Thursday, 1 October 2026 · Almaty

Ilyukhina, that photo where you seem to be sneaking into the Kremlin is legendary

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Ilyukhina, that photo where you seem to be sneaking into the Kremlin is legendary

In real life, one ought to be rather careful with such objects, of course. Besides fines and arrest, such a prank could carry several other cheerless consequences: a preventive entry in the databases of the security services, registration with a psychiatrist, referral for compulsory psychiatric evaluation and, naturally, compensation for damages. For the slightest chip of a brick or of the paint layer on a 500-year-old building, a court may require you to pay for restoration work, the cost of which is sometimes assessed at colossal sums.

And that is to say nothing of the man who tried to climb onto the pedestal of the monument to Minin and Pozharsky and was crushed to death by a bronze plaque that fell on him.

It is fortunate that in this case we are dealing with part of an outer fence or parapet, where there seems to be nothing to fall off and which, most likely, is not itself a protected object. But considering that St Basil's Cathedral is an especially valuable object of cultural heritage and is on the UNESCO List, the fine for such pretensions can run to several million, and the punishment can take the form of compulsory labour or deprivation of liberty for up to 6 years.

So had Ilyukhina pressed on with further attempts for the sake of a pretty shot, she would most likely have ended her evening at the Kitay-gorod police station with very serious problems. But here we speak of this scene from "Project Hail Mary" purely as a harmless adventure that impressed Ryan Gosling.

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