March 24, 2020

Life-Changing Moments


Life-Changing Moments
Photo by Sunyu Kim on Unsplash

“This is war. The enemy is invisible, but some lines of the front are clear. Today's difficulties, of course, are far from the horrors known to our history, and that includes the Blockade. That was much worse than today, and scarier.... The noble experience and mysticism of the besieged Hermitage remains with us always and serves as an example.”

- General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky in a Facebook post on how the Hermitage is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic

Runner-Up Quotes

“[My mom] found the perfect argument to make me stay. She told me, now you’ll go there, do whatever the lady says, leave, go home, and I will buy you ice cream. And that’s it! Dima is waiting, doing whatever.”

– Actor and dancer Dmitry Krasilov, who has recently been known by the nickname “Pukhlyash,” after his dance moves with the group Little Big, on how eight rubles for ice cream changed his life and put him on the dancing track

"There, the tractor will heal everyone. The fields heal everyone.”

– Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on the value of working in the fields for overcoming the coronavirus pandemic

“Firing someone, even in the current complex situation, should only be an extreme measure.”

– Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, warning the leadership of Russian businesses against the temptation of solving their problems by laying people off
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Some of our Books

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

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Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

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