RUSSIA

Russia, also the Russian Federation is a transcontinental country extending over much of northern Eurasia (Asia and Europe). With an area of 17,075,400 km², Russia is by far the largest country in the world, covering almost twice the total area of the next largest country, Canada. Russia has the world's ninth-largest population. It shares land borders with the following countries (counter-clockwise from northwest to southeast): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It is also close to the United States (the state of Alaska), Sweden, and Japan across relatively small stretches of water (the Bering Strait, the Baltic Sea, and La Pérouse Strait, respectively).

Capital - Moscow

Official Languages - Russian (Thirty others co-official in various regions)

Government - Semi-Presidential Federal Republic
President - Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister - Mikhail Fradkov

Area - 17,075,400 km2 (6,592,800 sq mi)

Population (2006 estimate) - 142,754,000

Currency - Ruble

Time Zone - UTC +2 to UTC +12

Calling Code - +7