You probably know that Russia remains both a formidable world power and a place of severe inequality. But here are 32 more Russia facts that you probably don't know.
Russia has a National Sex Day when the population is encouraged to stay home from work and make babies. It's known as the Day of Conception or Procreation Day.Pixabay Kindergartners in Siberia dump ice water on themselves in the snow to help strengthen their immune systems. YouTube/RussiaToday The Russian dog Laika was the first animal to orbit the Earth and is honored with a statue in Moscow.Wikimedia Commons Tetris, the best-selling video game in history, was created by Russian computer programmer Alexei Pazhitnov in 1984. Kichigai Mentat/Flickr There are cafes where everything is free. You pay according to how long you stay. Pixabay In the early 1990s, Russia sold Pepsi a fleet of 17 former submarines. Before Pepsi sold the subs for scrap, they briefly had the sixth largest sub fleet in the world. Wikimedia Commons Russia is the largest country in the world by area and covers 6.6 million square miles. It's approximately 1.8 times larger than the United States. Wikimedia Commons Russia has a "military Disneyland" where civilians can play on military-grade weapons for kicks. The park includes shooting ranges as well as re-enactments of key Russian and Soviet battles. Yuri Smityuk\TASS via Getty Images Moscow traffic has become so bad that some Russians hire ambulances to help them beat the traffic. Wikimedia Commons Bears have become hooked on jet fuel because of leftover barrels in some parts of the countryside. Bears in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve have been rumored to stalk helicopters for a fix.Alan Vernon/Wikimedia Commons During Peter the Great's rule, all men with beards had to pay a special beard tax. He thought that in order for Russia to compete with Western Europe, men should imitate the British and Dutch at the time and ditch their beards. Wikimedia Commons When the Nazis surrendered to the Soviet Union in 1945, people partied so hard the country ran out of vodka.Wikimedia Commons There are still only 87 men per 100 women because so many men died during World War II. Wikimedia Commons Because of high auto accident rates and a corrupt legal system, most Russians have dash cams in their cars. YouTube/RussiaToday Ivan the Terrible constructed St. Basil's Cathedral as a monument to his military victories. Wikimedia Commons The cathedral's original color was white and it wasn't painted with its current bright colors until the 17th century. Wikimedia Commons Russia's Olympic team showed up 12 days late to the 1908 London games because they were still using the Julian calendar.Wikimedia Commons Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich installed lasers on his yacht to act as an "anti-photo shield" against paparazzi. Thomas Del Coro/Wikimedia Commons Russia didn't officially recognize beer as an alcoholic drink until 2013. It was considered a soft drink too light to be thought of as real alcohol.Bernt Rostad/Flickr Russia has 11 time zones, more than any other county. Since 2011, however, it has only used nine of them. Wikimedia Commons Siberia occupies 77 percent of Russia's land mass but is only occupied with about eight people per square mile.Wikimedia Commons Lake Karachay is so polluted with nuclear radiation that standing on its shore for just an hour could kill you. The lake sits next to one of Russia's largest and most unsafe nuclear facilities.Wikimedia Commons Moscow has some of the most beautiful metro stations in the world. Pictured: Novoslobodskaya Station.Wikimedia Commons Russia has five times as many people as Texas, but Texas has a bigger economy. The lone star state has about $400 billion more than Russia. This gives Texans a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of around $58,000, compared to $8,700 for Russians.Wikimedia Commons Unlike many Western countries, smiling in Russia can be seen as a sign of uncertainty or even stupidity. Because many aspects of Russian society can be unstable, smiling for no reason is seen as foolish.Kremlin Vodka contributes to the fact that a quarter of Russian men die before age 55. Ralf Steinberger/Wikimedia Commons Around 58 percent of Russians regret the fall of the Soviet Union, according to a 2017 study. Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images A third of the Russian population believes that the Sun revolves around the Earth. Nearly a third also believe humans and dinosaurs walked the Earth at the same time, according to the same 2011 poll. Songpon Suradete/Flickr Vladamir Putin's grandfather worked as a chef for both Stalin and Lenin.Marija Il'inična Ul'janova/Wikimedia Commons In 2015, Russia proposed building a superhighway connecting the country to Alaska. Pixabay The Trans-Siberian Railway is the world's longest railway and spans 5,700 miles from Moscow to Beijing. Peter Kersten/Wikimedia Commons Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to venture into outer space, doing so in 1961. Arto Jousi/Wikimedia Commons
32 Russia Facts You Probably Didn’t Know View GalleryThese Russia facts can definitely round out your knowledge of the country that's recently dominated the news. Russia is a multi-faceted place and as such is impossible to sum up in a single idea. However, the sheer mention of the name likely brings preconceived notions to mind.
Maybe it's the headlines outlining its part in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It could be the compilations of wild dash cam footage on YouTube. Or for baby-boomers, it could be memories of school drills in preparation for atomic warfare during the Cold War.
Russia is the largest country on Earth in terms of land area. It's both a wild landscape full of untamed terrain as well as home to some of the largest metro areas on the planet. The massive territory spans all the way to Norway in the Northwest and China in the South. It is separated from Alaska by the Bering Strait.
Throughout the centuries, Russia has been occupied by everyone from the Mongols to the Huns. However, it wasn't until the 1721 founding of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great that it emerged as a superpower. And here's one of the more interesting Russia facts: The Russian Empire would last just four years short of its bicentennial; until its fall at the end of World War I.
This, of course, would not be the first great fall of Russia. The existence of Joseph Stalin's socialist state, the Soviet Union, would slowly unravel after years of economic turmoil. Political unrest and devastating revolts finally led to the U.S.S.R.'s fall in 1991.
While much has changed for the better in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, much has yet to improve. It has some of the highest levels of economic disparity of any developed country. The majority of the nation's wealth belongs to a select few.
As far as Russia facts go, these may surprise you. Even with all of the hardships the people of Russia have faced and continue to face, it remains a fascinating destination with a patterned history. It attracts millions of visitors each year. From the world-class museums and dining of St. Petersburg and Moscow — to the remote stretches of land covered by the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia is unlike anywhere else.
After checking out these Russia facts, check out these candid and photos of the Soviet youths nicknamed "The Sputnik Generation". Then, explore the fall of the Soviet Union in this gallery of rarely-seen photos.
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