The Russian Federation is a country that stretches widely in eastern Europe and northern Asia.
With an area of 17,075,400 km², it is the largest country in the world. Its territory is approximately twice that of the People's Republic of China (China), Canada or the United States. Its population is ranked seventh in the world after China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan.
This country was once the largest state of the Soviet Union. Russia was the main heir of the Soviet Union; This country inherited 50% of the population, 2/3 of the area, and approximately 50% of its economic assets and weapons.
Currently he is trying hard to achieve status as a superpower again. Although it is an important country, its status is still far from the status of the former Soviet Union.
Russia's territory is located on the European continent, especially Eastern Europe and the continent of Asia, where the Ural Mountains are the boundary between the two continents. The largest area is Siberia, which generally has a tundra climate.
Due to its location in the northernmost hemisphere, the territorial waters of this country are generally covered with ice with several ice-free seas, namely the Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea which are part of the Arctic or the North Pole, and the North Pole Sea. The Bering, Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan are part of the Pacific Ocean.
Russia has several islands, including Novaya Zemlya, the mainland of Franz-Josef, the New Siberian archipelago, the island of Wrangel in the Arctic Ocean, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin (which are still in dispute with Japan).
It has several rivers, including the Dnepr River (border with Ukraine) and the Volga River. In addition there is the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea bordering Turkey.
Through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, his ships from the Black Sea could sail to the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.
Despite the population of 142 million, the country has a low population density due to its large area. The highest population density is in the European part of Russia, in the Ural Mountains region and in southwest Siberia.
The southeastern part of Siberia that meets the Pacific Ocean is sparsely inhabited, while the southern part is the most densely populated.
There are more than 160 different ethnic groups and indigenous tribes in the country. According to the 2002 census, 79.8% of the population is ethnic Russian, 3.8% Tatar, 2% Ukrainian, 1.2% Bashkir, 1.1% Chuvash, 0.9% Chechen, 0.8% Armenian.
The remaining 10.3% include non-tribal peoples as well as Avars, Azerbaijanis, Belarusians, Buryats, Hans, Evenks, Georgians, Germans, Greeks, Ingush, Inuits, Jews, Kalmyks, Karelians, Kazakhs, Koreans, Mari's, Mordvins , Nenetse, Ossetian, Polish, Tuvan, Udmurt, Uzbek, Yakut and others.
Almost all of these groups live in their respective areas; only Russian tribes can be found in significant numbers throughout the country.
Russian is the only official language of the country, but the country's republics often help designate their regional language as a second official language. The Cyrillic alphabet is the only official form of writing.
The Orthodox Church is the most dominant Christian religion. Islam is the second largest religion. Other religions include various Protestant sects, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, and Buddhism.
A person's religion generally depends on their respective ethnicity. The Russians are mostly Orthodox while those of Turkic descent are Muslim.