Russia

Russia, or the Russian Federation as it is known officially, is the largest state of the new Commonwealth, covering a total area of over 6.5 million square miles, spanning eleven time zones, and populated by 160 million people - over 80 per cent of them ethnic Russians. Stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific and encompassing within its territory immense differences in climate, economic conditions and cultural traditions, Russia is the largest administrative area in the world.

The words big, the most and unique are household terms in Russia. Going by train from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok would take you no less than a week, while the time difference between Moscow and the Chukchi Peninsula is nine hours. In the north of the country the polar night will reign supreme for several months and there will be ringing frosts at -50 degrees Celsius, whereas in the south palms and subtropical flowers grow and warm sea laps against the shore. Over   50 per cent of its territory is covered by forests. There is a great variety of landscapes, with mountains up to 4000 meters, vast grasslands and long rivers. It is still possible to find places where nature retains its primeval beauty and the wild animals have not smelt the human being. The polar bear, the snow leopard, the Amur tiger and the ermine can all be seen in the wild. Russia is known to possess a great mineral wealth, with practically all of the Mendeleev periodic table of elements to be found in the bowels of the earth. Russia possesses 90 per cent of the world amber deposits, its pieces still radiating the sunshine of the Earth’s early history, and some may include captive insects which lived a million years ago. The deepest lake, Baikal (1637 meters), containing one-fifth of all fresh water of the planet, the largest cannon, with the diameter of the barrel 890 millimetres, churches built from wood without a single nail, and libraries keeping the earliest manuscripts…

We welcome you to Russia, which is a simply fascinating place - from the imperial beauty of its capital - Moscow and St. Petersburg to the bleak romanticism of the countryside. Your tour to Russia will help you to understand the Russian people, their culture, their way of life.

They like to say in Russia that it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.

 Welcome to Russia!

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