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2015 in photos Russia's tumultuous year in 18 pictures

Source: Meduza

This year, Russians have witnessed more armed conflict, more bloodshed, and more high-stakes international politics. As Moscow's security focus shifted from Ukraine to Syria, the Kremlin adapted its diplomatic efforts to try to make itself indispensable in the global fight against ISIL, changing the tone of coalition rhetoric, but failing to end the West's isolation efforts against Russia, in response to the almost-two-years-old intervention in eastern Ukraine. There have also been lighter moments in the past year, full of animals, sports, and faith. Meduza looks back at 2015 in a collection of photographs.

November 1. St. Petersburg residents lay flowers and light candles on Palace Square to mourn the victims of the Russian passenger airliner crash in Egypt. The plane was traveling to St. Petersburg from Sharm El-Sheikh and crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 217 passengers and seven crew members.

November 27. Amur, a Siberian tiger, and Timur, a goat, are seen here in an enclosure at the Primorye Safari Park. Tigers there are fed on live food all year round, yet Amur refused to eat Timur.

November 28. In the Crimean city of Yalta, residents playing chess. Crimea was left without power supply as electricity pylons in Ukraine were blown up November 22, 2015. The Crimean authorities declared a state of emergency and introduced restrictions on the use of electricity.

August 31. In the Primorye territory, a statue of Vladimir Lenin stands above the flooded village of Pokrovka in the aftermath of flash floods brought by Typhoon Goni.

September 24. An aerial view of Muslims praying outside the Moscow Cathedral Mosque during Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice.

August 1. Russia's Victor Minibaev competes in the men's 10-meter platform semi-final diving event at the 2015 FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Championships in Kazan.

October 21. A family of Kurdish refugees spent more than two months stuck at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, before officials finally transferred them to temporary accommodations in the city.

November 9. One of Russia's most radical political performance artists, Pyotr Pavlensky, is arrested in Moscow after briefly setting fire to the entrance of the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (the successor to the KGB).

August 25. Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov (left) and Oleksandr Kolchenko, who stand accused of running a terrorist group in Crimea and plotting terrorist acts, listen to their sentences being read in the North Caucasus Regional Military Court. Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Kolchenko got 10 years.

October 4. Russian servicemen attach a Kh-25 high-precision missile to a Su-24 aircraft at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria.

November 1. Wreckage at the site where a Russian aircraft crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula near El Arish city. The crash killed all 217 passengers and 7 crew members.

July 11. The faithful pray in the village of Poteryaevka, in the Altai Territory.

May 30. Anti-gay protesters attack a gay rights activist during an LGBT community rally in central Moscow.

September 28. US President Barack Obama extends his hand to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

February 28. Slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot four times in the back while he was walking on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, in view of the Kremlin.

May 16. A middle-aged Chechen police captain marries 17-year-old Luiza Goilabieva. The wedding would likely have gone unnoticed, were it not for a report in the newspaper Novaya Gazeta claiming that the policeman—already a married man—was wedding the girl by force, effectively making her his concubine.

March 1. Thousands march through Moscow, mourning slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. They carry his portrait and banners reading, “Heroes never die” and “This bullets hit each of us.”

October 21. Former US intelligence contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden is pictured during an interview with a Swedish daily newspaper.