The East · Society

At one period the USSR exercised considerable influence over Iran, especially after the Second World War, when pro-Soviet entities such as the Republic of Mahabad and the Azerbaijan People's…

But the very first fruit of Soviet-Iranian rapprochement was the Gilan Soviet Socialist Republic, founded in 1920. The Bolsheviks backed a nationalist movement, and the GSSR was proclaimed in the country, lasting only a year. During the Second World War the USSR and Great Britain occupied Iran to prevent

The East · Geography · Maps

A Map of Persia from 1922, a Diagram of the Border with the USSR, and a Map of Present-Day Iran

The shared border between Iran and the USSR ran to 2,500 km of Azerbaijani-Iranian, Armenian-Iranian and Turkmen-Iranian land frontier, together with a maritime boundary across the Caspian Sea

Books · Observations

"A Shroud for Harlots"!!!

"A Shroud for Harlots"!!! Or, thanks to a charming stranger for the tip-off for my book club! You know where to sign up

NB! · Moscow · Humour

Muscovites delighted by great snow barrier near Miusskaya Square

Black-and-white photograph of a child beside a snow-covered car, with a building with a tower behind in the falling snow.

Archive · Moscow · Mores

A child clears snow from his father's car during a heavy snowfall

Snow on Leninsky Prospekt in 1960. A child clears snow from his father's car

Coming Up · Archive · Books · Museums · People

A Museum of the Writer's Manuscripts to Open for Leo Tolstoy's Bicentenary

At present the Manuscripts Department of the Tolstoy Museum holds some 300,000 items, more than half of them sheets bearing the classic's autographs. The idea of a museum of Lev Nikolayevich's manuscripts was first voiced by Fekla Tolstaya as long ago as 2018. The writer&

NB! · Archive · Moscow · Humour

Soviet Defence Minister Dmitry Ustinov and Leonid Brezhnev Revel in the Snow on the Lenin Mausoleum Tribune in 1980

Archaeology · Faith · Science · People

The Theory of Alexander the Great's Body in Venice and the Fate of His Tomb in Alexandria

There is a theory that the body of Alexander the Great lies in Venice, passing as the relics of Saint Mark. The legend arises from the fact that in the 9th century the Venetians removed the relics of the Evangelist Mark from Alexandria and placed them in St Mark'

Cinema · Observations · Humour

Well, Happy New Year, Officially This Time!

Well, Happy New Year, officially this time! And enough of lounging about. Neither I nor Vittorio Gassman, in the role of the despotic Captain Ahab in “Moby Dick”, will tolerate any further holidays in the near future.

Archive · Geography · Society · Pop Culture

A set of rules on what may and may not be photographed in the USSR, issued to David Bowie and Geoff MacCormack during their Trans-Siberian journey across Russia in 1973

Moreover, for foreigners in the USSR the ban on photographing military, scientific, industrial, railway, power and transport installations applied equally to sketching them

The East · Art · People

Work by the Indian poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore sets a new auction record: From Across the Dark, executed in ink, poster paint and wax crayons, was sold at an online auction for $1.2 million, which is more than…

File on Telegram Although interest in Indian modernism is growing, and Tagore's works long ago won international recognition, it is unlikely that his pictures will appear at auctions outside India: as early as 1976 they were declared a national treasure and banned from export. Incidentally, the Nobel laureate

Black-and-white photo of a white-haired man with a long beard in a light long coat over a dark robe, standing by a framed drawing of a stylized animal. A sculpture is at right.

NB!

Alexandr Radayev