Alongside several important Russian scientists of the 18th century (G.I. Sokolski, S.P. Botkin), W.T. Talalajew - with his work on cardiac rheumatoid nodules - and W.M. Bechterew, the namesake of ankylosing spondylitis, made significant contributions to international rheumatology. While the Dutchman Jan van Breemen (1874-1961) was busy founding international rheumatology, Russian rheumatology played an at least equally important role in Europe, attracting much attention with the brilliant organisation of the 4th Congress of the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR) in Moscow in 1934. The later institutionalised and perfectly organised rheumatological care in the giant empire is inextricably linked with the name of Anatoli Innokentjewitsch Nesterow. He founded a large institute in Moscow and, together with his many students, laid the foundations for a network of rheumatological dispensaries in Russia and the former Soviet Republic. Moreover, as the leading centre for the Working Group of Rheumatologists in socialist countries, he and his colleagues also gave specialist work in the GDR the impetus it needed. His life and work, as well as that of his congenial successor, W. A. Nassonova, are described, partially on the basis of personal encounters.