A recent study by an American watchdog organisation, Freedom House, showed that in the past decade, no country in Europe has undergone a sharper decline in democracy than Russia.

Our summer breath of fresh air in Moscow’s expansive green lungs takes us further this month, to the celebrated holiday islands upstream of the city.

On a steamy summer day, look for cooling beauty no further than the lush treelined Boulevard Ring.

George Frideric Handel, with a bottle of claret, explaining to a full house at Count Sheremetyevo’s private theatre in the palace at Ostankino.

First off I’d like to thank everyone for the positive feedback and support for my article in the July issue of PASSPORT magazine.

Helen Womack, who many readers may know for her work as Moscow correspondent of The Independent and Moscow Times columnist in the 1990s, was working for Reuters in 1989.

Until recently the small town of Staritsa was known mainly to well-informed travellers, and was almost a secret to the general public.

Surprizing Kuala Lumpur