Russian Language Blog

The USSR (СССР) collapsed in 1991. Republics of the USSR (Сою́зные Респу́блики) became independent (незави́симыми) Post-Soviet States. Each of them began finding their own way forward. By the beginning of the 2000s, there was no trace of the USSR on the Eurasian continent. But it did not disappear completely – it moved. Today, perhaps, the only place on the planet where…

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will know that I have written for it for the past 6 years, posting 356 articles. I’ve been honored to be a part of this blog and interact with our readers. As I step down to concentrate on other endeavors, I’d like to…

We already covered the incipient COVID-19 outbreak on this blog last month, before anyone knew how badly the world would be affected. Now panic buying has reached Russia, too. While there is significant overlap with other countries in terms of sold-out items, there are some Russia-specific purchases. Hygiene and Protection Like in many places around…

In case you need to fly into, out of, or through a Russian airport, there are some common phrases that will make navigating it much more comfortable. Of course, international airports (аэропо́рты) have announcements (объявле́ния) and signs (указа́тели) in English and in the flight origin/destination language, but you if you fly within Russia, these words…

Russian is notorious for its complex system of inflection. Oftentimes, it’s not enough to remember the dictionary form of the word—you need to take into account its gender, number, case, person, or tense, as the case may be. However, some very basic Russian words are not like that at all! We will look at some…

As I wrote before, life in Russia is a bit more bureaucratic than people in other countries may be used to. There are several documents that people need in order to receive certain legal or social services or even to enter buildings! 1. Па́спорт (National ID) The word па́спорт literally means “passport,” but it is…

Do you ever find yourself reading an article in Russian on a hip website and seeing a word that doesn’t seem to make sense even after you look it up? This post will look at some expressions that have cropped up or taken on new meanings recently. I will include examples from various Telegram channels…