Russia is a great country that amazes with its scale and influence in the world. This country is associated with forests and mountains, clean lakes and endless rivers, a variety of flora and fauna. It is here that people of different nationalities live, respecting the culture and customs of local residents. Next, we suggest reading more interesting and surprising facts about Russia and the Russians.
1. Russia is the largest country in the world with an area of more than 17 million km2, so its length from east to west covers 10 time zones at once.
2. The Russian Federation includes 21 national republics, which occupy 21% of the territory of Russia.
3. All over the world, Russia is considered a European country, but at the same time 2/3 of its territory is located in Asia.
4. Russia is separated from the US by only 4 km, which separates the Russian island of Ratmanov and the American island of Kruzenshtern.
5. The area of frosty Siberia is 9.7 million km2, which is as much as 9% of the land area of the planet Earth.
6. Forests occupy most of the Russian territory and make up as much as 60% of Russia's area. Russia is also rich in water resources, which include 3 million lakes and 2.5 million rivers.
7. A lake in Russia, which is located in the Valdai National Park, is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. They say that the water in this lake is healing and holy.
8. In Russia, Swan Lake is not only the name of the ballet, but also the place in the Altai Territory, where in November about 300 swans and 2,000 ducks arrive for the winter.
9. Mother nature is respected in Russia, therefore 4% of the country's area is occupied by nature reserves.
10. Russia is the only state in the whole world, whose territory is washed by 12 seas at once.
11. Russia is home to the largest active volcano in the world - Klyuchevskaya Sopka, which is 4.85 km high and has been erupting regularly for over 7000 years.
12. The climate in Russia is very diverse, and if in Sochi in winter the usual air temperature is + 5 ° C, then in the village of Yakutia it can reach at the same time -55 ° C.
13. The record low air temperature was recorded in 1924 in the Russian city of Oymyakon, and it was as much as -710 ° C.
14. The first place in the world in the production of gas and oil, as well as in the export of aluminum, steel and nitrogen fertilizers is awarded to the Russian Federation.
15. The capital of Russia Moscow is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, after all, according to official data, 11 million people live there.
16. In terms of population, Russia ranks 7th in the world and has 145 million people, and Russians in Russia are 75% of the population.
17. Moscow is one of the richest and most expensive cities in the world, and the level of salaries in this city differs from the level of salaries in other Russian cities by 3, and occasionally 33 times.
18. There is one amazing city in Russia - Suzdal, on an area of 15 km2 inhabited by 10,000 people, and which is amazing in that there are as many as 53 temples, majestic in their beauty and decoration.
19. The Russian city of Yekaterinburg in 2002, according to the UNESCO rating, was included in the list of 12 most ideal cities for living in the world.
20. One of the oldest cities in the world, where people still live, is located in Russia - this is the Dagestan city of Derbent.
21. If you add together the territory of the Netherlands and Belgium, then their area will be equal to the area of the Tambov region.
22. The Russian Federation is considered the successor of the Roman Empire, because the two-headed eagle depicted on its coat of arms symbolizes the Byzantine idea of a harmonious interaction between the power of church and state.
23. Russia is rich in its secrets. For example, there are more than 15 cities there, which are hidden from everyone, because they are not on maps, or on road signs, and indeed nowhere, and, of course, foreigners are strictly prohibited from entering there.
24. The Moscow metro is the most punctual metro in the world, because the intervals between trains during rush hour are only 1.5 minutes.
25. The deepest metro in the world is located in the cultural capital of the Russian Federation - St. Petersburg, and its depth is as much as 100 meters.
26. The Russian metro was the safest place during the WWII air raids, and 150 people were born there during the bombing.
27. St. Petersburg is called the cultural capital of Russia for a reason, it is just that this city has 2000 libraries, 45 art galleries, 221 museums, about 80 theaters and the same number of clubs and palaces of culture.
28. Peterhof is one of the most amazing palace and park complexes in the world, because in addition to luxurious palaces it amazes with a huge number of fountains, of which there are 176 pieces, of which 40 are truly gigantic.
29. They say that Venice is a city of bridges, but no matter how it is, because in St. Petersburg there are three times more bridges.
30. The longest railroad in Russia is the Trans-Siberian Railway, which connects Moscow and Vladivostok. The length of this path is 9298 km, and during the trip it covers 8 time zones, 87 cities and 16 rivers.
31. In Russia there is also the largest freshwater lake in the world - Baikal, the volume of which is as much as 23 km3. To imagine its greatness, it is enough to ponder over the fact that the 12 largest rivers in the world must flow for a whole year in order to fill Baikal.
32. The most ancient, and therefore the most majestic mountains in the world are the Urals. For example, Mount Karandash, which is part of the Ural Mountains complex, arose more than 4 billion years ago.
33. One of the strangest mountains in the world is the Russian Magnitnaya Mountain, located under the city of Magnitogorsk, which is almost entirely made of iron.
34. In Russia, there is the largest, densest and practically wild forest in the world - the Siberian taiga, half of which has not even been explored by man.
35. In the capital of the Russian Federation there is one fountain, which is part of the architectural group "Alexander and Natalie", from which not simple water gushes, but drinking water, which you can happily quench your thirst on a hot summer day.
36. Located on Borovitsky Hill, the Moscow Kremlin is the largest fortress in the world, preserved since the Middle Ages, and its area covers 27.5 hectares, and the length of the walls is 2235 m.
37. The largest and oldest museum in the whole world is the Russian Hermitage Museum, which houses 3 million exhibits, and if someone wants to inspect them all, giving each exhibit just one minute, this person will have to go to the museum as if work for 25 years.
38. The Hermitage is also famous for the fact that the staff of the museum includes not only people, but also the most ordinary cats who have their own passport with a photograph and earn themselves on Whiskas by catching rodents in the museum, preventing them from spoiling the exhibits.
39. The largest library in Europe is located in Russia - the Public Library, which was founded in Moscow in 1862.
40. In the small town of Kizhah there is a church resembling a work of art, which is interesting in that not a single nail was spent on its construction.
41. In Russia there is the largest university building in the world - Moscow State University, the height of which together with the exquisite spire is 240 meters.
42. In Moscow you can see the highest building in Europe - the Ostankino TV tower, which is 540 meters high.
43. The largest bell in the world was cast in Russia by craftsmen Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail. This is the Tsar Bell, which is 614 cm high and weighs 202 tons.
44. The oldest Christian temple is located on the territory of the Russian Federation - it is the Tkhaba-Yerdy temple, built in the VIII-IX centuries, which is located in Ingushetia.
45. There is one of the largest urban parks in the world in Russia - this is Izmailovsky Park, which was founded in 1931 and whose territory is now as much as 15.3 km2.
46. The largest botanical garden in Europe is again Russian. This is a botanical garden named after Tsitsin, which was founded immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War in 1945.
47. The world's largest tram network is located in St. Petersburg and is as much as 690 km.
48. The record-breaking publication of a paper newspaper took place in May 1990, when 22 million copies of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspapers were published.
49. The frame of the world famous New York Statue of Liberty was melted in one of the Russian cities - Yekaterinburg.
50. Russia is a paradise for tourists with many beautiful and interesting tourist and excursion routes, among which the best are the Golden and Silver rings of Russia, as well as the Great Ural Ring.
51. One of the most beautiful valleys in the world is the picturesque Valley of the Lotus, located near Astrakhan, from which it is impossible to look away at the moment when all the lotuses are blooming.
52. In 1949, in Russia, which was then part of the USSR, the Kalashnikov assault rifle was designed, and now the number of AK in the world exceeds the number of all other assault rifles, even if you put them all together.
53. The most famous and beloved by the whole world game of Tetris was invented precisely in 1985 in Russia by the programmer Alexei Pajitnov.
54. The matryoshka was invented in 1900 by the Russian craftsman Vasily Zvezdochkin, but the merchants demonstrated it at the World Exhibition in Paris as an Old Russian one, and for this the matryoshka was awarded a bronze medal.
55. In Russia, an ancient version of the now so popular electric kettle was invented - a samovar, which, although it worked on coal, and not from electricity, but performed the same function of boiling water.
56. Among Russian inventions, it is worth highlighting a bomber, a TV set, a searchlight, synthetic detergents, a video recorder, a knapsack parachute, an electron microscope and many other useful things in the household.
57. There is no end to inventions in Russia, so quite recently at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, which is located in Siberia, a completely new breed of foxes was bred, which are very domestic, affectionate and in their habits resemble dogs and cats.
58. Near the building of the Novosibirsk Institute of Cytology and Genetics, a monument to the very laboratory mouse, on which the experiments are carried out, is erected; this mouse is depicted in the form of a scientist weaving a DNA thread.
59. It was in Russia that a rather strange at first glance kind of sport was invented - helicopter golf, in which 2 helicopters drive into the pocket with 4-meter clubs a huge ball with a diameter of 1 meter.
60. Antarctica was discovered on January 16, 1820 by a Russian expedition headed by Mikhail Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen.
61. The first person to conquer space was again the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who made his first flight into space on April 12, 1961.
62. And the Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev made another record in space - he stayed there for 803 days.
63. Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky are the most widely read authors in the whole world.
64. Russian champagne, which was made in Abrau-Dyurso in 2010, received a bronze medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition.
65. In Russia, equality between men and women came 2 years earlier than in the United States, because in Russia women received the right to vote in 1918, and in the United States only in 1920.
66. In Russia, unlike all other states, there has never been slavery in the full sense of the word. And serfdom was abolished in it in 1861, which is 4 years earlier than slavery in the United States was abolished.
67. Russia is practically a military state, because in terms of the number of military personnel, this country occupies the 2nd place after China.
68. In relation to the gross domestic product, Russia has the lowest public debt in the world.
69. In Russia, there is a funny myth about the myth that Americans think that in Russia people are calmly walking around the cities with their bears. Bears do not walk in Russia, and Americans do not think so, but nevertheless Russians are very fond of buying a souvenir T-shirt with an inscription in English: I was in Russia. There are no bears.
70. Although Russians do not smile at everyone they meet, like Europeans, the distinctive features of this nation are openness, breadth of heart and sincerity.
71. Historically, in Russia, Russians prefer to make decisions collectively, constantly consult and give advice.
72. Russians very often in their lives hope for luck and "maybe", and they consider themselves, though not the most intelligent nation on earth, but the most spiritual.
73. The most typical pastime for Russians is home kitchen get-togethers until late, during which they talk about everything in the world except work.
74. Russians do not trust anything cheap, preferring to buy things at a higher price, but at the same time they love “freebies”, so they take everything for nothing.
75. Most of the issues and problems in Russia are solved solely by pull, agreement.
76. Corruption is highly developed in Russia. You have to pay a bribe to get one of the many services that you can get for free. Although it is possible not to give, but in this case it will take a very long time to wait for the solution of the issue.
77. The most favorite holiday in Russia is the New Year, the celebration of which usually lasts 2 weeks and ends only on January 14 at the Old New Year. Read the facts about the New Year here.
78. Due to the shortage in Soviet times, Russians began to suffer from hoarding, so they try never to throw anything away, but at the same time, if they suddenly lose half of their trash, they may not even notice it.
79. Formally in Russia there is a ban on walking dogs in playgrounds and smoking in public places, but in reality almost no one ever gets a fine for this.
80. In Russia, in 2011, a reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was carried out, as a result of which the police became the police, but the Russians cannot understand the reasons for this reform to this day.
81. One of the most popular genres of TV shows and serials that are shown on central Russian television is a crime thriller.
82. One of the most popular and long-running TV series in Russia is the Street of Broken Lanterns, the first episode of which was shown on television in 1998 and continues to this day.
83. In 1990, a wonderful television game "Field of Miracles" was released in Russia for the first time, which is an analogue of the American show "Wheel of Fortune" and which is successfully broadcast on Channel One to this day, and is mandatory every Friday.
84. The most favorite and popular entertainment show in Russia is KVN, which, by the way, has already been visited by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, several times.
85. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, over the past 35 years, about 35 million people have left Russia for permanent residence abroad.
86. Despite the constant migration, all Russians are patriots who do not allow anyone to abuse their country and its authorities.
87. The most popular social network in the world is Facebook, but in Russia this is not at all the case, where the greatest preference is given to the networks Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki.
88. The most popular search engines in Russia, along with the world-famous Google, are Yandex and Mail.ru.
89. The most powerful and intelligent hackers all over the world are considered Russian computer scientists, and a special department “K” was even created in the police to catch them.
90. When the opening day of the McDonalds restaurant with 700 seats in Moscow on Pushkinskaya Square was opened, residents of the city who wanted to visit it came to the doors of the restaurant at 5 am and there were as many as 5,000 people in line.
91. In Russia, the most popular dish is sushi, and the Russians love it even more than the Japanese.
92.Now in an ordinary Russian family you rarely meet more than 4 children, and most often there are 1-2 of them there, but before the 1917 revolution there were at least 12 children in an ordinary Russian family.
93. At the moment, the Russian nation is considered the most drinking in the world, but under Ivan the Terrible in Russia they drank only on holidays, and that wine was diluted with water, and the strength of alcohol varied within 1-6%.
94. Tsarist Russia is famous for the fact that in those days it was as easy as bread to buy a revolver in a store.
95. In Russia, in the 1930s, the largest sturgeon in the world was caught in the Tikhaya Sosna River, inside which 245 kg of delicious black caviar were found.
96. Russia is also famous for the discovery of "farting" fish there in 1980, which the Swedish Navy confused with Soviet submarines, for which they were subsequently awarded the Shnobel Prize.
97. The Soviet Union made a huge contribution to the victory over the Nazis, therefore, in honor of this outstanding event, a military parade is held annually on May 9 on Red Square in Moscow.
98. If we talk from the point of view of international law, then Japan should be in conflict with Russia since World War II due to the fact that the dispute over the ownership of the Kuril Islands did not help them to sign a peace treaty, but nevertheless these countries live in complete harmony with each other.
99. All healthy men in Russia between the ages of 18 and 27 consider it their sacred duty to the Motherland to serve in the army.
100. Russia is an amazing country that has practically inexhaustible natural resources and a colossal historical and cultural heritage.
