Russian Drinking
The word “vodka” comes from the Russian word for which everyday liquid?
Water (voda)
Which tsar killed his own son and heir in a rage in 1581?
Ivan the Terrible
This car brand, built by AvtoVAZ in Tolyatti, is famous for the boxy Niva, an off-roader loved for being tough and cheap. What is it?
Lada
The 1961 Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, at roughly how many megatons?
50
What is the traditional Russian steam bath called?
The banya
Russian superstition says it’s bad luck to leave an empty bottle where?
The table
Which “Mad Monk,” who wasn’t actually a monk, scandalized St. Petersburg with his influence over the royal family?
Rasputin
Often called “Russia’s Google,” this company runs the country’s biggest search engine. What is it?
Yandex
Soviet missiles in which Caribbean country triggered a 1962 crisis?
Cuba
In the banya, people beat themselves with bundles of what?
Birch twigs (venik)
Which Soviet leader launched an unpopular anti-alcohol campaign in 1985?
Gorbachev
According to legend, Rasputin survived poison and gunshots before being dumped into what?
An icy river
Founded in 1997 by a Russian computer scientist, this company’s antivirus software has been both loved and distrusted worldwide. What is it?
Kaspersky
Khrushchev reportedly banged what item on his desk at the UN in 1960? (Historians still argue about whether it happened.)
A shoe
Banned Western music was bootlegged onto old medical X-rays and nicknamed what?
Bone music
What do Russians drink as a substitute for alcohol?
Anti freeze
Which Russian ruler had the nickname “the Great” yet spent his youth throwing wild parties with his drinking buddies in Moscow’s German Quarter?
Peter the great
Which Russian airline, founded in 1923, still carries a winged hammer and sickle on its tail?
Aeroflot
Which Ukrainian nuclear plant exploded in 1986?
Chernobyl
What was the nickname for Soviet youth who dressed flashy and loved Western jazz and rock ’n’ roll?
Stilyagi (“style hunters”)
Which Russian toast means “to your health”?
Za zdorovye (or Na zdorovie)
In 1885, Alexander III gave his wife the first of the imperial Easter eggs made by which famous jeweler?
Fabergé
Biggest fast food chain in mother Russia
kusno i Tochka (“Tasty and That’s It)
In 1957, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite into orbit, kicking off the Space Race. What was it called?
Sputnik
After the steam, hardcore banya fans cool off by doing what outdoors?
Rolling in snow or plunging into an ice hole