This week arts and crafts flourish under quarantine; a heatwave hits an unlikely place, and coronavirus fashion hits a new high (or low?).

“On the day of his 80th birthday, Brodsky returned to Pestel Street—he is looking directly at his balcony in the house where he lived, those same one and a half rooms from where he left forever. But poets always return.”

– Creators of a large graffiti display depicting the poet Joseph Brodsky

Quarantine is hard on the mind, soul, and waistline.

This week: soccer games return, cultural events go online, and an 11-year-old girl makes us all look like pansies.

This week: Putin cracks down on smartphones, some things go online that probably shouldn't, and new coronavirus advice seeks to preserve the peace (and health).

Moscow's metro stations rise to the occasion of coronavirus.

This week we explore Soviet throwbacks, social media trends, and coronavirus fugitives.

“I don’t know what to do here. What am I supposed to do, sing, dance? I don’t understand what people do on TikTok. ”

– Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in his first post to TikTok, where he gained 130,000 followers in less than a week

Looking back at the early Soviet years when the young state launched anti-handshake campaigns.

We didn’t realize how connected we were until we had to disconnect.

This week: Russian telecomms habits shift, a St. Petersburg entrepreneur gets crafty, and being stuck at home means more alcohol intake.

The Belarusian President followed his own coronavirus advice, Pomeranian in tow.