# Russia

By [Untitled](https://paragraph.com/@0x52a43fc96b9d28363351ea8229d0b495bb6db8af) · 2024-01-21

---

**Russia** ([Russian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language): Россия, [romanized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Russian): _Rossiya_, [\[rɐˈsʲijə\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Russian)), or the **Russian Federation**,[\[b\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia#cite_note-20) is a country spanning [Eastern Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe) and [Northern Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Asia). It is the [largest country in the world by area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area) extending across [eleven time zones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Russia), and the largest country in Europe ([European Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Russia)) and the largest country in Asia ([Siberia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia)).[\[19\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia#cite_note-21) It shares [land boundaries with fourteen countries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_of_Russia).[\[c\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia#cite_note-23) It is the [world's ninth-most populous country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population) and [Europe's most populous country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_population). The country's capital and [largest city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Russia_by_population) is [Moscow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow). [Saint Petersburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg) is Russia's second-largest city and "cultural capital". Other major urban areas in the country include [Novosibirsk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novosibirsk), [Yekaterinburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg), [Nizhny Novgorod](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizhny_Novgorod), [Chelyabinsk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk), [Krasnoyarsk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnoyarsk), [Kazan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan), [Krasnodar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnodar) and [Rostov-on-Don](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rostov-on-Don).

---

*Originally published on [Untitled](https://paragraph.com/@0x52a43fc96b9d28363351ea8229d0b495bb6db8af/russia)*