The statistics regarding Russia's orphaned and/or abandoned children are quite disturbing with Americans making up the majority of foreign adoptive parents. Reforms have been implemented but do little to improve living conditions in Russia's orphanages. What does the future hold for these children?

Russia's turbulent Time of Trouble, period between the Rurik and Romanov Dynasties.

Russia and Japan have yet to sign a WWII peace treaty. At the center of the dispute are four ancient volcanic islands, part of the Kuril Islands help by Russia and known to Japan as the Northern Territory.

The turbulent life of this Russian author {1868-1936}, his experience with oppression and involvement in the Russian revolution make him one of his country's most loved and important writers. Gorky was born March 28, 1868.

One version of Russian blackbread, a mainstay of the traditional diet.

Find out what the traditional Russian mealtime fare is.

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.

From a land not known for high fashion and which many Westerners think is filled with gray clad babushkas, the Pavlovsky Posad shawls come as quite a surprise.

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.