Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond. For more photo galleries, see our Picture This archive.
Photos Of The Week #52
1
Volunteers play with dogs at the Vafa Animal Shelter in Hashtgerd, in Iran's Alborz Province. (epa/Abedin Taherkenareh)
2
Pope Francis kisses a statue of baby Jesus as he leads Christmas Eve Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on December 24. (Reuters/Tony Gentle)
3
Ivan Timofeenko, co-founder of "Newton Park", a private interactive Russian museum of science, dressed as Santa Claus, pours liquid nitrogen on the head of a visitor during a presentation on December 24. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin)
4
A refugee family stands in front of their caravan the day before Christmas in a camp nicknamed 'The Jungle' in the French port of Calais. (epa/Stephanie Lecocq)
5
A Pakistani Muslim celebrates the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed in Lahore on December 23. (AFP/Arif Ali)
6
Kashmiri Muslim women raise their arms as they pray upon seeing a relic of the Prophet Muhammad being displayed during the festival of Eid-e-Milad-ul-Nabi at Hazratbal shrine on a cold winter morning in Srinagar on December 24. (Reuters/Danish Ismail )
8
Projection mapping is shown on the Spasskaya Tower of the Kazan Kremlin. (TASS/Yegor Aleyev)
9
A driver of a mobile shop, dressed as "Father Frost" (a Slavic equivalent of Santa Claus), helps a woman carry products that she bought on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, on December 23. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)
10
A Christian Orthodox Russian prays at the 14-pointed silver star marking the believed location of the birth of Christ, during a candlelight procession of prayer in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on December 22. (epa/Abed Al Hashlamoun)
12
An Afghan girl walks outside her home during sunset on the outskirts of Herat. (AFP/Aref Karimi)
13
A young Afghan internally displaced person (IDP) eats a meal at an IDP camp in Kabul, Afghanistan. (epa/Hedaytullah Amid)
14
Whirling dervishes perform during a "Seb-i Arus" ceremony at Sinan Erdem Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. (epa/Sedat Suna)
15
A man walks his camel across the Liwa Oasis, southwest of the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi. (AFP/Karim Sahib)
16
People dressed as Ded Moroz (Father Frost), his granddaughter Snegurochka, and other characters, walk during a festive preholiday procession, with a board showing currency exchange rates seen in the foreground, in Krasnodar, Russia, on December 20. (Reuters/Eduard Korniyenko)
17
A woman walks on the Smetovi mountain range near Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic)