The species is endemic to Central Asia from the Caspian Sea south through Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and east across Kazakhstan to Xinjiang, China.

[9][full citation needed] However, in 2021, it was again reclassified in Testudo by the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group and the Reptile Database, with Agrionemys being relegated to a distinct subgenus that T. horsfieldii belonged to.

Despite preferring arid environments primarily, Russian tortoises can survive well where humidity is 70 percent, and actually need some rain to soften the soil so they can dig their burrows.

[14] These burrows can be as deep as 2 meters (6 ft 7 in), where it retreats during the midday heat and at night, only emerging to forage at dawn or dusk when temperatures drop.

In captivity, Russian tortoises' diet typically consists of lamb's lettuce, plantains and various other dark leafy greens.

The Russian tortoise's natural diet consists of herbaceous and succulent vegetation including grasses, twigs, flowers and some fruits.

Tortoises typically empty their bowels in water to hide their scent; this is an instinct, and it also helps keep their enclosure cleaner.

In September 1968 two Russian tortoises flew to the Moon, circled it, and returned safely to Earth on the Soviet Zond 5 mission.