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Russia, officially known as the Russian Federation, is the largest country in the world, spanning over 17 million square kilometers. It is located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, and shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and North Korea. The country has a rich history and culture, with influences from the Eastern Slavic, Turkic, Mongol, and Scandinavian cultures.
Russia has a diverse landscape, from the frozen tundra of Siberia to the warm beaches of the Black Sea. The country is also home to several famous landmarks, including the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Kremlin in Moscow, and Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world. The official language is Russian, and the currency is the Russian Ruble.
Throughout its history, Russia has been ruled by a variety of different leaders and governments. From the early days of the Tsars to the communist era under the Soviet Union, to the current semi-presidential republic, Russia has seen significant political and social change. The country has also played a major role in world events, from the World Wars to the Cold War and the current global political climate.
1. With over 35 million units sold since June 1, 1989, what puzzle game is the best-selling Game Boy video game of all-time and was the first video game played in space by Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr A. Serebrov in 1993?
Answer: Tetris
2. The first Russian settlement was at Three Saints Bay, on what large Alaskan island? The island is the second largest in the U.S. and has an area slightly larger than Cyprus.
Answer: Kodiak
3. Before he became one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time, which Russian-born, Hugo-winning writer of “Foundation” and “I, Robot” was teaching himself and his sister to read as children in Brooklyn and working at the family’s candy store? It was that sweet locale that introduced the imaginative young man to the types of pulp magazines he’d eventually write for.
Answer: Isaac Asimov
4. Ding! What’s the last name of the Russian psychologist, Ivan, whose conditioning experiments with salivating canines helped inform modern behavior therapy? Ding!
Answer: Pavlov
5. TASS—or TACC, if you wanna get all Cyrillic about it—is a federal news agency owned by the government of what ginormous country?
Answer: Russia / Russian Federation
6. The Battle of the Three Emperors, also known as the Battle of Austerlitz, saw Austro-Russian forces defeated by an army led by which military and political leader in 1805?
Answer: Napoleon
7. Mikhail Popkov, a Russian rapist and serial killer who tallied over 70 victims in the 1990s and 2000s, is known by what lycanthropic nickname, associating him indirectly with Team Jacob and Lon Chaney, Jr.?
Answer: The Werewolf
8. After controversially having herself and her son Paul inoculated in 1768, Catherine the Great supported the idea of a widespread inoculation campaign throughout the Russian Empire against which disease?
Answer: Smallpox
9. After being plucked off the streets of Moscow, a stray “Muttnik” named Laika “joined” the Russian space program. She didn’t survive the terrifying voyage, but in 1957 she made history when she became the first animal to orbit which planet?
Answer: Earth
10. Now serving life in prison, Russian serial killer Alexander Pichushkin had no defense for wanting to kill 64 people to match the number of spaces on the board for what game?
Answer: Chess
11. In 2024, German officials announced they'd issued an arrest warrant in connection with the 2022 sabotage of a Russian-owned natural gas pipeline with what name?
Answer: Nord Stream
12. You’d have to submerge more than 5,000 feet down to reach the bottom of Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world. It’s also known as the Galapagos of what Eastern European and North Asian country?
Answer: Russia
13. Most commonly associated with the Russian royal family, a series of jeweled items created by the House of Fabergé firm resemble, and thus are named for, which other naturally produced object?
Answer: Eggs
14. In 1993, Russian scientists were able to confirm that some remains they had uncovered were members of the Romanov family (who were executed in 1918) by looking at DNA from several living relatives, including which member of the British Royal Family who died in 2021?
Answer: Prince Philip
15. The German siege of the Russian city now known as Volgograd in 1942-1943 is widely considered the deadliest battle of World War II, and perhaps the deadliest of all time. What other name did Volgograd have at the time, by which the battle is typically known?
Answer: Stalingrad
16. What late 19th and early 20th century Russian psychologist famously proved that responses could be conditioned by association, such as a dog drooling at the sound of the bell that rang before it was fed? His “P” name has become vernacular for someone reacting to a seemingly neutral thing.
Answer: Ivan Pavlov
17. Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's most famous work is a suite of ten piano pieces, including "The Gnome" and "The Old Castle," known as "Pictures at an” what?
Answer: Exhibition
18. What “L” Russian scientist and inventor devised an electrically powered incandescent light bulb with a tungsten filament in 1906, technically predating Thomas Edison?
Answer: Alexander Lodygin
19. In 1891, Sergei Rachmaninoff composed a piece for two pianos that he referred to as what Rhapsody? It’s the nationality that also gave us Marc Chagall and Leo Tolstoy.
Answer: Russian Rhapsody
20. What Russian-born actor played the titular King of Siam in “The King And I”, and chastised Moses as Ramses in “The Ten Commandments”, both in 1956? Later in life, he played the villainous black-hatted cowboy robot in 1973’s “Westworld.”
Answer: Yul Brynner
21. Wassily Kandinsky was a turn-of-the-20th-century Russian painter, primarily known as one of the founders of what “A” art movement that does not attempt to capture external reality, but instead uses unique variations of shapes and forms?
Answer: Abstract Art
22. What Russian city of 300,000 people, which lies only 67 kilometers from the country's border with Norway, is by far the largest city in the world that lies above the Arctic Circle?
Answer: Murmansk
23. Dave Malloy's hit 2012 musical “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812” is based on Part 8 of what famously thick Russian novel?
Answer: War and Peace
24. In 1927, an early CCTV system was created by Russian physicist Leon Theremin. It was subsequently installed in the courtyard of what complex to monitor visitors coming and going?
Answer: Kremlin
25. Which Russian psychologist's main theory comprises concepts such as culture-specific tools, private speech, and the zone of proximal development?
Answer: Lev Vygotsky
26. In which month of 2022 did the Russian invasion of Ukraine begin?
Answer: February
27. "The Coffee-House of Surat," in which five followers of major world religions discuss their faiths in an Indian coffee house, was written by what legendary Russian short story writer and novelist?
Answer: Leo Tolstoy
28. What Russian politician was instrumental in implementing the White Terror and led the armed forces of South Russia during the Civil War of 1917-1923?
Answer: Anton Denikin
29. When he invented the VS-300 in 1939, Russian-American inventor Igor Sikorsky created the first viable instance of what mode of transportation?
Answer: Helicopter
30. Following the 1990 abolition of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the position of President of Russia was established the following year. Who became Russia’s first president in 1991?
Answer: Boris Yeltsin
31. Coming from the Russian “to think,” what is the four-letter name of the legislative body in the ruling assembly of Russia?
Answer: Duma
32. In 1997, astronaut David Wolf became the first person to vote outside of the planet Earth when he was aboard what Russian space station?
Answer: Mir
33. Looking to stimulate a stagnant Soviet economy in the '80s, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced what P-word political movement that's just Russian for "reconstruction" or "restructuring"?
Answer: Perestroika
34. Establishing the end of the Soviet-Polish War on March 18, 1921, between the Russian and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republics and Poland, the Peace of Riga treaty was signed in what country?
Answer: Latvia
35. The official languages of the United Nations are comprised of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, and what sixth language?
Answer: Russian
36. In 19th-century Russian society, a woman trapped in a loveless marriage to a government official in St. Petersburg begins a passionate affair with a dashing officer, sparking a scandal that threatens her place in high society. That’s the setup for what Leo Tolstoy's titular mom’s book that hit the shelves in 1878?
Answer: Anna Karenina
37. France’s national men’s soccer team walked away from what host country with the namesake championship trophy in the 2018 FIFA World Cup?
Answer: Russia
38. What 20th-century Russian psychologist developed his theory of the zone of proximal development, or ZPD, where the ability of a novice to accomplish something is compared to what can be accomplished by someone with more specific knowledge?
Answer: Lev Vygotsky
39. A 2000s movement to increase methodological diversity in the field of political science took its name from what period of reform in the Soviet Union during the 1980s, whose name is a Russian word meaning "restructuring?"
Answer: Perestroika
40. The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, the Pokrovsky Cathedral, and the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed are the alternate names for what famous Russian landmark located in Moscow’s Red Square?
Answer: St. Basil's Cathedral
41. What is the two-word ursine name of the Russian cyber espionage group, also known as APT28, thought to be operating since the 2000s.
Answer: Fancy Bear
42. Boris Goosinov is a Russian-born snow goose in a series of movies about (and named after) which Alaskan husky who led the team of sled dogs on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome?
Answer: Balto
43. Based on a tale from Russian folklore, "The Firebird" is a 1910 ballet with music by what Russian composer also known for "The Rite of Spring?"
Answer: Igor Stravinsky
44. What tsar ruled Russia at the time U.S. Secretary of State William Seward and Russian envoy Baron Edouard de Stoeckl signed the Treaty of Cession, ceding Alaska to the U.S.?
Answer: Alexander II
45. Spoiler alert: the suicide of Konstantin is meant to parallel the death of the titular bird in what 19th-century play by a classic Russian dramatist?
Answer: The Seagull
46. By what name, deriving from the Russian for “swift,” is the breed of dog previously known as the Russian Wolfhound, which has been bred in Russia for coursing and hunting, now known?
Answer: Borzoi
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