December 13, 2022 Not in the Job Description The director of a nature reserve near Novosibirsk has been arrested for illegally hunting inside his park. Animals Environment Government Russia File
June 11, 2022 An Attack on Sea Life Over 600 dolphins died and washed up on the coast of the Black Sea bordering Russia and Ukraine. Animals Environment Military News War Russia File
April 18, 2022 Help the Earth and Fight Putin German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck urges Germans to reduce energy usage to help wean the country off of Russian oil. Economy Environment Government Int'l Relations Russia File
February 23, 2022 Boring Weather Disappoints Meteorologist "During the first half of the week, the weather will be warm with temperatures eight to nine degrees above normal. Daytime temperatures are expected to be plus two to five degrees, nighttime temperatures from minus one to plus two degrees. Wind on Monday will be up to 17 m/s, precipitation is light, but also sleet and rain. This is such uniform and boring weather." – A disappointed meteorologist describing Moscow's upcoming weather Cities & Towns Environment Media Moscow Quote
February 12, 2022 All the Village Is a Stage Performance art, adventure, and psychedelia in a Russian village. What more could you want? Art Cities & Towns Culture Environment Rural Life Theater Russia File
February 08, 2022 A Cat Lady with a Cause Hundreds of kitties need homes in Novosibirsk – and this lady bought them one. Animals Environment Social Issues Russia File
January 21, 2022 Tiger Toes Get Chilly, Too An endangered Amur tiger cub undergoes surgery after falling victim to Russia's harsh winters. Animals Environment Government Russia File
January 01, 2022 Statues, Beer, and Prison Heads Our bimonthly roundup of news on Russia most others missed. Culture Environment Law Moscow
January 01, 2022 The Birdmen 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. Environment Science
December 28, 2021 Droning on About Lake Baikal Robotic drones are now being used to monitor the ecological situation of Lake Baikal. Environment Regions Russia File
December 19, 2021 Spirit of Altai This is our Video of the Week. Gorgeous drone footage from across Altai. Environment Film & TV Travel Video of the Week
December 17, 2021 A Cone-petition A challenge to collect the most pinecones turns out to be about more than just the competition itself. Environment Rural Life Russia File
November 11, 2023 to September 15, 2024 Visions of Transcendence: Creating Space in East and West Wende Museum | Culver City, CA This exhibit highlights the resilience and creative power of people deprived of their freedom or their own place to live. Art Exhibit
February 28, 2022 to December 31, 2024 Free Russian Language Guided Tours Metropolitan Museum of Art | New York, NY Russian-speaking guides conduct tours of the museum's highlights every Monday at 11 am. Art Exhibit
22 Russian Crosswords Test your knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and society with these 22 challenging puzzles taken from the pages of Russian Life magazine. Most all the clues are in English, but you must fill in the answers in Russian. If you get stumped, of course all the puzzles have answers printed at the back of the book.
Fearful Majesty This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
White Magic The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Moscow and Muscovites Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
301 Things Everyone Should Know About Russia How do you begin to get a handle on the world's largest country? This colorful, illustrated guide will get you started...
Resilience ~ The Russian Version (Переживем) Call it resilience, grit, or just perseverance – it takes a special sort of person to have survived the last 100 years of Russian and Soviet history.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
The Moscow Eccentric Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Driving Down Russia's Spine The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia.
October 14, 2016 Five Wild Facts about St. Basil's Cathedral On October 14, 1991, St. Basil’s Cathedral was reopened after six decades. Here are five fun facts in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Cathedral’s rebirth. Culture History Religion Russia File
August 22, 2020 Sad Smiles and Kremlin Corruption Recounting a 2008 meeting with activist Alexei Navalny, before he rose to prominence. Government Politics Russia File
January 10, 2014 Why Don't Russians Smile? It is a common trope that Russians never smile. Which of course is interpreted to mean they are unfriendly, gloomy, sullen – positively Dostoyevskian. This, of course, is a complete misreading of body language and cultural norms. Culture Humor Language Russia File
September 07, 2021 Using Laughter to Cope These eight outstanding Soviet comedies show some of what has made Russians laugh over the past century. Most are still watched today. (First in our new series on learning about Russia through its films.) Culture Through Film Russia File
March 07, 2022 Russian Life Takes a Pause As the world reels from the horrific, criminal events being perpetrated in Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, the Russian state, and the Russian military, all of us who nurture a love for Russian people, their culture and history, have been heartbroken. It is not easy to remain a Russophile when suddenly, all across the globe, the adjective “Russian” has become toxic. News Russia File
April 06, 2020 A Russian Gift A look at how the Jesuits, Pope Francis, and Georgetown University all share an interesting connection to Russia. History Int'l Relations Religion Russia File
