Special Projects

We begin a new project, in which readers meet regular St. Petersburgers, to learn about their lives and their favorite places in the Northern Palmyra. First up: coffee!

St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 as a port on the Baltic Sea, and about 10% of its surface area is water. So we meet a boat rental company owner and find out the best place for pizza in the city.

Graphic designer, traveler, instagram explorer, Katya Kotlyar knows her home city inside out, and sees it as an artist would, as a beautiful backdrop for living.

St. Petersburg is often thought to be a gray city, as it only has about 75 sunny days each year. Still, photographer Segrey Goorin finds inspiration here for his black and white photography, capturing street life, extraordinary locals and numerous parties.   

Igor Ageyenko, 29, lives in Blagoveshchensk. This week he offers us a tour of his city, plus a few other places in the Amur oblast.

Irina Novikova explains the resilience of Smolensk, its legends, ghosts, churches and fortress. Oh, and why people stop by a city park to stroke the genitals of a bronze deer.

Constantine Gulyaev takes us on a tour of Khakassia, "warm Siberia," home to shamans, powerful mountains, petroglyphs and Russia's largest hydroelectric dam.

Anastasiya Tsayder takes us inside village living rooms and kitchens, showing a rarely scene slice of Russian rural life.

On the Spine of Russia project, journalists Richardson and Mordasov asked over 40 Russians if they were patriots, and why. Here are some of their responses...

Last week tiny Kinerma was named as this year's "most beautiful Russian village." As it turns out, Kinerma was a stop on The Spine of Russia project...

For all the romanticism commonly associated with world travel, the brutal reality is that it is often a very un-romantic undertaking to move the meat that is our bodies around in the world.

Since we will be asking lots of questions of our interview subjects, we thought it only fair to answering some questions about ourselves, so that readers can get to know us all a bit better.

One hundred years ago, in 1917, Russia was wracked by revolution, famine, foreign war, and domestic unrest. And yet, throughout 1917, babies were born, lives were started. 

On borders, learning Polish, the influence of culture, and the importance of a sense of humor.

Tea Sommelier, St. Petersburg I am a patriot of my country. Really, this is a very strange question. Can I have a moment? Because I truly love my country, my relatives, and they live here. And therefore I adore my country. I cannot tear myself away from my relatives, my work, my friends.

Owner of Valentine’s bakery, Petrozavodsk Unequivocally. There’s no need to shy from this. I am a patriot of the land where I live, because I am proud of what was done before me, and I need to do things that those who come after me will be proud of.

Co-founder and general director of Lektorium MOOC project, St. Petersburg In general, it's rude to ask a person if he is a patriot or not. I am a patriot of public education. But does that mean I am a patriot? I don't know. I work in my country, I work for it. I also work for the whole world. Yes, I am probably a patriot. In my circles, it is not proper to ask someone if they are a patriot or not. You either do good work, or don't do good work. I do good work for my country, including for the place where I studied. I graduated from this school in 2000, and have been working here for seven years. And so I am investing in the children who study here. And I work with the teachers who teach here. You've caught me off guard. You have, probably, a very well-formed question here.

Professional yachtsman, boat owner, Novorossiysk Naturally, I can call myself a patriot. A patriot of my country, a patriot of the sport of sailing. And I make every effort so that everything I love lives, grows and prospers.