Russian history
Chinese puzzle or matryoshka doll – the complexity of Sino-Russia relations
For centuries, the wary neighbours have been united mainly in their opposition to the West – but is there now a new dynamic between the global powers?
The history of Moscow was one of extreme violence from the start
The Mongol massacres of 1238 were followed by reigns of terror, plague, fire, revolution and purges – as well as constant hostility to Kyiv
How an illiterate peasant changed the course of modern history
Grigory Rasputin was no Machiavelli but a simple, venal man who wielded an influence far more dangerous than he could ever comprehend
Distrust and resentment have plagued Anglo-Russian relations for centuries
On a visit to England in 1556, Ivan the Terrible’s envoy alienated Londoners with his extreme suspicions – and lurid insults have been exchanged ever since
Worthless pieces of paper
The first banknotes were greeted with deep suspicion in 1769 – but it was nothing to the distrust that Soviet and post-Soviet issues aroused
Russia’s moral collapse
It’s not just Putin’s war, says Jade McGlynn. The mass of Telegram data shows how much the nation as a whole supports the offensive
The Russian enigma
Nothing is certain in a country where the past is constantly rewritten, says Owen Matthews
Autocrat and autodidact
The link between mass-murdering dictators and the gentle occupation of reading and writing books is a curious one, but it…
The Russian conundrum
Churchill was wrong: Russia is neither a riddle nor an enigma. Russians themselves concoct endless stories to glorify their country’s…
A river runs through it
‘Without this river the Russians could not live,’ remarked Robert Bremner in his work, Excursions in the Interior of Russia.…
Small but deadly: postcards that fuelled the Russian Revolution
In this handsomely illustrated book Tobie Mathew makes a case for the lowly postcard’s role in the politicisation of pre-revolutionary…
Micro-managing the terror
‘Lately, the paradoxical turns of recent Russian history… have given my research more than scholarly relevance,’ remarks Oleg Khlevniuk in…
Futurist at a dead end
Why increase the number of suicides? Better to increase the output of ink! wrote Vladimir Mayakovsky in 1926 in response…
Crime and cover-up — a very Russian tale
The way to think about Russia, Bill Browder told me in Moscow in 2004, using a comparison he recycles in…
Into the badlands
Larger than Europe and the United States combined, Siberia is an enormous swathe of Russia, spanning seven time zones and…
