A visit to Russia today is an encounter with an undiscovered
land, a vast array of exciting and ancient cultures, from the
glittering imperial Russia of St Petersburg to the timeless village
life of Siberia and Irkutsk. Russia today is a renewed celebration
of the wealth of its past and irs potential for the future.
The Russian Federation,
better known as Russia, is a transcontinental country stretching
from the Atlantic Ocean in the West to the Pacific Ocean
in the East. With an area of 17 million sq km, and spanning
eleven time zones and two continents, it is the largest
country in the world, covering almost twice the area of
the next biggest country, Canada. It shares land borders
with Norway & Finland in the Northwest to China, Mongolia
& North Korea in the South East. It is separated from
the United States and Japan by mere 80 to 100 km stretches
of ocean.
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| The Russian Federation, though
founded only after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is
recognized as the continuing legal personality of the Soviet
Union. Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council,
the leading member of the CIS, a future superpower and a part
of the G8 and other global organizations.
Russia has the world's eighth largest population at over
141 million. The majority of the people follow the Russian
Orthodox Church, while there is a significant proportion
following Islam, and a small minority of other religions.
The main language of the country is Russian, but there are
a number of other minority languages spoken in the country. |
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Russia has an incredible wealth of natural resources such
as oil, natural gas, coal, minerals and timber. While many
major rivers such as the Volga, Don & Ob flow through
the country, it is also endowed with enormous resources
of fresh water lakes such as the Lake Baikal which alone
holds over 20% of the world's total fresh water. Russia
is well ahead of most other resource rich countries in its
economic development, excelling especially in Engineering,
Medicine, Science and Aerospace.
Due to the different geographical regions in the country,
the climate is also varied, from cool to frigid in winter
and humid to cool in summer. The average temperature in
summer is + 20° C, autumn from + 10°C to - 5°
C, winter from + 5 °C to -20° C and spring from
-5°C to +15° |
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