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 land area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. Russia is the ninth-most populous country in the world and the most populous country in Europe. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its population centres having more than 1 million inhabitants. Russia's capital and largest city is Moscow, while Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and 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. A Bengal tigress in Kanha Tiger Reserve, India The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a large cat and a member of the genus Panthera native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is traditionally classified into nine recent subspecies, though some recognise only two subspecies, mainland Asian tigers and the island tigers of the Sunda Islands. Throughout the tiger's range, it inhabits mainly forests, from coniferous and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the Russian Far East and Northeast China to tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests on the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The tiger is an apex predator and preys mainly on ungulates, which it takes by ambush. It lives a mostly solitary life and occupies home ranges, defending these from individuals of the same sex. The range of a male tiger overlaps with that of multiple females with whom he mates. Females give birth to usually two or three cubs that stay with their mother for about two years. When becoming independent, they leave their mother's home range and establish their own. (Full article...) Erivansky Square, scene of the robbery, taken in the 1870s The 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, also known as the Erivansky Square expropriation, was an armed robbery on 26 June 1907[a] in the city of Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia) in the Tiflis Governorate in the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. A Bolshevik group "expropriated" a bank cash shipment to fund their revolutionary activities. The robbers attacked a bank stagecoach, and the surrounding police and soldiers, using bombs and guns while the stagecoach was transporting money through Erivansky Square (present-day Freedom Square) between the post office and the Tiflis branch of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. The attack killed forty people and injured fifty others, according to official archive documents. The robbers escaped with 241,000 rubles. The robbery was organized by a number of top-level Bolsheviks, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Maxim Litvinov, Leonid Krasin, and Alexander Bogdanov; and committed by a party of revolutionaries led by Stalin's early associate Simon Ter-Petrosian, also known as "Kamo" and "The Caucasian Robin-Hood". Because such activities had been explicitly prohibited by the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) only weeks previously, the robbery and the killings caused outrage within the party against the Bolsheviks (a faction within the RSDLP). As a result, Lenin and Stalin tried to distance themselves from the robbery. (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...) Fram leaves Bergen on 2 July 1893, bound for the Arctic Ocean Nansen's Fram expedition of 1893–1896 was an attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean. In the face of much discouragement from other polar explorers, Nansen took his ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the drift to carry her towards the pole. Impatient with the slow speed and erratic character of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and a chosen companion, Hjalmar Johansen, left the ship with a team of Samoyed dogs and sledges and made for the pole. They did not reach it, but they achieved a record Farthest North latitude of 86°13.6′N before a long retreat over ice and water to reach safety in Franz Josef Land. Meanwhile, Fram continued to drift westward, finally emerging in the North Atlantic Ocean. The idea for the expedition had arisen after items from the American vessel Jeannette, which had sunk off the north coast of Siberia in 1881, were discovered three years later off the south-west coast of Greenland. The wreckage had obviously been carried across the polar ocean, perhaps across the pole itself. Based on this and other debris recovered from the Greenland coast, the meteorologist Henrik Mohn developed a theory of transpolar drift, which led Nansen to believe that a specially designed ship could be frozen in the pack ice and follow the same track as Jeannette wreckage, thus reaching the vicinity of the pole. (Full article...) Dubnium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Db and atomic number 105. It is highly radioactive: the most stable known isotope, dubnium-268, has a half-life of about 16 hours. This greatly limits extended research on the element. Dubnium does not occur naturally on Earth and is produced artificially. The Soviet Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) claimed the first discovery of the element in 1968, followed by the American Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1970. Both teams proposed their names for the new element and used them without formal approval. The long-standing dispute was resolved in 1993 by an official investigation of the discovery claims by the Transfermium Working Group, formed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, resulting in credit for the discovery being officially shared between both teams. The element was formally named dubnium in 1997 after the town of Dubna, the site of the JINR. (Full article...) Extent of Ali Bey and Zahir's territory between 1768 and 1774 and Russian naval movements in the Levant, based on the accounts of Sauveur Lusignan, a contemporary historian Beirut was twice occupied during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 by squadrons of the Imperial Russian Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, first in June 1772 and second from October 1773 to early 1774, as part of its Levant campaign. Russia's main objective in this campaign was to assist local forces led by Egypt's autonomous ruler, Ali Bey al-Kabir, who was in open rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. Russia, led by Catherine the Great, was pressing the Ottomans in Europe. Ali took advantage of the Empire's preoccupation with Russia to declare Egypt's independence; in 1771 he sent an army led by Muhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab to occupy Ottoman territory in the Levant. Abu al-Dhahab unexpectedly returned to challenge Ali for control of Egypt. Ali requested Russian military assistance against both his rival and the Ottomans. When this aid, in the form of a small Russian squadron, arrived in the region, Ali had already fled Egypt and taken refuge in Acre, the power base of his ally, Zahir al-Umar. After helping repel an Ottoman offensive on Sidon, the Russian squadron sailed for Beirut. They bombarded the town in June 1772 and occupied it from June 23 to 28. (Full article...) Panteleimon at sea, 1906 The Russian battleship Potemkin (Russian: Князь Потёмкин Таврический, romanized: Kniaz Potyomkin Tavricheskiy, "Prince Potemkin of Taurida") was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. She became famous during the Revolution of 1905, when her crew mutinied against their officers. This event later formed the basis for Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin. After the mutineers sought asylum in Constanța, Romania, and after the Russians recovered the ship, her name was changed to Panteleimon. She accidentally sank a Russian submarine in 1909 and was badly damaged when she ran aground in 1911. During World War I, Panteleimon participated in the Battle of Cape Sarych in late 1914. She covered several bombardments of the Bosphorus fortifications in early 1915, including one where the ship was attacked by the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim – Panteleimon and the other Russian pre-dreadnoughts present drove her off before she could inflict any serious damage. The ship was relegated to secondary roles after Russia's first dreadnought battleship entered service in late 1915. She was by then obsolete and was reduced to reserve in 1918 in Sevastopol. (Full article...) Nansen in 1890 Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (Norwegian: [ˈfrɪ̂tːjɔf ˈnɑ̀nsn̩]; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the Fatherland League. He led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, traversing the island on cross-country skis. He won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during his Fram expedition of 1893–1896. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. He was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1897. (Full article...) Laika (/ˈlaɪkə/ LY-kə; Russian: Лайка, IPA: [ˈlajkə]; c. 1954 – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into low orbit on 3 November 1957. As the technology to re-enter the atmosphere had not yet been developed, Laika's survival was never expected. She died of hyperthermia hours into the flight, on the craft's fourth orbit. Little was known about the effects of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and animal flights were viewed by engineers as a necessary precursor to human missions. The experiment, which monitored Laika's vital signs, aimed to prove that a living organism could survive being launched into orbit and continue to function under conditions of weakened gravity and increased radiation, providing scientists with some of the first data on the biological effects of spaceflight. (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...) 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...) 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 made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the 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 public music education system. 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 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...) Rostislav between 1907 and 1916. Rostislav was a pre-dreadnought battleship built by the Nikolaev Admiralty Shipyard in the 1890s for the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was conceived as a small, inexpensive coastal defence ship, but the Navy abandoned the concept in favor of a compact, seagoing battleship with a displacement of 8,880 long tons (9,022 t). Poor design and construction practices increased her actual displacement by more than 1,600 long tons (1,626 t). Rostislav became the world's first capital ship to burn fuel oil, rather than coal. Her combat ability was compromised by the use of 10-inch (254 mm) main guns instead of the de facto Russian standard of 12 inches (305 mm). Her hull was launched in September 1896, but non-delivery of the ship's main guns delayed her maiden voyage until 1899 and her completion until 1900. In May 1899 Rostislav became the first ship of the Imperial Navy to be commanded by a member of the House of Romanov, Captain Alexander Mikhailovich. From 1903 to 1912 the ship was the flagship of the second-in-command of the Black Sea Fleet. During the 1905 Russian Revolution her crew was on the verge of mutiny, but ultimately remained loyal to the regime, and actively suppressed the mutiny of the cruiser Ochakov. (Full article...) Khrushchev in 1962 Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (15 April [O.S. 3 April] 1894 – 11 September 1971) was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev stunned the communist world with his denunciation of his predecessor Joseph Stalin and embarked on a policy of de-Stalinization with his key ally Anastas Mikoyan. He sponsored the early Soviet space program and enacted reforms in domestic policy. After some false starts, and a narrowly avoided nuclear war over Cuba, he conducted successful negotiations with the United States to reduce Cold War tensions. In 1964, the Kremlin circle stripped him of power, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier. Khrushchev was born in 1894 in a village in western Russia. He was employed as a metal worker during his youth, and he was a political commissar during the Russian Civil War. Under the sponsorship of Lazar Kaganovich, Khrushchev worked his way up the Soviet hierarchy. He originally supported Stalin's purges and approved thousands of arrests. In 1938, Stalin sent him to govern the Ukrainian SSR, and he continued the purges there. During what was known as the Great Patriotic War, Khrushchev was again a commissar, serving as an intermediary between Stalin and his generals. Khrushchev was present at the defense of Stalingrad, a fact he took great pride in. After the war, he returned to Ukraine before being recalled to Moscow as one of Stalin's close advisers. (Full article...) Manuscript miniature, part of double portrait with Empress Maria, Vatican Library Manuel I Komnenos (Greek: Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, romanized: Manouḗl Komnēnós; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (Greek: Πορφυρογέννητος; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire experienced a resurgence of military and economic power and enjoyed a cultural revival. Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the great power of the Mediterranean world, Manuel pursued an energetic and ambitious foreign policy. In the process he made alliances with Pope Adrian IV and the resurgent West. He invaded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, although unsuccessfully, being the last Eastern Roman emperor to attempt reconquests in the western Mediterranean. The passage of the potentially dangerous Second Crusade through his empire was adroitly managed. Manuel established a Byzantine protectorate over the Crusader states of Outremer. Facing Muslim advances in the Holy Land, he made common cause with the Kingdom of Jerusalem and participated in a combined invasion of Fatimid Egypt. Manuel reshaped the political maps of the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, placing the kingdoms of Hungary and Outremer under Byzantine hegemony and campaigning aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in the east. (Full article...) Selected picture 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. 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. Tauride Palace Photograph credit: Andrew Shiva The Tauride Palace is one of the largest and most historic palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was designed by Ivan Starov for Prince Grigory Potemkin, and was constructed between 1783 and 1789. After the owner's death, it was purchased by Catherine the Great, who constructed a theatre in the east wing and a church in the west wing. Many improvements were also made to the grounds, including construction of the Admiralty Pavilion, the gardener house, the orangery, glass-houses, bridges, and ironwork fences. Although the exterior of the building was rather plain, the interior was very luxurious. More recently, the building housed the first Imperial State Duma (1906–1917) and the post-revolution provisional government. 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. 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. 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. 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. "Family Ruble" Coin: Russian Empire (image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History) The "Family Ruble", a coin issued by the Russian Empire in 1836 and denominated both as 1½ rubles and as 10 złoty. It depicts Tsar Nicholas I on the obverse and his family on the reverse: Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (center), surrounded by Alexander II as Tsarevich, Maria, Olga, Nicholas, Michael, Konstantin, and Alexandra. 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. 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. Kikin Hall Photograph: Florstein Kikin Hall, commissioned by Alexander Kikin in 1714, is one of the oldest buildings in Saint Petersburg. Incomplete at the time of Kikin's execution, the building was seized by the Russian crown and used for a variety of purposes. In the 1950s, Irina Benois arranged for the restoration of the dilapidated building. It is now home to a music school. 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). 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. French invasion of Russia Image credit: Charles Joseph Minard Charles Minard's Carte figurative (1869), which details the losses of men, the position of the army, and the freezing temperatures on Napoleon's disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia. Created in an effort to show the horrors of war, the graph "defies the pen of the historian in its brutal eloquence" and has been called the best statistical graphic ever drawn. 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. Moscow State University Photograph: Dmitry A. Mottl The current main building of the Moscow State University in Sparrow Hills, Moscow, Russia. Designed by Lev Rudnev and completed by 1953, the 240-metre (790 ft) tall structure was the tallest building in Europe until the completion of the Messeturm in 1990. Alexis of Russia Painting: Unknown Alexis (1629–1676) was the tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death. Born in Moscow on 29 March 1629, the son of Tsar Michael and Eudoxia Streshneva, the sixteen-year-old Alexis acceded to the throne after his father's death. Boris Morozov, a shrewd boyar open to Western ideas, took charge of Russia in the early years of Alexis's reign, but was exiled from Moscow following a popular uprising. Alexis responded to the uprising with a new legal code. His reign saw wars with Poland and with Sweden, a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, and the major Cossack revolt of Stenka Razin. Alexis was married twice and had sixteen children, including tsars Fyodor III; Ivan V; Peter the Great; and Sofia, who ruled as regent for her brothers from 1682 to 1689. This oil painting, made by an unknown artist in the 1670s, is now located in a museum in Ptuj, Slovenia. 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. 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. Did you know... ... that Tsar Alexander II of Russia (pictured) signed the Ems Ukaz, a decree banning official use of the "non-existent" Ukrainian language, whilst enjoying a spa at Bad Ems, Germany? ... that Maria Fyodorovna was the tallest Russian tsarina ever, and experienced difficulties while dancing with her husband, Emperor Paul, as a result? ... that the Russian victory in the Battle of Wesenberg in 1268 put an end to the attacks of the Teutonic Knights on Russia for thirty years? 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 – Cellar in the Abrau-Durso winery, near Novorossiysk Russian wine refers to wine made in Russia, at times also including the disputed region of Crimea. The vast majority of Russia's territory is unsuitable for grape growing, with most of the production concentrated in parts of Krasnodar and Rostov regions, as well as Crimea. The Russian market is characterized by the presence of many low-cost products, with a significant part of local wines having a retail price of less than 100 rubles ($1.71). Attempts to shift away from the low-quality reputation of Soviet wines has been moderately successful, though 80% of wines sold in Russia in 2013 were made from grape concentrates. (Full article...) List of selected food/cuisine articles Ryazhenka 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 – Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan, also known as Hovhannes Khachaturi Baghramyan (2 December [O.S. 20 November] 1897 – 21 September 1982), was a Soviet military commander of Armenian origin who held the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. As commander of the Baltic Front, he participated in the offensives which pushed German forces out of the Baltic republics during World War II. During World War II, Bagramyan was the second non-Slavic military officer, after Latvian Max Reyter, to become a commander of a front. He was among several Armenians in the Soviet Army who held the highest proportion of high-ranking officers in the Soviet military during the war. (Full article...) List of featured biographies Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia 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 30 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine A Russian drone strikes a multi-storey apartment building in Sumy, Ukraine, killing nine people and injuring 13 others. (Reuters) 29 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Battle of Chasiv Yar Russian forces have captured the city of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, after a year of intense fighting for control of the front line city. (The Moscow Times) 26 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine Velyka Novosilka offensive The Russian Ministry of Defence claims that Russian forces have captured the village of Velyka Novosilka, Donetsk Oblast. (Mathrubhumi) More Did you know (auto generated) ... that the Russian and Belarussian military exercise Zapad 2009 involved nuclear-capable ballistic missiles? ... that Charles Norris-Newman was a war correspondent, a corrupt British colonial official and a Russian intelligence officer? ... that sauerkraut made by members of a Russian spiritual sect in Armenia was popular in many other parts of the Soviet Union? ... that at the 2014 Olympic Games, Yulia Lipnitskaya became Russia's youngest-ever Winter Olympic gold medalist? ... that a story titled "The Adventures of Mr. Stupidhead in Russia" may have influenced the Soviet silent comedy film The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks? ... that the Zunda Towers in Riga, Latvia, changed their name from "Z-Towers" to avoid being associated with Russia's invasion of Ukraine? 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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 Dendy 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 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 Joy (dog) 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 Sinhanch'on 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 Nikolai Vavilov 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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