Way to Russia was an information resource that I created in 2001 together with Danil Perushev to transform the existing public discourse about Russia. Taking its inspiration from the unique characteristics of Russia, combining primitivism and cosmology in its approach, Way to Russia communicated an image of Russia, which was somehow semi-real and semi-fictional at the same time. It proposed to take another perspective and to do so through the format of a mainstream travel guide, which is actually used by travelers to arrange their trips and expectations when traveling to Russia.

We would write about the most popular places but also add some obscure locations and present them among the main sights. We’d also add a section on Russian literature that would include contemporary writers while mentioning the classical writers such as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. Our intention was always to take a part of reality and to add something fictional to it, so that expectations of travelers would help that fiction inscribe itself into the real when they actually come to Russia and start looking for it.

Luckily, it worked: WayToRussia.Net was the most popular online travel guide to Russia with the annual audience of 1 Mln unique visitors during 2004-2012. It was recommended by Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, BBC and The Guardian and used by many organizations worldwide: from AIESEC to Greenpeace. We also published a printed and e-book guide, available on Amazon, rated 5 stars by the customers.