If it’s hard to gracefully say “no” in English, how much harder is it in Russian, where dissembling requires linguistic gifts that you might not have yet developed?

In early March, when Moscow is still buried under more than a meter of snow and people are buried under many inches of fur and heavy wool, there is nothing more annoying than Instagram photos of daffodils, forsythia and cherry blossom buds.

If a Russian fox met an American fox, would they get along? If Russian folklore is to be trusted, the answer is a definite нет (no).

Some thoughts on backwardness, falling behind, and the challenges of change.

To thank (blagodarit) is one of the Russian language's most beautiful words. We go in for a deep dive.

After declensions, cases, aspect, verbs of motion, pronunciation, and all the other trials of the Russian language, there is one more thing to learn: quotes, jokes and allusions. Let's do this.

These days, if you are reading Russian periodicals in order to improve your Russian language skills, you are getting lots of practice in ways to lie.

On how recent foreign borrowings is shaping the Russian language.

A rather adequate look at the rise of "adekvatny" and "neadekvatny" in colloquial speech.

Every year, a group of Russian word-lovers vote on the word – or rather words – of the year. Here are the results.

A look at the evolving language of real estate in Russia.

On how much more difficult it is becoming to have a civil conversation in Russia.