Current Moscow Time: 08:13:1620 June 2013
The world’s biggest country, in a magazine. Since 1956.
Russian Life: May/June 2013
Cover: Katya Korobkina
7: Last Days of the First Oligarch
A look at the life, death and legacy of oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who recently committed suicide in London.
Politics
16: Chelyabinsk Meteor
How to keep your cool when you are out for a quiet morning photo shoot and a meteor suddenly lights up the morning sky. We interview Marat Akhmetvaleyev and show his amazing photos.
Space
19: Romanov Twilight
A look back 100 years ago, at the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of Romanov rule. Few would have guessed from these celebrations, that the tsar had just four years to rule.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
History
22: Catherine's Manifesto of Silence
What led Catherine, in 1763, to issue "The Anti-Prattle Decree"? Who would she need to silence and why?
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Tsarism
26: Have Tongue Will Travel
Not surprisingly, there is a lot one can say about the tongue with, well, the Russian tongue...
:: Illustrations/Images by Victor Bogorad
Survival Russian
27: The Romanovs
This issue's Uchites (language learning insert) includes a few glossed readings on the Romanovs - one about the beginning of their rule, one about the end.
Uchites
28: The Siberian Tea Road
The Great Siberian Tea Road, a historic and legendary route that once connected China and Siberia with European Russia, was one of the world’s longest trade arteries. We retrace its path, geographically and culturally.
Travel
38: Exiled Cartoonist
From 1923 to 1941 Russian émigré Georgy Sapozhnikov was the most famous political cartoonist in Asia, applying his talent and perceptiveness to issues domestic and international.
Art
44: Romanov Secrets
Any family with immense power and possessions breeds secrets and scandals. Many of the Romanov family’s secrets will never be known, yet three at least are more or less clear.
Tsarism
46: The Kauai Gambit
In the early 1800s, while Napoleon raged in Europe, a German doctor and a local chieftan hatched an audacious plan: claim the Hawaiian islands for Russia.
History
52: The Lure of Elbrus
Each year, thousands of hikers are drawn to the Caucasus, convinced it will be no problem to scale Europe’s highest peak. After all, it’s only 18,510 feet, and a rail car can take you up to the base camp at 12,500 feet. But Elbrus is a devious mountain.
Sports
60: World's Greatest Cheesecake
Easter is here, and that means it's time for Maria Nikolayevna's Paskha!
Cuisine
62: Black Russians and Dark Years
A review of "Twilight of the Romanovs," by Blom and Buckley, "Lina and Serge," by Simon Morrison, "The Black Russian," by Vladimir Alexandrov, and "Moscow 1937," by Karl Schlogel.
Under Review
64: Reflecting on Shishkin
A reflection on the place of writers in Putin's Russia, through the lens of writer Mikhail Shishkin's refusal to take part in further government literary junkets.
:: Translation by Nora Favorov
Post Script