Interesting Facts about Russia

The moment someone mentioned Russia, the names that used to come in mind were Moscow, St. Petersburg and Murmansk. These cities epitomized Russia for most of the people around the world and remained the focus of tourist attention. However, with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, people have started to look beyond these three cities and started exploring the country on a much wider basis. The largest country in the world, Russia encompasses so many attractions, right from freshwater lakes, soaring mountains rivers and forests to beautiful monuments, rich wildlife and awe inspiring volcanoes, within its precincts. In this article, we have listed a number of fun and interesting facts about Russia.

Interesting Facts about Russia

• The official name of Russia is the Russian Federation.
• Russian Federation came into being after former Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, into 15 separate geopolitical entities.
• Russia is the largest country in the world, stretching over an area of 17.1 million square kilometer.
• Russia is a transcontinental country, extending halfway around the northern hemisphere and covering much of eastern and north-eastern Europe and the whole of northern Asia.
• The official language of Russia is Russian and the country’s main religion is Russian Orthodoxy.
• There are 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries, 62 cinemas and 80 club establishments of culture in St Petersburg.
• St Petersburg plays host to as many as 100 cultural and art festivals every year, including 50 international ones.
• Ladoga Lake of Russia claims the distinction of being the largest lake in Europe. It spreads over 18 400 sq km and is around 51 m deep.
• Russia is rich in natural resources, especially oil, natural gas and timber.
• The administrative divisions in Russia include 21 autonomous republics, 49 oblasts or provinces, six territories (kray), 10 autonomous regions (okrug) and one autonomous oblast.
• As per the 1993 constitution, Russia has a democratic and federal government system, which stands divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches.
• In terms of population, Russia is the ninth largest country in the world.
• Russia is the only State with 12 seas on its territory.
• There are 100 reserves and 35 national parks in Russia.