What You May Not Know About Russia
By Amanda Scott
Russia may be well know for its vodka, but did you know the word comes from the Russian word for water, voda? Here are some other little known facts about Russia.
Women outnumber men in Russia, by a lot, approximately 10 million.
The official language is Russian, but there are 27 other languages co-official languages throughout different regions of Russia.
The U.S. Purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867.
Gorbachev is a crooner, he recorded an album of romantic Russian ballads.
It wasn’t until 2013 that beer was consider an alcoholic beverage in Russia.
The most radioactive, polluted lake in the world lies in Russia, Lake Karachay.
It a crime to have a dirty car in Russia.
One-fourth of the world’s fresh water is contained in lakes in Russia.
The world’s highest volcano, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, sitting at a height of over 15,000 feet is located in Russia.
Russia is bigger than Pluto.
America and Russia are less than 2.5 miles apart at their closest point.
Russia has nine time zones, more than any other country, this is down from the eleven it had back in 2010.
St. Petersburg has three times the amount of bridges that Venice has.
The Trans-Siberian Railway spans almost the entire country, making it the longest in the world.
Russia is home to largest McDonalds, which can seat 700 people.
74 billionaires reside in Moscow, more than any other city in the world.
Tetris, a well known computer game, was created by a Russian programmer, Alexei Pazhitnov.
Russia was the first to send a dog to space.
Russians usually wear their wedding rings on their right hand.
There is a museum in Russia that hires cats to protect the artwork from rodents.
We have our current periodic table of elements thanks to the Russian chemist, Dmitrii Mendeleev.
The world’s largest bell can be found at the Kremlin. It weighs a whopping 223 tons!
Russia is known as the “Lungs of Europe” since it has the largest forest reserves in the world.
St. Petersburg’s metro is the deepest subway in the world, approximately 100 meters deep.
The Russian language does not include a word for ‘the’ or ‘a’.