Saint Petersburg is located in northern Europe, in the north-west of Russian Federation, on the shore of Finnish Gulf and on Neva River. It is the only city in the world with the population over 1,000,000 located so far in the north.

Saint-Petersburg is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, being an important center of tourism in Russia. In 18th-20th centuries the city was the capital of Russian Empire.

Tags: Saint Petersburg city · time-lapse

Today, after the war, Grozny is once again the administrative center of the Chechnya Republic of Russia. The reconstruction works are in process. In 2004 the railway connection with other parts of Russia was restored and the Grozny city airport, Severny, began to offer flights to Moscow in 2007.

Also, after several years of reconstruction, the beautiful Grozny city mosque (the largest in Europe) was opened in 2008. The following beautiful high-res photos of night Grozny were taken by timag82.

(more…)

Tags: Grozny city

December 28, 2011, just before the New Year celebrations, a new metro station “Admiralteyskaya” was opened in Saint Petersburg. The station is located on the 5th purple line between the stations “Sadovaya” and “Sportivnaya”.

For about 15 years it was in fact ghost-station, the trains passed it without stopping. Active work was resumed several years ago – escalators and platform were assembled. Today, after the opening, “Admiralteyskaya ” has become the deepest metro station in Russia – the length of the escalators is 120 meters. Photos by skydrinker.

(more…)

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

Krasnodar is known as the southern capital of Russia and the homeland of Kuban Cossacks.

Tags: Krasnodar city · New Year

The first Chechen War began in the winter of 1994. Grozny was captured by the Russian army in February of 1995 after a battle. A lot of buildings and infrastructure objects of the city were damaged or destroyed because of the Russian Air Force and artillery strikes.

But the resistance to Russian troops was not ended, and numerous Chechen guerrilla raids continued to operate in the city from the nearby mountains. In August 1996, Grozny was recaptured by Chechen guerrilla in a surprise attack. The battle was ended after a ceasefire (in 1996) and peace treaty (in 1997) was signed between Russia and the Chechen Republic.

(more…)

Tags: Chechnya Republic · Grozny city

Pyatigorsk (“the city of five mountains”) is the oldest balneological and mud resort of Russia and the largest cultural and tourist center of eco-resort region Caucasian Mineral Waters.

On January 19, 2010 Pyatigorsk received the status of the center of North Caucasus Federal District. It is the only center of the federal district not being the capital of the subject of the federation. Photos by timag82. Click the photos for high resolution versions.

(more…)

Tags: Pyatigorsk city

Omsk located about 2,600 km to the east of Moscow is the second largest city in Siberia. The city is standing on the banks of Irtysh river at the confluence with Om river.

The rivers connect Omsk with various coal and other mineral mining cities and towns of Kazakhstan and with oil, natural gas and lumber rich regions of Siberia. Video by Vladimir Skorokhod and Sergey Kotov.

Tags: Omsk city · time-lapse

Vologda Kremlin is historical and architectural complex located in the central part of Vologda. It was founded as a fortress in 1567 by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and played the role of defensive fortification in the 16th-17th centuries.

By the 1820s the Kremlin walls and towers were dismantled. Today the territory of the Kremlin is a historical and trade center of Vologda. Several architectural monuments built at the same time as the Kremlin were preserved. They are standing on the Kremlin Square. Photos by Ilya Pokrovsky.

(more…)

Tags: churches · Vologda city

Ekaterinburg (from 1942 till 1991 – Sverdlovsk) is the fourth largest city in Russia (after Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Novosibirsk), an administrative center of Sverdlovsk oblast.

The city is one of the largest financial and business centers in Russia, offices of transnational corporations are located here as well as representations of foreign companies, a great number of federal and regional financial institutions.

(more…)

Tags: bird's eye views · Ekaterinburg city

Zaraysk is a small town (23,000 people) located in the Moscow region about 145 km from Moscow. The town was mentioned for the first time in 1146. The main attraction of Zaraysk is the Kremlin constructed in 1528-1531.

It is one of the few towns in Russia which is completely preserved. Walking down the streets of Zaraysk sometimes you have the feeling that you get in a small provincial town of the late 19th century. Photos by Maxim Yashin.

(more…)

Tags: Moskovskaya oblast