Ruské (until 1927 Slovak Ruská; Hungarian Zemplénoroszi - until 1907 Oroszruszka)[1] is a former village in Okres Snina (Prešovský kraj) and today a cadastral municipality of Stakčín in eastern Slovakia. It is located in the Bukovské vrchy Mountains below the main Carpathian ridge in the source area of the Cirocha River and near the state border with Poland. The former town center lies at an altitude of 486 m above sea level, the distance to Snina is about 26 kilometers. The Pľaša National Nature Reserve extends to the east of the town,[2] the cadastral municipality as such lies entirely in the Poloniny National Park.
The end of the town came with the construction of the Starina reservoir on the Cirocha further downstream in the 1980s. Although it was far from the flooded area, an extensive drinking water protection area meant that all villages in the upper Cirocha valley, including Ruské, had to be evacuated. In 1986, the displaced village was incorporated into Stakčín.
Today, only the municipal cemetery, the military cemetery from the First World War, a chapel on the site of the demolished church from 1789 and three houses stand on the site of the former village. A stone road from 1861, the so-called Porta Rusica, leads to the Ruské sedlo saddle on the border with Poland.[5]