Russia

Russia, also officially known as theRussian Federation -the world’s largest nation, borders European and Asian countries as well as the Pacific and Arctic oceans.The name Russiais derived fromRus, a medieval state populated mostly by theEast Slavs. However, this proper name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants "Русская Земля" (russkaja zemlja), which can be translated as "Russian Land" or "Land of Rus''.Its landscape ranges from tundra and forests to subtropical beaches. It’s famous for novelists Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, plus the Bolshoi and Mariinsky ballet companies.