Russian literary classics are not only dramatic plots with tragic endings, but also funny, ironic stories. We’ve picked out ...

Most Western movies about the participation of the USSR in the war against Nazi Germany contain many cliches and distortions of history. But, ...

Before 1918, distances in Russia were measured not in kilometers, but in versts. Incidentally, they differ slightly from each ...

A person who pretends to be unhappy in order to make others pity them is called a “сирота Казанская” (“sirota Kazanskaya”) or ...

There are about 800 bridges in St. Petersburg! But, did you know that the founder of the city, Peter the Great, forbade building them, at first?

Did you know that, at the beginning of the 20th century, foreigners filmed alternative movie endings for Russian audiences? It's true: ...

True to the 'X factor' of Afghanistan's nebulous, twisting history, it took a relic of the Soviet fishing industry to bring the Western war machine to a standstill. As international forces arrived ...

Russian scientists have contained an outbreak of the Siberian plague, a bacterial infection known in the West as anthrax, but they believe global warming will bring back even more pathogens, such ...

In the space of just nine months in 1917 Russia underwent two revolutions, changing the country's destiny forever. In February the Russian monarchy collapsed. In October, squeezing out the ...

Black caviar was known in Russia long before oil, and may just be more deserving of the term 'black gold.' The history of black caviar is intertwined with wars, religion, commerce and ...