The Russian state received a huge territory stretching to the upper Oka and Dnepr rivers with 19 border towns, including Chernihiv, Gomel, Novgorod-Siversky, and Bryansk. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

The hypersonic missile, fourth-generation tank and upgraded MIG - this is what Ded Moroz (Russian Santa) is planning to bring to Russian troops for the New Year. In 2018, the Russian military signed a ...

From a 17th century priest’s biography and Pushkin’s prose to modern writers - these translations of both contemporary and classic books are definitely worth your time. Add them to your Christmas ...

Crowns were usually made individually for each emperor and then broken up afterwards. But some pieces of imperial regalia did survive and can now be seen in museums. Before Peter I, the Tsar's most ...

In old Russia, the steam bath, aka ‘banya’, was a place where people washed themselves, while these days, it’s rather a popular attraction, especially among foreigners. Let’s take a peek at what it ...

Almost seven days on the train, covering a distance of 9,300 km (5,772 miles) with 145 stops - the longest railway in the world runs literally through the whole of Russia. During the journey, ...

The Alexeyev Psychiatric Clinical Hospital was built to give mentally ill people help, peace and quiet, instead of old and cruel treatment measures. As Moscow grew, the Preobrazhenskaya Hospital (the ...

Soviet Union, the Congress of Soviets, Soviet of Federation – the word has been and is still widely used in Russia, but what does it exactly mean? During the Soviet times, the USSR was often called ...

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 ...

After the book was dismissed by Soviet censorship, independent translators took a great risk spreading Tolkien’s fiction in the Soviet Union. Amidst the Cold War, Soviet censorship was suspicious of ...

In its long and brutal history, there was only one time when Russia was conquered by another state. Despite suffering major defeats and losing wars, Russia has always retained its independence. Only ...

White, blue and red - the connection with the Dutch flag and shipbuilding and how the colors were interpreted at different times. As with many countries, the flag is one of Russia’s main state emblems ...