History Readings

The following reference is intended to be a quick guide for travelers or students.

Learning about the Russian culture is an excellent way to improve your Russian and understand Russian-speaking people. Russian culture has a rich history, strong traditions and influential arts, especially when it comes to literature, philosophy, classical music, ballet, architecture, painting, cinema and animation. These resources will help you to learn about many aspects of the Russian cultural heritage and make learning Russian more fun.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An escalation in U.S. sanctions against Moscow risks derailing a fragile recovery in Russia’s economy, which had just begun to take hold after the Kremlin’s last confrontation with the West in 2014, analysts and investors said on Monday.

But Brown, a leading opponent of same-sex marriage, said that in the past few years he has started meeting Russians at conferences on family issues and finding many kindred spirits.

The Russian Duma unanimously approved a law on Tuesday that prohibits the distribution of homosexual "propaganda" to minors. Holding gay pride events, speaking in defense of gay rights, or equating gay and heterosexual relationships can now result in fines of up to $31,000.

Despite prayers and protests from religious leaders and human rights advocates, the Kremlin announced Putin’s approval yesterday. The amendments, including laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings, go into effect July 20.

Russia is a secular state, where no religion can be established as dominant state or compulsory. The freedom of conscience and religion is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Russia's 144 million inhabitants subscribe to a diverse variety of religions, with the most popular religion in the state traditionally being the Russian Orthodox Church. However, irreligious beliefs

The official name for Russia is either Russian Federation or Russia. Both names are equal according to the Russian Constitution. In Russian script, they are spelled as Российская Федерация and Россия accordingly.

Russia is located in the Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The territory of Russia lies between latitudes 41 degrees north and 82 degrees north, and longitudes 19 degrees east and 169 degrees west.

Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), shocked reporters at the SBU headquarters in Kyiv on May 30 when he announced that journalist and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko was still alive, a day after Ukrainian authorities announced he had been killed by a gunman outside of his Kyiv apartment.

.Russia’s government labeled the Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist sect in April 2017 and has been targeting the estimated 175,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses who live in the country ever since.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the 2017 International Religious Freedom Report "is critical to our mission to defend religious liberty," as he presided over the release of the report at the U.S. State Department in Washington on May 29.

The majority of believers belong to the Orthodox Christian denomination. Russia adopted Christianity under Prince Vladimir of Kiev in 988, in a ceremony patterned on Byzantine rites. Russia’s baptism laid the foundations for the rise of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Although ethnic differences in Russia have long contained a religious element, the position of religious organizations and of their individual adherents has varied with political circumstances.

Linklaters singled out for criticism over Russia workPolitical climate has changed since Salisbury attackLaw firms waiting to see if words will be matched by action

A CNN KFile review of Trump’s public statements — from the years immediately before his presidential campaign to present — reveal that Trump has contradicted himself over the years about the nature of his relationship with Putin.

The expectation that Russians would start living like their prosperous Western counterparts gave way to a painful reality: