Culture & Customs

Long before seasonal eating, kombucha, kimchi and other such things became a fad in the US, they were popular and well known in Russia. For the recipe we feature sour cherry vareniki (mmm!).

The life of a beloved princess changed immeasurably when her husband, an heir to the Russian throne, was murdered by terrorists.

This week Russia lost but isn’t out yet; football fans, amazingly, spread cheer across Russia; and a storm reminds us of the world outside.

Russia wins its first two World Cup games and Jeff Monson is running for CIty Council in Krasnogorsk. Does life get better than this?

Is it football or soccer? Either way, TWERF prepares for the start of the World Cup by examining Russia’s chances (not great), while still paying attention to a few other stories before the madness begins.

This week gives everybody a new lease on life, whether in the form of a photo touch up, another platform for Putin, or an actual new life for a “dead” journalist.

In a galaxy far, far away, the Millennium Falcon circled over a vicious battle with art and a dangerous passageway. That far-off galaxy being Russia, of course.

Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov is on the 15th day of a hunger strike in a northern-Siberian prison. Anton Dolin explains how Sentsov's case is a sad miscarriage of justice, and what one can or cannot do about it.

This week Russians hit the streets, waterways, and air for all sorts of occasions.

What goes up must come down: tales of flags, currencies, and seaworthy laundromats.

A vibrant cuisine is testing the limits, fusing with other national cuisines. How is this happening in Russia?

The daily lives of World War II veterans is the subject of a new art project that brings these heroes’ stories and visages front and center.