Current Moscow Time: 08:48:4918 June 2013
The world’s biggest country, in a magazine. Since 1956.
Russian Life: Mar/Apr 2012
Cover: Nina Bogdan
4: Russian Idol
Polls and what Russians think about the man in the Kremlin.
Editorial
7: Putin's Quest
How Putin will win the election, by focusing on the desire for stability.
Politics
8: Pseudonyms and other News Items
Our pages of news in our Note Book and Travel Notes sections cover items as varied as the new American ambassador, a writer's three pseudonyms, Zhirinovsky's bluster, Moscow future Central Park, and more.
Note Book
12: Tennis, Hockey and Skating
Wrap up of Youth Olympic Games, skating championships and tennis finals.
Sports
14: Wifi on rails and in cafes
A round-up of travel related news from around Russia, from a new torture museum, to Moscow cafes that charge by the minute.
Travel
16: Wordsmiths (Trends)
A look at the signs of the times: the flavor and signage at Russian demonstrations.
Politics
19: Kornei Chukovsky
It is difficult to imagine anyone in Russia (or the former USSR) who does now know who Kornei Chukovsky is.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Literature
21: Vasily Bazhenov
Of all the figures that have risen to prominence throughout the history of Russian culture, few have been so plagued by misfortune as architect Vasily Bazhenov.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Architecture
23: The Outcasts Join Forces
Pariahs Germany and Soviet Russia make a pact in 1922 that sets the stage for decades of suffering.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
History
26: Out of the Blue
Navigating the two different words for "blue" and their many hues in meaning.
:: Illustrations/Images by Victor Bogorad
Survival Russian
27: Kornei Chukovsky
A biography of Chukovsky and a poem by the master.
Uchites
28: The Long Retreat
Soviet Russia was never more threatened than when the Czech Legion nearly turned the tide in the Civil War (1918-1922). We follow the story of one noble family, whose fate was wrapped up in this dramatic historical episode.
:: Illustrations/Images by Nina Bogdan
History
36: The Ice Has Broken
As the old saying has it, you can never tire of watching fire, water and other people working. Northerners would also add that you can look endlessly at ice drifting down a river.
:: Translation by Peter Morley
:: Illustrations/Images by Nikolai Gernet
Regions
42: A Woman's Honor (or, When Pigs Fly)
One summer night in 1764, in a provincial Russian village, a dispute broke out between two cousins. Words were exchanged, a pig was thrown, and a 30-year legal battle was born.
:: Illustrations/Images by Anastasia Balatyonysheva
Law and Jurisprudence
50: Alexander Herzen
He was a poet, revolutionary, memoirist, publisher and emigre. He was a scion of the Bolsheviks, but he would have wanted nothing to do with them. We feature a short biography of him in the magazine, and a longer one on our blog.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Features
52: The Mail Troika
Every language has words for which it is known the world over. Troika is one such word in Russian, and this equine configuration was critical to the history of Russian letters. And by that we don’t mean literature.
:: Translation by Liv Bliss
History
60: Tea-Drinking Trinity
Biscotti have nothing on Russian rusks. We offer a simple recipe, plus a rumination on a famous photo from the 1920s.
Cuisine
62: Romanoviana
Reviews of fiction with Romanov themes: The Fallen Queen, The Last Romanov, The Winter Palace. Shorter reviews of Notes on the Cuff, The Russian Origins of the Civil War, Russia: A 1000-year Chronicle of the Wild East
Under Review
64: Sinking Morality
"Instead of mass heroism, we now engage in mass cowardice..."
Post Script