History & Persons

Yuri Chekalin23.01.2025

Did the Bolsheviks Install a Monument to Judas? Part 1. To understand the absurdity, I will allow myself to cite Henning Kehler’s “memories” from his book “The Red Garden” published in 1921. It is full of artistic inventions, as the author himself admitted (“the memories are artistically processed, condensed and enhanced. Each of them contains […]

Yuri Chekalin22.01.2025

The legend about the installation of the monument to Judas in Sviyazhsk has been known for a long time. It would seem that enough has been said about its sources, but there are, as they say, details. Quite interesting to pass by. So, the legend is that after the Red Army soldiers arrived in Sviyazhsk […]

Alexander Palladin20.01.2025

120 years ago, Russia and Japan waged an armed struggle for the redistribution of spheres of influence in the Far East. The Russian Manchurian army included about 500 clergymen who enjoyed well-deserved authority in the army. Many of them took part in battles, demonstrating courage and heroism while performing their pastoral duty. My grandmother Lida, […]

Egor Yakovlev16.01.2025

“Married the woman he loved, wrote a great play, died in battle“, – Pushkin wrote about Griboyedov’s enviable fate. Russian writer, playwright, linguist, historian and orientalist, author of the play “Woe from Wit”, Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov was born 230 years ago. A vivid description of Griboyedov was given by his contemporary Alexander Pushkin. In “Journey […]

Yuri Chekalin15.01.2025

Fyodor Fyodorovich Serpilin, the main character of Konstantin Simonov’s trilogy “The Living and the Dead”, was a composite image. In him, one could guess the features and destinies of the legendary generals-commanders Alexander Gorbatov and Ivan Grishin, but the main prototype was Colonel Semyon Fyodorovich Kutepov, whom the writer Simonov (at that time – a […]

Alexander Palladin13.01.2025

On January 7, 1991, I was discussing current issues with Valery Ivanovich Boldin, Chief of Staff of the USSR President, when a red bulb lit up at his desk signaling a phone call from Mikhail Gorbachev. On such occasions visitors had to leave Boldin’s office immediately but Valery Ivanovich picked up the receiver with one […]

Alexander Palladin11.01.2025

Justin Trudeau announced his decision to step down as Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. With slightly more than 9 years in that office he is № 7 in the national list of longest serving PMs. The eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, on November 4, 2015 he became the second-youngest government leader in Canadian history and the […]

Klim Zhukov08.01.2025

Since the fall of the Roman Empire, the dominant aspects of human life were the church, the state and the army. Accordingly, the activities of merchants were regulated by the state and the church with the help of military forces. The already difficult economic situation was aggravated by strict restrictions, trade was at rock bottom, […]

Alexander Palladin07.01.2025

Russia’s Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost) has a close relative in the Western world. His name is Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas. They both have the same gentle, kind characters and similar duties, i.e. to deliver gifts to children and to amuse people at large. What makes them different, though, is their names, different […]

Alexander Palladin25.12.2024

Upon his return to Moscow from Crimea after the well-known events of August 1991, Gorbachev appointed Grigory Revenko as the head of the Presidential Administration instead of Valery Boldin who was arrested for participating in the State Emergency Committee. Revenko brought with him a group of trusted people, including Anatoly Sazonov. He was made the […]

Did the Bolsheviks Install a Monument to Judas? Part 2.

Did the Bolsheviks Install a Monument to Judas? Part 1.

For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland

Pushkin on Life and Death of Griboyedov

Who Was The Prototype Of Brigade Commander Serplin?

Gorbachev As a Reincarnated Pontius Pilate

Unlike Father, Unlike Son

A Little About Medieval Advertisement

Western Relative of Russia’s Grandpa Frost

The End of an Era

The Michael Jackson Biopic is Missing its Most Controversial Story

Madama Butterfly and the Japan of the Western Imagination

The Spanish Civil War at 90: the Republic’s Response

Terminator Is about 80 Years Old