Historic Moments
This satellite, launched in 1957, was the first to orbit the Earth, and caused much concern in the United States.
What is Sputnik?
This is the name for the heir to the Russian throne.
What is tsarevich?
Russians typically exchange these, colored or decorated, to celebrate Easter.
What are eggs?
He is the president of Russia, recently re-elected for his fourth term.
Who is Vladimir Putin?
This is the name for the Russian alphabet, which contains 33 letters.
What is the Cyrillic alphabet?
This event on January 9, 1905 (Old Style), happened when soldiers fired on a crowd of peasants who had come to ask Tsar Nicholas II for support.
What is Bloody Sunday?
This tsar was the first to declare himself Tsar of All Russia.
Who was Ivan IV? (Also acceptable: Who was Ivan the Terrible?)
Because the Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar, Russians celebrate Christmas on this day.
What is January 7?
This fortress in Moscow is the home of the Russian government and includes the president's home.
What is the Kremlin?
This is the national instrument of Russia and resembles a guitar, but is triangular and has three strings.
What is the Balalaika?
This cosmonaut was the first person to go into space.
Who was Yuri Gagarin?
This tsar advocated for modernization and even instituted a beard tax for those who refused to adopt the clean-shaven look of Western Europe.
Who was Peter the Great? (Also acceptable: Who was Peter I?)
This is the name for the tree that Russians put up to celebrate New Years.
What is the yolka?
This is the name of Russia's highest court.
What is the Supreme Court?
A female Russian's second name is made up of her father's first name and this ending.
What is "ovna?" (Also acceptable: What is "evna?")
Tsar Nicholas II abdicated after this revolution, given two names because Russia had not yet switched from the Gregorian Calendar.
What was the February Revolution? (Also acceptable: What was the March Revolution?)
This tsar freed the serfs, but his liberal policies did not stop him from being assassinated in 1881.
Who was Alexander II?
This celebration on May 9 celebrates the end of World War II.
What is Victory Day?
This is Russia's official name.
What is the Russian Federation?
These famous doll sets fit inside each other, and some sets have more than a dozen dolls.
What are matryoshka dolls? (Also acceptable: What are nesting dolls?)
The Soviet Union built the world's first nuclear power plant in this year.
What is 1954?
This tsar was the first of the Romanov dynasty, selected to end the Time of Troubles.
Who was Michael I?
This is the name for Santa Claus in Russia.
What is Ded Moroz? (Also acceptable: What is Father Frost?)
This is the name of the lower house of Russia's legislative branch and has 450 members.
What is the Duma?
This author is famous for writing Anna Karenina, a book about nobles in pre-revolutionary Russia.
Who was Leo Tolstoy?