What Russia was like in 2004 (PHOTOS)

Celebrations of the Day of the State Flag of Russia on August 22, 2004. The holiday was established in 1994, 10 years earlier.

Vladimir Putin won the 2004 presidential election, entering his second term. Below, he is pictured with then Kremlin Chief of Staff, Dmitry Medvedev.

In February 2004, 42 people were killed in a terrorist attack in the Moscow Metro subway system. A suicide terrorist detonated a bomb on a train between Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations.

On September 1, 2004, another terrible terrorist attack took place. In the city of Beslan, terrorists seized a school during celebrations marking the start of the school year. More than 300 people died, more than half of them children.

Tennis player Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, became the first Russian to win Wimbledon.

And below is Svetlana Zakharova, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, training at a rehearsal.

Anti-tank hedgehogs near an IKEA store. This fragment of a monument was erected near Khimki, Moscow Region, in honor of the defeat of the German army.

Participants of the ‘Best of the Best’ International Professional Modeling Contest posing on the Red Square.

A Stalinist woman celebrating the 125th anniversary of Joseph Stalin's birth on the Red Square.

Legendary figure skater Yevgeny Plushenko overcoming gravity at the National Cup of Russia.

In 2004, Timur Bekmambetov's cult movie ‘Night Watch’ premiered.

Participants of a handicrafts fair in Moscow weaving folk baskets. 

Wall murals on apartment buildings in Siberia.

In 2004, the reality show ‘Dom-2’ started on Russian TV. Now, it's the longest-running reality show in the world (and is still airing today). The show’s first presenter was then socialite Ksenia Sobchak (who, later, would be a candidate at the 2018 presidential elections).

Yuri Gagarin's daughter Yelena at the exhibition dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the cosmonaut’s birthday.

Participants of the international bodybuilding tournament in Moscow.

Vintage cars and a street view of the city of Omsk.

Youth hanging out in a city park.

Actress Lyudmila Gurchenko posing next to her portrait at Yekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya's ‘Private Collection’ exhibition.

A tourist from China posing with the Soviet red flag on the Arbat pedestrian street, which then was a souvenir market.

A reindeer herder posing in front of his yurt (tent) on the northern Yamal peninsula.

A seller smiling at a pop-up onion market on a highway.

The priest of the Alexander Nevsky Church in Pskov talking with paratroopers.

A scene from the ‘Swan Lake’ ballet at the Bolshoi Theater.

Tatyana Sidorchuk, winner of the ‘Beauty of Russia 2004’ contest, posing with her crown.

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