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The history of Russia since 2008 has been to repeatedly lop off appendages – nose, ears, digits – to spite itself. Obsessed by erroneous threats, it has invaded its neighbors, quashed all democratic activity, rigged votes, interfered in foreign elections, harbored and/or enabled international cybercrime… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The government wants to close down Memorial, while at the same time not be seen as the sort of repressive state that brought about the need for a Memorial. Lose-lose balancing act.

Our bimonthly roundup of news on Russia most others missed.

An excerpt from the new book, The Gambler Wife, a glimpse into the life and motivations of Dostoyevsky's very successful wife.

August 27, 1698, was a day of historic importance for the grooming of the Russian male. It was then that Tsar Peter I (known to history as “the Great”), armed himself with scissors and undertook to mercilessly clip beards from the faces of summoned noblemen and boyars.

Late January 2022 marks 125 years since the first thorough count of the Russian Empire’s population was begun in 1897. What was the significance of this endeavor, how was it carried out, and what were its results?

Some thoughts on George Turberville, who served as secretary in the embassy of Queen Elizabeth I to Russia’s Ivan IV, and was one of the earliest observers (and reporters) of Russian mores.

In Russian, neither a Scrooge nor a Plyushkin be!

You may have heard of Tuva because of its stamps. But the Siberian Russian republic is so much more, offering a curious mixture of deep cultural traditions, natural beauty, and mortal danger. 

What makes them forsake their families and spend long months in isolated, Spartan cabins perched along the shores of the Baltic? The birds, of course. It’s all about the birds.

When a general retires, a village can be in real danger. Because a general cannot ever really retire, and he may or may not have the sort of useful skills that the local folk require.

The insect world had a sort of heyday in post-revolutionary Russia. We visit an exhibition devoted to this topic and explore what it all means.