Embassy of Russia in Dublin, Ireland

Russia has an area of 10, 672,000 sq. miles (17,075,200 sq.km) and a population of almost 150 million people.

Occupying a large territory in Europe and Asia Russia is spread over all climate zones except the tropical zone. It takes over 8 hours by plane to get from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. West of the Ural Mountains from the Black Sea in the South to the Arctic Ocean lies a broad plain with low hills where the historical core of the Russian nation is located. East of the Urals from the border with Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia to the Arctic coast lies Siberia - a scarcely populated area covered by coniferous forest, swamps and tundra in the North and mountainous terrain in the South.