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.

Starting in the 1960s, the USSR was a net grain importer. For example, in 1963, it bought 10.4 million tons of grain and 2.1 million tons of flour from the U.S. Furthermore, the amount of imports ...

Throughout the filming of Come and See, real bullets were used. At times, they flew just above the heads of actors, making their terrified looks genuine. And the scene where machine gun fire takes ...

1. ‘The Forties’ by David Samoilov (1920-1990) Samoilov (born Kaufman) is regarded as one of the leading Soviet poets of WWII. His poems depicted the horrors of war and the struggle for peace ...

On the streets of the post-war USSR, it was often possible to meet disabled people on “gurneys”. They were simple boards on four wheels made of bearings. Legless invalids rode them, starting ...

The KGB was known for its highly creative methods for eavesdropping on the U.S. embassy personnel in Moscow. Once, Soviet agents modified typewriters used by the embassy staff. “Inside that ...

Since the Middle Ages, (with the exception of the years 1712 to 1917), the Moscow Kremlin was the main official residence of Russian leaders. The President’s office is located in the Kremlin ...

The Russian style consists of fashioning modern buildings on the wooden architecture of Slavic masters, sometimes deliberately exaggerating their most pronounced features. The most famous Russian ...

Food products and raw materials for their production made up 7.2% of Russia's export commodity structure in the first ten months of 2021. In terms of value, exports increased by 21.1%, while ...

The Russian president has declared his love for classical music on more than one occasion. In particular, he has mentioned Pyotr Tchaikovsky - according to Putin, the composer’s First Piano ...

1. ‘The Little Gold Key or the Adventures of Buratino’ by Aleksei Tolstoy It’s more than eight decades since the publication of the ‘Adventures of Buratino’, Tolstoy’s version of Carlo ...

Muzhiki are the most widespread caste in the Russian penal colony system. Unlike the blatniyeh, these guys are not professional criminals or regular prison guests. Members of this caste end up in ...