[pbradley]

Facts about Siberia:

• From east to west, Siberia covers nine time zones while the continental United States covers three.

• Siberia contains the largest flat plain in the world.

• Siberia is home to a massive meteor impact that flattened trees for hundreds of mile, but took five years to investigate because officials could not get to the remote location.

• The diamond deposits in Siberia are so extensive, non-Russian countries pay Russia not to mine them because of a fear the diamond market would collapse.

• Oil and gas from Siberia make up nearly 40 percent of all revenues in Russia.

• Most cities in Siberia exist because the communist leaders decided to build them to exploit natural resources. Once built, Russians were rounded up and forced to move.

• Gold is so plentiful that a $2,000 gold bracelet costs about $35 in cities such as Chita as of 2004.