The Russian Federation

The Russian Federation is one of the largest countries in the world. The vast territory of Russia lies in the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia.

Russia is washed by twelve seas: the White Sea, the Barents Sea, the Okhotsk Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and the others.

Russia borders on many countries such as Mongolia and China in the south-east, Finland and Norway in the north-west and so on.

The land of Russia varies very much from forests to deserts, from high mountains to deep valleys. Russia is located on two plains. They are: the Great Russian Plain and the Western Siberian Plain. The main mountain chains are the Urals, the Caucasus and the Altai. There are a lot of great rivers and deep lakes on its territory. The longest rivers are the Volga in Europe and the Ob, the Enisei and the Lena in Asia. The largest lake is Ladoga. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and its water is the purest on the earth.

The climate in Russia varies from arctic in the north to continental in the central part of the country and subtropical in the south. The coldest areas are in the extreme North and in the northern part of Siberia.

The Russian Federation is rich in natural and mineral resources. Its vast mineral deposits include oil and natural gas, coal, iron, tin, lead, nickel, gold and many other riches.

The current population of Russia is more than 150 million people. Russia is a multinational state, over 100 nationalities live in it, each with its own language, culture and traditions. The European part of the country is densely populated, and most population lives in cities and towns and their outskirts.

The history of Russia is rich and dramatic. The Russian people and the Russian land had seen terrible times of wars, famine and disasters and glorious times of great victories, prosperity. The most terrible war that the Russian people had gone through was the Second World War or the Great Patriotic War. That war had been going on for four long years. All the world should be thankful to Russian soldiers for their victory in that hard, long and devastating war, for they had rescued the world from the horrors of fascism and slavery.

Russia is a presidential republic, with the President at the head of the state. It became an independent state in 1991. Formerly it had been part of the USSR which included 15 Union republics. Now it is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS for short).

Today the state symbol of Russia is a three-colored banner. It has three horizontal stripes: white, blue and red. The white stripe symbolizes the earth, the blue stands for the sky and the red one symbolizes liberty.

Russia has always played an important role in the world, it is one of the leading powers. Russia is a unique country, it has a lot to be proud of, it has the great past and the promising future.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-02