While Russia and the United States border each other in the North Pacific, the two countries often seem to be very far apart. Nevertheless, the U.S. has many towns and cities that still bear traces of ...

Some claim the book is always better than the film. Others argue that screen adaptations help give new life to books that no longer thrill and challenge. Whatever side of the debate you take, have a ...

From his well-known passion for judo and karate to mountain skiing, hiking, and even car racing – the Russian leader is in perfect shape and excels at many sports. Vladimir Putin began judo classes ...

There are a bunch of rivers and brooks in Moscow that have been moved underground and some of them are really long. Likhoborka is the longest underground river in Moscow: it’s 18 kilometers long and ...

There are no true members of the Skoptsy sect left in contemporary Russia. But in the 19th century, according to some sources, this organization that believed in the absolution of sins through ...

The kremlin in Nizhny Novgorod stands in the city’s historic center. Although a wooden fortress stood here long before it, construction of the stone Kremlin began in 1500. The remaining walls of the ...

Lenin worked as a translator, and Stalin worked in an observatory. But these weren’t their best-paid gigs, for sure. When the first Soviet leaders came to power, they broadcast slogans like “Land to ...

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 ...

One of Stalin’s leading deputies wanted to obliterate the iconic Red Square landmark in order to open a passage for parading tanks. Stalin, however, refused to agree to the plan. But who was the ...

Only chance prevented the “executioner” of the last Russian tsar from selling the crown to the West. Now its destiny resides in the hands of one just man. Before the creation of the Imperial Crown, ...

Even if you are not a serious alpinist, visiting these stunning peaks will add some adventure to your Russian holiday. “Is there anything better than mountains? Mountains that you haven’t visited yet.

To describe the Soviet penal system, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who survived eight years of Gulag incarceration, wrote a massive book titled ‘Archipelago Gulag’ after collecting hundreds of memoirs of ...