Formal Name: Russian Federation.
Short Form: Russia.
Term for Citizen(s): Russian(s).
Capital: Moscow.
Flag: Three equal-sized horizontal bands of white (top), red, and blue.
Size: 17,075,200 square kilometers.
Topography: Broad plain with low hills west of Urals in European Russia and vast coniferous forests and tundra east of Urals in Siberia. Uplands and mountains along southern border regions in Caucasus Mountains. About 10 percent of land area swampland, about 45 percent covered by forest.
Climate: Ranges from temperate to Arctic continental. Winter weather varies from short-term and cold along Black Sea to long-term and frigid in Siberia. Summer conditions vary from warm on steppes to cool along Arctic coast. Much of Russia covered by snow six months of year. Weather usually harsh and unpredictable. Average annual temperature of European Russia 0°C, lower in Siberia. Precipitation low to moderate in most areas; highest amounts in northwest, North Caucasus, and Pacific coast.
Land Boundaries: Land borders extend 20,139 kilometers: Azerbaijan 284 kilometers, Belarus 959 kilometers, China 3,645 kilometers, Estonia 290 kilometers, Finland 1,313 kilometers, Georgia 723 kilometers, Kazakstan 6,846 kilometers, Democratic People's Republic of Korea 19 kilometers, Latvia 217 kilometers, Lithuania 227 kilometers, Mongolia 3,441 kilometers, Norway 167 kilometers, Poland 432 kilometers, and Ukraine 1,576 kilometers.
Water boundaries: Coastline makes up 37,653 kilometers of border. Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans touch shores.
Land Use: 10 percent arable, 45 percent forest, 5 percent meadows and pasture, and 40 percent other, including tundra.
Data as of July 1996