They ascended the throne at the end of one of the most critical periods of Russian history, known as the Time of Troubles (1589 Ü 1613). The last tsar of the previous dynasty, a weak son of Ivan ...

How the Kremlin's plan for a quick conquest turned into a quagmire ...

The history of what we now think of as Russia started in Kyiv more than 1,000 years ago when Viking warrior-merchants came down from the north and founded Kyivan Rus, the first East Slavic state ...