Russia has the world’s largest land area and spans both Europe and Asia.
Its territory covers about 17.1 million square kilometres, extending from the Baltic and Black Sea regions to the Pacific Ocean. Russia is commonly divided geographically into a European portion west of the Ural Mountains and a much larger Asian portion. The country’s borders include fourteen internationally recognized neighboring states.
Russia contains a remarkable range of landscapes, including Arctic tundra, boreal forest, grasslands, mountains, and major river systems. Siberia occupies much of the Asian territory. Lake Baikal, in southern Siberia, is the world’s deepest freshwater lake and contains roughly one-fifth of the planet’s unfrozen surface freshwater.
Because Russia stretches across eleven time zones, sunrise and daily life differ greatly across the country. Moscow, in the European part, is the capital and largest city. The enormous territory does not mean Russia has the largest population: India and China have far more inhabitants. The country’s size is measured by total area, including inland waters, while “land area” can be defined somewhat differently in statistical comparisons.