Armed coup, organized by the Bolsheviks in the autumn 1917, that marked the beginning of Soviet power is most commonly associated with St. Petersburg (then called Petrograd).

However, not everyone knows that Moscow was the place of long and heavy fighting in those days. The Bolsheviks fired at the Kremlin and many central buildings, real battles were fought in the streets, hundreds of people were killed.

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Tags: Moscow city

Today, at approximately 09:20 local time, there was a powerful explosion in the sky over Chelyabinsk city. According to the officials, it was the result of a meteor rain.

About 1200 people sought medical attention. Most of them were injured by fragments of broken glass. According to NASA, the power of explosion was about 300 kilotons. This is 20 times more than the power of A-bomb that exploded over Hiroshima, Japan during the Second World War.

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Tags: Chelyabinsk city

February 13, Russia marks 140 years since the birth of the great singer Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, who became a symbol of an era.

Chaliapin, peasant family offspring, who studied music himself had an enormous influence on the Russian and world culture.

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Immediately after the October Revolution, the Soviet government took control of the fashion. In general, the changes occurred mostly in women’s fashion. Clothing was unpretentious, simpler than in the days of the Russian Empire. The woman was to look like as a citizen (“tovarisch”), who can “build” socialism.

However, during the Khrushchev thaw (late 1950s – 1960s), due to more openness in Soviet society, the western style in fashion began to spread. This catalog, published by Leningrad fashion house (Saint Petersburg today) in 1957, gives an idea of this time. Pictures by visualhistory

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Tags: Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

Russia is a country with large reserves of various natural resources. The deposits of these resources are located mainly in underdeveloped regions of the country stretching from Siberia to the Far East.

Search for natural resources (mainly oil and natural gas) is made by special seismic prospecting crews. In these photos, taken in several regions of Russia, you can see scenes of life of these people and working conditions. Photos by donskoylis from yaplakal.com

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The Valley of Geysers is one of the largest geyser field in the world and the only in Eurasia. The valley is located in Kronotsky State Biosphere Reserve in Kamchatka.

The territory of the geyser field is about 2 square km. There are around 20 large geysers and a lot of small ones that periodically emit fountains of almost boiling water (95° C) or hot steam.

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Tags: Kamchatka krai

Nizhny Tagil is a very tough city. On the roads along with the usual transport you can find battle tanks. And here are several examples.

Last weekend one driver was nearly run over by the tank that was rushing at high speed across the highway.

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Tags: Nizhny Tagil city · tanks

The pioneer camps in the USSR were educational and health institutions for pioneers of the Soviet Union Pioneer Organization named after Lenin and schoolchildren (7 to 15 years) organized usually during the school holidays by trade unions, the Communist Youth League, economic organizations, collective farms, and so on.

About 40,000 suburban pioneer camps for 10 million children were open in the USSR. The following unique photos were collected in pioneer camps that had been abandoned after the collapse of the USSR by Denis Spirin

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Tags: Soviet past

This winter in Russia is cold. Temperature fell below minus 20 degrees Celsius in many regions of the country, including the capital city. Let’s take a look at Moscow in these cold days. Photos by zubr14

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Tags: Moscow city

There is a widespread belief that Stalin’s Soviet Union was a country almost completely closed to foreigners. However, advertising of “Intourist” (organization responsible for foreign tourism in the USSR) created in 1930ies, gives somewhat different look at the issue.

The country was in desperate need of foreign currency for industrialization, so all the ways to lure wealthy foreign tourists to the USSR were used. And it was not just about the major cities – Moscow and Leningrad.

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Tags: posters · propaganda · Soviet past