soccer World Cup, Thursday, June 28, 2018. Nizhny Novgorod was a “closed city” during the Soviet era. It was known as Gorky until 1990 and it was here that dissident scientist Andrei Sakharov was held under house arrest. Now the city hosts six World Cup matches and is teeming with tourists. That was unthinkable in the Soviet era and even rare now in a city that is seldom visited by outsiders. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

An employee operates a machine while attaching a lock to a silver chain at the jewelry department of the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant, one of the world's largest producers in the precious metals industry, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, December 14, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Kamaz' Russia driver Andrey Karginov, co-driver Andrey Mokeev and Igor Lenonov compete during the Stage 6 of the Dakar 2020 between Ha'il and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on January 10, 2020. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

Anna Malova, Miss Russia 1998, poses on a pool table at The Campbell Apartment restaurant in Grand Central Station on November 18, 1999. She makes her motion picture debut in the movie “Above Ground”. (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

Su-25 jet fighters release smoke in the colours of the Russian state flag over Red Square during a flypast rehearsal ahead of a parade on Victory Day, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Moscow, Russia on May 5, 2021. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

A cheerleaders team member wearing a pseudo anti-coronavirus face mask performs during the St. Petersburg Open ATP tennis tournament match in St.Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, October 27, 2021. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Lee Kiefer of the USA (L) and Inna Deriglazova of Russia (R) in action during the women's Foil Individual Gold Medal Bout of the Fencing events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Makuhari Messe convention centre in Chiba, Japan, 25 July 2021. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/EPA/EFE)

Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Nayev holds puppies as he visits at positions near the border with Belarus, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zhytomyr region, Ukraine on September 20, 2023. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)