FUN FACTS ABOUT

Russia, the largest country in the world, occupies one-tenth of all the land on Earth

Spans 11 time zones across two continents (Europe and Asia)

Has coasts on three oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic)

The Russian landscape varies from desert to frozen coastline, tall mountains to giant marshes

Much of Russia is made up of rolling, treeless plains called steppes

Siberia, which occupies three-quarters of Russia, is dominated by sprawling pine forests called taigas

Russia has about 100,000 rivers, including some of the longest and most powerful in the world

Has many lakes, including Europe's two largest: Ladoga and Onega.

Lake Baikal in Siberia contains more water than any other lake on Earth

Russia is the largest country in the world and bigger than PlutoCovering an expanse of over 6.6 million square miles, Russia is the world’s largest country by landmass, beating out runner-up Canada by around 2.8 million square miles

It includes nine different time zones and shares land borders with 14 neighboring countries

Russia’s origins began with the Viking establishment of Kievan Rus in the 9th century

Humid summers prevail in much of southern Russia

The Taiga, the world’s largest terrestrial biome, extends all the way from Eastern Canada throughout the vast majority of northern Russia

Massive oil reserves exist underneath Russia’s frozen forests and tundra Tetris came from Russia

Tetris  is a tile-matching video game created by Russian software engineer 

Alexey Pajitnov in 1984

It has been published by several companies, most prominently during a war for

the appropriation of the game's rights in the late 1980s

After a significant period of publication by Nintendo, the rights reverted to Pajitnov

in 1996, who co-founded The Tetris Company with Henk Rogers to manage Tetris 

licensing

"Tetris," the hugely popular and addictive game that swept the world in the 1980s and 1990s, continues to engage and captivate players today

"Tetris" was a no-frills

outlier: no fancy images,

no memorable characters

and no narrative

Oymyakon, a tiny hamlet in Russia (with the population of around 500), is that part of our world where people suffer to survive almost every day

Known as the coldest inhabited place on Earth, life of people in Okymakon is beyond difficult, and actually, it’s hard to understand why anyone in their right minds would live there

The coldest inhabited town on Earth Russia had its own mafia gang wars

Organized crime in Russia began in the imperial period of the tsars, but it was not until the Soviet era that vory v zakone ( " t h i e ve s- i n - l aw" ) emerged as leaders of prison groups in forced labor camps, and their honor code became more defined

With the end of World War II, the death of Joseph Stalin, and the fall of the Soviet Union, more gangs emerged in a flourishing black market, exploit ing the unstable governments of the former Republics, and at its highest point, even controlling as much as two-thirds of the Russian economy

Louis Freeh, former director of the FBI, said that the Russian m a fi a p o s e d t h e greatest threat to U.S. national security in the mid-1990s

The longest railway in the world Trans-Siberian Railway

9,228.2km route

Crossing 87 cities

5 federal counties

Passing 8

time zones

Connecting Russian western and southern gates to Europe and Pacific ports

The European part of the trunk accounts for about 19 % The Asian 81% of

the whole Transsib length

The railway construction took a quarter of the century (from 1891to1916)

All its records need a separate chapter in the Guinness Book of Records

The Asian 81%

The European

19%

Russia shares a border with 14 countries including Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, China, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and North Korea

Russia has not observed Daylight Saving Time (DST) since it was abolished in 2011

Russia holds another world record: 10 of the country's 11 time zones cover a contiguous landmass-only the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, wedged between Lithuania and Poland, breaks that pattern

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FACTS

ABOUT

TIME

ZONES

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RUSSIA

Borders and time zones in russia

When the sunrises in Moscow,

people in the Far East are getting

ready for bed

Until very recently, Russian railroad tickets for every city used Moscow Time - independent of where you departed from. Starting on August 1, 2018, departure times on railway tickets are indicated in local time

The Republic of Yakutia

encompasses three time zones,

the Sakhalin region has two

and all other Russian regions

are within one time zone

In all of Tatarstan, time is measured after Moscow time, but in the neighboring region of Bashkir, they are already two hours ahead. That’s why some of the long-standing bridges that cross the river Ik, which marks the borderbetween the two regions, are jokingly called - the longest ones“.

Russia’s favorite holiday is definitely New Year's. Many people from remote areas celebrate New Year’s twice: once according to local time and once according to Moscow time

Russia’s time zones are constantly moving! The last change was made in the Volgograd region, which switched from Moscow to Samara time in 2018

Russia is home to the deepest lake in the world

Lake Baikal in southern Russia is the world's deepest lake

5,387 feet deep (1,642 meters)

Bottom is approximately 3,893 feet (1,187 meters) below sea level

It is also the world's largest freshwater lake in terms of volume

Lake Baikal is so deep because it is located in an active continental rift zone

Moscow has more billionaires per capita than

anywhere else in the world

Russia’s capital boasts more billionaire residents than any other city In the world - 79 to be exact, according to Forbes

Moscow is home to more billionaires than anywhere else in the world. The latest count is 74

Russia has a per capita income of about $14,000

Russia’s economy is the eighth largest in the world

Russia is very corrupt. It is is ranked 127 out of 177 on Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perception Index

Russia is basically a massive forest

60% forest

Russian territory is huge, and the majority of it is Siberia

The timber industry is a significant contributor to the economy of Russia, worth around 20 billion dollars per year

Russian Forest Industry - a set of Russian industries related to wood harvesting and processing . One of the oldest sectors of the economy

On the territory of Russia is 1/4 of the world's reserves of wood

According to data for 2015 the total forest area has exceeded 885 million hectares, representing 45% of the total area of the country

At the same time the stock of wood was in the area of 82 billion cubic meters. The main share of coniferous tree species comprises: pine, spruce, larch, cedar

Yttygran is one of the most beautiful islands

Visitors travel from around the world to see Beluga whales around Yttigran and

Arakamchechen islands

Whale Bone Alley is arguably the most popular destination

It extends around 1800 feet along the northern coast and lies along a while migration path

Consisting of hundreds of whale bones—primarily jaw, rib, and vertebrae—

While Bone Alley is believed to have been created around 600 years ago

The biggest fortress in the world is in russia

Kremlin, Russian kreml, formerly kremnik, central fortress in medieval Russian cities

Usually located at a strategic point along a river and separated from the surrounding parts of the city by a wooden-later a stone or brick-wall with ramparts, a moat, towers, and battlements

Several capitals of principalities (e.g., Moscow, Pskov, Novgorod, Smolensk, Rostov, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod) were built around old kremlins, which generally contained cathedrals, palaces for princes and bishops, governmental offices, and munitions stores

FUN

FACTS

ABOUT

THE

LARGEST

FORTRESS

IN

EUROPE

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The Moscow Kremlin is the oldest fortress in Russia

The Kremlin is the largest fortress on the whole territory of Russia, and the biggest active fortress in Europe! Of course the history knows grander fortresses but Kremlin is the only well preserved and still in use

The first settlements in the territory of the Moscow Kremlin relate to the Bronze Age (II millennium BC. E.)

Moscow and the Kremlin have one father. The fortress was built on the orders of the founder of Moscow - Prince Yuri Dolgoruky

Since 1264 was the residence of the feudal princes of Moscow

06 07 08 09 10The Moscow Kremlin was first a wooden, then stone and finally a brick structure, used to be a city in itself, surrounded by ramparts, towers and battlements in ancient times

The Moscow Kremlin got its power and fame in 14th century, when it became the main part of the city, and Moscow -the strongest city in the ancient Russia

In the second half of the 14th century all wal l s and bui ld ings were made out of wood as it was the most readily available material at that time

The Moscow Kremlin was often compared to the Scaligero castle in Verona and Castello Sforzesco in Milan, thanks to the Italian architects who constructed the Kremlin cathedrals in 15th

Almost until the end of the 19th century the Kremlin walls were always painted white to preserve the bricks for longer

Russia used the Julian calendar until 1918

The Julian calendar has two types of year: a normal year of 365 days and a leap year of 366 days

They follow a simple cycle of three normal years and one leap year, giving an average year that is 365.25 days long

That is more than the actual solar year value of 365.24219 days, which means the Julian calendar gains a day every 128 years

From the early 18th century, since the time of Peter the Great, the country exclusively used the Julian calendar, introduced in Europe by Julius Caesar

It was less precise and by the year 1900 it was lagging 13 days behind its more modern (from the late 16th century) Gregorian counterpart, that by then was predominantly used in European countries

There are over 100 languages

spoken in Russia

Russian was the sole official language of the Russian Empire which existed until 1917

During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other

ethnic groups fluctuated in practice

The state helped develop alphabets and grammar for various languages across

the country that had previously been lacking a written form

There are over 100 minority languages spoken in Russia today

Languages spoken in Russia (2010)

Russia has the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world

According to the Federation of American Scientists, an organization that assesses nuclear weapon stockpiles, as of 2018, the Russian Federation possesses approximately

6,500 nuclear warheads, which is the largest number of nuclear weapons in the world." In addition to nuclear weapons, Russia declared an arsenal of 39,967 tons of 

chemical weapons in 1997

The Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test explosion. The United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), and China (1964) followed. Seeking to prevent the nuclear weapon

ranks from expanding further, the United States and other like-minded states negotiated the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and the Comprehensive

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) in 1996

Moscow has the 3rd busiest metro in the world

One of the most interesting parts of Moscow is its incredible

Metro system. It is known as being one of the most beautifully

decorated metro systems in the world

In fact, it is usually always spotlessly clean with its trains arriving

every 90 seconds!

Weirdly, there is a mysterious ‘Metro-2’ line which is said to connect

Moscow to several mystery military bunkers. This has not been

confirmed – but anything is possible!

Topping the list of the world’s busiest metros at number three,

just behind Toyko and Seoul, there are 12 lines and more than

6 million people ride the Moscow Metro daily

Petergof is the world’s most luxurious city

Peterhof is a town located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea), 29 km/18 mi west of St. Petersburg

The town is famous for a luxurious palace and a series of parks,

gardens and fountains – hence the other Petershof’s names –

“the Russian Versailles” and “the capital of Russian fountains”

The palace ensemble and the city center are recognized as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The estate was founded by Peter the Great who apparently

was captivated by beauty of Versailles

Nowadays, the entire palace ensemble of Peterhof includes

Great Peterhof Palace, Marly Palace, Monplaisir Palace, Upper

and Lower parks, and numerous architectural elements:

cascades, fountains, marble sculptures

Population Full of Rabbits

The highest population of rabbits in Russian farms was observed in 2015 at over

3.7 million heads

Since then, the number of these animals decreased in the country's households,

measuring at over 3.5 million rabbit heads in 2018

Russia's harvested area is 25% less than in 1931 according to figures of Aug. 1

Russian meat is so scarce that U. S. experts have been called in

A long and hungry winter grows nearer. In the face of this Soviet officials

have discovered that the rabbit, one of the mainstays of the French bourgeois

cuisine, is sadly neglected in Russia. Only 1,500,000 domestic rabbits exist

in the Soviet Union

Who

Runs

Russia?

Girls!There are more Russian women than men, and estimates says that there are about

11 million women in the country

This is partly because many soldiers who were men died in battle during World War II. 

In 1950, there were just 76.6 men per 100 women

Another reason for the gap is because of lower life expectancy for males. Russian

women live more than 10 years longer on average than their male counterpart

Women in Russia may hold prominent positions in the government — including the

influential chief of the Central Bank and speaker of the upper chamber of parliament —

but traditional gender roles still hold sway, and efforts to address problems like the

gender pay gap, domestic violence and sexual harassment have hardly scratched

the surface

The matryoshka doll has its roots in JapanMatryoshka is a very famous Russian doll all over the world,

but its roots are in Japan!

At the end of the 19th century, history shows that a nesting

doll from Japan had inspired Russian artists from a Moscow

workshop called, “Children’s Upbringing,” to create their own

version of a nesting doll

It was named Matryoshka from the name Matryona (mother)

and became very popular. Matryoshka became internationally

known after its showing at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1

900 where it received the bronze medal. Since that time

Matryoshka became the symbol of Russia and a well-known

as Russian doll

Unlike the Japanese “father” doll, Matryoska changed a lot.

At first it was produced as an artistic doll and was painted by

artists. The sets represented peasant and noble families,

heroes of Russian folk tales and characters from literature,

historical personas