Project on Russia's Food Culture

 Russia (the Russian Federation) spans almost half the globe from east to west and about 4,000 kilometers from north to south. Divided into eleven time zones, Russia is by far the world's largest country. It occupies much of Eastern Europe and northern Asia.

Capital: Moscow

Russia has a wealth of natural resources including oil, natural gas, minerals and timber. Moscow is the center for many manufacturing industries including cars, steel and other heavy manufacturing.

The southwest has rich farm land. Crops include wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and sunflowers. Some areas include cattle farming. Russia also has a large ocean fishing fleet. Many of these ships have full capabilities to clean, freeze and process the catch.

The majority of Russians live in the area between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Southeast Russia is also heavily populated.

Land area: 6,592,812 sq mi (17,075,400 sq km); total area: 6,592,735 sq mi (17,075,200 sq km)

Population (2010 est.): 139,390,205 (growth rate: –0.5%); birth rate: 11.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 10.3/1000; life expectancy: 66.1; density per sq mi: 21

Geography

The Russian Federation is the largest of the 21 republics that make up the Commonwealth of Independent States. It occupies most of eastern Europe and north Asia, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south. It is bordered by Norway and Finland in the northwest; Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania in the west; Georgia and Azerbaijan in the southwest; and Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and North Korea along the southern border. Russia has boundaries with fourteen countries.

Russia ranks sixth in the world in population, trailing China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians) are the most numerous of the more than 100 European and Asiatic nationalities.

Asian Russia is...