Denis Tyrin / AP

A man runs through snow covered railway tracks during a snowstorm in Moscow, March 24.

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

A faint silhouette of St. Basil's Cathedral is seen during a snowstorm in central Moscow, March 25.

Sergei Chirikov / EPA

Pedestrians walk across a bridge during a heavy snowfall in Moscow, Russia, March 25.

Katya Abramkina / AFP - Getty Images

A snow plough clears the Manezhnaya Square just outside the Kremlin, right, in Moscow, late on March 24. The State Historical Museum is in the background, left.

Heavy snowfall continued for a second day in Moscow on Monday, with temperatures hovering around 17 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius), but feeling more like 2 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 C) with the wind chill factor.

Reports state that the total snowfall this winter has reached nearly 10 feet -- twice the usual amount -- and temperatures are almost 10 degrees lower than normal.

Alexander Usoltsev / AP

Rescuers work where a plane skidded off the runway at Vnukovo airport in Moscow on Saturday, Dec. 29. The Tu-204 aircraft belonging to Moscow-based Red Wings broke into pieces and caught fire, killing several people.

"We saw how the plane skidded off the runway ... The nose, where business class is, broke off and a man fell out," said a witness, who gave his name as Alexei. "We helped him get into a mini-bus to take him to the hospital."

Another witness described pulling four people from the wreckage when he arrived at the scene before emergency service workers. "We could not get the pilot out of the cockpit but we saw a lot of blood," he told the TV station Rossiya-24.

-- Reported by Reuters

Read the full story.

Alexander Usoltsev / AP

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

Misha Japaridze / AP

Andrey Smirnov / AFP - Getty Images

Police officers detain gay right activists holding a 'kiss-in' protest outside the State Duma in Moscow on Dec. 19, 2012.

Russian gay rights activists kiss during a protest near the State Duma, Russia's lower parliament chamber, in Moscow on Wednesday.

The State Duma was set to debate a bill that would introduce sanctions for providing minors with information on homosexuality but postponed the debate until next month.

-- The Associated Press

 Related content:

• Russia retaliates against US rights legislation
• Lady Gaga accused of illegal gay rights promotion in Russia

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Pavel Golovkin / AP

Two Cossacks, right, watch pedestrians passing by as they patrol Belorussky railway station in downtown Moscow on Nov. 27, 2012.

The Associated Press reports

Pustem Adagamov / AP

Patrol leader Igor Gurevich speaks to the media at Belorussky railway station on Nov. 27, 2012.

— Renowned for their sword-fighting prowess and anti-Semitism in czarist Russia, the Cossacks are taking on new foes: beggars, drunks, unlicensed traders and improperly parked cars.

With the approval of city authorities, eight Cossacks clad in traditional fur hats and uniforms patrolled a Moscow train station on Tuesday looking for signs of minor public disturbances.

Patrol leader Igor Gulichev compared his forces to the Texas Rangers, the elite law-enforcement body in the U.S. state.

"They are just like Cossacks, and they work for the government, but they're welcomed with open arms. How come this should be allowed in America, but not in Russia, with our rich Cossack traditions? We're like Chuck Norris!" Gulichev said. Read the full story.

Pavel Golovkin / AP

Two Cossacks watch pedestrians passing by as they patrol Belorussky railway station on Nov. 27, 2012.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images

Wearing World War II-era Red Army uniforms, Russian soldiers marched Wednesday in a dramatic re-enactment of the historic 1941 parade of troops through Red Square on their way to face Nazi troops on the front lines. 

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images

Russian soldiers, wearing World War II-era uniform of the Red Army ski troops, march in Red Square.

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images

Russian troops lined up in front of St. Basil's Cathedral.

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

A Soviet-made tank in front of St. Basil's Cathedral during the parade.

Related content:

• Remarkably limber Russian soldiers rehearse for parade in Red Square, Moscow
• Homes razed to make way for Russia's Olympics showcase
• Russia's Putin takes to sky to lead flight of cranes

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

Orphanage teachers and schoolmates attend a mourning church service during the funeral for car accident victims in Moscow, on Sept. 26. Five orphans along with their teacher and her husband had been killed by a drunken driver, who crashed at a bus stop. Three other people were seriously injured. All five teenagers were pupils of a special orphanage for disabled children.

Five orphans, along with their teacher and her husband, were laid to rest on Wednesday after they were killed by a drunk driver in Moscow. The five teenagers were at a special orphanage for disabled children, according to the European Press Agency.

Associated Press reports-- Five orphaned teens were waiting for a bus with their guardians in Moscow on Saturday when a car careened into them, killing all seven. Grief turned to outrage when it emerged that the driver was heavily drunk and had a string of traffic violations on his record — including a DUI arrest two years ago.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and lawmakers have reacted with proposals to stiffen penalties on drunken drivers, and parliament debated the measures on Tuesday. But with bribery so commonplace and road laws rarely enforced, many wonder whether even the toughest response can change a deep-set culture of reckless driving.

After the crash, police video shows, Alexander Maximov stumbled out of his Toyota sedan, which he had been driving at 200 kilometers (125 miles per hour), bloodied and barely able to stand. He appeared in court Monday with his head wounds dressed, but still wearing the blood-speckled sweatshirt from the day of the accident. Read the full story

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

Orphanage teachers and schoolmates attend a mourning church service for car accident victims in Moscow on Sept. 26.

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

Orphanage teachers and schoolmates throw handfuls of soil into a common grave during the funeral for car accident victims in Moscow Sept. 26.

View more photos from Moscow on PhotoBlog.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Misha Japaridze / AP

A Greenpeace activist, dressed as a polar bear, sits inside a police car after being detained outside Gazprom's headquarters in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 5, 2012. Russian and international environmentalists are protesting against Gazprom's plans to pioneer oil drilling in the Arctic.

Misha Japaridze / AP

The Associated Press reports — Put your paws in the air.

Moscow police have arrested 10 environmental activists, including four dressed in polar bear costumes, who were protesting outside the main office of Gazprom, the Russian oil and natural gas giant.

The protest Wednesday by members of Greenpeace called upon Gazprom to halt its offshore drilling in the Arctic. The protesters blocked a driveway into the Gazprom headquarters, laying down fake snow, which those dressed as bears rolled in. Continue reading.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

•Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images

Members of the all-girl punk band "Pussy Riot" (left to right)Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, are escorted by policewomen in Moscow on Agust 17.

Sergey Ponomarev / AP

Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia on Friday, Aug 17.

Update: 10:03 am ET: The three band members were found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison

Today a Moscow court will pass judgement on the three women from a punk band called, Pussy Riot, who captured the world's attention by defying the Russian authorities and ridiculing President Vladimir Putin in a church. Pussy Riot release rallies have stretched from Sydney to New York as a growing list of celebrities joined ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and pop icon Madonna in a campaign directed against Putin's crackdown on dissent. The women, two of whom have young children, are charged with hooliganism connected to religious hatred but the case is widely seen as a warning that authorities will only tolerate opposition under tightly controlled conditions. T-shirt on right worn by Tolokonnikova is Spanish and translates to "They shall not pass", a slogan often used to express determination to defend a position against an enemy.

Full story.

Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP - Getty Images

A girl looks at a coffee grain-made paint, competing for a Guinness book record, in central Moscow on June 26. One painter and his five assistants made a 30 square meters mural within twelve days.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

An artist assistant sticks coffee beans on a mural while completing the creation after more than ten days of work at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure in Moscow, on June 26. According to participants and event organizers, the artwork that occupies an area of about 30 square meters has been considered the biggest picture in history made of coffee beans. Its creators intend to send an application to get the artwork to be registered in the Guinness World Records book.

See more photos of record breakers in our slideshow: Guinness World Records 2012

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Opposition members march in Moscow on Tuesday, June 12, 2012. Tens of thousands of Russians flooded Moscow's tree-lined boulevards Tuesday in the first massive protest against President Vladimir Putin's rule since his inauguration, as investigators sought to raise the heat on the opposition by summoning some of its leaders for questioning just an hour before the march.

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

A participant holds a T-shirt referring to Article 31 of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly, during an anti-government protest in Moscow on June 12, 2012.

Reuters reports — Thousands of Russians chanted "Russia will be free" in a march through Moscow on Tuesday to protest against President Vladimir Putin, shrugging off his tough new tactics intended to quash any challenge to his rule.

More images of protest in Russia on PhotoBlog

"Those who fought are beyond being scared," said Valery Zagovny, a 50-year-old who served for the Soviet army in Afghanistan and was wearing the medals to prove it. "Let those behind the red-toothed walls of the Kremlin be scared." Read the full story.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Alexander Nemenov / AFP - Getty Images

Opposition activists rally in Moscow on June 12, 2012.

Ria Novosti via Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an awards ceremony for achievements in culture and science in Moscow's Kremlin on June 12, 2012.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Riot police form a line as opposition members march in central Moscow on June 12, 2012.