Viktor Kozlov used to drive a tractor on a Soviet-era state farm, but when times got tough, he moved to the coal-rich Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk and started selling coal to residents there to heat their homes.
In the southern Russian Daghestani village of Kvankhidatl, people extract salt using a unique ancient method. They claim they produce the purest and most delicious salt in the world.
After weeks of protests, environmental activists in Russia's central Bashkortostan region have won a battle to protect Kushtau Hill from mining. The Bashkir Soda Company had planned to mine limestone from the site. But activists say the hill is a natural treasure and home to many endangered species.
A Siberian village, Tayezhnyy, was swamped with trash when Ilona Domracheva moved there. She didn't like what she saw and, in a short time, she mobilized the community to help clean up. She may have won a battle, but the war on waste goes on.
Little has changed over the past century for timber raftsmen in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region, who still rely on the same working methods that their grandfathers used.
It’s not often that a septuagenarian slips on a swimsuit to head into Siberia‘s snow and ice. But for 70-year-old champion ice swimmer Zinaida Bulygina, swimming in a frozen river is all about embracing life.
Thirty-six-year-old mail carrier Madina's profession, departure from an abusive marriage, and even high heels and short skirts appear to go against the grain of what many consider “appropriate” for women in conservative Chechnya, but she shows no sign of backing down.
In Soviet times, Aleksandra Selyaninova worked for 16 years within the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ regional offices. When she retired in 1989, she made another change as well: She changed her sex, becoming a woman. "I took off my uniform and put on a dress," she says with a laugh. (Filmmaker: Yekaterina Ponomaryova)
Francis Savinovskikh made headlines in Russia when the authorities took two foster children away, citing concerns that their upbringing was not "traditional." At the time, Savinovskikh had the name Yulia and didn't accept being a man.
A Russian boy who learned to love hotels during frequent visits to doctors far away, has become a hotelier in his remote hometown, thanks to his mother.
Like many from Russia's regions, entrepreneur Guzel Sanzhopova moved to Moscow for access to greater opportunities. But when her father decided to set up a candy business in the family's village, she came back home to the Urals. Today, this tiny enterprise, Cocco Bello, is giving villagers both work and a sense of purpose.
