RUSSIA OR THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IS A TRANSCONTINENTAL COUNTRY LOCATED IN EASTERN EUROPE AND NORTHERN ASIA. IT EXTENDS FROM THE BALTIC SEA IN THE WEST TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN IN THE EAST, AND FROM THE ARCTIC OCEAN IN THE NORTH TO THE BLACK SEA AND THE CASPIAN SEA IN THE SOUTH. RUSSIA IS THE LARGEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD RUSSIA, SPANNING MORE THAN ONE-EIGHTH OF THE EARTH’S INHABITED LAND AREA, STRETCHING ELEVEN TIME ZONES, AND BORDERING 16 SOVEREIGN NATIONS VIZ;  KAZAKHSTAN CHINA, MONGOLIA, UKRAINE, BELARUS, FINLAND, GEORGIA, AZERBAIJAN, LATVIA, EST NIA, LITHUANIA, POLAND, NORWAY, AND NORTH KOREA. MOSCOW IS THE COUNTRY’S CAPITAL AND LARGEST CITY, OTHER MAJOR CITIES INCLUDE SAINT PETERSBURG, NOVOSIBIRSK, YEKATERINBURG, KAZAN, NIZHNY NOVGOROD, CHELYABINSK, AND SAMARA. IT IS THE NINTH-MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY IN THE WORLD AS WELL AS THE MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY IN EUROPE.  RUSSIA ENJOYS A RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE AND IS HOME TO MANY MUSEUMS. THE MOST NOTABLE INCLUDE THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY, THE KREMLIN ARMOURY AND THE STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM IN MOSCOW, THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, AND THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM IN ST PETERSBURG, THE KAZAN KREMLIN IN KAZAN, ETC.