RUSSIA RUSSIA

The East European Plain is furrowed by numerous rivers, including the Volga (which is the largest river in Europe, 3 688 km) and the Ural, which flow in the Caspian Sea and the Don which flows into the Azov Sea. The northern part of the European part of Russia is rich in lakes, between these are Lake Ladoga (the largest lake in Europe, 17.891 km ²) and Lake Onega (the second largest lake in Europe, 9.894 km ²). The Caspian Sea (371,000 square kilometers) is the largest lake in the world and is located south of Russia and east of the Caucasus. Beyond the Urals began the Asian part of the country, here goes the huge West Siberian Plain (2,700,000 km ²) crossed by great rivers Ob and Jenisej (Yenisei) (which with its tributaries Angara and Selenga is the longest river in Russia and the fifth longest river in the world, 5.539 kilometers), this is a region characterized by the tundra, the taiga (coniferous forest) and the steppe.

Between the valleys of the rivers Lena and Jenisej (4.400 kilometers in length) is the Central Siberian Plateau (3,500,000 km ²), located at heights average between 300 and 700 meters, but which reaches 1.700 meters with the Putorian mountains, this plateau after the Amazon is the largest green lung of the earth, the area is rich in large forests of conifers. In the south there is the Lake Bajkal (31.494 km2), the deepest lake in the world (1.673 meters deep) and the largest body of freshwater in the world for the amount of volume of water.

Beyond the Lena River are located several mountainous areas divided between them by wide river valleys that slope toward the Pacific Ocean. At the east of the country is the huge peninsula of Kamchatka, which extends for 1.250 km long, the peninsula has a rich wildlife and significant height volcanoes, the highest peak is the volcano Kljuevskaja Sopka (4,750 meters ).

Among the Russian islands are significant the Novaya Zemlya arcipelago, made up of two main islands Severny (48.904 sq km) and Yuzhny (33.275 sq km), the archipelago of Franz Joseph Land and the islands of New Siberia, all located in the Arctic Ocean. While in the Pacific Ocean are the Kuril islands and the large island of Sakhalin (72.492 km2), the largest island in the country.

Russia is one of the raw materials richest countries of the world's, there are extracted large quantities of oil, natural gas, iron, coal, precious stones, etc.. Rich forest resources and agricultural produce are cereals, potatoes and flax. The industry is another important source of the economy (steel, mechanical, chemical, textile).