A group of kids approach as we arrive on the main square of the legendary Soviet summer camp, Artek. Dressed in the same colorful uniform, they greet us with a chant, "Artekovtsi! Our beloved Artek!

During the 70 years of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the number of constituent parts changed, but most of the time there were 15 of them. Here is the list. In the beginning ...

The expression ‘Potemkin villages’ means anything made for the sole purpose of concealing the truth. The legend goes that during Catherine the Great’s journey to Crimea in 1787, Grigoriy Potemkin, the ...

Lines were a sign of the times - most goods were in short supply and their rare appearance on shelves in shops sometimes caused actual stampedes. In every Soviet food store one could almost always buy ...

Cossacks are not a race, nation, profession, nor a term for a particular location. They are all of those, combined. Let’s debunk the myths about what the Cossacks were and what they are now. They ...

A huge public celebration of the coronation of Nicholas II was planned at the Khodynskoe field in Moscow, but poor organizing caused a disaster. Peter the Great moved the Russian capital from Moscow ...

The “Battle on the Ice” where Alexander Nevsky, a Russian prince, defeated the knights of the Livonian Order, is considered a milestone in Russian history. We explain this, and other important facts ...

Georgy Zhukov fought back the Nazis and captured Berlin, but the great marshal fared worse in the dirty power struggle between communist bosses that came after the war. When Georgy Zhukov, the most ...

To see 4 out of Russia’s 5 main rivers, you need to travel to Siberia, while the famous Volga snakes through the European part of the country. President Putin's favorite band, LUBE, has a song with ...

Global Look Press, Legion Media, Public domain The Bolsheviks oppressed the Orthodox Church after seizing power in Russia – but Stalin, despite all his ruthlessness, changed things for better in this ...

According to one theory, ‘Russian roulette’ emerged in the Tsarist army as a relatively “safe” trick that easily impressed onlookers. Wulich […] invited us to sit around in a sign. [We] silently ...

Just five years before Nazi Germany’s invasion of the USSR, the construction of a giant new tank factory was complete. Uralvagonzavod provided a strong production base for hastily evacuated factories ...