X-Nico

82 unusual facts about Russia


1413

Yishiha builds a Buddhist temple at Tyr, Russia, and puts up a stele describing his expedition to the lower Amur

1982 in fine arts of the Soviet Union

Exhibition of works by Nikolai Timkov was opened in the House of Artists in Moscow shown later both in the Air Force Academy after Yuri Gagarin and in the Star City.

Aleksey Suvorin

With limited prospects of pursuing a military career, he spent eight years in his native haunts, teaching history and geography, first in Bobrov, and then in Voronezh.

Alexander Afanasyev

He is said to have become acquainted with folktales from local women in his home town of Bobrov.

Alexander Kasyanov

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kasyanov (Александр Александрович Касьянов; 17 August 1891 - Gorki 13 February 1982) was a Soviet Russian composer, conductor, pianist and professor.

Alexander Krivoshein

He was one of several ministers to be dismissed for opposing Nicholas II's decision to take command of the Russian Army.

Alexander Nikolayevich Lebedev

Alexander Nikolayevich Lebedev (1869–1937) was a Russian biochemist.

Antiseptic Dorogov's Stimulator

Since 90's produced in biochemical factory in Armavir and registered in Russia as official drug for animal-only usage and recommended for skin diseases in pigs and cows.

Antoni Grabowski

After graduation he worked as a practical chemical engineer in Zawiercie and in a few locations which now are part of the Czech Republic, and finally as manager of a textile factory in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, 250 km north-east of Moscow.

Ardatovsky District

Ardatovsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia.

Armavir

Armavir, Russia, a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia named after the one in Armenia

Armenians in Crimea

From 1778-1779, more than 22,000 Armenians resettled in the Azov province and on the coast of the Dnieper and Samara, leading to gradual economic decline.

Baltiysky District

Baltiysky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia.

Blagodarny

Blagodarny, Russia (Blagodarnaya, Blagodarnoye), several inhabited localities in Russia

Borsky District

Borsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia.

CEES

Common European Economic Space or Common Economic Space (CES), one of four projected spheres of cooperation between the European Union and Russia

Chelski

Chelsea F.C., called Chelski in the British media, a reference to Russian owner Roman Abramovich.

Chernigovsky Skit

The Chernigovsky skete in Sergiev Posad, Russia is a monastery standing unique in central Russia for hand-dug monk cells and prayer caves.

Clanton Park, Toronto

The neighbourhood is one of the largest Jewish areas of the city, but also contains a large number of residents of Italian, Filipino, and Russian origin.

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

In February 2005 the CPRF managed to beat the ruling pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, in elections to the regional legislature of Nenets Autonomous Okrug, obtaining 27% of the popular vote.

On 7 April 2011, the CPRF candidate Ilya Potapov won the mayoral election in the town of Berdsk with a landslide victory over the United Russia candidate.

The party's stated goal is to establish a new, modernised form of socialism in Russia.

Conquest of the Khanate of Sibir

In 1594 Tara was built on the middle Irtysh to guard the caravan route.

Crime in Germany

While a lot of Aussiedlers adapted well and quickly mastered the German language, a lot of families held unto the traditional lifestyle they lived in Russia and surrounding states.

Decossackization

The inhabitants of Ermolovskaya, Romanovskaya, Samachinskaya and Mikhailovskaya to be driven out of their homes, and the houses and land redistributed among the poor peasants, particularly among the Chechens, who have always shown great respect for Soviet power.

Etoko

Etoko, Russia, a village (selo) in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia

Foton-M

It is produced by TsSKB-Progress in Samara.

Freidun Aghalyan

In 1903-1921 he constructed railroad bridges, gymnasium, the Treasury palace and Workers' House in Baku, and the Armenian church of Armavir, Russia.

Frunzensky District

Frunzensky District, Russia, name of several districts and city districts in Russia

Gvardeysky

Gvardeysky, Russia (Gvardeyskaya, Gvardeyskoye), several rural localities in Russia

Heinrich Sylvester Theodor Tiling

Tiling became a physician at the "Russian North American Co." in Ayan, Siberia from 1845 through 1851.

Invasions of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a mountainous country in South Asia surrounded by several more powerful countries including Iran, Pakistan, China, and other "-stan" countries near Russia.

Kalininsky District

Kalininsky District, Russia, name of several districts and city districts in Russia

Kemsky

Kemskoye Urban Settlement, a municipal formation which the town of Kem and three rural localities in Kemsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia are incorporated as

Konchalovsky

Konchalovsky is a Russian surname.

Korovin pistol

Sergey Korovin designed the first 7.65 mm calibre military pistol around 1922, while working at the famous Tula arms factory TOZ.

Lavrenty Zagoskin

Even though Nikolayevka was not near the ocean, Zagoskin would eventually train for the Russian Navy and served as a naval officer in the Baltic and Caspian seas.

Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive

The retreat would be carried out in stages, using intermediate defensive positions, the most important of which was the Rollbahn Line formed on the October Railway running through Tosno, Lyuban and Chudovo.

Levashi

Levashi may refer to the following rural localities in Russia

Maya River

Near the southernmost point was the settlement of Nelkan from which a track led over the mountains to Ayan.

Mikhalki

Mikhalki, Russia, a village in Velikoluksky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia

Modest Ivanovitch Bogdanovich

Modest Ivanovitch Bogdanovich (russ. Модест Иванович Богданович; 26 August / 7 September 1805 – 25 July / 6 August 1882, Oranienbaum, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian lieutenant-general and military historian.

Monument to Chocolate

The Monument to Chocolate or Chocolate Fairy is a monument in the City of Pokrov, Vladimir Region, Russia.

Mordehai Dubin

He lived under arrest and exile in Siberia, first in Samara, and later in Tula, where he died in 1956 in a labor camp and is buried.

Moskovsky District

Moskovsky District, Russia, name of several districts and city districts in Russia

Nikolay Tsukanov

Nikolay Tsukanov was born in 1965 in the village of Lipovo, in the Gusev area of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.

O. F. Snelling

In 1965, Snelling went to Russia to meet Lonsdale again and negotiated the writing and publication of his memoirs, Spy (1965).

Oktyabrsky District

Oktyabrsky District, Russia, name of several districts and city districts in Russia

Oranienbaum

Lomonosov (aka Oranienbaum-Lomonosov), the former name of the adjacent town

Ordzhonikidzevsky District

Ordzhonikidzevsky District, Russia, name of several districts and city districts in Russia

Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat

The Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (Partiya Diktaturi Proletariata) is a communist political party in Russia.

Philip James Woods

Operating out of Kem on the White Sea, he established a Karelian Regiment, supplied and officered by the British.

Proletarsky District

Proletarsky District, Russia, name of several districts and city districts in Russia

Ralph Winston Fox

In the summer following graduation, Fox returned to Soviet Russia, this time as a worker with the Friends Relief Mission in Samara.

Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR

The main principles of the programme were tested on a large scale in Severodonetsk and Salavat.

Resurs-P No.1

The Resurs-P spacecraft was built by the Russian space company TsSKB Progress in Samara, Russia.

Russia's role in the Syrian Civil War

In addition to reportedly providing the refurbished MI-25 helicopter gunships, Russia has also transferred to Syria the Buk-M2 air defense system, the Bastion coastal defence missile system, and Yak-130 combat jet trainer.

Rybachy

Rybachy, Russia (Rybachya, Rybachye), name of several rural localities in Russia

Sergej Ognew

Sergej Ivanovich Ognew (1886–1951) was a Russian zoologist and naturalist, remembered for his work on mammalogy.

Sfatul Țării

The Congress of the German Colonists in Bessarabia took place on March 7, 1919 in Tarutino.

Shamkhal

Shamkhal, Russia, an urban-type settlement in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia

Siberia

Towns such as Mangazeya, Tara, Yeniseysk and Tobolsk were developed, the last being declared the capital of Siberia.

Sokolov

Sokolov, Russia (or Sokolova), several rural localities in Russia

Soyuz-2-1v

It is built by TsSKB Progress, at Samara in the Russian Federation.

Studeny

Studeny, Russia (Studenaya, Studenoye), name of several rural localities in Russia

Sverker Åström

From 1940 to 1943 he served at the Swedish mission to the Soviet Union, first in Moscow and then in Kuybyshev.

Tsentralny District

Tsentralny District, Russia, name of several districts and city districts in Russia

Uglovsky District

Uglovsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia.

Ulchsky District

A number of interesting Yuan and Ming Dynasty archaeological monuments have been found on the Tyr Cliff near the village of Tyr in this district.

Unezhma

Unezhma, Maloshuyka, Onezhsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, a village under the administrative jurisdiction of Maloshuyka Urban-Type Settlement with Jurisdictional Territory

Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia

The Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (In Russian: Soyuz' Bor'bi za Osvobozhdeniye Narodov Rossii, Союз Борьбы за Освобождение Народов России, abbreviated as SBONR, СБОНР) was an organization of anti-communist Russians, regardless of ethnic origin, which emerged from the youth organization of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia.

Viktor Chernov

Following the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, he became a member of an anti-Bolshevik government in Samara, before fleeing to Europe and then the United States.

Vilovo

Vilovo, Russia, a rural locality (a village) in Tver Oblast, Russia

Vissarion

He founded and heads a religious or sect movement known as the Church of the Last Testament with its head church in the Siberian Taiga in the Minusinsk Depression east of Abakan, in the southern Siberia Kuraginsk district of Krasnoyarsk territory, in the small settlement of Petropavlovka.

Vladimir Tikhonov

As a leading member of the Communist Party Tikhonov rose to the position of Chairman of the Central Committee, as well as becoming the governor of Ivanovo.

Volovsky District

Volovsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia.

Yedynomu

The album was released in 2003 in Ukraine and Russia with 16 tracks with consequent worldwide release.

Yongning Temple Stele

He sailed down the Sungari River and into the Amur River, reaching a place the Chinese called Telin 特林 (modern Tyr) where he stayed for almost a year.

Yuri Sipko

Sipko was born on 28 February 1952 in the town of Tara in the Omsk Oblast.

Zelman Passov

Zelman Isaevich Passov Зельман Исаевич Пассов (1905, Staraya Russa, Russia - 15 February 1940) headed the Soviet foreign intelligence service, then part of the NKVD from June to November 1938, when he was arrested.

Zheleznodorozhny

Zheleznodorozhny, Russia (Zheleznodorozhnaya, Zheleznodorozhnoye), several inhabited localities in Russia

ZiU-5

The group of city electric transport enthusiasts from many cities in Russia, with guests from Estonia and United States, hired the Nizhny Novgorod Museum ZiU-5 for their meeting in 2004 (see photo above).


Andrei Nikolishin

His father, Vasyl Nikolishin, was a victim of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge, and was exiled from Ukraine to a Gulag forced labor coal mine in Vorkuta, the largest center of the camps in European Russia, for a period of 25 years.

Andrei Shleifer

During the early 1990s, Andrei Shleifer was an advisor to Anatoly Chubais, the then vice-premier of Russia, handling the portfolio of Rosimushchestvo (the Committee for the Management of State Property), and was one of the engineers of Russian privatization.

Archi people

The Archi (аршишттиб in Archi, арчинцы in Russian) are an ethnic group who live in eight villages in Southern Dagestan, Russia.

Avgust Černigoj

Later on, he attended the Bauhaus school of crafts and fine arts in Weimar, which had a profound impact on his development as an artist, having come into contact with Abstraction, the Russian avant-garde and particularly Constructivism through the works and teachings of Wassily Kandinsky, who brought it from Russia.

Beriev Be-12

Other examples exist at the Ukraine State Aviation Museum at Kiev, Ukraine and that the Taganrog Air Museum, in southern Russia.

Book peddler

After various restrictions put forth by the infamous Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev, the activity of the society dwindled.

Bungee jumping

Several major movies have featured bungee jumps, most famously the opening sequence of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye in which Bond makes a jump over the edge of a dam in Russia (in reality the dam is in Switzerland: Verzasca Dam, and the jump was genuine, not an animated special effect).

Chukotsky

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (Chukotsky avtonomny okrug), a federal subject of Russia

Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius

Some of the noblest and richest families of Imperial Russia, including the Galitzines, the Stroganovs and the Yusupovs, patronised the monastery and had their burial vaults on the grounds.

Daniel Yergin

His next book was Russia 2010 and What It Means for the World, written with Thane Gustafson, which provided scenarios for the development of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Daria Dmitrieva

The head coach of Russia, President of the Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Irina Viner said the question of participation in the Olympics remained open and would be resolved only after the June Grand Prix in Austria and the World Cup in Belarus in July.

Gas Exporting Countries Forum

In May 2006 Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev threatened that Russia would create "an alliance of gas suppliers that will be more influential than OPEC" if Russia did not get its way in energy negotiations with Europe.

Gryazovetsky

Gryazovetskoye Urban Settlement, a municipal formation which the town of district significance of Gryazovets and two rural localities in Gryazovetsky District of Vologda Oblast, Russia are incorporated as

Igor Klyuchnikov

He gained his 50th cap in Russia's World Cup opener against USA on 15 September 2011.

International Radio of Serbia

In November, 1941, during the occupation of Belgrade in the Second World War, a Free Yugoslavia radio station started its work and it broadcast its program until 1945, from the city of Ufa on the Ural River (Russia).

Intervision Song Contest

In 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed restart of competition but this time between Russia, China and Central Asian countries which are mostly members of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Jan Breydel

Kuzma Minin, the Russian leader of a popular militia that drove the Poles out of Russia at the end of the Time of Troubles in 1612, also happened to be a butcher.

Kryukovo

Staroye Kryukovo District, a district in Zelenograd Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia

Malaysia–Russia relations

Since Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, relations between Russia and Malaysia have improved significantly.

Martti Välikangas

After qualifying Välikangas worked in Yuzovka in Russia (present-day Donetsk in the Ukraine), but had to leave in a hurry with the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Meany Hall for the Performing Arts

Meany himself wanted the building to be named Seward Hall, after William H. Seward, the man who bought Alaska from Russia.

Medvedevsky

Medvedevskaya, Lalsk, Kirov Oblast, a rural locality (a village) under the administrative jurisdiction of the urban-type settlement of Lalsk, Kirov Oblast, Russia

Mieczysław Weinberg

Besides the admiration which Shostakovich frequently expressed for Weinberg's works, they were taken up by some of Russia's foremost performers and conductors, including Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan, Kirill Kondrashin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kurt Sanderling, and Thomas Sanderling.

Mikhail Stakhurskii

After the war, from 1945 to 1961, he served as the First Secretary of four regional party committees, including three in Ukraine (Vinnytsia Oblast from 1945–1951, Poltava Oblast from 1951–1955, and Zhytomyr Oblast from 1957–1961) and one in Russia (Khabarovsk Krai from 1955–1957).

Mozdoksky

Mozdokskoye Urban Settlement, a municipal formation which Mozdok Town Under District Jurisdiction in Mozdoksky District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia is incorporated as

Naum Senyavin

Currently it is an urban-type settlement in Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia.

Nobuyoshi Mutō

He returned to administrative positions in Japan from 1919–1921, before being appointed commander of the IJA 3rd Division in 1921 and being dispatched to Russia during the Siberian Expedition against the Bolshevik Red Army.

Novoderevensky

Novoderevenskaya, a rural locality (a village) in Okunevsky Rural Okrug of Omutinsky District of Tyumen Oblast, Russia

Olga Uvarov

The American Red Cross located the children for him, but such was the cost of getting people out of Russia at that time that he could afford only to pay the costs for one child.

Pascal Mendy

Lithuanian-Russian businessman Vladimir Romanov finances both clubs and a number of Kaunas players have already moved to Hearts in this manner.

Periclase

In addition to its type locality, it is reported from Predazzo, Tyrol, Austria; Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland; Broadford, Skye and the island of Muck, Scotland; León, Spain; the Bellerberg volcano, Eifel district, Germany; Nordmark and Långban, Varmland, Sweden; and Kopeysk, southern Ural Mountains, Russia.

Scott Rauland

From 2003 through 2005, he served as Consul General in Yekaterinburg, Russia, before returning to Germany to work in Frankfurt as Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Consulate General.

Shenkursky

Shenkurskoye Urban Settlement, a municipal formation which the town of district significance of Shenkursk in Shenkursky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia is incorporated as

Shuvalov

Igor Shuvalov (born 1967) - First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia

Skafferhullet

The border crossing site was located on the old road between Elvenes in Sør-Varanger Municipality, Finnmark county, Norway and Borisoglebsky in Murmansk Oblast, Russia.

Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology is a private research university located near Skolkovo, Moscow Oblast, in the close vicinity of the capital city of Moscow, Russia.

Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia

She was fictionally portrayed in Chinese novelist Jin Yong's novel The Deer and the Cauldron in which the young protagonist Wei Xiaobao went to Russia and helped her lead the coup against her half-brother Peter I.

Spotted wolffish

The bottom-dwelling spotted wolffish is found across the North Atlantic from north of Russia to the Scotian Shelf, off Nova Scotia.

Stratos Boats

Stratos began building boats in 1984, and sells throughout a network of dealers throughout the United States, Australia, France, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Italy and Venezuela.

The Ways of Freedom

The Ways of Freedom is an early album by the Russian jazz musician Sergey Kuryokhin.

Tolib Shakhidi

The musical pieces of the composer have been performed by such orchestras as Philadelphia & Boston Symphony Orchestra, State Symphonic Orchestra of USSR, Orchestra of Valery Gergiev, Bolshoy Symphonic Orchestra of Russia n.a. Tchaikovsky, Orchestra of Cinematography conducted by Sergei Skripka, Saint Petersburg State Philharmonic Orchestra n.a Dmitri Shostakovich.

Top Model po-russki

Top Model po-russki (rus. Топ-модель по-русски — Russia's Next Top Model) is a Russian reality documentary, and the second Russian adaptation of Tyra Banks', America's Next Top Model after You are a Supermodel which aired from 2004 to 2007, and had four cycles.

Tov

Treaty of Versailles (1757), expansion of 1756 Versailles treaty to Saxony, Sweden and Russia; see Diplomatic Revolution

Tsaritsyno

Tsaritsyno District, a district in Southern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia

Ufimsky

Ufimsky District, a district of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia

UK Wolf Conservation Trust

Projects supported by the UKWCT include helping to buy livestock guardian dogs for Bulgarian shepherds, as well as supporting wolf research and education in the Tver region of Russia and also in Croatia.

World Entertainment News Network

It began as the World Rock News Network (WRNN) and the company soon established a niche for itself, providing music news to subscribers including MTV, BBC, ABC and Russia's daily youth newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Young Engineers' Satellite 2

The centres were: Samara State Aerospace University, Russia (mission analysis, GPS); University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy (re-entry capsule); Hochschule Niederrhein in Krefeld, Germany (tether); University of Patras, Greece (mechanical and thermal).

Yuryuzan

Yuryuzan River, a river in Russia, left tributary of the Ufa River

Zaozerny

Zaozyorny Urban Settlement, a municipal formation which the district town of Zaozyorny in Rybinsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia is incorporated as