Geography

The Russian Federation is situated in eastern Europe and northern Asia. It occupies an area of 17,075,400 sq km, equivalent to one-third of the Eurasian continent and 11% of the world’s landmass.
The combined length of Russia’s borders is 61,031.29 km (1.5 times the length of the equator). Russia’s territorial waters occupy an area of 9 million sq km.
Russia borders 16 countries (no other state has a greater number of neighbors). In the west, Russia shares borders with European countries, namely Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (the latter two border Kaliningrad). In the west, Russia shares borders with Ukraine and Belarus (CIS countries). In the Caucasus, Russia borders Georgia and Azerbaijan (CIS countries). Russia’s border with Kazakhstan, which is also a CIS country, runs eastwards from the Caspian Sea. It is the world’s longest unbroken land border (about 7,000 km long). In the east, Russia borders Mongolia, China and North Korea (DPRK). About 19 km long, the Russian-Korean border is the shortest of the Russian borders. Russia has maritime borders with Japan and the United States.
Russia’s westernmost point is near Kaliningrad (38ْ 38َ E), and its easternmost points are on Ratmanov Island (169ْ 02َ W) and on the continent at Cape Dezhnev (160ْ 40َ W). The country’s northernmost points are Cape Fligeli  (81ْ 50َ N) on Rudolf Island, part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, and on the continent at Cape Chelyuskin (77 ْ 43َ N). Russia’s southernmost point is on the border with Azerbaijan, on the crest of the Great Caucasian Range (41ْ 10 َ S).
Most of Russia lies in midlatitudes, though the north of the country is within the Arctic Circle and a small area around the Black Sea is subtropical. Russia’s geographical location explains its severe natural conditions: nearly 64% of the country is covered in permafrost. (Half of the world’s northern landmass is in Russia.) In winter, snow falls everywhere in Russia.
The country borders three oceans: the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Pacific Ocean in the east, and the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The country borders 13 seas, including the inland Caspian Sea (sea-lake).
European Russia is divided from Asian Russia by the Urals mountain range.
Russia is mostly a lowland country, with mountainous areas in the east and south. In the south there are the Northern Caucasus. The highest elevation in the range is Mount Elbrus (5,642 m). In the northwest there are the Khibiny Mountains. East of the Urals lies the vast West Siberian Plain, which is bordered in the southeast by the Altai Mountains (the highest elevation of which is Mount Belukha at 4,506 m). The Central Siberian Plateau, composed of ancient rock, lies between the Yenisei and Lena Rivers. In the south, it joins the Western and Eastern Sayan ranges. Between the Lena and the Pacific there are numerous mountain ranges and plateaus belonging to the East-Asian mountain system. Along the Pacific coast in the Russian Far East there are the Kamchatka Mountains (including the 4,750 meter high Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano) and the Kuriles, which have active volcanoes.
There are more than 2.5 million rivers in Russia. They flow into the basins of the three oceans and the inland drainage basin of the Caspian Sea. About two-thirds of Russia drains into the basin of the Arctic Ocean. Large rivers that flow into the Artic include the Ob (with the tributary Irtysh), the Yenisei (with the tributaries Angara, the Lower Tunguska and the Stony Tunguska) and the Lena (with the tributaries Vilyui and Aldan).
About four-fifths of Russia’s remaining territory drains into the Pacific basin. The Amur and the Anadyr are the largest rivers flowing into the Pacific.
Rivers that flow into the Atlantic cover about 5% of Russia. The Don is the longest of these.
The Volga is the biggest river flowing into the inland basin of the Caspian Sea. The Lena (2,400,000 sq km) and the Yenisey (2,580,000 sq km) have the biggest basins in the country.
Spring floods affect most of the rivers in Russia’s flatlands. Heavy rains cause high waters in summer and fall. Summer floods caused by glaciers melting, precipitation, and late alpine snow thawing, are common in the mountains of the Baikal region, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, and in the alpine regions of the Caucasus, Altai and northeastern Siberia. Summer floods are also frequent in the Far East with its monsoon climate. Summer rains cause the Amur River and its tributaries to flood.
Almost all types of minerals can be found in Russia. The sedimentary mantle of the ancient platform of the east European flatlands contains an abundance of minerals. Limestone, glass and building sands, chalk and gypsum are extracted in the central Russian and Volga uplands. Iron ore deposits are found on the crystal foundation of the ancient platforms. They are particularly plentiful in the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly where high quality ores are extracted from open pits.
Iron, copper and nickel ores are found on the Baltic shelf of the Kola Peninsula. The same area contains non-ferrous minerals, such as apatite and nephelite ores. The Ural Mountains remain an important iron ore mining area even though their reserves have already been substantially depleted. Siberia and the Far East are also rich in iron ores.
There are extensive coal reserves in the south of Western Siberia. Vast coalfields are is located in the Kusnetsk Basin. The Kuznetsk coalfields are the most heavily mined in Russia today. The southeastern part of the Donetsk coalfields (the majority of which are in Ukraine) also belongs to Russia. The Pechora coalfields (Vorkuta and Inta in the Komi Republic) are in the northeast of European Russia. The Central Siberian uplands (the Tunghuz watershed) and Yakutia (the Lena watershed) contain rich coal reserves, but these deposits remain virtually untouched due to the difficult natural and climatic conditions and the lack of infrastructure. They will be developed in the future.
The oil deposits of the North Caucasus are closely linked with the oil-bearing basins in the northern part of the Caspian Sea region in Kazakhstan, as well as on the Apsheron Peninsular in Azerbaijan. Oil and gas deposits started to be developed in the Volga and Ural areas in the 1940s. Then the Timan-Pechora region in the northeast of European Russia was developed. Russia’s most extensive gas deposits are concentrated in the north of Western Siberia (Yamal-Nenetsk Autonomous Region), while the central region of Western Siberia (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region) has the largest oil reserves. Oil and gas are piped from here to other regions of Russia and to the CIS and Europe.
New deposits have recently been discovered in Russia. Natural gas was found on the shelf of the Barents Sea, oil-dissolved gas on the shelf of the Kara Sea, and oil on the shelf of the Pechora Bay.
Granite intrusions in the Aldan shelf contain gold (loose deposits in the watersheds of the Vitim, Aldan, Yenisey and Kolyma rivers), iron ores, mica, asbestos and a number of rare metals.
Diamonds are mined commercially in Yakutia. Stannic ores are found in the Yanek Highlands, Pevek, Omsukchan, and the Far East. There are also many polymetallic ores.
Most of Russia is covered in forest. The Russian forest zone extends as an uninterrupted mass from its western borders to the Pacific coast. The main timber reserves are in Siberia and the Far East, but the forests in European Russia are processed more intensively, especially in the watersheds of the Northern Dvina, Pechora and Kama rivers.
The Russian landmass occupies one eighth of the Earth’s land area. But only 13% of this is productive agricultural land (plowed fields, hayfields and pastures). The main pastures are in European Russia, as well as in the southern Urals and Siberia. The hayfields are concentrated in the north of European Russia, primarily in flooded meadows. There are a lot of pastures and hayfields in the “non-black-soil zone” in European Russia to the north of the forest steppe area. The main pastures are mostly found in the southeast of the Russian Plain, the Caucasian foothills and other alpine areas of Russia, as well as on the southern fringes of the West Siberian Plain. There are numerous deer pastures in the tundra of Siberia and the Far East.   

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