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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.
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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).
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Smoke rises above houses in the village of Maralayi, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
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A man takes a drink in the cabin of his truck in the village of Ytyk-Kyuyol in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
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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.
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Ruslan, 35, loads blocks of ice onto a truck outside Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
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Igor Vinokurov, 35, knocks snow and ice off a frozen washing line in the village of Oymyakon, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
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A car covered in ice is pictured near a playground in Yakutsk, in the Republic of Sakha, northeast Russia.
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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.
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A man walks through a tunnel formed from crystals of permafrost outside the village of Tomtor in the Oymyakon valley in northeast Russia.