The Photos That Defined Russia in 2024

At least 149,000 residents in the town of Podolsk south of Moscow were left without heating amid widespread utility failures. In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, boiling water ran through the streets due to burst pipes, injuring locals.

This photo shows a field kitchen and heating point following the heating outage in Podolsk.

Protesters and riot police clash in the town of Baymak in the republic of Bashkortostan on Jan. 17 after a court sentenced a local activist to four years in prison. The protests in Bashkortostan would become Russia's largest protest since the invasion of Ukraine.

Fayil Alsynov, who campaigns against gold mining in the Urals region and advocates for the protection of the large ethnic Bashkir population's language, was sentenced for "inciting hatred" in the town of Baymak on charges seen as politically motivated.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny died on Feb. 16 in the IK-3 prison colony (also known as Polar Wolf) in the town of Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district.

In this photo, Navalny is shown attending a court hearing via video link from prison.

Thousands of Russians gathered to pay their final respects to Navalny as he was buried at a cemetery in southeastern Moscow amid a heavy police presence.

In this photo, mourners scattered flowers on the ground in front of toppled-over police barricades in what would become a lasting symbol of his funeral.

On March 17, the third and final day of voting in Russia's presidential election, the Russian opposition, including allies of Navalny, called on Russians to head to the polls at noon in large numbers to overwhelm polling stations, in a protest that they hoped would be a legal show of strength against President Vladimir Putin.

In this photo, people queue outside a polling station in St. Petersburg.

On March 22, attackers opened fire on civilians at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow, set fire to the auditorium and then fled by car. The attack killed 145 people, including six children, and injured 551 others. As a result of the explosions and fire, the concert hall was almost completely destroyed.

In this photo, fire rises from Crocus City Hall following the shooting.

The Ural River overran its banks in the town of Orsk over the weekend after torrential rain burst a nearby dam, leaving the city submerged in water and forcing thousands from their homes.

A view of a flooded neighborhood in the town of Orsk.

Ten days after the Ural River burst a dam in the city of Orsk and forced the evacuation of thousands, historic flooding continued to threaten Russia's southern Urals and western Siberia as well as the neighboring country of Kazakhstan.

An Orthodox priest takes a look from a belfry as the Church of Our Lady of the Sign rises over floodwater in Orenburg.

On May 7, Vladimir Putin was sworn in as president of Russia for a fifth term, keeping him in power until at least 2030.

In this photo, Putin walks down the red carpet ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.

On May 9, Russia marked 79 years since the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with its annual military parade, featuring an ever-shrinking number of military equipment at Red Square as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine dragged on for a third year.

An RS-24 Yars missile system rolls through Red Square.

A Taliban delegation attended Russia's flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.

Russian officials moved toward removing the Islamist militant movement that controls Afghanistan from its list of banned “extremist” groups.

Some Russians marked the anniversary of Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny on June 21.

A man dressed in military clothing lays flowers at the feet of Prigozhin's statue at his gravesite in St. Petersburg. The monument was unveiled on June 1, what would have been Prigozhin's 63rd birthday.

Armed assailants attacked Orthodox churches and synagogues in Russia's majority Muslim republic of Dagestan. The gunmen launched simultaneous attacks in Dagestan's largest city Makhachkala and the coastal city of Derbent. Seventeen police officers and five civilians were ultimately killed in the attacks.

In this photo, emergency workers approach a local synagogue in Derbent following the attack.

On July 4, the air temperature in the Russian capital reached a record 32 degrees Celsius, the hottest day in Moscow in the last 130 years.

In this photo, a woman lifts her arms to cool off in a fountain amid the record-breaking heat.

On July 28, Russia celebrated the Navy Day holiday.

In this photo, the minesweeper Alexander Obukhov sails along the Neva River in St. Petersburg. The ship is the lead ship of the Alexandrit class and previously took part in the 2020 Navy Day parade.

On Aug. 1, Russia and the West carried out a historic prisoner exchange that saw 16 prisoners freed by Russia and eight freed by the West. Russia released the likes of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, opposition leaders Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, Navalny deputies Ksenia Fadeeva and Lilya Chanysheva, artist Sasha Skochilenko and more, in addition to U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan. Moscow received convicted murderer and FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, a family of “illegals” residing in Slovenia, businessman Vladislav Klyushin and others.

In this photo, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva reunites with her family on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews.

On Aug. 6, the Ukrainian army launched a surprise invasion of Russia's Kursk region. The offensive was the first case of occupation of Russian territory by foreign troops since World War II.

In this photo, a Ukrainian soldier walks along a damaged street in Sudzha, Kursk region.

Sept. 1 marked 20 years since the Beslan school siege.

On the morning of Sept. 1, 2004 — the first day of the new school year in Russia — armed terrorists took more than 1,100 civilians hostage at School No. 1 in Beslan, a town in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Ossetia.

In this photo, a woman holding a child looks at portraits of the victims hung on the gymnasium walls. The hostage crisis and the subsequent siege killed more than 300 and injured almost 700 civilians, the majority of whom were children.

A powerful solar storm brought the Northern Lights to much of Russia on Sept. 12.

The Russian Academy of Sciences’ solar astronomy laboratory registered northern lights over the skies of Moscow, St. Petersburg, as well as central Russia and northern Siberia.

Kyiv continued to hold large swathes of Russian territory following its surprise incursion in early August.

In this photo, displaced Kursk region residents are seen at a temporary shelter.

In October, Russia hosted the BRICS summit in Kazan, the capital of the republic of Tatarstan, in a bid to shake off its image as an isolated pariah state after the invasion of Ukraine.

Women dressed in traditional attire greet guests at Kazan International Airport with traditional foods.

On Nov. 21, Russia launched a strike on the Ukrainian town of Dnipro, which President Vladimir Putin said was a test of a new hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile called the Oreshnik.

In this photo, parts of a missile are collected for examination at the impact site in Dnipro.

The ruble-dollar exchange rate plunged in November.

A woman walks past an exchange office sign in St. Petersburg.

In December, a major environmental disaster hit southern Russia’s Black Sea coast after a storm damaged two oil tankers, spilling thousands of tons of heavy fuel that washed ashore.

In this photo, volunteers help emergency workers collect oil-soaked beach sand near Stanitsa Blagoveshchenskaya.