Geography and Climate

The Russian Federation, or Russia, is the largest country in the world. Its total area is over 17 million square kilometres. It occupies most of Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia. Russia stretches from the Baltic Sea in the West to the Pacific Ocean in the East and from the Arctic Ocean in the North to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the South.

It is borders on Norway and Finland in the north-west, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and the Ukraine in the West, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the south-west, and Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China along the southern border.

The land of Russia varies from thick forests to barren deserts, from high peaked mountains to deep valleys. The Russian Federation is located on two plains, Great Russian Plain and West Siberian Lowland. The longest mountain chains are the Urals, separating Europe from Asia, the Caucasus, and the Altai. Russia’s most important rivers are the Volga, Europe’s biggest river, flowing into the Caspian Sea; the main Siberian rivers (the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena), and the Amur in the Far East, flowing into the Pacific Ocean. The total number of rivers in Russia is over two thousand. The world’s deepest lake – Lake Baikal, with the depth of 1600 metres, is situated in Russia, too.

The climate in Russia varies from arctic in the north to continental in the central part of the country and subtropical in the south.

The current population of Russia is about 142 million people. It is a multinational state and comprises many national districts, several autonomous republics and regions.

Russia’s vast mineral resources include oil and natural gas, coal, iron, zinc, lead, nickel aluminum, gold and other non-ferrous metals. Russia has the world’s largest oil and natural gas resources. Three-quarters of the republic’s mineral wealth is concentrated in Siberia and the Far East.

The capital of the Russian Federation is Moscow, with the population of about 11 million people. It’s the largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre of the country. Russian is the official language of the state.

Russia is a presidential republic. It is headed by the President. The country government consists of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial.