inception degtyarsk
Russia ( from the  Rus '), also officially known as the Russian Federation , is a country in Eurasia . At , Russia is the largest country in the world by surface area , covering more than one - eighth of the Earth ' s inhabited land area , and the ninth most populous , with over ___MASK15___ million people at the end of March 2016 . The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the eastern , about 77 % of the population live in European Russia . Russia ' s capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world , other major urban centers include Saint Petersburg , Novosibirsk , Yekaterinburg , Nizhny Novgorod and Samara . Sverdlovsk Oblast (" Sverdlovskaya oblast ") is a federal subject ( an oblast ) of Russia located in the Urals Federal District . Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg , formerly known as Sverdlovsk . Its population is ___MASK32___ , 297 , 747 ( according to the 2010 Census ). Novosibirsk is the third - most populous city in Russia after Moscow and St . Petersburg . It is the most populous city in Asian Russia , with a population of ___MASK64___ , 473 , 754 as of the 2010 Census . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District . The city is located in the southwestern part of Siberia on the banks of the Ob River adjacent to the Ob River Valley , near the large water reservoir formed by the dam of the Novosibirsk Hydro Power Plant , and occupies an area of . Degtyarsk ( Russian :    ) is a town under the administrative jurisdiction of the Town of Revda in Sverdlovsk Oblast , Russia , located on the Vyazovka River ( right tributary of the Chusovaya ) , 67 kilometers ( 42 mi ) west of Yekaterinburg , the administrative center of the oblast . Population : 15 , 522 ( ___MASK46___ Census ) ; 15 , 869 ( 2002 Census ) ; 18 , 394 ( 1989 Census ) . A country is a region that is identified as a distinct national entity in political geography . A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state , as a non - sovereign or formerly sovereign political division , or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated people with distinct political characteristics . Regardless of the physical geography , in the modern internationally accepted legal definition as defined by the League of Nations in ___MASK6___ and reaffirmed by the United Nations in ___MASK55___ , a resident of a country is subject to the independent exercise of legal jurisdiction . Kazakhstan ( " Qazaqstan ", " Kazakhstan "), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan (" Qazaqstan Respwblïkas " " Respublika Kazakhstan "), is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe . Kazakhstan is the world ' s largest landlocked country , and the ninth largest in the world , with an area of . Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically , generating ___MASK56___ % of the region ' s GDP , primarily through its oil / gas industry . It also has vast mineral resources . The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR " ) was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from ___MASK13___ to ___MASK1___ . A union of multiple subnational republics , its government and economy were highly centralized . The Soviet Union was a one - party federation , governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital . Asia is Earth ' s largest and most populous continent , located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres and sharing the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe . Asia covers an area of , about ___MASK11___ % of Earth ' s total land area and ___MASK77___ . ___MASK22___ % of the Earth ' s total surface area . The continent , which has long been home to the majority of the human population , was the site of many of the first civilizations . Asia is notable for not only its overall large size and population , but also dense and large settlements as well as vast barely populated regions within the continent of ___MASK32___ . ___MASK32___ billion people . Saint Petersburg is Russia ' s second - largest city after Moscow , with five million inhabitants in ___MASK39___ , and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea . It is politically incorporated as a federal subject ( a federal city ). Situated on the Neva River , at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea , it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May . In ___MASK85___ , the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd , in 1924 to Leningrad , and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg . Between 1713  1728 and 1732  1918 , Saint Petersburg was the imperial capital of Russia . In 1918 , the central government bodies moved to Moscow . Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny , is a city in the administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Volga Federal District in Russia . From ___MASK43___ to 1990 , it was known as Gorky , after the writer Maxim Gorky , who was born there . The city is an important economic , transportation , scientific , educational and cultural center in Russia and the vast Volga - Vyatka economic region , and is the main center of river tourism in Russia . In the historical part of the city there are a large number of universities , theaters , museums and churches . Nizhny Novgorod is located about 400 km east of Moscow , where the Oka empties into the Volga . Population : Moscow ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of Russia , with ___MASK75___ . 2 million residents within the city limits and ___MASK8___ . 8 million within the urban area . Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city . Russia is not proportionately populated between the smaller western portion ( almost ___MASK51___ %) of the country that is considered part of Europe , and the larger eastern portion ( more than 75 %) that is part of Asia . European Russia contains about 77 % of the country ' s population ( 110 , 000 , 000 people out of about 144 , 000 , 000 ) in an area comprising almost ___MASK32___ million km ( 1 . 54 million mi ); an average of 27 . ___MASK98___ persons per km ( 70 per mi ). This territory makes up 38 % of Europe . Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south , it is defined by the border with Kazakhstan . This area includes Moscow and Saint Petersburg , the two largest cities in Russia . Ukraine ( tr . ) is a sovereign state in Eastern Europe , bordered by Russia to the east and northeast , Belarus to the northwest , Poland and Slovakia to the west , Hungary , Romania , and Moldova to the southwest , and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast , respectively . Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in ___MASK26___ but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian . Including Crimea , Ukraine has an area of , making it the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world . It has a population of about 44 . ___MASK98___ million , making it the 32nd most populous country in the world . A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem ( or parent ) river or a lake . A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean . Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater , leading the water out into an ocean . An oblast is a type of administrative division of Belarus , Bulgaria , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Russia , Ukraine , and the now - defunct Soviet Union and Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes . The term is analogous to " state " or " province ". Yekaterinburg , alternatively romanised as " Ekaterinburg ", is the fourth - largest city in Russia and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast , located in the middle of the Eurasian continent , on the border of Europe and Asia . At the ___MASK46___ Census , it had a population of ___MASK64___ , 349 , 772 . " Main Stem " is ___MASK16___ instrumental by Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra . Although recorded in ___MASK16___ , the single would not be released until 1944 where it was Duke Ellington ' s last of four number one ' s on the Harlem Hit Parade . " Main Stem " also peaked at number twenty on the pop chart .