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Capital: Moscow

Population: 142,893,540 (July 2006 est.)

Languages: Russian, many minority languages

Religions: Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.) note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule

Currency: Russian ruble (RUR)

Timezone: 11 time zones from GMT+2 to GMT+12

The largest country in the world, Russia occupies a vast landmass in Northern Europe and Asia and has borders with 16 other countries. It is twice the size of the USA and covers 10 different timezones. Due to its vast size, Russia has many different climatic regions, from sub-arctic conditions in Siberia to a temperate, continental climate in the south.

European Russia and Asian Russia are divided by the Ural Mountains and the Ural River. Much of the landscape is flat, with the exception of the Urals and few other mountain ranges in the east and south. West of the Urals the landscape consists of a broad plain with rolling hills. To the east, the immense, largely inhospitable land of Siberia accounts for much of Asian Russia. Russia has more than 90 cities with over 200,000 inhabitants, and 13 cities with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants, the largest being Moscow and St Petersburg.