1Vladimir Yakunin
Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin wants to build a bridge across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska. This would make possible an almost 13,000-mile road trip from New York to London.
2. While the Russian Tsar Bomb is the largest nuclear device ever detonated, it was the ‘cleanest’ nuclear bomb ever detonated. Its modifications removed 97% of its fallout.
3. Although Joseph Stalin officially killed around 2.9 million Russians during his reign, historians think that number may have been as high as 30 million, or around 22% of the population.
4. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev was in space when the Soviet Union was dissolved. He went up a Soviet citizen and returned a Russian citizen.
5. A Russian scientist, Alexander Bogdanov, hoped to achieve everlasting life, by transfusing blood with others who were younger than him. Later, he died after transfusing a student with malaria, who made a full recovery after the transfusion.
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Vladimir the Great
In the late 980's, Vladimir the Great chose to Christianize Russia rather than Islamicize it partly due to Islam’s ban on alcohol, saying, “Drinking is the joy of the Rus', we can't go without it.”
7. There is a Russian cult that worships the character named Gadget Hackwrench from the TV show Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers.
8. The most polluted place on the planet is Lake Karachay, located near the Ural Mountains in Russia. In 1990, just standing on the shore for an hour would give you a radiation dose of 600 roentgen, more than enough to kill you. The lake is located within the Mayak Production Association, one of the largest and leakiest nuclear facilities in Russia. Lake Karachay is now full of concrete that’s intended to keep radioactive sediment away from shore.
9. In Russia, many doctors “treat” alcoholism by surgically implanting a small capsule into their alcoholic patients. The capsules react so severely with alcohol that if the patient ingests even a single drop of alcohol, they instantly acquire an excruciating illness of similar intensity to acute heroin withdrawal.
10. Actor Rick Moranis was fired from the set of The Breakfast Club after he kept playing the janitor as a goofy Russian character.
11Russia 100 years ago
There are pictures over 100 years old that are in full color taken with a special camera from all over Russia.
12. 1,311 people live in Verkhoyansk, Russia. A town with an average temperature of -45 °C (-50 °F) in January. It was also attacked by a pack of 400 wolves. The sun currently rises at 2 pm and sets at 3:30 pm.
13. Russians have a word "Zapoi" to describe several days of continuous drunkenness during which one withdraws from society.
14. Russian fighter pilot Alexey Maresyev’s plane was shot down by the Germans in 1942 and he crash landed in enemy territory. Both his legs were severely mangled, but he managed to get himself to the friendly turf after crawling for 18 days in the snow. His legs had to be amputated below the knee. He got himself on crutches and prosthetics and within a year danced in front of a judge to prove he was battle ready. He then went on to fly 86 combat missions and took out 11 enemy warplanes.
15. The 2001 video game Ghost Recon takes place during a fictional 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia. In reality, Russia would actually invade Georgia that year.
16Terrestrial and space cockroaches
Russian scientists have observed differences between cockroaches conceived in space and their terrestrial counterparts. The space-conceived cockroaches grew more quickly, and also grew up to be faster and tougher.
17. Certain bears in Russia have become addicted to sniffing Jet Fuel out of discarded barrels. Going as far as stalking helicopters for the drops of fuel they leave behind.
18. “UVB-76” is a mysterious Russian radio signal (on 4625 kHz). For almost 40 years, a repeating buzzing sound has been broadcasted, though every few years it stops, and a Russian voice reads numbers and Russian names. In 2013, for the first time, UVB-76 issued an order: “Command 135 initiated.”
19. Russia installed lighthouses powered by nuclear generators along its coastline in the 1970s. Two of those generators are now missing.
20. In 2012, a team of scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences successfully revived a flowering plant (Silene stenophylla) from a 32,000-year-old fruit buried by a squirrel in the Siberian permafrost.
21New Year
Russians celebrate the New Year twice, once on January 1st and then again on January 14th.
22. John Smith was a pirate, beheaded three Turks in jousting matches while fighting for the Holy Roman Army, and was enslaved in Russia until he escaped by killing his master. He did all this before he set sail for present day Virginia, United States.
23. Certain medals at the 2014 winter Olympics will contain fragments of the meteorite which hit Russia in 2013.
24. After a Polish impostor named Dimitriy Ivanovich who claimed the throne of Russia was found out. He was executed, burned, and had his ashes shot out of a cannon back towards Poland.
25. The daughters of Nicholas II of Russia survived the initial wave of fire from a firing squad because of the diamonds and precious gems are sewn into their clothing. The executioners were forced to rush forward with their bayonets.
