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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: USSR

USSR stories: 7 news summaries

 Family's Search 
 for WWII Hero 
 Scarred Generations 

Decades-long quest for Raoul Wallenberg, savior of thousands, in vain

Feb 28, 09 2:16 PM CST
(Newser) - The fate of Raoul Wallenberg, savior of thousands of Jews in World War II, remains unknown, despite his family’s generation-spanning search for the Swede who was arrested by Soviets in 1945, at age 32. That quest has lasted 6 decades—and the Wall Street Journal has reviewed thousands of... More »

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Holocaust • Jews • USSR • World War II • Sweden • search • Raoul Wallenberg

 Ex-Soviet Monkeys
 Survive 15-Year Limbo

Breakaway republic can barely support survivors from better times

Apr 12, 08 5:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Traumatized monkeys once the subjects of Soviet experiments are odd remnants of a more prosperous time in Abkhazia, an area of Georgia that calls itself independent, the Los Angeles Times reports. The area was crippled in its effort to break away from Georgia, but the 286 primates living in a... More »

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science • Soviet Union • Georgia • independence • research • USSR • monkey • former Soviet state

Belarus Merger Could Return Putin to Office

New constitution
would give president
new lease on power

Dec 10, 07 1:47 PM CST
(Newser) - Vladimir Putin may release a secret weapon this week: a Russian political union with neighboring Belarus that could extend his leadership indefinitely. As the ex-KGB operative’s presidential terms run out, observers look to a merger of nations—including currency, legal system, and armed forces—as an opportunity for a... More »

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Vladimir Putin • KGB • constitution • USSR • Belarus

KGB Doggedly Stalked Nureyev

Russians wanted
to break defector dancer’s legs

Sep 19, 07 8:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - He was never interested in politics, but Rudolf Nureyev was a KGB scourge for decades after his 1961 defection. The famed ballet dancer’s colleagues were glad to see him go—‘Rudik’ was a prima donna to management and competition for fellow performers—but the state was incensed, the... More »

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Russia • KGB • ballet • USSR • Rudolf Nureyev • defection • Yuri Gagarin

Rostropovich Dead at 80

Conductor, cellist and champion of artistic freedom dies in his native Russia

Apr 27, 07 2:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cellist, conductor, and one-time Soviet gadfly Mstislav Rostropovich, who used to instruct his orchestras to "play as if you are being tickled in the sides," died today in Moscow. Rostropovich, whose 17-year-run as the head of the National Symphony Orchestra tranformed it from a middling ensemble to one... More »

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music • Mstislav Rostropovich • classical music • obituary • USSR • National Symphony Orchestra • cello • composer

Communist Art Is Capitalist Hit  

Russian collectors get nostalgic for commie propaganda art, bucolic peasant scenes

Apr 23, 07 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nostalgia for the good old days of the USSR is in—at least for Russian art collectors. These days, communist-inspired paintings of peasant scenes and heroic workers have acquired a uniquely capitalist hipness. "The art was propaganda of happiness," says Yuri Tyukhtin, a banker who runs an art... More »

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Russia • communism • propaganda • art • collecting • USSR • capitalism • Soviet • art collector

Boris Yeltsin Dies at 76

Apr 23, 07 10:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - Boris Yeltsin, who orchestrated Russia's uneasy transition to democracy, died this morning, according to the Kremlin. He was 76. The cause hasn't been released, but Russia's first democratically elected leader had a history of heart problems. Yeltsin ascended to power after a struggle with reformer Mikhail Gorbachev, who finally ceded... More »

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Russia • democracy • Boris Yeltsin • obituary • death • Mikhail Gorbachev • USSR • Chechnya

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