- Russia covers an area of 17,075,060 square kilometres, over 45% of which are North of the Arctic Circle, where permafrost and polar nights reign. Russia's frontiers run to 58,222 kilometres in length. The country has 157,895 towns and villages; of these 30,000 do not have a telephone service and 39,000 actually have no inhabitants. Most of these ghost town and villages are located in the Central Federal Region, the North-West, the Far North, Siberia, and the Far East.

- Over 11 million people live in Moscow and of these Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians together make up 4,260,000. In Russia's capital the Slavs are an ethnic minority!

- 80% of officers in the Russian army frankly and openly admit to not feeling loyalty to the state. This should come as no surprise since 99% of the officers in the Russian Armed Forces come from children's homes and never had a home of their own.

- The Russian Navy has been reduced in size by 60% over the last 10 years. Of 62 nuclear submarines, 12 remain. Of 32 warships, 5 remain. Of 17 escorts only 9 remain and of these only 3 are in active service. As at November 2007, the navy has 1 Aircraft carrier (the US has 11).

- 2,464 servicemen died as a result of crimes and accidents in the Russian Army last year. Of these, 469 were suicides.

- In Russia, the yearly total of bribes paid to court officials amounts to $210 million. Russia is #43 in a list of corrupt legal systems, putting it on a level with Venezuela, Chile, Congo, Morocco, and Senegal.

The country's judges rate 5th in a rating of the most corrupt branches of government, coming after higher education, „free” medical assistance, call-up, and housing allocation. Russia's citizens spend in the order of $3 billion a year on bribes.

- Russia heads the blacklist of countries where it is dangerous to fly. Civilian flights in Russia and the CIS end in disasters twice as frequently as in Africa and 13 times more frequently than the world average.

- According to the State Prosecutor's Office, the real level of crime in Russia is 3 times higher than that given in the statistics. In 2004, 1,000,246 crimes, including 5,635 murders, were unsolved. Over 150,000 people a year loše their lives as the result of crime (official MVD statistic). Road accidents, of which there were 189,000 last year in Russia, lead to 35,000 deaths a year and a further 215,000 injured.

- Russia is the world's #1 for premeditated murders - 21.5 per 100,000 people. Nearly 75% of premeditated murders, about 80% of acts of hooliganism, and up to 75% of rapes take place between 6pm and midnight. In 2005, the police registered 30,800 murders and attempted murders; 18,000 people died in this way. 14,000 left this world thanks to criminal driving offences, 15,000 died in fires, 20,000 disappeared without trace, and more than 40,000 unidentified bodies were found. Total: 137,800. In 2006, the police recorded 140,000 criminal deaths. You can add 58,000 suicides to this.

- Russia is world #1 for number children and teenagers who smoke tobacco. According to the World Health Organisation, 33% of children and teenagers in Russia are regular smokers and many already suffer from smoking-related chronic illnesses by the age of eighteen.

- About 2 million children aged up to 14 are beaten by their parents, many to death. 50,000 children run away from home every year to escape domestic violence. 7,000 become victims of sexual crimes. Furthermore, over 2 million children are officially registered as orphans. In St. Petersburg 3,000 more orphans join their fellows every year.

The number of sex crimes against minors has gone up 25-fold. 129 such crimes were registered in 2003, over 3,000 in 2007. In 2007, 2,500 minors were killed and acts of violence committed against a further 70,500. The Russian Prosecutor's Office stated than 161,00 crimes were committed against children in 2007 and that 2,500 children died as a result.

- The average life span of a Russian male is 59 years.

- 5 people die every minute in Russia, 3 are born.

- 30% of children are born out of wedlock.

- Moscow has recently closed down a chain of Chinese restaurants which was selling as lamb dishes that actually were made of feral dogs. The Chinese cooks slaughtered the dogs right in the restaurant kitchens and served the dishes as specialities to their fellow-citizens and as lamb to Russians. They didn't waste much either; the dogs' intestines were used to prepare soup base. The figures for 2004 show over 4 million Chinese living in Russia.

- Russia occupies the #2 place in the world for the distribution of counterfeit or adulterated medicines. 92% of medicines sold through drugstores are counterfeit or have passed their sell-by date. The usual thing is for insufficient quantities of the active ingredient to be added to the medication or for there to be none at all - placebos containing perhaps some honey and starch. Sales of counterfeit medication is valued at 300 million Euro.

- Over 40% of goods sold in Moscow are adulterated (illegally mixed with improper ingredients, often dangerous). The most frequently adulterated goods are vegetable oils and butter, condensed milk, tea, coffee, mineral water, bully beef, honey, and cakes. Topping the list we find: cottage cheese and products thereof, 40-45% of which do not conform to regulations; sour cream (33.3%); kebabs (40%); salads (20%); and cakes (18%). These days, nearly 70% of prepared foods are made only to conform to the TU (technical conditions [TN: basic sanitary etc regulations] and not to GOST (actual defined state standards).

- 35 million people have left Russia in the last 35 years (Ministry of Foreign Affairs data). In that time, 3 million have moved to Russia legally, mostly from the republics of the former USSR.

http://www.rf-agency.ru/eng/stat_en.htm