Author

John Varoli

John Varoli is a American journalist living in Russia since 1992 (4 years in Moscow, and 11 years in St. Petersburg). He moved to Russia to improve his language skills, and now is father to two Russian sons who are always ready to correct his grammar mistakes. He is currently the Arts & Culture reporter in the former Soviet Union for Bloomberg News.

Art Repatriated
Russian Life: Mar/Apr 2009
Russia is quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) searching out and bringing home lost treasures. This is the story of one of those quests - to return to Russia a rather amazing and singular collection.
Author: John Varoli
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Bottling Dreams
Russian Life: Sep/Oct 2008
French champagne is bubbling on the Black Sea coast. A hundred-year-old winery strives to make a respectable vintage in time for the 2014 Olympic games.
Author: John Varoli
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Crime & Punishment: Russia's Prison System
Russian Life: Oct/Nov 1999
Russia's prison system houses more prisoners per capita than any other nation on Earth. And the system's problems are as old and pernicious as when it was founded 120 years ago.
Author: John Varoli
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The Silent Killer
Russian Life: Oct/Nov 1999
A look at the threat of TB in Russia's prisons and beyond.
Author: John Varoli
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A Birthday Gift
Russian Life: Apr/May 1999
A short piece on the centennial birthday celebration for Nabokov to be held in his childhood home in downtown St. Petersburg.
Author: John Varoli
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Close Quarters: The Rise & Fall of the Kommunalka
Russian Life: Apr/May 1999
Seven percent of Russians live in communal apartments, kommunalki. By all indications, this dinosaur from the communist era will not be extinct anytime soon.
Author: John Varoli
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The Russian Museum: 100 Years of Russian Treasures
Russian Life: Oct/Nov 1998
There is no more Russian museum than St. Petersburg's Russian Museum, as we found when we looked behind the paintings at this storehouse of Russian art.
Author: John Varoli
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Burying the Romanovs
Russian Life: Aug/Sept 1998
Tsarism was brought to a close with the burial of the Romanov bones in St. Petersburg on July 17, 1998. But were they the Romanov bones? The controversy continues.
Author: John Varoli
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