Ussr

Statue of Leader From Communist Empire Transformed Into Leader of Actual Empire

It’s always the most embarrassing part of a fallen regime. All those statues, no longer relevant. Usually they come down, hence the severed head of Vladimir Lenin recently unearthed in Berlin. But what to do with all those Lenins still standing? Turn them into the likeness of a more benevolent leader, of course. That’s what…

Tech News Alissa Walker Oct 24

The Olympic Venues of the USSR, 35 Years Later

The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were controversial. While its war in Afghanistan had sparked a global boycott of the games, the USSR also wanted to showcase its capacity for opulence. To this day, the architecture of the Olympic Village lives on like an undying tribute to the Soviets’ misplaced and ultimately untimely ambition. Russian-born…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Feb 23

Space-Themed Soviet Postcards Are a Cosmic Delight

The Soviet Union had some problems, but one thing they got right was space art. That’s why there’s nothing better than this gallery of adorable and awe-inspiring postcards from the USSR, looking at our future life in outer space. Times Are Changing, designed by Ivan Semyonov, 1958 (via Soviet Postcards) Glory to Soviet science!, 1959…

io9 Vincze Miklós Jan 5

The Incredibly Bizarre World Of Animated Soviet Propaganda Films

After the Soviet Union formed, the new country’s first animated film was a 1924 piece of propaganda films. From then until well into the 1970s, animated propaganda thrived in the USSR, offering a rare insight into the republic. Soviet Toys, 1924 Results of the Twelfth Party Congress, c. 1925 We’ll Keep Our Eyes Peeled, 1927…

io9 Vincze Miklós Oct 9

Salyut 7: The Last and Longest-Running Soviet Space Station (Until Mir)

By the latter half of the Space Race between the United States and the USSR, focus had shifted from simply putting people into orbit to seeing how long they could stay up there. And while the U.S. won the sprint to the moon, it was actually the Russians who won the endurance test with the…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Tarantola Oct 7

Vintage Memorabilia Celebrates The Soviet Union’s Cosmonaut Dogs

The canine members of Soviet Union’s space program were stars, symbols of the nation’s technological future. And so, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, these pups appeared on matchbook covers, commemorative boxes, ceramics, and more. https://gizmodo.com/the-first-animals-in-space-1399364861 A matchbox label with Laika, 1957 (via Guardian) A halva box with Laika (via eBay) Children’s toy packaging from West…

io9 Vincze Miklós Sep 25

The collapse of the USSR left behind a haunting post-apocalyptic world

These photographs by Rebecca Bathory make it seem as if the apocalypse has come and gone and the world is in complete ruins. Not quite. They’re actually photographs of countries and places that were a part of the former Soviet Union. The forgotten decay is haunting. The photographs come from Bathory’s book ‘Soviet Ghosts’ which…

Sploid Casey Chan Sep 15

Inside the Former Soviet Union’s Secret Nuclear Test Cities

Though it played out on the international stage, the arms race between the United States and the USSR took place mainly in rural, isolated parts of the world. The Americans tested their nuclear bombs on a desolate patch of Nevada. The Russians chose a barren polygon-shaped patch of what is now Kazakhstan. The photographer Nadav…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Sep 12

In the 1970s, A Weaponized Version Of Smallpox Got Out Into The Wild

In 1971, a woman in Kazakhstan near the Aral sea died of smallpox. How did she get it? It was harvested, weaponized, let out in a controlled test, and got out of control. Here’s how the USSR saved the world from the smallpox outbreak it caused. The elimination of smallpox can legitimately be considered one…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 30

How Soviet Artists Imagined Communist Life in Space

Artists from the Soviet Union didn’t just imagine a worker’s Utopia on Earth. They also thought that the great communist experiment would eventually reach other worlds, too. Here are some incredible works of art and conceptual design that put the Soviet Union in space. Station Moon, a Soviet children’s book by Pavel Klushantsev, 1965 and…

io9 Vincze Miklós Apr 4

The Soviet Edition of The Hobbit Has the Best Gollum

It’s almost tragic that Peter Jackson didn’t go with this design for Gollum. However, it’s completely understandable why the adorable Smaug didn’t take off. The thing that strikes me the most about this Gollum is that he also appears to be a cousin of the Vermicious Knids. See? (Soviet Gollum first, Knids second) Here are…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta Mar 19

That Time Soviet Russia Built a House Entirely Out of Plastic

In its heyday, plastic was viewed as a revolutionary advancement—safer and lighter than glass, cheap to manufacture, and useful in countless commercial applications. In fact, in the early 1960’s architects in the USSR even tried building entire houses out of the stuff. Constructed in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) in 1961, this experimental housing unit served…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Mar 16

This trippy anti-capitalist cartoon was the USSR’s first animated film

It’s not surprising that the first animation to come out the newly formed Soviet Union was anti-capitalist propaganda, but 1924’s Soviet Toys has particularly unnerving imagery, which includes a disappearing woman, a man with cameras for eyes, and a capitalist whose stomach is treated as piñata by the proletariat. A handful of filmmakers began experimenting…

io9 Lauren Davis Mar 3

Urban Explorers Immortalize Forgotten Corners of the Soviet Bloc

Say what you will about urban exploration as a hobby, these guys sure do find some cool shit sometimes. Thank God they take cameras with them. The BBC recently highlighted a group of urban explorers who have visited industrial infrastructure all over the former Soviet Bloc. From massive water pipes (above) to abandoned mines (below),…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Feb 12

Did the Russians love the ’80s too? Some revealing photos

The ’80s weren’t a great time for those living in the U.S.S.R., although those living in Moscow had it better than most. As the rest of the country dealt with bread and meat rations, those living in the capital had access to fruit (sometimes), soda (a treat) and could even see a movie (if you…

io9 Vincze Miklós Feb 7

The KGB conspiracy that attributed AIDS to the CIA

The Cold War contained a lot of ignominious events for all how participated in it. One of them lingers in conspiracy theories to this day. There was a conspiracy involved — just not the ones the theorist generally believe in. During the Cold War, the USSR started a disinformation campaign that blamed the creation of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 25

Inspiring and Intense Soviet Space Propaganda Posters

The twentieth century Soviet space program will always be remembered as one of the greatest in the world. And these posters reveal that it also came with one of the world’s most beautifully-designed propaganda campaigns, too. Above: Homeland, your mission is accomplished! Science and Communism Are Inseparable, 1959 (via LiveAuctioneers) Praise to the Brave Sons…

io9 Vincze Miklós Aug 28

Old KGB Radio Intercept Stations Are Still Operational and Listening

We recently learned that the NSA is definitely watching us, and as it turns out, our Soviet Big Brother is spying on us too. Intelligence historian Matthew Aid discovered through declassified CIA documents that Russia still has a massive network of former KGB listening stations that are actively eavesdropping. And here’s where they are. While…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jul 9

Tons of Hackers Are Hanging Out in Old Soviet Cyberspace

The Internet is a huge place. Some parts of it are awesome, but others are…less so. And falling squarely in that latter category is the ancient .su domain, once the cyberhome of the Soviet Union. It’s not exactly well maintained, or well policed, which is why more and more online criminals are using it as…

Tech News Eric Limer Jun 1

Mi-24 HIND: The Flying Russian Crocodile Can Fight and Flee

Most helicopters are designed to either carry a lot of cargo at the expense of maneuverability—like the Chinook—or be quick and nimble while sacrificing armament and transport capabilities, like the Huey. Russia’s Mi-24 HIND multi-mission gunship isn’t “most helicopters.” The Mil Mi-24 is a dual-role helicopter gunship designed as both a attack helicopter and 8-troop/4-litter…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola May 20

Ussr

Statue of Leader From Communist Empire Transformed Into Leader of Actual Empire

The Olympic Venues of the USSR, 35 Years Later

Space-Themed Soviet Postcards Are a Cosmic Delight

The Incredibly Bizarre World Of Animated Soviet Propaganda Films

Salyut 7: The Last and Longest-Running Soviet Space Station (Until Mir)

Vintage Memorabilia Celebrates The Soviet Union’s Cosmonaut Dogs

The collapse of the USSR left behind a haunting post-apocalyptic world

Inside the Former Soviet Union’s Secret Nuclear Test Cities

In the 1970s, A Weaponized Version Of Smallpox Got Out Into The Wild

How Soviet Artists Imagined Communist Life in Space

The Soviet Edition of The Hobbit Has the Best Gollum

That Time Soviet Russia Built a House Entirely Out of Plastic

This trippy anti-capitalist cartoon was the USSR’s first animated film

Urban Explorers Immortalize Forgotten Corners of the Soviet Bloc

Did the Russians love the ’80s too? Some revealing photos

The KGB conspiracy that attributed AIDS to the CIA

Inspiring and Intense Soviet Space Propaganda Posters

Old KGB Radio Intercept Stations Are Still Operational and Listening

Tons of Hackers Are Hanging Out in Old Soviet Cyberspace

Mi-24 HIND: The Flying Russian Crocodile Can Fight and Flee

Ozempic Shreds Bones? How a Small Study Turned Into a Big Health Myth

Anker’s Soundcore Translation Earbuds Are Now Nearly 7x Cheaper Than AirPods Pro 3 After a Sudden Price Drop on Amazon

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