Russia, with an area of 6,592,800 square miles (17,075,400 square kilometers),  is the world's largest country, which covers almost twice the territory of either the United States or Australia. It ranks sixth in the world in population, following China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. The great majority of the people are Russians, but there are also about 70 smaller national groups living within its borders. Most of the population is concentrated in a great triangle in the western, or European, part of the country, although over the past three centuries - and particularly during the early and mid-20th century - there was a steady flow of people eastward to the Asiatic section commonly referred to as Siberia.

To the north and east Russia is bounded by the Arctic and Pacific oceans, and by the Baltic Sea at St. Petersburg and at the detached Russian oblast (province) of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithunania. On the south Russia borders Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, while on the south-west and west it borders Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as Finland and Norway.

Extending nearly halfway around the northern hemisphere and covering much of eastern and north-eastern Europe as well as the whole of northern Asia, Russia has a maximum east-west extent, along the Arctic Circle, of some 7,700 kilometers and a north-south width of 2,011 to 2,976 kilometers . Russia has an enormous variety of landforms and landscapes. Arctic deserts lie in the extreme north, giving way southward to the tundra and then to the forest zones, which cover about half of the country and give it much of its character. South of the forest zone lies the wooded steppe and steppe, beyond which are small sections of semidesert along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. Much of the federation lies in latitudes where the winter cold is intense and there are many rivers, lakes, and swamps, which are freeze in winter.

Owing to its vast size and the fact that most of Russian's territory is far removed from any ocean, the climate throughout the country is extremely continental, with distinct periods of warm and cold weather. The continentality of Russia's climate increases as one travels east, with average temperature differences between the warmest (July) and coldest (January) periods in Eastern Siberia, for example, varying as much as 65 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit). There is, however, much variation in climate based on latitude and physical geography. Temperatures for Moscow and St. Petersburg range from highs of 32 C in the summer to low - 25 C in winter.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Capital city - Moscow

Russia covers an Eastern part of Europe and a Northern part of Asia

Territory:

17,075.4 sq. km (45% - forested land, 4% - waters

13% - cultivated land,

19% - pasture, 19% - other land).

Russia is washed by:

The Northern Ice Ocean seas:

Barents, White, Karsk, Laptev,

Eastern Siberian, Tchukotka

The Pacific Ocean seas: Bering, Okhotka, Japanese

The Atlantic Ocean seas: Baltic, Black, Azov

The largest islands, thos.sq.km:

Archipelago New Land	82.6
Sakhalin	76.4
Novosibirsk Archipelago	38
Archipelago Northern Land	37

State Borders:

At North-West - with Norway and Finland

At West - with Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus'

At South-West - with Ukraine

At South - with Georgia, Azerbajan and Kazakhstan

At South-East - with China, Mongolia and Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea

At East (sea) - with USA and Japan

The longest rivers (km):

Lena	4,400
Irtysh	4,248
Yenissey	4,102
Ob'	3,650
Volga	3,530
Amur	2,824

The largest lakes, thos.sq.km:

Baikal	31.5
Ladoga	18.1
Onega	9.7

The highest mountain:

Elbrus

5,642

THE LARGEST CITIES OF RUSSIA

	Population, ths. (1997)	Distance from Moscow, km
Moscow	9,500
St. Petersburg	4,239	651
Nizhnii Novgorod	1,376	439
Novosibirsk	1,368	3,191
Ekaterinburg	1,278	1,667
Samara	1,175	1,098
Omsk	1,160	2,555
Ufa	1,096	1,519
Chelyabinsk	1,083	1,919
Kazan'	1,085	797
Perm'	1,028	1,386
Rostov-on-Don	1,025	1,226
Volgograd	1,003	1,073

The largest and the best equipped sea trade ports of Russia are: Saint Petersburg, Archangelsk, Murmansk, Vyborg, Kaliningrad, Novorossisk, Tuapse, Makhachkala, Vostochny, Vanino, Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Kholmsk, Magadan.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE

OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The Russian Federation is a democratic legally-based federal state with a republican form of government (Article 1 of the Russian Constitution).

The executive, legislative and judicial power in the Russian Federation is vested in a President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, Federal Assembly (the Council of the Federation and the State Duma), courts of the Russian Federation.

The President of the Russian Federation is given executive power and is elected for a term of four years in a  universal vote by secret ballot (Articles 80, 81).

Federal Assembly - the Parliament of the Russian Federation is vested with representative and legislative power and is composed of two Houses - the Council of the Federation and of the State Duma. The Council of the Federation comprises two representatives from each state of the Russian Federation.

The State Duma consists of 450 deputies and is elected every four years (Articles 94, 95).

PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION - Vladimir V. Putin

Public holidays:

January 1 and 2	New Year
7-January	Orthodox Christmas Day
8-March	International Women Day
May 1 and 2	Spring and Labour Day
9-May	Victory Day
12-June	Day of the adoption of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the Russian Federation
7-November	Consent and Reconciliation Day
12-December	Constitution Day

National currency - Russian rouble (1 rouble = 100 kopecks)

Population - over 145.7 million people (estimate 1999)

Languages - Russian (official), with over 100 other languages and dialects

Education - 99% literacy

Religion - Russian Orthodox, Islam, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, other

ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

The Russian Federation consists of the following administrative divisions: 21 autonomous republics, 49 oblasts (provinces), 10 autonomous okrugs (ethnic districts), six krais (territories), and the two federal cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

ETHNIC DIVERSITY

The territory of Russia is home to more than 100 different ethnic groups representing a multiplicity of national histories and cultures and many distinct language groups, including Indo-European Slavic, Turkic, Finno-Ugric and others. The vast majority of the population - over four fifths - consists of ethnic Russians with another four percent consisting of Ukrainians and Belarusians.