Everyone loves spreading gooey, sticky, sweet stuff on toast. You may not have heard of some of these fruits but trust us, they are delicious. Varenye (a kind of jam) is an old Russian word that means ...

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 ...

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 ...

The Bolsheviks were in at the beginning of the Communist movement in China. However, it wasn’t the followers of Mao Zedong who became the USSR’s main allies in the country. In 1949, the Communists won ...

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 ...

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 ...

Even Queen Elizabeth II has some old pieces of jewelry that once belonged to the Russian royal family. The diamond, emerald and sapphire tiaras of the Romanov dynasty were remarkable for their beauty ...

Wikipedia Mikhail Romanov, the first monarch of the dynasty that ruled Russia for more than 300 years, was not your typical tsar. He was delicate, kind and relied much on the support of a national ...

Cossacks are not a race, nation, profession, nor a term for a particular location. They are all of those, combined. Let’s debunk the myths about what the Cossacks were and what they are now. They ...

Deportations are one of the most tragic pages in Soviet history, and continue to be a sensitive issue for many members of the repressed ethnic and social groups. So what was the goal of that policy?

The mass drive to promote sport and healthy living went hand in hand with the Soviet Union’s effective isolation from all major international competition. Athletes became national heroes, but even ...

The Russian stove has always been more than just a source of heating. It is an element of culture, a sleeping place, a character in fairy tales and the focal point in a traditional Russian house. Find ...