Topic 4. The russian federation

The Russian Federation is my Homeland. It is the largest country in the world. It occupies about one-seventh of the Earth surface. Its total area is over 17 million square kilometers.

Our country is washed by 12 seas and 3 oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic and

the Atlantic. In the south Russia borders on China, Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the west it borders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Byelorussia and the Ukraine. It also has sea-borders with the USA and Japan. There are numerous forests, plains and steppes, taiga and tundra, highlands and deserts. The highest mountains in our land are the Altai, the Urals and the Caucasus. The largest mountain chain - the Urals - separates Europe from Asia. There are over two thousand rivers in Russia. The longest of them are the Volga, the Ob’, the Yenisei, the Lena and the Amur. Our country is also reach in various lakes with the most beautiful, deepest and purest lake in the world, the Baikal, included.

On the Russian territory there are 11 time zones. The climate conditions are rather different: from arctic and moderate to continental and subtropical. Our country is one of the richest in natural resources countries in the world: oil, natural gas, coal, different ores, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, gold, copper, nickel and other mineral resources.

The Russian Federation is a multinational state. It comprises many national districts, several autonomous republics and regions. The population of the country is about 142 million people.

Russia is a constitutional republic headed by the President. The government consists of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative power belongs to the Federal Assembly comprising two Chambers: the Council of Federation (upper Chamber) and the State Duma (lower Chamber). Each Chamber is headed by the Speaker. The executive power is exercised by the government (the Cabinet of Ministers), headed by the Prime Minister. The judicial power belongs to the system of Courts, comprising the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and Federal Courts. The President controls only the executive branch – the government, but not the Supreme Court and the Federal Assembly.

Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation. It is the largest political, cultural, historic, scientific and industrial centre of our country and one of the most beautiful cities on the globe. The population in Moscow is more than 10 million people.

At present the political and economic situation in our country is rather complicated. There are a lot of problems in national economy: the industrial production is decreasing, the prices are constantly rising and the rate of inflation is very high. But in spite of these problems Russia has a lot of opportunities to become one of the leading countries in the world. I’m sure that we, the younger generation, can do much to make Russia as strong and powerful as it used to be!