What Russia was like in 2003 (PHOTOS)

A football fan with a scarf saying ‘Russia’.

This was the next-to-last time November 7 was celebrated in Russia. It was the Anniversary of 1917 Revolution or, as it was called in the 1990s, Day of Accord and Reconciliation in Russia. 

Later, the holiday was canceled, but a new one called National Unity Day was introduced on November 4 called.

A rather fresh Moscow view. Christ the Savior Cathedral that was demolished in the 1930s by the Bolsheviks, was built anew in the late 1990s and the liturgy began service there from 2000. In Soviet times, the ‘Moskva’ open swimming pool was in its place.

Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Alexey II meeting leaders of other benches of the Orthodox Church.

Gymnast Alina Kabayeva waving after receiving a medal during the European championship.

A picture that can stay the same for centuries - reindeer breeders heading off to work on the Yamal peninsula.

St. Petersburg celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2003.

And the holiday was marked on a large scale.

And big international guests attended, including the then U.S. president, George W. Bush.

Vladimir Putin opening a new Ladoga railway station in St. Petersburg.

The precious Amber Room of Tsarskoye Selo Palace after restoration.

Fashion in 2003 be like…

The Gorgeous Yeliseyevsky store in Moscow was opened after restoration.

Brokers working at the ultra modern computer center of the Moscow stock exchange.

Young gymnasts suffering in their struggle for the wins.

Guess who this young man is? Right, Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.

‘Bathing of a Red Horse’ by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. The exhibition is devoted to the 125th anniversary of the artist’s birth.

Kopeika, one of the first low-price supermarkets in Russia.

A couple attending a Joseph Stalin exhibition.

A young Chechen woman carrying her baby. In 2003, the Chechen conflict (Counter-terrorist operation on the territories of North Caucasian region) was in a hot phase.

Moscow’s first ever Formula-1 exhibition race being held in front of the Moscow State University.

The 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Russian physicists Alexei Abrikosov and Vitaly Ginzburg (pictured below), as well as British-American Anthony James Leggett, “for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids”. 

Young women celebrating Kupala Night, a traditional Slavic summer holiday.

A local playing a string instrument in Derbent, republic of Dagestan.

Journalists work in 2003 be like… Below, covering the elections in Chechnya. 

‘Alye Parusa’ (‘Scarlet Sails’), a new residential complex in Moscow.

Inside the State Kremlin Palace. The emblems of the Soviet republics remained as a part of the architectural history.

 

Chukotka folk ensemble perfoming.

Students of St. Petersburg’s Vaganova ballet academy practicing.

Victoria Lopyreva won the ‘Miss Russia’ 2003 beauty pageant. She is considered one of the most beautiful women in Russia and became the face of 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.  

A female tram driver dressed up for the New Year’s while on her shift.