Russia

The Russian Federation ({{lang-ru|??????????? ??????????}}, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: ???????, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,400 km² (6,595,600 mi²), it is the largest country in the world, covering almost twice the territory of the next-largest country, Canada. It ranks eighth in the world in population. It shares land borders with the following countries (counter-clockwise from NW to SE): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (only through Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with the United States, Canada and Japan.

Geography

The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the supercontinent of Eurasia. Although it contains a large share of the world's Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, and therefore has less population, economic activity, and physical variety per unit area than most countries, the great area south of these still accommodates a great variety of landscapes and climates. Most of the land consists of vast plains, both in the European part and the Asian part that is largely known as Siberia. These plains are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, Russia's and Europe's highest point at 5,633 m) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka. The more central Ural Mountains, a north-south range that form the primary divide between Europe and Asia, are also notable.

Related Topics:
Eurasia - Climate - Europe - Asia - Siberia - Steppe - Tundra - Caucasus - Mount Elbrus - Altai - Verkhoyansk Range - Volcano - Kamchatka - Ural Mountains

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Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as more or less inland seas such as the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas. Some smaller bodies of water are part of the open oceans; the Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea are part of the Arctic, whereas the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan belong to the Pacific Ocean. Major islands found in them include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz-Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. (See List of islands of Russia).

Related Topics:
Arctic - Pacific Ocean - Baltic - Black - Caspian - Barents Sea - White Sea - Kara Sea - Laptev Sea - East Siberian Sea - Bering Sea - Sea of Okhotsk - Sea of Japan - Novaya Zemlya - Franz-Josef Land - New Siberian Islands - Wrangel Island - Kuril Islands - Sakhalin - List of islands of Russia

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Many rivers flow across Russia. See Rivers of Russia.

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Major lakes include Lake Baikal, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. See List of lakes in Russia.

Related Topics:
Lake Baikal - Lake Ladoga - Lake Onega - List of lakes in Russia

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Borders

The most practical way to describe Russia is as a main part (a large contiguous portion with its off-shore islands) and an exclave (at the southeast corner of the Baltic Sea).

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The main part's borders and coasts (starting in the far northwest and proceeding counter-clockwise) are:

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• borders with the following countries: Norway and Finland,
• a short coast on the Baltic Sea, facing eight other countries on its shores from Finland to Estonia and including the port of St. Petersburg,
• borders with Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine,
• a coast on the Black Sea, facing five other countries on its shores from Ukraine to Georgia,
• borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan,
• a coast on the Caspian Sea, facing four other countries on its shores from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan,
• borders with Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, China again, and North Korea,
• an extensive coastline that provides access with all the maritime nations of the world, and stretches
• from the North Pacific Ocean including
• the Sea of Japan (where the west shore of Russia's Sakhalin lies),
• the Sea of Okhotsk (where the east shore of Sakhalin and its Kurile Islands lie), and
• the Bering Sea,
• through the Bering Strait (where its minor island of Big Diomede is separated by only a few miles from Little Diomede, a part of the US state of Alaska),
• to the Arctic Ocean, including
• the Chukchi Sea (where the south and east shores of its Wrangel Island lie),
• the East Siberian Sea (where its west shore, and the east shores of its New Siberian Islands lie),
• the Laptev Sea (where their west shores lie),
• the Kara Sea (where the east shore of its Novaya Zemlya lies),
• the Barents Sea (where their west shore, the south shores of its Franz-Josef Land the port of Murmansk and important naval facilities lie, and where the White Sea reaches far inland).

The exclave, constituted by the Kaliningrad Oblast,

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• shares borders with
• Poland to its south and
• Lithuania to its north and east, and
• has a northwest coast on the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic and Black Sea coasts of Russia have less direct and more constrained access to the high seas than its Pacific and Arctic ones, but both are nevertheless important for that purpose. The Baltic gives immediate access with the nine other countries sharing its shores, and between the main part of Russia and its Kaliningrad Oblast exclave. Via the straits that lie within Denmark, and between it and Sweden, the Baltic connects to the North Sea and the oceans to its west and north. The Black Sea gives immediate access with the five other countries sharing its shores, and via the Dardanelles and Marmora straits adjacent to Istanbul, Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea with its many countries and its access, via the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar, to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The salt waters of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake, afford no access with the high seas.

Related Topics:
Baltic - Black Sea - Kaliningrad - North Sea - Dardanelles - Marmora - Istanbul - Turkey - Mediterranean Sea - Suez Canal - Straits of Gibraltar - Caspian Sea

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Spatial extent

The two most widely separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (5000 mi) apart along a geodesic (i.e. shortest line between two points on the Earth's surface). These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60-km-long (40-mi-long) spit of land separating the Gulf of Gda?sk from the Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the Kurile Islands, a few miles off Hokkaido Island, Japan.

Related Topics:
Geodesic - Gulf of Gda?sk - Vistula Lagoon

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It is also often mentioned that the Russian federation spans eleven time zones. However, this is confusing because the points which are furthest separated in longitude are "only" 6,600 km (4,100 mi) apart along a geodesic. These points are: in the West, the same spit; in the East, the Big Diomede Island (Ostrov Ratmanova).

Related Topics:
Time zone - Big Diomede Island

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See also: List of cities in Russia

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