Russia is the biggest country on E Russia is so big that the whole United States could fit inside it nearly In fact， if you started from one end of Russia， you would travel almost halfway around the world before you reached the other end! Russia extends across two About one-third of it lies in E The rest stretches all the way across northern A The Ural Mountains， which run north to south， divide European Russia from Asian R In all， about 143 million people live in RRussia’s weather is a lot like that of Canada—the world’s second biggest country in Russia lies about as far north as C The weather tends to be cold， with long winters and short EUROPEAN RUSSIAA great plain stretches over European R Slow-moving rivers crisscross this plain， including the Volga， the Daugava， and the D Most Russians live in this part of the In the north， many swamps and lakes dot the In the south， the rich soils make good MOSCOW AND SAINT PETERSBURGMore than ten cities in European Russia have over 1 million people， but the largest by far is Moscow， Russia’s Moscow grew up on the banks of the Moscow R Today， it is a city of more than 10 million At the heart of Moscow is a famous old fortress called the K Today， the Kremlin is the seat of the Russian At the foot of the Kremlin’s eastern walls is Red Square， a vast public square that has been the scene of many famous events in Russian On the south end of Red Square is Saint Basil’s C The cathedral’s multicolored， onion-shaped domes are world-The next largest city is Saint Petersburg， Russia’s biggest Saint Petersburg is on the Gulf of Finland to the Its lavish palaces and grand cathedrals make it one of Europe’s most beautiful For more than two centuries， from 1712 to 1918， Saint Petersburg was Russia’s ASIAN RUSSIAThe Asian part of Russia is called S It lies to the east of the Ural M Siberia is a treasure-trove of natural It has huge deposits of oil， natural gas， and minerals， and vast stands of FROZEN TUNDRAThe northernmost part of Siberia has treeless plains， called Most of the tundra is covered by permafrost， a deeply frozen Few plants can grow in this part of S Ice on the surface melts in summer， but the warmth can’t sink through the frozen So the water pools in great marshes that swarm with flies and Polar bears， walruses， and reindeer live on this VAST FORESTSSouth of the tundra is a great belt of forested land called Russia contains about one-quarter of the world’s forested Sable， lynx， wolves， and brown bears live In Siberia’s eastern forests live antelope， leopards， and the world’s biggest cats—Siberian THE STEPPESRolling grasslands， called steppes， cover much of southern S Siberia’s richest farmland is found Today， the steppes have been plowed and planted for RISE OF THE RUSSIAN TSARSDuring the 1400s， the princes of Moscow began wars to conquer lands around R They called themselves tsars， a title Russians once used for their own One Russian tsar， Peter the Great， decided to make his country like the ones found elsewhere in EWhen Peter came to power in the late 1600s， Russia was a backward Farming was The military was poorly Peter ordered his nobles to dress like other E He built a strong army， roads， and Russian tsars became powerful European RUSSIAN CULTURE BLOOMSThe arts flourished in Russia during the Writers such as Leo Tolstoy， Fyodor Dostoyevsky， and Anton Chekhov penned great works of Musicians such as Peter Tchaikovsky and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov composed influential Russians performed brilliant ballets and SEEDS OF COMMUNISMBy the late 1800s， many Russians began to oppose the great power of the Most Russians were poor farmers called Serfs were not allowed to leave the land where they Many other Russians were terribly poor factory Among these workers， an idea called Communism took Communists said that all workers should own the land and factories and control the In 1917， a Communist movement， led by Vladimir Lenin， seized THE COMMUNIST ERAIn 1922， after a civil war， the Communists created a new They called it the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR， or Soviet Union， for short) Russia was the biggest part of this new After Lenin died， Joseph Stalin took his Stalin turned Russia into a Communist country by He killed many people and sent millions more to prison camps in S His secret police， the KGB， terrorized the Russian During World War II， the Soviet Union helped defeat G After the war ended in 1945， the Soviet Union took control of the countries in Eastern ECOMMUNISM LOSES STEAMBy 1989， Russians had grown tired of C The system could not produce enough ordinary goods， such as clothing or Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev tried to loosen the But his changes allowed the people to sweep the Communists out In December 1991， the Soviet Union officially The different parts of the Soviet Union became separate countries again， including RLIFE IN RUSSIA TODAYSince then， Russia has inched toward The government no longer tries to control every aspect of Russian life， as it once An elected president now leads the Factories have been sold to private Land has been given to private citizens and
