Russia

Russia, officially the Russian Federation is, by a considerable margin the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area and the 10th most populous, with about 147 million people as of 2019. About 77% of the population live in the western, European part of the country. After being closed to the rest of the world during the USSR years, Russia, since the mid-90s is well and truly open to tourism and the sheer scale of the country is somewhat incomprehensible, covering nine time zones.

Russia's economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2018. Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally.

The name Russia is derived from Rus', a medieval state populated mostly by the East Slavs. The country typically was called by its inhabitants russkaja zemlja, which can be translated as "Russian Land" or "Land of Rus'". Russia contains Europe’s longest river, the Volga, and its largest lake, Ladoga. Russia also is home to the world’s deepest lake, Baikal, and the country recorded the world’s lowest temperature outside the North and South poles.