Krasnaya Polyana is a small town in the Adler district of Sochi (Krasnodar krai) located 39 km from the Black Sea coast.

The population of the town is 3972 people (2009). There is a highway from Adler and Sochi airport to Krasnaya Polyana. The town will be one of the places hosting the Winter Olympic Games in 2014 and probably the most picturesque one.

Tags: Krasnodar krai · Sochi city

Moscow Palace of Soviets is one of the most famous unfinished architectural projects in history. The huge (the biggest and tallest in the world) building would have become the symbol of the victory of socialism, the symbol of a new country and new Moscow. This project is still amazing in our day.

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Tags: Moscow city

RadioAstron (Spektr R) is a Russian orbital radio telescope.

It is funded by the Russian Astro Space Center, and was launched into Earth orbit on 18 July 2011, with a perigee of 10,000 kilometers (6,200 mi) and an apogee of 390,000 kilometers (240,000 mi).

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Karabash is a town in Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia located about 90 kilometers from Chelyabinsk.

It is one of the largest copper smelting centers of the country. For a time, according to UNESCO, Karabash was considered the most polluted city in the world.

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Tags: Chelyabinsk oblast

Currently the icebreaker “50 let Pobedy” (“50 years of Victory”) is the largest nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world. Its construction was carried out at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad (later St. Petersburg). The construction began on October 4, 1989.

In 1993, further construction was suspended due to lack of funds. In 2003, the construction was resumed, and, February 1, 2007, the icebreaker went on sea trials, which lasted two weeks. The flag was raised March 23, 2007 and April 11 the icebreaker came to its home port in Murmansk. The estimated maximum thickness of ice that the icebreaker can go through is 2.8 m.

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Tags: Murmansk city

Museum of lace is a museum in Vologda city, the branch of Vologda State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve. The address: Vologda, Kremlin Square, 12.

The museum is located in the historic center of Vologda in a two-story stone building – an object of cultural heritage of federal importance of the 18th century.

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Tags: museum · Vologda city

Our first post about Soviet space propaganda received a lot of attention so we decided to make the second part. All the posters are available in high quality (clickable).

Glory to the Fatherland of Heroes!

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Tags: posters · propaganda · Soviet past

Not long ago, there were explosions in the arsenals of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan. Currently, the storage and transportation of ammunition in Russian army often violate all sorts of safety rules.

Here is just one example of open storage of shells. There are about 90 railroad cars of 125 mm high-explosive shells in this dump. Not surprising that something always explodes in such storages. Photos from Yaplakal.com

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Norilsk is a city located in northern part of Krasnoyarsk krai, about 90 km east of the Yenisei River. It is one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Environmental hazard for the population of the city and its surrounding areas is caused by the work of one of the world’s largest mining and, simultaneously, metal making plants.

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Tags: Abandoned · Krasnoyarsk krai · Norilsk city

Vozdvizhenka is an airbase located in Primorsky krai. A heavy bomber aviation regiment was deployed at the airbase armed with supersonic long-range strategic bombers Tupolev Tu-22M3.

In 2010, the regiment was disbanded, some aircraft were transferred to other airbases. The airframes of others are waiting to be cut for metal. The airfield is abandoned. Photos by KFSS.ru.

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Tags: Abandoned · Primorye krai