Yekaterina Ponomaryova

Produced by Yekaterina Ponomaryova

• 08 September 2021

  Call Them 'Girls,' Not 'Grannies': Meet The Russian Pensioners With Their Own Ice Hockey Team

  The captain is 81 years old, while the team's youthful star is 52. Russia's only women's ice hockey team made up almost entirely of pensioners also has a trainer who is a veteran of the Vancouver Olympics.

• 09 April 2021

  'Am I Really Still Alive?' A Hunter's Story Of Survival In Siberia

  Sergei Sazanakov was hunting in Russia's Khakassia region when an accident left him trapped in the snow overnight. He lost his lower legs to frostbite, and later had to fight for his children in court after his wife left him. But Sazanakov has learned how to run his farm and care for his family.

• 14 March 2021

  Ice For Sale: Siberian Tatars Carry On A Centuries-Old Tradition

  In an ethnic Tatar village in Russia's Omsk region, drinking water comes from the ice of a local lake, which is cut in winter, carried, and stored for year-round use. It's a good business for those who do the hard work of collecting the ice.

• 10 December 2020

  Selling Coal On Credit To Siberia's Poor

  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.

• 16 September 2020

  Salt Of The Earth: Daghestani Villagers Use Pinch Of Ancient Wisdom To Make Ends Meet

  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.

• 09 September 2020

  Activists Save Hill From Mining In Russia's Bashkortostan Region

  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.

• 09 July 2020

  Trash Talk: Cleaning Up A Siberian Village With A Glut Of Garbage

  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.

• 19 June 2020

  The Raftsmen Of Siberia Move Timber The Old-Fashioned Way

  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.

• 08 May 2020

  Russia's Coronavirus Responders: A Village Clinic With The Grit To Persevere

  The Russian Urals village of Kuliga has no new hospitals, no hazmat uniforms for doctors, no high-tech equipment, and no good roads for ambulances, but, still, they are fighting the coronavirus pandemic. For physician Nadezhda Kasatkina, who has worked here for 34 years, teamwork and sheer persistence are the only ways to get through this crisis.

• 09 March 2020

  My Cows Need A Pedi: Siberian Mechanic Finds His Calling With The Herd

  A car mechanic in Siberia has found a new calling: giving cows pedicures. And it has helped reverse a fall in milk production at a local dairy.

• 24 February 2020

  Siberian Ice Swimmer Shows How To Love Life At 70

  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.

• 24 January 2020

  Seven Children, Two Wives: A Tajik Guest Worker In Russia

  A Tajik guest worker in Russia spends most of his time there so he can send money back to Dushanbe, where he has two wives and seven children.

• 19 August 2019

  Chechnya's Mail Carrier In Heels: Delivering A Message Of Self-Respect For Women

  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.

• 09 August 2019

  Form #087: Aleksandra Selyaninova

  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)  

• 06 June 2019

  Transgender Russian Seeks Freedom In Spain

  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.

• 28 May 2019

  Little Lev's 'Paradise' Hotel

  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.

• 06 November 2016

  A Russian Village Finds Honey-Sweet Success

  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.