Top Ten Factoids:
1. Russia covers one-seventh of the total land area of the world.
2. There are 2,000 libraries, 100 concert organisations, more than 80 theatres, 62 cinemas, 45 art galleries, 221 museums, and 80 nightclubs in St. Petersburg alone.
3. St. Petersburg is the host of up to 100 cultural and art festivals annually, at least 50 of which are international events.
4. Russia was the first nation to launch a man into space. (The USA was just the first nation to land a man on the moon.)
5. Ten percent of the income of the Russian government is from the sales of vodka.
6. A quarter of the world’s fresh water is contained in the lakes of Russia.
7. Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the world’s highest active volcano at a height of 4,750 metres (15,584 feet), is found in Russia.
8. The country is referred to as the “Lungs of Europe” because it has the biggest forest reserves in the world.
9. The Tsar Kolokol bell, the largest bell in the world with a height of 6.14 metres (20 feet) and a weight of 223 tons, is inside the Kremlin of Moscow.
10. Women outnumber men in Russia by approximately 10 million.
The Dark Side:
1. Alcohol - in excess of 23,000 people in Russia die every year as a consequence—and alcohol-related murder, assaults, and suicides are all among the highest in the world. Life expectancy is lower than in many developing countries, with the average man expected to live the tender age of sixty-three.
2. Second World War - the Soviets may have lost in excess of thirty million people, including civilians—around fourteen percent of their entire population. In the Battle of Stalingrad alone, it is believed that more Soviets died than the United States lost during the whole war.
3. Serial killers - While the United States is definitely the serial killer capital of the world, Russia has also had its fair share. The country’s serial killers are often given lurid nicknames, such as “The Butcher of Rostov”, “Raskolnikov in a skirt”, and “The Chessboard Killer” (so-named because he confessed to wanting to kill sixty-four people, equal to the number of squares on a chessboard).
4. Krokodil - Russia is already the world’s leading importer of heroin, but in recent years, an even more insidious opiate has been hitting the streets. Easily derived from over-the-counter codeine drugs, krokodill is eight to ten times more potent than morphine. It is so-named because it leaves addicts with scaly, reptilian skin.
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