Forgotten Russia: Towns and villages that are forgotten
There are places that federal news reports mention only when disaster strikes. "NotMoscow Speaking" goes there the rest of the time: to towns where only "city-forming enterprises" remain, to villages that have become of no use to either the monopolist or the state, to an island where a church was built and a "new life" promised. This collection features reports and stories from people who, in their own words, "simply aren't" in either reports or plans.
2024
"The village survives thanks to the mental hospital and the prison."
What happened to the former German colony of Grimm, where only two “city-forming enterprises” remain?
2024
"We just don't exist"
Ten years ago, a church was built on the Far Eastern island of Putyatin, promising residents a “new life.”
2024
Putino with Putin
A report from the Perm village of Putino, where the overwhelming majority voted for Vladimir Putin in the 2018 elections.
2024
Sailors without water. Why do residents of a Karelian village have to melt snow?
Why do residents of the Karelian village of Matrosy have to melt snow, even though two years ago a building reconstructed in the "Petrine style" was ceremoniously opened there?
2024
Go by horse
How a resident of a remote Ryazan village bred horses and gave tourists rides, and what came of it.
2025
The birthplace of charcoal burners and a refuge for artists
How a Ural village became a magnet for progressive Soviet artists.
2024
"Our village was revived by Gazprom – and then abandoned."
The story of a Saratov village that twenty years ago was no longer needed by the gas monopoly, and now is no longer needed by the state.
2024
How to avoid being made a fool of in the village of Kindasovo
The village of Kindasovo, where almost all the infrastructure has been built for the development of tourism.
2024
Unzhlagiya: a secret newspaper, a secret road, a secret country
The Nizhny Novgorod village of Sukhobezvodny celebrated its 80th anniversary: it is the "capital" of a huge penal camp.
2023
Vladimirsky Dead End
From the series "Dead Ends of Russia": a place where, just 40 years ago, instead of roads, there were directions.
2023
"We were drowned in a few minutes."
Several farmsteads near Rostov-on-Don are flooded with groundwater, and there are also not enough schools there.
2023
Fire victim from Kumino
The story of a fire victim from Kumino who took out a 64,000 ruble loan, bought a construction trailer, and installed electricity.