Muzhiki are the most widespread caste in the Russian penal colony system. Unlike the blatniyeh, these guys are not professional criminals or regular prison guests. Members of this caste end up in ...

This is the only residence that officially belongs to Putin as a private individual. This 77-square-meter apartment is remarkably modest for Russia’s president. Little is known about how it ...

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.

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 ...

Apart from Nazi warships, submarines and Luftwaffe aircraft, the convoys faced another, just as tough, adversary: the elements. Rough and unpredictable Arctic storms were the least of it ...

Russia sells more wheat than any other country in the world. At the same time, its domestic grain consumption is growing, too. So how did Russia ...

This is one of the most terrifying pages in Soviet history, devoted to the forced industrialization and remote lands’ development at the expense of ...

Everything you wanted to know about the USSR’s notorious security apparatus. From its inception and until the end of the Soviet Union, the KGB was a prominent force in Soviet politics and ...

The great poet’s death has taken on an almost mythical status in Russian culture. Here are five interesting facts about this seminal event in Russian ...

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 ...

Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II who was shot dead by the Bolsheviks together with his family, could have escaped this grim fate and left Russia after ...

It is also one of the most horrifying and difficult movies about World War II which will haunt you for a long time. Come and See is often considered to be the best war movie of all time and is for ...