Russia is a huge country, and it has hundreds of cities. Some of them are similar to each other, and some are not – hot and cold ones, dry and rainy, large and small. People of hundreds of different nations live there, which makes Russia a very multicultural state.
Amazing facts about Russian cities
- There are more than 1,100 cities in Russia. This is more than in most countries of the world, but this comparison is incorrect a bit since the city criteria differ depending on the country.
- 37 cities in Russia have a population of more than 500,000 people.
- The world’s largest city located beyond the Arctic circle is Murmansk.
- The title of Hero City was assigned to 12 cities during the USSR times.
- Russia has 15 cities with a population of more than 1 million people.
- The “Golden Ring of Russia” tourist route includes 9 historical cities. It is very popular with both Russians and foreign tourists.
- Some Russian cities are extremely difficult to get to in winter, as transport links are limited due to weather conditions.
- Since the unification of the separate principalities into a single Russian State, Moscow has been the capital for most of the time. Saint Petersburg had been the capital for 205 years.
- The city of Chekalin located in Tula Oblast (Tula province) is the smallest one in Russia, with a population of under 1,000 people.
- Lists of cities with the best and worst environmental conditions are compiled annually. Leaders of a rating are usually Kostroma, Grozny, and Maikop and the leaders of the anti-rating are Norilsk, Mednogorsk, and Krasnoyarsk.
- The world’s northernmost city with a population of more than 100,000 people is the Russian city of Norilsk.
- The lists of the most dangerous cities in Russia often include Kyzyl, Perm, Shakhty, Volgograd, and Chita.
- Sochi, Grozny, Anapa, Nizhnevartovsk, and Gelendzhik are the safest Russian cities.
- The oldest city in Russia is Derbent, it was founded in the VIII century BC.
- Moscow and Kazan are competing for the title of the most multinational Russian city.
- The easternmost city is Anadyr. It’s located on the Chukotka Peninsula.
- The northernmost city in Russia is also located on Chukotka Peninsula. It’s called Pevek.
- The oldest city in Russia is also the southernmost. That’s Derbent, located in the Dagestan Republic.
- The westernmost city is Baltiysk, located 30 miles (50 km) west of Kaliningrad and included in Kaliningrad Oblast.
- Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan Republic, is the greenest of all the cities in Russia with a 1+ million population.
- The Russian city of Vorkuta is the easternmost in all of Europe. It is also one of Top-10 coldest cities in the Russian Federation, the temperature here dropped to -61,6 °F (-52 °C) once.
- The coldest settlement in Russia and around the world is the village of Oymyakon. Frosty winter here lasts up to 9-10 months a year, and the record negative temperature was -96 °F (-71.2 °C). But Oymyakon is a village, not a city.
- The coldest city not only in Russia but also in the entire world is Verkhoyansk. The frost record here was -90 °F (-67.8 °C). Frosts are possible here all year round, even in summer, and the average annual amount of precipitation in Verkhoyansk is about the same as in hot deserts.
- Russian villages and cities on Chukotka belong to the Western hemisphere, not to the Eastern one.
- The rainiest Russian cities are Severo-Kurilsk, Sochi, and Yuzhno-Kurilsk.
- The warmest cities in Russia, if we talk about the average annual temperature, are Sochi, Makhachkala, and Anapa.
- Sochi is the only Russian city located in the subtropics.
- Moscow is visited by more foreign tourists than any other Russian city. More than 20 million tourists from other countries visit it every year.
- Moscow is the most populous city not only in Russia but also in the whole of Europe. About 13 million people live there.
- Russia ranks fourth by the number of cities with 1+ million residents after China, India, and Brazil.