During the 70 years of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the number of constituent parts changed, but most of the time there were 15 of them. Here is the list.

Everything you wanted to know about the USSR’s notorious security apparatus. From its inception and until the end of the Soviet Union, the KGB was a prominent force in Soviet politics and ...

From the Arctic Circle to Kazakhstan, from the western borders to the Far East — the Gulag system in Stalin's time encompassed the entire USSR.

Why is its color red? What does the ‘hammer and sickle’ emblem represent? And what about the five-pointed star?

This is the only residence that officially belongs to Putin as a private individual. This 77-square-meter apartment is remarkably modest for Russia’s president. Little is known about how it ...

The myth of ‘Potemkin villages’ wasn’t even written during Catherine’s Crimea journey. Georg von Helbig, the secretary for the Saxon embassy at Catherine’s court, came to Russia in 1787 ...

Russia sells more wheat than any other country in the world. At the same time, its domestic grain consumption is growing, too. So how did Russia ...

A successful merchant, collector, art connoisseur and honorary citizen of the city. How a private individual, using his own money, opened a painting ...

The Bolsheviks oppressed the Orthodox Church after seizing power in Russia – but Stalin, despite all his ruthlessness, changed things for better in this area.

The Bolsheviks were in at the beginning of the Communist movement in China. However, it wasn’t the followers of Mao Zedong who became the USSR’s main allies in the country.

This is the story of how the mastermind behind MMM, Russia’s biggest financial pyramid scheme, managed to get elected to parliament while behind ...

Many international car companies not only assemble their vehicles in Russia, but also modify them specifically for local drivers.