Witnesses of the Time

Men holding the body of a child found in the ruins of a building during the Spitak earthquake, Leninakan, Armenian SSR, USSR. December 1988

The first beauty contest at the Sports Palace in Kazan, Tatar ASSR, USSR. December 1988

A workers’ meeting chaired by the chairman of the town Council of People’s Deputies, with a portrait of Vladimir Lenin in the background, Katayga settlement, Verkhneketsky district, Tomsk region, USSR. November 1989

In the canteen of a specialized closed-type reform school (juvenile detention center) for teenagers aged 14 to 18, against the backdrop of a Soviet propaganda mural featuring a coat of arms, Raifa village, Zelenodolsk district, Tatar ASSR, USSR. 1989

A cell on death row for a convict sentenced to capital punishment by firing squad. The special corridor of Remand Prison No. 1 (SIZO-1) in Tver (formerly Kalinin), where prisoners sentenced to death were held (the "Prison Castle"), USSR. August 1990

A woman on a Moscow street urges soldiers not to turn against the people or support the coup attempt by the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), Moscow, USSR. 20 August 1991

Defenders of the Russian White House—the House of Soviets of the Russian SFSR—on the barricades on 20 August 1991, Moscow, USSR. August 1991

Defenders of the Russian White House following the failed coup in August 1991 on Red Square, Moscow, USSR. 21 August 1991

A rally celebrating the victory of democracy outside the Russian White House, Moscow, USSR. 22 August 1991

People gathered outside the Russian White House greet Boris Yeltsin during the victory rally following the defeat of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), Moscow, USSR. 22 August 1991

Boris Yeltsin, holding the Tricolour, announces victory over the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP), Moscow, USSR. 22 August 1991

Metropolitan Pitirim (Nechaev), Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and Yuryevsk, among participants in the victory rally outside the Russian White House following the defeat of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), Moscow, USSR. 22 August 1991

A girl on holiday, asleep in a field by the roadside, Tatar ASSR, Russia, 1991

A Georgian family in a Volga car, Tbilisi, Georgia. April 1992

A nurse and patients at the Sviyazhsk Psychiatric Hospital, situated on the grounds of the Uspensky Monastery, Sviyazhsk Island, Zelenodolsk вistrict, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. 1992

A woman on holiday in a private house in Crimea, Ukraine. June 1992

Steelmaker at the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Plant, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. June 1992

A woman with a fish caught in the waters of the former Aral Sea, near Muynak, the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan. September 1992

At the livestock market, Fergana valley, Uzbekistan. September 1992

An Uzbek family, Fergana valley, Uzbekistan. September 1992

Animal market, Fergana valley, Uzbekistan. September 1992

A protest rally by Communists at the Lenin monument on Oktyabrskaya square, Moscow, Russia. 3 October 1993

Clashes between protesters (right) and OMON riot police (left) on the Crimean Bridge in Moscow, Russia. 3 October 1993

Assistance being given to a wounded person during the storming of the Russian White House (Council of People’s Deputies) and the shelling of the building by tanks of the Taman Division, Moscow, Russia. 4 October 1993

A former sailor, now a communist and Stalinist, with a portrait of Stalin on Red Square, Moscow, Russia. October 1993

Falconry in the vicinity of Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. 1994

A Kyrgyz hunter with a falcon on his arm near Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. 1994

Falconry on Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. 1994

A flock of sheep, Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. 1994

A woman and a man at the "Batumi" Hotel, Vladimir Mayakovsky street, Batumi, Georgia. 1995

A bust of Lenin in Europos Parkas, near Vilnius, Lithuania. 1999

Portrait of a woman of "easy virtue" at the "Oktyabrskaya" Hotel, Vosstaniya square, St Petersburg, Russia. 2001

An elderly Lithuanian couple in their home, Margionis village, Varėna district, Alytus county, Lithuania. August 2004

The bride and groom. A Russian wedding on the Volga, Yaroslavl region, Russia. 2006

Grisha, a villager, stands next to his house in the village of Ivtsino on the River Volga, Yaroslavl region, Russia. April 2007

In the backstreets of the settlement of Ozernovsky, Ust-Bolsheretsk district, Kamchatka krai, Russia. August 2007

Homeless children at a rubbish tip on the outskirts of Moscow, in the shed where they live, near Salaryevo village, Leninsky district, Moscow region, Russia. 2007

A homeless teenager at a rubbish tip. The Salaryevo landfill site — the largest solid waste landfill in Europe, covering an area of 59 hectares, with the rubbish heap reaching a height of 80 metres, near Salaryevo village, Leninsky district, Moscow region, Russia. 2007

Homeless teenagers at a rubbish tip. The Salaryevo landfill site — the largest solid waste landfill in Europe, covering an area of 59 hectares, with a rubbish heap reaching a height of 80 metres, near Salaryevo village, Leninsky district, Moscow region, Russia. 2007

Homeless people collect food waste from a rubbish tip to feed themselves, near Salaryevo village, Leninsky district, Moscow region, Russia. 2007

A flock of birds at the solid waste disposal site near the village of Salaryevo, Leninsky district, Moscow region, Russia. 2007

A homeless woman who died at a rubbish tip whilst a refuse lorry was being unloaded automatically, near Salaryevo village, Leninsky district, Moscow region, Russia. 2007

Wedding dress shop, Fergana valley, Uzbekistan. 2007

An Uzbek family in their home, Fergana valley, Uzbekistan. 2007

A family looks out of the window of their home onto the street, countryside around Khabarovsk, Russia. May 2014