· Russia, or the Russian Federation as it is known officially, is the largest state of the new Commonwealth, covering a total area of over 6.5 million square miles, spanning eleven time zones, and populated by 160 million people - over 80 per cent of them ethnic Russians. Stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific and encompassing within its territory immense differences in climate, economic conditions and cultural traditions, Russia is the largest administrative area in the world.
· The history of the Russian state is a remarkable one. Locked in between Europe and Asia, the accidents of history have made life in Russia very different to life in the West. Russia went its own way, and for long periods was cut off from the mainstream of European development.