Largest country in world - Russia Russia is the largest country in the world. It covers over 17 million square kilometres, borders 14 other countries and crosses eight time zones. Extending north to the frozen wastes that lie above the Arctic Circle, its expanses also take in vast forests, high mountains and wide plains. Russia has long, bitter winters and short summers. Snow covers more than half of the country for six months a year, so it can be difficult to make the most of the many natural resources available. These resources include large regions of farmland and plentiful reserves of timber, oil, coal, natural gas and minerals. For countries Russia was a vast empire ruled by emperors called tsars. However, a workers'revolution in 1917 eventually ended the reign of tsars and brought the Bolsheviks(Later called the Russian Communist Party) to power. Russia became a republic and in 1922 joined with three smaller republics to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR), also known as the Soviet Union. By the 1940's the four origional republics had been further subdivided and there were 16 republics in the Union. over the next 40 years individual republics made increasing demands for independence. The USSR evetually broke up in 1991 and communism collapsed. At present, Moscow is the capital of Russia. Rolling plains known as steppes start below the forests. Meadows and wooded plains make up the northern steppes. The southern steppes are mainly treeless, but their rich oil makes this same of the farmland in the whole country. The Caucasus Mountains and the shores of the Caspian Sea form Russia's sothernmost area. The slopes of the Caucasus contain important deposits of iron and copper.

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