"Sometimes there is a desire to remain silent about something, to not have a falling out, but this is the wrong strategy. Conversations, conversations, and more conversations. Find out from the get-go who cannot put up with what, for whom some moments are unacceptable, what responsibilities and rights you will have, and so on.”

– Russian Psychologist Kristina Yakubova, giving advice for couples in their first year of marriage that might do any (ahem) conflicted pair some good.

When you begin to learn Russian, you may be a bit puzzled by two “nows”: теперь and сейчас. Let's clear this up, right NOW.

When they turn the electricity off in the village, everybody promptly shows up at Granny Shura’s.

A new statue in Kurgan is decidedly not the cat's pajamas, and after less than a week on display is being taken down due to public outcry.  

An indignant social media user called out an artist for her choice of subject in the heart of Kazan, but there’s another side to the story – a backside, if you will.

There are worse fashion blunders than white socks and a self-tying tie, but the chief prosecutor’s office of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory might disagree.

Meet Khokhulya: he's a Russian desman, the official eco-hero of the Kaluga Region, and now an internet personality to boot. 

"We did not have a fox in the monastery, definitely not ours, but it’s probably someone’s pet. They write that someone [at the monastery] was scared, but the fox was the most scared of all – a hundred people chased after her with their phones;  she is the main victim.”

– A resident of the Srtensky Monastery in Moscow denied that a young fox accused of terrorizing parishioners had come from the premises.

"The world is absolutely clear to me :) CHEERS.”

– Elena, wine-bearing marathon runner in September’s Galaxy Vladivostok Marathon.

You can find lots of unique and unexpected things when you take a trip into the woods in search of edible mushrooms, but a camel in Nizhny Novgorod seems to be the most outlandish find yet.  

"The App Store portal: who regulates it? Artificial intelligence, people from Mars?”

– Andrei Klimov, seeking to understand what’s going on behind the scenes with Apple’s App Store on September 17.

As policy dictates, election staff must now dispose of unused ballots in Russia's State Duma elections – and you’ll find that some have been cutting corners. Chainsaw, anyone?