Pariahs Germany and Soviet Russia make a pact in 1922 that sets the stage for decades of suffering.

It is difficult to imagine anyone in Russia (or the former USSR) who does now know who Kornei Chukovsky is.

Of all the figures that have risen to prominence throughout the history of Russian culture, few have been so plagued by misfortune as architect Vasily Bazhenov.

How the introduction of Peter I's merit-based system of ranks changed Russian society after its introduction in 1722.

A look back at the law of February 15, 1947, that outlawed Soviets' marriage to foreigners, and a marvelous 1967 play that wonderfully dramatized the sad situation.

A short consideration of the life and work of Alexander Scriabin, born on Jan. 6, 1872, a composer whose life was cut tragically short, but who nonetheless set the stage for much that was to come.

A ground-eye view of the end of the USSR, which took place 20 years ago this month.

In 1927 the writer Alexander Belyayev wrote a story about a young man who was able to live under water... in 1961 it became a hit film: Amphibian Man.

When a volcano erupted in Peru in 1600, it had huge effects not only in South America, but across the globe. And especially in Russia, where crop failures led to hunger and discontent, eventually leading to the Time of Troubles.

Murmansk was founded 95 years ago this October. We look back at the history of its founding and its appearance in a particularly important piece of literature.

The story of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, arguably Russia's most significant reformer, can be told in very different ways.

it was on October 19, 1811 that, in the presence of His Highness Emperor Alexander I, the Lyceum at Tsarskoye Selo was inaugurated. The institution’s first years, like everything associated with the name of Alexander Pushkin, has long since become the stuff of legend within Russian culture.