Russia is the largest country in the world and the ninth most populous. As per the data of 2015, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity. Russia’s extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally. Not only this Russia is a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as well as a member of the G20. According to the Constitution of Russia, the country is a federation and semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Russian Federation is fundamentally structured as a multi-party representative democracy
Most of Russia consists of vast stretches of plains that are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. Russia has one of the world’s largest surface water resources owing to the thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water. Almost the whole of area of Russia has a humid continental climate. Most of Northern European Russia and Siberia has a subarctic climate, with extremely severe winters in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia.