Culture & Customs

Stats on HIV, salaries, doing business, death from bad eating habits, and more.

In Russia, valenki are as near as you can get to the country's number-one footwear after regular leather boots.

We look back and some of our, and your, favorite stories from The Weekly Russia File during 2018.

If you want to see the majestic, historic side of St. Petersburg, yet experience an area where people actually live, you should head to Kolomna.

This week is all about the places where Russians and new cultural phenomena meet, for better and for worse.

This week goes intergalactic with a moon colony, two jedi masters, and several unhappy taxi drivers.

We have a trio of uplifting stories this week: a Russian rapper freed, a Russian beauty turned royalty, and a literal (and strange) military lift.

Fyodor Tyutchev (whose 115th birthday is today) was endowed with genius and good luck: a great Russian poet, he was not killed in a duel or in the Caucasus.  Nor did he rot in Siberia, but instead lived until he was 70 and died in his own bed. 

This week we’ve got sweet stories you’ll want as much as that second piece of pie: an injury-free minefield, Ryan Gosling, and dancing police.

This week was a grab bag of jobs well done, tear-jerkers, and meta-scary stories. Buckle up!

If you’re here for Halloween spooks, we can’t help you: all we’ve got this week are feel-good stories!

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