Places Sputnicktatorship Wants to Go

Gargantuan home of Russian science.

Two islands just 4 km apart separated by an International Border and Date Line.

A 360 degree battlefield experience.

This iconic Russian space museum sits on a landmark space production facility and houses the Vostok 1, the first manned spacecraft, that was also built here.

An unusual collection of self-made musical instruments and unique noises.

The California secessionist movement has its own foreign embassy, in Russia of all places.

One of the world's tallest statues is also one of its most hated.

An abandoned town of skeletal wooden homes.

Stalin's secret bunker.

Gigantic natural towers in a Russian plateau.

Some Moscow residents once claimed the bizarre, contorted mass of metal on top of the building was used to manipulate minds.

Stalin's prisoner-built rail line sits in ruin, never having a single car ride its tracks.

No one knows why ancient labyrinths were built on this tiny northern island.

Replica of mosque destroyed by Russia in the 16th century.

Former prison camp dedicated to the victims of political repression.

Unusual, mushroom-like rock formations caused by weathering and water erosion, set to disappear, according to geologists.

Specimens collected by the author of "Lolita" and self-taught lepidopterist are exhibited in his childhood home.

The deepest hole drilled in the name of science, where evidence of Precambrian life was found.

Dozens of padlock-trees along the Moscow River.

A small part of Russia that does not touch any other part of Russia.

The coldest city in the world.

A dormant lightning machine equal to all the power in Russia.

The avant-garde design was able to bypass strict Soviet regulations on architecture.

World's largest bell sits on the grounds of the Kremlin in Moscow.