Russia is the largest country in the
world — spanning 11 time zones and covering
more surface area than Pluto!
Lake Baikal in Siberia is the deepest and oldest freshwater
lake on Earth, containing 20% of the world’s unfrozen freshwater supply.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway line in the world
— it stretches over 9,000 kilometers from Moscow to Vladivostok.
Moscow’s Metro isn’t just transport — it’s a museum!
Many of its stations are known for their stunning architecture and marble
interiors.
Russia has a city inside a crater — the Mirny Diamond Mine in Siberia is
so massive that helicopters are banned from flying over it due to air
current disturbances.
It’s home to a ‘Doorway to Hell’ — a natural gas field in Turkmenistan
(once part of the Soviet Union) that’s been burning since 1971.
The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg houses over 3 million pieces of art —
and has cats officially employed to guard against rodents!
Russians celebrate New Year twice — once on January 1st and again on
January 14th, according to the old Julian calendar.
Russia sent the first living creature
into space —
Laika, the dog, orbited Earth in 1957 aboard Sputnik 2.
The Russian language uses the Cyrillic
alphabet, and
some of its letters look like Greek, Latin, and even backward English
letters — making it a puzzle for new learners!
