Avoid Russia. It's not the human rights situation, their maniac president, or even all those crazy drivers trying to kill you. It's just that this unholy land will destroy you on its own, without any human intervention: Screaming meteors, massive fires, giant holes, and now living lakes hungry for human bodies.
I bet you put a 2-mile-long pole into that vortex and it will eat the entire thing.
Fuck this place, really. Don't go there.