What is the size of russia

Английский язык СРОЧНО ПОжалУйСТА ОТВЕТИТЬ НА ВОПРОСЫ

RUSSIA
I live in Russia. Russia is my native country. The
Russian Federation is the largest country in the world.
It occupies one seventh of the Earth’s surface. It is situated both in Europe and Asia. The total area is about
17 million square kilometres. The country is washed by
12 seas and 3 oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and the
Atlantic oceans. Our neighbours in the south are China,
Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
In the west we have borders with Norway, Finland,
Belarus and the Ukraine. There is no country in the
world like Russia, with the steppes in the south, plains
and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in. the north,
highlands and deserts in the east. There is a great number
of rivers in Russia. The Volga, the longest in Europe
river, flows into the Caspian Sea. The main Siberian
rivers — the Ob’, the Yenisey and the Lena flow from
the south to the north. The Amur in the Far East flows
into the Pacific ocean. The deepest lake in the world is
Baikal. The water in the lake is so clear, that you can
see the stones on the bottom.
Because of the vast territory there are various types
of climate in the country. The climate varies greatly in
different regions.
Russia is very rich in oil, coal, iron ore, natural gas,
copper, nickel and other mineral resources.
Russia is a parliamentary republic with the strong
power of the President who is the head of the state. The
State Duma and the Council of Federation are the legislative branch of the government.
The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is the largest political, cultural and industrial centre. It is one of the
oldest Russian cities.
The national banner of Russia is a tricolour with white,
blue and red stripes.

ВОПРОСЫ ПОМОГИТЕ
Questions
1. What is the size of Russia?
2. What oceans is Russia washed by?
3. What are the neighbouring countries of Russia?
4. What are the main rivers of Russia?
5. What are the natural resources of Russia?
6. What does the national banner of Russia look like?

ВОПРОСЫ ПОМОГИТЕ
Вопросы
1. Что такое размер России?
2. Какими океанами омывается Россия?
3. Какие страны-соседи России?
4. Какие основные реки России?
5. Каковы природные богатства России?
6. Как выглядит национальное знамя России?

The total area is about
17 million square kilometres.
The country is washed by
12 seas and 3 oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and the
Atlantic oceans.
Our neighbours in the south are China,
Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
In the west we have borders with Norway, Finland,
Belarus and the Ukraine.

The national banner of Russia is a tricolour with white,
blue and red stripes.

How Russia’s size has become its problem

Distance as curse

Sergey Bodrov St./«СТВ», 2007

It was geography that made it practically impossible to have any other form of government than the one we have to this day. Ruling from the center was always a gargantuan task due to the vast distances between principalities. We are accustomed to looking at country sizes from the outside; now let’s have a look at some examples of what Russia feels like from the inside.

Messenger of the 16th century

Russian postal stagecoach of the 19th century

A deficit of honest governors

Vasily Tropinin/Tretyakov gallery

Some believe that comparing the size of one’s country to others is somehow uncultured, but there’s a sense in considering just how much more difficult the task of governing is made by size. Widespread reform, for example, is next to impossible to implement. 1861 saw the abolishment of serfdom… officially. It would be another 20 whole years before the same started happening in Irkutsk, in Siberia. That’s how long change took to make its way from one part of the country to the next.

AlPanich (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The villagers meeting

It turns out then, that geography in Russia has become a reason for both a sense of togetherness among its people, as well as promoting centralization of power. And what of individualism? What about the Russian individual’s striving for self-sufficiency, which he demonstrably wears on his sleeve? Well, that’s because deep inside, we are group-oriented and love communal life and friendly cooperation, while that projected striving for seeming independence of spirit is there to compensate for that.

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Ответьте на вопросы по английски: 1. what is the size of russia? 2. what oceans is russia washed by? 3. what are the neighbourin

Ответьте на вопросы по английски:

1. what is the size of russia?
2. what oceans is russia washed by?
3. what are the neighbouring countris of russia?

1. happened
2. will happen
3. was
4. was / felt / went / to cook
5. is cooking
6. will cook
7. is she smiling / do you know
8. celebrate
9. forgot

1. were / do you like / enjoy
2. is not / is working
3. didn’t know
4. was / had
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10. is / is playing

1. don’t know
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4. is / is standing / don’t you recognise
5. have / am having
6. where are / are having
7. do you
8. knows / wants / has
9. are having
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11. think / isn’t feeling
12. do you / mean
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14. isn’t feeling
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All farmers have to work all year round.
You mustn’t make noise in hospital.
May I switch the light on?
Could I look at your passport?
My wife can cook quite well.
We were able to catch the last train.
You mustn’t wear jeans to school.
You didn’t have to drink so much yesterday.
Robert ought to pay the electricity bill today.
We should find a better job.
You shouldn’t eat too much salt and sugar.
Do I have to take a Turkey visa?
He needs to improve his manners.
You needn’t complain.

RUSSIA

COUNTRY OVERVIEW

LOCATION AND SIZE.

In terms of territory, Russia is the world’s largest country. With a total area of 17,075,200 kilometers (6,592,735 square miles), Russia covers about one-eighth of the world’s land surface. Russia is 60 percent larger than the world’s second-largest country, Canada. But, like Canada, much of Russia’s territory is located above the 50th parallel, where subarctic and arctic weather conditions are prevalent. Until the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or «Soviet Union») in 1991, the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic was the largest and dominant administrative component of the Soviet Union. In August 1991, the Russian Republic was one of the 15 countries that declared independence from the Soviet Union.

Russia stretches from its westernmost point in the city of Kaliningrad, just north of Warsaw, Poland, to its easternmost point at Big Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. Within eyesight is Little Diomede Island, belonging to the United States just off the coast of Alaska’s Seward Peninsula. Russia’s great breadth of territory includes many different geographical regions. These include areas of permafrost (areas of eternal ice) in Siberia and the Far North as well as taiga and steppes (vast grassland). Much of Russia’s northern and eastern coastline is hemmed in by ice for much of the year, complicating navigation. However, Russia has year-round warm water seaports at Murmansk on its northwestern coastline of the Barents Sea and at Vladivostok at the far eastern coast on the Sea of Japan / East Sea.

POPULATION.

The population of Russia was estimated at 146,001,176 (July 2000 est.) by official U.S. government sources. According to official figures, the Russian population growth rate is negative, declining at a rate of 3 percent a year. The birth rate was at 9 births per 1,000 persons per year in 2000. The death rate was at 13.8 deaths per population per year. The declining population in Russia is taking place in the presence of a net in-flow of migrants. Migration to Russia averaged 1.38 migrants per year per 1,000 persons during 2000. The migration into Russia is composed heavily of migrants from the 14 countries of the former USSR that adjoin Russia but became independent states in late 1991.

Roughly 80 percent of Russia’s population is ethnic Russian. The remaining 20 percent is made up of a wide variety of ethnic groups including Tatar, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Moldavian, Kazakh, and many others. About three-fourths of the population of Russia is urban. Moscow, Russia’s capital and largest city, is home to some 9 million people. Russia has a well-educated population with near universal literacy.

Previously Russia was the world’s sixth most populous country, following China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. The Population Reference Bureau, one of the world’s leading professional demographic organizations, differs with the official U.S. government

The USSR was a multinational country with a population of 289 million people. The country was made up of more than 100 ethnic or «national» groups. Today’s Russian Federation (or simply «Russia») emerged from the USSR with roughly one-half of the USSR’s population. In the aftermath of the Soviet breakup, millions of people relocated from the parts of the USSR in which they lived to new homes in the 15 countries that resulted. This migration involved many of the citizens of the USSR relocating to their native homelands. Even after these population adjustments, however, Russia is still a large and varied country. Dozens of different language groups and ethnic groups occupy Russia today.

Many of the minority groups within Russia have asserted their right to greater cultural autonomy and, sometimes, political autonomy. A minority area within Russia inhabited largely by the Chechen people proclaimed independence from Russia in 1994. Russian troops crushed the separatist movement. Russia proclaimed victory over the breakaway area of Chechnya in 1996, but the war erupted again in 1997. The brutal Chechen war has left much of this corner of Russia in ruins and has contributed to an ethnic terrorist campaign against Russia. Chechnya lies in one of Russia’s most economically strategic regions, across which passes oil and gas pipelines carrying energy resources to European and world markets. Independence in Chechnya would result in these pipelines falling under the control of Chechnya rather than Russia.

SERVICES

Russia’s previously underdeveloped services sector has played an important role in containing the social calamity of the collapse of the USSR, manufacturing and industrial sectors. The service sector employed 55 percent of the workforce and contributed 59 percent of GDP in 1999, according to the CIA World Factbook. Important service industries include financial services; advertising, marketing, and sales; tourism; and retail trade.

TOURISM.

Foreign and domestic tourism was centrally managed during the Soviet Union. In 1991 the tourism industry was reorganized and today is one of the most important branches of the service sector, both in terms of total revenue and numbers of employees. The number of tourist companies has grown from several state tourist organizations in 1991 to several hundred in the larger Russian cities today. Most tourist firms are small, employing fewer than 15 people, and function as both operators and agencies. Operators are those firms that develop their own tourist routes. Tourist agencies market the existing routes established by operators. Most travel transactions involve the domestic market, offering travel services within Russia either for foreigners or for domestic travelers. Providing services for Russians traveling abroad is a smaller but more lucrative market.

The August 1998 financial crisis in Russia had a major impact upon the tourist industry. The number of Russian tourists traveling to foreign countries dropped off sharply and the number of foreign tourists visiting Russia also declined. According to the Russian Statistical Committee, the number of Russians visiting the United States in 1999 fell by nearly half between 1998 (175,660) and 1999 (95,280). The number of Americans visiting Russia also fell considerably between 1998 (216,976) and 1999 (177,120).

In the old USSR domestic tourism was one of the largest industries. There were many resorts, recreational centers, tourist bases, and summer camps for children. Large enterprise and labor unions provided people with inexpensive package tours. During the first years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, domestic tourism declined sharply, but has regained ground since then. Russian tourists travel abroad to Europe, the countries of the Mediterranean, and the United States—a popular tourist destination for young people. Local foreign language schools often offer English language training in the United States to teenagers and young people. Obtaining visas to travel to the United States, however, involves complicated regulations and is often a hindrance.

Russia is a popular destination for foreign tourists, primarily because of its cultural attractions. Over 80 percent of foreign tourists come to Russia with the intention of visiting Moscow and/or St. Petersburg. However, in recent years the country’s natural environment has attracted a growing proportion of foreign travelers. Russia may one day become a popular destination for eco-travel, attracting adventure travelers and tourists looking for something out of the ordinary. Travel to Russia is particularly well-represented by travelers from Germany, China, the United States, Japan, Italy, Poland, Turkey, and Israel.

A legacy of Soviet-era infrastructure neglect, oppressive paperwork, high costs, and lack of local marketing know-how have limited attractiveness of travel to Russia for many foreigners. Despite improvements in the first decade since the Soviet breakup, the Russian travel industry continues to be hindered by the lack of accommodations and travel-related services that are in accordance with international standards. Recent years have witnessed improvements in the quality of services. In addition, new programs have been instituted that provide training in hotel and restaurant management services. At the same time, new hotel, restaurant, and recreational equipment and expertise have become more widely available.

FINANCIAL SERVICES.

The Russian government has put considerable emphasis in recent years on restructuring and stabilizing the banking system and the financial services industry. A legal framework was adopted, establishing procedures for forming statutory capital, specifying procedures for starting and terminating commercial bank activities, procedures of issuing and recalling licenses for bank audits, establishing procedures for bank bankruptcies, and establishing procedures for the operation of non-banking financial organizations that offer financial services and were licensed and regulated by the National Bank.

But the Russian banking system is still in a state of transition. Banks do not have the resources, capability, or the population’s trust to attract substantial savings and channel them to productive investments. While ruble lending doubled in the 2 years following the August 1998 financial crisis, loans remained at the pre-crisis level of 30 percent of total bank assets. The Russian Central Bank reduced its refinancing rate 3 times in 2000, to 33 percent, signaling an attempt to lower lending rates. However, banks still perceived commercial lending as risky, and some banks were inexperienced at assessing credit risk. The Russian Central Bank announced that it was developing a procedure to finance banks for promissary notes, rights of claim under credit agreements, and mortgages.

DEPENDENCIES

Russia has no territories or colonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Economist Intelligence Unit. Country Profile: Russia. London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2001.

Fedorov, Boris. «Killing with Kindness: No More ‘Help’ for Russia, Please.» Asian Wall Street Journal. 12 June 2000.

Fischer, Stanley, and Alan Gelb. «Issues in Socialist EconomyReform.» Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol. 5, No. 4, Fall 1991.

Kornai, Janos. «Making the Transition to Private Ownership.» Finance and Development. Vol. 37, No. 3, September 2000.

Lane, David Stuart. The Political Economy of Russian Oil. NewYork: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999.

Ledeneva, Alena C. Russia’s Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchanges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Loungani, Prakash, and Nathan Sheets. «Central Bank Independence, Inflation and Growth in Transition Economies.» Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. Vol. 29, No. 3, August 1997.

Oleh, Havrylyshyn, and John Odling-Smee. «Political Economy of Stalled Reforms.» Finance & Development. Vol. 37, No. 3, September 2000.

Stuart, Robert C., and Paul R. Gregory. The Russian Economy: Past, Present, and Future. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1995.

Varese, Federico. The Russian Mafia: Private Protection in a New Market Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Why is Russia so big?

Up until the 15th and 16th centuries, numerous principalities were continually at war with with each other until Moscow won the upper hand, suppressing all of its rivals and uniting the territories populated by Russians.

At 171 million square kilometers, Russia is the world’s largest country in terms of area. It is 25 times larger than France and 47 times larger than Germany. The reasons behind Russia’s enormous size can be found in its history.

First of all, Russia, like many other European countries, went through a period of territorial expansion. Up until the 15th and 16th centuries, numerous principalities were continually at war with each other until Moscow won the upper hand, suppressing all of its rivals and uniting the territories populated by Russians.

Going east

This is when things got interesting. Under Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584), Russian Cossacks moved to conquer lands on the other side of the Ural Mountains in Siberia and the Far East. These regions account for 77% of the Russia’s total area. In other words, it was the conquest of Siberia that turned Russia into the largest country geographically.

Moscow did not encounter any major problems in the conquest and annexation of the eastern territories, and in 1645 Russians reached the Pacific Ocean. Vladimir Kolosov, president of the International Geographical Union, points to two main reasons that the expansion to Siberia and the Far East did not meet any significant resistance.

First, these vast and cold territories were sparsely populated. “Even now,” Kolosov told RBTH, “the population density there stands at 2 people per square kilometer, and in the 17th century that figure was even lower.” Second, the tribes populating Siberia for the most part had no objections to joining Russia.

Giant empire

“The Russians did not seek to suppress the local tribes,” explains Kolosov. “They were mainly interested in fur, a valuable commodity in their trade with Europeans.” The local tribes were free to continue their traditional way of life, while Russia guaranteed their security in exchange for periodic tributes paid in furs called yasak. Kolosov says this situation was amenable to all parties, which is why the conquest of Siberia was, for the most part, a peaceful process.

Meanwhile, Russia’s expansion was progressing at a much slower pace in the west and the south, where it had to vie with Poland, Turkey and other influential powers over new territory. Nevertheless, the Russian Empire continued to expand, eventually covering a massive area of 21.8 million square kilometers, even more than modern-day Russia.

In 1865, Russian statesman Alexander Polovtsov noted that the sheer size of Russia made it extremely difficult to govern, and that sometimes state officials did not have the slightest idea what was going on at the country’s borders: “A report came in today saying that General [Mikhail] Chernyayev had taken Tashkent [the current capital city of Uzbekistan]. Nobody knows why he did this and to what end. There is, however, something erotic in what is taking place on the borders of our empire. ”

Large territory, small population

The Soviet Union, which replaced the Russian Empire, was even larger, covering 22.4 million square kilometers. Russia’s current borders were formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which occurred when that huge country, having failed to build a sufficiently cohesive communist empire, disintegrated into 15 independent states.

Despite Russia’s immense geographical size, its population of 146 million people ranks only eighth in the world. This is just 10 million more than Japan, which has an area that is 45 times smaller. Kolosov stresses that large parts of Siberia and the Far East, especially in the north, remain largely uninhabited and are characterized by a harsh climate that is challenging for humans to live in.

This article is part of the «Why Russia…?» series in which RBTH answers popular questions about Russia.

Read more: Timeless precision in the court of the Tsars>>>

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