Top 10 Awesome things about Russia Everyone must know!

Top 10 Awesome things about Russia Everyone must know!


Top 10 Awesome things about Russia everyone must know! Russia! The largest nation of the world as far as the geographical boundaries are concerned is undoubtedly one of the countries you can’t deny knowing about. Officially known as the Russian Federation, it has proven its substantial dominance and stance over the world economy, international politics, military activities and what not. The erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republic included Russia and fourteen other nations which was considered the emerging super-power bloc after United States of America (super-power is a term that is not acknowledged by the United Nations) because of its significant developmental activities undertaken in several sectors. Although USSR got a major setback after its official disintegration in December 31st, 1991 but Russia continued with its legacy and is still known to be one of the important developed countries of the world. So here are 10 awesome facts you must know about the country that spreads over two continents and nine time zones!

10. Mind blowing Vodka

russian drinking

If you are an ardent consumer of alcohol then you must know about the infamous Russian drinking habits. Alcoholism in Russia is very often reflected in the countries social, political, economic and public health complications. And who wouldn’t be an alcohol addict in a country which produces one of the finest alcoholic beverages, Vodka that can make you experience deliriums. Legend holds that the tenth-century Russian prince Vladimar the great rejected Islam as a state religion for the country because of its prohibition of alcohol. You would be astound to know that each Russian consumes 18 litres of alcohol per year, doubling what experts consider dangerous. Hence, over 500,000 alcohol related deaths are reported in Russia each year!

9. Larger than you expect!

large russia

Yes, this is a country which has set records in terms of its geographical expansions. A country that expands from northern Asia to eastern Europe over nine time zones, has 23 UNESCO world heritage sites, 40 UNESCO biosphere reserves, 41 national parks and 101 natural reserves is indeed the largest country in the world. Russia’s Territorial expansion was achieved largely in the late 16th century under the Cossack, Yermek Timofeyevich, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, at a time when competing city-states in the western regions of Russia had banded together to form one country. Yermak mustered an army and pushed eastward, where he conquered nearly all the lands once belonging to the Mongols, defeating their ruler Khan Kuchum. Russia’s total surface area taken together is even bigger than the dwarf planet Pluto!

8. A Womanly Country!

russian_women5

Hey wait! I am not saying that Russia is in anyway promoting sexist or more specifically feminist principles or policies but you surely would be astonished once you go through the demographic analysis of the Russian Federation. In Russia there are 9 million more women than men and for a man belonging to India or China, those statistics can be disappointing. It’s harder to grasp why Russia has more women than men. For a long time the reason was that World War II had wiped out the male population. Russia lost over 29,000,000 during that conflict, most of them men. These days, the reasons are less dramatic and probably have more to do with lifestyle choices than anything else. So if want to hook up with some of the beautiful girls, Russia is the place for you!

7.It’s too chilly out there!

russian cold

If you are a person not known to be warm blooded enough to bear the tropical winters, then I would suggest you not to visit Russia! Yes you read me right. Most of Northern European Russia and Siberia between the Scandinavian Peninisula and the Pacific Ocean has a subarctic climate, with extremely severe winters in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia (mostly the Sakha Republic, where the Northern Pole of Cold is located with the record low temperature of −68 °C or −90.4 °F), and more moderate elsewhere. Thus about 65% of the Russian territory is underlined by permafrost. Here’s an amazing fact.There are only 1,311 people who live in Verkhoyansk, Russia. A town with an average temperature of -45 °C (-50 °F) in January that was also attacked by a pack of 400 wolves last year. The sun currently rises at 2pm and sets at 3:30pm.

6. Mother of Kalashnikovs!

military

Russian federation holds the reputation of having one of the most undefied and efficacious military forces in the modern world. The country which is famous for giving birth to the unvanquished breed of modern day assault rifles, the Kalashnikovs holds the record of bearing the world’s largest military reserves with the number extending to more than 20,000,000! Russia has the fifth largest active service duty military troops and turns out to be the second largest exporter of arms and ammunitions.

5. The White House!

white_house

Why do you look so surprised? Yes that is The White House and it is absolutely different from the one where Mr. Barack Obama deals his presidential proceedings. Most people are unaware of the fact that the Russian federation has its own version of the Russian White House which performs almost the similar function that her analogous counterpart does in Washington. Originally known as The House of Soviets it serves as the prime government building of the Russian government and is officially the residence of the Russian Prime minister.  It stands on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment in Moscow

4. The World War II is on!

kuril

Don’t look so perplexed every time I fancy the heading! The Russian federation, erstwhile Soviets were undoubtedly the significant game changers in the World War 2 and as subsequent consequences lost fourteen percent of their population including civilians. But has the World War 2 ended? Yes indeed we don’t see the battlefields raging with gunshots, missiles and tankers but there is still an intriguing issue to look at. The Russian federation and Japan have not signed a single peace treaty because of the ongoing disputes over the Kuril Islands since the World War 2. The disputed islands, which were annexed by Soviet forces during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation at the end of World War 2, are currently under the Russian administration as South Kuril District of the Sakhalin Oblast, but are claimed by Japan, which refers to them as the Northern territories or Southern Chishima, arguably being part of the Nemuro sub prefecture of Hokkaido prefecture. So has the World War 2 really ended?!

3. Krokodil

krokodil

Krokodil is the one the new generation of pernicious opiates that has sprung up to its existence in Russia which is already the largest importer of heroine. Easily derived from codeine drugs, krokodil is eight to ten times more potent than morphine and is so-named because it leaves addicts with scaly, reptilian skin.  The codeine itself is relatively harmless, but the drug is manufactured with adulterants such as gasoline and paint thinner. The flesh around injection sites rapidly becomes necrotic and gangrenous, and amputations are not uncommon. The drug addicts in the later stages hardly live for a year or two! So if you visiting Russia, stay away from Krokodil!

2. Cosmonauts

cosmonauts

In the 1950s, the post World War 2 period marked with brewing cold war between the American and Russian governments where either of them wanted a substantial dominance over different state affairs. One such field was the space research.The Soviets achieved the first major success with Sputnik in 1959, as well as the first manned flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961. There are rumors that the Soviets covered up the deaths of cosmonauts who lost their lives achieving this feat. These stories were likely exacerbated by the USSR’s habit of editing cosmonauts out of photos. While it is easy to believe that this was done with sinister intent, it was usually done to erase “disgraced” (and still very much alive) cosmonauts from the records of their space program, which they wanted to the world to believe was infallible.

1. The TKM-World Link

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Here is the best fact that you must know about Russia! Russia and America, the most celebrated rivals are just 4kms apart from each other from the nearest point. Apparently the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million US dollars in 1867 and today Russia is planning to link itself up with America. In prehistoric times, the people we now call Native Americans moved over a land bridge that crossed the Bering Strait from Russia, and they began to colonize the New World. The land crossing has since been replaced with impassable ocean, but Russia has begun to advance a program which would see three tunnels constructed beneath the sea, joining Russia with Alaska.The project, dubbed the TKM-World Link, is estimated to cost about $65 billion. Once completed, it would certainly rank as one of the most phenomenal feats in the history of engineering. Construction is already nearing completion on a railway which would allow the movement of supplies to the farthest reaches of Siberia.

Think of driving your car from New York to Moscow!!

  • Женёк

    It’S Cold? That’s right, it’s cold in the North, Siberia, And the other cities, close to the Arctic Circle.

    All other cities in Russia, the most important are in temperate climates, and summer temperatures can go over + 40°C. I do not think. that those who want to visit Russia soon will go to Siberia. They will go to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, where in the summer, spring and autumn, very warm, and the winter cold of course, but not so. Here’s an example, I live in Rostov-on-Don, now December and of course winter, and we +2°C temperature. Mythical very cold winter that demonstrate Hollywood films – No.