To thank (blagodarit) is one of the Russian language's most beautiful words. We go in for a deep dive.

Quotes, quips and asides spoken by those in the know (and not).

Bloggers and twitterers this fall, in the lead-up to the mayoral elections, were effusive in their praise of Moscow living conditions. Was it real or staged?

A dog is a basic necessity in the village, and the bigger the dog, the better. Chado is decidedly not big.

Russian law enforcement had a busy week, from taking on the ~high~ seas to putting rich jerks in their place.

Falling objects, family feuds, and friendly felines dominated our attention this week.

What’s more surprising, fake feminists or fish with bad teeth?

To selfie or not to selfie? That is the question, or at least one of the questions, addressed this week.

Russia Weekly gets wacky with singing policemen, forbidden emojis, and flying plagues.

Fishing can tell you a lot about life in the countryside, about sickness and health, chance and Fate, to say nothing of electricity and sausage

After declensions, cases, aspect, verbs of motion, pronunciation, and all the other trials of the Russian language, there is one more thing to learn: quotes, jokes and allusions. Let's do this.

Time got a little bit wibbly-wobbly and timey-wimey as Russia traveled to the future, to the past, and back to the present (and all in one week)!