The Fandorin novels, a glamorous romp through tsarist Russia, have been best-sellers since the 1990s.

BBC: 'I'm no Havel' says campaigning Russian author Akunin

Tsarist Russia looked secure after the shock of 1905, but then fell to the Bolsheviks in 1917.

ECONOMIST: New world ahead

The document is considered to be a forgery which originated in Tsarist Russia.

BBC: Profile: Bishop Richard Williamson

She was born Mona May Ratner in Bessarabia, a province of Tsarist Russia, part of which is now in Ukraine.

ECONOMIST: Mona Karff

Who cares that Norway was once part of Sweden, or that Finland used to be a Grand Duchy of tsarist Russia?

ECONOMIST: Europe.view

Creditors have been more patient with democratic governments than with other regimes, probably because the risk of abrupt changes of policy (like the repudiation of Tsarist debts by Russia in 1917) are reduced.

ECONOMIST: Voters are now facing a harsh truth