Moscow's power plants take the strain as Russians struggle to keep warm amid temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius

It is the coldest spell in the Russian capital for at least a decade.

The cold has closed schools and businesses, and shut down part of the transport network. But for this policeman, it was business as usual.

Homeless people keep warm on a ventilation grid. Two people died in Moscow from hypothermia on Wednesday night. Nationally, 24 people are said to have died from exposure.

Traffic police in Moscow brave freezing conditions to control traffic. Temperatures are forecast to fall even further, a Moscow official said.

Despite the cold, Russian Orthodox believers observe the custom of a dip in icy waters on the eve on the 19 January Epiphany. This pool was cut in ice on the Moskva River.

A woman in the village of Zakhafkovo near Moscow reads by candlelight after an accident cut power supply to the village