Overview
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country with great history, home of famous scientists and a land of natural beauty. Moscow is the capital of Russia and Vladimir Putin is the President of the Russian Federation.
Russia (formerly known as USSR — United State of Soviet Republic) covers an area of 17,075,500 km², making it the largest country in the world, followed by Canada, China and USA. Russia occupies most of eastern Europe and northern Asia. It 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's bordered by Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China and North Korea. Russia's borders stretch for a total of 58,562 km (with 14,253 km bordering other states and 44,309 km bordering the sea).
Little History
Russia was formed in 882 as a kingdom of selective cities of western Russia including Kiev. That time Kiev was the center of a trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, and Kievan Rus. In 989 Vladimir I was the ruler of the kingdom which extended as far south as the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the lower reaches of the Volga River.
During 1237–1613 Russia was under the influence of the Mongols. In 1237 Batu Khan, a grandson of Jenghiz Khan invaded into Kievan Rus. In 1480, Grand Duke Ivan III gathered Russia's strength within Moscow and became strong enough to face off the Mongols. In 1552 he conquered Kazan and Astrakhan. In 1613 Michael Romanov was elected as Tsar, and the Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for 304 years until the Russian Revolution brought an end to the Tsarist state.
By the 19th century Russia had expanded its territory and power considerably. In 1990 the Russian Republic ended the Soviet era and declared its independence.
Climate
Most of the area of Russia is located in the temperate belt. Russia has all the climatic zones except tropical: tundra, forest-tundra, forests, forest-steppes and semi-deserts. The climate is mostly continental, characterized by a big difference between summer and winter temperatures. Average January temperatures are from 0 to -5°C in western Russia, but sometimes -40°C in other parts. The average July temperatures are from 1 to 25°C.
Nature
The majority of rivers are located in the Arctic Ocean basin (Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei and Lena). Russia's main river, the Volga, flows to the Caspian Sea. Generally, Russia has about 3 million km of rivers. The largest lakes are Caspian, Baikal, Ladoga, Onega and Taimir. Lake Baikal is the largest fresh-water lake in the world, with a maximum depth of 1,620 m. Forests cover about 40% of the entire Russian territory.
Natural Resources
Russia has many natural resources including major deposits of oil, coal, natural gas, many strategic minerals, diamonds and timber. The largest oil-and-gas deposits can be found in Western and Eastern Siberia and on Sakhalin Island. The list of Russian mineral deposits includes gold, silver, platinum, cobalt, antimony, zinc, mercury, and many others. Russia abounds in mineral resources whose total potential value (in world prices) is estimated at an impressive $30 trillion.
Population & Society
Russia has the world's fifth largest population (148.8 million people) after China, India, the United States and Indonesia. Russia is a multiethnic society. The largest ethnic groups include Russians (81.5%), Tatars (3.8%), Ukrainians (3%), Chuvash (1.2%), Bashkir (0.9%), Byelorussians (0.8%), Moldavians (0.7%), etc. Over 80% of the population name Russian as their native language. Russia has equal religious diversity, with the main religions being Russian Orthodox Christianity and Muslim — overall over 150 confessions across the country. All in all, 73% of Russian citizens live in urban areas.
The Russian Federation has 1,067 major cities, with 13 of them inhabited by one million or more people each. Administratively, Russia is divided into 21 republics, 6 krays, 49 regions, 1 autonomous region and 10 autonomous areas.
Culture & Folk Art
Russia has over 50,000 state public libraries in total possession of over a billion books. There are about 1,500 museums (historical, ethnographic, memorial, of folk crafts, fine and applied arts, theatre, music, natural sciences, technology and many others). Twenty open-air ethnographic museums present folk architecture, arts and everyday life. Today, folk art in Russia survives in two basic forms – handicrafts practiced on a broad scale and works of art created by gifted persons working at home.