Facts about Russia
Learn about the world’s largest country
Official Name: Russian Federation
Form of Government: Federation
Capital: Moscow
Population: 144, 125, 000
Official Language: Russian
Money: Ruble
Area: 17, 075, 200 square kilometres
Major Mountain ranges: Ural, Altay
Major Rivers: Amur, Irtysh, Lena, Ob, Volga, Yenisey
Russian flag
Russian flag
Map of Russia
Map of Russia
Russia: geography and landscape
As the world’s largest country, Russia occupies one-tenth of all the land on Earth. It
spans 11 time zones across two continents (Europe and Asia) and has shores on three
oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Ocean).
The Russian landscape varies from sandy and frozen deserts, tall mountains to giant
flat lands. Much of Russia is made up of rolling, treeless plains called “steppes”. The
region of Siberia, which occupies three-quarters of Russia, is dominated by sprawling
pine forests called “taigas”.
The Russian landscape varies from desert to frozen coastline, tall mountains to giant marshes
Russia has around 100,000 rivers, including some of the longest and most powerful in
the world. It also has many lakes, including Ladogaand Onega (Europe’s two largest
lakes), and Lake Baikal, which contains more water than any other lake on Earth.
Russia’s wildlife and nature
As Russia is so huge, it’s no surprise that this incredible country is home to a large
number of ecosystems and different species. Its forests, steppes and tundras provide
habitat for many rare animals, including Asiatic black bears, snow leopards, polar bears,
and small, rabbit-like mammals called pikas.
Russia’s first national parks were set up in the 19th century, but decades of unregulated
pollution have taken a toll on many of the country’s wild places. To help protect and
restore the country’s natural beauty, strict nature reserves have been established,
known as zapovedniks.
Russia’s most famous animal species is the Siberian tiger, the largest cat in the world.
It lives in the forests of eastern Russia, these endangered giants can grow to over 3m
long, and weigh up to 300kg.
Siberian tigers are well adapted to life in the snowy mountains of Russia
History of Russia
The earliest human settlements in Russia lived around A.D. 500, as Scandinavians
moved south to areas around the upper Volga River. These settlers mixed with Slavs
from the west and built a fortress that would eventually become the Ukrainian city
of Kiev.
Kiev evolved into an empire that ruled most of European Russia for 200 years, then
broke up into Ukraine, Belarus and Muscovy. Muscovy’s capital, Moscow, remained a
small trading post until the 13th century, when Mongol invasions in the south drove
people to settle in Moscow.
In the 1550s, Muscovite ruler Ivan IV became Russia’s first tsar (Russian emperor) after
driving the Mongols out of Kiev and unifying the region. In 1682, Peter the
Great became tsar at the age of just ten, and for 42 years he worked to make Russia
more modern and more European.
Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg was built between 1748 and 1765
In 1917, Russians, unhappy with their government, overthrew the tsar and formed a
new elected government. Just a few months later, however, a communist group called
the Bolsheviks seized power. Their leader, Vladimir Lenin, created the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) from Russia and 11 other countries.
The U.S.S.R. fought on the side of the United States in World War II. But soon after the
war ended in 1945, relations between the two powers and their allies became strained,
leading to what’s known as the Cold War. After decades of conflict, the Cold War ended
in 1991 with the break up of the Soviet Union.
Russian people and culture
There are about 120 ethnic groups in Russia who speak more than a hundred
languages. Roughly 80 percent of Russians trace their ancestry to the Slavs who settled
in the country 1,500 years ago. Other major groups include Tatars, who came with the
Mongol invaders, and Ukrainians.
Russia is known all over the world for its thinkers and artists, including writers like Leo
Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and
ballet dancers like Rudolf Nureyev.
The Cathedral of the Annunciation is connected to Moscow’s Grand Kremlin Palace.
Russian economy and government
Russia’s history as a democracy is short. The country’s first election, which took place
in 1917, was quickly reversed by the Bolsheviks, and it wasn’t until the 1991 election
of Boris Yeltsin that democracy took hold.
Russia is a federation of 86 republics, provinces, territories and districts, all controlled
by the government in Moscow. The head of state is a president elected by the people.
The economy is based on a vast supply of natural resources, including oil, coal, iron
ore, gold and aluminium.
The 1993 Russian formally declared Russia to be a “democratic federal law-
bound State with a republican form of government”. Thus, it is considered to be a
democracy. However not really!
On paper, Russia is a federal democratic state.
In practice, however, many regard it as a dictatorship built around one man,
President Vladimir Putin, who has been the leader of the Russian Federation
since the year 2000. Since Putin took power, experts believe the government
and all its departments have been made to serve him and those close to him.
Today, many believe that Putin now controls all of the power in the country.
In the 2018 Presidential election, the candidates that were supposedly running
against Vladimir Putin (the current Russian president) were fake as they
were hand-picked by the Kremlin. One of the strongest opposition candidates
who was the one to expose the corruption within the Russian Government, was
not able to run against Putin. Therefore, not making the 2018 election free and
fair at all
