All photographs: Maxim Shemetov
The coldest temperatures in the northern hemisphere have been recorded in Sakha, the location of the Oymyakon valley, where according to the United Kingdom Met Office a temperature of -67.8 degrees Celsius was registered in 1933 -- the coldest on record in the northern hemisphere since the beginning of the 20th century.
Andrei Vinokurov, 37, a wrestling trainer, poses for a picture in the village of Tomtor in the Oymyakon valley in northeastern Russia.
Yet despite the harsh climate, people live in the valley, and the area is equipped with schools, a post office, a bank, and even an airport runway (though open only in the summer).
Smoke rises above houses in the village of Maralayi, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
A man takes a drink in the cabin of his truck in the village of Ytyk-Kyuyol in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
A car drives through the snow at night near Vostochnaya meteorological station, some 500 km northeast of Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
Ruslan, 35, loads blocks of ice onto a truck outside Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
Igor Vinokurov, 35, knocks snow and ice off a frozen washing line in the village of Oymyakon, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
A car covered in ice is pictured near a playground in Yakutsk, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
The roof of a house is covered with snow in the village of Tomtor in the Oymyakon valley in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
A man walks through a tunnel formed from crystals of permafrost outside the village of Tomtor in the Oymyakon valley in northeast Russia.