William Brumfield Although Russian chemist and photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky is best known for his photographs of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century, he also established a business ...

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 ...

Vladimir Grebnev/TASS Over four million Germans were imprisoned, captured and interned for labor in the USSR after WWII. Not all of them managed to find the road back home. “If I do survive, I will be ...

Why visit Tobolsk? Well, for one, to look at the ancient capital of Siberia, feel what the great exile Fyodor Dostoevsky and Romanovs royal family experienced here and also admire how the city has ...

We have traced how the architecture of Russian churches changed from ancient times to present day, in line with “fashion trends” and technological progress. Historically, church architecture always ...

Moscow is one of the rare cities in Russia that kept its name unchanged throughout the centuries. However, it also has several unofficial - sometimes humorous - titles that reflect its special status ...

Some movies are like vintage Polaroid images. They perfectly capture the fleeting moment while it’s there. We’ve picked up several Soviet masterpieces that were filmed in the late 1980s and captured ...

Nazi Germany and its allies sought to destroy the Soviet population on a monstrous scale. Thousands of towns and villages in the USSR were completely wiped out, together with their inhabitants. The ...

Why is its color red? What does the ‘hammer and sickle’ emblem represent? And what about the five-pointed star? Red flags and banners have been used by rioters, protesters and insurgents since ancient ...

In Russia, church bells were treated as persons: they had ears, tongues - and names. And, albeit not having their own volition, bells could be… executed and exiled for sounding at the wrong time or ...

There is no shortage of sporting greats in the Soviet and Russian pantheon, but one world record-breaking finswimmer literally earned his hero’s badge by risking his life twice to save more than 20 ...

Yulia Mulino Making bliny or crepes is not rocket science. This dish is world famous, but have you ever tried to make tiny meat wraps with them? Have a look at how we do it in Russia. Bliny are known ...