Russia is truly gigantic. It is located in two parts of the world – in Europe and in Asia. It is interesting that most of the territory of Russia lies in Asia and most of the population lives in the European part of Russia.
From north to south Russia stretches for 4,000 kilometers and from east to west – for 10,000 kilometers. Russia is washed by three oceans and 12 seas.
Russia has the largest number of neighboring countries – 18 in total. Russia borders with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, North Korea, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia, and with such new partially recognized states as Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russia has its sea border with Japan and the United States.
The longest border in the world is between Russia and Kazakhstan – 7,591 km.
Some time ago Russian territory was even bigger: Russia included Alaska too. But in 1867 Russia sold Alaska to the United States.
But why did Russia sell Alaska to America? In that time Alaska was almost non populated and it was very tough for Russia to protect Alaska. Gold and other minerals were found in Alaska a bit later. Back then Alaska was a big problem for the Russian government. Even the United States did not include Alaska in the country for a long time. Only in 1959 did Alaska officially become the 49th state of the USA.
45% of the territory of Russia is covered by forests. It means that Russia is the country with the largest forest reserves in the world. Russia has more forest territory than the whole territory of the United States. Russian forests are the biggest “lungs” of the earth; they clean the atmosphere from carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
Lake Baikal, Russia is one of the most beautiful and picturesque places not only in Siberia but also on the entire planet. Lying in a rift depression, located in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, this is the oldest lake in the world (being about 25-35 million years old).
Baikal is also the largest freshwater reservoir on Earth, so that 22% of all freshwater worldwide and 85% of Russia’s water supply are concentrated here. Its volume of water is 23 thousand km3 (approximately the amount of five Great Lakes combined in the United States).
In addition to the value of huge reserves of fresh water, (which, due to low mineralization: 100 g / l, it can be safely equated as distilled water) Baikal is also the deepest lake in the world. In 1996, it was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Lake Baikal is located in Central Asia, almost in the center of Eurasia, in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, and has the shape of an elongated crescent.
It lies in a cleft where Asia is literally splitting apart, the beginnings of a future ocean.
The lake basin is located in an ancient rift depression of glacial origin, being surrounded by high peaks of mountain ranges and hills covered with dense forests, which borders of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia in the Russian Federation.
Geologists say Baikal today shows what the seaboards of North America, Africa and Europe looked like as they began to separate millions of years ago.
More than 5,000 feet deep (1637m) at its most profound, with another four-mile-thick layer of sediment further down, the lake’s cold, oxygen-rich waters teem with bizarre life-forms.
One of those is the seals’ favourite food, the golomyanka, a pink, partly transparent fish which gives birth to live young. Geologists estimate that Lake Baikal formed somewhere 20-25 million years ago, during the Mesozoic.
Surrounded by mile-high snowcapped mountains, Lake Baikal still offers vistas of unmatched beauty. The mountains are still a haven for wild animals, and the small villages are still outposts of tranquility and self-reliance in the remote Siberian taiga, as the forest is called.
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