British science fiction writer Herbert George Wells visited Russia three times in the course of two decades, and he met Lenin and Stalin, as well as world famous singer Fyodor Shalyapin. Each of these ...

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 ...

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 ...

Russian exports in the first ten months of 2021 totaled $388.4 billion, an increase of 42.8% over the same period last year, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS). This growth is due ...

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 ...

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 ...

Syrniki – aka Russian cottage cheese pancakes – are one of the most beloved national breakfasts. With just five ingredients and 20 minutes you’ll have a second-to-none morning dish with a signature ...

According to Lenin’s plan, the future USSR could have had members all around the globe. But eventually, Stalin’s plan prevailed. So, how was the Union prepared? “What? Did the Bolsheviks just start ...

The Motherland Calls is enormous. The tallest statue in Europe, it is 85 meters tall and weighs 8,000 tons! It is the best-known World War II monument in Russia. Every year, thousands of tourists come ...

This is the architectural complex inside the Kremlin walls, which includes the early 19th-century Palace, the Terem Palace (the Tsars residence in 17 th century), the Palace of Facets (the hall for ...

The square in Moscow has been associated with executions, violence and torture in the 20th century. It however has a dark past that goes back all the way to the 18th century. For Russians, the word ...

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 ...