The exceptional life story of the father of the first Romanov tsar, the reluctant Patriarch, Filaret.

On July 14, 2019, Magadan will celebrate the 80th anniversary of its founding. Alas, this date, like so much else in the city’s history, is a lie.

The moon landing as it was (not) seen from Russia.

Today, now that the huge dome of St. Isaac’s towers over the center of the city, not far from the granite embankment, the sumptuous Senate and Synod Building, and the iconic Bronze Horseman statue, it is hard to imagine that in its first incarnation this church was much smaller and located on the Admiralty Meadow.

In early May, everyone is feeling exhausted after a long, vitamin-deprived winter: schoolchildren are dragging themselves to the June 1 school-year finish line, and their parents are just starting to recover from the cold, dark winter. That’s when the holidays hit.

In the spring of 1989, elections were held: “alternative elections.” This redundant phrase, which today provokes smirks, back then had everyone in a state of euphoria. We had a choice!

One hundred and twenty years ago, the first electric tram went into operation in Moscow.

No matter how many times I watch Diamond Arm («Бриллиантовая рука»), I never cease to wonder at the fact that this film managed to make it to screens all across the Soviet Union in April 1969.

What was the spring of 1969 like in the Soviet Union? A cloud of gloom had descended on the country, enveloping both those who could not see it (or at least thought it had nothing to do with them) and those only too aware of it.

Pavel Bazhov, Russia's greatest modern fabulist, had a complicated and eventful life.

How salt riots and a young tsar led to a Zemsky Sobor and a new body of laws, The Council Code.

Russia has its own way of marking Twelfth Night (Ephiphany). But as a Christian holiday it misses the mark.