Home > Community > Country Profiles >

Russia - general information

Search Resources

Hot Discussion

L/C Trouble!
My first order
How should I do when clients visiting our factory ?
Inport from China to Russia. Customs duties.

Select a country/region

Russia - GENERAL INFORMATION

Population - Local time - Languages - Religion - Political system - Climate - Tourism - Food

Population

Main Cities	Population
Moscow	9,300,000
Saint Petersbourg	5,100,000
Nijni Novogorod	1,500,000
Novosibirsk	1,500,000
Yekaterinbourg	1,400,000
Omsk	1,200,000

Total population (millions):	142.8
Source: World Bank 2004

Urban population:	73%
Source: World Bank 2004

Average annual population growth:	-0.4%
Source: World Bank 2004

Surface area (km²) :

17,075,400

Population origin

Origin of the population	% Of the population
Russian	81.3
Tartar	3.7
Ukrainian	3
Other	12

Local time

It is %T:%M %A in Moscow

GMT+3 in winter, GMT+4 in summer in Moscow and St Petersburg

Languages

Official language: Russian.
However, more than 150 languages are spoken in the Russian Federation. Some of them are official according to the state.
Business languages: Russian and English.

Free translation tools in Russia :
Systran
Free English-Russian-English translator of texts and web pages

Tranexp
Free English-Russian-English translator of texts and web pages

Ectaco
English-Russian-English Dictionary

Religion

Religious practises : Russian orthodox religion is the dominant religion in Russia.

Political system

Russia is a presidential federal republic. The Parliament is composed of 2 Chambers: the Lower House (Duma), 450 representatives who are elected by direct universal suffrage and the Upper House (Federation Council), 178 representatives (2 for each of the 89 republics and regions of the Federation).
Head of State: President Vladimir Putin, reelected for 4 years on 14th March of 2004.

Climate

Tourism

Number of visitors in Russia	2002	2003	2004	World rank
Number of visitors (1000)	7943	8521	9164	21

Source : World Tourisme Organization, data available in November 2005

Tourist sites

- Moscow: the Kremlin, the Red Square, the Carousel Place, the Poutchkine's museum.
- Saint Petersbourg: the St Paul fortress, the Arts Place, the Hermitage, the Winter palace.
- The Caucasian chains, valleys and villages.
- The Volga, which is the longest river in Europe (it is another way of discovering the country's heart and soul since it is indeed navigable nearly all the way through).

For more information about tourism in Russia , check out the following web site(s) :
Russian Tourism Board

Food

Traditional dishes

Blinis, sure cream , Caviar and Vodka: It is the perfect marriage of the Czar times of Great Russia, who took those eggs over to the tables of France and elsewhere. The Russian fishermen were used to harvest the sturgeons while they were swimming upstream the rivers of Russia.
Blinis are black wheat pancakes; blinis are very often served with appetizers, smoked fish. They are piled up on a very warm clay plate .

Last modified in October 2005