SIR is joined by Crocodile Gena, Cheburashka, Vinni Pukh and Hedgehog in the Fog to discuss myths, techniques, legendary figures and beloved classics of Soviet animation.Watch all the cartoons we reference (plus ones we don't reference): htt

48: Victory Day On Palace Square

May 15th, 2018 47m 26s

On May 9, Lily went out into the city and collected stories from people celebrating Victory Day. On that day, people in Russia and much of the former USSR celebrate Nazi Germany's surrender in 1945 and the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Episode 11: Crimea, It Existed Before 2014

Aug 15th, 2017 1h 16m

Wait, was the annexation of Crimea illegal per international law? To answer this question, we start at the beginning -- the 15th century, when Crimea was ruled by the ottoman empire and was the center for the Slavic slave trade -- and end at pr

110: Everybody hates Russia

Mar 6th, 2022 1h 43m

We check in about what’s been happening in and to Russia since the “special military operation” started in Ukraine. Why most of Lily’s Russian friends are leaving or thinking about leaving, peoples’ fears about the current situation and future

109: Ukraine Explain

Feb 24th, 2022 1h 22m

SIR has reunited once again to revisit the latest saga in the conflict with Ukraine, partially so that Lily’s brain doesn’t explode trying to explain to people separately or so she doesn’t start writing things on the internet she will likely re

108: "Pogrom"

May 31st, 2020 49m 52s

Are riots good? Are protests good? Plus Lily gives the etymology of the word pogrom.

107: Ukrainian War Prop

May 24th, 2020 54m 12s

Family history and Ukraine's war-time propaganda machine in Lugansk.

106: Telegram Saga

May 18th, 2020 53m 48s

Lily gets updates on coronavirus in Russia from America and tells the story of Telegram's failed blockchain platform.

105: Potato Healing

Apr 26th, 2020 1h

Petersburg doesn’t care about corona, Russian medicine, Soviet nostalgia and Ivan Chai.

104: Krestos Voskres

Apr 19th, 2020 1h 2m

Russian Orthodox Easter greetings and cake, Lily registers her new car.

103: My Brilliant Friend

Apr 12th, 2020 1h 4m

Lily's finally reading Ferrante. Also a small COVID-19 in Russia update. And a tour of an abandoned experimental soviet neighborhood built in the late 1920s (Кондратьевский Жилмассив//Kondratyevsky Residential Area?)

102: Coronareunion

Apr 5th, 2020 1h 14m

In these times of troubles, SIR is back to update you on Russia’s response to COVID-19.

Undefined Hiatus

Jun 12th, 2019 14m 8s

Undefined Hiatus by Olivia Capozzalo and Smith Freeman

101: An Evening with Norstein

May 29th, 2019 47m 48s

Lily went to see an artistic evening with animator Yuri Norstein, best known for his movies Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales.

100: Eurotrash Rennovation

May 23rd, 2019 45m 27s

Lily returns to St. Petersburg. We talk about Soviet interior design, the Mongol Yoke and ordering Kosher on Aeroflot.

99: Taking a Shvitz

May 15th, 2019 41m 26s

We tell the tale of the legendary 10th St. baths in New York. Also known as The Shvitz or the Russian and Turkish Baths or simply The Baths, the place has been co-owned by two Soviet immigrants since 1995, bringing its own particular breed of b

98: Tragic Gorbo

May 8th, 2019 59m 15s

We watched Werner Herzog's latest documentary, Meeting Gorbachev.Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev wast the last general secretary and only president of the Soviet Union. He's known for supporting nuclear disarmament, causing mass chaos and havin

97: Severe Russophobia

Apr 30th, 2019 43m 44s

FALSE CLAIM: SIR is run by Putin trollsFACT: SIR is run by two brilliant lady humans who are here to dispel myths about RussiaRussian Embassy's report The Russiagate Hysteria: a Case of Severe Russophobia: https://washington.mid.ru/en/press-

96: Pink Beets ft. Olia Hercules

Apr 26th, 2019 57m 45s

We talked to Ukrainian-born, London-based chef and cookbook author Olia Hercules about some of her delicious family recipes, summer kitchens, Georgian food you only get in Georgia and dishes from her childhood in Cyprus. Check out Olia's coo

95: Viking Voyage ft. Polya Shubina

Apr 16th, 2019 1h 4m

Special guest and dear friend Polya once sailed across the North Atlantic ocean on a viking-style ship. Now's she's written a book about it based on her notes and drawings from the onboard. We talk about the voyage, how the crew slept, ate,

94: How Now Maddow

Apr 9th, 2019 1h 3m

Dissecting Rachel Maddow's screen vom and crimes against journalism.Related episodes:Troll Factory indictment https://soundcloud.com/shes-in-russia/37-indict-meAnnexation of Crimea https://soundcloud.com/shes-in-russia/episode-11-crimea-it-

93: Vyborg Express

Apr 2nd, 2019 34m 31s

Lily went to the great medieval city of Vyborg and gawked at abandoned buildings and Finnish tourists.*Support SIR: https://www.patreon.com/shesinrussiaShop for new Russian fashion: https://www.depop.com/fortochka/

92: Elite Terror

Mar 26th, 2019 1h 15m

Why the right loves Solzhenitsyn and his Gulag writings.Anna Akhmatova's everyday life of squalor, drama and paranoia during the Terror.*Support SIR: https://www.patreon.com/shesinrussiaShop for new Russian fashion: https://www.depop.com/f

91: Ladies' Decameron

Mar 19th, 2019 48m 56s

Yulia Voznesenskaia was part of the Leningrad dissident women's movement that formed in the 1970s. Later, as an emigre in Germany, she wrote the Women's Decameron — the story of ten women quarantined in a Soviet maternity ward for ten days, tel

90: Death Bliny

Mar 12th, 2019 56m 39s

What happened to all the death-commemorating and erotic traditions of everyone's favorite bliny-consuming, effigy-burning holiday, Maslenitsa? Here's the history of the week-long, slavic-pagan-christian, pre-Lenten celebration, plus several bli