July/August 2016

On meeting heroes where you are.

Grappling with Russia's ongoing brain drain.

On Prime Minister Medvedev's gaffe and ensuing viral internet video... and on unconventional protest methods.

Visiting the new Yeltsin Museum in Yekaterinburg on before the 25th anniversary of the 1991 coup.

What is Ilya's Day and what does Thor have to do with it?

Wy Russians so fear the month of August.

Coming to grips with Russian's language of love and sex.

This issue's language insert focuses on a poem by Daniil Kharms.

Recently tapped as Russia’s most beautiful village, the tiny Karelian settlement of Kinerma (population 5) was also an unforgettable stop on The Spine of Russia journey.

Seventy years after his grandfather’s escape from a military labor camp, photographer Michal Iwanowski retraces his steps, discovering both Russia and himself along the way.

2016 is the fortieth anniversary of the release of Hedrick Smith’s pathbreaking book, The Russians, the first book to truly take readers behind the Iron Curtain and into the everyday lives of Russians.

Ukraine’s bustling Black Sea port is one of that country’s most Russian of cities. And while there seems to be some dispute about how old the city is, there is no disputing that Odessa is distinctly Odessan.

Cucumbers are practically their own food group in Russia. We offer a cooling recipe...

In which we review four books: I’m Going to Ruin Their Lives, by Marc Bennetts; Black Wind, White Snow, by Charles Clover; The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep, by David Satter; and The Invention of Russia by Arkady Ostrovsky. All reviews are posted in our Book Reviews section.

A football (soccer) tourney was held in Abkhazia among unrecognized and semi-autonomous states. Russian Life was there.