RUSSIA OVERVIEW

About Russia

Russia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. Russia is by far or by a considerable margin the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area. Russia’s capital, Moscow, is one of the largest cities in the world and the second largest city in Europe. Other major cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, twelve independent republics emerged from the USSR: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Baltic states regained independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Other Important Details

What is the main religion followed; Christianity
What is the currency; Russian Ruble ( 1 RUB = 1.08 RUPEES)
What is the official language used; Russian
Capital; Moscow

Relationship with India

During the Cold War, India and the Soviet Union (USSR) had a strong strategic, military, economic and diplomatic relationship. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia inherited its close relationship with India. This resulted in India and Russia sharing a special relationship.

Traditionally, the Indo-Russian strategic partnership has been built on five major components: politics, defense, civil nuclear energy, anti-terrorism co-operation and space. These five major components were highlighted in a speech given by former Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai in Russia. However, in recent years a sixth component, economic, has grown in importance.

Bilateral trade between both countries is concentrated in key value chain sectors. These sectors include highly diversified segments such as machinery, electronics, aerospace, automobile, commercial shipping, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, apparels, precious stones, industrial metals, petroleum products, coal, high-end tea and coffee products. Bilateral trade in 2002 stood at $1.5 billion and increased by over 7 times to $11 billion in 2012 and with both governments setting a bilateral trade target of $30 billion by 2025.

India is the second largest market for the Russian defense industry. In 2017, approximately 68% of the Indian Military’s hardware import came from Russia, making Russia the chief supplier of defense equipment. India has an embassy in Moscow and two consulates-general (in Saint Petersburg and Vladivostok). Russia has an embassy in New Delhi and four consulates-general (in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai).

A 2017 opinion poll by the Moscow-based non-governmental think tank Levada-Center states that Russians identified India as one of their top five “friends”.

Both countries closely collaborate on matters of shared national interest these include at the UN, BRICS, G20 and SCO. Russia also strongly supports India receiving a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. In addition, Russia has vocally backed India joining the NSG and APEC.

Relations with India have always been and I am sure will be one of the most important foreign policy priorities of our country. Our mutual ties of friendship are filled with sympathy, and trust, and openness. And we must say frankly that they were never overshadowed by disagreements or conflict. This understanding – this is indeed the common heritage of our peoples. It is valued and cherished in our country, in Russia, and in India. And we are rightfully proud of so close, so close relations between our countries.
—Dmitry Medvedev, about relations with India

We are confident that India lives in the hearts of every Russian. In the same way, I can assure you that Russia also lives in our souls as a Homeland, as people who share our emotions, our feelings of mutual respect and constant friendship. Long live our friendship!
—Pratibha Patil, about relations with Russia

“…India-Russia relationship is one of deep friendship and mutual confidence that would not be affected by transient political trends. Russia has been a pillar of strength at difficult moments in India’s history. India will always reciprocate this support. Russia is and will remain our most important defense partner and a key partner for our energy security, both on nuclear energy and hydrocarbons,”
—Pranab Mukherjee, about relations with Russia

Russia climate

Climate of course with an area the size of Russia, it is difficult to give any sort of general advice about the climate and weather, except that summers are warm to hot, and winters get very cold in some areas. In general, the climate of Russia can be described as highly continental influenced climate with warm to hot dry summers and (very) cold winters with temperatures of -30°C and lower and sometimes heavy snowfall. Sometimes very strong easterly winds, called Buran can occur, bringing freezing cold temperatures and snowstorms. Precipitation varies from region to region; the Western parts of Russia have the most rain (up to 750 mm), the southern and southeastern areas in the Russian Steppes are the Driest with an annual average below 200 mm.

Northern & Central European Russia have the most varied climate; the mildest areas are along the Baltic coast. The Summer is mostly dry and sunny, sunshine may be nine hours a day, with local showers or thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. As almost everywhere in Russia, winters can be very cold with frost and snowfall, the first snow often falls in early October. Spring and Autumn can be quite unsettled, sometimes low pressure systems can bring frequent rain- or snowfall and strong winds.

Siberia: This area of Russia is famous for its extreme climate with very cold winters, but warm to hot summers, although they tend to be short and wet. Average Precipitation is about 500 mm, most falls in the form of rain in spring and Autumn. The winter is mostly dry, snow covers the ground from end October to mid march in some years. In the winter the weather can be very dangerous sometimes with temperatures below -35°C, strong winds and snowstorms. The coldest place in Russia is Oimjakon in the central Sibirian region Jakutia, where the winter temperatures are almost the lowest in the world, below -50°C in January. The Artic sea is ice-bound from November to end March.
Southern European Russia: Winter is shorter than in the north.The Russian Steppes (in the southeast) have hot, dry summers and very cold winters. The north and northeastern areas around the Black Sea have milder winters, but frequent rainfall all the year round. The climate in this region is slightly mediterranean influenced.

Temperature Month Wise

Month	Average Max Temperature	Average Min Temperature
January	-9 °C (15.8 °F)	-16 °C (3.2 °F)
February	-6 °C (21.2 °F)	-14 °C (6.8 °F)
March	0 °C (32 °F)	-8 °C (17.6 °F)
April	+10 °C (50 °F)	+1 °C (33.8 °F)
May	+19 °C (66.2 °F)	+8 °C (46.4 °F)
June	+21 °C (69.8 °F)	+11 °C (51.8 °F)
July	+23 °C (73.4 °F)	+13 °C (55.4 °F)
August	+22°C (71. °F)	+12 °C (53.6 °F)
September	+16 °C (60.8 °F)	+7 °C (44.6 °F)
October	+9 °C (48.2 °F)	+3 °C (37.4 °F)
November	+2 °C (35.6 °F)	-3 °C (26.6 °F)
December	-5 °C (23 °F)	-10 °C (14 °F)