Map taken from lonelyplanet.com

 

OFFICIAL NAME: Russian Federation
CAPITAL: Moscow
SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT: Federal Multiparty Republic
AREA: 17,075,400 Sq Km (6,592,800 Sq Mi) 
ESTIMATED 2000 POPULATION 148,518,500

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY: Russia occupies a large area of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is bound by the Barents Sea and Norway to the northwest, Finland, the Gulf of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus to the west, Ukraine, the Black Sea, Georgia and Azerbaijan to the southwest, the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China to the south, the Sea of Japan to the southeast, the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea to the east, the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas to the northeast as well as the Laptev Sea, Arctic Ocean and Kara Sea to the north. Around 70% of the total land area consists of broad plains. In the west lies the East European Plain which includes the low Valdai, Central Russian and Volga Hills as well as the Oka-Don and Caspian Lowlands. The north to south Ural Ranges, which have an average elevation of between 800 and 1,200 metres (2,625 and 3,937 feet), marks the eastern boundary of the East European Plain. Further east, the flat and broad West Siberian Plain, which contains marshy lowlands, gives way to the strongly uplifted Middle Siberian Plateau. A complex chain of deep river valleys cut the undulating plateau and in various places high mountains rise above the plateau's surface. Further east the plateau transforms into the Central Yakut Plain. The mountainous regions are predominant in the east and south, although the northern ranges of the Greater Caucasus which include the country's highest point Mt. El'Brus at 5,642 metres (18,510 feet) and others are also found in European Russia. Many active volcanoes are also found along the Pacific coast of the Far East and throughout the Kuril Islands. Russia also contains some 2 million fresh and saltwater lakes as well as many glaciers in the Arctic and high mountain regions. In addition, there are also around 120,000 rivers in the northern area of Siberia with most icebound for eight months of the year. Major Cities (pop. est.); Moscow 8,570,000, Petersburg 4,321,000, Nizhny Novgorod 1,425,000, Novosibirsk 1,418,000, Yekaterinburg 1,347,000, Samara 1,223,000, Omsk 1,161,000, Chelyabinsk 1,125,000, Kazan 1,092,000, Ufa 1,092,000, Perm 1,086,000, (1994). Land Use; forested 46%, pastures 5%, agricultural-cultivated 8%, other 41% (1993).
 

CLIMATE: Russia's climate is almost universally continental, although it increases from west to east as the Atlantic Ocean's influence decreases. The climate of East Siberia is severely continental while the northern areas have an arctic climate. In the southern areas of the Far East, the monsoonal climate is influenced by the Pacific Ocean resulting in moderately warm and rainy summer conditions while winter is cold with little snow. Throughout Russia, winters are cold while summers are hot in the south and relatively warm elsewhere. Snow cover lasts from 60 to 80 days in the south and from 260 to 280 days in the Far North with the northern areas of the Far East experiencing permafrost. Rainfall is highest in the westerly mountain regions which has an average annual precipitation of up to 2,000 mm (79 inches) while on the East European Plain it averages between 600 and 700 mm (24 to 27.5 inches) and up to 1,000 (39 inches) in the southern areas of the Far East. Average temperature ranges in Moscow are from -16 to -9 degrees Celsius (3 to 16 degrees Fahrenheit) in January to 13 to 23 degrees Celsius (5 to 73 degrees Fahrenheit) in July.

CURRENCY: The official currency is the Rouble (R) divided into 100 Kopecks.
 

ECONOMY: Gross National Product; USD $349,062,000,000 (1993). Public Debt; USD $130,800,000,000 (1995). Imports; USD $28,135,000,000 (1994). Exports; USD $49,935,000,000 (1994). Tourism Receipts; N/A. Balance of Trade; USD $21,800,000,000 (1994). Economically Active Population; 74,590,000 or 50.4% of total population (1994). Unemployed; 18.1% (1995).