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Russia
The common information:
It’s the biggest country in the world. The total extent of borders is more than 60 thousand of kilometers. The astonishing nature: from arctic icy steppes in the north to the hot lifeless deserts in a south, from the regions of rivers and marshes to the majestic mountains and high-mountainous meadows. A lot of interesting cities with distinctive features, unique traditions and saved culture create an enormous layer for trips and researches.
Today when Russia stands on threshold to Europe the ideal conditions are created for tourists and tourist infrastructure. There are comfortable hotels which meet all requirements even in the distant regions of this enormous country. There are hotels of the highest category “De Luxe” for demanding guests in large cities (Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, etc). 
There are reserved national parks for active rest lovers on nature in Russia where tourists can touch virgin nature and look at the inhabitants of the forests and fields. There are a lot of possibilities for fishing and hunt lovers, diving and hunting with a camera. There are comfortable fishing and hunting bases on the banks of full-flowing rivers (Volga, Yenisei etc) with all necessary conveniences. The cultural legacy is enormous in Russia All cultures are presented since Stone Age concluding high-tech. There are many chances to leave for the most interesting excursions devoted to the quite different periods of history in all cities. The masterpieces of world art are presented in the largest museums of the world: the Hermitage of Saint-Petersburg and Moscow State Pushkin museum. 
There are a great number of resort areas in the south of the country. All of them such as Sochi, Lazarevskoe and Adler answer the last world tendencies. There are Krasnaya Polyana, Korobicino, Pukhtolova Mountain and a great number of other fine equipped mountain-skier areas for the lovers of mountain-skier resorts.
Geographical position and nature:
Russia is situated in two continents – Europe and Asia. It borders on China in the south and south-east, besides in the south with Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, in the south-west - with Ukraine, in the west - with Finland, Belarus, Eastland, Latvia and Norway. Except for it, the Kaliningrad area is enclave of Russia borders on the coast of the Baltic Sea with Poland and Lithuania.
Also islands belong to Russia: Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Vaygach, an archipelago of Franc-Joseph Earth, Novosibirsk islands, Vrungel’s island in the Arctic Ocean; Kuril islands (part of Kuril islands is Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan are quarreled by Japan) and Sakhalin island in the Pacific ocean. 
Russia is washed the Japanese, Okhotsk and Bering seas and Bering channel, in the north - Barenc, Kara, Laptev, Chukotsk and East-Siberian seas, in the west by the Baltic sea and Finland’s strait in the south by the Black and Azov seas.
Russia can be divided into three very vast regions: European Russia occupying territory to the west of the Ural mountains; Siberia stretched out from Ural to about the Pacific coast and the Far East of Russia. These mentioned regions have brightly expressed physiogeographical feature. The territory of country occupies 11 time zones.
The weather and climate:
The climate of Russia is various because of the vast territory of the country though it is continental or temperate continental with long cold winter and short not very hot summer. High mountain mass in the south of Russia and in Middle Asia prevent spreading of warm air mass to the territory of Russia. In winter months for a example, the Arctic Ocean is completely covered 
with ice and looks like a huge ice mass influencing cold winter of the north regions of Russia. The western part of the country is also a bit under the influence of the Atlantic Ocean however this light influences finds its expression first of all in slight dampness at the Baltic seaside. The average annual level of snow and rain is about 800 mm and is decreasing till 400mm in the southern regions. In Siberia the average annual norm of snow and rain covers 500-800 mm and comes to 1000 mm in the mountainous regions.
Siberia is considered to be the coldest region because of low temperature where “the pole of cold” is situated in the region of city Verkhoyansk, the average temperature where in January is 51 0C below zero here and in February the column of temperature sometimes falls till 68 0C below zero. The temperatures are not so low at the arctic coast but because of the influence of the Arctic ocean they sometimes sink till -50 0C. However the factors which cause low winter temperatures promote warm and sometimes hot summer in these regions: the average temperature of July in Verkhoyansk is 13 0C above zero, sometimes summer temperatures reach +37 0C. In the European part the climate is more temperature, at the Black Sea seaside it is mild. The average temperature of January in Moscow is -16 0C or -9 0C and the average temperature in July reaches +13 0C or +23 0C. 
Capital:
Moscow is the capital, the heart of the country, one of the beautiful cities in the world. Annually the capital is visited by millions of tourists, personally to see Kremlin, Red square, Saint Basil's Cathedral and Cathedral of Christ rescuer, Danilov and Novodevichiy monasteries, the Bolshoy Theater and Tretyakov gallery. The largest cities of Russia are: Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk.
Population:
The population of Russia (by estimation on 2009) is made by about 141 900 000 persons, in the largest cities: Moscow – the capital (8 747 000 persons), Saint Petersburg (4 437 000 persons), Novosibirsk (1 442 000 persons), Nizhniy Novgorod (1 440 000 persons), Yekaterinburg (1 371 000 persons), Samara (1 239 000 persons), other cities with population more than 1 million persons are: Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Perm, Ufa, Rostov-na-Donu, Volgograd.
The average density of population is about 9 persons on km², however it changes in different regions. For example, the average density of population in the European part of Russia makes about 25 persons on km² and in some north regions is less than 1 man on km². Ethnic groups: more than 100 nationalities live in Russia. The great number of them are: Russians – 82%, Tatars – 3, 8%, Ukrainians - 3%, Chuvashes - 1, 2 %. 
The official language is Russian.
Religion: orthodoxy, moslems, protestants (lutherans, baptists, adventists of the seventh day, witnesses of Iegova and others), buddhists are mainly in Tuva, Buryatiya and Kalmykiya), Jews, about 60% of population are atheists.
National meal:
The Russian national meal became famous for its first dishes in the whole world: cabbage soup, borsches, rassolnikes, botvinnia, beet soup and fish soup - can become the decoration of a dinner-table. The pancakes, solyanka, okroshka and pelmeni especially characterize the Russian meal. If you ask a foreigner, what associations a word "Russian" causes for him, it will be possible to hear the following: vodka, bears, balalaika, caviar, pies, borsch etc. Caviar was and remains by reason of the costliness a festive dish that's why it can't consider a Russian meal. Later such meat dishes from the East appeared on the Russian table as pelmeni, manty and shashlicks. Here also did not do without Russian ingenuity: meat dish of beef stroganoff in spite of the foreign sounding is nevertheless exceptionally Russian meal. Another tradition which all 
got used to perceive as traditionally Russian is the after dinner tea-drinking. Earlier people drank kvas, sbiten in the Russ; medovuha, home-brewed beer, beer, imported mainly from Byzantium Greek wines. Paradoxically a positive role was played by the French cook Karemimenno in a revival of Russian culinary traditions. He and his successors suggested to replace the "French" system of serve of dishes when all dishes were proposed on a table simultaneously by the age-old Russian method of by turn serve and also to give up the wiped dishes in behalf on more natural from whole green-stuffs which are more usual for Russian culinary tradition. But also at this time regenerating Russian tradition passed French remark: so chops and many Russian dishes appeared with the unrussian names are beefsteaks, sliced steaks, and escalope etc. On the same time there is beginning of the wide use of potatoes as garnish and also substantial expansion of spectrum of appetizers which became specific for the Russian table. The soviet epoch made the Russian meal from one side more democratic - many of its former ingredients passed to the digit of delicacies and from another side enriched its traditions of other people of the former USSR. Every Russian already knew shashlick and pilau  exactly in soviet time. But Russian Empire presented by itself single space, so that Russian borsh or vareniks, Kazakh manty and Siberian pelmeni belong to the recipes which find its place in the Russian menu.
Transport:
Today Russia has all types of modern transport and communications on the structure and situation on the whole meet the requirements of internal and external transport-economic connections of country.
Time: Moscow. In Russian Federation the watches are put on daylight saving time on the last Sunday of March and in winter on the last Sunday of September. If you want to know the difference in time between Moscow and some other cities, call the telephone number 8-194.
Holidays and days-off:
- January, 1, 6 – New Year
- January, 7 – Christmas
- February, 23 – The day of Motherland’s defender [object8]
- March, 8 – International women’s Day
- May, 1, 2 – The day of spring and labour
- May, 9 – Victory Day
- June, 12 – The day of Russia
- November, 4 – The day of folk unity
- December, 12 – The day of constitution
Currency: Rouble. It equals 100 kopecks. There are bank-papers 5000, 1000, 500, 100, 50, 10 and chinks 10, 5, 2, 1 rouble, 50, 10, 5, 1 kopeck.
History:
History of Russia counts not only millennium. It is conditionally divide into three periods: from 
the beginning of becoming of the Russian people to 1917, which marked the end of the Russian empire; from 1917 to disintegration of the USSR in 1991; from disintegration of the USSR and to nowadays. There were the cities-states on territory of Russia in 1st millennium B.C, Bospor state and the scythe’s state. In the VI-XIV the parts of Russia were occupied by Turks kaganat, Khazar kaganat, Bokhay state, Volzhsko-Kamskaya Bulgaria. The Old Russian state was formed in IX v. from separate east Slavonic tribes which lived on this territory since old times. There were polyane in the number of these tribes, Slovene which lived in a neighborhood of Ilmenskoe lake and also drevlyane, radimichi, vyatichi, severyane, white Croats and other. Christianity was accepted as state religion of Russ in 988 – 89. The Novgorod republic, a great Vladimirskaya principality, Galichina-Volhynia and other principalities selected in XII—XIV centauries on Russ.
Urgent telephones: Fire service - 01, milition - 02, first aid – 03; service of gas - 04, information - 09, service of rescue -937-99-11.
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