From the effects of the coronavirus pandemic to the aftermath of armed clashes, here are some of the most striking images of the year as taken by RFE/RL's photographers.
2021: The Year's Best From RFE/RL's Photographers
- By Lucie Steinzova and
- Kateryna Oliynyk
1
Children on a bus during the valenki (felt boot) festival in Kukmor, Tatarstan, Russia, on January 5.
2
Serbians celebrate Orthodox Christmas Eve at the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade on January 6.
3
A man wears a costume during the celebration of the Malanka winter holiday in the village of Krasnoyilsk in western Ukraine on January 14.
4
A man submerges himself in icy water for the Epiphany celebration in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on January 18.
5
Police arrest a man during a march calling for the release of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, on January 31.
6
A man lights a candle during a day of remembrance for victims of communism in Sofia, Bulgaria, on February 1.
7
Belarusian journalists Katsyaryna Andreyeva (right) and Darya Chultsova on trial in Minsk, Belarus, on February 9. They were jailed for two years for "organizing public events aimed at disrupting civil order." The sentence was widely seen as a politically motivated response to their reporting on anti-regime protests in Belarus.
8
A man lights a candle in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 18, at a monument honoring the "Heavenly Hundred," the 104 people killed by security forces during anti-government protests in 2014.
9
An activist is confronted by police officers during a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 28.
10
The Mother Armenia monument in Yerevan, Armenia, on March 5.
11
Women at a march for gender equality on International Women's Day in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 8.
12
A skier performs a dramatic jump during the 18th Freestyle World Ski Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on March 11.
13
Wooden crosses mark the burial places of 42 prisoners killed during a 1953 uprising at the Vorkuta forced-labor camp in Russia.
14
A medic checks a patient in a hospital that is overcrowded with COVID-19 patients in Lviv, Ukraine, on April 6.
15
A Ukrainian soldier pets a dog in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on April 17.
16
A man in the remains of a house in Batken Province, Kyrgyzstan, on May 4, after deadly armed clashes along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
17
A woman on Mount Chatyr-Dag in Crimea, Ukraine, on May 16. Crimean Tatar youth climb the mountain every year to honor the memory of those who died during the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944.
18
A medic performs a swab test for COVID-19 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on May 24.
19
Catholic faithful at a forest chapel near the village of Dubok in Belarus on July 4. The chapel is open just once a year.
20
A rally at the parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, in support of an LGBT Pride event, on July 6. Far-right activists attacked some Pride events in the city, resulting in the death of a cameraman and dozens of injuries.
21
People at a protest called "Flowers of Ukraine" in Kyiv on July 12. Activists were demonstrating against the demolition of a modernist late-Soviet building.
22
A man sells a sheep at a livestock market on the Kurban Ait holiday in the Almaty region, Kazakhstan, on July 20. The festival, also known as Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, is celebrated at the end of the hajj.
23
A soldier and a young girl watch the Independence Day march in Kyiv, Ukraine, which marked 30 years of statehood on August 24.
24
Teenagers try to catch a signal to go online in the village of Chebotarevo, in the West Kazakhstan region, on August 27.
25
Soldiers take part in a parade marking the 30th anniversary of Kyrgyz independence at Ala-Too Square in Bishkek, on August 31.
