Fast Facts about Russia

www.kremlin.ru CC-BY-3.0

Country name

The official name for Russia is either Russian Federation or Russia. Both names are equal according to the Russian Constitution. In Russian script, they are spelled as Российская Федерация and Россия accordingly.

Capital city

The capital of Russia is Moscow, or Москва in Russian script. Moscow is the largest city in Russia.

Travel requirements

All foreigners visiting Russia need a valid passport and a visa. Citizens of some former Soviet republics don't need a Russian visa. The actual visa is issued in a Russian embassy or consulate in the country where you currently reside. Depending on the purpose of your visit, there are several types of Russian visa including Tourist visa, Business visa, Student visa, Personal (Private) visa, and Transit visa.

Location

Russia is located in the Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The territory of Russia lies between latitudes 41 degrees north and 82 degrees north, and longitudes 19 degrees east and 169 degrees west.

Area

Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of territory. Its total area is 17,075,400 square kilometres or 6,601,668 square miles.

Population

According to the 2010 Census, the population of Russia is 142,905,200. The population has been declining since it peaked at 148,689,000 in 1991.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy in Russia is 59 years for men and 73 years for women.

Monetary unit

The currency of Russia is called the ruble or rouble. One ruble is divided into 100 kopecks. 1 U.S. dollar equals approximately 30 rubles. Check the latest currency exchange rates here.

Religion

Russia is a multi-ethnic and multi-faith nation. Orthodox Christianity is Russia's largest religion with 75% of the population belonging to the Orthodox Christian denomination. Islam is professed by 5% of the population. Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism and Buddhism are professed by 1% of the population each. Other religious denominations represent 1% of the population, while 8% consider themselves atheists. Note: data is based on 2010 VCIOM survey results.

Flag

The Russian tricolour flag consists of three horizontal bands of equal height, displaying the country's national colours: white, blue, and red. The white band is positioned on the top, the blue in the middle, and the red on the bottom.

Official language

The official language of Russia is Russian. It is the only official language throughout the country.

Major cities

The largest Russian cities with the population greater than 1 million are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Kazan, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Volgograd.

Climate

Continental climate is prevalent in European and Asian Russia. The climate is humid continental (summers are warm to hot and winters are cold) in the most populous areas in European Russia, south of West Siberia and in the south of the Russian Far East. The climate is subarctic (very cold winters and short, cool to mild summers) in Northern European Russia and Siberia. Winters are extremely severe in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia. Humid subtropical climate (hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters) is typical for the Black Sea coast, most notably Sochi.

Government

Russia is a federation and semi-presidential republic. The President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government.

Voltage

Russia has 220 volt electricity and a "Type C" European CEE 7/16 Europlug electric plug. You might need to get a universal adapter and converter kit to use U.S. appliances in Russia.

Internet domain

Russian Internet is known as Runet in Russia. The country code top-level domain (ccTLD) reserved for Russia is .ru, however the domains .su, .rf and the internationalized domain .рф are also used. Try to visit the sites путин.рф and kremlin.ru as a demo.

International dialing code

Dial +7 when making a phone call to Russia. Make sure to dial the city code and the local telephone number. A sample phone number in the city of Khabarovsk will look like this: +7 4212 555145. You might need to dial the international access code in the very begining depending on the country of origin. When calling from the USA, start by dialing 011.

Got questions?

Ask them in the Russian Questions and Answers — a place for students, teachers and native Russian speakers to discuss Russian grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and other aspects of the Russian language.