A library's famous cat now resides with the big yarn ball in the sky, thanks to foul play.

The veneration and preservation of nature are at the root of Mari culture. We get a unique inside look at their most sacred annual ritual of worship.

When you are deep in the woods, enjoying a day of raspberry picking with friends, anything is possible.

We have all had to experience some unplanned isolation during the pandemic. So we decided to visit some Russians who have long been living isolated lives.

A herd of camels, released by an 83-year-old pensioner, is wreaking havoc in Astrakhan region.

Was it aliens? Secret nuclear testing? Bigfoot? The Russian Prosecutor-General's office claims to have solved one of Soviet Russia's most perplexing mysteries.

A woman returns to the village of her birth and an unlikely and fateful connection ensues.

A look at the history and cultural influence of dachas.

A Siberian village names a well after a Soviet hero.

It mows and fertilizes. What could possibly go wrong?

In this week's Odder News: post-Soviet leaders propose innovative treatments for coronavirus, phone chargers go bad, and Russian buyers have an opening in the European real estate market.

As if trapped in a time warp, a remote village school in the Mari El Republic preserves a largely forgotten style of schooling, mostly cut off from the twenty-first century.