When Tolstoy started Anna Karenina, he was forty-four. He guessed that he would finish the novel, conceived as only a novella, in two weeks. Anna Karenina took him more than four years.

A new series has taken Russia by storm this summer. Set in a provincial Caucasian town, Chiki (Chicks) is about four girlfriends trying to escape their lives as sex workers and launch a fitness club – the first in the area.

News, quotes, and tidbits from all around Russia.

Some statistics to illustrate recent trends in Russian society.

When environmentalists sounded the alarm this time about a spill of diesel fuel from a power station reserve tank near Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, the government response was uncharacteristically serious.

News, quotes and tidbits from around Russia.

An excerpt from a new book about a quest to find an elusive owl, in which an expedition member tells a harrowing tale of survival.

Looking back at the early Soviet years when the young state launched anti-handshake campaigns.

On the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, we offer two excerpts from a new translation of Viktor Nekrasov’s In the Trenches of Stalingrad.

Russian literature is rich with experiences of isolation. We check in with a few famous writers of the past.

Something virtually unprecedented happened this winter: five Russian policemen were arrested and charged with framing up an innocent man.

In which Russia discovers old frescoes, a lost grave, and a new PM. Among other news.