The Moscow-based, English-language magazine the eXile combined gonzo journalism and stiob to provide unique reporting on post-Soviet Russia. At the same time, the outlet fetishized the very 1990s-era lawlessness or bespredel—not to mention Western sexual and economic exploitation of Russia—that it nominally denounced and condemned.

A collection of data presentation venues of the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). After the fall of the Soviet Union, VTsIOM became the Russian Federation’s most important polling organization.

Svetlana Baskova captures the surreal, deeply violent, and grotesque essence of the 1990s and the Chechen wars in her cult trash movie, "Zelenyi slonik" (The little green elephant, 1999).

Music video and lyrics from the 1999 musical hit “Ubily negra [They Killed a Black Man]” by the band “Zapreshchennye barabanshchiki.”

At a press conference held in the wake of the September 1999 apartment bombings, then-Prime Minister Putin declared that he would “whack terrorists in the crapper.” In so doing, he reinforced his image as a strong and somewhat thuggish leader, ultimately boosting his popularity ahead of the 2000 presidential election.