Stats on HIV, salaries, doing business, death from bad eating habits, and more.

Musicians have not been spared from the criminalization of protest and expression. We also share Ilya Yashin's final words.

An excerpt from Darra Goldstein's new cookbook, Beyond the North Wind, in which she ruminates on the place of birch in Russian culture, food, and history.

Bits of data that offer insights into trends and events in Russia.

News items on everything from the ISS to politics, from banyas to a new train station.

Recent émigrés offer some poignant vignettes about adjusting to new lives.

EXCERPT: The Fall of the House of Rurik: Russia’s “Time of Troubles,” 1584-1613

Last words, and getting a bit upset about bathrooms and cosplay.

Excerpt from a new book in which the author recreates the famous journeys of the photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky.

In this new novel, set in the final year of the Soviet Union, young Sonya is reunited with her once-dissident mother, and they are on their way to navigating a new life together.

Overlooked and under-read news from all over Russia.

Russia is pushing ahead with a new drive to populate the country’s remote and unpopular fringes. Starting this year, Russians can claim a hectare (about 2.5 acres) of land in the Arctic zone – absolutely free.