Russia

The East Slavs emerged as a recognisable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. The medieval state of Rus' arose in the 9th century. In 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Rus' ultimately disintegrated, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow rose during the 15th century. By the 18th century, the nation had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to evolve into the Russian Empire, the third-largest empire in history. Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian SFSR became the largest and leading constituent of the Soviet Union, the world's first constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II, and emerged as a superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite and the launching of the first human in space.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation. In the aftermath of the constitutional crisis of 1993, a new constitution was adopted, and Russia has since been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Vladimir Putin has dominated Russia's political system since 2000; during the period Russia has experienced democratic backsliding, and has shifted to an authoritarian state.

Russia is a great power, and a potential superpower. It is ranked 52nd in the Human Development Index, with a universal healthcare system, and a free university education. Russia's economy is the world's eleventh-largest by nominal GDP and the sixth-largest by PPP. It is a recognized nuclear-weapons state, possessing the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons; with the second-most powerful military, and the fourth-highest military expenditure. Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the world's largest, and it is among the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the G20, the SCO, the Council of Europe, BRICS, the APEC, the OSCE, the IIB and the WTO, as well as the leading member of the CIS, the CSTO, and the EAEU. Russia is also home to 30 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Russia is a transcontinental state located in the east of Europe and in the north of Asia. Occupying about 1⁄3 of the territory of Eurasia and 1⁄8 of the entire earth's land, it is the world's largest state by territory. The European part of the country (about 23% of the area) includes territories to the west of the Ural Mountains (the border is conditionally drawn along the Urals and the Kuma-Manych depression; less often - along the watershed of the Greater Caucasus); The Asian part of Russia, which occupies about 77% of the territory, lies to the east of the Urals and is also called Siberia (however, the exact definition of the boundaries of Siberia is a controversial issue) and the Far East;

The extreme northern point of Russia is Cape Fligeli on Rudolph Island of the Franz Josef Land archipelago (81°51′ N), the extreme eastern point is Ratmanov Island in the Bering Strait (the western of the two Diomede Islands, 169°0′ W. ). The extreme northern and eastern mainland points of Russia: Cape Chelyuskin on the Taimyr Peninsula (77°43′ N) and Cape Dezhnev in Chukotka (169°39′ W). These extreme points are at the same time the corresponding extreme points of Eurasia. The extreme southern point of Russia (41°11′ N) is located southwest of Mount Bazarduzu, on the border of Dagestan with Azerbaijan. The extreme western point lies in the Kaliningrad region at 19°38′ E. on the Baltic Spit of the Gdansk Bay of the Baltic Sea; but the Kaliningrad region is an exclave, and the main territory of Russia begins to the east, at 27 ° 17′ E. on the banks of the Pededze River in the Pskov region on the border with Estonia. Thus, the length of the territory of Russia from north to south exceeds 4,000 km, from west to east, it approaches 10,000 km. The area is 17,125,191 km2 (slightly smaller than the continent of South America), with the European part accounting for about 3,960,000 km2 (23% of the total territory), and the remaining 13,100,000 km2 in Asia (77% of the total territory). Thus, in both parts of the world, Russia is the largest state in terms of territory.

The geographical center of Russia is located on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, near the southeastern shore of Lake Vivi.

The total length of Russia's borders is 60,933 km (of which 38,808 km are maritime borders); Russia's borders in the north and east are maritime, in the south and west they are mostly land. The country has land borders with Kazakhstan (7598.6 km), China (4209.3 km), Mongolia (3485 km), Ukraine (2245.8 km), Finland (1325.8 km), Belarus (1239 km), Abkhazia (245.0 km), South Ossetia (74.0 km), Georgia (561.0 km excluding Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with them - 879.9 km), Estonia (466.8 km), Azerbaijan (350 km ), Lithuania (288.4 km), Latvia (270.5 km), Poland (236.3 km), Norway (219.1 km), North Korea (39.4 km); maritime borders with Japan (194.3 km) and the United States (49 km).

Despite the fact that Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area, the climatic and soil conditions in most of its territory do not favor agriculture. Due to its vast area, Russia is a country of natural contrasts: the average temperatures of the warmest month range from +1 °C in the polar regions to +25 °C in the Caspian Lowland, the coldest month - from +6 °C on the Black Sea coast to -50 °C C in northeastern Siberia.

Russia has the deepest lake in the world (Baikal), the longest river in Europe (Volga) and the largest lake in Europe (Ladoga), the cold pole of the Northern Hemisphere (Verkhoyansk / Oymyakon), as well as the highest peak in Europe (Elbrus) (when drawing the border between Europe and Asia along the Greater Caucasus Range, and not along the rivers Kum and Manych to the mouth of the Don). The main part of Russia lies between 40°N. sh. and 70° N. w