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Russian Federation
Russia is the largest country in the world. Its total area is 17 million Km2 (
square kilometers). It spans two continents (Europe and Asia) and borders Poland, the Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic countries on the west, Finland on the north, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia and China on the south, and North Korea on TO the east. The United States and Japan are not far from the eastern coast of Russia.
The extreme northernmost point of the country's mainland is Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island of Franz Josef Land archipelago; the southernmost point is located in the Republic of Dagestan on the border with Azerbaijan. The distance between the western and the eastern borders of Russia is 9,000 km (from the Vistula Spit in Kaliningrad Bay to Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka); the easternmost point is Rotmanov Island in the Bering Strait. Thus ,Russia's territory spans over 4,000 km from north to south, and almost 10,000 km from west to east.
There are eleven time zones in Russia (more than in any other country in the world).
The capital of Russia is Moscow.
Geography
There are about 120,000 rivers over 10 kilometers long in Russia. The total length of these rivers is 2.3 million kilometers. The largest rivers are the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisey, Amur, and Volga in the European part of the country. There are about 2 million freshwater and salt lakes in Russia. The largest lakes are Lake Baikal(which holds about 20% of the world's total freshwater supply, not counting the fresh water frozen in the polar ice caps and glaciers), Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, and Lake Taimyr.
The forest zone covers 41% of Russia's plain lands; the share of the forest-steppe zone is 11.2% and the tundra forest belt 20.5%.
The coasts of Russia are washed by12 seas of three ocean basins: the Atlantic Ocean (the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov), the Arctic Ocean (the Barents Sea, the White Sea, the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchee Sea) and the Pacific Ocean (the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan), as well the Caspian Sea, which is a closed basin.
Climate
Due to its vast territory, Russia is a country of natural contrasts. The northern part of the country is located in the arctic and subarctic climate zones, while the southern regions have a subtropical climate. The climate of other regions of the country is moderate.
