Publications
On June 29 the Russkiy Mir Foundation opened in the Netherlands its 55th Russian Center. Located in Groningen University, one of the oldest educational institutions in Europe, the Russian Center became not only the first such center of the Foundation in the Netherlands but also the first Russian Center to receive the status of an academic department, which will have an academic council consisting not only of Russian specialists but also representatives of other departments. The status of an academic department brings the opportunity to defend theses, including doctoral dissertations, at the Russian Center. We spoke with Archpriest Simon of...
People in the Crimea are desperately awaiting a return of Russian tourists, the flow of which was greatly reduced following the decline of Russian-Ukrainian relations under President Yushchenko, a situation only compounded by the financial crisis. This is just one example of how politics affects every one of us – not only the residents of Russia that stopped visiting their familiar resorts, but also the local entrepreneurs, guides, etc. – everyone who was in some way or another connected to the tourism industry and services sector. To some degree the outflow of Russians was compensated by an increase in visitors from other parts...
“The name JetЛАГ is originally an English-Russian pun (JetLAG, where "lag" means "camp," because establishing a common campground for both artists and the audience is traditional for Russian rock and folk festivals).”
From festival press release
For many Russians, going to JetЛАГ is more than a musical experience. With each passing year there are fewer and fewer Russian-language events in America, and the ones that continue to be held are gradually being merged with other local events. However, there are still a number of people, who continue to feel most comfortable in a Russian-language environment....
The conference Russian Language in a Multicultural World recent took place in the Crimea and was attended by a very respectable and diverse group of professionals. We spoke with one of the key speakers at the event, Yuri Prokhorov, rector of the Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language, about whether we should expect a regionalization of the Russian language and whether efforts should be made to preserve the purity of the language.
– At the conference, you spoke about a widening gap between the Russian language and the Russian cognitive base. If I understand you correctly, you indicate that this is characteristic of those who use...
Several years back the American research Nancy Ries gave me a copy of her book Russian Talk. She told me it was the result of several months spent in Russia at the time of Perestroika. She studied informal conversations of our compatriots, recording talks in kitchens and trying to make sense of them.
The most common genres of Russia conversation, according to Ries, were litanies and laments. And the ones to blame for all the problems were either the Soviet authorities, or in general “our country”, “the state”, “we” or some sort of irrational curse the hangs over Russia and its culture (which did not...
Jose Pascual Domingo de Ribas was born on June 6, 1749, in Naples. In Russia he is better known as Osip Mikhailovich Deribas. And as with others who lived in the wild and romantic 18th century, his biography is full of mysteries and all sorts of dark spots, which it seems that he himself did much ensure. His actual year of birth is not really known, as there are several versions. The same fog clouds his day of birth. Many historians point to September 24, but to the Russian mind it seems more appropriate for such an extraordinary person to share the same day as Alexander Pushkin. And there is a connection here: Pushkin’s Ethopian...
