Culture & Customs

For several months, there has been a steady trickle of news reports from Shiyes, a nondescript railway station nestled amid forests and lakes not far from Syktyvkar, that sound as if they are coming from a war zone.

News and brief items from around Russia.

Russians have a sense of time that can often leave foreigners puzzling. So we decided to look at some colloquial expressions about time.

Snakes, shashlik, secret Soviet structures, students: just a few things you can find on Russky Island. 
 

An interview with St. Petersburg photographer Viktor Mogilat, about his thought provoking art.

Predators, prey, and performance artists take the spotlight in this week’s TWERF.

Throughout his long life, Leo Tolstoy had many strange hobbies. One of them was bicycling, which he learned at the ripe age of 67, and which he loved. But that's not to say there weren't some humorous incidents...

Summer starts with flies, without ice cream

There’s lots of ways to have fun, whether it be a patriotic holiday or an “unpatriotic” game.

The history of Russia Day is both complicated and controversial, with its origins in the dusk of the Soviet Union. Even its name causes confusion, with only about half the Russian population correctly identifying the holiday observed on June 12. We dig in to ferret out the facts.

A brief history of the Russian bakery, from imperial times to the Internet age.

Ticks are good, good grades are bad, and please, don’t drink the water.