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Russian Federation
Rossijskaja Federacija
   Despite the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia remained by far the largest country in the world, just think that it goes from 28° east longitude near the Baltic Republics to 170° west of the Bering Strait! The territory obviously presents many different situations, such as the vast Siberian flatlands, the Ural chain that divides Asian Russia from the European one, the Caucasus and the largest lake on the planet, the Caspian Sea, even large islands in the Arctic Ocean; due to the climatic conditions of most of Russia, the population is not large compared to the available surface area, but is concentrated in more favorable zones such as the Volga area.
Government type Federal semi-presidential republic
Area 17,098,242 kmē (6,601,668 sq mi)
Population 144,707,000 inh. (2021 census)
Population 146,151,000 inh. (2024 est.)
Population density 8.5 inh/kmē (22 inh/miē)
Capital Moscow (13,010,000 pop., 17,878,000 urban aggl.)
Currency Russian ruble
Human development index 0.822 (52nd place)
Languages Russian (official)
Life expectancy M 70 years, F 79 years
Location in Asia and Europe

Boundaries:

Lithuania NORTH and Poland SOUTH (Kaliningrad)
Norway NORTH-WEST
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and Baltic Sea WEST
Ukraine and Black Sea SOUTH-WEST
Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and North Korea SOUTH
Arctic Ocean NORTH
Pacific Ocean EAST

GEOGRAPHY DATA OF RUSSIA


Largest cities
Moscow 13,010,000 pop., 17,878,000 urban aggl.
Saint Petersburg 5,602,000 pop., 5,750,000 urban aggl.
Novosibirsk 1,634,000 pop., 1,752,000 urban aggl.
Yekaterinburg 1,544,000 pop.
Kazan 1,309,000 pop.
Nižnij Novgorod 1,226,000 pop., 1,635,000 urban aggl.
Chelyabinsk 1,190,000 pop.
Krasnojarsk 1,188,000 pop.
Samara 1,173,000 pop.
Ufa 1,145,000 pop.
Rostov-on-Don 1,142,000 pop., 1,264,000 urban aggl.
Omsk 1,126,000 pop.
Krasnodar 1,099,000 pop.
Voronezh 1,069,000 pop.
Perm 1,034,000 pop.
Volgograd 1,028,000 pop., 1,324,000 urban aggl.
Saratov 901,000 pop., 1,083,000 urban aggl.
Highest mountains
Mount Elbrus 5,642 m (18,510 ft)
Dykh-Tau 5,205 m (17,077 ft)
Shkhara 5,193 m (17,037 ft)
Longest rivers
Yenisey (with Selenga and Angara) 5,539 km (3,442 mi) total, including Mongolian part
Ob (with Irtysh) 5,410 km (3,362 mi) total, including first sections in China and Kazakhstan
Amur 4,444 km (2,761 mi) total, with Chinese part
Lena 4,337 km (2,695 mi)
Volga 3,531 km (2,194 mi)
Nizhnyaya Tunguska 2,989 km (1,857 mi)
Vilyuy 2,650 km (1,647 mi)
Ishim 2,450 km (1,522 mi) total, the longest part is in Kazakhstan
Ural 2,428 km (1,509 mi) total, including Kazakh section
Olenyok 2,292 km (1,424 mi)
Aldan 2,273 km (1,412 mi)
Dnieper 2,201 km (1,368 mi) total, including Belarusian and Ukrainian parts
Kolyma 2,129 km (1,323 mi)
Largest lakes
Caspian Sea 371,000 kmē (143,244 sq mi) total, shared with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan
Baikal 31,500 kmē (12,162 sq mi)
Ladoga 17,700 kmē (6,834 sq mi)
Onega 9,700 kmē (3,745 sq mi)
Taymyr 4,560 kmē (1,761 sq mi)
Khanka 4,190 kmē (1,618 sq mi) total, 3,030 kmē (1,170 sq mi) in Russia
Peipus 3,555 kmē (1,373 sq mi) total, including Estonian part
Largest islands
Sakhalin 76,400 kmē (29,498 sq mi)
Severny Novaya Zemlya 48,904 kmē (18,882 sq mi)
Yuzhny Novaya Zemlya 33,275 kmē (12,848 sq mi)
Kotelny 23,165 kmē (8,944 sq mi)
October Revolution Island 14,170 kmē (5,471 sq mi)
Bolshevik Island 11,312 kmē (4,368 sq mi)
Komsomolets 9,006 kmē (3,477 sq mi)
Wrangel Island 7,866 kmē (3,037 sq mi)
New Siberia 6,201 kmē (2,394 sq mi)
Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island 5,185 kmē (2,002 sq mi)
Kolguyev 4,968 kmē (1,918 sq mi)

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS OF RUSSIA

   Russia is administratively divided into federal entities of various types, with therefore a different level of autonomy and control by the state: 46 regions, 21 republics, 9 territories (krais), 4 autonomous districts, 1 autonomous province and 2 cities; the Republic of Sakha (or Yakutia) with over 3 million square kilometers of surface area is the largest subdivision, followed by the Krasnoyarsk Krai, also with a considerable area, exceeding 2 million kmē; the city of Moscow is instead the most populous federal entity, despite being the penultimate by extension, while among the regions the Moscow Oblast prevails, thanks to the inclusion of a part of the urban agglomeration of the capital.

   16 Russian cities have at least 1 million inhabitants, but only Moscow and St. Petersburg can be considered metropolises; the distribution of the major urban centers is rather unbalanced towards the European part of the country, with the main cities in Asia located mostly in the south-western area.



Moscow



Useful links

Russia Statistical Service
Russia Travel