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, and extends across eleven time zones; sharing land borders with fourteen countries. Russia is the most populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous country in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia; while Saint Petersburg is the second-largest city and cultural centre. Human settlement on the territory of modern Russia dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. 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. 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...) 1876 portrait Anna Pavlovna Filosofova (Russian: Анна Павловна Философова; née Diaghileva; 5 April 1837 – 17 March 1912) was a major Russian feminist and activist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a wealthy, noble family, she married Vladimir Filosofov at a young age; they had six children. Initially concerned with the plight of serfs, Filosofova became a feminist in the late 1850s after joining the salon of Maria Trubnikova, who educated her on the subject. Alongside Trubnikova and Nadezhda Stasova, Filosofova was one of the earliest leaders of the Russian women's movement. Together, the three friends and allies were referred to as the "triumvirate". They founded and led several charitable organizations designed to promote women's cultural and economic independence, such as the Society for Cheap Lodgings and Other Benefits for the Citizens of St. Petersburg. Filosofova served as the president of that organization for several years. (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...) A natural diamond crystal Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond as a form of carbon is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insoluble in water. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, but diamond is metastable and converts to it at a negligible rate under those conditions. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are used in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools. They are also the reason that diamond anvil cells can subject materials to pressures found deep in the Earth. Because the arrangement of atoms in diamond is extremely rigid, few types of impurity can contaminate it (two exceptions are boron and nitrogen). Small numbers of defects or impurities (about one per million of lattice atoms) can color a diamond blue (boron), yellow (nitrogen), brown (defects), green (radiation exposure), purple, pink, orange, or red. Diamond also has a very high refractive index and a relatively high optical dispersion. (Full article...) The official arrangement of the Russian national anthem, completed in 2001 The "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the "State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated with Gabriel El-Registan on the original anthem. From 1944, that earliest version replaced "The Internationale" as a new, more Soviet-centric and Russia-centric Soviet anthem. The same melody, but without any lyrics, was used after 1956. A second version of the lyrics was written by Mikhalkov in 1970 and adopted in 1977, placing less emphasis on World War II and more on the victory of communism, and without mentioning Joseph Stalin by name. The Russian SFSR was the only constituent republic of the Soviet Union without its own regional anthem, instead using the national anthem of the Soviet Union. The lyric-free "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya", composed by Mikhail Glinka, was officially adopted in 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of Russia, and confirmed in 1993, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin. This anthem proved to be unpopular with the Russian public and with many politicians and public figures, because of its tune and lack of lyrics, and consequently its inability to inspire Russian athletes during international competitions. The government sponsored contests to create lyrics for the unpopular anthem, but none of the entries were adopted. (Full article...) Detail from portrait by Valentin Serov, 1898 Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March 1844 – 21 June 1908) was a Russian composer, a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his fifteen operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects. Rimsky-Korsakov believed in developing a nationalistic style of classical music, as did his fellow composer Mily Balakirev and the critic Vladimir Stasov. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony, and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of The Five. Rimsky-Korsakov's techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner. (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. Mammoth remains had long been known in Asia before they became known to Europeans. The origin of these remains was long debated and often explained as being remains of legendary creatures. The mammoth was identified as an extinct elephant species by Georges Cuvier in 1796. 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. The woolly mammoth was roughly the same size as modern African elephants. Males reached shoulder heights between 2.67 and 3.49 m (8 ft 9 in and 11 ft 5 in) and weighed between 3.9 and 8.2 t (3.8 and 8.1 long tons; 4.3 and 9.0 short tons). Females reached 2.3–2.6 m (7 ft 7 in – 8 ft 6 in) in shoulder heights and weighed between 2.8–4 t (2.8–3.9 long tons; 3.1–4.4 short tons). A newborn calf weighed about 90 kg (200 lb). The woolly mammoth was well adapted to the cold environments present during glacial periods, including the last ice age. It was covered in fur, with an outer covering of long guard hairs and a shorter undercoat. The colour of the coat varied from dark to light. The ears and tail were short to minimise frostbite and heat loss. It had long, curved tusks and four molars, which were replaced six times during the lifetime of an individual. Its behaviour was similar to that of modern elephants, and it used its tusks and trunk for manipulating objects, fighting, and foraging. The diet of the woolly mammoth was mainly grasses and sedges. Individuals could probably reach the age of 60. Its habitat was the mammoth steppe, which stretched across northern Eurasia and North America. (Full article...) Swedish postcard of Poltava The Russian battleship Poltava (Russian: Полтава) was one of three Petropavlovsk-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Squadron shortly after completion and based at Port Arthur from 1901. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, she participated in the Battle of Port Arthur and was heavily damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea. She was sunk by Japanese artillery during the subsequent siege of Port Arthur in December 1904, but was raised by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) after the war and renamed Tango (丹後). During World War I, she bombarded German fortifications during the siege of Qingdao. The Japanese government sold Tango back to the Russians at their request in 1916. She was renamed Chesma (Чесма) as her former name had been given to a new ship. En route to the White Sea, she joined an Allied force that persuaded the Greek government to disarm their ships. Her crew declared for the Bolsheviks in October 1917, but made no effort to resist when the British captured her during the North Russia intervention in early 1918. In poor condition, the ship was used as a prison hulk. Abandoned by the British when they withdrew in 1919 and recaptured by the Bolsheviks, she was scrapped in 1924. (Full article...) Nihonium is a synthetic chemical element; it has the 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 experiments carried out between 14 July and 10 August 2003, by a Russian–American collaboration at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, working in collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, and on 23 July 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...) Ordzhonikidze in 1937 Sergo Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze (born Grigol Konstantines dze Orjonikidze; 24 October [O.S. 12 October] 1886 – 18 February 1937) was a Georgian-born 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...) Olga Constantinovna of Russia (Greek: Όλγα; 3 September [O.S. 22 August] 1851 – 18 June 1926) was Queen of Greece as the wife of King George I. She was briefly the regent of Greece in 1920. A member of the Romanov dynasty, Olga was the oldest daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg. She spent her childhood in Saint Petersburg, Poland, and the Crimea, and married George in 1867 at the age of sixteen. At first, she felt ill at ease in the Kingdom of Greece, but she quickly became involved in social and charitable work. She founded hospitals and schools, but her attempt to promote a new, more accessible, Greek translation of the Gospels sparked riots by religious conservatives. (Full article...) The Santiago Bernabéu (pictured in 2009) held the final. The 1964 European Nations' Cup final was a football match played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on 21 June 1964, to determine the winners of the 1964 European Nations' Cup. It was the second final of what has since been known as the European Championship, UEFA's quadrennial football competition for national teams. The match was contested between Spain and the Soviet Union, the previous tournament winners. En route to the final, Spain defeated Romania, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland over two-legged ties, before beating Hungary in the semi-finals. The Soviet Union received a bye in the qualifying round, before beating Italy, Sweden, and Denmark en route to the final. (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...) Photo, c. 1914 Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanized: Anastasiya Nikolaevna Romanova; 18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1901 – 17 July 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria (commonly known together as the OTMA sisters) and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918. (Full article...) Antarctica (/ænˈtɑːrktɪkə/ ⓘ) is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi). Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost 60 metres (200 ft). Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation occurs, it is mostly in the form of lichen or moss. (Full article...) Selected picture 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. 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. Ivan Tsarevich Artist: Viktor Vasnetsov A painting depicting Ivan Tsarevich, one of the main heroes of Russian folklore, riding a magic carpet after having captured the Firebird, which he keeps in a cage. This work was Viktor Vasnetsov's first attempt at illustrating Russian folk tales and inaugurated a famous series of paintings on the themes drawn from Russian folklore. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 2008 South Ossetia war Map credit: Andrei nacu A map detailing the events of the 2008 South Ossetia war, which began one year ago today, when Georgia launched an operation in the disputed region of South Ossetia. Ossetian, Russian, and Abkhazian forces ejected the Georgian forces after five days of heavy fighting. All parties reached a ceasefire agreement on August 12, and Russian troops remain stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to this day. Locomotive U-127 Photograph: Harveyqs Locomotive U-127 is a 4-6-0 steam locomotive of class U, preserved at the Museum of the Moscow Railway next to Paveletsky Rail Terminal in Moscow. Built in 1910, the locomotive was badly damaged during the Russian Civil War but restored in May 1923. The following year it hauled head of state Vladimir Lenin's funeral train from Gerasimovskaya to Paveletsky station. For the next 13 years it continued in passenger service, until it was withdrawn in 1937, restored, and preserved. Coat of arms of the Russian Empire The Great Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire, as presented to Emperor Paul I in October 1800. The use of the double-headed eagle in the coat of arms (seen in multiple locations here) goes back to the 15th century. With the fall of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Grand Dukes of Moscow came to see themselves as the successors of the Byzantine heritage, a notion reinforced by the marriage of Ivan III to Sophia Paleologue. Ivan adopted the golden Byzantine double-headed eagle in his seal, first documented in 1472, marking his direct claim to the Roman imperial heritage and his assertion as sovereign equal and rival to the Holy Roman Empire. Yekaterina Skudina Photograph credit: Platon Shilikov Yekaterina Skudina (born 21 March 1981) is a Russian world champion and Olympic sailor. She was awarded the Roy Yamaguchi Memorial Trophy for winning the world championships in the women's Snipe class in 1998, and the bronze medal at the Yngling open world championships in 2007. At the 2011 World Championships, Skudina finished fourth in the Elliott 6m class. In addition, she has competed in three Olympic Games, finishing eighth in the Yngling class in 2004, sixth in the same class in 2008, and fourth in the Elliott 6m class in 2012. This photograph of Skudina, taken in 2009, is part of a collection of 500 images of Russian sportspeople released to Wikimedia Commons by Bolshoi Sport. Chesme Column Photograph credit: Andrew Shiva The Chesme Column is a victory column in the Catherine Park at the Catherine Palace, a former Russian royal residence in Tsarskoye Selo, a suburb of Saint Petersburg. It was erected to commemorate three Russian naval victories in the 1768–1774 Russo-Turkish War, including the Battle of Chesma in 1770. The column is made from three pieces of white-and-pink marble; decorated with the rostra of three ships' bows, and crowned by a triumphal bronze statue depicting a Russian eagle trampling a crescent moon, the symbol of Turkey. Bronze plaques on three sides of the pedestal depict scenes from the battles, and the campaign is described on the plaque on the fourth side. Cathedral of Christ the Savior Photograph: Joaquim Alves Gaspar The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is a church in Moscow, Russia, south-west of the Kremlin, which was consecrated in 1883. With an overall height of 105 metres (344 ft), it is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. Monument to Nicholas I Photograph: Godot13 The Monument to Nicholas I is a bronze equestrian monument of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia located in Saint Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Created by French sculptor Auguste de Montferrand and unveiled in 1859, the statue was considered a technical wonder at the time of its creation and is one of only a few bronze statues with just two support points (the rear hooves of the horse). Alexei Leonov Photograph credit: NASA; retouched by Coffeeandcrumbs Alexei Leonov (1934–2019) was a Soviet cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first human to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. At the end of the spacewalk, his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point that he had great difficulty re-entering the airlock, forcing him to open a valve to deflate his suit. His second trip into space took place ten years later, when he was commander of Soyuz 19, the Soviet half of the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first joint space mission between the Soviet Union and the United States. The crater Leonov on the far side of the Moon is named after him. This picture shows Leonov photographed in 1974, wearing a lapel pin with a version of the emblem for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, which was then in development. 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. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Photograph: Boissonnas and Eggler; restoration: Chris Woodrich Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna. At age 17, she was executed with her family in an extrajudicial killing by members of the Cheka – the Bolshevik secret police – on July 17, 1918. Rumors have abounded that she survived, and multiple women have claimed to be her. However, this possibility has been conclusively disproven. Did you know... ... that Kirill Eskov (pictured) named a genus from the Linyphiidae spider family discovered by him in 1988 after Kikimora, a female spirit in Slavic mythology? ... that Japan and Poland are the world's largest krill fishing nations since Russia abandoned its operations in 1993? ... that the Russian musical group Terem Quartet performs classical works on folk instruments in a humorous, virtuosic style? In this month February 28, 1609 - Vasili IV of Russia ceded border territory to Sweden in exchange for military aid against the government of False Dmitry II. February 13, 1619 - Feodor Romanov, Michael's father, was released from Polish prison and allowed to return to Russia. February 22, 1711 - Government reform of Peter the Great: Peter established the Governing Senate to pass laws in his absence. February 27, 1768 - Repnin Sejm: Delegates of the Sejm adopted a treaty ensuring future Russian influence in Polish internal politics. February 27, 1919 - Lithuania was absorbed into the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia. Selected food or cuisine – Glass of mors Mors (Russian: морс) is a Russian non-carbonated fruit drink prepared from berries, generally lingonberries and cranberries (alternatively bilberries, strawberries, raspberries or sea-buckthorn may be used), popular in Russia, Ukraine and other Slavic countries. (Full article...) List of selected food/cuisine articles Ryazhenka Russian wine Pozharsky cutlet Udmurt cuisine Chicken Kiev Guriev porridge Oladyi Tushonka Paskha Dressed herring Shchi Stroganina Vologda butter Chebureki Tula pryanik Kurnik (pirog) Peremech Krasnaya Polyana Balsam Tarasun Pirozhki Pastila Coulibiac Selected biography – Detail from portrait by Valentin Serov, 1898 Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March 1844 – 21 June 1908) was a Russian composer, a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his fifteen operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects. Rimsky-Korsakov believed in developing a nationalistic style of classical music, as did his fellow composer Mily Balakirev and the critic Vladimir Stasov. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony, and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of The Five. Rimsky-Korsakov's techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner. (Full article...) List of featured biographies Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Ivan Bagramyan Anton Chekhov Leonhard Euler Nikita Filatov Nikita Khrushchev Manuel I Komnenos Laika Vladimir Lenin El Lissitzky Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Sergo Ordzhonikidze Dmitri Shostakovich Eduard Streltsov Sviatoslav I of Kiev Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Irakli Tsereteli Aleksandr Vasilevsky Nikita Zotov Vladimir Putin In the news 4 February 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian War A Russian missile strikes a residential building in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, killing four people and injuring twenty others. (Ukrainska Pravda) Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says in a interview with British journalist Piers Morgan that he is ready for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin if it is a setup to end the war. (Kyiv Independent) 4 February 2025 – Moldova–European Union relations The European Union and Moldova sign an energy deal that will integrate Moldova into the bloc's energy grid after Russia halted gas supplies over an alleged US$709 million unpaid bill. The European Commission says Moldova will receive €250 million ($258 million) this year to help its citizens afford rising energy bills as part of the agreement. (AP) More Did you know (auto generated) ... that the first Russian feature film, Stenka Razin, depicts the historical Cossack leader throwing a princess into the Volga? ... that Russian indie artist polnalyubvi bought her first guitar with money earned from busking with her violin? ... that DeepStateMap.Live, an interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, received up to 120,000 visitors in 30 minutes during the Battle of Izium in the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive? ... that Ida Mett was expelled from a Russian anarchist group for mourning her deceased father by lighting a Yahrzeit candle? ... that Russian pianist Pavel Kushnir died on a hunger strike after his arrest for anti-war videos posted on a YouTube channel with five subscribers? ... that Cambridge don R. R. Bolgar was heard to say that if it had not been for a misfortune, he might well have supported the Nazis as a landowner in Moravia and been murdered by the Russians? 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