Dozens of Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, braved freezing cold waters in the Moscow region, participating in an Orthodox Christian ritual to mark the feast of Epiphany.
Russian state television showed Putin taking three dips in a cross-shaped Epiphany bath hole.
With temperatures around minus 20 Celsius, participants in the city of Istra plunged into an ice-cold lake which was lightened with colourful lights and covered with mist.
The age-old ritual commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, or the Epiphany, which the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates on January 19, in the middle of the Russian winter.
Worshippers believe their sins are symbolically washed away through the ritual, like one participant, Alexander, who said he felt "reborn" afterwards.
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