Geographic diversification
Russia
Russia is the largest country in the world – it spans most of the Asian continent, borders the Arctic and Pacific oceans to the North and East and shares borders with 13 countries. Russia extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning 9 time zones. It boasts a vast range of environments and landforms. With more than 142 million people, it has the world’s ninth largest population. Russia has the world's greatest mineral and energy reserves and is considered an energy superpower. It has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's unfrozen fresh water. Russia has the world's largest natural gas reserves, second largest coal reserves, and eighth largest oil reserves. It is the world's leading natural gas exporter and second largest oil exporter.
Its largest city is its capital city – Moscow. Its other major cities – with populations in the millions – are Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Ufa, and Yekaterinburg.
Government: federal semi-presidential republic.
Currency: Ruble (RUB)
Time zone: Russia extends across the whole northern Asia and 40% of Europe spanning 9 time zones.
Language
As expected, Russian is the official language of Russia. However, over 100 languages are spoken in the CIS. In addition to Russian, English is the region’s main business language.
Climate
Continental, dry. Despite the common belief in the endless Russian winters, July and August temperatures of +30 C (86 F) and above are common in Moscow. January temperatures can easily drop to -20 C (9-4 F), but it happens rarely. The usual winter temperature is around -10 C (14 F), and many people find it more pleasant than not.
Find out why others decided to make the move, by reading some of our people profiles.