Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world (about 17 million square kilometres).
The country is located on two continents: Europe and Asia. The northern borders of Russia are in the polar zone. In the east, Russia borders with North Korea and China, in the south – with the Republic of Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Georgia, in the west – with Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania. Only 14 neighbouring countries.

Russian border points:
1. Russia – Norway
2. Russia – Finland
3. Russia – Estonia
4. Russia – Lithuania
5. Russia – Latvia
6. Russia – Poland
7. Russia – Ukraine
8. Russia – Georgia / Abkhazia
9. Russia-Belarus

Air traffic

In Russia, there are 143 airports. The largest of them are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk.

Railway

Railways are important transport in Russia. The Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok (9,288 kilometers), the longest railway line in the world.

Waterways

Inland navigation has been expanded to 102,000 kilometres of waterways. Waterways in the European part of Russia connect the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, inland lakes and the White Sea. The largest ports are Vladivostok (Pacific Ocean), St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad (Baltic Sea), Murmansk, Arkhangelsk (Arctic), as well as Sevastopol, Novorossiysk and Sochi (Black Sea).

Flora and fauna

Russian nature is very picturesque: large rivers of Central Russia (Volga, Ural), wide grain fields and gardens of the Kuban, mountains with a white snow crown in the Russian Caucasus.
The climate in Russia is heterogeneous due to its huge size. On the Black Sea coast, a moderately cold, temperate subtropical climate.
A typical continental climate with microclimatic and dry winters prevails from the coast of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The temperature difference between winter and summer is great.

Religion and Nationality

Many churches represent the religion in Russia: the Russian Orthodox Church, Islam, Buddhism, Protestant Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, Old Believers, Judaism, Ethnic Religions.
In Russia, people of different nationalities live with their own languages, cultures, religions, customs and traditions, their own culinary traditions.
In the Russian Federation live Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Chuvashs, Jews, Bashkirs, Belarusians, Ingush, Buryats, Yakuts, etc.
Russia is famous for many outstanding artists, scientists, writers, poets and composers.

National Russian food:

As appetizers can be a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers, pickled fish, sausage, stuffed eggs.
Borscht (soup) is a beef broth with beets and cabbage, which is eaten with sour cream, cabbage soup (cabbage and meat soup), dumplings with meat filling, baked or fried pies (the filling may consist of cottage cheese, mushrooms, cabbage, potatoes or minced meat), all this is an integral part of Russian cuisine.

Typical Russian drinks:

Kvass is a national cereal drink.
Mead (alcoholic drink) based on honey or sometimes from different berries.
Residents of Russia prefer black tea, it used to be a tradition to have a tea party with a samovar (a large metal kettle with a tap).

The population of the Russian Federation is 146,880,432 people.
The capital of the country is Moscow.
National language – Russian.
The currency is the Russian ruble.

Holidays

New Year (January 1-5), Russian Orthodox Christmas (January 7), Defender of the Motherland Day (February 23), International Women's Day (March 8), Spring Day and Labour Day (May 1), Victory Day (May 9), Day of Russia (June 12), Day of Unity of the People (November 4)

Emergency phone:
Emergency / Police: 112 or 02
Fire Station: 112 or 01
Ambulances: 112 or 03