Culture & Customs

It is not an easy task to sell the very American sport of baseball in a time of state-sanctioned anti-Americanism. But that doesn’t stop the Gladikovs.

The personal and professional have become increasingly intertwined in considerations of the life and work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Music historian Richard Taruskin shows that this is nothing new – it all began shortly after the master composer's death.

Stuffed prunes. So much more than you think they are. Luxurious and tasty, and a perfect treat for spring.

Who knew? The heart of Siberia, a place best known for its severe winters, was the birthplace of one of the most original, raw rock movements ever to hit the USSR.

Sure, everyone knows the name Baba Yaga. But do you know where she lives? Do you know Koschey the Immortal, or Zmey Gorynych? How well do you know the spirits of the forest? Read up on these key characters of Russian fairy tales!

International Womens' Day; Russia honors the role of all women in Russian culture.

No time like Lent for some Shchi! We offer both lenten and non-lenten options for making this hearty and tasty dish.

The Caucasus is a region rich in tradition and often impenetrable to outside understanding. The modernized ritual of “bride kidnapping” is a case in point; we asked a local journalist to guide us.

The remote Russian-Norwegian-Finnish borderlands offer some of the starkest contrasts between cultures and history you will find anywhere on Earth.

This issue's Trends section looks at the impact of inflation and the dustup over Leviathan.

There has been a proliferation of professional holidays in Russia, and those falling in the spring have a peculiar "bent" toward the military and law enforcement bodies...

Leviathan is not, as virtually every mainstream critic has presumed, “anti-Russian.” I watched the movie resolutely prepared to intensely dislike it. I fully believed it would shamelessly pander to an American public eager to see a film that demonized Putin and made the country seem like a hellish landscape of unsalvageable bleakness. But that was not at all the case.