|BNational holiday|N: Independence Day, June 12, celebrating the first presidential elections.
|BNature and climate|N: Most of Russia are lowland plains stretching from the Baltic Sea to Yenisey River. These plains are divided in a western and an eastern part by the Ural Mountains that also form the border between Europe and Asia. Highest peak of the Ural Mountainsreach 1894 m.a.s.l. The European plains are grassy in the south and forested in the north.
Between the rivers Yenisey and Lena is the central Siberian highland. In the southern part of the plateu are mighty mountain chains forming natural borders to Mongolia and China. Highest peak is Gora Belukha reaching 4506 m.a.s.l. In these mountains is Lake Baykal, the biggest lake in Asia and the world's deepest, 1620 m, located.
The area east of Lena River is very mountainous with an average elevation between 2500 and 3000 m. Highest peak, Klyuchevskaja Sopka on kamchatka Peninsula, reaches 4750 m.a.s.l.
Tundra covers the extreme northern parts of of the Asian part. South of the tundra are vast forests and deserts in southwest.
Russia have the two biggest lakes of Europe, Ladoga and Onega and many mighty rivers. In the European part of Russia most rivers run from north to south. Volga is the biggest river in Europe.
East of Ural Mountains most rivers run from south to north.
There are about 17 000 different species of plants, about half of the plants in the world, growing wild in Russia.
The fauna is very much like western Europe. As vast areas have been untouched by human hand many animal species have been able to survive.
Polar climate in the extreme north of Siberia the average temperature between -20 and -40°C in January and about +5°C in July. The southern parts of Siberia have an average temperature of 0°C in January and 20°C in July. The European Russia have an average temperature in January between -10°C in northeast to 0°C in the south and in July between +10°C in the north to 20°C in the south. Percipitation about 700 mm in the whole country.
|BPeople|N: 83% Russians, 4% Tatars, 3% Ukrainians and more than 120 different ethnic groups of which more than 20 have populations over one million. About 80% of the population live in the European part.
