Today, Russia retains evident and implicit Soviet remnants, while the Russian state declares its commitment to certain traditions and elements of the Soviet past. The aim of this course is to identify and trace how old Soviet institutions and practices are preserved, modified, and reinvented in Russia in the 2000s and 2010s. The course covers topics such as political monopoly, the state surveillance apparatus, social and gender contracts, anti-Westernism and expansionism, the legacy of ethnic politics, the importance of informal ties, and skepticism toward civic activism. In our course, we will attempt to distinguish between phenomena that are part of the Soviet legacy and those that have their roots in pre-Soviet Russian history, remnants of universal 20th-century modernity, or recent Russian inventions. We will discuss how different components of this legacy reinforce each other and what are the ways out of the existing “traps of history”. We will examine both academic literature and sources from popular culture.