A court case in the city of Perm unveils a story combining three quintessentially Soviet things: bathhouses, religious oppression, and an (extremely) intrusive surveillance state.

“I also don’t know that they would be able to work in the President’s administration. I do not think there is a division in the administration that deals with sports nutrition.”

– Press Secretary to the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov

Death comes in many guises in the two mystery/suspense novels we review in this issue.

Cold War nostalgia is dripping from the recently aired Russian miniseries "The Optimists: Caribbean Season."

Get out your aluminum foil hats, folks. It seems the Soviets got ESP down decades ago.

A couple in Kaliningrad has been jailed for posting a photo of their wedding.

On the life and mysteries of one of history's most famous sleeper spies, Konon Molody.

“Maximum conspiracy – this is of utmost importance. No one must be seen.”

– Konstantin Kudryavtsev, suspected as one of the FSB agents responsible for the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny in August, in a phone call with Navalny

In an astonishingly brazen operation, opposition politician Alexey Navalny pulled the ultimate punk on FSB operative Konstantin Kudryavtsev, who allegedly tried to kill him.

This week, we learn that drinking when working from home isn't so bad; it rains birds in Saratov Oblast; and Ramzan Kadyrov is saved from a sinister plot.

In disappointing-but-not-altogether-unexpected news, a prominent Kremlin critic gets hit with tea-borne poisoning.

Russia has fallen under suspicion for testing what some say is an anti-satellite weapon.