Thirty years ago, Valentin Baranovsky began to take pictures of both everyday life and major events in his home town. This became a unique one-man artistic project to document three decades of St.Petersburg life. The photographs, to be presented in book form and through exhibitions, date from 1970 to 2000.

On New Year's Eve, 1999, while many braced for a possible Y2K disaster, Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of the Russian Federation leaving a little known prime minister in charge.

Tea was brought to Russia in the 1600s from China. Since then, the brew and its implements have become an enduring tradition of Russian society. The tea ceremony itself bonds families and communities

The origin of the Rurik Dynasty and introduction of the Orthodox Church.

The circumstances and mystery surrounding the murder of  revolutionary and Soviet leader, Sergei Kirov. On January 15, 1935, Grigori Zinoviev and 18 members of the "Moscow Centre" were tried in Leningrad for their part in the Dec. 1, 1934, assassination of Sergei Kirov.

An article on some of the most useful links for digging up your Russian roots on the web.

Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of Russia's transformation to democracy.

Today's Russian military and the status of the ABM and START II treaties.  Written in October, 1999.

An essay on what it takes to understand the conundrum that is Russia.

One million Russia lives were lost, but, Hitler was turned back and Russia can be credited with changing the tide of WWII in Europe.

If you have family roots in Russia, you are in good company. Between 1820 and 1992, according to INS data, some 3,512,332 individuals immigrated to the United States from Russia, most of them around the turn of the century (2.5 mn between 1897 and WWI).

Reconstruction showed up some problems with the land supporting the Kremlin. How past and present efforts have alternately weakened and strengthened the fundament of the famed fortress.