Last week, the southern part of Kamchatka was hit by a cyclone that brought sleet and storm wind. The capital of the region, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city, was covered with deep snow, and three snow avalanches added even more snow.

Let’s see how the city looks after this snow apocalypse. The photos were taken by Alex Spiridonov.

snow, snow everywhere!

Tags: Kamchatka krai · Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city

It is a pretty interesting video shot on a weekday in the Olympic Park in Sochi – about one year after the Games.

Tags: Sochi city · Sochi2014

Klyuchevskaya Sopka is an active volcano located in the east of Kamchatka. It is the highest active volcano in Eurasia. The height of the volcano varies from 4750 to 4850 meters above sea level.

It is also the highest peak in Russia outside the Caucasus. January 1, 2015, the regular eruption of Klyuchevskaya Sopka began. Klyuchevskaya Sopka on Google Maps. The photos were taken by Denis Budkov.

look at the volcanic eruption closer

Tags: Kamchatka krai

Norilsk, with a population of more than 175,000 people, is located in the Arctic Circle. It is ranked seventh in the list of the most polluted cities in the world. About 60 percent of its population is employed in the metallurgical industry.

Elena Chernyshova, a Russian documentary photographer based in France, lived in Norilsk for a few months photographing the life of the city.

pretty harsh place for life

Tags: Norilsk city

Baskunchak is a salt lake, with an area of about 115 square km, located in Akhtubinskiy district of Astrakhan region, about 270 km north of the Caspian Sea and 53 km to the east of the Volga River.

Salt extraction on the lake began in the 8th century. Lake Baskunchak was officially mentioned first time in 1627 in the first geographical description of Russia as a place “where they mine salt as pure as ice.” The view of the lake from the satellite. The photos were taken by Richard Zorge.

two in one – the lake and the desert

Tags: Astrakhan oblast · landscapes

Samara is a large city located in the Middle Volga area of Russia, the administrative center of Samara region. The population is about 1.17 million people (2014), it is the seventh most populous city in the country.

Samara is situated on the left bank of the Volga River, at the confluence with the Samara River (hence the name of the city). The photos were taken by Stepanov Slava.

Samara from above

Tags: Samara city

Dolgoprudny is a town with a population of about 97,000 people located in Moscow region, in the vicinity of Moscow. In the south and east the town almost merges with the northern outskirts of Moscow.

Relatively recently, in 1997-2003, a beautiful church was built here – the Church of the Kazan Icon of Our Lady.

very picturesque church

Tags: Moscow city · Moskovskaya oblast

Saint Petersburg city has more than 90 rivers and canals (the total length is about 300 km) and about 100 water bodies (lakes, ponds, artificial reservoirs), which are spanned by about 800 bridges (excluding bridges in the territories of industrial enterprises).

That’s why such pictures as this one, where you can simultaneously see three bridges, are not something out of the ordinary, but, at the same time, they are very picturesque. The photo was made by Ivan Turukhano.

Tags: Saint Petersburg city

If you ask people in Russia, what is “belyana”, few will be able to answer this question. But only about 100 years ago, these giant ships sailed along the Volga and Vetluga rivers.

Belyana is an unpainted wooden flat-bottomed barge, used for timber floating on the rivers Volga and Kama in the 19th – early 20th centuries. Perhaps, these ships were the most unique river vessels in the world.

unique wooden ships

Tags: No tags

Kurilskoye Lake, located in the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the territory of the South Kamchatka Federal Preserve, is the place with the highest density of bears in Russia.

The lake area is about 77 square kilometers (the third largest lake of Kamchatka), the average depth is 195 meters, the maximum depth is 316 meters.

bears, they are everywhere

Tags: Kamchatka krai