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Pinpointing Russia’s Location on the Map

The exact place where is Russia on the map is in northern Asia between the Arctic Ocean, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Lithuania, Mongolia and Poland to the south, Norway and Finland to the north and Belarus, Estonia and Ukraine to the west.

Where is Russia located on the map

To be more specific, Russia which is part of the ex Soviet Union is located in the northeastern part of Europe ( and is known as Western Russia) and the northern part of Asia (known as Asian Russia).

It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Azov Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the south, and from Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.

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This is actually the largest country in the world with a total area of 17 million square kilometres about 1.8 times the size of the United States.

Covering almost half of the Northern Hemisphere and much of the eastern and northeastern part of Europe and the entire part of northern Asia.

Russia has a maximum east-west extent of 9.000 kilometres ( 5.600 miles) and a north-south extent of maximum 4.000 kilometres (2.500 miles).

Across the country, you will meet many interesting and unique landforms and landscapes, which depends on the latitudinal belts: Arctic deserts in the extreme north, followed by tundra and then the coniferous forest zones.

Forest zones cover about half of the country’s surface and the area is bordered to the south by wooded steppe and then by steppe, followed by a semidesert along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea.

The largest cities from the country are Moscow, the capital and Saint Petersburg.

Both cities, Moscow and St Petersburg are located in the European part of Russian Federation, in the eastern Europe.

 

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Relief characteristics based on where is Russia on the map

From a geologic structure, Russia can be divided into two main parts along the line of the Yenisei River: western and eastern.

In the western part, the relief is characterised by lowland plains split only by a few low hills and plateaus.

In the eastern part of the river, the terrain is mountainous but there are some extensive lowlands.

To be more accurate, we should split the country into 6 main relief regions:

  • Kola-Karelian area
  • Russian Plain
  • The Ural Mountains
  • The West Siberian Plain
  • The Central Siberian Plateau
  • The mountains of the south and east

 

Kola- Karelian area

The Kola-Karelian area is the smallest relief area from all the six from above and lies in the northwestern part of European Russia right between the White Sea and Finland.

This is a low plateau with a maximum elevation of 580 metres (1.890 feet) where low hills alternate with swamps and small lakes.

The Kola Peninsula is similar to the Kola-Karelian area just that from the middle of it stands up the small Khibiny mountain of 1.200 metres (4.000 feet).

The area is rich in mineral ancient rocks and the great news is that you don’t even have to dig after them.

The Russian Plain

On the western part of the country from where is Russia on the map lies one of the great lowlands in the world, the Russian Plain is also known as the East European Plain.

The Russian part of the plane extends from the western border for 1.600 kilometres (1.000 miles) to the east to the Ural Mountains and from the Arctic Ocean to the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea.

Most of the area lies at elevations of less than 200 metres (650 feet) above sea level with the highest point 343 metres (1.125 metres) in the northwest of Moscow.

 

 

The lowest part of the plane is located eastern side of Volga river, in the Caspian Depression where the plain lies more than 25 metres (90 feet) below sea level.

The vast plain is modelled by small rivers which cross the lowlands in broad and flood part of the land giving birth to shallow floodplains.

The Ural Mountains

From where is Russia located on the map, makes it the homeland of the impressive Ural Mountains range with a total length of more than 2.100 kilometres ( 1.300 miles).

The beautiful Urals extend from the Arctic coast to the border with Kazakhstan and go more than 1.000 kilometres ( 600 miles) into the Arctic Ocean in an archipelago that consists of two large islands.

This mountain chain is the line which split Russia into two parts: the European one and the Asian one.

The highest peak from the Urals is Mount Narodnaya with an altitude of 1.895 metres ( 6.217 feet), but most of the peaks have between 900 to 1.500 metres ( 3.000 to 5.000 feet).

The mountains have several passes where railways were built uniting European part of Russia with Siberia.

The West Siberian Plain

Where is Russia on the map is exactly where the West Siberian Plain is located.

This area has more than 2.6 million square kilometres (1 million square miles) which means about one-seventh of Russia’s total area.

It is a low plain with an average altitude below 100 metres (330 feet) with the highest elevation of 200 metres (650 feet) in the southern part.

Here are located the largest swamps in the world and one of the richest floodplains from the entire country and here are concentrated a large part of the population.

The Central Siberian Plateau

The area between Lena River and Yenisey River is known as the Central Siberian Plateau and is located exactly where is Russia located on the map.

These are higher grounds compared with the West Siberian Plain with altitudes between 300 to 700 metres (1.000 to 2.300 feet).

On the southern side of the area is the Eastern Sayan and the Baikal Mountains, while in the north is the North Siberian Lowland.

The mountains of the south and east

About one-fourth of the country is dominated by a very complex mountain system which stands like a barrier and cuts the country in two.

The maximum altitude of these gorgeous mountains is 4.506 metres ( 14.783 feet) and the name of the mountains is Altai.

The area around Lake Baikal is dominated by these mountains which separate the high plateaus from the mountains from deep valleys and basins.

 

Where is Russia is on what continent

Where is Russia is on what continent

 

The mountains between the Lena River and the Pacific Coast, that divide Siberia into two parts are known as the Stanovoy Range.

The mountains continue up to the Bering Sea, in the Kamchatka Kuril region where they are named Koryak and Sredinny Mountains with altitudes around 2.500- 3.621 meters ( 8.400 t0 11.880 feet).

The Kamchatka Peninsula contains a large number of volcanic peaks and most of them are still active.

The tallest volcano from the area is Klyuchevskaya Volcano with 4.750 metres (15.584 feet).

Conclusion

Where is Russia on the map and the huge dimension of the country makes from it a country full of contrasts and surprises.

I hope this article about where is Russia located on the map managed to answer all your questions and if you still have things which you want to know, please leave them in the comment section below and we will do our best to give you accurate answers.