It’s day 14 of our travel, and we leave Baikhal to Irkutsk after a-four-day stay on a beautiful island of Olkhon. As we get inside Bukhanka, a cramped old Soviet mini bus that takes us from the island back to Irkutsk, we start talking to a young couple. The oddity of this encounter is that…
Apple season is officially open! One of the more colorful hybrid holidays in Russia is Yablochny Spas, or “Apple Savior,” celebrated each year in late August, traditionally the moment when apples are ripe for picking. In a delightful tradition reminiscent of Holy Thursday in early spring, Orthodox faithful bring baskets of apples and other early…
Vladislav Surkov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s longtime aide and Ukraine pointman, who was dismissed in February, has penned a poem on the virtues of freedom and loneliness. In his poem, Surkov, 55, a noted lyricist and rap aficionado, reflected on being ousted after seven years of deciding Russia’s Ukraine policy and cultivating the image of…
Women wearing floor-length dresses in muted colors, men in frock coats and tailcoats, the sounds of romantic melodies, tea aroma from a wood-burning samovar and tourists with cameras… This was the scene at the Tainy Usadby (Secrets of the Manor) immersive festival, organized by the Crystal Elephant Cultural Development Club. It has been held since…
Schools reopened across Russia on Tuesday as coronavirus cases in the county topped one million. A set of guidelines sent to Russia’s regions by the Education Ministry and consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor says nothing about requiring teachers or students to wear face masks, but orders schools to provide hand sanitizer and install air disinfecting machines.…
Russian children go back to school on Sept. 1 — known as Day of Knowledge — despite coronavirus infections in the country rising by about 5,000 cases a day. The Education Ministry and consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor have issued a set of guidelines aimed at minimising the spread the virus. The new rules include regular…
Galina, 25 Blagoveshchensk My mom had me when she was very young, just 18. She did not need kids, she loved going out and having fun. She would often abandon me to go to some party in some shady place. I still have a deep fear of drunk men. I just hate them. My father…
As an advocate for the working class, the world’s first female cabinet minister and an unapologetic feminist in revolutionary Russia, Countess Sofia Panina was a trailblazing figure in a time of dramatic social upheaval. Now, 100 years after her adopted home of the United States gave women the right to vote, the fascinating life story…
Misha (Blago), 43 years old I grew up in Blagoveshensk. I work as a shoemaker and sew mukluks: a type of traditional Buryat boots. I didn’t have a mother: when I was two years old, they took away her parental rights. I don’t remember her, I don’t even have photos. She drank all the time…
Victoria Lomasko is an artist, journalist and writer who has combined her talents to create a new medium. Last year in an interview with The Moscow Times, she explained that she doesn’t work in the genre of “documentary comics or graphic novellas, but in the genre of graphic reporting. It is a matter of principle…
“Once again, nothing is happening.” This merciless slogan greets visitors from puffy white clouds as they enter the Manege Central Exhibition Hall in St. Petersburg. The installation by Mayana Nasybullova is just the first provocation from the curators of the exhibition called “Nemoskva [Not Moscow] Is Just Around the Corner.” An imaginary elevator that never…
In a large park about two hours outside Moscow, hundreds of wild animals and birds live, rest and play — but this is no zoo. Covering four hectares of land, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center rehabilitates rescued animals in a calm, quiet environment with the goal of releasing them back into the wild or bringing them…
Vitaly, 42 years old I was born and live in Reutov, Moscow region. I collect coins. At five I found my first coin while playing in a sandbox in kindergarten. I remember seeing it for the first time: five zlotis with a hole inside, in a doughnut shape. Somebody must have worn it on a…
Belarus is almost never in the news, let alone above the fold, but this week, Russia’s near neighbor gave the coronavirus a run for its money in front-page column inches as frustrated voters took to the streets to protest fraudulent election results. With the country’s internet blocked and very few foreign correspondents accredited, grainy footage…
Rufina Bazlova is a Belarusian artist who has lived in the Czech Republic for 12 years. She is an illustrator and theater scenographer who has responded to events in her homeland through the medium of embroidery. She said that the embroidery is a kind of “code” for the country’s history, with red as the symbol…
Belarusian Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich condemned police violence against protesters in her country and urged strongman Alexander Lukashenko to go peacefully in an interview published Wednesday. The 72-year-old author won the 2015 Nobel Literature Prize for her work chronicling the horrors of war and life under the repressive Soviet regime including the 1986 Chernobyl…
Renowned Russian conductor and violinist Vladimir Spivakov will return an award from Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko due to police violence against protesters in the days since Belarus’ presidential election. Spivakov, 75, condemned the police crackdown in neighboring Belarus in an open letter published by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper. More than 6,000 demonstrators have been…
The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography and the Still Art Foundation have announced a new exhibition of works by Naum Granovsky, the Russian capital’s chief architectural photographer during the Soviet era, to mark the 110th anniversary of his birth. The retrospective exhibition combines Granovsky’s famous photographs of old Moscow in the 1920s and the Stalinist…
We are hitchhikers. In winter, spring and fall we have regular jobs in sales. We sell building materials and wood to save up for the upcoming travel and equipment. Then in summer we always quit our jobs and hit the road. Our employers hate this, as it is the biggest selling season. But in life…
Moscow’s cinemas, theaters and concert halls re-opened to the public on Aug. 1 after being closed for more than four months due to the coronavirus. These cultural institutions have introduced a number of safety measures to help prevent the spread of the virus among their audiences. The Russian capital’s movie theaters in particular bear little…
Many believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is firmly in the rearview mirror, but this is clearly madness. I’m still in full lockdown and in deep danger of becoming something I never imagined: a homesteader. I spent much of the spring baking bread and early summer brewing kvas, and now in high summer it’s time to take…
If you’ve read the book “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain, you remember how Tom Sawyer’s aunt made him paint the fence as punishment. But Tom made it seem like so much fun that his friends wanted to paint it for him while he went off and played. Inspired by this episode, the…
Last summer journalist Marina Dmukhovskaya and photographer Georg Wallner took a trip on the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok. For 28 days and almost 10,000 kilometers, they talked to dozens of people in “Seat 47” (Mesto 47) riding next to them. When they returned, they turned 38 conversations into first-person stories. Here is one of…
An economist by education, Ksenia Buksha has worked in finance, marketing, and advertising. She is a mother of three, plays the guitar, draws, and paints. She is also, writer Dmitry Bykov asserts, one of the best poets of her generation, although she is better known for her prose. The 37-year-old St. Petersburg native has published…
This weekend Stage Russia has joined up with Russian Life magazine, Russian and Georgian filmmakers, plus libararies and universities around the world to offer three films for free livestreaming this weekend. One is available to everyone; two are available free to people with library cards or student/teacher IDs at participating institutions. “Resilience” In 1917, Russia…
At the end of March Moscow’s movie theaters were all closed due to the coronavirus and everyone switched to watching films online. But finally, earlier this month Mayor Sergei Sobyanin signed a decree allowing cinemas to open on Aug. 1. The number of visitors in the hall, however, must be 50% of the number of seats. Although…
“The Master and Margarita,” Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic Soviet tale of when the Devil went down to Moscow, has been ranked the most popular book among Russian prisoners, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” ranked second, followed by “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas in third, TASS cited…
Russian lawmakers recently introduced legislation that will have major implications for the country’s transgender population. If passed, the draft law — which also seeks to ban LGBT marriage and adoption — will make it impossible for transgender people to change their gender on official documents after they have transitioned. Activists and rights groups say the…
This summer, when international travel is difficult or impossible, tourists are flocking south to the resort towns on the Black Sea or Sea of Azov. But after a few days of lying on the beach, you and your family might want to see what else the Krasnodrar region has to offer. You’re in luck! If…
Beat Film Festival, founded in 2010, is likely to become the headliner of this summer’s cultural events in Moscow. It launches on Aug. 1, when the city’s movie theaters are allowed to open after their long downtime during the coronavirus quarantine. This year the films will be shown online and offline, sometimes with discussions including…
Rimma, age 85 I have always been interested in the unknown. I was born on the 25th lunar day, that means I am prone to insight and intuitions. My destiny is to interact with people, my karmic task is to serve them. I have been learning and practicing numerology and esotericism for 40 years already.…
Behind many a successful food writer stands an inspirational grandparent. This is certainly true of Anna Kharzeeva, author of “The Soviet Diet Cookbook: Exploring Life, Culture and History — One Recipe at a Time.” With the help of her grandmother, Yelena Moiseyevna, Kharzeeva, a thirty-something Muscovite, set out to explore the world of Soviet-era cuisine by…
After four months of coronavirus lockdown and counting, we all could use an escape from Moscow’s urban expanse. Nikola-Lenivets, a sprawling open-air art park filled with wonders both natural and manmade, is a great option for getting away from the noise without breaking social distancing. Covering 650 hectares of Ugra National Park in the Kaluga…
Russian cinemas will delay premiering heavy dramas after reopening because viewers “aren’t ready” for heavy dramas amid the coronavirus pandemic, authorities said Wednesday. Russia closed down movie theaters, museums and other cultural establishments after the outbreak first hit the country in late March. Russia’s Culture Ministry lifted the nationwide ban last week, leaving it up…
The AZ Museum of non-conformist art is celebrating its fifth anniversary with an exhibition dedicated to George Costakis, who was, without exaggeration, the savior of the early Russian avant-garde and post-war non-conformist art and artists. Called “Costakis’ Choice,” the show leads visitors through the life of this great collector, which is to say through the…
As Moscow’s museums have slowly begun to reopen in the past month, the Russian capital’s cultural life has also reawakened with a series of new exhibitions. In addition to requiring masks, most museums require visitors to reserve tickets online for a specific time slot in an effort to keep crowding down and curb the potential…
Victoria, 42 (Editor’s note: this co-traveller’s name has been changed on her request because she signed a non-disclosure agreement upon retirement) In my job one has to have good sense of humor, otherwise, I would go mad. I always wanted to work for the police. I can’t say my parents were happy about my choice.…
Somewhere in the early 2000s, it became okay to play with our food. Not in the sense of rolling it up into balls and hurling it at one another, but to pair traditional ingredients with non-traditional methods of preparation or vice versa. Until then, everyone had dutifully stayed in his lane: sushi was sushi, but…
As Russia has battled the coronavirus pandemic, its doctors have been among the hardest-hit groups. Many Russian hospitals have become hotspots for coronavirus outbreaks. Russian doctors estimate that nearly 600 of their colleagues have died from the virus across the country. While Russians haven’t followed fellow virus epicenters like New York and Italy in applauding…
Protests against racial and other discrimination have engulfed half of the globe. In their quest for justice, demonstrators have targetted monuments of people associated with slavery, racial and other forms of discrimination. Authorities across the world have put demonstrators on a par with ordinary vandals, imposing enormous fines and even criminal penalties for destroying or…
Sometimes the most interesting places in Russia are a bit off the beaten path. Case in point: Lipetsk region. Lipetsk is 465 km from Moscow — almost six hours by car. Although the region is associated with Peter the Great, the writer Ivan Bunin, and other famous historical figures, it is not on the standard…
Night train Blagoveschensk – Khabarovsk. The Mesto47 team is heading to the dining car. We take a table across a group of miners with an empty bottle of vodka. From their conversation we figure that they are travelling from a corporate event on lake Baikal, a soccer competition commemorating Steel Miners’ Day. They are having…
Russian cuisine’s reputation as bland is infamous: from the beloved tongue-twister, which proclaims that “buckwheat kasha and cabbage soup are all we eat,” to the horror stories of Soviet-era stodge and deprivation. There are those (and, once upon a long time ago, I counted myself among their number) who maintain that only the imported flavors…
Oksana and her two-year-old daughter Sophia sit in a small lounge in Vnukovo airport in Moscow. They are one of several families with young children waiting together. Sophia, like the other children there, has retinoblastoma, an aggressive and rare form of retinal cancer that can render a child blind and cause death within a matter…
Anna, 33, calls herself “an extinct dinosaur in a modern society”. Indeed, it’s almost like she travelled here by time machine. Her job is a well-respected profession in 18th century: lacemaker. She lives with her husband in patriarchy, meaning that she obeys him all the time, thinks that her life mission is to be next…
Underground passengers engrossed in reading and chess players in a summer park, overcrowded beaches and demanding ballet rehearsals, a huge line to the Mausoleum and a divorcing couple in a court room, desperately trying to avoid each other’s eyes — these are just a few of the images in the new exhibition at the Manege…
If there is one thing worse than Moscow in the middle of a cold snap, it’s Moscow in the middle of a heat wave. Summer took its own sweet time coming this year, but now seems to have settled in for the duration with the relentless baking heat that is so hard to coax off…
Moscow has a surprising number of beaches for swimming in lakes, canals and streams, which are just opening up after the long period of self-isolation and cool, rainy weather. In Moscow city, the swimming zones are not officially open: the city is still on high alert mode in response to the coronavirus pandemic. So wait…
Moscow got a new monument this morning — one that may be the first of its kind. The monument is in honor of the more than 60,000 couriers whose work made it possible for Muscovites to self-isolate during the pandemic. The monument was commissioned by some of the companies most reliant on delivery workers: Ozon,…
MOROCCAN CUISINE WEEKEND This weekend stay home and have Morocco delivered to your door. The Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park is offering a full Moroccan dinner for two (or more) Jult 4 and 5. Enjoy the fresh blend of Arabic, Berber and European culinary traditions! This dinner has a lot of dishes for vegetarians. The set…
This summer, travel and vacations are not going to be like usual. If you are wary of crowds or flying, forget the Black Sea coast and consider some vacation options closer to Moscow. How about Kazan? The Republic of Tatarstan does not require visitors from other regions to self-isolate, and the capital is full of…
Russia opened its domestic tourist season Wednesday as it continues to grapple with the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has seen it record the world’s third-highest number of infections. The country closed its borders and grounded most international flights in late March to slow the spread of the outbreak, allowing only special evacuations of its own…
Last summer journalist Marina Dmukhovskaya and photographer Georg Wallner took a trip on the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok. For 28 days and almost 10,000 kilometers, they talked to dozens of people in “Seat 47” (Mesto 47) riding next to them. When they returned, they turned 38 conversations into first-person stories. My husband was a…
It’s a rare thing for me to advocate toning down spice notes or flavor accents in a Russian dish — I am the gal who puts sumac, ginger, and horseradish in borscht — but with Morkovcha, it was beyond time for an intervention. Morkovcha is a spicy carrot salad better known in Russia as “Korean…
A Moscow court has handed a suspended sentence to prominent theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, a surprise legal victory in a fraud case his supporters say was politically motivated and a test of artistic freedom in Russia. Suspended sentences are widely seen as the lightest punishment in Russia’s legal system, which rarely issues not-guilty verdicts. The sentencing…
This Saturday and Sunday our friends and neighbors at the Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park are celebrating the end of lock-down — or almost the end of lock-down — with a fabulous Chinese dinner for two — or many more! (The portions are generous, to say the least!) The dinner includes Guan Tang bao with prawns…
Finally, summer cafes, libraries and museums are expected to reopen in Moscow. Starting from June 16, exhibition halls and museums are gradually opening all over Moscow. In almost every museum, visitors will only be able to buy electronic tickets, and everyone, including guests and exhibition staffers, are required to wear masks and practice social distancing.…
Have you ever looked at the lit windows of random homes and wondered, who is living inside and what their life is like? Kazan’s hospitality had no borders, so here’s a twist to our usual approach: we didn’t meet people in the street or the train this time, we were invited into their homes. Meet…
One thing the Covid-19 lockdown has reinforced for me is that venerable adage, “Waste not want not.” When you write about food and develop recipes for a living, there is always a certain amount of food waste involved — rather more than your already very obliging family can consume. Though regrettable, you learn to live with…
On Friday the non-governmental organization Zhivi Seichas (Live Now) is holding a 10-hour marathon to gather 2 million rubles for Russian patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). All day on their YouTube channel or VKontakte page some of Russia’s finest athletes, actors, singers, dancers and many others will be working hard to entertain, enlighten, and even hold some dance…