For many women in Moscow, the Marusya nightclub is a place where they feel they can be in control. They pay to be danced with, flirted with and cuddled with. And they choose the person with whom they do it. It’s “a new type of Moscow woman,” says photographer Denis Sinyakov.

Moldova’s economic crisis and political strife have created an emigration phenomena of alarming proportions. With one of the world’s largest diaspora, entire towns and villages are disappearing. It was the incalculable toll on Moldova’s children that drove Asa Sjöström to photograph their world.

Photographer Alexander Lepeshkin spends whole nights at Clumba parties where the young creatives of Russia put on their most flashy and drink. His photos capture candid moments of alcohol-enhanced connections and collapses, but he says he’s not a party photographer – he’s a youth photographer.

Frank Herfort is fascinated by the uniquely shaped buildings that have seemed to sprout from the ground since the end of the Soviet era. The majority of them are less than 10 years old. They are imposing symbols of creativity and optimism that Herfort suspects would take many people by surprise.

Some young Russians welcome the arrival of summer by heading to the countryside to perform rituals that date back to pagan times, like building a straw man and touching its penis to bring fertility and love. Photographer Claudine Doury followed them for three days during their rituals.

Photographer Tina Remiz is from Latvia, but both her parents were born in Russia. She generally felt part of both the Latvian and Russian communities, but sometimes there was a cultural barrier with Latvians, she said. Remiz explores the Russian community in Latvia in her project "Krievi."

Historically, each oblast, or province, in Russia has psychiatric facilities situated away from the cities, in rural areas. Elat’ma, in the Ryazan Oblast region of Russia, is unique in that it functions as a town for mentally disabled people. It hosts six facilities, one for each developmental stage of a person’s life from birth to death.

On the other side of the mountains from the Russian town of Sochi, where the Olympic flame will be lighted next year, a war is being waged. From the Caucasus' impenetrable forests and mountains, Islamist rebels are engaged in a struggle for independence from Russia.