Culture & Customs

The new year is a perfect time to try borshch, which has an interesting history.

It seems the more removed in time the USSR becomes, the more nostalgia grows for its symbols and traditions. Increasingly, these elements are worming their way back into Russian life. If they ever left.

Moscow is purging theaters, clubs and a media outlet that was at the forefront of covering protest actions.

When the Editors at Russian Life asked me to write about how my friends and I (“the younger generation”) view the current state of Russian-American relations, given the events of 2014, I honestly had to pause and think about it.

As a special gift, we share a somewhat untypical holiday story, reprinted from the pages of Chtenia, by the master humorist and short story writer Mikhail Zoshchenko. 

Tyanushki - hot caramel sauce - over cranberries is a perfect treat as fall sets in.

Lenin statues have been taking a beating lately, especially in Ukraine.

As summer turned into fall, a series of highly public spats broke out in Russia, with celebrities and cultural figures demonstrating deeply polarized attitudes about the crisis in Ukraine, the Kremlin, and history.

A social state, a sense of community and shared decision making, an oddly distant government, home-grown values, and being split between Europe and Asia – according to Russians, this is what makes Russia special. But Boris Dubin's findings show that what really makes Russia special is Russia's ability to pretend no one else exists.

So, one thing about publishing is that not all the books come out perfect. So, rather than toss a few "seconds" in the recycle bin, we decided to hold a contest. Winners got free, slightly irregular books. We had fun reading the responses.

What could be more Russian than enjoying freshly cooked shashlyk at the summer dacha? Yet summer has many "seasons" of its own. And they vary even within regions.

On how the new smoking ban will play out.