Russian Federation

Rossiyskaya Federatsiya

CAPITAL: Moscow

FLAG: Equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red.

ANTHEM: Patriotic Song.

MONETARY UNIT: The rouble (R) is a paper currency of 100 kopecks. There are coins of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 50 kopecks and 1 rouble, and notes of 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 50,000 roubles. R1 = $0.0322 (or $1 = R31.10) as of May 2003.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard.

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1–2 January; Christmas, 7 January; Women's Day, 8 March; Spring and Labor Day, 1–2 May; Victory Day, 9 May; State Sovereignty Day, 12 June; Socialist Revolution Day, 7 November.

TIME: 3 PM Moscow = noon GMT.

Location, Size, and Extent

Russia is located in northeastern Europe and northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world—slightly less than 1.8 times the size of the United States, with a total area of 17,075,200 sq km (6,592,771 sq mi). Russia shares boundaries with the Arctic Ocean on the N, northern Pacific Ocean on the W, China, Mongolia...