A mural on an apartment block created as part of the Urban Morphogenesis street art festival in the Novaya Tryokhgorka residential neighbourhood in the town of Odintsovo in Moscow Region, Russia on August 31, 2019. (Photo by Valery Sharifulin/TASS)

A workman walks past a large mural on the side of a building during the “Sand Sea & Spray” Urban Art Festival in Blackpool, north west England on July 11, 2015. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)

An urban Opossum covered in light snow visits a suburban Chicago deck on December 10, 2025. (Photo by H Rick Bamman/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A protester reacts as riot police and army soldiers scuffle with anti-government protesters outside a military court, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, February 8, 2021. Riot police briefly clashed Monday in Beirut with hundreds of protesters demanding the release of anti-government activists detained following riots in northern Lebanon late last month. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)

A participant poses with his laptop during the 33rd Chaos Communication Congress on its opening day on December 27, 2016 in Hamburg, Germany. The annual event is bringing together 12,000 computer hackers and activists who will meet over the next four days to share expertise and discuss topics related to the society and the digital world. (Photo by Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images)

To an outsider, their passion is at times illegal and often on the verge of life and death. But climbing rooftops of high-rise buildings and exploring abandoned facilities is in the blood of these young Muscovites. The small group calls itself “Rudex”, which stands for “roof and decay exploration”, and is akin a Western youth craze known as urbex or “urban exploration” of man-made structures. Here: Urban explorer Vad Him of Rudex team jumps whilst on a rooftop in Moscow, Russia, August 14, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Afghanistan's interior ministry special forces demonstrate their skills during a military exercise in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 2, 2015. Afghanistan's security forces took over full responsibility for the country's security on January 1, 2015. (Photo by Massoud Hossaini/AP Photo)