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travel guide | Europe | Travel Guide for Russia
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Travel Guide for
Russia
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Trips to Russia
Introduction

Eastern Europe/Asia.

Area : 17,075,400 sq km (6,592,850 sq miles).

Population : 141.5 million (UN, 2005).

Population Density : 8.28 per sq km.

Capital : Moscow. Population: 8.3 million (2005).

Government : Republic since 1991.  
Recent history:
Vladimir Putin was elected to a second term as Russian President in March 2004. His nearest opponent, the Communist candidate, only obtained 14 per cent of the votes. United Russia, the party backed by the President, won a landslide victory in Parliamentary elections in December 2003. Mr Putin has promised to continue to reform the economy. He has taken a very tough line against Chechen rebels

The Russian Federation covers almost twice the area of the USA, and reaches from Moscow in the west over the Urals and the vast Siberian plains to the Sea of Okhotsk in the east. The border between European Russia and Siberia (Asia) is formed by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River and the Manych Depression. European Russia extends from the North Polar Sea across the Central Russian Uplands to the Black Sea, the Northern Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. Siberia stretches from the West Siberian Plain across the Central Siberian Plateau between Yenisey and Lena, including the Sayan, Yablonovy and Stanovoy ranges in the south to the East Siberian mountains between Lena and the Pacific coast, including the Chukotskiy and Kamchatka peninsulas.

Language : Russian. English, French or German are spoken by some people.

Religion : Mainly Christian with the Russian Orthodox Church being the largest Christian community. Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish minorities also exist.

Time : The Russian Federation is divided into 11 time zones. Summer time is + 1 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October.
Kaliningrad: GMT + 2 (GMT +3 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Moscow, St Petersburg, Astrakhan: GMT + 3 (GMT +3 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Izhevsk and Samara: GMT + 4 (GMT +5 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Perm', Ekaterinburg, Surgut: GMT + 5 (GMT +6 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Omsk and Novosibirsk: GMT + 6 (GMT + 7 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October.
Abakan, Norilsk, Tura: GMT + 7 (GMT +8 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Bratsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude: GMT + 8 (GMT +9 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Mirnyy, Tynda, Yakutsk: GMT + 9 (GMT +10 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno- Sakhalinsk: GMT + 10 (GMT +11 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Magadan, Chirskiy: GMT + 11 (GMT + 12 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Anadyr, Kamchatskiy, Petropavlosk: GMT + 12 (GMT +13 from the last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).

Social Conventions : It is customary to shake hands when greeting someone. Company or business gifts are well received. Each region has its own characteristic mode of dress. Conservative wear is suitable for most places and the seasonal weather should always be borne in mind. Smoking is acceptable unless stated otherwise. Avoid ostentatious displays of wealth; it is advisable to keep expensive jewellery, watches and cameras out of sight and take precautions against pickpocketing.
Photography: It is prohibited to take photographs of any military installation and/or establishments or sites of strategic importance. Failure to abide by this could result in police arrest.

Electricity : 220 volts AC, 50Hz.

Head of Government : Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

Head of State : President Vladimir Putin since 2000.

*Until 1992, the territories of the Republic of Chechnya and the Ingush Republic were combined in the Chechen-Ingush autonomous republic (area 19,300 sq km).

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