Full name: Russian Federation

Population: 142.8 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Moscow
Area: 17 million sq km (6.6 million sq miles)
Major language: Russian

System of Government: Presidential parliamentary republic
Head of the Government:
- Dmitry Medvedev — President — www.kremlin.ru/eng
- Vladimir Putin — Prime Minister — www.premier.gov.ru/eng

Parliament: Federative Council (upper house), Duma (lower house)
Administrative structure: 83 regions (federal subjects) grouped into seven federal districts.
Major religions: Christianity, Islam

Monetary unit: 1 rouble = 100 kopecks
Main exports: Oil and oil products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, weapons and military equipment
GNI per capita: US $7,560 (World Bank, 2007)
Internet domain: .ru
International dialling code: +7

Want to know more?

Read:

• about the most comprehensive and concise view of business, economic, political and cultural trends and processes underway in Russia. Russia Profile is an English-language information service and community platform consisting of a daily-updated Web site and a quarterly special report, geared toward a wide range of readers with a professional interest in Russia: www.russiaprofile.org
• about international cooperation in science and technology between EU and Russia on incrEAST information platform: www.increast.eu/en. The platform is geared towards researchers, developers and scientists who are interested in carrying out cross-border research projects, gaining experience in cooperating with the European Union, and conducting further research on the results of joint projects. incrEAST is also aimed at decision-makers in politics and the private sector.
• on-line exhibition "The Empire that was Russia" of the Librarian of Congress USA. It's a fine collection of Prokudin-Gorskii photographic images recovered in modern colors from the glass negatives.  The Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection features color photographic surveys of the vast Russian Empire made between ca. 1905 and 1915. Frequent subjects among the 2,607 distinct images include people, religious architecture, historic sites, industry and agriculture, public works construction, scenes along water and railway transportation routes, and views of villages and cities: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/empire.html .