Andrei Royev said he and the other Grandpas had plenty of sky-diving experience as members of an armed-forces-affiliated sports club that trains at the local aerodrome. "We'd been planning a jump along these lines for some time, but this was the first year we managed to get the costumes together," he told the Inform Polis website. Mr Royev says most club members see their future with the air-rescue services, and thought a jump would be a good way of "passing on New Year's greetings to everyone".