From questioning on the border to negotiating with traffic police – international drivers share their experiences.

The ancient Rus town inspired Nicholas Roerich, whose paintings colorfully recreated visions of Viking boats here.

Russians elevate suffering to an art form. Our ability to focus on the dark side gives us our national reputation. But are we too lazy to bring ourselves out of it, or is there a deeper reason for doing so?

Russian artist Andrei Sikorsky has sent the protagonist of Pablo Picasso's famous “The Absinthe Drinker” (1901) on an art trip by superimposing the pensive woman onto famous paintings by both Russian and foreign artists alongside some side-splitting captions.