Russia is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It has a population of over 144 million and its capital and largest city is Moscow. Russia spans over 17 million square kilometers and has a diverse landscape that ranges from tundra and forests in the north to grasslands and deserts in the south. Throughout its history, Russia has been led by influential rulers like Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great, who expanded the territory of the state and transformed Russia into a major European power.

1. BSTM 2-1N

3. Russia(Russian Federation)
• Capital : Moscow
• Language: Russian
• Type of Gov’t: Federal semi-presidential
constitutional republic
• Current President: Vladimir Putin
• Population: 144,192,450 (2016)
• Currency: Russian ruble
• Area Total 17,075,200 (Crimea not included)km2
• Religion: Orthodox Christianity (75%),Islam(5%),
• Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism and Buddhism
(1%)

4. Highest peak: Mount Elbrus
• Mount Elbrus is located in the Caucasus Mountain Range in Southern Russia. At
5,642 meters (18,510 ft), Elbrus is included as one of the Seven Summits, the
highest summits on each of the planet’s seven continents, attracting both
experienced and novice mountain climbers. While the mountain was formed from
a volcano, it is considered dormant, with no recorded eruptions.

5. Is Russia an Asian or European
country?
• There is no certain definition of whether Russians are Asian or European.
• Russia has never quite decided whether it is a European country, or an Asian
country.
• The quick and simple answer is that, because the Ural Mountains form the
boundary between the two continents and mark the unofficial border between
Asia and Europe, Russia is a part of two continents – Russia is in both Europe and
Asia.
• Russia is a massive country – 17,098,242 square kilometres in size. But only about
4 million square kilometres of Russia are in Europe, west of the Urals. The
remaining 13 million square kilometers, including Siberia and the Russian Far East
are in Asian Russia.
• There are some how believe that Europe and Asia are not actually separate
continents. Instead, the European and Asian continents should be treated as one
mega-continent called Eurasia.
• This is because, geographically, there is no real border between Europe and Asia –
the choice of the Ural Mountains was largely arbitrary and based on history and
politics. If Eurasia existed, it would be the largest single continent in the world,
with a population of around 4 billion people – almost a quarter of the world’s
population.

7. • The confusion goes back to the times of Peter the Great, who was one of
the great modernisers of Russian history.
• The debate became formalised, and entrenched, in 1840s and 1850s when
two opposing intellectual movements began to take shape. On the one
hand were the Westernizers, who advocated building Russian society
along Western, European lines.
• And, on the other hand were the Slavophiles, who wanted Russia to
accept its uniqueness and develop its own, distinct way of doing things –
their vision was a more traditional, less individualistic society.
• Since then, every Russian leader has faced the dilemma of whether to
build closer links to Europe, or Asia, and Russia has often see-sawed
between the two approaches. As a result, Russia has developed in a way
that doesn’t quite fit either vision.
• The core of the Russian nation was always in Europe, their political focus
was Europe and their historical rivals were European countries (with the
significant exception of Japan).

8. History
 The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs, who
emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and
8th centuries AD.
 Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their
descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century.
 In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine
Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures
that defined Russian culture for the next millennium.
 Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states;
most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and
became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde in the 13th
century.

9.  The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding
Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden
Horde, and came to dominate the cultural and political legacy of
Kievan Rus'.
 Under Peter the Great, Russia was proclaimed an Empire in 1721
and became recognized as a world power. Ruling from 1682 to
1725.
 By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through
conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian
Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching
from Poland in Europe to Alaska in North America.
 (30 December 1922)Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian
Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading
constituent of the Soviet Union abbreviated to USSR(Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics), the world's first constitutionally socialist
state and a recognized world superpower, and a rival to the United
States. which played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World
War II.

10.  The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological
achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made
satellite, and the first man in space.
 In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite,
Sputnik 1, thus starting the Space Age. Russia's cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
became the first human to orbit the Earth, aboard the Vostok 1 manned
spacecraft on 12 April 1961.
 By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the world's second largest
economy, largest standing military in the world and the largest stockpile of
weapons of mass destruction.
 Following the partition of the Soviet Union in 1991, fourteen independent
republics emerged from the USSR; as the largest, most populous, and
most economically developed republic, the Russian SFSR reconstituted
itself as the Russian Federation.

11. Russian Winter
• Russian Winter, General Winter, General Frost, or General Snow refers to
the winter climate of Russia as a contributing factor to the military failures
of several invasions of Russia. Another similar factor is "General Mud“.

12. Cold War
• The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II
between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others)
and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states).
• Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period
between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. policy pledging to aid nations
threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet
Union collapsed.
• The Cold War split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving
the Soviet Union and the United States as two superpowers with profound
economic and political differences: the former being a single-party Marxist–
Leninist empire ruled by a dictatorship operating a socialist economy and state-
controlled press and owning exclusively the right to establish and govern
communities,
• and the latter being a democratic republic with a capitalist economy state with
free elections and press, the freedom of religion, which also granted freedom of
expression and freedom of association to its citizens.

13. • The two superpowers never engaged directly in full-scale armed combat, but they
were heavily armed in preparation for a possible all-out nuclear world war.
• The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between
the two sides, although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars,
supported by the two sides.
• Aside from the development of the two sides' nuclear arsenals, and deployment of
conventional military forces, the struggle for dominance was expressed via proxy
wars around the globe, psychological warfare, massive propaganda campaigns and
espionage, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the
Space Race.
• The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the
Second World War in 1945.
• The Berlin Blockade (1948–49) was the first major crisis of the Cold War.
• In 1949, the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States
and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO).
• The Soviet Union and its affiliated Communist nations in Eastern Europe founded a
rival alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955.

14. • East Germany Communist Party
• The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989

15.  The original membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) consisted of Belgium,
Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal
and the United States.
 Greece and Turkey were admitted in 1952, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in
1955 and Spain in 1982. Unhappy with its role in the organization, France opted to withdraw
from military participation in NATO in 1966 and did not return until 1995
 Warsaw, included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany,
Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members.

16. The Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS)
 also called the Russian Commonwealth is a regional
organization formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union. 9
out of the 15 former Soviet Republics are member states, and
two are associate members (Ukraine and Turkmenistan).
Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic
states (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) refused to participate.
 The CIS has few supranational powers, but aims to be more
than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing
coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance,
lawmaking, and security.
 It has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime
prevention. Furthermore, eight of the nine CIS member states
participate in the CIS Free Trade Area.

17. Member states
Country Agreement/protocol ratified Charter ratified Notes
Armenia 18 February 1992 16 March 1994 Founding state
Azerbaijan 24 September 1993 24 September 1993
Belarus 10 December 1991 18 January 1994 Founding state
Kazakhstan 23 December 1991 20 April 1994 Founding state
Kyrgyzstan 6 March 1992 12 April 1994 Founding state
Moldova 8 April 1994 15 April 1994
Russia 12 December 1991 20 July 1993 Founding state
Tajikistan 26 June 1993 4 August 1993
Uzbekistan 4 January 1992 9 February 1994 Founding state

18. Country
Agreemen
t/protocol
ratified
Charter
ratified
Notes
Turkmenistan
26
December
1991
Not
ratified
Founding state. Associate since 2005.
Ukraine
10
December
1991
Not
ratified
Founding state. Participated since
formation. Associate since 1993.
Associate states
Country
Agreement/prot
ocol ratified
Charter
ratified
Withd
rawn
Effecti
ve
Notes
Georgia
3 December
1993
19 April
1994
18
August
2008
18
August
2009
Withdrew as a result of theRusso-
Georgian War of 2008.
Former member states

20. Siberia
• Siberia is an extensive geographical region, and by the broadest definition is
also known as North Asia. Siberia has been historically part of Russia since the
17th century.
• Russian province
• With an area of 13.1 million square kilometres, Siberia accounts for 77% of
Russia's land area, but it is home to just 40 million people – 27% of the country's
population.
• The growing power of Russia in the West began to undermine the Siberian
Khanate in the 16th century. First, groups of traders and Cossacks began to
enter the area, and then the Russian army began to set up forts farther and
farther east. Towns such as Mangazeya, Tara, Yeniseysk and Tobolsk were
developed, the last being declared the capital of Siberia.
• By the mid-17th century, areas controlled by Russia had been extended to the
Pacific. There were some 230,000 Russians in Siberia by 1709.
• The first great modern change in Siberia was the Trans-Siberian Railway,
constructed during 1891–1916. It linked Siberia more closely to the rapidly
industrialising Russia of Nicholas II. Around seven million people moved to
Siberia from European Russia between 1801 and 1914.[14] From 1859 to
1917, over half a million people migrated to the Russian Far East.

22. Topography
 The geography of Russia describes the geographic features of
Russia, a country extending over much of northern Eurasia.
Comprising much of eastern Europe and northern Asia.
 Due to its size, Russia displays both monotony and diversity.
As with its topography, its climates, vegetation, and soils span
vast distances.
 From north to south the East European Plain is clad
sequentially in tundra, coniferous forest (taiga), mixed and
broadleaf forests, grassland (steppe), and semi-desert
(fringing the Caspian Sea) as the changes in vegetation reflect
the changes in climate.
 Siberia supports a similar sequence but is predominantly
taiga. The country contains forty UNESCO biosphere reserves.

24. Famous
personality
 Ivan IV Vasilyevich (3 1530 – 28 March 1584),
commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the
Fearsome, was the Grand Prince of Moscow from
1533 to 1547 and 'Tsar of All the Russias' from
1547 until his death in 1584.
 Ivan managed countless changes in the
progression from a medieval state to an empire
and emerging regional power, and became the
first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias.
 He was an able diplomat, a patron of arts and
trade, founder of the Moscow Print Yard, Russia's
first publishing house.
 Historic sources present disparate accounts of
Ivan's complex personality: he was described as
intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and
prone to episodic outbreaks of mental instability.
that increased with his age, affecting his reign. In
one such outburst, he killed his groomed and
chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich.
 The Massacre of Novgorod is regarded as one of
the biggest demonstrations of his mental
instability and brutality (2,000–3,000 people died)

25. Vladimir-Suzdal
(Grand Duchy of Vladimir)
 Was one of the major
principalities that
succeeded Kievan Rus' in
the late 12th century,
centered in Vladimir-on-
Klyazma.
 Vladimir-Suzdal is
traditionally perceived as a
cradle of the Great Russian
language and nationality,
and it gradually evolved
into the Grand Duchy of
Moscow.

26. Ivan III of Russia
 Ivan III Vasilyevich (22 January
1440, Moscow – 27 October
1505, Moscow), also known as
Ivan the Great, was a Grand
Prince of Moscow and Grand
Prince of all Rus' Sometimes
referred to as the "gatherer of
the Rus' lands", he tripled the
territory of his state, ended
the dominance of the Golden
Horde over the Rus',
renovated the Moscow
Kremlin, and laid the
foundations of what later
became called the Russian
state. He was one of the
longest-reigning Russian rulers
in history.

27. Peter the Great
 Peter the Great or Peter Alexeyevich (9
June 1672 – 8 February 1725) ruled the
Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian
Empire from 7 May 1682 until his
death, jointly ruling before 1696 with
his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a
number of successful wars he
expanded the Tsardom into a much
larger empire that became a major
European power.
 He led a cultural revolution that
replaced some of the traditionalist and
medieval social and political systems
with ones that were modern, scientific,
westernized, and based on The
Enlightenment.
 founded the Russian Academy of
Sciences and Saint Petersburg State
University.
 Peter's reforms made a lasting impact
on Russia and many institutions of
Russian government traced their
origins to his reign.

28. Catherine the Great(2 May 1729
– 17 November 1796)
 Catherine II of Russia was the most renowned and
the longest-ruling female leader of Russia, reigning
from 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67.
 she came to power following a coup d'état when her
husband, Peter III, was assassinated. Russia was
revitalized under her reign, growing larger and
stronger than ever and becoming recognized as one
of the great powers of Europe.
 Catherine reformed the administration of Russian
guberniyas, and many new cities and towns were
founded on her orders.
 Catherine continued to modernise Russia along
Western European lines.
 The period of Catherine the Great's rule, the
Catherinian Era, is often considered the Golden Age
of the Russian Empire and the Russian nobility.
 She enthusiastically supported the ideals of The
Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an
enlightened despot.
 Smolny Institute, the first state-financed higher
education institution for women in Europe, was
established.
 Novodevichii Institute for the daughters of
commoners

29. Dmitry Mendeleev(8 Feb
1834 – 2 Feb 1907)
 Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev
invented the Periodic table, the main
framework of modern chemistry.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov
(November 19 1711 – April 15 1765)
 was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer,
who made important contributions to
literature, education, and science.
 Among his discoveries was the atmosphere of
Venus and the Law of Mass Conservation in
chemical reactions.

30. Nicholas II of
Russia
 Nicholas II; 18 May 1868 – 17 July 1918)
was the last Emperor of Russia, ruling
from 1 November 1894 until his forced
abdication on 15 March 1917. His reign
saw the fall of the Russian Empire from
being one of the foremost great powers
of the world to economic and military
collapse.
 Following the February Revolution of
1917 Nicholas abdicated on behalf of
himself and his son, and he and his family
were imprisoned.
 Nicholas and his family were eventually
executed by the Bolsheviks on the night of
16/17 July 1918.
 In 1981, Nicholas, his wife and their
children were canonized as martyrs by the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia,
located in New York City.
 As Emperor of All Russia, he ranks among
the richest people in history
 last Tsar of Russia

31. Grand Duchess Anastasia
Nikolaevna of Russia
 (June 18 1901 – July 17, 1918) was the
youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last
sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife,
Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna.
 She was executed with her family in an
extrajudicial killing by members of the Cheka,
the Bolshevik secret police, on July 17, 1918.
 Persistent rumors of her possible escape
circulated after her death, fueled by the fact
that the location of her burial was unknown
during the decades of Communist rule.
 Her possible survival has been conclusively
disproven. Forensic analysis and DNA testing
confirmed that the remains are those of the
imperial family, showing that all four grand
duchesses were killed in 1918. Several women
have falsely claimed to have been Anastasia;
the best known impostor is Anna Anderson.

32. Grigori Rasputin
 Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (21 January 1869 – 30
December 1916) was a Russian peasant, mystical faith
healer, and trusted friend of the family of Nicholas II,
the last Tsar of Russia. he had become synonymous
with power, debauchery and lust — his presence
played a significant role in the increasing unpopularity
of the Imperial couple.
 when the Tsarevich nearly died from an injury while the
family was on vacation at the hunting lodges at
Białowieża and Spała (Poland). The bleeding grew
steadily worse until it was assumed that the Tsarevich
would not survive,
 In desperation Alexandra called upon Rasputin as a last
resort, to which he replied, "God has seen your tears
and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One
will not die. Do not allow the doctors to bother him too
much." The haemorrhage stopped the very next day
and the boy began to recover. Alexandra took this as a
sign that Rasputin was a starets and that God was with
him; for the rest of her life she would fervently defend
him and turn her wrath against anyone who dared to
question him. ted the gene as carriers.

33. Vladimir Lenin
 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, alias Lenin (22 April 1870 – 21 January
1924), was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician, and
political theorist. The Bolsheviks,
 He served as head of government of the Russian Republic from
1917 to 1918, of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
from 1918 to 1924, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924.
 Under his administration, Russia and then the wider Soviet Union
became a one-party communist state governed by the Russian
Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his political theories
are known as Leninism.
 Lenin played a leading role in the October Revolution of 1917
 withdrew from the First World War by signing a treaty with the
Central Powers, and granted temporary independence to non-
Russian nations under Russian control.
 Ruling by decree, it redistributed land among the peasantry and
nationalized banks and large-scale industry.
 Red Terror
 Civil War and Polish-Soviet War: 1918–20
 Creating the Communist International and waging the Polish–
Soviet War to promote world revolution, Lenin's government also
united Russia with neighboring territories to form the Soviet
Union in 1922.
 A controversial and highly divisive individual, Lenin is viewed by
Marxist-Leninists as a champion of socialism and the working
classes, while critics on both the left and right see him as the
founder of a totalitarian dictatorship responsible for civil war and
mass human rights abuses.
 Lenin's government defeated anti-Bolshevik armies in the
Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922.

34. Joseph Stalin
 Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin birth surname: Jughashvili;
18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was the leader of
the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in
1953.
 Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
he was effectively the dictator of the state.
 He replaced the New Economic Policy introduced by
Lenin in the early 1920s with a highly centralised
command economy, launching a period of
industrialization and collectivization that resulted in the
rapid transformation of the USSR from an agrarian
society into an industrial power.
 However, the economic changes coincided with the
imprisonment of millions of people in Gulag labour
camps.
 The initial upheaval in agriculture disrupted food
production and contributed to the catastrophic Soviet
famine of 1932–33,
 Between 1934 and 1939 he organized and led a massive
purge (known as "Great Purge") of the party,
government, armed forces and intelligentsia, in which
millions of so-called "enemies of the working class" were
imprisoned, exiled or executed, often without due
process.

35. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev
(April 15 1894 – September 11,
1971)
 A politician who led the Soviet Union during part of
the Cold War.
 He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as
Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier,
from 1958 to 1964.
 Khrushchev was responsible for the de-Stalinization
of the Soviet Union, for backing the progress of the
early Soviet space program, and for several relatively
liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy.
 His domestic policies, aimed at bettering the lives of
ordinary citizens, were often ineffective, especially in
agriculture.
 Hoping eventually to rely on missiles for national
defense, Khrushchev ordered major cuts in
conventional forces. Despite the cuts, Khrushchev's
rule saw the most tense years of the Cold War,
culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

36. Yuri Gagarin(9 March 1934
– 27 March 1968)
 Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9
March 1934 – 27 March 1968)
 was a Russian Soviet pilot and
cosmonaut. He was the first
human to journey into outer
space, when his Vostok 1
spacecraft completed an orbit of
the Earth making a 108-minute
orbital flight in his Vostok 1
spacecraft. On 12 April 1961.
 Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard
became the first American in
space less than a month later.

37. Boris Yeltsin
 Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( 1
February 1931 – 23 April 2007)
was a Russian politician and
the first President of the
Russian Federation, serving
from 1991 to 1999.
 Much of the Yeltsin era was
marked by widespread
corruption, and as a result of
persistent low oil and
commodity prices during the
1990s, Russia suffered
inflation, economic collapse
and enormous political and
social problems that affected
Russia and the other former
states of the USSR.

38. Mikhail Gorbachev
 is a former Soviet statesman.
 He was the eighth and last
leader of the Soviet Union,
having served as General
Secretary of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union from
1985 until 1991 when the
party was dissolved.
 President of the Soviet Union
 Fun fact: Gorbachev recorded
an album of Russian romantic
ballads in 2009.

39. Vladimir Putin
 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,( born 7
October 1952) is a Russian politician,
and is the current President of the
Russian Federation.
 2nd and 4th President of Russia
 Becoming Acting President on 31
December 1999, when Yeltsin resigned.
Putin won the subsequent 2000
presidential election by a 52% to 30%
margin, thus avoiding a runoff with his
Communist Party opponent, Gennady
Zyuganov. He was reelected President
in 2004 with 72% of the vote.
 In September 2011, after presidential
terms were extended from four to six
years, Putin announced he would seek
a third term as president. He won the
March 2012 presidential election with
64% of the vote, a result which aligned
with pre-election polling.

40. Culture
• There are over 160 different ethnic groups and
indigenous peoples in Russia.
• The country's vast cultural diversity spans ethnic
Russians with their Slavic Orthodox traditions,
Tatars and Bashkirs with their Turkic Muslim
culture, Buddhist nomadic Buryats and Kalmyks,
Shamanistic peoples of the Extreme North and
Siberia, highlanders of the Northern Caucasus,
and Finno-Ugric peoples of the Russian North
West and Volga Region.

41. • Handicraft, like Dymkovo toy, khokhloma,
gzhel and palekh miniature represent an
important aspect of Russian folk culture.

42. Ethnic Russian clothes
• Ethnic Russian clothes include kaftan, kosovorotka and ushanka for men.

43. • Sarafan and kokoshnik for women, with lapti and valenki as
common shoes.

44. • The clothes of Cossacks from Southern Russia include burka
and papaha, which they share with the peoples of the
Northern Caucasus.

45. Cuisine

46. Festivals
January 6/7: Russian Orthodox
Christmas
January: International Festival of
Snow and Ice Sculpture, Krasnoyarsk

47. February: Maslenitsa Festival
• Seven weeks before Easter are the week-
long Maslenitsa festivities, Russia’s
pancake week. They combine the pagan
tradition of marking the end of winter and
the beginning of spring with the Christian
tradition of feasting before Lent.
July 6/7: Ivan Kupala Day
• This is a summer solstice celebration
related to John the Baptist. (Ivan
means ‘John’ and kupala is related to
a Slavic word for ‘bathing’)

48. Moscow Kremlin
• Home to the nation’s top governmental offices, the walled enclosure also houses
four cathedrals built in the 15th and 16th century as well as several notable
museums. The 250-acre grounds include the Armory, filled with royal treasures of
the past, and the Diamond Fund Exhibition, a collection of jewelry that includes a
190-carat diamond given to Catherine the Great.

49. Hermitage Museum
• Founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg,
Russia is a massive museum of art and culture showing the highlights of a collection of
over 3 million items spanning the globe. The collections occupy a large complex of six
historic buildings including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.

50. Saint Basil's Cathedral
• Built between 1554 and 1561 and situated in the heart of Moscow, St. Basil’s Cathedral has been among the
top tourist attractions in Russia. It is not the building’s interior artifacts that attract visitors, but rather the
cathedral’s distinctive architecture. Designed to resemble the shape of a bonfire in full flame, the architecture
is not only unique to the period in which it was built but to any subsequent period.

51. Lake Baikal
• the deepest and oldest lake on Earth. Lake Baikal holds around 20 percent of the
world’s fresh water. Located in Siberia, the 25-million-year-old lake is surrounded
by mountain ranges. The lake is considered one of the clearest lakes in the world.
Known as the Pearl of Siberia, Lake Baikal is home to several resorts, making the
area a popular vacation destination.

52. Trivia
• Christmas was banned in Russia after the 1917 Revolution and was only openly observed again in
1992.
• The legendary Trans-siberian route goes through 8 time zones in Russia, starting from Moscow with
a final point in Bejing, China. The route covers over 9,000 km. longest railway in the world
• Russian people avoid speaking about their jobs.
• Russian people are not used to trusting everything cheap.
• The intelligency level is of Russian people is considered up to 99%. There are nearly 600 universities
in the country and having a university degree is the main reason to be prompted for a good job offer.
• Hospitality plays a significant role in the Russian mentality and the Russian character.
• There are around 11 million more women than men.
• Postnik Yakovlev is best known as the man behind St Basil's Cathedral. Legend has it that Ivan the
Terrible blinded him afterwards, so he could never build anything to rival it.
• It has more time zones (11) than any other country.
• Lake Karachay, a dumping ground for nuclear waste, is so radioactive that standing for one hour
beside it would almost certainly kill you.
• A museum in St. Petersburg has on display what it claims to be Rasputin's severed penis in a glass jar.
Experts doubt it is the real thing, however.

59.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Russia
 http://www.infoplease.com/country/russia.html
 http://www.factslides.com/s-Russia
 http://luxeadventuretraveler.com/10-fun-facts-about-russia/
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/russia/articles/Amazing-facts-about-
Russia/
 http://www.expatica.com/ru/about/Top-festivals-in-Moscow-Russia_507821.html
 http://www.visitrussia.org.uk/travel-to-Russia/toplocations
 http://www.touropia.com/tourist-attractions-in-russia/
 www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/sts1/gagarin_anniversary.html