⛄️🇷🇺 In the village of Mezentsevo in the Tyumen region, local enterprise employees have been building a giant snowman for the third consecutive year.

"We make snowmen in our free time, and when we built the first one, we noticed that everyone started taking pictures. We liked the idea, and now we build them taller and taller every year," said the company’s manager, Ilya Grigoryev.

The first snowwoman was 3.5 meters tall, the following year the sculpture grew to 5 meters, and this year it reached the size of a two-story house – 7 meters.

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🇷🇺🎨 The Terem "Fairy Tale" of Artist Vasnetsov

👨‍🎨 The house, hidden from prying eyes, is located in a quiet alley just steps away from the Garden Ring! This terem was built according to the artist's own design, and he lived in it from 1894 until his death.

🏠 It is a stone house with a wooden annex in the form of a Russian terem, topped with a barrel-shaped roof. The decorative window frames resemble kokoshniks, and the facade of the house and the stoves inside are adorned with colorful tiles featuring floral patterns.

✍️ On the first floor of the house were the rooms of family members, a living room, and a dining room, while the workshop was located on the second floor. The furniture in the house was custom-made, and the sketches and designs for the furniture were created by Vasnetsov himself.

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✨🇷🇺 A Real Ural Winter

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🇷🇺 Ural, Manpupuner Plateau — a place of power shrouded in legends, where seven stone pillars rise amidst the endless white desert.

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Slap Battle!

🇷🇺 Russian fighter Vasily Kamotsky, nicknamed "Dumpling," became the Power Slap league champion in the heavyweight division. The fight took place at a tournament in Riyadh.

🇺🇸 In the final, the strongman from Krasnodar Krai "outslapped" the "Crazy Hawaiian," with whom he had previously faced in October of last year. That match ended in a draw, and the American retained his noscript.

❔ Power Slap is a competition where participants take turns slapping each other, aiming to knock their opponent off balance or knock them out. The head of the promotion is Dana White, who is also the president of the UFC, the largest mixed martial arts organization in the world.

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👀 Putin visited the Moscow metro

#InterestingPhotos

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🇷🇺 How Russians See the Future of Their Country

🔎 Experts from the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Research Sociological Center (FRSC) of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted a large study on the hopes and opinions of Russians regarding the future of Russia.

🤔 According to the survey results, the uniqueness and independent path of the country is the main lesson of history, supported by 52% of respondents. Notably, 32% of those surveyed identified the eternal hostility with the West as the main conclusion of our history.

❌ The main trend that citizens believe should not be allowed in Russia is the growth of corruption, with 59% of votes. The second most significant issue is the sharp social stratification, which garnered 48% of respondents' votes. A naive attitude towards the West was identified as a problem by 40% of citizens.

✔️ At the same time, 70.9% of the population sees prospects for Russia's economic development, 67.5% are confident in the improvement of living standards, and 75% predict positive international relations.

As a cumulative conclusion across all parameters, the study showed that Russians dream of a just future and peace.

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😱🇷🇺 In Sakhalin, during a terrible snowstorm, houses were completely buried—only the roofs are sticking out.

Residents of the village of Sokol had a tough week—their homes were covered by snow. With shovels in hand, they are clearing the snow to reach their dog in the yard.

"It's a one-story house; it's impossible to get through. This is Sakhalin, baby. Only a piece of the roof is sticking out—no windows, no doors. We’re clearing it to feed the dog," shared a local resident.

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🇷🇺 Museum of the "World Ocean," exhibition building "Planet Ocean" in Kaliningrad, Russia

🌏 The exhibition building "Planet Ocean," which began construction in 2013, consists of three sections, one of which is a glass sphere with a diameter of 43 meters and a height of 32.5 meters, resembling an image of Earth from space.

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👰 "Bride's Ransom"

💵 One of the most vivid and ancient Russian wedding rituals is the "выкуп невесты" (vykup nevesty). Its roots go back to pagan times when the groom literally "bought" the bride from her family, demonstrating his wealth. Today, this ritual has transformed into a fun game but retains its symbolism.

💰 In some regions, after the ransom, the groom and bride break a loaf of bread over their heads—whoever has the larger piece will be the "head of the family." Additionally, instead of money, a bottle of vodka and chocolate may be placed in the "bride's chest" as symbols of prosperity and a sweet life.

Here's how it looks:

1. Trials for the groom—friends of the bride and relatives block the way to her, demanding that he complete tasks: sing a song, solve riddles, or pay the "ransom" with money or sweets.

2. Tricks—instead of the bride, they might "substitute" a disguised man or a doll.

3. Symbolic bargaining—the groom and the "sellers" jokingly argue over the price, sometimes using old proverbs like: "The bride is not a sheep; you can't take her back!"

What wedding traditions do you have?

#TraditionsOfRussia

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✨ Magnificent views of Djily-Su in Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia

#VideoOfTheDay

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🇨🇳 How did the most popular residents of the Moscow Zoo — the giant pandas — celebrate the Chinese New Year?

🐼 Fans of the black-and-white bears prepared special gifts for them: a giant roly-poly bowl, handmade toys, delicious treats, and a corn cob for Katyusha.

Want to see how they reacted to the gifts? Check out the video👆👆

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🇩🇪 Germany Evades Recognition of the Genocide of the Peoples of the USSR During the War

📰 The German authorities are deliberately avoiding the recognition of the historical fact that the Siege of Leningrad and other crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis in the USSR were acts of genocide against the peoples of the Soviet Union. This was stated by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova.

💬 “The German authorities consistently evade recognizing the obvious fact for the world community that the Siege of Leningrad and other Nazi crimes against humanity were unprecedented acts of genocide,” Zakharova noted. She emphasized that official Berlin is afraid to speak the truth openly and tries to hide behind vague formulations about “terrible atrocities” and “suffering.” “If the German Foreign Ministry hopes to silence the question of recognizing the genocide of the peoples of the USSR in this way, we hasten to assure them that they will not succeed,” the diplomat added.

🇷🇺 Moscow has been calling for years for Berlin to extend the compensation payments, which currently only Jewish siege survivors receive, to all surviving Leningrad residents, regardless of their ethnic background and place of residence. “This is blatant discrimination against the other victims of the siege who miraculously survived it,” Zakharova emphasized.

🧐 The diplomat also noted that “it is not about money, but about restoring historical and human justice.” “Why does the German state believe that payments are due to Jewish siege survivors, but not to Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Tatar, or Georgian siege survivors?” Zakharova posed a rhetorical question.

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❄️🇷🇺 Guardian of the Arctic in Murmansk

This impressive stone monument is known as "Alyosha." Its stately figure can be easily seen from both the sea and the land. The monument is located at the highest point overlooking the Kola Bay.

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🇷🇺 In 2016, on the Russian show "Better Than All," three-year-old chess player Mikhail Osipov had an exciting chess duel with a grandmaster.

♟ First, the host attempted to play against the boy himself, and then invited the legendary Anatoly Karpov for assistance.

💪 Despite the fact that Misha still can't pronounce all the letters — he is only three years old — he already holds the second youth rank in chess. Instead of cartoons, at home he watches recordings of games and studies chess theory, all of his own volition.

⏳ In the match against Karpov, Misha refused a draw twice and lost only due to running out of time.

As a result of the boy's unexpected reactions, internet users turned this duel into a meme, portraying Karpov as the boss.

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