The first submarine in Russia was constructed in 1834 by Carl Schilder, though there had been some attempts, not really successful ones, in the period of Peterâ

Russians believed that the world is full of spirits which live next to people, but can be very rarely seen by them. Usually, they were malicious creatures, but still they could help human beings and even protect them in dramatic situations. The spirits inhabited forests, lakes, fields and even houses, and if a person didnâ

Metro got affected by this flooding too.

“How we could cross that road now?”

Why not.

Members of Femen womenâ

Kharkiv as many other cities in the western part in the USSR was occupied by the Nazi army in the WWII. It was a big industrial and populated city in the Soviet Ukraine, and so it was very important for German army to have it as soon as possible.

The German troops entered the city on 25 October, 1941, and the Red army tried to regain it several times. Kharkiv remained under the occupation for a year and a four months, and at last it was liberated in February 1943, though, not for long. It was taken by the enemy soon and the Soviet army set it free only in August 23, 1943. This photos show how was the live under Nazi in a city, which for some time used to be the capital of Ukraine.

Photo credits - all photos

On August 2, 1930 near Voronezh a parachute subdivision of 12 men landed in the fields and  this started a new tradition of the Soviet and then Russian army. This date is the professional holiday of paratroopers and is celebrated for already 79 years. Over this period landing troops took part in all armed conflicts of the former USSR. Nowadays these troops are believed to be the elite of the army. The motto of the Blue berets â

The great and magnificent Solovetsky Islands, which are usually called Solovki for short include six islands. They can be found in the White Sea in northern Russia, in a deserted area very close to the Arctic Circle. Itâ

The Baikonur Cosmodrome is one of the and largest space launch facility, and one of the first ones in the world. It is situated in the desert steppes of Kazakhstan. The cosmodrome was built in the 50-ies in one of the most distant areas of the Soviet country, and now measures 90 kilometres east-west by 85 kilometres north-south. Sputnik 1, the Earth’s first artificial satellite lifted off the Baikonur. It goes without saying that most photos shot there were not for public use, still some workers managed to have a pic of it for their private collection. Now we are going to show you some of images made therе before the collapse of the USSR.

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Bell-ringing is a very old and beautiful tradition of Orthodox churches. Each religious holiday canâ