The disaster was the deadliest in the Black Sea during peacetime. The sinking of the passenger liner, Admiral Nakhimov, shocked society so much that the ship was given the tragic name of Soviet ...

Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov passed away in the Moscow Region in May 2017. Only a few months later the world came to know about his death, despite the fact he saved humanity by making ...

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 ...

The most famous fictitious last name Vladimir Ulyanov ever used is, undoubtedly, Lenin. But it was one of about 150 monikers. Let’s take a closer look at the possible origins of the iconic pseudonym.

A huge group of German troops held out in western Latvia until the final capitulation of the Third Reich. Soviet soldiers jokingly called it a “camp for armed POWs”. By noon on April 25, 1945, the Red ...

The Russian Civil War opened a window of opportunity for Japan. Its ambitions extended not only to the Russian coast of the Pacific Ocean, but to the whole of vast Siberia, too. The large-scale ...

Grigoriy Rasputin, the infamous ‘mad monk’ and close friend of the last Russian emperor and his family, was murdered on December 17th, 1916. But is it true that British intelligence was involved? In ...

Drivers in the coldest regions make blankets for their car engines, and some even keep the motor running from autumn until spring! In many Russian regions harsh winters are the norm – people and their ...

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 ...

Large parts of northern Russia don’t get to see any sunrises or sunsets during the winter. How does darkness аround the clock affect the lives of ordinary people? Imagine this: You wake up, and it's ...

Before the revolution, vacationing at seaside resorts was the preserve of the wealthy nobility. The Soviet government rectified the situation by sending the most important members of society—peasants, ...

Fedor Jeftichew had a rare disease — hypertrichosis. He earned fame in the 19th century as a circus freak, displaying his unusual condition to the public. The producer of the show even made the poor ...