Leonid Brezhnev

A worker removes snow in Red Square with St. Basil's Cathedral and the mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in the background.

Recalling a final New Year’s Eve with Brezhnev

Culture

For author Anya von Bremzen, celebrating New Year’s Day means recalling her youth in a country that no longer exists – the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. She looks back on that most Soviet of holidays with both resentment and nostalgia

A US cartoon from 1877, showing Russia as an octopus spreading its tentacles over Europe and south-west Asia. In that year, Russia went to war to ‘save’ Orthodox Christian rebels in the Ottoman Empire.

Moscow has a long history of making interesting excuses for its military interventions

Conflict

Secret Nixon Tapes Show President’s Views on China, Brezhnev, and… Pele?

Global Politics

What We Can Learn from the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Soviet Era Dark Humor Makes a Comeback

Global Politics