Culture & Customs

Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak faces punishment for flaunting the new "Z" symbol in support of the Russian invasion on Ukraine. 

In 2014, Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov wrote this beautiful short orchestral work, "Prayer for Ukraine." A German orchestra is sharing it as a symphonic symbol of solidarity and hope.

Today is International Women's Day, which traces its roots to 1917, when Russian women demanded "bread and peace." Four days later the tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote. What's going on today in Russia?

Putin has been stripped of two martial arts honors in response to his invasion of Ukraine.

This Russian sweet pastry has turned heads since ancient times. Because it's still delicious.

Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev writes a "no war please" message on a camera after a match. 

In recent months the Russian press corps has been honing its euphemistic language skills, wondering how to talk crap.

Dubbed the “Mother Teresa of Dagestan,” Aishat Magomedova wanted something very simple: to give the women of Dagestan access to quality health care. Apparently, she did too good a job.

The life of a street musician is not an easy one. But it is one thing to busk with a guitar or pan flute, quite another to have to set up a complex vertical xylophone made of bottles.

The Novosibirsk Zoo in Siberia announced that, for 2022, its new mascot would be chosen by a public vote. It turned into a scandal.

In a remote corner of Siberia, the last of a family of Old Believers lives her life in a state of time out of time. With a little help from some friends.

In which we share a few illustrative facts and figures from the war in Ukraine.