A look at Russia's on-again, off-again relationship with censorship since the time of Peter the Great.

It may have been built by Russian laborers, but the Kremlin and its churches has Italian architects to thank for its Third Rome design ethos. This is their story.

Why did Tsar Alexander I grant a constitution to Poland, a subject state of the Empire, and not Russia?

Eighty years ago, the Kremlin towers acquired their first stars, gleaming with gold and diamonds. But meticulously collected records show that on those same days, people were being arrested and sentenced across the country. On this Day of Memory for Victims of Political Repression, we recall a few of their names.

What do you know about the Russian Revolution of 1905? Are you surprised to hear that there was one in 1905, not just in 1917? Then this article is for you!

The Siege of Leningrad started 74 years ago, September 8, 1941. Over 70 years after the defeat of the Axis powers, we look back at the deadliest siege in human history.

On September 17, 1715, in Moscow’s Sukharev Tower, home to the School of Mathematics and Navigation, an unusual book was put on public display: a calendar.

For lovers of Russian literature, Marina Mniszech is more literary figment than historical figure. Yet her life was truly interesting, from any angle.

The idea of a Holy Alliance was dear to Alexander’s religious heart. He believed that God would protect legitimate rulers. The Holy Alliance did not quite work out that way.

For the people of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, or the Russian Federation, it has always been exceptionally important who among their fellow citizens was awarded a Nobel Prize and who was not. We look back at 100 years of awards.

Alexei Stakhanov mined 102 tons of coal in under 6 hours, sparking the Stakhanovite movement. But did he really do it all by himself, by his own initiative? The son of a miner from Blagoveshchensk recalls evidence of unnamed assistants and fishy bureaucratic orders.
 

Andrei Platonov spawned many an incongruous image and incomprehensible sentence. Compared by some scholars to James Joyce, he was critiqued by Stalin himself, yet he avoided prosecution. We dig into his challenging literary style.