The mausoleum in the Kremlin is 100 years old, but only 23% of Lenin remains in it: the history of the strangest political monument in the world

On August 1, 1924, six months after the death of Vladimir Lenin, a mausoleum was opened on Red Square in Moscow, where the body of the Bolshevik leader was put on display. Since then, the mausoleum has served as the main tribune of the country; the leader’s body was evacuated during the war,...

What habits give you a person from the USSR

The Soviet Union collapsed long ago, but people still have habits that unmistakably identify them as being from the “Country of Soviets.” Blogger Maxim Mirovich in Livejournal described in detail habits that are no longer related to the realities of modern life, but continue to be...

Five Hollywood films that failed at the American box office, but became hits in the USSR

Some Hollywood films did not manage to get a good box office in the United States. But in the USSR, these films could become real hits. The inhabitants of the Soviet Union considered such a movie to be a kind of curiosity. Therefore, the cinemas during the screenings of Hollywood films were almost always full. About five ...

During the Cold War, the US created an iconic reconnaissance aircraft out of titanium, which they bought from the USSR by fraud.

In the early 1960s, the Soviet Union sold titanium to the US, believing they needed it for pizza ovens, but instead they used it to build the iconic SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft, according to AviationGeekClub. The SR-71, informally known as the Blackbird, was...

Cyrillic vs Latin: how Russia's invasion of Ukraine is pushing post-Soviet countries to change the alphabet

After the collapse of the USSR, many of its former republics retained the Cyrillic script, although some began to switch to the Latin alphabet. There are those who plan to do so, and a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine only fuels the desire of many of them to abandon the “Russian” letters and…

The best in the USSR: five major myths about the Union

More than 30 years ago, in December 1991, the state of the Soviet Union ceased to exist. By that time, the country was in a deep economic crisis, there was no normal choice of products and other necessary goods for sale - many were tired of Soviet reality, and when ...

American pilot shot down four Soviet fighters in 30 minutes: he kept it a secret for 50 years

On a cold November day in 1952, Royce Williams shot down four Soviet fighters and became a legend that no one had heard of for over 50 years. How they found out about it and what kind of real “Top Gun” it is, CNN told the publication. At the ceremony on January 20…

The legend of Soviet cinema Inna Churikova died: she gave the world more than 80 films

People's Artist of the USSR, actress Inna Churikova died of cardiac arrest. She was 79 years old. This was announced by the director of the theater "Lenkom Mark Zakharova" Mark Varshaver. More about the unfortunate event told the publication of Radio Liberty. The actress was born on October 5, 1943 in the village of ...

Six radiation disasters in the USSR, about which you have never heard

Historian and co-founder of the Democratic Sokyra party Yuri Gudymenko published on Facebook a review of historical facts about serious radiation disasters that occurred during the Soviet era. Six large-scale radioactive contaminations that were hidden by the Soviet government - and this is just what we were able to find out about...

They charged water and treated them on TV: how did folk healers attract Soviet citizens

In the 1980s, traditional healers were very popular among the citizens of the USSR. They achieved incredible success, the programs with their participation were watched by whole families. Today it may seem ridiculous, but in those years such personalities as Alan Chumak, Anatoly Kashpirovsky and others were ...

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