Current Moscow Time: 06:36:5721 May 2013
The world’s biggest country, in a magazine. Since 1956.
Russian Life: Mar/Apr 2010
Cover: George Shpikalev
7: Sochi's Gamble
As the world watches the Vancouver Winter Olympics, we visit Sochi to consider how ready that southern capital is for the 2014 games.
Note Book
19: Perestroika
This month marks the 25th anniversary of Mikhail Gorbachev's ascent to leadership of the Communist Party. It was a time of hope unbounded, with little hint of the difficult times to come.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Russian Calendar
21: Karpov v. Fischer
The face off between Fischer and Karpov was the greatest chess match that never was, and it signaled the end of the Golden Era of Soviet chess...
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Russian Calendar
24: Dizzy with Success
How well did Stalin know history? ...Certainly he seemed to learn the lesson of "the Kind Tsar and the Evil Boyars"...
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Russian Calendar
27: Survival Russian
The role of poets in Russia has always stretched beyond the realms of literature. We look at poetry in everyday speech...
Survival Russian
28: Yaroslavl at 1000
It is not often a world city celebrates its millennial birthday, but this year that honor falls to one of Russia's most ancient and multi-faceted urban centers, Yaroslavl.
:: Translation by Paul E. Richardson
:: Illustrations/Images by George Shpikalev
Features
36: Russians Return
Twenty years after Soviet troops left Afghanistan in defeat, Russians have returned. What does this suggest for the future course of American intervention in the region?
Features
42: The Captain Has Chosen His Course
The fiercely independent Russian National Orchestra, the finest of Russian classical ensembles, turns 20 this year. We look at how they have flourished against the odds.
:: Translation by Paul E. Richardson
Music
50: Beneath Kremlin Walls
Hundreds of layers of history lie buried beneath the cobblestones and brick walls of Moscow's Kremlin. But accessing them requires negotiating with the current residents of the crenellated fortress.
:: Translation by Peter Morley
Features
56: Russian Riga
Russia and Latvia have a long and complicated history, one which is vividly reflected in the politics, society and architecture of Riga, a beautiful medieval city on the Baltic coast.
:: Translation by Leigh Mosley
Features
64: Lunch in Ages Past
A consideration of the Russian notion of lunch, Zinaida Serebriakova's painting "At Lunch," and a recipe for Raisin Buns that will warm your winter day.
Cuisine
66: New Fiction and Lenin's History
A review of Olga Grushin's new novel, The Line, and Olga Slavnikova's 2017, in addition to Helen Rappaport's history of Lenin in exile, Conspirator.
Literature
67: Online Language Study Resources
A survey of various online language learning tools which mesh vocabulary and grammar study with social networking.
Language
68: Memories of Perestroika
Malcolm Gilbert, a longtime observer of things Russian and Soviet who has been leading academic trips to Russia for over three decades, casts his gaze back to consider the changes perestroika wrought...
Post Script