<span>The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world.</span> <span>It occupies about oneseventh of theearth’s surface.</span> <span>It covers the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia.</span> <span>Its total area isabout 17 million square kilometres</span><span>The country is washed by 12 seas of 3 oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic.</span><span> </span><span>In the southRussia borders on China, Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan.</span><span> </span><span>In the west itborders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Byelorussia and Ukraine.</span><span> </span><span>It also has a sea-borderwith the USA.</span>
<span>There is hardly a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and vegetation can be found.</span><span>We have steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the north,highlands and deserts in the east.</span>
<span>There are two great plains in Russia: the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland.</span><span>There are several mountain chains on the territory of the country: the Urals, the Caucasus, the Altaiand others.</span> <span>The largest mountain chain, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia.</span>
<span>There are over two million rivers in Russia.</span> <span>Europe’s biggest river, the Volga, flows into the CaspianSea.</span> <span>The main Siberian rivers — the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena — flow from the south to thenorth.</span> <span>The Amur in the Far East flows into Pacific Ocean.</span>
<span>Russia is rich in beautiful lakes.</span> <span>The world’s deepest lake (1600 meters) is Lake Baikal.</span> <span>It is muchsmaller than the Baltic Sea, but there is much more water in it than in the Baltic Sea.</span> <span>The water inthe lake is so clear that if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom.</span>
<span>Russia has one-sixth of the world’s forests.</span> <span>They are concentrated in the European north of thecountry, in Siberia and in the Far East.</span>
<span>On the vast territory of the country there are various types of climate, from arctic in the north tosubtropical in the south.</span> <span>In the middle of the country the climate is temperate and continental.</span>
<span>Russia is very rich in oil, coal, iron ore, natural gas, copper, nickel and other mineral resources.</span>
<span>Russia is a parliamentary republic.</span> <span>The Head of the State is the President.</span> <span>The legislative powersare exercised by the Duma.</span>
<span>The capital of Russia is Moscow.</span> <span>It is its largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre.</span> <span>It isone of the oldest Russian cities.</span>
<span>At present, the political and economic situation in the country is rather complicated.</span> <span>There are a lotof problems in the national economy of the Russian Federation.</span>
<span>But in spite of the problems Russia is facing at present, there are a lot of opportunities for thiscountry to become one of the leading countries in the world.</span>