Drone Videos of Russia's Urals and Volga Regions

Prepare to be amazed by this hyperlapse of drone footage from Russia's fourth largest city and one of its most important business centers.  Ekaterinburg lies on the eastern side of the Ural mountains, which divide the European and Asian continents.  It acts as the key gateway to the vast Siberian region which lies to its east.  Famously, it was the site of one of the great crimes of the 20th century: the muder of the Tsar of Russia and his family by Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1918.   

Prepare to be amazed by this astoundingly well done hyperlapse of the Ural Mountains in Russia.  Shot with a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone, the video take us over the stunning valleys of this range, which is the geological border between Europe and Russia.  The mountains run for thousands of mi/km, with Eastern European Russia on the west and Siberian Russia on the east.  With skillful use of hyperlapse editing it provides breathtaking footage of some of the world's most pristine wilderness.

Contributor and drone pilot Maksx created this marvelous video of Samara, an important city in Russia's Volga region.  It's the capital of the oblast (state) of the same name, and is one of the ten largest cities in Russia.  It is situated where the Samara River joins the Volga, the longest river in Europe and the most important of Russia's waterways.   Samara's position on the river is roughly midway between Nizhny Novgorod and Volgagrad, two of the other most important cities on the Volga.  

Nizhny Novgorod is one of the most important cities in Russia's Volga region.  It sits about halfway down the great waterway, the most important in the country.  During the Soviet era, the city was known as Gorky in honor of the great Russian writer.  One of Russia's great cultural centers, for a time in the Middle Ages it was a larger and more important city than Moscow.  Currently, it's the center of a signficant river tourism trade along the Volga.  Check it out from above in this drone video from robert_msk.  

Here's a spectacular drone video of an important landmark in Russia's Ural Mountains region.  It's called the Kesene Mausoleum, and it's located in the Chelyabinsky Province, near the small town of Varna.  It's also known as the Tower of Tamarlane, named after the great Turkic emperor Tamerlane, who terrorized Russia in much the same manner as Ghengis Khan a century earlier.  The landmark lies just to the east of the Ural Mountains, which act as the border between European and Asian Russia.  

Contributor krolik2010 created this beautiful drone video of Penza, a city on the Sura River in western Russia.  It's the capital of the oblast (province) of the same name, one of the 14 which make up the official Volga region of the country.   Situated just over 600 km (a bit under 400 mi.) southeast of Moscow, Penza was one of the fortress cities built to protect the capital city from invasion from the Eurasian Steppe.  With a population of about 500,000, it's one of the largest cities in the Volga region.  

Vladimir Zhilkov created this beautiful drone video of Ufa, capital of Russia's Bashkortostan province.  Baskkortostan is one of the 14 provinces which make up the country's Volga region.  It's situated at the confluence of the Ufa and Belaya Rivers, both of which are sourced from the Ural Mountains to the east.  Ufa has a population of over a million; Bashkortostan has a population of over four million and is the largest Russian republic on that measure.  

Amongst European rivers, the Volga is in a class by itself.  It's the longest river on the continent and also its largest by discharge volume.  Its 3.5k km (almost 2.2k mi.) course lies entirely within Russia, and most of the country's major cities are on the river or its tributaries.  In this drone video from Maksx, you'll get a great view of the river as it winds through Tolyatti, a mid-sized city which lies on one of the rivers great bends in its journey southwards towards the Caspian Sea.    

Contributor Vladimir Zhilko created this spectacular drone reel showing the highlights of his work across central Russia.  Most of it was shot around the Ural Mountains, which mark the divide between European and Asian Russia.  Watch it and you'll get a sense of the stunning natural beauty of the area, as well as the range of outdoor activities which take place in its vast open reaches.  Whether it's ATV riding, camping, boating, or any number of other activities, there is something for everyone here.