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 ...

Photos of barefoot women in the subway provoked a social media storm. Is it a new flash mob or a life philosophy? In July, photos of young women walking barefoot in the Moscow and Novosibirsk subways ...

Adidas sneakers were a mainstay in the Soviet Olympic team. Then, the shoes were sold under a completely different name. Later, however, they were seen being worn by the Spetsnaz in Afghanistan.

From chaos and crime to freedom and opportunity - this period in Russian history was sort of a roller coaster ride - one we commonly refer to as the “wild 90s”. Do you remember a time before iPhones ...

Tretyakov Gallery In April 1797, 220 years ago, Emperor Paul I of Russia signed a decree limiting 'barshchina,' the obligatory work Russian serfs were forced to perform for their landowners, to three ...

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 ...

Saudi Arabia has recently launched an oil price war that affects the global economy. Previously, the same measures contributed to the collapse of the USSR. The price for extracting oil has always been ...

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 ...

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 ...

From the tiny apartment that he lived in during the 1990s to Stalin’s dacha and Romanov palaces, the leader of the largest country on Earth has quite a few places to work and relax in. This is the ...

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 ...

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 ...