Facts About Russia That We Bet You Didn't Know Before

The official name of Russia is the Russian Federation.

The capital of Russian Federation is Moscow. Russian money is known as Ruble.

Russia, the biggest nation on Earth, takes up over 3% of the planet's surface. It borders three oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans) and two continents (Europe and Asia), spanning 11 time zones. The geography of Russia is diverse and includes steep mountains, vast swamps, and sandy and cold deserts.

Steppes, or undulating, treeless grasslands, comprise a large portion of Russia. Siberia, which makes up three-quarters of Russia, is characterized by vast pine forests known as taigas. It is also the largest country in terms of area.

The Russian countryside is diverse, ranging from desert to icy shoreline, high mountains to enormous wetlands, and rare animals. The most famous species of animals are the Siberian tiger and brown bear.

Many rivers flow through Russia, including some of the world's longest. It also boasts many lakes, including Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake on Earth and contains a vast supply of 20% of the world's freshwater, and the two largest lakes in Europe Ladoga and Onega.

The national anthem of Russia is 'State Anthem Of The Russian Federation'. Some of the famous national parks of Russia are Elk Island, Pleshcheyevo Lake, Sochi National Park, Land of the Leopard, Shorsky National Park, and many others.

The world's largest crude oil comes from Russia, and it is one of the largest natural gas exporters. The richness of natural resources sustains the Russian economy. Among the many tourist attractions of Russia are the Trans Siberian Railway, Saint Petersburg, Saint Basil's Cathedral, the Lakhta Center, and many more.

In addition to having one of the top 10 economies in the world, Russia also produces a lot of gold. Additionally, Russia is a major producer of metals, natural gas, and oil.

The main agricultural products are grain, sunflower seeds, sugar beets, vegetables, meat, fruits, and milk. The BRICS nations include the Russian Federation. The world's five largest emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are together known as BRICS.

Several well-known Russian businesses include Aeroflot, the country's national airlines; Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, and Gazprom, the country's biggest natural gas and oil corporation. The nation's top trading partners are China, Germany, the Netherlands, Belarus, and the United States.

Where is Russia located?

Russia map extends from eastern Europe to northern Asia. As a result of its location on both the European and Asian continents, the nation is intercontinental. It is also the ninth most populous nation in the world and the largest nation by land area.

Norway, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, and North Korea are among the 14 nations that border Russia. Russia shares the longest border with Kazakhstan.

The country's water borders are the Baltic Sea, the Kara Sea, the Barents Sea, the Siberian Sea, and the Bering Sea. Lake Baikal is the deepest freshwater lake in Russia, whereas Volga is Europe's longest river.

In the Baltic Sea, Russia has an outpost called Kaliningrad, known initially as Königsberg. Between Poland and Lithuania is where the Kaliningrad enclave is situated.

The port in Kaliningrad is the only ice-free port in Russia on the Baltic Sea throughout the winter. Tall mountains surround eastern Russia called the Ural Mountains, which extend from the Arctic Ocean to the Caspian Sea.

Historical Facts About Russia

Around 500 AD, first human settlements in Russia arose. Scandinavians were the first people to settle in what is now Russia, along the upper Volga river. Some significant groups were Tatars and Ukrainians. These immigrants intermarried with western Slavs; hence about 80% of Russians trace their ancestry to them.

They constructed a fort and that's how Kyiv evolved. Over 200 years ago, Kyiv developed into an empire that governed most of European Russia. After that, it was made a part of Ukraine.

Muscovite ruler Ivan IV became Russia's first Tsar (Russian for Caesar) in the 1550s. He was made Tsar after driving the Mongols from Kyiv and uniting the area. Peter the Great assumed the throne in 1682 and ruled for more than 40 years. He put forth a lot of effort during his reign to modernize Russia.

During the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Tsars' reign came to an end. The communist group, known as the Bolsheviks, overthrew the government. Russia and 11 other nations were combined to form the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) by Vladimir Lenin. Under Stalin's leadership, the USSR participated in World War II as an ally of the US.

Following the war, ties between the USSR and US deteriorated. These conflicts sparked the Cold War. And then the Cold War ended in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia became a federal semi-presidential republic after the Soviet Union fell. In 1991, Boris Yeltsin won the first-ever presidential election and established the elected government.

A period of social upheaval resulted from this. After president Yeltsin's resignation in 1999, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took over as president of the nation. Putin's administration has drawn criticism for being undemocratic, but it has also brought about stability and advancement in the nation.

Facts About Russian Culture

Russia has roughly 190 different ethnic groupings. Despite Russian being the official language, they can speak more than a hundred other languages.

The majority of Russians may trace their roots to the Slavs. Others are of Ukrainian, Tatar, and Mongol descent. Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Rudolf Nureyev are famous writers, composers, and artists from Russia who are well-known throughout the world.

The Julian calendar was discontinued by the majority of European nations in the late 16th century. Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar, which it presently uses to observe its numerous holidays, but it didn't do so until February 1918.

For Russians, family is incredibly important. In the majority of households, the grandparents, parents, and kids all reside in the same house.

Russian culture exhibits a lot of interesting facts like the several main Russian dishes typically include potatoes, root vegetables, pork, beef, lamb, poultry, and fish. They particularly enjoy veggie soups and stews. Here we have given some of the famous Russian dishes.

• Red beet soup, often known as borscht, is cooked using small-chopped vegetables and red beets. This crimson soup is frequently served cold and is given a pink hue by blending it with sour cream or yogurt.
• Solyanka is a thick vegetable and cabbage soup with spicy pickled mushrooms or vegetables.
• Thin Russian pancakes called blinis are frequently served with savory or sweet fillings.
• Depending on the crops in season, porridge is created using local grains, including buckwheat, semolina, and oats. It is prepared in milk for breakfast.
• Russian salad, also known as Olivier salad, is a dish composed of boiled and diced potatoes, carrots, eggs, and chicken parts that have also been cooked. It also includes pickles and mayonnaise or sour cream.

Facts About Russian Population

The population of Russia is more than 140,000,000, as of 2022. The majority of Russians reside in the country's westernmost region, which is on the European continent. Most major Russian cities including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Yekaterinburg, and Omsk, are in this part of the country. The official language of Russia is Russian.

In Russia, urban centers are home to three out of every four residents. For Russian people, the family is of utmost importance. The grandparents, parents, and kids live together in most families in this region. The average male life expectancy in Russia is around 65, while that of Russian women is around 76.

Children begin school at the age of six and typically attend for 10 years. After finishing grade 11, kids can enroll in college. In Russia, the two most popular sports are soccer and ice hockey. In Russia, football or soccer is referred to as Futbol.

The most extensively used language in Russia is Russian, which is also a Slavic language. It is widely spoken in Ukraine as well as in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan.

In addition, a large portion of eastern Europe, the Baltic States, the Caucasus, and Central Asia all have populations that speak Russian as a second language. Despite being the second most used language on the internet, after English, Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world.

Russian is one of the six official working languages of the United Nations. Polish and Ukrainian are Slavic languages as well; however, they have fewer speakers.

The Cyrillic alphabet, which has 33 letters, is used to write the Russian language. While some letters are distinct from those in the Latin alphabet, others are similar.

For instance, in Russian, English 'P' is pronounced 'R', 'C' is pronounced 'S', and 'Y' is pronounced 'U'. Russia was a member of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) until 1991, and this was frequently indicated by the letters 'CCCP', which in English is pronounced as 'SSSR'.

Most young people in Russia study English, French, or German in school.