Writer and commissar Dmitry Furmanov died 90 years ago. If you don’t recognize his name, it may be because he’s better known for his character Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev, a Red Army commander who achieved victory via potatoes. 

We know comparatively little about the relationship between Akhmatova and Modigliani, but sometimes a few pictures can speak volumes. In honor of Anna Akhmatova's birthday (June 11, old style; June 23 new style), we reprint this essay, originally published in Russian Life, Jan/Feb 2011.

A look back at the heady Gorbachev era, a time of rationing and glasnost, perestroika and cooperatives, when everything seemed possible.

A look back at 1861, the year where everything began... to fall apart.

Fifteen years after the new Shtandart launched, boat builders on Solovetsky created a replica of an even older ship: the first Russian naval ship built on Russian soil, in 1693.

In the spring of 1703, Peter the Great oversaw the building of Russia’s first Baltic fleet flagship. In 1995, Vladimir Martus decided to build a replica.

Half a century ago, the Soviet dissent movement began when two young writers were put on trial for publishing their works abroad and “slandering the state.” We consider how this relates to modern events.

It has been a year since Boris Nemtsov was shot as he walked along a bridge near the Kremlin, yet Russians continue to gather at his assassination site.

On February 24, 1956, Khrushchev delivered his now infamous secret speech. It would change everything... sort of...

Thirty years ago tomorrow, the Mir Space Station was launched. It was a technological wonder of its time.

This week, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill met in Havana. Why was this such a big deal?

The destruction of 97 kiosks around Moscow opens up the controversies of architectural preservation, the plight of small businesses, and the rebuilding of history itself.