The Aniva Lighthouse is an amazingly picturesque abandoned lighthouse located on Cape Aniva in the very south of Sakhalin Island in the Far East of Russia. The height of the building is 31 meters, the height of light – 40 meters above sea level.

This mysterious place is an important tourist attraction of Sakhalin. Tourists usually come here on private boats. The lighthouse is gradually destroyed by water and wind. In the coming years, it is quite possible that repairs will be carried out to preserve this unique building. The Aniva Lighthouse on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

beautiful remote place

Tags: Abandoned · Sakhalin oblast

Putorana is a mountain range (plateau), located in the heart of Siberia, in the northern part of Krasnoyarsk Krai.

The maximum height of the plateau is 1,701 m. Its area is about 250,000 square km, which is about the same as the area of the UK (242,495 square km). The Putorana Plateau on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

stunning nature reserve

Tags: Krasnoyarsk krai

Fair to say that the life of Russian Instagram bloggers has become sufficiently harder during the last months; but even in these conditions you still can control your profile and even make it gain more followers and more likes than it ever did.

Even if you have decided to register a new profile this year and start developing your page, everything’s fine: you just need to learn several important things about the Russian trends in social media page’s promotion. These might not be that obvious to some, this is why we have decided to create this text and gather all of them in one place.

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Sviyazhsk is a very picturesque historical town-island located at the confluence of the Sviyaga River into the Volga, about 30 km west of Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. The Sviyazhsk fortress, founded in 1551, became the base of Russian troops during the siege of Kazan in 1552.

Initially, it stood on a hill, which was washed on both sides by the Sviyaga and Shchuka rivers. But in 1957, the Kuibyshev reservoir was built, the water level rose and Sviyazhsk ended up on an island. In 2008, an embankment and a road to Sviyazhsk were built. Sviyazhsk on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

explore a unique town-island

Tags: Kazan city · Tatarstan Republic

Khunzakh is a very picturesque village with a population of 4 thousand people located in the southern mountainous part of the Republic of Dagestan, 140 km southwest of the city of Makhachkala, at an altitude of about 1,700 meters above sea level.

The houses here are built on the very edge of the Khunzakh plateau, where the height of sheer cliffs reaches 100 meters. Khunzakh on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

very picturesque mountain village

Tags: Dagestan Republic · Makhachkala city

On December 30, 2021, a Project #903 Lun missile ekranoplan was towed ashore near the city of Derbent, in the Republic of Dagestan. This is the first exhibit of the future Patriot Park, which is planned to open here in 2023. Built in 1986, it became the only fully completed vehicle of this project out of eight planned due to financial problems and dubious military expediency.

An ekranoplan is a cross between a ship and an airplane. The principle of movement is similar to an air cushion, only it is created not by forcing air, but by an oncoming flow. When the flaps are lowered, the engines force air onto the wing and the ekranoplan rises out of the water. Ekranoplan “Lun” on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

picturesque military vehicle

Tags: Dagestan Republic · Derbent city

The anthropological album “Russians” by Anatoly Petrovich Bogdanov and Matthias Zikov was published in 15 copies in Moscow in 1867. Source

Abram Gavrilov, Svishchevo village, Uglich district, Yaroslavl Governorate (37 years old).

Russians in 1867

Tags: Russian Empire

Gremyachiy Klyuch is a natural spring located on the right bank of the Vondiga River, about 80 km northeast of Moscow, in the Sergiev Posad district of Moscow Oblast. The temperature of the water in the spring is constant all year round (6 degrees Celsius) and is considered curative.

According to legend, the spring appeared thanks to the prayer of Sergius of Radonezh (1314-1392), one of the most highly venerated saints of the Russian Orthodox Church. Today, the approaches to it have been landscaped, a church, a chapel, a refectory, a church shop with souvenirs, and baths have been built.

very picturesque tourist destination

Tags: Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

Derbent is a city with a population of about 126 thousand people located in the very south of European Russia in the Republic of Dagestan on the shores of the Caspian Sea, 127 kilometers southeast of Makhachkala.

The city stands in a narrow passage between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. This geographical position made Derbent one of the most important points of defense for many countries, since only this 3 km wide strip of land can be used to easily bypass the Caucasus Mountains. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Derbent

Tags: Dagestan Republic · Derbent city

Soviet propaganda is the propaganda of communist ideas and the Soviet way of life. It was carried out purposefully and centrally under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was officially called ideological work, enlightenment of the masses, and the like. Propaganda was conducted through the media, books, movies, theatrical plays, works of fine art, etc.

By the mid-1930s, the role of the propaganda machine in strengthening the Stalinist regime was clearly manifested. Propaganda created a personality cult of Stalin. The pilots were at the top of the hierarchy of Soviet heroes. They were simultaneously the “sons” of the “father” – Stalin and the “motherland”. Source

1923. Build the air fleet of the USSR. Everyone – a shareholder of Dobrolet*!
Sale of shares in the office of “Dobrolet”. Petrograd, October 25th Avenue, 38. The prices of shares: 1 ruble 05 kopecks and 52 rubles 50 kopecks (golden share).
* The Russian joint-stock company of the voluntary air fleet “Dobrolet” was an air transport organization that existed in the Soviet Union in 1923-1932.

pilots as Soviet superheroes

Tags: propaganda · Soviet past