Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, uses a binocular, as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, and chief of Russia's military's General Staff Valery Gerasimov, right, observe military exercises near the Baikal Lake on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Photo by Alexei Nikolsky/AP Photo/RIA Novosti/Presidential Press Service)

“Russia's emergencies minister accused local officials on Monday of not doing enough to prevent 171 deaths in weekend floods that raised new doubts about the country's readiness for natural disasters under President Vladimir Putin”. – Andrey Kuzmin via Reuters

Police officers detain a Navalny supporter during a protest in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, February 2, 2021. A Moscow court has ordered Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison for more than 2 1/2 years on charges that he violated the terms of his probation while he was recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning. Navalny, who is the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, had earlier denounced the proceedings as a vain attempt by the Kremlin to scare millions of Russians into submission. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Float builder Andrea works on a float which depicts Russia's President Vladimir Putin as warmonger, at the float hall of the Mainz Carnival Association (MCV), in Mainz, Germany, 02 February 2016. The MCV invited journalists to a preview of this year's floats for the upcoming Shrove Monday carnival parade. The main carnival season festivities will happen around Rose Monday on 08 February. (Photo by Fredrik von Erichsen/EPA)

“In honor of Friday’s World Press Freedom Day, the non-governmental organization Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) launched a campaign depicting world-famous dictators giving everyone the finger, or the international equivalent thereof”. – Kay Steiger. (Photo by Vincent Bousserez/Reporters Without Borders)

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the feminist punk band, p*ssy Riot, right, reads papers at a district court in Zubova Polyana 440 km southeast of Moscow in Russia's province of Mordovia, Friday, April 26, 2013. A Russian court is to consider whether one of the jailed p*ssy Riot members is eligible for early release. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, in custody since her arrest in March 2012, is serving a two-year sentence for the band's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral. Tolokonnikova's lawyer Irina Khrunova is at right. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/AP Photo)

“What did I know about Chechnya before last week? For someone who grew up in the 1990s the very word Chechnya meant a string of grainy images on TV showing people in battered camouflage outfits, shooting at each other amid destruction and ruin. Fear, wahhabis, Shamil Basayev, terrorism, mountains: these were the words that used to spring to my mind when someone mentioned Chechnya”. – Maxim Shemetov. Photo: Special forces officers stand guard during a government-organised event marking Chechen language day in the centre of the Chechen capital Grozny April 25, 2013. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A view of a large poster depicting Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny behind bars with a dove freeing him from detention, by an unidentified street artist known as Harry Greb, in downtown Rome, Italy, 25 January 2021. Navalny was detained after his arrival to Moscow from Germany on 17 January 2021. A Moscow judge on 18 January ruled that he will remain in custody for 30 days following his airport arrest. Navalny urged Russians to take to the streets to protest against President Putin's rule. (Photo by Fabio Frustaci/EPA/EFE)