Stories
Long reads and featured stories about Russia — culture, mindset, media, everyday life. Pick a topic, or read down the list.
Filtered by:#society
The Truth About the Russian Mindset
Why Russians don't smile, why they don't hate the West, and what really drives the Russian psyche
Article · 5 min read
Life in Russia 2026: An Insider's Reality Check
Beyond the headlines: How navigation failures, Chinese cars, and the digital divide have shaped a new normal
Article · 2 min read
Why Can't We Understand Each Other Anymore?
Media polarization explained simply
Article · 2 min read
How French hacked the Russian language
And why it surprises everyone
1 min read
Russian nobility spoke French better than Russian
True or false?
1 min read
These Westerners moving to Russia
For genuinely weird reasons
1 min read
How Russians actually see Westerners IRL
Spoiler: it's not what you think
1 min read
My Moscow: what nobody actually tells you
The unfiltered truth
1 min read
When coverage of Russia merges state and people
A look at how the shortcut works, and what it leaves out
1 min read
Sanctions, and the turn toward China
Two things that happened in the same decade
1 min read
Western politics seen by a non-Westerner
External perspective
1 min read