Russia is located in the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia and, with an area of 17,075,400 square kilometers, is the largest country in the world (48 times larger than Germany). The country has diverse natural conditions: all climates, from arctic to subtropical, are represented. Flora and fauna are also characterized by great diversity.
Society
With only 8.9 residents per square kilometer, Russia is sparsely populated. The population of Russia today comprises 145.7 million people, almost 80 percent of whom are Russian. However, a total of 160 different ethnic groups live on the territory of the Federation, each with its own language and culture.
Everyday life
Before traveling to Russia, you should find out about entry and residence regulations, the security situation and health care. Questions about supply, transport and telecommunications can also be clarified in advance.
Transportation
With only 8.8 residents per square kilometer, Russia is sparsely populated. The population density is extremely differentiated regionally, with extremely sparsely populated regions in the far north and industrial conurbations in central and southern parts of the country as well as in western Siberia. The population density ranges from 74 residents / km² in Chuvashia to 0.03 residents / km² in the Evenk Autonomous District in Eastern Siberia. The costs of infrastructure expansion are much higher than in more densely populated countries.
The massive urbanization policies of the Soviet era resulted in the majority of the population living in urban settlements. Of the estimated 142.3 million residents, around 103 million live in the country’s cities. In addition to the capital Moscow, the largest cities are Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhni Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Perm, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don and Volgograd.
Railroad
According to areacodesexplorer, railways are an important mode of transport in Russia. The Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok is the longest railway line in the world at 9288 kilometers. At the same time, the Baikal-Amur Mainline from Lake Baikal to the Amur River was built at the end of the 20th century to open up the Far East. These two, and the branching off routes, the country is in east-west direction developed.
Overall, the railway network (1,524 millimeters track width) covers around 87,000 kilometers, of which almost half (43,400 kilometers) is electrified. There are also 42,000 kilometers of non-public industrial railways. The route network in Russia is operated by the state railway company RZD. The route network for high-speed trains is being expanded.
Streets
The Russian road network is facing an ever greater burden. Already today, 75% of all goods flows and 73% of passenger transport outside of the cities take place on the roads. The number of vehicles has increased by almost 50% to over 40 million since 2002. The road network in the European part of Russia is relatively well developed. In Siberia and the Far East, roads are often impassable in winter. The trunk road network covers around 1,283,000 kilometers, 927,000 of which are paved. The trunk roads outside the metropolitan areas are usually not developed as motorways. The road system has been significantly modernized in recent years and is currently being expanded.In 2019 a rail / road bridge from mainland Russia to the Crimean peninsula was completed.
The new construction and modernization of the traffic routes between Europe and western China are expected to flow 655 billion rubles by 2024. Among other things, the “Meridian” motorway from the border with Belarus to the Russian-Kazakh border town of Sagartschin and a bridge over the Volga near Togliatti are to be built.
Waterways
Inland navigation is an important mode of transport on 102,000 kilometers of waterways. In the European part of Russia, waterways connect the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the inland lakes and the White Sea. Important waterways are the Volga, Kama, Oka, Vjatka, Don and the canals that connect these rivers. In Siberia, where the road network is thin, inland shipping on Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Irtysh and Amur plays a dominant role. The climate often only allows traffic from March to November. The largest ports are Vladivostok (Pacific), Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad (Baltic Sea), Murmansk, Arkhangelsk (Arctic Ocean), as well as Sevastopol, Novorossiysk and Sochi (Black Sea).
Air traffic
Of the 1,213 Russian airports and airfields, 593 have a paved taxiway. The largest airports are in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk.
The federal programs to build and modernize regional airports were cut in 2015. Only the airports at the venues for the 2018 World Cup and in the particularly hard-to-reach locations in the Far North and the Far East were largely excluded from the cuts. Terminal B at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport was expanded for the World Cup. Especially for the World Cup, investments were made in the expansion of the airports in Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Rostov and Naberezhnye Chelny.