Holy smoke! I found it in my atlas--this is way in the middle of nowhere!

I visited Kursk some years back, but stayed in a flat with a family. I did do the Hotel Rossia in Moscow. I would anticipate modest, dated accomodations with some level of creativity demonstrated when there is a problem. However, seeing that this is a fairly important port city, you may be pleasantly surprised.

I found this link, which links to a couple of hotels: http://www.tourintel.ru/cities/e_ru_kja.html

it looked like a number of other links are available as well, though some were in cyrillic.

If you have visited Russia, you'll know what to expect. People you befriend can be very generous. Some service people can treat you very poorly without a bribe. If you're a java junkie, take your own--it can be hard to find, though the black tea in quantity could give you a fix. Inspect your teacups carefully before drinking out of them. Consider packing at least one roll of toilet paper and keeping with you at all times...

Wish I had better information--I imagine it will be hard to come by. This sounds like a great adventure--hope you'll write about here when you get back!

JP