The Photos That Defined 2023 in Russia

On Jan. 13, Russia claimed to have captured Soledar, a salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine, marking its first gain in months of fighting.

In this photo, a Wagner Group mercenary enters Soledar's Transfiguration Church after it was damaged by heavy fire.

On Jan. 14, a Russian missile attack struck a residential building in Dnipro, Ukraine, killing at least 46 people and injuring at least 80 others.

On Feb. 6, the post of president of the republic of Tatarstan was renamed to Rais, or head of the republic. The move made Tatarstan the last republic in Russia to abolish its regional presidency.

Head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.

On Feb. 9, a gas explosion killed 15 people on Lineynaya Street in Novosibirsk.

The Moscow metro's Big Circle Line, a 70-kilometer loop that links 31 stations, was opened on March 1. Costing an estimated $6.6 billion to build, the line is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Russia in recent decades.

The Big Circle Line's Nagatinsky Zaton station is seen here.

On March 29, Russia arrested U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges.

Evan Gershkovich stands inside a defendant's cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pre-trial detention at the Moscow City Court.

On April 2, a bombing attack in a St. Petersburg cafe killed military correspondent and pro-war propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky.

This photo shows the aftermath of the explosion at Street Food Bar No. 1 in St. Petersburg.

On April 25, the first Rostic's restaurant — a rebranded equivalent of KFC — opened in Moscow after the U.S. fast food chain's departure from Russia.

A photo from the opening of Rostic's flagship restaurant on Pervaya Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street in Moscow.

On May 2, a drone attack on the Kremlin was intercepted, an incident that Moscow blamed on Ukraine.

The Russian presidential banner flies on top of the dome of the Senate Palace in the Kremlin.

A drone attack struck Moscow's Novomoskovskiy Administrative District and Profsoyuznaya Street on May 30.

On the night of May 31-June 1, heavy shelling fell on the town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region. According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, the town was shelled with more than 850 munitions and 16 people were injured. On June 1, the entrance to Shebekino was closed.

A local resident stands near a damaged residential building in Shebekino.

On June 6, the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine collapsed, flooding many towns and villages on the right and left banks of the Dnipro River and forcing the evacuations of thousands of residents. Kyiv and Moscow traded blame for the dam collapse.

A view of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.

On June 23-24, the Wagner mercenary group declared a mutiny against Russia's military leadership. In the course of the mutiny, Wagner's forces captured Rostov-on-Don, advanced on Moscow and killed at least a dozen members of the Russian Armed Forces.

In this photo, a Wagner tank is seen stuck in the gate of the Rostov-on-Don circus.

On July 4, Novaya Gazeta journalist Yelena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov flew to Chechnya to attend the trial of an exiled Chechen opposition activist's mother. They were violently attacked by a group of unidentified people in black balaclavas on the way from the airport to Grozny and their equipment and documents were destroyed.

On July 17, the Crimean Bridge linking annexed Crimea to mainland Russia was attacked for the second time since the invasion of Ukraine.

The bridge was attacked by a surface-to-air Ukrainian drone, causing significant damage and disrupting traffic. The explosion killed a married couple and injured their daughter. The bridge is a key supply route for Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine.

On the night of July 30, Russian authorities said a drone attack targeted Moscow and blamed Ukraine for the attack.

The aftermath of the drone attack in the Moscow City business district.

An explosion at the Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant in the town of Sergiyev Posad on Aug. 9 killed one person, left eight missing, and injured more than 80. Ninety-two apartment buildings, 30 private and garden houses, a court, two schools, a sports complex, 13 stores and three production and storage facilities were damaged.

On Aug. 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin's Embraer Legacy 600 plane crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg. All 10 people on board (three crew members and seven passengers), including the heads of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and commander Dmitry Utkin, were killed.

A portrait of Prigozhin is seen at a makeshift memorial in Moscow.

On Sept. 10, Russia held elections for thousands of seats in regional councils and legislatures as well as the governorship of over 20 regions. In the occupied territories of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the Russian authorities organized "elections" to local parliaments.

Election officials visit voters in the village of Novoaleksandrovka in the Omsk region on election day.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia on Sept. 13, marking his first trip outside his isolated country since the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Vladimir Putin with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are seen before visiting the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East.

On Oct. 29, an anti-Israeli mob stormed the airport building and attempted to seize an airliner at Makhachkala International Airport in Dagestan after rumors spread that a scheduled flight from Tel Aviv was bringing Israeli and Jewish refugees from the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Russia's Supreme Court on Nov. 30 banned the "international LGBT movement" as an "extremist" group without stating whether specific individuals or organizations in Russia would be impacted by the ruling.

Young people react outside the Supreme Court building in Moscow as the decision is announced.

On Dec. 8, President Vladimir Putin, 71, announces his candidacy for a fifth term.

Putin and Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Zhoga Artyom Zhoga, a former separatist fighter in eastern Ukraine, are seen after a ceremony to award Gold Star medals to people honored with the title of Hero of Russia, at the St. George's Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. The event marked the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland, which is celebrated on Dec. 9.

Decorations for the New Year in central Moscow.