July 13, 2009 From Mikhail to Michael Four years ago, in August 2005, then Senator Barack Obama was detained for three hours at a Siberian airport. Obama, with Senator Dick Lugar, was on a US delegation touring nuclear warhead storage and disposal sites. Russian border guards insisted on searching the delegation's plane. The senators refused... History Int'l Relations Russia File
July 10, 2009 ICBM Launch Agreement Background information and text of the 1988 treaty between the U.S. and Soviet Union regarding ICBM and SLBM launches. History Int'l Relations Russia File
July 07, 2009 Obama's Speech in Moscow President Obama gave a nice tribute to Russian culture in his speech to Moscow college students. Culture Int'l Relations Russia File
July 01, 2009 Gogol 101 In which columnist Mikhail Ivanov impresses upon his son the importance of reading Gogol, sharing several important Gogolisms along the way.
July 01, 2009 Pity the Miliman When Denis Yevsyukov went on a shooting rampage in a Moscow supermarket, it turned public (and presidential) attention toward the most corrupt of Russia's public institutions.
July 01, 2009 Alexander Godunov The god-like ballet dancer Alexander Godunov defected on August 23, 1979. It was a dramatic event, riveting the world for 3 days. And Godunov did not fare so well in the US after his defection.
July 01, 2009 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact In the spring of 1939, world war appeared inevitable. Hitler was on the march in Europe and the Soviet Union was looking to avoid war for as long as possible. By August, Stalin had decide to cast his lot with Hitler...
July 01, 2009 Socialist Realism Socialist Realism, a new art form devised by Stalin and Maxim Gorky, was pronounced to the world as the henceforth official path of Soviet art in August 1934. We look back...
July 01, 2009 Farm Preserves While variety may be the spice of life, it is the simplest food that fosters friendship, especially when it is offered from the heart. Columnist Darra Goldstein remembers her time as a guide at a US Exhibit in Moscow and shares a recipe for salted mushrooms.
