Current Moscow Time: 07:36:1024 May 2013
The world’s biggest country, in a magazine. Since 1956.
Russian Life: July/Aug 2009
Cover: Evgeny Parfyonov
7: Pity the Miliman
When Denis Yevsyukov went on a shooting rampage in a Moscow supermarket, it turned public (and presidential) attention toward the most corrupt of Russia's public institutions.
Note Book
19: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
In the spring of 1939, world war appeared inevitable. Hitler was on the march in Europe and the Soviet Union was looking to avoid war for as long as possible. By August, Stalin had decide to cast his lot with Hitler...
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Russian Calendar
21: Socialist Realism
Socialist Realism, a new art form devised by Stalin and Maxim Gorky, was pronounced to the world as the henceforth official path of Soviet art in August 1934. We look back...
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Russian Calendar
23: Alexander Godunov
The god-like ballet dancer Alexander Godunov defected on August 23, 1979. It was a dramatic event, riveting the world for 3 days. And Godunov did not fare so well in the US after his defection.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Russian Calendar
26: Gogol 101
In which columnist Mikhail Ivanov impresses upon his son the importance of reading Gogol, sharing several important Gogolisms along the way.
:: Illustrations/Images by Victor Bogorad
Survival Russian
28: The Beauty Hunter
Anton Alfer has a problem. He is a model scout in the land of models. Fifty percent of the world's top models issue from the former Soviet Union. Alfer has to choose which girls will make it and which won't.
Features
34: Soviet Karelia
Eighty years ago, thousands of Finns who had emigrated to America were convinced to return east, to create a new, Finnish homeland in the Soviet Republic of Karelia. Things did not work out exactly as planned.
Features
42: The 1959 Kitchen Debate
Fifty years ago this summer, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and American Vice President Richard Nixon sparred before the media, debating the merits of Capitalism versus Communism on the site of the first-ever American Exhibition in Moscow. It set the stage for 40 years of cultural exchanged.
Features
48: We Have No News...
Vladimir Mukusev, once a media star, has been persona non grata on Russian television for a decade. We hand him a mike.
:: Translation by Paul E. Richardson
Interview
51: Walking for the Tsar
Ninety years after their assassination in Yekaterinburg, the Romanov Royal Family has become an object of intense devotion and veneration.
Features
60: Farm Preserves
While variety may be the spice of life, it is the simplest food that fosters friendship, especially when it is offered from the heart. Columnist Darra Goldstein remembers her time as a guide at a US Exhibit in Moscow and shares a recipe for salted mushrooms.
Cuisine
62: Summer Reading
Selections include: The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight; Londongrad; Kamchatka; Red Sky, Black Death; Wave of Terror; Ballerina (DVD)
Under Review
64: Khrushchev v. Nixon
John Jacobs was press officer for the first ever American Exhibit in Moscow. He offers a first-hand view of the Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen Debate.
Post Script
65: Uchites 04
The fourth edition of our Uchites language insert, sponsored by Russkiy Mir Foundation, uses the theme of media and news to explore grammar, build vocabulary and facility in reading Russian.
Language