| HEATWAVE | A big one hit Russia in summer 2010 |
| LITHIUM | Element, large one, hit out with hesitation (7) |
| MYSTERY | "It is a __ wrapped in a __ inside an __." How Churchill described Russia in 1939 (6,7,6) |
| ENIGMA | "It is a __ wrapped in a __ inside an __." How Churchill described Russia in 1939 (6,7,6) |
| RIDDLE | "It is a __ wrapped in a __ inside an __." How Churchill described Russia in 1939 (6,7,6) |
| NUTCRACKER | The ___ is a ballet first. performed in Russia in December 1892. (10) |
| TSAR | An emperor in Russia in former times (His wife was a Tsarina) (4) |
| COSSACK | A member of the people who fled serfdom in Poland, etc, later fighting for Russia in return for land (7) |
| ALASKA | Territory sold by Russia in 1867 to prevent it from falling into British hands in a future war |
| NABOKOV | Vladimir, U.S. writer born in St Petersburg in Russia in 1899 (7) |
| LUHANSK | City in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2022 (7) |
| RASPUTIN | Grigori ?, Siberian peasant monk murdered in St Petersburg, Russia in 1916 (8) |
| TETRIS | Tile-matching video game originating in Russia in the 1980s (6) |
| OCTOBER | Eisenstein film released in Russia in 1928 (7) |
| RURAL | Right by river in Russia in the country (5) |
| OCTOBERREVOLUTION | Uprising in Russia in 1917 (7,10) |
| CRIMEA | Yalta's location a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 |
| ASHKENAZY | Virtuoso pianist born in Russia in 1937 |
| SERFS | They were emancipated in Russia in 1861 |
| GERSHKOVICH | Evan __, US journalist arrested in Russia in March 2023 (11) |
