The first nature reserve in Russia was opened on January 11, 1917. Now, a century later, Russia has over 494 million acres of nature reserves, big and small, that serve as home to countless unique species of plant and animal life.
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© Sputnik / Valeriy Melnikov
Osinovka River in Baikal National Nature Reserve.
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© Sputnik / Sergey Malgavko
Lake Koyash, located in the Opuksky Nature reserve in Crimea.
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© Sputnik / Maria Vashuk
A geyser eruption in the Valley of Geysers in the Kronotskt Nature Reserve on the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
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© Sputnik / Sergey Malgavko
Swan Islands Nature reserve in Crimea.
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© Photo : Igor Shpilenok
Katun Nature Reserve in Altai Region.
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© Sputnik / Valeriy Shustov
Teberda Nature Reserve.
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© Sputnik / Vyacheslav Bobkov
The coast of the western section of the Far East Marine Reserve, at the Peter the Great Gulf.
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© Sputnik / Vladimir Vyatkin
A bridge over River Biya near Lake Teletskoye in Altaisky Nature Reserve.
European bisons at the Orlovskoye Polesye National Park.
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© Sputnik / Alexey Kudenko
A 19th century chapel at the Kenozersky National Park.
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© Photo : Aleksander Leschyonok
Ubsunur Hollow State Biosphere Reserve in Tyva Republic.
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© Sputnik / N. Delvin
Lapland Nature Reserve in the Murmansk Region.
Bear Lake, the jewel of the Bureya Nature Reserve.
Alania National Park.
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© Sputnik / Yuriy Kaver
Losiny Ostrov (Elk Island) National Park.
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© Sputnik / Evgenya Novozhenina
The view of Efa's Height at the Curonian Split National Park.
Saiga antelopes seen in the Chyornye Zemli (Black Lands) Nature Reserve.
Coastline reserve at Cape Martyan at the Russian peninsula of Crimea.
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© Sputnik / V. Chin-Mo-Caj
The view of Cape Chelyuskin in the Great Arctic Reserve.
