For variety, consider some Soviet science fiction.

The author with the most neutral and universal appeal, especially to young people, is probably Kir Bulychev.

The brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are more brainy. They are immensely popular among Russian-speaking geeks and hackers. You may have heard about the film "Stalker" and "The Inhabited Island", which are based on their novels.

The more communist authors are Alexander Belyayev and Ivan Yefremov. Despite the political angle of many of their works they were translated into English and other languages and well-regarded outside of the USSR. They honestly imagined that the future would be communist - this is an important point that you should consider telling your students.

OK, Microsoft bundles a browser with the OS.

Bundles-schmundles.

Get over it. All GNU/Linux distributions bundle a browser, an office suite, a photo editing program and a bunch of compilers with an OS, nobody says that it's anti-competitive and it doesn't help GNU/Linux to gain market share.

Microsoft bundles with their OS a crappy browser that breaks web interoperability and locks people on Windows, 'cuz they think they need those crappy nonstandard sites - yes, those still exist in 2009; now that's a problem.

I don't want to hear about the bundling anymore.

Tatarstan is not tiny - it is one of the most populous and important regions of Russia. Its capital Kazan is one of the most important cities in Russia.

Tatarstan is not independent - it is an autonomy within the Russian Federation.

Tatarstan is not a former Russian republic - see above.