Where is it? The Republic of Tatarstan is located about 500 miles east of Moscow on the European side of Russia. It is bordered by the Kirov, Orenburg, Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as the republics of Udmurtia, Baskortostan, Chuvashia and Mari El. It is in the Moscow time zone. Though it is called a republic and it has its own president, Tatarstan is not fully independent from Russia.

What's the biggest city? Kazan, whose population was 1.1 as of the 2002 census, out of some 3.8 million inhabitants in the region... more

Many of you have read, on this site and on others, accounts of what life is like in different parts of Russia. You've read stories about what prospective parents experienced as they traveled through places like Moscow for the first time. What they felt when they saw the town and the orphanage in which their child was living. What they were thinking when they met their child for the first time.

But what if you could see it all yourself?

Thanks to the Internet, increasingly, you can. There are a number of videos made by families... more

Clear out your TiVos: There's a program on Russian culture to record tomorrow night.

On Wednesday, August 29 at 9 p.m. eastern, the PBS series "Great Performances" will air a documentary on the early years of the great Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Using archival footage and KGB files, John Bridcut, the film's writer and producer has come up with a portrait of the dancer prior to his defection to the West in Paris in 1961. Nureyev's dancing gave new importance to the roles of male dancers in classical ballet, and his off-stage socializing with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Andy Warhol paved the way for dancers... more

Folks, I am two for two.

First, I learn that I missed Moscow Potato 2007, then I find out that the Russian National Baseball Team was in the U.S. for a month of games. And I didn’t see any of them.

You didn't know that Russians played baseball? Neither did I, and neither, maybe, did the team. OK, that was not kind. But in a month of baseball, they racked up the kind of win-loss... more

I've spent the last few days writing about mashups for a tech magazine. But, in doing so, it seems I missed a really big mash-up, Moscow Potato 2007.

You may remember that, two weeks back, I was celebrating my 7-pound potato harvest, part of a quixotic and sometimes frustrating effort to honor my children's Russian heritage with home-grown food.

This weekend, The International Herald Tribune, a paper I grew accustomed to reading during my expatriate days, ... more

Almost 90 years ago, Russia's last tsar and his family were killed near the Siberian city of Yekaterinburg. On Friday, Russian prosecutors announced that they are re-opening a probe into the deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

According to news reports, the inquiry has been prompted by a discovery of bones by a Yekaterinburg archeologist. The researcher, Sergei Pogorelov, claims that the bones that he found in a burned area in what is now Tuymen... more

Vacation season has slowed the flow of news about adoption in Russia, but there are interesting developments in business and politics.

In an intersection of both, Russia surprised the world financial community by proposing a former Czech central bank governor to head the International Monetary Fund. What was the surprise? The financiers thought they had a done deal in a French candidate (a former finance minister) who had been proposed by the European Union and seemed to have U.S. support. In nominating Josef Tosovsky, Russian officials... more

Yesterday morning, I looked at some of the general issues in the adoptive parent training required by the Hague Convention. Now, I'd like to tell you about a nifty online training class I've just completed.

This summer, the National Council For Adoption, an adoption advocacy group based in Alexandria, Va., released "The Intercountry Adoption Journey", a seven-part tool that allows you to get eight of the 10 hours... more

You may remember that, back in June, I asked you if you knew whether your adoption agency was Hague compliant. Now, I've got a follow-up question: Are you ready for Hague?

The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption mandates that prospective parents have 10 hours of training in adoption issues. Since both Russia and the United States are in the process of implementing Hague, it might be wise for parents considering or now in process with Russia... more

No, that picture isn't a beach in Russia, although I've heard that the water is lovely in Sochi this time of year. But the image is a pretty fair representation of where many official Russians are right now, especially those who handle the paperwork for accreditations and referrals.

Even President Vladimir Putin was on vacation for a time earlier this month. According to The Moscow Times, the Russian president traveled with Monaco's Prince Albert II to the Republic of Tuva--a distant region in south-central Russia--to... more