Russia / Россия

St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia
Map of Russia showing major cities

Quick Facts:

Country name: Russian Federation

Capital: Moscow

Population: 143.4 million (World Bank, 2021)

Area: 6,601,670 square miles (17,098,246 square kilometers)

Religion: Russian Orthodoxy

Currency: Russian Ruble

 

Russian Language

Russian is an East Slavic language spoken in Russia and many of the former Soviet republics. There are about 153 million native speakers of Russian and millions more who speak it as a second or third language. It is the 8th most widely spoken languages in the world.

Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which combines letters from the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets, as well as some of its own unique characters. The Russian alphabet has 33 letters. Learn to pronounce the letters of the Russian alphabet here or sing the Russian alphabet song here.

 

Ginger cat speaking in Russian with downtown Moscow in the background
Hello! My name is Ekaterina Sergeevna Kotkina.

Russian language Resources

Explore Russian Culture

Spanning two continents and eleven time zones, Russia is the largest country in the world. Explore Russia's culture through its art, music, holidays, food, history, and literature.

Thumbnail List

National Anthem and Flag

National Anthem

The State Anthem of the Russian Federation uses the same melody as the Soviet national anthem, but with new lyrics composed by Sergei Mikhalkov in 2000.
Russian flag. equal-sized horizontal stripes of white (top), blue (middle), and red (bottom)

Flag

The Russian flag has three horizontal stripes, one white, which symbolizes the frankness and nobility of the Russian citizens one blue, which symbolizes the faithfulness and honesty of the people of Russia. and one red, which symbolizes the courage and the love of the Russian people.

Russian Money / Деньги

Russia uses a currency called the ruble. There are rubles, like there are dollars, and kopeks, like there are cents. There are 100 kopeks in one ruble. The number of rubles that equal one US dollar changes. You can google the current exchange rate. Kopeks are always coins. Rubles can be coins or paper bills. Paper bills run from five to five thousand rubles.

close up of Russian ruble notes 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000

Russian paper rubles, Licensed through Adobe Stock

front and back of Russian 1 ruble coin

1 ruble coin, Wikimedia Commons

Front and back of Russian 1 kopek coin

1 kopek coin, Wikimedia Commons

Moscow and St. Petersburg

The two largest and most well-known cities in Russia are Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Moscow

Moscow, founded in 1147 is the capital of Russia.

St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703, was Russia's capital from 1713 to 1918.
Did you know St. Petersburg has had three names?! It started as St. Petersburg, became Petrograd in 1914, changed to Leningrad in 1924, and returned to St. Petersburg after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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