This week in photos: Snow-covered vessels, Holy Mother image and Omicron under microscope

Russian President Vladimir Putin during the annual end-of-year news conference at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow, December 23. The head of state managed to answer questions from 44 people, which touched upon both domestic and international topics

The projection of the icon of Holy Mother on the facade of the Kazan Cathedral in New Year's St. Petersburg, December 20

View of the snow-covered civil ships and yachts moored in the South Bay of Sevastopol, December 22. The snowfall in Crimea since Tuesday has become the most powerful in the 21st century. According to preliminary information, about 30 cm of precipitation fell, this is the maximum over the past 30 years. On the night of December 22, the thermometers dropped to minus 12 degrees. The city authorities are preparing to protect against floods, which may pass after warming, in the coming days

A man pulls his dog forward as he makes his way through flood water after flooding hit the Shah Alam area, about 40 km from Kuala Lumpur, December 21. Flooding in Malaysia, caused by two days of abnormally heavy rainfall, killed 17 people and displaced more than 70,000 people

Rescuers work at the scene after a truck rammed several US military vehicles on the A3 motorway near the German city of Parsberg, December 20. According to the police, as a result of the collision, two military vehicles caught fire and several people were injured

The Moscow International Business Center "Moscow City" is shrouded in a frosty haze, December 22. The night of December 22 in the capital became the coldest in 54 years for this date: the temperature dropped to -22.2 degrees ℃

Decorating the country's main New Year tree on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin, Moscow, December 22

Boys choristers of St. Paul's Cathedral during a photo shoot, London, December 21

Smoke over the building of the Lenta hypermarket during a fire that happened on Tuesday and covered an area of ​​more than 5 thousand square meters, Tomsk, December 21. The amount of damage, according to a representative of the prosecutor's office of the Tomsk region, amounted to at least 2 billion rubles. All people were evacuated from the building. Police officers detained a resident of Tomsk, born in 1988, who was previously prosecuted, on suspicion of setting fire to a hypermarket

A micrograph depicts viral particles of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. The picture was taken in the laboratory of the "Vector" center with a microscope magnification x 150,000, Moscow, December 21