Russia, independent republic in eastern Europe and Asia, which was established on December 25, 1991, and includes 21 ethnically based republics, 6 krays (territories), 10 okrugs (national areas), 49 oblasts (districts), 1 autonomous region, and 2 cities with federal status. Officially named the Russian Federation (Russian Rossiyskaya Federatsiya), Russia was once the largest and most prominent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 1991 the USSR collapsed, and Russia became an independent country. It then coordinated the formation of a political alliance with many of the former republics of the USSR called the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
In geographic extent Russia is the largest country in the world, with an area of 17,075,200 sq km (about 6,592,800 sq mi), more than one-ninth of the world’s land area and nearly twice that of the United States or China. From north to south the country extends more than 4000 km (more than 2400 mi) from the southern border along the Caucasus Mountains to Arctic islands in the Barents Sea. From east to west the maximum extent is almost 10,000 km (almost 6200 mi) from the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to Ratmanov (also known as Big Diomede) Island in the Bering Strait. The country also spans parts of two continents, Europe and Asia, with the Ural Mountains marking the boundary between them. The capital and largest city of Russia is Moscow.
Russia’s borders measure more than 20,100 km (more than 12,500 mi). On the north it is bounded by a number of arms of the Arctic Ocean: the Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi seas. On the east it is bounded by several arms of the Pacific Ocean: the Bering Strait (which separates Russia from Alaska), the Bering Sea, and the seas of Okhotsk and Japan. In the extreme southeast Russia abuts on the northeastern tip of North Korea. On the south it is bounded by China, Mongolia, Kazakstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Black Sea. On the southwest it is bounded by Ukraine, and on the west by Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, the Gulf of Finland, Finland, and Norway. The exclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, is bounded by Lithuania and Poland.
The principal island possessions of Russia lie in the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Farthest north, in the Arctic Ocean, is Franz Josef Land, an archipelago consisting of about 100 islands. The other Arctic islands, from west to east, include the two islands that constitute Novaya Zemlya, Vaygach Island, the group of islands called Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, and Wrangel Island. Between the islands mentioned above are numerous small islands and island chains. In the Pacific Ocean are the Kuril Islands, which extend in an arc southwest from the southern extremity of the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka to Japan, and are the subject of a long-running dispute with Japan over ownership and fishing rights. The Pacific also includes the large island of Sakhalin, which separates the seas of Okhotsk and Japan.
Russia can be divided into three broad geographic regions: European Russia, consisting of the territory lying west of the Ural Mountains; Siberia, stretching east from the Urals almost to the Pacific Ocean; and far eastern Russia, including the extreme southeast and the Pacific coastal fringe.
Land and Resources
Much of Russia lies north of the 50th parallel and thus has a climate more comparable to Canada than to the United States. Most of its land also is far from the moderating influences of ocean currents, producing a more continental climate than that enjoyed by most European countries. The agricultural resource base is limited by climate and, to a lesser degree, soils. The vastness of Russia’s territory and its varied geologic formations, however, provide a rich mineral resource base unmatched by any other country in the world.
Physiographic Regions
Russia contains a great complexity of geologic structures and surface formations that have evolved separately during different geologic epochs. Very simply, the landmass of the republic consists of a vast plain in the western and northern parts of the country fringed by a discontinuous belt of mountains and plateaus on the south and on the east; this is the most extensive plain in the world. The upland and mountain regions include most of Siberia and extend to the margins of the Pacific.
European Plain
European Russia is primarily a rolling plain with an average elevation of about 180 m (about 600 ft). The terrain has been formed by millions of years of stream, wind, and glacial action on nearly horizontal strata of sedimentary rocks. In some places the softer sedimentary rocks have been eroded away, and the underlying basement complex of hard igneous and metamorphic rocks has been exposed at the surface; the most notable of these areas is the northwest near the border with Finland. The topography is generally rough in these areas of outcropping, particularly in the north, where a maximum elevation of 1191 m (3906 ft) is reached in the Khibiny Mountains of the central Kola Peninsula. Otherwise, the relief of the European Plain, with minor exceptions, is only modest.
Ural Mountains
The European Plain terminates in the east at the Ural Mountains. An old, worn-down series of mountain ranges, the Urals are topographically unimpressive. The average elevation is only about 600 m (about 2000 ft), and the highest elevation is in the north at Gora Narodnaya (People’s Mountain), at 1894 m (6214 ft) above sea level. They are, however, important for a wide variety of mineral deposits, ranging from mineral fuels to iron ore to nonferrous metals and nonmetallic minerals.
West Siberian Lowland
To the east of the Urals the plain region continues in the West Siberian Lowland. This expansive and extremely flat area is poorly drained and is generally marshy or swampy.
Central Siberian Platform
Just east of the Yenisey River begins the rolling upland of the Central Siberian Platform. Elevations here average about 500 to 700 m (about 1600 to 2300 ft) above sea level. In all areas rivers have dissected, or eroded, the surface and in some places have formed deep canyons. The geologic structure of the region is complex; a basement of igneous and metamorphic rocks is topped in many places by thick sedimentary rocks and volcanic lavas. The region is rich in a variety of minerals.
East Siberian Uplands
To the east of the Lena River the topography consists of a series of mountains and basins. The higher ranges in this region, such as the Verkhoyansk, Cherskogo, and Kolyma, generally reach maximum elevations of about 2300 to 3200 m (about 7500 to 10,500 ft). To the east, toward the Pacific Ocean, the mountains are higher and steeper, and volcanic activity becomes prevalent. On Kamchatka Peninsula are 120 volcanoes, 23 of which are currently active. The highest cone, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, reaches an elevation of 4750 m (15,584 ft). The volcanic mountain chain of Kamchatka continues southward in the Kuril Islands, which contain about 100 volcanoes, 30 of which are active.
Southern Mountain Systems
The southern border of European Russia includes the geologically young, seismically active Caucasus Mountains, which extend between the Black and Caspian seas. The Caucasus Mountains comprise two major folded mountain chains divided along their entire extent by a lowland, with the northern Greater Caucasus (Bol’shoy Kavkaz) forming part of Russia’s southern border. Geologically complex, the mountain system is composed of limestone and crystalline rocks with some volcanic formations. The Greater Caucasus reach a maximum elevation of 5642 m (18,510 ft) on El’brus, an extinct volcano that is the highest peak in Europe. Other mountain ranges continue northeast along the southern border of central and eastern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean. Among them are the Altai, Sayan, Yablonovyy, and Stanovoy ranges (see Altai Mountains; Yablonovyy Range).
Coastline, Rivers, Lakes, and Seas
Russia has the longest continuous coastline of any country in the world. Its coastline stretches more than 37,650 km (more than 23,390 mi), mostly along the Arctic and Pacific oceans; other coasts lie along the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the south. Because the greater part of its coasts lie in waters frozen for many months of the year, Russia has few year-round oceanic outlets. Despite these limitations, Russian shipping and fishing encompass all the seas.
The longest rivers of Russia are all located in Siberia and far eastern Russia. The largest single river system is the Ob’-Irtysh; these rivers together flow 5410 km (3362 mi) from western China north through western Siberia to the Arctic Ocean. The second longest system is the Amur-Shilka-Onon, which flows out of northern Mongolia eastward along the Chinese-Siberian border for 4416 km (2744 mi) to the Pacific coast. Among individual rivers, the Lena River is longest; it flows north through Siberia and far eastern Russia for about 4269 km (about 2653 mi) to the Arctic Ocean. The next longest individual rivers are the Irtysh and the Ob’. The fourth longest river is the Volga; with a length of 3690 km (2293 mi), it is, by far, the longest river in Europe. Together with its two main tributaries, the Kama and Oka rivers, it drains a large portion of the eastern European Plain southeast to the Caspian Sea. The fifth longest river, the Yenisey River, flows north from Mongolia through eastern Siberia to the Arctic Ocean. Its main tributary, the Angara River, drains huge Lake Baikal, which imparts a large and steady flow to the lower river system; the Yenisey River delivers 603 cu km (145 cu mi) of water to the Arctic Ocean yearly, a larger flow than any other stream system in the country. In size of flow, the Yenisey is followed by three other Asian rivers—the Lena, the Ob’, and the Amur—and by one European river, the Volga. All the other rivers have much smaller flows.
Many other streams are also significant, either because they serve as transportation routes or power sources in densely populated areas or because they flow through arid regions where irrigation is essential for agriculture. Outstanding among these is the Don River, which is on the populous southern European Plain and drains south to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. On the northern European Plain, the Narva and Daugava (Western Dvina) rivers flow northwest to the Baltic Sea; the Pechora, Northern Dvina, Mezen’, and Onega rivers flow to the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea. On the North Caucasian Plain the two most important streams for irrigation purposes are the Kuban’ River, which flows west to the Sea of Azov, and the Terek River, which flows east to the Caspian Sea.
The Soviet government took an active role in building large dams for electrical power, irrigation, flood control, and navigation purposes, and some river basins have been almost completely transformed by the formation of series of huge reservoirs. The most extensive construction has taken place on the Volga-Kama system and the Don River on the European Plain, and on the upper portions of the Yenisey-Angara system and Ob’-Irtysh system in Siberia.
Many natural lakes occur in Russia, particularly in the glaciated northwestern portion of the country. The Caspian Sea in the south, however, is the largest by far in terms of surface area. Although called a sea, it is actually a saline lake that occupies a land depression; rivers drain into it, but because of the dry climate the deep basin does not fill up with water and overflow into the sea. Water escapes only through evaporation, and over a period of time salt accumulates. The Caspian Sea has the largest surface area of any lake in the world, about 371,020 sq km (about 143,550 sq mi). The second largest body of water in Russia is Lake Baikal, which has a surface area of 30,510 sq km (11,780 sq mi). Lake Baikal is the deepest freshwater lake in the world, with a maximum depth of 1637 m (5371 ft), and has a greater volume of water (about 23,000 cu km/5520 cu mi) than any other lake in the world; it is estimated that the lake contains about one-fifth of the earth’s fresh surface water. The next two largest lakes, Ladoga and Onega, lie in the so-called Great Lakes Region of northwestern European Russia. Both are freshwater lakes of glacial origin, and both have outlets to the Gulf of Finland.