Profile
Area: 17.1 million sq km
Geography: Russia is located in the centre of Eurasia and borders 18 countries.
Capital: Moscow (population over 12.5 million)
Largest cities: St Petersburg (population over 5 million), Novosibirsk (1.6 million), Yekaterinburg (1.4 million) and Nizhny Novgorod (1.2 million)
Population: 146.7 million
Main religions: Approximately 75% Orthodox Christians, 5% Muslims, 1% Catholics and Protestants, and 1% Buddhists
Official language: Russian
Main holidays: Russia Day (12 June), Unity Day (4 November) and Victory Day (9 May)
Currency: Russian rouble
Government
According to the 1993 Constitution, Russia is a democratic federative state with a republican form of government.
Head of state. President elected for a six-year term.
Vladimir Putin has been President of Russia since 18 March 2018.
Supreme executive body. The Government of Russia, which includes the Prime Minister, deputy prime ministers overseeing several ministries and agencies, federal ministers heading ministries and overseeing various state programmes or performing special duties, and heads of agencies, who do not have the title of minister but officially have the same status. Dmitry Medvedev is the Prime Minister of Russia.
The Federal Assembly, the Russian parliament, is a representative and legislative body with two houses: the Federation Council and the State Duma.
Administrative divisions. The Russian Federation has 85 entities (22 republics, 46 regions, 9 territories, 3 federal cities, 4 autonomous areas and 1 autonomous region).