The World from PRX

Soviet Union

Stalin refrigerator magnets for sale outside the Stalin Museum in Gori, Georgia
History
As Putin’s war in Ukraine continues, historians say it’s crucial to reflect on Stalin’s reign in the Soviet era
A large group of people surround former President Barack Obama
Conflict & Justice
Identicide: How demographic shifts can rip a country apart
Marco Werman walks across Red Square in Moscow. Behind him is the iconic St. Basil's Cathedral.
Generation Putin
Marco Werman: A Cold War baby visits Putin’s Russia
An exhibition of Soviet ornaments and toys at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts
Cosmonauts and corncobs: A peek at some Soviet-era holiday ornaments
USSR, Lomo, Stratosphere
Full Episode
Arts, Culture & Media
Theremin
Arts, Culture & Media
Lomo
Arts, Culture & Media
Cultural Exchange
Arts, Culture & Media
Painting in Pre-Glasnost Russia
Arts, Culture & Media
Special Guest: Svetlana Boym
Arts, Culture & Media
Rescuing Cold War History Before It Disappears
Stanislav Petrov made a split-second decision that probably averted a nuclear conflagration. “I told myself I won’t be the cause of World War III. I won’t. Simple as that,” he said.
Conflict
The unsung Soviet officer who averted nuclear war
Nina Khrushcheva, great-granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, teaches propaganda at the New School in New York
Culture
Propaganda, American style: A Khrushchev’s perspective
Omar Hernandez in downtown Moscow. He says problems that came from speaking his mind too freely in Cuba led him to leave in the early 90s. Now he's lives in Russia.
Culture
Is Russia’s romance with Cuba coming to an end?
Christian Ray Flores became a rock star in post-Soviet Russia in the '90s: "No one knew exactly how to make music like that but I did because I grew up overseas."
Global Politics
The guy who supplied the soundtrack for Boris Yeltsin’s Rock the Vote
A worker removes snow in Red Square with St. Basil's Cathedral and the mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in the background.
Culture
Recalling a final New Year’s Eve with Brezhnev
Faced with western sanctions, the Kremlin has pushed for a renewed sense of patriotism among younger Russians. At the National Unity Day celebrations in Moscow, students sport buttons that read, "An attack on Russia is an attack on me."
Global Politics
Human rights group Memorial is too ‘inconvenient’ for Putin’s new Russia
The crew and back-up team for Ahad Momand's mission. Momand is third from the left.
Science
The only Afghan to ever fly in space almost didn’t make it back to Earth
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.
Conflict
Moscow has a long history of making interesting excuses for its military interventions
Nikolai Pozharuk, a retired lawyer who helped with the search, says that when weeks passed without any sign of the plane, people began to look for other explanations.
Arts, Culture & Media
When a Russian plane vanished without a trace, conspiracy theories filled the void
Arts, Culture & Media
This photographer has found the beauty in Soviet bus stops
Arts, Culture & Media
This photographer has found the beauty in Soviet bus stops
Russian skateboarders in Serov's central square. "I've got nothing against America," one of them says. "They've got some great skaters in the US."
Conflict & Justice
Putin is popular in Russia, but so is American culture
Alina Simone's father, Alexander Vilenkin, at the Kharkov Zoo in 2011. Vilenkin worked there as a night watchman after he was blacklisted by the KGB in Soviet Ukraine.
Conflict & Justice
This Soviet-born émigré remembers working at the Kharkov zoo
Alina Simone's father, Alexander Vilenkin, at the Kharkov Zoo in 2011. Vilenkin worked there as a night watchman after he was blacklisted by the KGB in Soviet Ukraine.
Conflict & Justice
This Soviet-born émigré remembers working at the Kharkov zoo
Gary Shteyngart
Arts, Culture & Media
The world according to Gary Shteyngart in four languages
Ukraine
Global Politics
Ukraine finds it hard to disentangle from its deep Russian ties
Vladimir Zhidovich
Global Politics
Here’s a rare glimpse of JFK’s assassin, from his co-workers in Minsk, Belarus
Jazz saxophone great Igor Butman
Arts, Culture & Media
Growing up without religion in the Soviet Union, believing in jazz
Global Politics
Anniversary prompts memories of German teen who landed private plan in Red Square
Environment
VIDEO: Internet sensation ‘Mr. Trololo’ dies in Russia, age 77
Health & Medicine
Economic transition and mortality rates
Arts, Culture & Media
A tale of two Russian anthems
Arts, Culture & Media
Why Stalin Remains Popular in Parts of Former Soviet Union
What We Can Learn from the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Arts, Culture & Media
Son of Nikita Khrushchev Says Father Didn’t Want to Compete in Race to Moon
Arts, Culture & Media
Eduard Khil, ‘Mr. Trololo’, King of Soviet Pop, Is Dead
Global Politics
Nostalgia for the Soviet Union
Global Politics
The End of the USSR
Arts, Culture & Media
Only Stalin Daughter Dies
Global Politics
Stalinism Survivor Runs Gulag Museum In Moscow
20 Years After the Soviet Collapse
Reports from Russia, 20 Years After Communist Uprising
Global Politics
Gorbachev recalls 1991 Soviet Coup
Arts, Culture & Media
‘My Perestroika’ — The last Soviet children
The Living on Earth Almanac
SECRET SOVIET CITY OPENS ITS DIRTY DOORS
Cleaning Europe’s East
Repairing Russia’s Rivers
The Environmental Risks of Going their Own Way
Lifting the Veil
Who’s Minding the Soviet Environment?
Peril and Opportunity
Happy Birthday Sputnik
Chernobyl Revisited
Gorbachev on the Environment
Development & Education
Afghanistan: Where Superpowers Go To Die?
Arts, Culture & Media
In audio: the life of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Global Politics
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian author of ‘The Gulag Archipelago,’ dies at 89
Conflict & Justice
Stalin’s grandson sues newspaper