by Alessandra Meniconzi

A man walks past a Soviet era housing block near the Nurd Kamal mosque in the arctic Russian city of Norilsk. Mukum Sidikov's grandfather left Norilsk after surviving the labour camps of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Sidikov, caretaker of the world's most northerly mosque, retracted his grandfathers footsteps in search of well-paid work in the Russian Arctic. Now he estimates the city is home to about 50,000 Muslims, just under one quarter of the region's population. Date Photographed: Photographer: Denis Sinakov

This borscht looks different to what I'm familiar with, but very good!

rRussian people cook tea in a traditional Russian samovar in front of their home during the celebration on the seventh and last day of Pancake Week (Maslenitsa) in Moscow, Russia, 17 Marth 2012. Maslenitsa is the only purely Slavic Holiday that dates back to the pagan times. EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV

Dacha Window in Sakhalin - Wolfgang Kaehler

Peter Turnley, 1988.

A sailor and a girl in red dance happily together to the music of a street band on Moscow's Arbat Street, on a national holiday honoring the Russian Navy. David Turnley, 1991.

I like you, Russia, but no.

Dacha - Marc Garanger, 1991

Navy Cadets in St. Petersburg

In an orphanage, a mentally handicapped child gets lost in the scent of a tulip.