The name of the country Russia comes from the ancient name “Rus”, the official name of the country is the Russian Federation. The country is located partly in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Today, the Russian Federation is the largest country on the globe and is in ninth place in terms of the number of inhabitants. Previously, Russia was part of the Soviet Union, and after its collapse, the whole world recognized that this particular country was the successor country of the USSR. By the way, it was after the collapse of the Soviet Union that Russia was admitted to the UN international organization. Russia also plays a very serious role in a number of other organizations, such as the CIS, CAC, EurAsEC, SCO, CSTO, APEC and others.
Geography of Russia
According to collegesanduniversitiesinusa, Russia is located on one mainland, but in two continents – Asia and Europe. From the south and southeast, Russia has a border with China, also, from the southeast of Russia, North Korea is located, and in the South – Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia and Georgia. The state shares the southwestern part of the border with Ukraine. The western border of Russia is enough for a neighborhood with a whole list of countries: Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Norway. The Kaliningrad region, located on the Baltic Sea, borders on Lithuania and Poland. On top of that, the Russian Federation includes the following islands: Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, Vaigach, the Kuril Islands, Wrangel Island, the New Siberian Islands and Sakhalin Island, located in the Pacific Ocean. The shores of Russia on the eastern side are washed by the Sea of Japan, the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, and from the north, Russia is washed by the Barents, Chukchi, Kara and East Siberian Seas and the Laptev Sea. The western shores belong to the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, the southern ones belong to the Azov Sea and the Black Sea coast.
The capital
Moscow
Area
The area of the country is 17,075,400 km².
Population
The population of Russia is 142,914,136 people.
Currency
The official currency is the Russian ruble (RUR).
Language
The official language is Russian.
Visa to Russia
Citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan do not need a visa to Russia.
Weather in Russia
A large percentage of the territory of Russia is located in temperate climatic conditions. The extreme northern territories, as well as the islands in the north of Russia, belong to the Arctic climatic zone. All the southern territories of the country are located in the subtropics. The main territory of the state lies in a continental climate, this is especially felt in Western Siberia, because it is this region of Russia that is more characterized by visible temperature amplitudes in all seasons and not too abundant rainfall. In turn, on the Black Sea coast and in the western regions of the country, the weather conditions are seaside, much milder. Climatic conditions apparently also differ in the southern part of the Far Eastern regions, which is characterized by constant monsoons blowing from the Pacific Ocean, which make the air noticeably more humid.
Currency exchange in Russia
The national currency is the ruble. As of June 2011, 1 USD = 28.17 RUR. It is quite simple to carry out currency exchange in Russia, banks here work on average until 18.00 local time. Currency exchange points are not often found, because. are already less common than branches of banking networks. ATMs, through which you can cash out money from international plastic cards, are quite common and most of them work around the clock. At the stations you can meet people offering to exchange currencies “from hand”, it is better not to mess with this, because there is a risk of being deceived.
Electricity
220V/50Hz (American and European sockets)
Religion in Russia
On the territory of the Russian Federation, the most common religious denomination is Orthodoxy, although quite a lot of Russian residents are representatives of the Islamic religion, Catholics, Jews and Buddhists. According to article 148 of the Criminal Code of Russia, there are a number of criminal penalties for the implementation of certain obstacles to the activities of various organizations related to religion, as well as obstruction of a number of religious rites. It is also forbidden in the country to create political parties based on religious views.
Security
In general, tourists coming to the territory of the Russian Federation are in relative safety, that is, they are under the protection of local authorities. Crime in the cities of the Russian Federation is not at a very high level, except that in places of large crowds of people petty thefts flourish, and at night it is better not to walk alone along the dark streets. In Russia, you should be especially careful with your finances, because street vendors can famously confuse a gullible tourist. Moscow is the capital of the state, the city is large, which means that it is very easy for a person who does not know the city to get lost among hundreds of Moscow lanes, so that this does not happen to you – better use the services of guides, or always carry a map and a mobile phone with you, they can be very useful. Recently, cases of terrorist attacks have become more frequent in the Moscow metro and other crowded places in the capital. So you should be especially careful when you see unidentified and ownerless bags, boxes, packages, and immediately report such finds to law enforcement agencies.
