A motor boat disguised as a lodya, traditional old style Russian wooden rowing boat, with an Olympic torch aboard making its way on the Volkhov River while arriving in the ancient Russian city of Veliky Novgorod, some 500 km (311 miles) northwest of Moscow on Oct. 24. Russian torchbearers have started this month the history's longest Olympic torch relay ahead of February's Winter Games in Sochi, which will take the flame across the country through all 83 of its regions, including extreme locales such as Chukotka, the remote region in Russia's Far East, the turbulent North Caucasus, and even Russia's European exclave Kaliningrad. (Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee via AFP/Getty Images) #