The disclosure of the files offered a unique insight into one of the most secretive organizations of the Cold War era. In the spring of 1992, a Russian man knocked on the doors of the UK Embassy in ...

This architectural utopia of the Soviet authorities became one of the most outstanding examples of engineering and architectural thought. Albeit, only on paper. The Palace of the Soviets is the most ...

A century ago, the radical Bolshevik party captured Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), thus beginning the 70-year period of Communist rule in Russia. The Winter Palace, the very symbol of royal power, ...

This country house, built on the outskirts of the Peterhof estate near St. Petersburg, is a dacha that the emperor built for his beloved wife. Thе Cottage Palace combines luxurious palace interiors ...

Public domain Tsarevich Alexei’s short life was full of pain and suffering: he was afflicted by a congenital disease his entire life, and was shot by the Bolsheviks at the age of 13. When Alexandra ...

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 ...

Stalin treated his firstborn son like any other Soviet soldier. When he went to war, Yakov Dzhugashvili didn't get a cushy job at HQ but rather plunged right into the thick of the action on the front ...

Aleksei Balabanov/CTB Film Company, 1997 “To make a film is easy; to make a good film is war. To make a very good film is a miracle,” Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu once said.

From the Arctic Circle to Kazakhstan, from the western borders to the Far East — the Gulag system in Stalin's time encompassed the entire USSR. “Gulag” is often used to describe any Soviet prison or ...

Even Queen Elizabeth II has some old pieces of jewelry that once belonged to the Russian royal family. The diamond, emerald and sapphire tiaras of the Romanov dynasty were remarkable for their beauty ...

These so-called vory v zakone - or zakonniki (‘Thieves in Law’) are the kings of the criminal underworld. This group of respected bigshots, who control the majority of the criminal world, both in ...

Everything you wanted to know about the USSR’s notorious security apparatus. From its inception and until the end of the Soviet Union, the KGB was a prominent force in Soviet politics and society. Its ...