Because of its size, Russia's climate displays both monotony and diversity. The climate of the Russian Federation formed under the influence of several determining factors. One of the most important is the enormous size and remoteness of many areas of the sea, resulting in the dominance of the continental climate. The climates of both European and Asian Russia are continental except for the tundra and the extreme southeast.

Since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has become an energy superpower and is one of the countries with the greatest numbers of weapons of mass destruction, making the Russian Federation, a very competitive force to be reckoned with.

The Russian Civil War was a very important internal conflict that took place between the Bolsheviks and their political opponents between 1918 and 1922.

At the beginning of the year 1991, the Soviet era had started to come to an end, and Russia became the Russian Federation.

The main forms of transportation in Russia are railways, highways and waterways.

Soviet ballet preserved the perfected 19th century traditions, and the Soviet Union's choreography schools produced one internationally famous star after another, including the incomparable Maya Plisetskaya, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Kirov in St. Petersburg remain famous throughout the world.

Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period.

Bound by treaty, Tsar Nicholas II and his subjects entered World War I at the defense of Serbia. At the opening of hostilities in August of 1914, the Russians took the offensive against both Germany and Austria-Hungary in support of her French ally.