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. The country's capital as well as its largest city is Moscow. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and cultural capital. Other major cities in the country include Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don. 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. Rus' ultimately disintegrated, with the Grand Duchy of Moscow growing to become the Tsardom of Russia. 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 global ideological 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. Adult rainbow trout The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal rainbow trout (O. m. irideus) or Columbia River redband trout (O. m. gairdneri) that usually returns to freshwater to spawn after living two to three years in the ocean. Freshwater forms that have been introduced into the Great Lakes and migrate into tributaries to spawn are also called steelhead. Adult freshwater stream rainbow trout average between 0.5 and 2.5 kilograms (1 and 5 lb), while lake-dwelling and anadromous forms may reach 9 kg (20 lb). Coloration varies widely based on subspecies, forms, and habitat. Adult fish are distinguished by a broad reddish stripe along the lateral line, from gills to the tail, which is most vivid in breeding males. (Full article...) The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Marxist–Leninist regime in Poland after the end of World War II. These years, while featuring general industrialization, urbanization and many improvements in the standard of living, were marred by early Stalinist repressions, social unrest, political strife and severe economic difficulties. Near the end of World War II, the advancing Soviet Red Army, along with the Polish Armed Forces in the East, pushed out the Nazi German forces from occupied Poland. In February 1945, the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of a provisional government of Poland from a compromise coalition, until postwar elections. Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, manipulated the implementation of that ruling. A practically communist-controlled Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in Warsaw by ignoring the Polish government-in-exile based in London since 1940. During the subsequent Potsdam Conference in July–August 1945, the three major Allies ratified a massive westerly shift of Poland's borders and approved its new territory between the Oder–Neisse line and the Curzon Line. The area of Poland was reduced in comparison to its pre-World War II extent and geographically resembled that of the medieval early Piast dynasty era. Following the destruction of the Polish-Jewish population in the Holocaust, the flight and expulsion of Germans in the west, resettlement of Ukrainians in the east, and the expulsion and resettlement of Poles from the Eastern Borderlands (Kresy), Poland became for the first time in its history an ethnically homogeneous nation-state without prominent minorities. The new government solidified its political power, while the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) under Bolesław Bierut gained firm control over the country, which would remain an independent state within the Soviet sphere of influence. The July Constitution was promulgated on 22 July 1952 and the country officially became the Polish People's Republic (PRL). (Full article...) Battle of Kunersdorf by Alexander von Kotzebue (1848) The Battle of Kunersdorf occurred on 12 August 1759 near Kunersdorf (now Kunowice, Poland) immediately east of Frankfurt an der Oder. Part of the Third Silesian War and the wider Seven Years' War, the battle involved over 100,000 men. An Allied army commanded by Pyotr Saltykov and Ernst Gideon von Laudon that included 41,000 Russians and 18,500 Austrians defeated Frederick the Great's army of 50,900 Prussians. The terrain complicated battle tactics for both sides, but the Russians and the Austrians, having arrived in the area first, were able to overcome many of its difficulties by strengthening a causeway between two small ponds. They had also devised a solution to Frederick's deadly modus operandi, the oblique order. Although Frederick's troops initially gained the upper hand in the battle, his limited scouting, combined with the strong defensive preparations of the Allied troops, gave the Russians and Austrians an advantage. By afternoon, when the combatants were exhausted, fresh Austrian troops thrown into the fray secured the Allied victory. (Full article...) Nikita Zotov, rotogravure by Alexandr Osipov, 1882–1883 Count Nikita Moiseevich Zotov (Russian: Никита Моисеевич Зотов, tr. 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...) Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov (Russian: Эдуа́рд Анато́льевич Стрельцо́в, IPA: [ɨdʊˈart ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲitɕ strʲɪlʲˈtsof] ⓘ; 21 July 1937 – 22 July 1990) was a Soviet footballer who played as a forward for Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet national team during the 1950s and 1960s. A powerful and skilful attacking player, he scored the fourth-highest number of goals for the Soviet Union and has been called "the greatest outfield player Russia has ever produced". He is sometimes dubbed "the Russian Pelé". Born and raised in east Moscow, Streltsov joined Torpedo at the age of 16 in 1953 and made his international debut two years later. He was part of the squad that won the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and came seventh in the 1957 Ballon d'Or. The following year, his promising career was interrupted by allegations of sexual assault shortly before the 1958 World Cup. Soviet authorities pledged he could still play if he admitted his guilt, after which he confessed, but was instead prosecuted and sentenced to twelve years of forced labour under the Gulag system (abolished in 1960 and replaced by prisons). The conviction was highly controversial, with many pointing to conflicts between Streltsov and government officials. (Full article...) Nihonium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Nh and atomic number 113. It is extremely radioactive: its most stable known isotope, nihonium-286, has a half-life of about 10 seconds. In the periodic table, nihonium is a transactinide element in the p-block. It is a member of period 7 and group 13. Nihonium was first reported to have been created in 2003 by a Russian–American collaboration at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, and in 2004 by a team of Japanese scientists at Riken in Wakō, Japan. The confirmation of their claims in the ensuing years involved independent teams of scientists working in the United States, Germany, Sweden, and China, as well as the original claimants in Russia and Japan. In 2015, the IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party recognised the element and assigned the priority of the discovery and naming rights for the element to Riken. The Riken team suggested the name nihonium in 2016, which was approved in the same year. The name comes from the common Japanese name for Japan (日本, nihon). (Full article...) Tennessine is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Ts and atomic number 117. It has the second-highest atomic number and joint-highest atomic mass of all known elements, and is the penultimate element of the 7th period of the periodic table. The discovery of tennessine was officially announced in Dubna, Russia, by a Russian–American collaboration in April 2010, which makes it the most recently discovered element . One of its daughter isotopes was created directly in 2011, partially confirming the results of the experiment. The experiment itself was repeated successfully by the same collaboration in 2012 and by a joint German–American team in May 2014. In December 2015, the Joint Working Party of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), which evaluates claims of discovery of new elements, recognized the element and assigned the priority to the Russian–American team. In June 2016, the IUPAC published a declaration stating that the discoverers had suggested the name tennessine after Tennessee, United States, a name which was officially adopted in November 2016. (Full article...) Peresvet at anchor, 1901 Peresvet (Russian: Пересвет) was the lead ship of the three Peresvet-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the end of the nineteenth century. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Squadron upon completion and based at Port Arthur from 1903. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, she participated in the Battle of Port Arthur and was seriously damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and again in the siege of Port Arthur. The ship was scuttled before the Russians surrendered, then salvaged by the Japanese and placed into service with the name Sagami (相模). Partially rearmed, Sagami was reclassified by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a coastal defense ship in 1912. In 1916, the Japanese sold her to the Russians, their allies since the beginning of World War I. En route to the White Sea in early 1917, she sank off Port Said, Egypt, after striking mines laid by a German submarine. (Full article...) Largest European specimen, a male at Südostbayerisches Naturkunde- und Mammut-Museum, Siegsdorf The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African Mammuthus subplanifrons in the early Pliocene. The woolly mammoth began to diverge from the steppe mammoth about 800,000 years ago in Siberia. Its closest extant relative is the Asian elephant. The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) lived alongside the woolly mammoth in North America, and DNA studies show that the two hybridised with each other. The appearance and behaviour of this species are among the best studied of any prehistoric animal because of the discovery of frozen carcasses in Siberia and North America, as well as skeletons, teeth, stomach contents, dung, and depiction from life in prehistoric cave paintings. Mammoth remains had long been known in Asia before they became known to Europeans in the 17th century. The origin of these remains was long a matter of debate, and often explained as being remains of legendary creatures. The mammoth was identified as an extinct species of elephant by Georges Cuvier in 1796. (Full article...) Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri as American General Richard K. Sutherland watches, 2 September 1945. The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had become incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the United Kingdom and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, Japan's leaders (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, also known as the "Big Six") were privately making entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. While maintaining a sufficient level of diplomatic engagement with the Japanese to give them the impression they might be willing to mediate, the Soviets were covertly preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea (in addition to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands) in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the United States and the United Kingdom at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences. On 6 August 1945, at 8:15 am local time, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Sixteen hours later, American President Harry S. Truman called again for Japan's surrender, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth." Late in the evening of 8 August 1945, in accordance with the Yalta agreements, but in violation of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and soon after midnight on 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the Imperial Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Hours later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Following these events, Emperor Hirohito intervened and ordered the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War to accept the terms the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration for ending the war. After several more days of behind-the-scenes negotiations and a failed coup d'état, Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address across the Empire on 15 August announcing the surrender of Japan to the Allies. (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...) Makhno in 1921 Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (Ukrainian: Нестор Івaнович Махно, pronounced [ˈnɛstor iˈʋɑnowɪt͡ʃ mɐxˈnɔ]; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Batko Makhno (батько Махно, lit. 'Father Makhno'), was a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence. He established the Makhnovshchina (loosely translated as "Makhno movement"), a mass movement by the Ukrainian peasantry to establish anarchist communism in the country between 1918 and 1921. Initially centered around Makhno's home province of Katerynoslav and hometown of Huliaipole, it came to exert a strong influence over large areas of southern Ukraine, specifically in what is now the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of Ukraine. Raised by a peasant family and coming of age amid the fervor around the 1905 Revolution, Makhno participated in a local anarchist group and spent seven years imprisoned for his involvement. With his release during the 1917 Revolution, Makhno became a local revolutionary leader in his hometown and oversaw the expropriation and redistribution of large estates to the peasantry. In the Ukrainian Civil War, Makhno sided with the Soviet Russian Bolsheviks against the Ukrainian nationalists and White movement, but his alliances with the Bolsheviks did not last. He rallied Bolshevik support to lead an insurgency, defeating the Central Powers's occupation forces at the Battle of Dibrivka and establishing the Makhnovshchina. Makhno's troops briefly integrated with the Bolshevik Red Army in the 1919 Soviet invasion of Ukraine, but split over differences on the movement's autonomy. Makhno rebuilt his army from the remains of Nykyfor Hryhoriv's forces in western Ukraine, routed the White Army at the Battle of Perehonivka, and captured most of southern and eastern Ukraine, where they again attempted to establish anarchist communism. (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...) A Russian postcard of Petropavlovsk Petropavlovsk (Russian: Петропавловск) was the lead ship of her class of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the last decade of the 19th century. The ship was sent to the Far East almost immediately after entering service in 1899, where she participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion the next year and was the flagship of the First Pacific Squadron. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Petropavlovsk took part in the Battle of Port Arthur, where she was lightly damaged by Japanese shells and failed to score any hits in return. On 13 April 1904, the ship sank after striking one or more mines near Port Arthur, in northeast China. Casualties numbered 27 officers and 652 enlisted men, including Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, the commander of the squadron, and the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin. The arrival of the competent and aggressive Makarov after the Battle of Port Arthur had boosted Russian morale, which plummeted after his death. (Full article...) Ordzhonikidze in 1937 Sergo Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze, born Grigol Konstantines dze Orjonikidze (24 October [O.S. 12 October] 1886 – 18 February 1937) was a Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet politician. Born and raised in Georgia, in the Russian Empire, Ordzhonikidze joined the Bolsheviks at an early age and quickly rose within the ranks to become an important figure within the group. Arrested and imprisoned several times by the Russian police, he was in Siberian exile when the February Revolution began in 1917. Returning from exile, Ordzhonikidze took part in the October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power. During the subsequent Civil War he played an active role as the leading Bolshevik in the Caucasus, overseeing the invasions of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. He backed their union into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR), which helped form the Soviet Union in 1922 and served as the First Secretary of the TSFSR until 1926. (Full article...) Selected picture Galina Vishnevskaya Photo: Alexey Yushenkov; edit: David Iliff Galina Vishnevskaya (1926–2012) was a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966. During her nearly six-decade career she toured much of Europe and the United States. She also acted in a film, Alexander Sokurov's Alexandra (2007). 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. Hotel Astoria (Saint Petersburg) Photograph: Florstein Hotel Astoria is a five-star hotel located on Saint Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg. Commissioned in 1910 by the Palace Hotel Company to host visitors to the Romanov tercentenary, the hotel was designed by Fyodor Lidval and first opened in 1912. After the October Revolution, it continued to be used as a state-operated hotel, though during World War II it was also a field hospital. The hotel, now owned by Rocco Forte Hotels, has been renovated several times, most recently in 2012. 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. 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. Sadko Painting: Ilya Repin Sadko is a character in the Russian medieval epic Bylina. An adventurer, merchant and gusli musician from Novgorod, Sadko becomes wealthy with the help of the Sea Tsar, but is thrown in the sea when he fails to pay the Sea Tsar his due respects. This story was widely adapted in the 19th century, including in a poem by Alexei Tolstoy and an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Shown here is Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom, an 1876 painting by Ilya Repin. It depicts Sadko meeting the Sea Tsar under the sea. 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. Ivan Goremykin Photograph: Unknown; restoration: Adam Cuerden Ivan Goremykin (1839–1917) was a Russian prime minister during World War I. A politician with archconservative views, after some time in the Ministry of Justice, he transferred to the Ministry of the Interior in 1891. He held the rank of prime minister from May to July 1906 and again from 1914 to 1916; during both terms his effectiveness was strongly limited by opposition from the State Duma. In the aftermath of the October Revolution, Goremykin was recognized as a member of the Tsarist government and killed by a street mob. Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum Photo: Florstein The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum is a lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo, near Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1811, the school produced 286 graduates, including the poet Anton Delvig and statesman Dmitry Tolstoy, before it was moved to Saint Petersburg in 1844. Sukhoi Su-27 Photo credit: Dmitry A. Mottl A Sukhoi Su-27 from the Russian Knights aerobatic team on landing, Kubinka, Russia. The Su-27 is a jet fighter plane originally manufactured by the Soviet Union with long range, heavy armament, and very high agility. Its closest American counterpart is the F-15 Eagle. Barge Haulers on the Volga Painting: Ilya Repin Barge Haulers on the Volga is an oil painting on canvas completed between 1870 and 1873 by the realist artist Ilya Repin. It depicts eleven men physically dragging a barge on the banks of the Volga River. Depicting these men as at the point of collapse, the work has been read as a condemnation of profit from inhumane labor. Barge Haulers on the Volga drew international praise for its realistic portrayal of the hardships of working men, and launched Repin's career. It has been described as "perhaps the most famous painting of the Peredvizhniki movement [for]....its unflinching portrayal of backbreaking labor". Today, the painting hangs in the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. Natalya Naryshkina Painting: Anonymous Natalya Naryshkina (1651–1694) was the Tsaritsa of Russia from 1671–1676 as the second spouse of Tsar Alexis I of Russia. She was the mother of Tsar Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great), who was born in 1672. 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. Sukhoi Superjet 100 Photograph: Katsuhiko Tokunaga/SuperJet International The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern fly-by-wire twin-engine regional jet with 8 to 108 passenger seats. Development began in 2000; the aircraft had its maiden flight on 19 May 2008 and entered commercial service on 21 April 2011. This aircraft is seen flying off the coast of Italy near Sanremo. 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. Alaskan parchment scrip Banknote: Russian-American Company; image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution An Alaskan parchment scrip banknote in the denomination of 1 ruble, printed on vellum or parchment by the Russian-American Company. On the obverse, the horizontal text immediately beneath the double-headed eagle reads "Seal of the Russian American Company". The oval text reads "under august protection of His Imperial Majesty", and under the oval is the value of the note "one ruble". Alaskan parchment scrip was used as a form of company scrip in Alaska when it was a possession of the Russian Empire. In circulation from 1816 to 1867, such scrip could be printed on vellum, parchment, or pinniped skin. Denominations of 10, 25, 50 kopecks and 1, 5, 10, and 25 rubles were issued. 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). 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. Saint Basil's Cathedral Photograph: Petar Milošević Saint Basil's Cathedral is a church in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. It was built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. The city's tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600, the original building contained eight side churches arranged around the ninth, central church of Intercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). Although the Bolsheviks considered demolishing the church in the 1930s, it was spared. Since 1991 it has housed a branch of the State Historical Museum and hosted occasional church services. Did you know... ... that Soviet sniper Roza Shanina's (pictured) declaration "I shall return after the battle" would be paraphrased in a book title? ... that Emperor Nicholas II of Russia was billed 3,250 rubles for the Rosebud egg, the first Fabergé egg he presented to his empress consort Alexandra Fyodorovna? ... that after Peter the Great's reform of the Russian military, serf recruits were, and their children born after the recruitment were liberated, with the boys being sent to specially created Garrison schools? In this month April 1, 1434 - Yury of Zvenigorod arrived in Moscow and again declared himself the Grand Prince. April 8, 1783 - The Crimean Khanate was incorporated into the Russian Empire. April 20, 1876 - April Uprising of 1876: Bulgarian nationalists attacked the Ottoman police headquarters in Oborishte. April 28, 1920 - With the Azerbaijani capital Baku under Eleventh Army occupation, the parliament agreed to transfer power to the Communist government of the Azerbaijan SSR. April 30, 1975 - Fall of Saigon: The South Vietnamese capital of Saigon was captured by the People's Army of Vietnam. Selected food or cuisine – Ryazhenka, or ryazhanka (Russian: ряженка; Belarusian: ражанка, Ukrainian: ряжанка, /rɛƷɛnkə/), is a traditional fermented milk product in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. It is made from baked milk by lactic acid fermentation. (Full article...) List of selected food/cuisine articles 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 Pastila Coulibiac Selected biography – 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 and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was killed with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918. (Full article...) List of featured biographies 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 Nikita Zotov Vladimir Putin In the news 25 April 2024 – Russia–NATO relations Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warns that Russia will make NATO nuclear weapons in Poland one of its primary targets if they are deployed there. (The Jerusalem Post) 24 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War The United States announces a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine as part of a bill that was recently approved after being stalled in the US Congress for months. The package includes ammunition for artillery and air defense systems, along with armoured fighting vehicles. (CNN) 24 April 2024 – Moldova announces that it has brought a criminal case against Gagauzia governor Evghenia Guțul for using Russian funds to finance the now-banned Șor Party. (Reuters) Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov is arrested on suspicion of bribery. (CNN) 22 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Eastern Ukraine campaign More Did you know (auto generated) ... that some severe environmental impacts of the invasion of Ukraine can be seen from space? ... that as a result of the crisis of the late 16th century in Russia, many service-class landowners were left with no peasants working their land? ... that Liu Weining, grandson of the second president of the People's Republic of China, became involved with Russian military secrecy due to his job and was denied the ability to travel to China? ... that by mid-1920, hundreds of German and Austrian communists fought in Red Army units in Turkestan? ... that when a Russian warship asked the Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island to surrender, their response was "Russian warship, go fuck yourself"? ... that teenager Jack Sweeney uses Twitter bots to track the private jets of Elon Musk, Drake, and Russian oligarchs? 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Selected quote Featured content Extended content Featured articles 2nd Red Banner Army 1964 European Nations' Cup final 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) Dubnium Battle of Dürenstein Russian battleship Dvenadsat Apostolov Leonhard Euler William Feiner Nikita Filatov 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 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 Eduard Streltsov Surrender of Japan Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Tennessine 1907 Tiflis bank robbery Tintin in the Land of the Soviets Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic 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 A-Class articles 51st Army (Russia) Arena (countermeasure) Battle of the Kalka River Battle of Berlin Bolesław I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis Cho Ki-chon Evacuation of East Prussia Finnish Civil War Yuri Gagarin SS Iowan Kaunas Fortress Third Battle of Kharkov Łódź insurrection 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 T-26 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 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning 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 Armenia at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic Alexander Atabekian Australian contribution to the Allied Intervention in Russia 1918–1919 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 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) 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 Anna Filosofova 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 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 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 Kaunas Fortress Battle of Kay Georgi Kinkladze Antonín Kinský Andrei Kirilenko (politician) Soviet cruiser Kirov Kirov-class cruiser Russian ironclad Kniaz Pozharsky Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov 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 Battle of Kursk Svetlana Kuznetsova Lada (mythology) The Landlady (novella) Siege of Lankaran 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 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 Mezhyhirya Monastery 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 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 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 Valentin Pavlov 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 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 Grigory Potemkin Prague Spring Prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine 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 citizenship law Russian language in Israel Russian military deception Russkiy Toy Russo-Georgian War Ruthenium Rutherfordium Elena Rybakina Nikolai Ryzhkov Sack of Shamakhi Salyut 6 Samarium Russian submarine Sankt Peterburg (B-585) Olga Sapphire Pavel Schilling Sea of Japan naming dispute Seaborgium Second Northern War 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 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) Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania Soyuz TM-30 Sputnik 1 St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery Joseph Stalin Stalingrad-class battlecruiser Konstantin Stanislavski Nadezhda Stasova Stranger in Moscow Igor Stravinsky 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 Russian monitor Tifon Tiger Nikolai Tikhonov Kristina Tkach Transport in the Soviet Union Russian battleship Tri Sviatitelia Maria Trubnikova 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 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 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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