I remember playing Risk as a kid, and those two territories on the board were the only one’s I never heard of.
I always wanted to go to Irkutsk or Yakutsk
So has anyone been there? If so what was it like?
Warning: Off Topic.
In the Risk version I played as a child there was a “Kamchatka” territory, but no Irkutsk, In a Call of Cthulu campaign I played many years later, the GM invented a whole “Kamchaskan” ancient civilization, based on his dim memories of the Risk board :P.
Truth is stranger than fiction: the Itelmen.
It always pissed my brother off when I called them Irktusk and Yaktusk.
So I did that every time.
No, but I have always wanted to go to Archangel, Iceland, Svalbard and Tuva [because there are no vowels in the name of the capital city]
I have a friend who was in the State Dept and was posted to Irkutsk.
But did they build cyclopean buildings full of ominous stone tablets written in alien languages depicting Things that Man was not Meant to Know?
No, but I sure like saying them.
no, but they did have some interesting twists to their Love craft! 
I was in Irkutsk for about 24 hours, and then in a hotel near Irkutsk on the shores of Lake Baikal for another couple of days, in August of 1995. Irkutsk was very picturesque, and Lake Baikal is gorgeous (the Russians haven’t quite managed to pollute it yet). Things in Irkutsk were quite expensive - I ran into a lot of Japanese tourists (the Japanese are apparently very into ecotourism, and really skewed the local economy). The hotel restaurant even served sushi!
I wish I’d had more time there, and had been by myself rather than with a group of mostly very annoying American undergrads. I’d love to have the chance to go out on Lake Baikal in a canoe, rather than a motorboat that scared away most of the wildlife (there are many species in the lake that don’t exist anywhere else, including freshwater seals!).
Definitely a place worth visiting, if you happen to be in that neck of the woods. 
Did you visit the megalithical ruins?
Mor seriously:
Nah, I had no control over where we went. Stupid organized study abroad program - I would have been better off on my own.
I was in Irkutsk for a few days over Christmas of 1986. Did not see much of the outside even as we visited some factories and the university - Irkutsk in December is very much an indoor place (it was circa -28 … -30 °C then). The city centre seemed to be reasonably nice architecturally. Also went for a short cruise on Lake Baikal but unfortunately saw little because of fog. We went by rail there from Novosibirsk - restful even if a bit monotonous.
Uraguay and Paraguay.
I always wanted to go to Ikustsk but not because of Risk. It plays an important part in one of my favourite advetnures books, Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne
I passed through Irkutsk by train, coincidentally, like Eva Luna, also in August of 1995. I would have liked to have had some time to explore it.
Last time I was there, the whole place was overrun by a bunch of blue armies. Then, they were kicked out and replaced by a yellow army. Weirdly enough, both armies had roman numerals on their uniforms.
Hay! Insults are for the Pit!