Portal:Russia

Welcome to The Russia Portal The flag of Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. It is the world's ninth-most populous country and Europe's most populous country. Russia is a highly urbanised country, with 16 of its population centres having more than 1 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Moscow. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and its cultural capital. The East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire, which remains the third-largest empire in history. However, with the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule was abolished and eventually replaced by the Russian SFSR—the world's first constitutionally socialist state. Following the Russian Civil War, the Russian SFSR established the Soviet Union with three other Soviet republics, within which it was the largest and principal constituent. At the expense of millions of lives, the Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in the 1930s and later played a decisive role for the Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front. With the onset of the Cold War, it competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements, including the first human-made satellite and the first human expedition into outer space. (Full article...) Featured article   Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia. Tsereteli in 1917 Irakli Tsereteli (2 December [O.S. 20 November] 1881 – 20 May 1959) was a Georgian politician and a leading spokesman of the Social Democratic Party of Georgia and later Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) during the era of the Russian Revolutions. Tsereteli was born and raised in Georgia when it was part of the Russian Empire. A member of the Menshevik faction of the RSDLP, Tsereteli was elected to the Duma in 1907, where he gained fame for his oratorical skill. Shortly after entering the Duma, Tsereteli was arrested and charged with conspiracy to overthrow the Tsarist government, and exiled to Siberia. A dedicated Social Democrat who believed in the Menshevik ideology, Tsereteli was one of the leading figures of the movement in Russia. In 1915, during his Siberian exile, Tsereteli formed what would become known as Siberian Zimmerwaldism, which advocated for the role of the Second International in ending the war. He also developed the idea of "Revolutionary Defensism", the concept of a defensive war which only allowed for the defence of territory, and argued it was not being utilized. (Full article...) 1893 lithograph of Dvenadsat Apostolov Dvenadsat Apostolov (Russian: Двенадцать апостолов—"Twelve Apostles") was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy, the sole ship of her class. She entered service in 1893 with the Black Sea Fleet, but was not fully ready until 1894. The ship participated in the failed attempt to recapture the mutinous battleship Potemkin in 1905. Decommissioned and disarmed in 1911, Dvenadsat Apostolov became an immobile submarine depot ship the following year. The ship was captured by the Germans in 1918 in Sevastopol and was handed over to the Allies in December. Lying immobile in Sevastopol, she was captured by both sides in the Russian Civil War before she was abandoned when the White Russians evacuated the Crimea in 1920. Dvenadsat Apostolov was used as a stand-in for the title ship during the 1925 filming of The Battleship Potemkin before she was finally scrapped in 1931. (Full article...) Giovanni Antonio Grassi SJ (anglicized as John Anthony Grassi; 10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849) was an Italian Catholic priest and Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions in Europe and the United States, including Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., and the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide in Rome. Born in the Republic of Venice, Grassi was a promising student of mathematics and the natural sciences, especially astronomy. He completed his studies at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, in the Russian Empire, in 1804 and was appointed rector of the Institute for Nobles. The following year, he was ordered to replace the last remaining Jesuit missionary in China; this began a five-year journey across Europe in which he was ultimately unable to secure passage to the distant country. He instead began teaching at Stonyhurst College in England. (Full article...) The official arrangement of the Russian national anthem, completed in 2001 The "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the "State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated with Gabriel El-Registan on the original anthem. From 1944, that earliest version replaced "The Internationale" as a new, more Soviet-centric and Russia-centric Soviet anthem. The same melody, but without any lyrics, was used after 1956. A second version of the lyrics was written by Mikhalkov in 1970 and adopted in 1977, placing less emphasis on World War II and more on the victory of communism, and without mentioning Joseph Stalin by name. The Russian SFSR was the only constituent republic of the Soviet Union without its own regional anthem, instead using the national anthem of the Soviet Union. The lyric-free "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya", composed by Mikhail Glinka, was officially adopted in 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of Russia, and confirmed in 1993, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin. This anthem proved to be unpopular with the Russian public and with many politicians and public figures, because of its tune and lack of lyrics, and consequently its inability to inspire Russian athletes during international competitions. The government sponsored contests to create lyrics for the unpopular anthem, but none of the entries were adopted. (Full article...) Photo, c. 1914 Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanized: Anastasiya Nikolaevna Romanova; 18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1901 – 17 July 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria (commonly known together as the OTMA sisters) and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918. (Full article...) Tchaikovsky, c. 1888 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (/tʃaɪˈkɒfski/ chy-KOF-skee; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching that Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five with whom his professional relationship was mixed. (Full article...) Costume sketch for the titular Firebird by Léon Bakst, 1910 The Firebird (French: L'Oiseau de feu; Russian: Жар-птица, romanized: Zhar-ptitsa) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who collaborated with Alexandre Benois and others on a scenario based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. It was first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910 and was an immediate success, catapulting Stravinsky to international fame and leading to future Diaghilev–Stravinsky collaborations including Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). The Firebird's mortal and supernatural elements are distinguished with a system of leitmotifs placed in the harmony dubbed "leit-harmony". Stravinsky intentionally used many specialist techniques in the orchestra, including ponticello, col legno, flautando, glissando, and flutter-tonguing. Set in the evil immortal Koschei's castle, the ballet follows Prince Ivan, who battles Koschei with the help of the magical Firebird. (Full article...) In December 2016, over 70 people died of methanol poisoning in the Russian city of Irkutsk. Precipitated by the consumption of adulterated surrogate alcohol, it was the deadliest such incident in Russia's post-Soviet history. Russian consumption of surrogate alcohol rose rapidly in the early 2010s amid worsening economic conditions. Surrogates cost less than government-regulated vodka and were commonly available from supermarkets, small shops, and vending machines. In the Irkutsk incident, people drank hawthorn-scented bath oil with the brand name boyaryshnik. While the product was typically made with and labeled as containing drinkable ethanol, at least one batch was made instead with a toxic amount of methanol. The resulting poisoning led to dozens of casualties and deaths among residents of the Novo-Lenino neighborhood in Irkutsk. A subsequent government investigation found that the surrogate alcohol's producer sourced the methanol from an employee of a local windshield washer fluid production facility. In response to the poisoning, in mid-2017 the Russian government increased legal punishments for illegally producing and selling alcohol and made it more difficult to acquire surrogate alcohols. (Full article...) Launch of Izmail in 1915 The Borodino-class battlecruisers (Russian: Линейные крейсера типа «Измаил») were a group of four battlecruisers ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy before World War I. Also referred to as the Izmail class, they were laid down in late 1912 at Saint Petersburg for service with the Baltic Fleet. Construction of the ships was delayed by a lack of capacity among domestic factories and the need to order some components from abroad. The start of World War I slowed their construction still further, as the imported components were often not delivered and domestic production was diverted into areas more immediately useful for the war effort. Three of the four ships were launched in 1915 and the fourth in 1916. Work on the gun turrets lagged, and it became evident that Russian industry would not be able to complete the ships during the war. The Russian Revolution of 1917 halted all work on the ships, which was never resumed. Although some consideration was given to finishing the hulls that were nearest to completion, the three furthest from completion were sold for scrap by the Soviet Union during the early 1920s. The Soviet Navy proposed to convert Izmail, the ship closest to completion, to an aircraft carrier in 1925, but the plan was cancelled after political manoeuvring by the Red Army cut funding and she was eventually scrapped in 1931. (Full article...) Jeannette at Le Havre in 1878, prior to her departure for San Francisco in a trip that would see her round Cape Horn The Jeannette expedition of 1879–1881, officially called the U.S. Arctic Expedition, was an attempt led by George W. De Long to reach the North Pole by pioneering a route from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait. The premise was that a temperate current, the Kuro Siwo, flowed northwards into the strait, providing a gateway to the hypothesized Open Polar Sea and thus to the pole. This theory proved illusory; the expedition's ship, USS Jeannette and its crew of thirty-three men, was trapped by ice and drifted for nearly two years before she was crushed and sunk north of the Siberian coast. De Long then led his men on a perilous journey by sled, dragging the Jeannette's whaleboat and two cutters, eventually switching to these small boats to sail for the Lena Delta in Siberia. During this journey, and in the subsequent weeks of wandering in Siberia before rescue, twenty of the ship's complement died, including De Long. (Full article...) Operation Uranus (Russian: Опера́ция «Ура́н», romanized: Operatsiya "Uran") was a Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. The Red Army carried out the operation at roughly the midpoint of the five-month long Battle of Stalingrad, aiming to destroy German forces in and around Stalingrad. Planning for Operation Uranus had commenced in September 1942, and developed simultaneously with plans to envelop and destroy German Army Group Center (Operation Mars) and German forces in the Caucasus. Due to the length of the front lines created by the German 1942 summer offensive, which had aimed at taking the Caucasus oil fields and the city of Stalingrad, German and other Axis forces were over-extended. The German decision to transfer several mechanized divisions from the Soviet Union to Western Europe exacerbated their situation. Furthermore, Axis units in the area were depleted by months of fighting, especially those which had taken part in the struggle for Stalingrad. The Germans could only count on the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps, which had the strength of a single panzer division, and the 29th Panzergrenadier Division as reserves to bolster their Romanian allies guarding the German Sixth Army's flanks. These Romanian armies lacked the heavy equipment to deal with Soviet armor. In contrast, the Red Army deployed over one million personnel for the offensive. Soviet troop movements were not without problems: concealing their build-up proved difficult, and Soviet units commonly arrived late due to logistical issues. Operation Uranus was first postponed by the Soviet high command (Stavka) from 8 to 17 November, then to 19 November. (Full article...) Oslyabya leaving Bizerte, French Tunisia, 1903 Oslyabya (Russian: Ослябя) was the second of the three Peresvet-class second-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the end of the nineteenth century, although construction delays meant that she was the last to be completed. The ship was part of the Second Pacific Squadron sent to the Far East during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, and served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Baron Dmitry von Fölkersam. Oslyabya was sunk on 27 May 1905 at the Battle of Tsushima, and was the first all-steel battleship to be sunk by naval gunfire alone. Sources differ on the exact number of casualties, but over half her crew went down with the ship. (Full article...) William Feiner SJ (born Wilhelm Feiner; December 27, 1792 – June 9, 1829) was a German Catholic priest and Jesuit who became a missionary to the United States and eventually the president of Georgetown College, now known as Georgetown University. Born in Münster, he taught in Jesuit schools in the Russian Empire and Polish Galicia as a young member of the Society of Jesus. He then emigrated to the United States several years after the restoration of the Society, taking up pastoral work and teaching theology in Conewago, Pennsylvania, before becoming a full-time professor at Georgetown College. There, he also became the second dedicated librarian of Georgetown's library. Eventually, Feiner became president of the college in 1826. While president, he taught theology at Georgetown and ministered to the congregation at Holy Trinity Church. (Full article...) Lenin in 1920 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist who was the founder and first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. The founder and leader of the Bolsheviks, Lenin led the October Revolution which established the world's first socialist state. His government won the Russian Civil War and consolidated power in a one-party state under the Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism. Born into a middle-class family in Simbirsk, Lenin embraced revolutionary socialist politics following his brother's 1887 execution. Expelled from Kazan Imperial University for participating in protests against the Tsarist government, he devoted the following years to a law degree before relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1893 and becoming a prominent Marxist activist. In 1897, Lenin was arrested for sedition and exiled to Siberia for three years. He then moved to Western Europe, where he became a key figure in the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In the party's 1903 schism, he led his Bolshevik faction against Julius Martov's Mensheviks. Lenin briefly returned to Russia during the failed Revolution of 1905, and during the First World War campaigned for its transformation into a Europe-wide proletarian revolution, which, as a Marxist, he believed would cause the end of capitalism and the rise of socialism. After the February Revolution of 1917 ousted Tsar Nicholas II and established a Provisional Government, Lenin returned to Russia and played a leading role in the October Revolution, in which the Bolsheviks overthrew the regime. (Full article...) Portrait by Karl Gottlieb Schweikart. Kościuszko is shown wearing the eagle of the Society of the Cincinnati, awarded to him by General Washington. Coat of arms: Roch III Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (English: Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 1746 – 15 October 1817) was a Polish military engineer, statesman, and military leader who then became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and Belarus. He fought in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's struggles against Russia and Prussia, and on the U.S. side in the American Revolutionary War. As Supreme Commander of the Polish National Armed Forces, he led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising. Kościuszko was born in February 1746, in a manor house on the Mereczowszczyzna estate in Brest Litovsk Voivodeship, then Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, now the Ivatsevichy District of Belarus. At age 20, he graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Warsaw, Poland. After the start of the civil war in 1768, Kościuszko moved to France in 1769 to study. He returned to the Commonwealth in 1774, two years after the First Partition, and was a tutor in Józef Sylwester Sosnowski's household. In 1776, Kościuszko moved to North America, where he took part in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army. An accomplished military architect, he designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point, New York. In 1783, in recognition of his services, the Continental Congress promoted him to brigadier general. (Full article...) Selected picture Yuri Gagarin Photograph credit: Arto Jousi; restored by Adam Cuerden Yuri Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed a single orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour. In 1967, he served as a member of the backup crew for the ill-fated Soyuz 1 mission, after which the Russian authorities, fearing for the safety of such an iconic figure, banned him from further spaceflights. However, he was killed the following year, when the MiG-15 training jet that he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach. This photograph of Gagarin, dated July 1961, was taken at a press conference during a visit to Finland approximately three months after his spaceflight. Balzhinima Tsyrempilov Photograph: Аркадий Зарубин Balzhinima Tsyrempilov is a World Cup-winning and former world number-one archer from Russia. He has competed in both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, though he has not medalled. Gorky Park Photograph credit: Alexander Savin Gorky Park is a park in central Moscow, Russia, inaugurated in 1928 following the use of the site in 1923 for the First All-Russian Agricultural and Handicraft Industries Exhibition. The park was named after the writer and political activist Maxim Gorky. It underwent a major reconstruction in 2011; nearly all the amusement rides and other attractions were removed, extensive lawns and flower beds were created, and new roadways were laid. A 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) ice rink was installed at the same time. This picture shows the colonnaded main portal of Gorky Park. Siberian tiger Photo: Dave Pape A female Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), a subspecies of tiger native to Central Asia, and her cub. The Siberian tiger is the largest of the extant tiger subspecies as well as the largest felid, attaining 320 kg (710 lb) in an exceptional specimen. Considered an endangered subspecies, the wild population is down to several hundred individuals and is limited to eastern Siberia. Lugano by Prokudin-Gorsky Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Credit: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was a Russian pioneer of color photographer. This view of Lugano was most likely taken in 1909. Although James Clerk Maxwell made the first color photograph in 1861, the results were far from realistic until Prokudin-Gorsky perfected the technique with a series of improvements around 1905. His process used a camera that took a series of monochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different colored filter. Prokudin-Gorskii then went on to document much of the country of Russia, travelling by train in a specially equipped darkroom railroad car. Charge of the Light Brigade Artist: William Simpson; Restoration: Adam Cuerden On October 25, 1854, during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, British cavalry units charged heavily fortified Russian opposition, an action known as the Charge of the Light Brigade. By mischance, they attacked the wrong target, as the orders were unclear, and as a result suffered great casualties. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's famous poem made the charge a symbol of warfare at both its most courageous and its most tragic. Ivan Shishkin's Rye Artist: Ivan Shishkin Rye, by Ivan Shishkin (1878). Shishkin was a leading Russian landscape painter associated with the realistic Peredvizhniki movement. The painting represents boundless rye fields in the Central Black Earth Region. The canvas still hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. St. Isaac's Square Image from: Detroit Publishing Co. (1905 catalogue) A photochrom of St Isaac's Square in St Petersburg, Russia from the 1890s, as seen from the dome of St Isaac's Cathedral towards Marie Palace. Behind the palace, the capital of the Russian Empire is seen all the way to the Trinity Cathedral. The square is dominated by the equestrian Monument to Nicholas I. Ivan Tsarevich Artist: Viktor Vasnetsov A painting depicting Ivan Tsarevich, one of the main heroes of Russian folklore, riding a magic carpet after having captured the Firebird, which he keeps in a cage. This work was Viktor Vasnetsov's first attempt at illustrating Russian folk tales and inaugurated a famous series of paintings on the themes drawn from Russian folklore. Maxim Gorky Photo: Herman Mishkin; Restoration: Fallschirmjäger Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) was a Russian political activist and writer who helped establish the Socialist Realism literary method. This portrait dates from a trip Gorky made to the United States in 1906, on which he raised funds for the Bolsheviks. During this trip he wrote his novel The Mother. 2008 South Ossetia war Map credit: Andrei nacu A map detailing the events of the 2008 South Ossetia war, which began one year ago today, when Georgia launched an operation in the disputed region of South Ossetia. Ossetian, Russian, and Abkhazian forces ejected the Georgian forces after five days of heavy fighting. All parties reached a ceasefire agreement on August 12, and Russian troops remain stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to this day. Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov/Élie Metchnikoff Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov Credit: This image comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b6926750k/f1 Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov is the Russian scientist who discovered phagocytes and won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Battle of Grozny (1994–1995) Photo credit: Mikhail Evstafiev A Chechen man prays during the First Battle of Grozny, January 1995. The flame in the background is coming from a gas pipeline which was hit by shrapnel. This battle was the Russian army's invasion and subsequent conquest of the Chechen capital, Grozny, during the early months of the First Chechen War. The attack lasted from December 1994 to March 1995, resulted in the military occupation of the city by the Russian Army and rallied most of the Chechen nation around the separatist government of Dzhokhar Dudayev. Fyodor Dostoevsky Painting: Vasily Perov Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–81; depicted in 1872) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher. After publishing his first novel, Poor Folk, at age 25, Dostoyevsky wrote (among others) eleven novels, three novellas, and seventeen short novels, including Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Smolny Institute Photograph credit: Andrew Shiva The Smolny Institute is a Palladian edifice in Saint Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia. This photograph depicts the building's facade in 2016, with a statue of Vladimir Lenin in the foreground. Mohammed Alim Khan, Emir of Bukhara, 1911 Mohammed Alim Khan Credit: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky An early colour photograph of the Emir of Bukhara, Mohammed Alim Khan, in 1911, taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915. Alim Khan, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, was the last emir of the Manghud dynasty. He reigned from 1911 to 1920, fleeing to Afghanistan when the Bolsheviks annexed Bukhara and proclaimed the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic. Dvenadsat Apostolov Lithograph credit: Stadler and Pattinot, after Vasily Ignatius; restored by Adam Cuerden Dvenadsat Apostolov was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy, the sole ship of her class. Launched in 1890, she entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in 1893, taking part in the failed attempt to recapture the mutinous battleship Potemkin in 1905. Decommissioned and disarmed in 1911, she was used as a stand-in for the title ship during the 1925 filming of the Battleship Potemkin before finally being scrapped in 1931. Nilov Monastery on Stolobnyi Island in Lake Seliger in Tver Province, Russia Nilov Monastery Credit: Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky This photo of the Nilov Monastery on Stolobny Island in Tver Oblast, Russia, was taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky in 1910 before the advent of colour photography. His process used a camera that took a series of monochrome pictures in rapid sequence, each through a different coloured filter. By projecting all three monochrome pictures using correctly coloured light, it was possible to reconstruct the original colour scene. Bolshoi Theatre Photograph: DmitriyGuryanov The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, which holds ballet and opera performances. The company was founded on 28 March [O.S. 17 March] 1776, when Catherine the Great granted Prince Pyotr Urusov a licence to organise theatrical performances, balls and other forms of entertainment. Usunov set up the theatre in collaboration with English tightrope walker Michael Maddox. The present building was built between 1821 and 1824 and designed by architect Joseph Bové. Did you know... ... that the Annenschule (pictured) high school in Saint Petersburg, Russia was transformed into a Soviet work school after the Russian Revolution, but now houses a lyceum? ... that the largest wave of Russian settlers in Bulgaria, the White Guards, arrived following the events surrounding the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War? ... that Russian billionaire, politician and philanthropist Alexander Lebedev started his career as a KGB agent working in London? In this month January 7, 1598 - Feodor I of Russia died with no children. January 15, 1714 - The northwestern territory of the Kazan Governorate was transferred to the newly established Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. January 25, 1721 - Peter established the Holy Synod, a body of ten clergymen chaired by a secular official, that was to head the Russian Orthodox Church in lieu of the Patriarch of Moscow. January 28, 1725 - Peter died of urinary problems. He failed to name a successor; one of Peter's closest advisers, Aleksandr Menshikov, convinced the Imperial Guard to declare in favor of Peter's wife Catherine I. January 31, 1924 - The 1924 Soviet Constitution came into effect. Selected food or cuisine – Pastila from Kolomna Pastila (Russian: пастила́ [pəsʲtʲɪˈɫa]) is a traditional Russian fruit confectionery (pâte de fruits). It has been described as "small squares of pressed fruit paste" and "light, airy puffs with a delicate apple flavor". In Imperial Russia, the "small jellied sweetmeats" were served for tea "with a white foamy top, a bit like marshmallow, but tasting of pure fruit". The first mentions of pastila in Russian written sources date back to the 16th century. The name is probably a loanword from Italian: pastello or pastiglia, or from the cognate French: pastille which in turn comes from Latin: pastillus (a loaf or pie, cf. pastilla). (Full article...) List of selected food/cuisine articles Ryazhenka Russian wine Pozharsky cutlet Udmurt cuisine Chicken Kiev Guriev porridge Oladyi Tushonka Paskha Dressed herring Shchi Stroganina Vologda butter Mors (drink) Chebureki Tula pryanik Kurnik (pirog) Peremech Krasnaya Polyana Balsam Tarasun Pirozhki Coulibiac Selected biography – Nikita Zotov, rotogravure by Alexandr Osipov, 1882–1883 Count Nikita Moiseevich Zotov (Russian: Никита Моисеевич Зотов, romanized: Nikita Moiseyevich Zotov, IPA: [nʲ'kʲta moɨ'sʲɛɪvʲɪt͡ɕ 'zotv] ⓘ) (1644 – December 1717) was a childhood tutor and lifelong friend of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Historians disagree on the quality of Zotov's tutoring. Robert K. Massie, for example, praises his efforts, but Lindsey Hughes criticizes the education that he gave to the future tsar. Not much is known about Zotov's life aside from his connection to Peter. Zotov left Moscow for a diplomatic mission to Crimea in 1680 and returned to Moscow before 1683. He became part of the "Jolly Company", a group of several dozen of Peter's friends that eventually became The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters. Zotov was mockingly appointed "Prince-Pope" of the Synod, and regularly led them in games and celebrations. He accompanied Peter on many important occasions, such as the Azov campaigns and the torture of the Streltsy after their uprising. Zotov held a number of state posts, including from 1701 a leading position in the Tsar's personal secretariat. Three years before his death, Zotov married a woman 50 years his junior. He died in December 1717 of unknown causes. (Full article...) List of featured biographies Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Ivan Bagramyan Anton Chekhov Leonhard Euler Nikita Filatov Nikita Khrushchev Manuel I Komnenos Laika Vladimir Lenin El Lissitzky Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Sergo Ordzhonikidze Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Dmitri Shostakovich Eduard Streltsov Sviatoslav I of Kiev Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Irakli Tsereteli Aleksandr Vasilevsky Vladimir Putin In the news 8 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Zaporizhzhia strikes, Attacks on civilians during the Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian forces attack an industrial facility in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, killing 13 people and injuring 18 others. (Ukrainska Pravda) Some hours later, Russian forces again strike Zaporizhzhia with guided aerial bombs, which explode near the administrative building of an infrastructure facility and a roadway, with 13 more people killed and 32 injured. (Ukrainska Pravda) 6 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Kherson strikes, Attacks on civilians during the Russian invasion of Ukraine A Russian drone attacks a civilian passenger bus in Kherson, Ukraine, reportedly killing at least one person and injuring at least nine others. (Reuters) 6 January 2025 – 2022–2023 Russia–European Union gas dispute According to Slovakia, a planned meeting between Slovak, Ukrainian, and European Commission officials over gas supplies scheduled for Tuesday has been cancelled due to Ukraine's refusal to participate in the meeting. (Reuters) More Did you know (auto generated) ... that the 1917 Leeds Convention in Britain passed resolutions calling for the end of the First World War and praising the February Revolution in Russia? ... that the Zunda Towers in Riga, Latvia, changed their name from "Z-Towers" to avoid being associated with Russia's invasion of Ukraine? ... that following the energy price shock caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Turkish government intervened to have the country's renewable energy subsidise coal and gas? ... that a brigade of Russian paratroopers took part in a NATO-led peacekeeping mission during the 1990s? ... that Halyna Kuzmenko promoted the Ukrainization of the Makhnovist movement, successfully increasing the use of the Ukrainian language by Russian speakers? ... that Romanian-born Helen O'Brien escaped advancing Russians on the King's horse, opened Eve, and worked as a spy for MI5 and MI6? 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Selected quote Featured content Extended content Featured articles 2nd Red Banner Army 1964 European Nations' Cup final 2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning Nadezhda Alliluyeva Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Antarctica Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the Belyayev circle Bezhin Meadow Black stork Borodino-class battlecruiser Borscht Caspian expeditions of the Rus' Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Moscow) Diamond Dubnium Battle of Dürenstein Russian battleship Dvenadsat Apostolov Leonhard Euler William Feiner Nikita Filatov Anna Filosofova The Firebird Giovanni Antonio Grassi Gurian Republic History of Poland (1945–1989) House with Chimaeras Jeannette expedition Nikita Khrushchev Manuel I Komnenos Tadeusz Kościuszko Battle of Kunersdorf Kylfings Laika Vladimir Lenin Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev) Nestor Makhno The Motherland Calls Fridtjof Nansen Nansen's Fram expedition National anthem of Russia Nihonium Oganesson Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Olga Constantinovna of Russia Sergo Ordzhonikidze Russian battleship Oslyabya Pallas's leaf warbler Russian battleship Peresvet Peresvet-class battleship Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1894) Petropavlovsk-class battleship Russian battleship Pobeda Polar bear Russian battleship Poltava (1894) Russian battleship Potemkin Battle of Prokhorovka Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Five Rainbow trout Russian battleship Retvizan Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov The Rite of Spring Russian battleship Rostislav Russian occupations of Beirut Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895) Shuttle–Mir program Siberian accentor Russian battleship Slava Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleship Nadezhda Stasova Igor Stravinsky Eduard Streltsov Surrender of Japan Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Tennessine 1907 Tiflis bank robbery Tiger Tintin in the Land of the Soviets Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic Maria Trubnikova Irakli Tsereteli Operation Uranus Viatkogorgon Wage reform in the Soviet Union, 1956–1962 Winter War Władysław II Jagiełło Woolly mammoth Nikita Zotov Featured lists 2014 Winter Olympics medal table Fyodor Dostoevsky bibliography First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union List of heads of state of the Soviet Union List of battlecruisers of Russia List of International Space Station spacewalks List of World Heritage Sites in Russia List of administrative and municipal divisions of Adygea List of ambassadors of Russia to Austria List of heads of government of Russia List of leaders of the Soviet Union Premier of the Soviet Union World Figure Skating Championships cumulative medal count A-Class articles 51st Army (Russia) Soviet cruiser Admiral Isachenkov Arena (countermeasure) Battle of the Kalka River Battle of Berlin Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis Russian battleship Borodino Cho Ki-chon Evacuation of East Prussia Finnish Civil War Yuri Gagarin Russian battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya SS Iowan Soviet cruiser Kalinin Third Battle of Kharkov Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov Łódź insurrection Soviet cruiser Marshal Voroshilov Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 Operation Winter Storm Petlyakov Pe-3 Petlyakov Pe-8 Siege of Viborg (1710) Smolensk War Sukhoi Su-37 Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria First Battle of Târgu Frumos Wallachian Revolution of 1848 Yermolayev Yer-2 Good articles 5th Mechanised Corps (Soviet Union) 2005 UEFA Super Cup 2008 UEFA Champions League final 2014 Russian Grand Prix 2015 Russian Grand Prix 2016 Russian Grand Prix Russian submarine AG-22 Khachatur Abovian Russian monitor Admiral Chichagov Soviet cruiser Admiral Isachenkov Admiral Lazarev-class monitor Russian cruiser Admiral Makarov Admiral Nakhimov-class cruiser Russian monitor Admiral Spiridov Admiral Spiridov-class monitor Aeroflot Flight 593 Ivan Aivazovsky Anna Akhmatova Alexander Alekhine Alekseyev I-212 Amak Volcano Amber Room American premieres of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 Amnya complex Russian battleship Andrei Pervozvanny Andrei Pervozvanny-class battleship Andrei Rublev (film) Annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire Anya (Anastasia) Arab–Khazar wars Battle of Arcadiopolis (970) Operation Arctic Fox Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic Alexander Atabekian Australia in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Elisabeth Bagréeff-Speransky Russian cruiser Bayan (1900) Operation Barbarossa Fanya Baron Basil II Battle of Bautzen (1945) Battle of the Kalka River Battle of Grunwald Battle of Kinburn (1855) Battle of Kostiuchnówka Battle of Narva (1944) Russian cruiser Bayan (1907) Bayan-class cruiser Bear Beautiful Heartache Dina Belenkaya Maxim Berezovsky Alexander Berkman Evgeni Berzin Białystok Black Sea raid Bohrium Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis Bolshoy Ice Dome Battle of Borodino Borodino-class battleship Russian battleship Borodino Botik of Peter the Great Boz (king) Leonid Brezhnev Sergey Brin Samuel J. Briskin Russian monitor Bronenosets Brown bear Bucha massacre Pavel Buchnevich Vladimir Bukovsky Pavel Bure Valeri Bure Campaign of Grodno Ilie Cătărău Chakh Akhriev Russian monitor Charodeika Charodeika-class monitor Alexei Cherepanov Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina Russian battleship Chesma (1886) Cho Ki-chon Mount Cleveland (Alaska) Conflict Intelligence Team Siege of Constantinople (860) Continuation War Crime and Punishment SS Czar Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan Nina Demme Denisovan Deportation of the Kalmyks Deportation of the Meskhetian Turks Elisabeth Dmitrieff Russian cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi Dnestr radar Yakov Dzhugashvili Francis Dzierozynski Russian monitor Edinorog Russian battleship Ekaterina II Ekaterina II-class battleship Elektron (satellite program) Eliza Stephens Siege of Erivan (1804) Eurasian Economic Union Eurasian Land Bridge 1960 European Nations' Cup final Evening Bells (painting) Evrovidenie Russian battleship Evstafi Evstafi-class battleship Expedition 1 The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks Feminism in Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup final First Partition of Poland Flerovium Fresh Wind. Volga Yuri Gagarin Russian battleship Gangut (1911) Gangut-class battleship Vera Gedroits Russian frigate General Admiral Russian battleship Georgii Pobedonosets German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war Jacques Gershkovitch Abraham Goldfaden Golos Truda Mikhail Gorbachev Aleksandra Goryachkina Greater Germanic Reich Greek Volunteer Legion Russian cruiser Gromoboi Soviet frigate Grozyashchiy Ewelina Hańska Hero of the Russian Federation History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648) History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982) Ilyushin Il-6 Ilyushin Il-20 (1948) Ilyushin Il-30 Ilyushin Il-32 Ilyushin Il-40 Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleship Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr II Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III (1901) Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I (1916) Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I (1889) Russian battleship Imperator Pavel I Russian battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleship Russian battleship Imperatritsa Mariya In the Ploughed Field: Spring Russian battleship Ioann Zlatoust SS Iowan Operation Iskra Ivan Palmaw Ivan the Terrible (1945 film) Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan Paweł Jasienica Milla Jovovich Typhoon Judy (1989) Soviet submarine K-222 Soviet cruiser Kaganovich Battle of Kalbajar Soviet cruiser Kalinin Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle Daria Kasatkina Garry Kasparov Eugene Kaspersky Battle of Kay Georgi Kinkladze Antonín Kinský (footballer, born 1975) Andrei Kirilenko (politician) Soviet cruiser Kirov Kirov-class cruiser Russian ironclad Kniaz Pozharsky Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov Abram Kofman Kola Peninsula Russian monitor Koldun Soviet cruiser Komintern Sakhalin Koreans Kosmos 1408 Alexei Kosygin Soviet cruiser Krasny Kavkaz Soviet cruiser Krasny Krym Russian ironclad Kreml Kronshtadt-class battlecruiser Kronstadt rebellion Krüper's nuthatch Battle of Kursk Svetlana Kuznetsova Lada (mythology) The Landlady (novella) Siege of Lankaran The Last Ringbearer Russian monitor Latnik Russian monitor Lava Lavochkin La-7 Lavochkin La-150 Lavochkin La-152 Lazar the Serb Legacy of Leonid Brezhnev Revolutionary activity of Vladimir Lenin Mykola Leontovych Lesopoval Yulia Lipnitskaya Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko Livermorium Livonian War Łódź insurrection Loveless (film) German cruiser Lützow (1939) Roman Lyashenko Lysenkoism Šćepan Mali Igor Mangushev Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia Maritime fur trade Soviet cruiser Marshal Voroshilov Soviet cruiser Maxim Gorky Brad McCrimmon Mediterranean campaign of 1798 Angelina Melnikova Vera Menchik Mendelevium Metro Exodus Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia Adam Mickiewicz Anastas Mikoyan Mikoyan-Gurevich DIS Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 Tamara Milashkina Military history of the Aleutian Islands Milk War USS Milwaukee (CL-5) Ministry of Finance (Soviet Union) Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union) Ministry of Justice (Soviet Union) Mir EO-19 Soviet cruiser Molotov Vyacheslav Molotov Moscovium Mount Gareloi Nakhichevan uezd Mikayel Nalbandian Russian battleship Navarin Nazarov cyclization reaction Russian ironclad Ne Tron Menia Russian submarine Nerpa (K-152) Nobelium Northern War of 1655–1660 Russian monitor Novgorod Alexander Novikov Oleg the Wise Operation Ring Operation Winter Storm Orthodox Church in America Russian battleship Oryol Russian cruiser Pallada (1906) Sophia Parnok Partition Sejm Russian monitor Perun Russian ironclad Pervenets Peter I Island Petlyakov Pe-3 Petlyakov Pe-8 Russian ironclad Petr Veliky Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1911) Russian ironclad Petropavlovsk Phintella parva Nikolai Podgorny Polikarpov DI-1 Polikarpov I-3 Polikarpov I-5 Polikarpov I-6 Polikarpov I-185 Polikarpov ITP Polikarpov TIS Polikarpov VIT-1 Polish October Polish–Russian War of 1792 Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union Russian battleship Poltava (1911) Valeri Polyakov Stanisław August Poniatowski Poor Folk Nina Popova (official) Grigory Potemkin Prague Spring Prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Progress M1-5 Sergei Prokofiev Ivan Provorov Bolesław Prus Punch-up in Piestany Purple heron Pussy Riot Ayn Rand Soviet frigate Razumnyy Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia Russian cruiser Rossia Russian cruiser Rurik (1906) Russian monitor Rusalka Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 Russian Five Ivan the Russian Russian Protective Corps Russian Spaniel Russian Toy Russian citizenship law Russian language in Israel Russian military deception Russo-Georgian War Ruthenium Rutherfordium Elena Rybakina Rye Nikolai Ryzhkov Sack of Shamakhi Salyut 6 Samarium Russian submarine Sankt Peterburg Olga Sapphire Pavel Schilling Schism of the Russian Church Sea of Japan naming dispute Seaborgium Second Partition of Poland Russian battleship Sevastopol (1911) Coat of arms of Sevastopol Russian ironclad Sevastopol Roza Shanina Soviet destroyer Shaumyan Anna Shcherbakova Sergei Shirokov Siberian nuthatch Siege of Smolensk (1632–1633) Siege of Viborg (1710) Nina Simonovich-Efimova Russian battleship Sinop Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky Kateryna Skarzhynska Boris Skossyreff Russian monitor Smerch Smolensk War Boris Snetkov Solaris (1972 film) Solovetsky Stone (Saint Petersburg) Anna Sorokin Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania Soyuz TM-30 Sputnik 1 St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery Joseph Stalin Stalingrad-class battlecruiser Konstantin Stanislavski Stranger in Moscow Russian monitor Strelets The Student (short story) Sukhoi Su-9 (1946) Sukhoi Su-33 Sukhoi Su-35 Sukhoi Su-37 Sulumbek of Sagopshi Summit Series Mikhail Suslov Suwałki Gap Svalbard Kato Svanidze Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay Szczerbiec T48 Gun Motor Carriage Tallinn offensive Olga Taratuta Tartu offensive Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia Tear down this wall! Valentina Tereshkova Term limits in Russia Russian monitor Tifon Nikolai Tikhonov Kristina Tkach Transport in the Soviet Union Russian battleship Tri Sviatitelia Russian battleship Tsesarevich Russian submarine Tula (K-114) Tupolev Tu-12 Tupolev Tu-75 Tupolev Tu-80 Tupolev Tu-85 Tupolev Tu-142 German submarine U-255 UEFA Euro 1972 final Russian monitor Uragan Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Vavilovian mimicry Russian monitor Veschun Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Vilna offensive Virgin of Vladimir Russian monitor Vitse-admiral Popov Russian cruiser Vladimir Monomakh Vladimirka (painting) Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 Volin Vorontsov Palace (Alupka) Soviet cruiser Voroshilov Lake Vostok Edgar de Wahl Wallachian Revolution of 1848 Walrus Wanted (2008 film) Background of the Winter War Władysław IV Vasa World War II Yahoo data breaches Yakovlev Yak-15 Yam fortress Gennady Yanayev Yaropolk Iziaslavich Yermolayev Yer-2 Józef Zajączek Zavodovski Island Pallas's cat Topics Related portals Tasks Привет and Welcome! 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