Soviet Union

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It May Soon Be Easier to Visit the 'Gates of Hell'

Barriers may drop as Turkmenistan plans to streamline visa process for travelers

(Newser) - Turkmenistan, long known for its fortress-like borders and scarcity of foreign visitors, is making tentative moves toward welcoming more tourists. In April, the government announced a plan to streamline its notoriously labyrinthine visa process, sparking cautious optimism among tour operators and adventurous travelers, per CNN . For now, though, the...

New Release Has File on RFK's Trip to Soviet Union

Memo discusses CIA's attempt to poison Castro

(Newser) - The CIA released nearly 1,500 pages of previously classified documents relating to New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his 1968 assassination on Thursday, detailing the spy agency's work to investigate his killing as well as previously unknown contacts between him and the agency. The newly available material...

City to Put Flagpole in Lenin's Place
Giant Lenin
No Longer
Watches City
Jun 8, 2025 1:05 PM CDT

Giant Lenin No Longer Watches City

75-foot statue was installed in Kyrgyzstan in 1975

(Newser) - A colossal statue of Vladimir Lenin that towered over the Kyrgyz city of Osh has been taken down, closing a Soviet chapter with little ceremony or protest. The 75-foot monument, which dates to 1975 when Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union, was removed last week, the AP reports....

In 1971, the USSR Created 'Nuclear Lake'

BBC looks at Soviets' failed attempt to reverse flow of Siberia's rivers via 'peaceful nuclear explosions'

(Newser) - In the early '70s, the Soviet Union tried a bold experiment: using "peaceful nuclear explosions," or PNEs, to redirect Siberian rivers south toward more heavily populated regions, instead of flowing into the Arctic. The 1971 "Taiga" experiment set off three nuclear devices to help carve...

In Moscow Subway Station, Stalin Again Draws Admirers

Russian government has stepped up rehabilitation of Soviet ruler since it invaded Ukraine

(Newser) - After nearly 60 years underground, a statue of Joseph Stalin now greets commuters in a Moscow subway station, reigniting debate over how Russia remembers its most polarizing leader. The installation that debuted this month is a replica of a relief removed during the city's 1966 campaign to repudiate...

Spy Who Helped Prevent WWIII Dead at 86
Spy Who Helped
Prevent WWIII Dead at 86
obituary
Mar 27, 2025 7:10 PM CDT

Spy Who Helped Prevent WWIII Dead at 86

Oleg Gordievsky switched sides during Cold War because he believed in democracy for his country

(Newser) - Oleg Gordievsky, a double agent who helped British intelligence during the Cold War while stationed in London as the Soviets' top spy, has died. He was 86. Police, who said they found him dead at his home near London, are investigating but said foul play is not suspected, the New ...

Crews Solve Mystery of Plane Downed by Soviets in 1940

American courier aboard was one of the first US casualties of World War II

(Newser) - The World War II mystery of what happened to a Finnish passenger plane after it was shot down over the Baltic Sea by Soviet bombers appears to finally be solved more than eight decades later. The plane was carrying American and French diplomatic couriers in June 1940 when it was...

Russians, Western Diplomats Honor Victims of Soviet Terror

Limited event takes place during prosecutions over war dissent

(Newser) - Russians commemorated the victims of Soviet state terror on Sunday while the Russian government continues its crackdown on dissent in the country. The Returning of the Names event was organized by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, the AP reports. The commemoration has traditionally been held in Moscow...

Ukraine Pulls Soviet Emblem
Ukraine Pulls Soviet Emblem
Aug 6, 2023 4:00 PM CDT

Ukraine Pulls Soviet Emblem

Kyiv museum proclaims change in coat of arms as representative of a 'sovereign, independent' nation

(Newser) - Ukraine on Sunday replaced the Soviet emblem that once adorned one of the nation's most recognizable landmarks with the country's coat of arms. The symbolic move is part of a wider shift throughout Ukraine to reclaim the country's cultural identity from the Soviet past after Russia's...

Robert Hanssen, Spy for Russia, Dies in Prison

FBI agent sold US secrets for years for $1.4M

(Newser) - Robert Hanssen, the notorious FBI agent who sold national security secrets to Russia for years—making dead drops in a Virginia park—in one of the most harmful espionage cases in US history, died Monday in a Colorado prison. He was found unresponsive in his cell, the Federal Bureau of...

Tributes Pour in for Gorbachev
Tributes Pour in
for Gorbachev
Aug 30, 2022 8:36 PM CDT

Tributes Pour in for Gorbachev

Kissinger, Schwarzenegger were among those praising late Soviet leader

(Newser) - Tributes and message of condolence poured in for Mikhail Gorbachev Tuesday after the death of the Soviet Union's last leader —including from Vladimir Putin, who has often referred to the fall of the Soviet Union as a "tragedy" and a "catastrophe." According to a Kremlin...

Russian Media: Gorbachev Dead at 91
Russian Media:
Gorbachev Dead at 91
Aug 30, 2022 3:46 PM CDT

Russian Media: Gorbachev Dead at 91

He was the Soviet Union's final leader

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, has died at 91, Russian media reported Tuesday. News organizations quoted a statement from the Central Clinical...

Independent Ukraine's First President Dies
Independent Ukraine's
First President Dies
OBITUARY
May 10, 2022 5:45 PM CDT

Independent Ukraine's First President Dies

Leonid Kravchuk played a key role in disbanding the Soviet Union

(Newser) - Leonid Kravchuk, who led Ukraine to independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union and served as its first president, has died, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday. He was 88. Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, confirmed Kravchuk’s death on the social media app Telegram without...

New Book Examines Hitler's Fatal Miscalculation

Declaring war on US wasn't just madness, authors say

(Newser) - The fates of nations could have gone in various directions in early December 1941. Japan might have attacked British installations in Asia instead of Pearl Harbor. Italy and the Vichy government of France could have followed through on negotiations to form a close alliance. And Adolf Hitler might have avoided...

Thousands of Stalin Victims Found in Mass Grave

Up to 8K bodies were buried at site near airport in Odessa, Ukraine

(Newser) - The horrors of the first half of the 20th century left plenty of mass graves scattered across Ukraine—and historians believe they have uncovered one of the largest yet. Researchers say between 5,000 and 8,000 bodies are in 29 graves at a site detected during work to expand...

Last of Soldiers Who Freed Auschwitz Dies at 98

Soviet Union's David Dushman flattened the death camp's fence with his tank

(Newser) - David Dushman, the last surviving Soviet soldier involved in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, has died. He was 98. The Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria said Sunday that Dushman had died at a Munich hospital on Saturday, per the AP . “Every witness...

Tolkien Fans Go Bananas Over Unearthed Soviet Version of LOTR

They're watching 'Khraniteli,' which aired just once on TV in 1991, with fascination, amusement

(Newser) - If you're a JRR Tolkien fan who can't wait for the next project based on his work , take a trip back in time to a bizarre, previously made adaptation you've likely never seen. A full 10 years before Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring, the...

There's Finally a Plan for the Abandoned House of Soviets

After 42 years, it'll be demolished and reconstructed

(Newser) - For 42 years, a giant head-like building has loomed large over Kaliningrad, Russia. For 42 years, it's also been empty. Now, the House of Soviets is set to be demolished—and then reconstructed. Writing for the New York Times , Andrew E. Kramer has the fascinating story of the building,...

British-Soviet Double Agent Dead at 98
Famed British Double Agent
Dead at 98
Dec 26, 2020 12:00 PM CST

Famed British Double Agent Dead at 98

George Blake had lived in Russia since his daring escape from a British prison in 1966

(Newser) - George Blake, a former British intelligence officer who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union, has died in Russia, per the AP . He was 98. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, known as SVR, announced his death Saturday in a statement, which didn't give any details. Russian President...

'He Handed Them the Formula for the A-Bomb'

Oscar Seborer was part of a family of spies

(Newser) - Three Soviet spies were at Los Alamos during World War II, stealing atomic secrets—that we know. Now the CIA journal Studies in Intelligence reports on Oscar Seborer, a fourth, previously unknown figure who may have "handed" Soviets the A-bomb formula before defecting to the USSR. Born in New...

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