With the crisis in Ukraine recently, Russia has been in the news quite a bit. As Winston Churchill once said though, Russia is “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. Read on to find out 25 insane things you didn’t know about Russia!
25
Rich people in Moscow buy ambulances and use them to drive around because the traffic is so bad
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ilya_p24
Russian McDonald's carry the McShrimp, something that allegedly cannot be found anywhere else
23
Russia's surface area is bigger than Pluto's surface area
22
It spans 9 contiguous time zones which is more than any other country
21
Roughly 9 million people ride the Moscow metro every day. That is more than New York and London combined
20
Everyone thinks America has a high homicide rate (4.7 per 100,000), but Russia's is twice as high (9.7 per 100,000)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26226522@N08/3435027358/19
On average Russians drink 6.3 shots of liquor per week while Americans drink 3.3
18
Russians also consume about 6 times as much tea as Americans
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77345835@N00/2424947353/17
Lake Baikal holds one fifth of the world's fresh water
16
64% of journalist deaths in Russia since 1992 have been murders
15
Russia is actually rated the 5th deadliest country on Earth to be a journalist
14
In 1867 Russia sold Alaska to the United States for less than 2 cents an acre
13
Siberia accounts for 77% of the country
12
At the nearest point, Russia and the United States are less than 4 km apart
11
There are over half a million alcohol related deaths in Russia every year
10
World War II has actually not completely ended yet. Due to a dispute over the Kuril Islands, Russia and Japan still haven't signed a peace treaty and therefore they remain at war
9
During Peter the Great's reign there was a beard tax which anyone with a beard had to pay
8
25% of Russian men die before reaching the age of 55 compared with only 1% in the United States.
7
Officials believe this is related to Vodka consumption. The average Russian consumes 18 liters of alcohol annually which is over two times what experts consider dangerous.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Silar6
Driving around with a dirty car is a criminal offense
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4238710417/5
It is believed that Russia has at least 15 "secret cities" with unknown names and locations
4
During times of high inflation or economic recession, people are sometimes paid in Vodka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Johan_Elisson3
The mayor of a city called Megion in Siberia actually banned excuses
2
Russia has 8400 nuclear warheads which is more than any other nation
1
Apple is worth more than the entire Russian stock market
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