Yuri Olegovich Shepkin

• Born in Zhukovsky, (Moscow region) on January 25th, 1981.

• B.A. in Psychology from MGSA (Moscow State Social Academy)

• Occupation: Businessman

RUSSIA

General Facts about the Country

Geography

• Russia is the largest country in the world, covering 17.1 million square kilometers.

• From northwest to southeast, Russia shares 14 borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, Mongolia, and North Korea.

Map of Russia

Russian Flag

Population

• Of a population of about 145.5 million, nearly 80% are concentrated in Western Russia. Moscow, the largest city in Europe, has a population of 11 million people, and St. Petersburg (former Leningrad) has 5 million inhabitants..

Moscow

St. Petersburg

Climate

• Owing to its vast size and the fact that most of Russian's territory is far removed from any ocean, the climate throughout the country is extremely continental, with distinct periods of warm and cold weather. Temperatures for Moscow and St. Petersburg range from highs of 40 C in the summer to low - 35 C in winter

Language

• Russian is the country's official language. It uses the Cyrillic alphabet (rather than the Latin one used by most Western countries), and contains 33 letters. However, the 120 or so nationalities of the Commonwealth of Independent States speak about 48 other languages.

• In Moscow or St Petersburg it is not uncommon to find Russians who speak European languages, especially English.

Cyrillic Alphabet

Red Square in Moscow

Culture and Social Life

• Culture & Social Life. Theatre, cinema, music and arts are important parts of Russian life. Features of Russian culture, which are at the highest of international standards, include the Bolshoi Theatre and the Pushkin Art Gallery in Moscow.

Russian Family• Russians place much importance on friendship

and family.

Religion

• Russian Orthodox Christianity is the main religion in Russia, followed to a lesser extent by Islam, and Judaism.

A Russian Church

Ethnic Diversity

• The territory of Russia is home to more than 100 different ethnic groups. The vast majority of the population - over four fifths - consists of ethnic Russians with another four percent consisting of Ukrainians and Belarussians.

Russian Ethnic Diversity

International Time

• Moscow and St. Petersburg are three hours ahead of London time and eight hours ahead of New York time.

• Russia’s time is 9 hours ahead of Mexico´s.

Typical Russian Food (Pelmeni)

Typical Russian Music and Dances

Typical Russian Art

Russia & Sports

Russian car (Volga)

Спасибо (spasibo) = Thank you