Trivia

Top Ten Curious Facts About Russia

On December 12, 1993, the Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by national referendum. Even though most Russians don’t give much importance to the date, Constitution Day has been celebrated on the 12th of December ever since. It is marked by speeches from the President, official ceremonies countrywide, and a fireworks display in St. Petersburg. It is also a day that many organizations take the opportunity to hold rallies for the independence of previous Soviet republics from the Russian Federation and to lead protest against the government. On this 25th anniversary of the Constitution, here are ten facts you may not know about Russia!

1 – The Soviet navy trained dolphins and whales to attack enemies with harpoons and undertake kamikaze strikes against enemy shipping. They could even allegedly distinguish foreign and Soviet submarines by the sound of their propeller. In 2000, Russia then sold them to Iran after becoming unable to continue feeding them.

2 – In Russia’s Altai region there is a “spacecraft graveyard”. There, over 2.500 tons of space debris – some tens of metres long – have rained down since the start of the Space Age. That’s because the Altai region sits right beneath the Baikonur Cosmodrome – the main flight path of the oldest, largest and busiest spaceport in the world.  As new space junk falls, locals rush to raid the wreckage for precious metals they can sell.

3 –  In the dacha settlement of Staroye Arakchino, inside the Kazan municipality in Russia, there is an architectural complex known as the Temple of All Religions. The large complex consists of several cupolas, minarets and spires representing the religious architecture of 12 major religions of the world. It was started in 1992 and is still under construction. Eventually, the goal is to have 16 cupolas, corresponding to the 16 major world religions including past religions that are no longer practiced.  

The Temple of All Religions
The Temple of All Religions

4 – In September 1994, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin met for the first time with his US counterpart, Bill Clinton, in Washington. During his stay there, Yeltsin got drunk and wandered into the street in his underwear, trying to get a pizza. After being escorted back to the Blair House and getting his pizza, Yeltsin tried to do it again the next night.

5 – In the 1908 London Olympics, the Russian team arrived 12 days late and missed their most favoured event. The reason? They were still following the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar.

6 – As Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space, was directed to the launch pad in April 1961, he asked the bus to stop so he could relieve himself. He got out and urinated against the back right-hand tyre of the bus. To this day, all male astronauts departing from the Russian Soyuz traditionally urinate against that same wheel before reaching the launch pad. Female astronauts have been known to bring vials of their urine to splash on the wheel.

And this is not the only astronautical tradition inspired by Gagarin on that day. While he was strapped into his capsule on the launch pad, he requested that mission control play some music over the intercom. They started playing some Russian love songs. Exactly the same thing happens today, although it intersperses with some other international tracks as well.

7 – In  Novosibirsk, Siberia, there is a monument to honour laboratory mice that have lost their lives furthering scientific research. The Monument to the laboratory mouse, completed in 2013, is located in front of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics. 

Monument to the Laboratory Mouse
Monument to the Laboratory Mouse

8 – It is home to a widespread anti-semitic conspiracy theory which says that Jews have a secret ‘hairy vegetable’ they eat so they don’t become alcoholics. Anti-semitism is justified because they refuse to share their magic vegetable. This myth dates back centuries, and was by eternalised in writing by the novelist Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov, in his short story “Immortal Golovan” dating back to 1880.

9 – Almost 23% of the world’s fresh surface water is contained in a single lake in Russia, Lake Baikal.

10 – In the vault beneath the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, the only sound is the steady ticking of a metronome. During the 900-day siege of the city during World War II, this was the only noise that could be heard on the local radio, interrupted only for emergency communications. With this sound still going, that residents knew the city was still alive. Today, it commemorates the heroic efforts of the residents of Leningrad and the soldiers on the Leningrad Front to the repel the Nazis.

 

Did you enjoy learning more about Russia? Try out some more curious facts about Romania or Portugal!

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