March/April 2014

On the negativity of press surrounding Sochi and why we don't even try defending Russia. That's not our beat.

On the closure of one of the last independent broadcasters.

A look at some recent events that made the news, but in ways not covered elsewhere.

Russian troops marched into Paris in March 1814 and were mostly welcomed during the duration of their occupation.

On March 23, 1714, Peter I (the Great) issued an ukaz making it illegal to break up noble estates by dividing them among multiple heirs.

A look back at the odd history of "Communist Saturdays" – or how working on non-workdays was not such a big deal.

In March 1964, a Moscow university student, A. Bankovsky, chose a rather unusual topic for his graduation project: he drew up a blueprint for a "Martian helicopter."

On the many ways shapkas have creeped into the Russian lexicon...

A witness to the turning point that was Patriarch Tikhon’s funeral, artist Pavel Korin devoted the rest of his life to putting it on canvas.

These strange, paddle-shaped boards, painted with lively folk motifs, had both practical and symbolic significance in village life.

In which a scholar of the great Russian-American writer goes in search of Nabokov’s other family estate.

A stark manifestation of Cold War fears, this hidden bunker outside London was to have housed the Prime Minister in the event of nuclear war.

The North can bewitch you, as Nikolai Gernet is reminded when he visits one of Russia’s most remote and attractive outposts.

These rich, slightly sweet pies from Karelia will warm up your end of winter days.

Reviews of two nonfiction works about spies (some in Russia, one in America), and two memoirs of Russians from very different eras.