The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies about one-seventh of the earth’s surface. It covers the eastern part of Europe  and the northern part of Asia. Its total area is about 17 million square kilometers. The country is washed by the 12 seas of 3 oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic. In the south Russia borders on Chine, Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the west it borders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Byelorussia, the Ukraine. It also has a sea-border with the USA.
There’s hardly a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and vegetation can be found. We have steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the north, highlands and deserts in the east. There are two great plains in Russia: the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland.  There are over two million rivers in Russia. Europe’s biggest river, the Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea. Russia is rich in beautiful lakes. The world’s a deepest lake is Lake Baikal. The water in the lake is so clear that if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom. Russia is very rich in oil, coat, iron ore, natural gas, nickel and other mineral resources. The capital of Russia is Moscow. It’s  its largest political, scientific, cultural and industrial centre. It’s one of the oldest Russian cities. At present, the political and economic situation in the country is rather complicated. The industrial production is decreasing. The prices are constantly rising. People are losing their jobs because many factories and plants are going bankrupt. But in spite of the problems Russia is facing at present, there are a lot of opportunities for this contry to becom one of the leading countries in the world. I’m sure that we can do very much to make Russia as strong and powerful as it used to be.