Russia is the largest country in the world by far; spanning eleven time zones, its territory covers nearly twice as much of the earth as that of the next largest country, Canada. Despite its massive size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture. Instead it has huge reserves of some of the world's most important resources (oil, gas, coal, platinum, gold, chrome, asbestos). Mount Elbrus (Gora El'brus), at 5,633 m, is Europe's, and Russia's, tallest peak.

Russia has both extensive coastlines bordering the Arctic Ocean and Northwest Pacific, as well as smaller coastlines on the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. Russia is bordered by Norway and Finland to the northwest, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine to the west, Georgia and Azerbaijan to the southwest, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia to the south, and North Korea to the southeast. The American state of Alaska lies opposite the easternmost point of Russia across the Bering Strait.

Russia also administers the exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic coast located in between Poland and Lithuania.

History

Although Russia is a very old country founded during the Middle Ages, it was not considered part of mainstream Europe until the reign of Czar Peter the Great who ruled until 1725. He was a Europhile with an empathy towards Western culture and the first Czar to visit 'Europe proper'. There is a story that while visiting Greenwich Palace in England, he was told that he looked as though he had been dragged through a hedge backwards. His reply was that he had, and in a wheelbarrow!