Топик: Россия /english/

Russia is one of the largest countries in the world. The last territory lies in the Eastern part of Europe and the Northern part of Asia. Russia is washed by 12 seas and 3 oceans. The oceans are: the Atlantic, the Arctic and the Pacific. The seas are: the White sea, the Barents sea, the Okhotsk sea, the Black sea, the Baltic sea and others.

Russia borders on many countries, such as Mongolia and China in the south-east, Finland and Norway in the north-west and so on.

The land of Russia varies very much from forests to deserts, from high mountains to deep valleys. The main mountain chains are the Urals, the Caucasus and the Altai. There are a lot of great rivers and deep lakes on its territory. The longest rivers are the Volga in Europe and the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena in Asia. The largest lakes are Ladoga and Baikal. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and its water is the purest on earth. The climate in Russia varies from arctic in the north to continental in the central part of the country and subtropical in the south. The Russian Federation is rich in natural and mineral resources. It has the deposits of oil, gas, coal, iron, gold and many others.

The current population of Russia is more than 150 million people. The European part of the country is densely populated, and the most population live in cities and towns and their outskirts. 82% of the population are Russians.

The capital of the Russian Federation is Moscow, with the population of about 10 million people.

Russia is a presidential republic. It is one of the leading powers in the world. Head of State in this country is the President. The government consists of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The President controls each of them. The legislative power is exercised by the Federal Assembly. The executive power belongs to the Government, or the Cabinet of Ministers. The government is headed by the Prime Minister. The judicial power belongs to the system of courts. It consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and other courts.

The nation symbol of Russia is a white-blue-and-red banner. The hymn of Russia was written by Mikhalkov, music was by Aleksandrov. A new national emblem is a two-headed eagle. It is the most ancient symbol of Russia. It originates from the heraldic emblem of the Ruricovitches. All these symbols are official. They have been approved by the Federal Assembly.

At present, the political and the economic situation in the country is rather complicated. There are a lot of problems in the national economy of Russia. But in spite of the problems there are a lot of opportunities for this country to become one of the leading countries in the world. I’m sure that we, the younger generation, can do very much to make Russia as strong as it used to be.