Russia

Official Name: Russian Federation

Capital: Moscow

Population: 142,470,272

Official Language: Russian

Money: Ruble

Area: 17,075,200 square kilometres

Russia, the largest country in the world, occupies one-tenth of all the land on Earth. It has coasts on three oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic). Russia has about 100,000 rivers, including some of the longest and most powerful in the world. It also has many lakes, including Europe’s two largest: Ladoga and Onega.

Russia is known all over the world for its thinkers and artists, including writers like Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, composers such as Tchaikovsky.

Russia’s the most famous animal species is the Siberian tiger, the largest cat in the world. Indigenous to the forests of eastern Russia, these endangered giants can be 10 feet (3 meters) long, not including their tail, and weigh up to 600 pounds (300 kilograms).