I noticed this magazine at Pages the other day and picked it up, assuming it was a special Russia issue of some trendy design magazine. But no — it’s actually the third issue of a stylish magazine about Russia, covering style, art, business, and a lot more.

Highlights of this issue include:

- an annotated floorplan of a 1,200 square foot communal apartment in St. Petersburg, home to 7 families;

- a translation of a recipe for “little cabbage pies” from a popular Tsarist Russian cookbook;

- a feature on “Khrushovkas” — “crappy postwar apartment buildings”, translates the article — that have been turned into art pieces by muralists;

- a humourous travel piece on Arkhangelsk;

- a very subjective listing of the best English translations for various Russian novels,

… and much more.

This issue, like the first two apparently, is brought to us by the letter “T” — a conceit the editor admits he’d like to kill off — and each page has a random Russian word beginning with T in the corner, all translated by a handy glossary at the back.

It’s a handsome magazine, with great art direction, and at $4.99, great value as a read. I will probably subscribe, or at least become a regular buyer, but I’m wondering… beyond Russian Studies majors, like me, who exactly is the audience for this clever publication?

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