In pictures: A robust Russia, despite the war

Image: Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters

Activists light candles at the Savur-Mohyla memorial during a remembrance ceremony marking the start of the war against Nazi Germany in the Donetsk region of Russian-controlled Ukraine on June 22, 2024. Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 during World War II and failed to defeat Soviet forces, signalling a crucial turning point in the war.

Image: Andrei Bok/SOPA/LightRocket via Getty Images

High school graduates from St. Petersburg gather at Palace Square in St.Petersburg, Russia, on June 28, 2024, to celebrate the "Scarlet Sails" event. Held in honour of St. Petersburg's high school graduates, a ship with scarlet sails from Alexander Grin's namesake novel sailed along the Neva River under the drawbridges, where the graduates greeted it.

Image: NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP

Youths hang out at the Vkusno & Tochka, the fast food chain established following McDonald's exit in Moscow on May 13, 2024. Loosely translated to 'tasty and that's it', the chain is already more successful than the original, two years after McDonald's pulled out of Russia in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Image: Yulia Morozova / Reuters

A view of the interior of Zeekr electric car, a premium brand owned by Chinese automaker Geely, during a demonstration at the Frank-Auto dealership in Moscow, Russia, on June 14, 2024. According to an estimate, sales of Swedish-designed Zeekr EVs have jumped in Russia in the last year, where 40 percent of EV owners in Russia have charging facilities at home.

Image: Anton Vaganov / Reuters

Children play on artillery vehicles during a military exhibition in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 22, 2024.  Economic activity in Russia has been influenced by a large increase in military-related activity and outsized military spending in 2023, leading the World Bank to upgrade the country's economic standing to the 'high income' category.

Image: Alexey Malgavko/ Reuters

Combines load wheat into a truck during harvest in a field of a local agricultural enterprise in the Cherlaksky district of the Omsk region, Russia. Ukraine's diminished exports have created openings for Russia, another major global agricultural exporter, to make up for Ukraine's losses. Russian wheat production over the past two marketing seasons has been at a record high due to record plantings and yields, and its shipments have headed to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Image: Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters

Zavur Uguev competes against Bashir Magomedov in the 61kg men's final at the Russian Pre-Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Championship at the Live Arena venue outside Moscow, Russia, on May 1, 2024. Russia's top freestyle wrestlers seeking Olympic glory plan to go to Paris this summer but will have to compete as independents and without their country's flag or anthem.

Image: Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who stands trial on spying charges, is seen inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 26, 2024. Evan is accused of gathering secret information about a plant manufacturing tanks for Russia's war in Ukraine for the CIA. The reporter, his employer and the United States government have denied the allegations, saying he was just doing his job, with accreditation from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Image: Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

A pedestrian walks past an office of the Moscow Exchange, Russia's leading financial marketplace that ceased foreign exchange trading in dollars and euros in response to a major new round of sanctions imposed by the United States in Moscow, Russia, June 13, 2024. The US has sanctioned more than 4,000 Russian businesses and individuals since the war began in an effort to choke off the flow of money and armaments to Moscow.

Image: Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters

A view shows a newly opened office of Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on June 30, 2024. Sberbank has begun providing services to retail and corporate clients in eastern Ukraine's partially occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Sberbank has over 100 million customers in Russia and several former Soviet republics.

Image: Stringer / Reuters

A file photo shows a concrete gravity-based structure (GBS) of the Arctic LNG 2 joint venture under construction near the settlement of Belokamenka, Murmansk region, Russia. Europe and its allies plan to ban the use of EU ports for re-exporting Russian liquefied natural gas, raising the export costs to Asia and potentially affecting key buyers like China and India. Russia has been resourceful in getting around Western sanctions on oil, like conducting ship-to-ship transfers near its northern city of Murmansk.

Image: Alexander Manzyuk / Reuters

Employees cast 99.99 percent pure gold ingots in a workroom during production at the Krastsvetmet precious metals plant in Siberian Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on May 23, 2024. Russia's robust economy is attributed to pegging its currency to gold. According to the World Gold Council data, Russia was the second largest producer of gold at 324.7 tonnes in 2023, and its gold reserves stood at 2332.74 tonnes at the end of March 2024.

Image: Artem Priakhin/SOPA /LightRocket via Getty Images

A flash mob, "Project in Red Dresses", walk against the backdrop of St. Isaac's Cathedral, St.Petersburg, Russia, on June 30, 2024. The project supports the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on holding the 'Year of the Family' in the Russian Federation. From the organisers' statement, "Family is the basis of any society and an important part of a person's life. It is in this social unit that a harmonious personality is formed. The family gives a person confidence, a sense of support, the knowledge that in this huge world there are people who wait, love and accept a family member with his personal characteristics, advantages and disadvantages."

Image: Anton Vaganov / Reuters

Villagers circle a campfire during the Night of Ivan Kupala festival, marking the summer solstice day, in Leningrad Region, Russia, June 20, 2024. A tradition combining pagan and Christian traditions, people wear a wreath of wildflowers and herbs, sing and stoke bonfires, celebrating the birth of the summer sun, magic and mystics, revealing the strong and wise character of ancestors.